Tournament Stories part 22
"Let's keep it up at the pace we're going," Linda said. She was apparently exhausted from all that standing up in her tower platform and wanted this tournament to be over and done with. And since Andre liked to make his duels quick, it would be no problem.
I looked around and noticed that I was one out of five remaining duelists. I remember that I, at first, thought that I didn't have what it took to be a good duelist as I am now... as I like to believe. At that moment I, for some reason, took the cards I had won so far out of my pouch and looked at them in nostalgia... The Empress Judge from Jenny... The Mr. Volcano from Craig... the Spiritualism from Justin... the Numinous Healer from "Z.K..." the Offerings to the Doomed from that rare hunter sister "S" who had given me the pouch that I was wearing... the De-Fusion from Travis... the Tribe-Infecting Virus from Christina... and that Guardian Sphinx I had just won from Larry. Each of them had different personalities, dueling techniques, strengths, weaknesses and so forth. I had continued to persevere again and again. So it was no wonder that I was part of the final duelists who were, by this point, out of the stands and just standing more or less close to Linda. There was Jon, Josh and myself waiting for Andre's and whoever this kid's was duel to be over. I tried not to look at Jon only a few feet to my left. But we were both highly aware of our duel, which would be next.
Andre and this kid who said his name was Mort each took one of the last two of the eight cards that were entitled to the final eight. I walked behind Andre and saw only the name of it as he was putting it into his deck, Different Dimension Dragon. I think it was a light attribute. And I saw by its orange color that it was an effect monster, but nothing more- not even its level. However, Andre never played it during the rest of his duels, so I will never know what that card does... and I was about to ask him, but after he put the card in his deck, he instantly turned to Mort so the decks could be shuffled, and so that was it. Besides, Andre would probably just say, "Shh, not now, I've gotta concentrate on beating this kid!"
So I kept my mouth shut. And up Linda went, up the two duelists went, and this duel went...
Andre was offered to start off the duel, but he declined. So Mort drew his sixth card. "I set one card face down," Mort said simply. His voice was deeper than his height led on. And his tone was much more serious and dire than his light skin and awkward posture made it appear. But there was something almost evil about this kid... I think?
"Alright," Andre responded. I'm setting one card face down and also setting one card in defense."
"Hmm..." Mort examined his newly drawn card and set it face down. Then he set a monster and ended his turn.
"Not much of an agressor, are you?" Andre taunted as he swiftly took the top card from his deck. Mort just lightly tilted his head down and faintly showed his teeth in a small smile and squinted his eyes a tiny bit. There was something up his sleeve, most likely. But Andre, of course, wanted to get this over with.
"I'm summoning Archfiend Soldier (1900/1500) in attack mode!" And in response to that, Mort interrupted, "And in response to that, I'm activating the trap card Threatening Roar. This card prevents you from making any attack," Mort said in his simple, yet almost evil voice. Once Mort flipped over that trap card, an immensely loud roar burst from seemingly nowhere, paralyzing Andre's attack mode monster.
A bit shocked by this recent unlikely turn of events, Andre used a back-up plan, "Okay, I'll just equip my fiend with this Malevolent Nuzzler which raises his attack to 2600."
Mort drew his next card and smiled. "I sacrifice both of my face down monsters, Nightmare Penguin (900/1800) and Old Vindictive Magician (450/600) to summon my Despair from the Dark (2800/3000) in attack mode! And both of my sacrificed monsters have effects. First, my Old Vindictive Magician destroys your Archfiend Soldier, since it's been flipped. And my penguin is returning your face down monster to your hand," Mort looked pretty proud of himself. "Behold! One of the most powerful zombies in the game! Isn't he so cool!" Mort took a step back and thrust both of his arms in front of him with his palms facing the sky and clutching his fingers. From the ground erupted a purple and red, definitely cool, zombie monster with undeniable power as was witnessed when he took a huge slash at Andre's life points. The scores were already far apart, 8000- Mort to 5200- Andre.
Andre nervously drew his next card. Did you catch that? He NERVOUSLY drew his next card. Never before have I seen Andre reluctantly take a look at his next draw. He even held it so far away from him that I could see that it was his Michizure. Andre was relieved and immediately set it down. Then he set a monster in defense and ended his turn.
"How pathetic that you are hiding from me. Surely you can't be too afraid of my zombies," Mort taunted. Under his breath, Andre responded, "Just keep talkin', you little brat. You're in for the surprise of your life!"
