Tournament Stories part 21
So Jon had quickly vanquished duelist #9 with his undeniable dueling skills. His fiends are powerful. But I've got some powerful fiends too. And now that he'd won that duel, I'll be against him in my next duel. I could hardly wait!
But first, Jack was up, and he was dueling against that tall, dark and creepy rare hunter with bright blonde hair. Before anything happened, Linda talked to them both and offered them one of the final four rare cards as is entitled to them having been part of the top 8. I looked over Jack's shoulder as he opened it. He was considerably happy when he saw it was a simple Soul of the Pure. I looked at this rare hunter guy who was lowly chuckling to himself as he neatly put his newly acquired card into his deck. Linda told the two duelists to shuffle each other's decks. It was a silent process until the decks were handed back to their owners.
We never would have thought that this guy was actually able to talk! He said his name was Josh and that Jack had no chance of winning. Obviously, we thought that this was just tough talk to get his competitor stoked and what not.This Josh must be the same Josh that Larry told me about after I beat him. I thought. But, going back to the current dialogue, this rare hunter dude would indeed later prove to be good.
But anyway, Jack and Josh shook hands. Andre and I followed our friend to the blue side of the field. Linda, of course, was already up in her tall tower. It seemed to take forever for Jack to rise up in his platform. Maybe the glaring sun made it seem like the eternity that it clearly wasn't.
"I always permit he who is hunted to be the first one to go," Josh nearly mumbled his words and used more words than he had to. But Jack understood and there was no turning back now!
Jack drew his first card and set one of them face down. Then he summoned Harpie's Brother (1800/600) in attack mode.
"...How in this world did you make it THIS far in this tournament?" Josh asked as if it was the easiest rhetorical question in the world. "I shall easily put you in your proper place. First, now, I'm going to be activating my Ookazi magic card. You lose 800 life points. And now I'm going to set down one of my own magic/trap cards as well as activate this: Bait Doll. I force the activation of a face down trap. If its timing is bad, it's negated and destroyed. If it is a magic card- nothing happens. But either way Bait Doll returns to my deck and I shuffle it. So what's that face down card you've got?" Jack flipped it over, and the card revealed itself. "Ah, good! The destroyed trap is none other than Trap Hole! That clears the way for me to summon Luster Dragon (1900/1600) in attack mode. And now he gets rid of your Harpie's Brother," Instead of ordering his monster like most other duelists do, Josh more or less informed everyone what was going on. The dragon simply zipped forth, slashed at the hawk-like beast and dashed back to his starting point. Jack lost 100 more life points.
"Thank you for the supplying to me of an early lead. How are you going to retaliate?" If anyone else had said these words, they'd sound funny in the fact that they're long-winded. But this guy's low voice and obvious no-nonsense attitude almost made these remarks sound cryptic.
"I'm not too worried about that," Jack said back to him. "This isn't the first time I've been at an early disadvantage; just watch..." Jack said with a definite tone of smugness.
"I'm setting one card in defense and a magic/trap face down too. Your turn."
"I still remain confused. Are you presently here to duel or hide?" Josh drew his next card. "I set a monster as well in addition to a magic/trap card face down." And my dragon attacks your monster which is defending." Josh informed.
Hah, that's my Nightmare Penguin (900/1800) you just attacked. So now I get to return your Luster Dragon back to your hand." Jack said happily.
While Josh took back his dragon he spoke, "I entirely do sincerely doubt that this will at all assist you in your pathetic quest to victory," Josh said that whole sentence in one breath as Jack drew his next card. "I summon Enraged Battle Ox (1700/1000) in attack mode! If he destroys a defense position monster of yours with a defense lower than his attack, you get that difference subtracted from your life points!" Jack explained.
"I am a rare hunter. I obviously know the effect of the Enraged Battle Ox. We use them as kindling for our nightly fire. Now, attack if you so deem it necessary."
"Hah, to put a nice sized dent in your life points, it's VERY necessary. Attack his defense monster!" This souped-up version ofthe Battle Ox ran off for the hidden card and took a diving slash at it. The card revealed itself to be Hiro's Shadow Scout (650/500). "And now you lose 1200 life points!" Jack stated the obvious.
