Tournament of Souls Chapter 18
State Level Tournament
"Silence is golden; duct tape is silver." Anonymous
"I'm seventeen and I'm crazy. My uncle says the two always go together. When people ask your age, he said, always say seventeen and insane." – Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
"'Bet I know something else you don't. There's dew on the grass in the morning.'
He suddenly couldn't remember if he had known this or not, and it made him quite irritable.
'And if you look-' she nodded at the sky – 'there's a man in the moon.'
He hadn't looked for a long time." - Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
Editor's Note: In case you haven't noticed yet, the companion story to Tournament of Souls has been posted. It is entitled Shadows of the Small. We would recommend reading it. It ties up several loose ends and fleshes out some characters that you would otherwise rarely meet. Very interesting characters too. Read it.
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After school on Friday Lucien was waiting. He stood outside the doors of the school as Aliya walked out. She didn't know how to react. Lucien hadn't been at school all week. He hadn't contacted anyone, though the school officials must have known something as they never commented. There had been no announcement, no request for the prayers of the student body. Lucien had disappeared.
Now he was back, and Aliya wanted to know why. She wanted to know if he was alright. More importantly she wanted to know why the hell he had run away. Her parents had told her that he was in shock and that he wasn't thinking straight.
Aliya couldn't accept this. One of Lucien's defining characteristics was thinking straight and keeping a cool head no matter what. When he didn't, the best description was that of one of the class clown's. "We're all going to die!" That just about summed it up.
Lucien remained off to the side of the bricks and pavement that made up the school yard. He clearly expected her to come to him. Aliya had taken running away as a direct insult, and there was no way she was about to make this easy for him. She walked straight down towards the street, ignoring Lucien. He gave in and met her next to the road.
Somewhat mollified, she started the conversation.
"So?"
"Are you ready for the state round?" Lucien acted as if he had been attending school and was talking about the weather.
"Always. You?"
"My deck is improved. Hopefully it will do. All I need is transportation. I might be able to get some, but no guarantees."
"Mom plans to drive all three of us."
"Good. I'll be seeing you tomorrow at your house then? How's seven thirty?" Lucien looked down the street and saw his bus stopped a few street lights down. He wasn't going to go until Aliya had tried one last jab however.
"Today's my birthday you know."
"I know."
"Well?"
Lucien took off to catch the bus before it went by.
When Aliya arrived home there was a package waiting for her. The card was signed by Lucien and the package contained glass hair clips with duel monsters on them. They included some of her favorites: Fire Princess, Spirit of the Breeze, and Aqua Spirit. There was even a long one to braid into her hair that was designed to look like Solar Flare Dragon.
In one of his usual bursts of thoughtlessness, he had forgotten to remove the price tags. It came to just under $50.
Aliya wasn't sure whether she wanted to kill Lucien or give him a hug. Seeing as he wasn't present, neither was easily accomplished.
The phone rang and Aliya went to pick it up. When she heard what the person on the other end had to say she frowned slightly. Some of her friends from school were going to come and watch the State Championship. That increased the pressure; now if she messed up the entire school would know.
It didn't help any that she hadn't told them about the side event. Any duelist who thought they had the potential to be a professional, or just had an exciting deck could try out to become and entertainer for the National Championship. Someone with that position would not only be watching all the duels, but would have the chance to win rare cards, get paid, and meet any stars who might have been hired as entertainment. Evidently some kind of survey had been taken a while before that showed that people who dueled liked watching dueling as entertainment.
They shouldn't have needed a survey to know that.
Regardless, it was just the kind of thing some of her friends who dueled would want to try. None of them would make it, but that wouldn't stop them. They would be angry at her if they found out. Luckily they wouldn't be able to make fools of themselves; it took someone who had made the State Championship vouching for someone to even get them considered.
I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
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The tournament was to take place in the capital of the state; Annapolis. Lucien had been waiting for Aliya and her mother on the side walk in front of herhouse at seven thirty sharp. Aliya had decided to forgive Lucien and wore the new hair clips. He appreciated it even though he gave no outward sign of noticing. Raoul arrived late, as usual.