Mort continued, "I summon Nightmare Horse (500/400) in attack mode! His special ability lets him attack your life points directly even if you have a monster on your side of the field. Attack him now!" His glowing blue horse was barely recognizable as a horse in its tattered rags and constantly changing shape. It opened its mouth and launched a stream of blue fire up and over Andre's field. Andre took the damage. His life points decreased to 4700.
"AHA ha ha ha! Why do you show no resilience? Are you trying to lose on purpose?" Mort once again evilly spoke too much for his own good. His next move cost him dearly, "And now my Despair from the Dark attacks your face down monster!"
From deep inside it, a bright orange sphere was building up within the misty monster. Then it quickly moved up its body and was forced out of its mouth and eyes perfectly matching their shapes. It looked really cool how these orange shapes approaching Andre's monster looked like a reverse Jack O'Lantern. The attack made full contact and vaporized Andre's defending Man-Eater Bug (450/600).
"HA! Yes, you're in for it now! I activate my face down Michizure! When one of my monsters is destroyed, I can do the same to one of yours! So I choose to destroy your Nightmare Horse. And my Man-Eater Bug, I'm sure you know, destroys a monster once it's flipped. So HE'S destroying your Despair from the Dark!" And with two huge explosions, the field was cleared of all monsters, and it was Andre's turn.
He drew his next card and activated it, "I'm activating my Pot of Greed spell card! It let's me draw two cards from my deck... Hopefully they'll be good ones..." Andre said to himself as he took the top two from his deck.
"...Unless you can immediately summon a monster with 3300 attack points, I'll still be winning even after you attack me," Mort said while Andre was considering his options.
"Whatever. I'm summoning another Archfiend Soldier (1900/1500) in attack mode. And he attacks you directly!" Andre demanded of his fiend. With amazing speed and accuracy, the soldier found its target and took a nasty slash at Mort with his sword.
"Not bad..." Mort complimented his opponent as his life points beeped down to 6100. He waited for Andre to end his turn and then drew his next card. "But try THIS! This card has death written all over it! I equip YOUR monster with Ekibyo Drakmord!"
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Ekibyo Drakmord, aside from having a weird name, is most probably (although not definitely) another one of those broken cards. It's effect verbatim is: "A monster equipped with this card cannot attack. Destroys the equipped monster at the end of the 2nd of the player controlling the monster. At that time, this card is returned to the owner's hand." Now, I ask you to tell me with confidence which card that "this card" is referring to in the final sentence of that card's effect. Is it the destroyed card or the equip card? If it were to be the equip card, that wouldn't be too fair because you can just play the card on another monster of your opponent's on your next turn which, according to the equip card's effect, would be in a few seconds because the monster is destroyed at the end of the 2nd of your opponent's turns. Does it sound fair to any of you? But for this story, I'm going to use the interpretation that the equip card returns to their hand. So anyway, back to the story...
"That sounds like some kind of disgusting food," Andre tried to be funny but failed miserably. He just didn't have the sarcastic tone in his voice to pull it off. A green cloud hovered above Andre's Archfiend Soldier and then instantly pounded downward resulting in a huge puff of green gas. The fiend card turned green and couldn't move. "No, it's an effective equip card. It stops your Archfiend Soldier from attacking and destroys it after your second turn once it's equipped. Then this card gets returned to my hand so the fun can begin all over again." Mort smiled and continued, "And I also set this in defense mode."
Andre really didn't seem to care about his infected monster because he sacrificed it to summon his Jinzo (2400/1500) on his next turn. But before he summoned him, Andre noticably grinned at the card he drew. "And now the notorious Jinzo attacks your face down monster!" Jinzo held his forearms in front of him with his palms facing each other. A black ball of energy was summoned in between them. Then Jinzo unleashed it and decimated the defending Headless Knight (1450/1700). "What now, buddy? There are no monstersI can think of that are level four or lower with attack points of at least 2450! And now traps are useless. So what do you say to a surrender?" Andre offered Mort the chance to back down, not that he needed to be offered. Andre just liked to shake his opponents up...
"You can forget THAT. I'm here to win just like you; my move!" Mort drew a card. "Here's one card in defense..." he paused for suspense as he held another card in the air. "And I also activate Dark Snake Syndrome, a very potent life point damage card. Here's how it works... For each one of my standby phases, both of us take direct damage. At first it will be 200. Then at my next standby phase it will be 400 and it shall continue to double for EVERY stadby phase of mine! So mind your life points! Ha ha ha!" Mort ended his turn leaving Andre in a relatively tight spot. It wasn't all that bad; he had Jinzo on the field.