"And now you get to draw three cards from your deck. However, if any of them are magic cards, they must go to the graveyard immediately. So draw three cards and let us see what occurs afterward." Josh told Jack what to do.
The three cards he drew were his second Harpie's Brother, one of his Dian Keto's, and his new Soul of the Pure. Without talking, Jack discarded the two magic cards and ended his turn.
After Josh drew his card, he summoned his Luster Dragon (1900/1600) again without saying a word and told him to attack the Enraged Battle Ox. That attack nearly evened out the scores: 6900, Jack to 6800, Josh. "It seems to me as if the duel's control has fallen back into my hands," Josh talked just to get on Jack's nerves.
Jack drew his next card and immediately set it in defense mode.
"More hiding from what is inevitably going to turn out to be your final demise?" Josh intimidated. "I think that I shall make this whole thing more interesting. I've just drawn the card that will win this duel for me sooner than later... I activate the magic card Wave-Motion Cannon!" As soon as he slapped it onto the platform, a blaze of bluish white light exploded from out of nowhere and formed the green jar-shaped cannon. "This is how it functions: This cannon will collect 1000 points of power for every one of my standby phases. During one of my main phases, I can destroy this card and unleash the pent up power upon you as a direct attack to your life points. So the longer it stays around, and the more standby phases I have, the higher of a threat it is to you, understand?" Josh continued without waiting for a response, "And I set this card in defense mode."
Jack suddenly looked panic-stricken. With his life points only at 6900, all Josh needed was seven turns to bring his cannon to a high enough power level. Did Jack have anything in his deck that could stop it? ...Probably...
"And now my dragon attacks your face down monster," Josh watched his dragon slice the face down Familiar Knight (1200/1400) in two. "Oh great- was that, apparently, who I think it was?" Josh said resentfully.
"If you're talking about that Familiar Knight, then yes. And now we each get to special summon a level four monster from our hands," Jack responded. "But I don't currently possess a monster of level four." Josh complained, still reserving his ominous composure and evil-sounding voice. "Then I guess this effect means nothin' to you! But I've got a monster, Harpie's Brother (1800/600) in attack mode!" Jack spit out the truth and drew his next card.
With a monster on the field now, Jack could tribute summon a more powerful monster to get a foothold in this duel. "And now I'm sacrificing my Harpie's Brother to summon King of Yamimakai (2000/1530) in attack mode!" The evil, spiked monster reeked of evil. "Attack his dragon!" Jack commanded. By extending his hand out, he unleashed a deep blue electric attack upon this dragon and destroyed it. Josh's life points fell to 6700.
"Seriously now. Is that minuscule monster the best you've got?" Josh intimidated as he drew his next card. "Anyway, it's my standby phase. So that means that my Wave-Motion Cannon gets a burst of attack energy." A small glow of white light seemed to spiral inward toward the nozzle of the cannon and formed a tiny shiny sphere. The dials and indicators on the side of it twitched up a bit and a faint noise light like that of an electric generator could be heard. Josh looked at the card he had drawn and smirked, "I set one card face down and I'll set my last card in defense mode. As soon as his hand was emptied, Josh crossed his arms and slightly lowered his head. And it took him a second or two before he said, "It is now your turn."
Jack aggressively drew his next card and set it face down in his magic zone as well as another card face down from his hand. "And now I'll attack yourdefending monster on my left." The evil king zapped and destroyed Josh's face down Giant Germ (1000/100). "Because you destroyed my germ, here, you lose 500 life points."
"No!" Jack interrupted, "I activate Numinous Healer. When I take damage, she replenishes 1000 of my life points.
"Nice try- but I think that I'll now activate Mystical Space Typhoon and get rid of your pathetic trap," the quick play magic card effortlessly annihilated Jack's trap card before it could even take effect.
"One way or another, I AM getting life points! So, in response to your typhoon card, I'm activating Gift of the Mystical Elf. She gives me 300 life points for every monster on the field, and I mean every: defense, attack, normal summon, special summon etc.,"
"How is that going to help you with only one monster on the field? Since you've destroyed my Giant Germ back there, I activate Michizure. Now you lose your King of Yamimakai." The chain was finally complete. Michizure swallowed up Jack's fiend card, Jack got only 300 life points, although he had just lost 500. So it was more like he only lost 200. (Josh had no second Giant Germ in his deck to summon in case you're wondering.), and Numinous Healer never took effect. After all of that crap, the scores were tied at 6700. And now it was Josh's turn.