Normally quiet, it seemed that now Lucien only communicated by tacit agreement. He had yet to tell Aliya or Raoul what had actually happened. He wasn't even sure he wanted to. It would have to be done sometime; there was no doubt about that. Just as long as sometime never became soon, and soon never became now.
They arrived at City Hall (circa 2012) just in time for the opening ceremonies. They were boring and uneventful. It was explained that they would be using duel stations located at such and such an address (indoors unfortunately) and that they would be expected to be there at such and such a time as soon as they had met with their area supervisors. Lucien took this to mean Mr. Dongard and headed off to the corner where said businessman was waiting.
As usual, Mr. Dongard got straight to business. "As of yet, yours is the only team without a name. The team name is supposed to be that of the sponsoring store. Unfortunately, Mr. Kiwasaki has neglected to tell us the name of his store. Would one of you care to tell me what it is?"
Lucien exchanged glances with his teammates. None of them had ever thought about what the store's name was. They had always referred to it as 'the card store' or 'Mr. Kiwasaki's store.' They realized that it must have a name for taxes and such, but they couldn't think of ever having heard a name. Lucien turned back to Mr. Dongard to try and explain.
"I don't think it has a name."
The man raised an eyebrow and started gesticulating with one hand. "It must have a name, for taxes and such."
"Well, I'm sure that it does have a name, it's just not publicized."
"In that case you'll have to come up with a name."
Raoul was the first to think of something. "How about Kiwasaki's Cards?"
Aliya shot it down with a sarcastic suggestion of her own. "Yeah, or we could always call it Card Players Anonymous."
Lucien thought silently as his two friends suggested increasingly ridiculous things. The incredulity of any given idea could be measured by seeing how high Mr. Dongard's eyebrow was raised. Finally Lucien spoke.
"The Card Shop." Raoul and Aliya turned simultaneously.
"What?"
"We should call it The Card Shop. It's original, and it's what we've always called it."
Mr. Dongard seized upon the opportunity. "The Card Shop it is then. A few things that the speaker neglected to mention: first of all, multiplayer duels may happen. For instance if there is a draw, meaning that there has been a win, a loss, and a tie for each side the final outcome will be decided by a two on two duel. Multiplayer duels may be decided at other times as well. Secondly, did any of you invite people for the side event?" He looked meaningfully at Lucien, who responded.
"Yes, I invited several people. They have a letter of recommendation, signed by me. They should be arriving within the hour."
Mr. Dongard nodded. "Anyone else?"
Raoul scratched his head. "Well, I have a friend who said he might come and do it."
"Have you given him any written accommodation?"
Raoul looked puzzled. "What?"
Lucien intervened. "Did you give him a letter so that the officials know that he's been sponsored?"
"Well, no. He might not come."
Lucien closed his eyes in irritation, but Mr. Dongard was the one to reply. "In that case he may not participate."
Raoul considered arguing. Then he realized that he was outnumbered and overmatched. And so he recognized defeat and led the group to the car which in turn took them to the tournament location. Lucien saw a car drive up and excused himself saying that he had to attend to his advisees. The rest could only take this to mean the ones that he had sponsored to try out for the traveling entertainer gig, whoever they might be. Truth be told, his teammates were almost glad for a brief respite. He was being rather more irritable than usual.
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Lucien re-appeared just in time for the announcement of which team was going to be facing them. It looked like they were up against a team from a city in an area near D.C. They didn't look too tough: a couple of affluent upstarts who happened to be able to duel. He looked at his team and realized that they were just an affluent girl, an upper middle class boy, and another of the lower middle class, but upstarts all. Everyone's a newbie at this point.
They had two girls and a boy, the flip side of The Card Shop's combination. Soon a judge appeared and called out to the teams, and the audience at large.