Andre drew a card and set it face down next to his other magic/trap card. Then he set a monster and attacked with Jinzo, "Jinzo now attacks your defense monster." Andre watched anxiously as the black attack destroyed the hidden Kryuel (1000/1700). "HA! And now that Kryuel's been destroyed as a result of battle, I get to flip a coin and call it. If I'm right, I get to destroy a monster on your field. If I'm wrong, nothing happens." Linda pressed a button on some console and a holographic coin appeared into view in front of the two duelists. It was big enough for everyone (all six of us) to see it. Mort called 'tails' and the coin lifted off. Within the time of 3 seconds it must have spun fifty times but ultimately landed on heads... which means that tails was facing up- Mort had called the toss correctly! Out of Mort's graveyard sprouted up Kryuel's spear. It absorbed the coin somehow and homed in on Jinzo, piercing it and destroying it.
"Well doesn't that just stink!" Mort taunted.
Mort drew a card on his turn and smiled once he looked at the card, "It's time for the first of what I hope are many damages from my Dark Snake Syndrome!" A faint black cloud hovered over each duelist's head and was gone in a flash. Andre's life points decreased to 4500. Mort's decreased to 5900. Mort looked at the card he had just drawn, the third card in his hand, and smirked, "And just to make sure you don't try any funny stuff, I'm bringing down your life points even more by summoning this guy. Gravekeeper's Curse (800/800) inflicts 500 points of direct damage to your life points simply when he's normal summoned, flip summoned OR special summoned!" Andre's life points decreased to the exact middle of the road: 4000.
So Andre drew a card. He had one monster in defense, three cards in his hand, and two magic or traps face down. "I'm summoning Maha Vailo (1550/1400) in attack mode. Attack his Gravekeeper's Curse!" As it is always is with this lady, her violent red attack demolished the other spellcaster on the field, taking Mort's life points down to 5150.
Then it was Mort's turn again. He drew a card and announced, "It's my standby phase again! This time we both lose 400 life points!" The black cloud came back again but was darker and hung around for a bit longer. Andre's life points were at 3600. Mort's weren't far behind at 4750.
"You think that's funny, don't you?" Andre asked as both dark clouds vanished.
"Hee hee, actually I do!" Mort snapped back with a fake giggle. "Anyway, I'm setting a monster in defense. Your move."
Andre drew a card and set it.Andre can't take too many more of those direct attacks to his life points. I hope he's got a plan like he always does... Where the heck is his Great Maju Garzett? I thought to myself, honestly a bit doubtful of Andre's abilities at that point.
"I'm flipping my defending Mask of Darkness (400/900) over so I can activate his flip effect. I get to take a trap card from my graveyard and put it in my hand. And now I'm setting it." So now everybody knew that he had a Michizure face down. "Next, I'm summoning my Witch of the Black Forest (1100/1200) into attack mode. It's your move, Mort."
I didn't know what he was getting at. But, apparently, good things come to those who wait...
Mort drew a card and loved the sound of the decreasing life points. This time they each lost 800. In all so far, both Andre and Mort have lost 1400 life points because of that one card alone! Andre's life points were dwindling at 2800. Mort's were at 3950. Mort began his turn, "First I'm setting one card face down right next to my Dark Snake Syndrome. After that... I'm gonna..." you could tell that he was trying (poorly) to think on his feet. So he ultimately made a decision without thinking- and it cost him, "I'm sacrificing my face down Skull Dog Marron (1350/2000) to summon Pumpking the King of Ghosts (1800/2000)! And although I'm fully aware of your Michizure out there, I'm having my zombie attack your Maha Vailo!"
The huge dark orange punmpkin with one eye whipped its vines forward and flailed them about rapidly as its attack on Maha Vailo. "I've got something better than that. I'm activating Waboku! It decreases that damage to zero, so my spellcaster is unharmed," Andre countered, but Mort still had a plan, "I can still get to your life points with this: Cemetary Bomb! For each card in your graveyard, you lose 100 life points!" Andre couldn't believe it. In an attempt to save himself, he activated another card, "Well I'm activating Mystical Space Typhoon," Andre said calmly.
"You idiot! Cemetary Bomb is a trap card! And Mystical Space Typhoon works only on magic cards!" Mort yelled as the electric arc from Andre's graveyard grew bigger.