He drew a card and, as expected, another sphere of light welled up within the huge, ancient-looking cannon. Three of four of the lights flickered, the humming got a bit louder and the dials jolted every now and again. It was still rather calm, but 2000 is a huge number of life points to lose. "I, here, set my only card face down and end my turn."
Jack drew a card and was surprised to hear Josh say, "I now activate a trap card that I had just set on my last turn. It's called Drop Off. And as soon as it's activated, you MUST discard to the graveyard whatever card it was that you drew." So Jack dejectedly obeyed the card's rules and examined his hand while Josh stood there, arms crossed again and silently chuckling to himself.
Jack only had two cards. So the best he could do was set one monster and end his turn. It seemed pretty desperate for Jack at this point.
"It is once again my turn so soon? I must say, thisduel has been quite disappointing thus far." Josh drew a card. His cannon absorbed yet another sphere of light conjured up from nowhere. The lights flashed faster and a faint, steady beeping sound could be heard in addition to the grinding of the motor within it. The dials on the side looked to be pointing at about halfway.
He continued his turn, "I sacrifice my face down Cat of Ill Omen (500/300) to summon my Giga Gagagigo (2450/1500). Now, before I tear apart your defensive monster, my cat has a rather unique special effect... Once it is flipped, in this case, my sacrificing of it activated its flip effect, I get to now select one trap card from my deck and put it on the very top of it. If "Necrovalley" was active on the field, I'd be able to add that card to my HAND, but oh well. Giga Gagagigo attacks your face down monster!" The mechanized reptile bolted across the field. At very close range, he slashed to pieces Jack's face down Maryokutai (900/900). "Your turn once again!" Josh almost sounded friendly that time.
Jack nervously drew a card. Defeat seemed more and more likely as that machine got more and more powerful. He set in defense mode the card that he drew and ended his turn.
Josh drew his trap card, "More power for my cannon..." he stated. The collection of power at the front was very bright at this point. The lights flickered quickly and randomly. The beeping sound was now louder and sharper. Think of the back-up alert on school busses only a higher note and at a slower tempo. The entire cannon seemed to start to shake, too. And most of the dials were passed the halfway point and dancing between the halfway mark and the 100 mark. "I could easily bring your life points down to the red zone, you know. But I'm so close and you show no signs of resilience. So I'm going to wait. I'll set this card face down... gee I wonder... and attack your defense monster with my reptile!
Another close range slash revealed the Magician of Faith (300/400). "Her flip effect, as I'm sure you know, lets me get back a magic card from the graveyard and add it to my hand," Jack defiantly said. Perhaps there WAS hope for him!
"I'm sure that it will matter not; you only have TWO magic cards in your graveyard. And they are both life point recovery cards. Why don't you just surrender?" Josh intimidated. "But do what you must. My turn is now over."
Jack drew a card and wasn't happy. He set a monster and activated his Dian Keto which he brought back because of his spellcaster's effect.
"Why must you make it so easy to win against you? In response to your magic card, I activate my face down trap Cemetery Bomb. It has the potential to be an extremely powerful trap card, or just something to get your opponent angry. It all depends on the number of cards in my opponent's graveyard. For each card, regardless of its type, you lose 100 life points!"
Jack counted the cards in his graveyard, "Yikes, so that means I lose 1300 life points?" Jack was disappointed.
"Oh, but don't worry. You've activated your Dian Keto, remember? So you gain 1000 of those lost points right back!" The scores were at Josh: 6700 Jack: 6400.
"But now my reptile attacks your face down monster!" Josh's monster took another close range slash at his face down Des Feral Imp (1600/1800). "My monster has a flip effect which your attack activated: I get to select one card from my graveyard and add it to my deck, then shuffle it." So Jack carefully selected one card and put it into his deck, then shuffled it two or three times. Then he drew his next card. He set it in defense mode and ended his turn.