"Will the team captains please come forward?" While he tried to imitate the famous judges on television, with wild and abrupt hand movements, the performance seemed lackluster. Probably because he kept looking around to make sure he was doing everything right. And even when he gave orders, they sounded like questions. Fun, a judge with low confidence; this way if he makes a ruling I don't like I can get him to change it by arguing.
Lucien came up to the judges platform and met the team captain of the other team; a tall girl with short brown hair. He spoke first.
"How do you want to do this? I'm going to send up Aliya and then Raoul. If you haven't been defeated twice by then I'll duel."
The girl tried to look confident, and sub-consciously raised her chin and stuck out her chest. "Thank you for the information. All we have to do up here is shake hands. I'm not going to complain." Well, maybe it wasn't all feigned confidence. Well, that was stupid of me. Then again, what I said isn't binding… but no. I can beat them without going against what I said. I'm not going to be marked as a liar.
Lucien smiled falsely and shook her hand. "You're going to need all the help you can get." They both walked down and sat on the benches next to the ring. To Raoul's delight there was a cooler of drinks and snacks under the bench, clearly meant for their enjoyment. He grabbed a soda.
Lucien nodded towards Aliya and she took her place in the duel station and inserted their decks. Aliya's gem turned rainbow as her opponent's (it was the only boy on the opposing team), revealed a plus/minus symbol in red and blue on slate. Wonder what that means. We'll find out soon enough.
The judge looked around and raised a hand up. "Match one between The Card Shop and Infinity and Beyond begins now." Amazing, it wasn't a question.
The spinner appeared and landed on the plus/minus sign. The boy drew his sixth card and the duel began. The scores appeared on the board as:
The Card Shop 2nd Lieutenant: 8000
Infinity and Beyond 1st Lieutenant: 8000
The boy started setting cards down. "I set one monster and two cards. Your turn." He had his captain's confidence without the posturing. Instead it was fluid, alternating between surety and confusion. Aliya took up her cards and examined the field.
"I summon Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer (1800/200) and attack your face down monster."
Her opponent responded. "Chain Rock Bombardment."
Aliya winced. She should have known that he would have something to stop her attack if he had two cards down. "What does it do exactly?"
"It causes me to send a Rock type monster from my deck to the graveyard and you to take 500 damage. I choose Alpha the Magnet Warrior (1400/1700)."
The Card Shop 2nd Lieutenant: 7500
Infinity and Beyond 1st Lieutenant: 8000
Kycoo sent forth a slip of paper with symbols inscribed on it that landed on the face down monster; revealed to be Gamma the Magnet Warrior (1500/1800). Aliya sighed when the attack failed to go through.
"I end my turn after setting a card."
Her opponent was about to go on a roll, one could tell by the look upon his face. Lucien took one sweeping look over the field and scowled. Aliya had better have something to combat her opponent's next move or she would be put at a disadvantage very early in the game. The turn started as her opponent flipped a card.
"I activate Call of the Haunted to revive my Alpha the Magnet Warrior (1400/1700). Next I will summon Beta the Magnet Warrior (1700/1600)." Aliya looked clueless. As far as Lucien could tell she had no idea what was coming. Her opponent waited for some reaction. He got none and proceeded with increased momentum.
"Next I will tribute all three magnet warriors for the might Valkyrion the Magna Warrior (3500/3850)!" The three monsters combined together to create a monstrosity that was over twice the height of Aliya's monster. The crowd cheered and Aliya leapt into action. Only Lucien noted that Call of the Haunted remained on the field.
"I activate Bottomless Trap Hole sending your monster well out of play." A pit opened beneath Valkyrion and it fell as if in slow motion, inexorably pulled by forces beyond its control. Lucien nodded. Evidently Aliya was a better actor than he had given her credit for. He watched with interest as Mr. Dongard irritably walked to the room that controlled the displays.
The boy watched his great warrior fall with dismay but soon recovered. "You may have stopped it, but I'm far from done. Take your turn."
"Gladly. I'll start off by summoning Banisher of the Light (100/2000) in attack mode. Then I'll play the field spell Sanctuary in the Sky." The sanctuary rose up out of the field, stopping as the roof touched the feet of the monsters. "Now I will set one card and attack with both my monsters." Kycoo sent forth another enchanted slip of paper while Banisher of the Light sent forth a thin stream of light.