"...Duh!" Andre laughed as he was struck with the electric bolt coming from his graveyard dealing him 600 points of damage. Mort's Dark Snake Syndrome, the magic card Andre had targeted, was being sucked down a miniature black hole much like a toilet's effect on an ant.
So after all of that, Andre's life points were at a considerably low 2200. Mort still had 3950. But, on the upside, Andre was threatened no more by direct damage. And, best of all, it was Andre's turn.
After he drew his card and took a quick look at the field, he put his plan into action, "I'm summoning my Tribe-Infecting Virus (1600/1000) in attack mode!" Instantly, Mort let escape a shocked and desperate gasp. With only one monster on his side of the field, it would be easy for Andre to obliterate his Pumpking and directly attack the heck out of him. "Now I know that you must be worried about this super powerful and rare card that I just summoned, so I'm not gonna win this turn and give you a fighting, sporting chance to bring yourself back- not that it matters. But I WILL be starting by activating my aqua card's effect. By discarding this Scapegoat from my hand, I can destroy all monsters of a chosen type on the field. This time, it'll be spellcaster!" As soon as Andre finished his sentence, two green clouds of mist shrouded his Maha Vailo and Witch of the Black Forest, since they're both spellcasters, and destroyed them.
"What was the point in THAT?" Mort protested his opponent's seemingly stupid move.
"Stay with the program. A monster of mine has just been sent from the field to the graveyard which means that I can activate my Michizure trap card! It'll send your Pumpking right to the... compost pile? ...(Whatever). And don't forget about my Witch of the Black Forest's effect. When she's sent from the field to graveyard, regardless of how, I get to take a monster with 1500 or fewer defense points into my hand!"
And I bet that I know which monster he's choosing. I thought to myself.
"And, leaving my Mask of Darkness in defense mode, I attack your life points directly with Tribe Infecting Virus!" Andre said. The green gas quickly made its way over there and drained the life points right out of him. The scores were now almost tied. Andre had 2200 still and Mort had 2350.
Mort drew a card and shrugged his shoulders in a rather defeated manner. He set a monster in defense, one card face down and ended his turn- his hand completely empty.
Andre drew a card and made his next move, "It's time for a guest appearance by one of the strongest monsters in my deck," Andre began.Yup, I was right... I thought to myself as I prepared to see his fiend card's ultimate attack. I always looked forward to this part in Andre's duels. "By sacrificing my Tribe Infecting Virus, I summon my Great Maju Garzett (/0)! But don't let those zero attack points fool you. His attack strength is DOUBLE that of the monster I tributed to summon him with!" Andre said. His ferocious fiend sprouted from the ground this time in a violent explosion of dirt and rocks, releasing a thunderous roar.
Mort looked pretty unshaken, "It's a shame that you'll never be able to use him..." Andre activated the trap card Trap Hole- the most basic and practical of all the trap cards out there! Mort smirked as a gaping hole cracked underneath the powerful fiend card and engulfed it, destroyed it. And in that instant, a feeling of immense doom and disappointment overcame me. Would it be just me in the final four duelists? Would Andre not get his chance to beat that rare hunter guy? After the hole closed up, Andre ended his turn.
Mort drew a card and summoned it, "It's time for Double Coston (1700/1650)! And to top it all off, I'm flipping over my face down Castle of Dark Illusions! Once it's flipped, all zombies get a 200 point attack AND defense boost. And plus, all zombies, even if they're summoned later, will get 200 more attack and defense points for my next four standby phases!" Mort paused for a second to give Andre a chance to let all this sink in. I had to admit, it seemed pretty grim.
"Now attack his Mask of Darkness, my duo of death!" Mort commanded his Double Coston. Upon receiving the command, the flew like two heat seeking missles- slightly bobbing up and down and swaying across the other's path until colliding with Andre's defending mask. Then they rematerialized on Mort's side of the field giggling in a stereo evil sprite tone.
Andre appeared to have one last shot at turning this around. He drew a card, set it, and then summoned Gagagigo (1850/1000) in attack mode. That was an apparently obvious strategy: when Mort would attack, Andre would activate one of his face down cards... I never knew him to resort to such basics tactics. Andre ended his turn.