"I think that it is apparent that you have no idea how close you are to losing this duel," Josh drew his next card and the power increased in his Wave-Motion Cannon again. A number on the side slowly built up from 4000 to 5000. A big red light then began to blink right next to the power meter. "And now I shall activate the equip card I just drew. To my reptile monster, I equip the card Gravity Axe- Grarl. It increases his attack by 500 AND stops you from changing any of your monsters' battle positions as long as it's face-up on the field. So now he attacks your defense monster!" Josh happily watched his more powerful monster make quick work of Jack's hidden Mysterious Puppeteer (1000/1500).
"Next turn, you're mine!" Josh warned in a surprisingly short sentence. Jack looked regretfully at the only card in his hand and drew one from his deck. Deeply saddened by his stroke of bad luck, Jack set one card face down next to his other face down magic or trap card and ended his turn.
"How unfortunate that this is the way you have to go," Josh began and drew his next card. The dials and indicators looked like they were pulsing and springing loose from the huge cannon that was practically exploding as it sat there, eager to use up its stored strength. "I summon the Sea Serpent Warrior of Darkness (1800/1500)! And now he attacks your life points directly!" Josh declared. The aquatic purple warrior wielded his staff with the golden part pointed directly at Jack. Suddenly, sea green bolts of... something (it didn't look like electricity) squiggled towards Jack and brought his life points down to 4600. "And now my Giga Gagagigo attacks you directly, too!" Josh happily announced as his reptile zipped across the field. His newly equipped axe looked out of place in the hands of a mechanized reptile, but the razor sharp blade still reflected the sun perfectly as he ran at Jack. He reached his target, did something of a 360 in the air and performed an upward slash with his axe. "Not just yet!" Jack interrupted. "I've got my trap card to protect me!" He flipped over his newest set card, "It's Nutrient Z! If I'm about to take 2000 points of damage or more during the damage step, I increase my life points by 4000 BEFORE getting hit by that attack! So, in reality, it's like my life points just went up by 1050!" The upward slash of the axe fought against a sudden soft green bubble-type shield that slowed down the speed of the attack. Even though his life points went from 8600 to 5650, Jack hardly felt it.
"Too bad for you, though, this duel is now done..." Josh revealed an evil grin and continued, "NOW! By my magic card's effect, I hearby send my Wave-Motion Cannon to the graveyard and therefore inflicting 6000 points of damage unto you!"
As soon as that card flopped into the graveyard, the virtual version on the field went to work. All the dials that weren't fully charged sprinted up to and stayed at their maximum levels without flickering back and forth between any other level. The red light on the side continued to blink but was now accompanied by a loud warning sound in addition to the other sound already going off. It was sheer pandemonium! Hydraulic systems powered up and released steam, more beams of white energy collected in the firing mechanism, and sparks burst out of cracks that were now in the sides- it was gonna blow!
But then, silence. It was comparable to the sound of taking a deep breath out loud and holding it... very quiet very sudden. But before we had a second's chance to realize the unforseen drop in noise, a gigantic ball of bluish white energy rushed toward Jack at an incomprehensible speed. This thing was as fast as lightning and just as loud and bright. It was over in a flash, but the resulting explosion will be forever imprinted in my mind. Upon impact of this huge ball of power, there was electricity everywhere and the ground very nearly shook with the loudness of the sound similar to a huge shock of electricity from a Vandergraph generator only a thousand times louder and longer.
It subsided leaving Jack there, wide-eyed and gaping in disbelief and bewilderment of the recent series of events. He was, of course, okay but it took him a while to gather up his cards, turn around and descend in his platform to join us.
"That was a tough duel," Andre tried to show compassion for his recently defeated friend. But Jack just nodded in agreement and led the way to Linda next to whom was standing the victor of this duel.
"For you, duelist #22, $500 for making it all the way to this tournament's top 8. And to you, duelist #18, ONE card from your opponent's deck. Josh looked through it and concluded, "None of these cards appear as if they shall help me out at all. But since it is a rule, I choose this Thunder of Ruler," and he walked away.
"Hehh... I guess this means I'm out, guys. Good luck with the rest of your duels; I don't wanna see any more of this place, I'm going to the boat," and Jack walked away as well. So it was down to Andre and me. There were only five duelists left... which would be shrunk down to four after Andre's next duel in a few minutes.