Mort was a bit confused. He saw what his opponent had done and drew his next card. It was his standby phase, which meant that Double Coston's stats rose to (2100/2050). "And now I play the equip spell card Premature Burial. At the payment of 800 life points, I bring back a monster from my graveyard and equip him with this," Mort's life points went down to 1550. "It's time once again for one of the most powerful zombies out there! Despair from the Dark! Come back from the grave!" The monster zone to the left of Double Coston began to glow a deep crimson. And little white sparkles would occassionally emerge from the cracking ground. And then in an instant, the zombie monster spouted up from beneath the surface in a frighteningly cloudy mess. "Double Coston, attack his... Gagagigo? Did I pronounce that right?" The swirling ghosts sped toward the reptile and all seemed hopeless, once again, but Andre had a plan; he wasn't going down without a fight, "Now it's time for MetalMorph! When it's activated, my monster gets a 300 attack and defense boost, making it 50 points stronger than your zombie monster!" A sleek metal coat slid all around Gagagigo's body and conformed to his shape. The two approaching ghosts looked all panicked now but couldn't stop their assault. Gagagigo slashed at them both with his mechanized spikes and destroyed them. Mort's life points trickled down to 1500.
"Grr, whatever! Despair from the Dark! Vaporize his puny Gagagigo! Proove to him that zombies are the greatest!" Instead of the inverted jack o' lantern attack like before, this time the zombie monster slashed his claw downward like a bear. Four giant purple arcs sped their way to Andre's reptile. And each of them cut right through it and destroyed him. The scores were 1500: Mort to 1550: Andre, and it was now Andre's turn.
He had one card face down on the field already. But I figured that if it was any use, he would have activated it by now. He had no cards in his hand except for this last one that he was about to draw. He slid it off the top of his deck and tried to calmly look at it. Then he slammed his platform with a clenched fist, bowed his head down a little and whispered, although I don't think he knows I heard him, "Holy crap, I'llnever have this kind of luck again!" He set the card face down and ended his turn.
Mort must have taken that slam on the platform the wrong way- as if he had drawn a completely useless card. Mort drew his card. And Despair from the Dark's stats rose to (3000/3200) during the standby phase. Then Mort activated the equip spell card Violet Crystal. His zombie became even more powerful: (3300/3500). "It has been an entertaining duel indeed. But now I shall claim this victory..." Mort stated.
Andre looked Mort square in the eye, almost daring him to attack. For a split second, Mort was reconsidering what he should do. But, with victory seeming so close, he then made up his mind, "Despair from the Dark!" Mort sharply pointed at Andre, "Attack his life points NOW!"
Despair from the Dark held his claws out in front of him exactly how it shows on the card. But he extended his fingers and clenched his teeth in a wicked smile. Charges of purple and black electricity fizzled around his fingers. From the ground and sky, random bolts of lightning charged this monster up for its ultimate attack. Then the charging stopped. The zombie monster whipped his hands up and diagonally away, but the ten charges remained where they were until he stopped moving. Then they each exploded forth with their energy- one at a time but within the same second. It was so cool to hear and watch. The dark bolts of lightning sparked and zig-zagged their way to Andre. And just before they hit him, Andre interjected, "It's over! Activate Magic Cylinder! This negates your monster's attacks and sends it DIRECTLY back to you!" Two tubes appeared right in front of the oncoming attack. It all funneled through one, teleported to the other and exploded out in the opposite direction straight toward Mort.
"AH, NO! I was so close! There's no way, how could I lose?" The bolts of lightning struck Mort full force and dished out 1800 points of overkill; Andre had won the duel- but NOT with his Great Maju Garzett!
After the duel, the two met in front of Linda, "Duelist #25, for finishing in the top 8 of the Gree Island/Peninsula Tournament, I award you $500. And you, duelist #32, may now choose ONE card from your opponent's deck."
Andre carelessly yanked the first rare card he saw, which turned out to be a trap card called Barrel Behind the Door, pretty cool.
But in a few minutes, Jon and I would be dueling. Now we'll settle once and for all who is the better fiend duelist. I could hardly wait.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:Even though the rest of the story is planned out, I still need one more deck idea for the absolute final duel. I don't want any staller, burner, or deck/hand destruction decks. And it would be a good idea to suggest decks of a certain attribute or type, other than fiend. You don't have to give me an entire list of 40+ cards if you don't want to, just a few words so I know what you're talking about. I swear this whole story is almost over! Four more chapters, tops! If you've read this much so far, you may as well finish it up. And I promise that I won't end it stupidly like making this whole tournament a dream or something!