It looked like Mr. Dongard had been successful in convincing the operators of the display board. The spectators could see them changing as the old lettering was deleted and the new typed in.
Aliya Renon: 7500
Infinity and Beyond 1st Lieutenant: 6100
The boy staggered and Lucien narrowed his eyes. Maybe not all of the others had their opportunity to duel with the holograms before hand. Why should his team have been given an advantage? Chance, surely. But it wasn't like chance to side with them.
Aliya's opponent regained his balance and stood up straighter than before. This time there was visible conscious effort. "Is that all you can do?"
She raised an eyebrow. "Don't worry, it won't last much longer. Kycoo's effect states that I may remove two cards from your graveyard when it inflicts battle damage. I'm going to select Beta and Gamma. Then I will set a card face down and end my turn."
He looked at his hand, examining each card before making a decision. It looked like he was being forced to make a difficult choice. "I will set one monster face down and end my turn."
Aliya knew an opportunity when she saw one. A single face down monster was easy game. "First I switch Banisher of the Light into defense mode. Then I will summon Dark Catapulter (1000/1500) in attack mode. Then Kycoo will attack your face down monster." The enchanted slip of paper disintegrated as it met with the stone face of Statue of the Aztecs (300/2000)."
The boy cleaned his finger nails idly, secure in his position once again. "My monster's ability makes you take double damage."
Aliya Renon: 7100
Infinity and Beyond 1st Lieutenant: 6100
Aliya bit her lip. This wasn't part of the plan. "I end my turn."
"Excellent! Now I'm just going to set this monster face down and end my turn."
Aliya's patience was running short. This waiting game didn't suit her. She wanted action. "I switch Dark Catapulter into defense mode and play Soul Absorption. Kycoo, attack the set monster." It appeared to reveal Alpha the Magnet Warrior (1400/1700) which was destroyed and removed from play. Soul Absorption increased Aliya's life points.
Aliya Renon: 7600
Infinity and Beyond 1st Lieutenant: 6100
"End turn."
The boy looked at the card he'd just drawn and paused. Lucien had come to the conclusion that he was a slow thinker. Then the boy finally made a move; an inconclusive one, but a move none the less. "I'll set a card and another monster. End turn."
Lucien glared at Raoul as he noisily ate one of the snack bars from under the bench.
Aliya started her turn. "During my standby phase Dark Catapulter gets a counter because it's in defense mode. First I summon Fire Princess (1300/1500). Then I will remove the counter from Dark Catapulter and remove Bottomless Trap Hole from play to destroy your set card." The card flipped up and the boy tried his hand at making dramatic gesticulations.
"I chain the card, another Rock Bombardment. I will take Gamma the Magnet Warrior and add it to my graveyard. Unfortunately it is removed from play due to your monster. You take 500 damage."
Aliya nodded.
"And Fire Princess causes you to take damage when I gain life points. I gain 1500 from Soul Absorption. That's going to put quite the swing in place."
Aliya Renon: 8600
Infinity and Beyond 1st Lieutenant: 4600
Aliya's opponent staggered as flames covered him. Aliya did her best to ignore his plight. "Now I must end my turn as I don't have anything stronger than Stone Statue of the Aztecs; yet."
The boy started grinning. "I summon Beta the Magnet Warrior (1700/1600) and attack your Dark Catapulter." A flare of sparks and Dark Catapulter was no more. Their life points shifted in accordance with Aliya's combo.
Aliya Renon: 9100
Infinity and Beyond 1st Lieutenant: 4100
"Then I set a card face down. Your turn." The boy finished off, still grinning madly.
Aliya was puzzled but went ahead with her turn. "I will have Kycoo attack Beta the Magnet Warrior. I will have its effect remove Alpha from your graveyard. That is all."
Aliya Renon: 10100
Infinity and Beyond 1st Lieutenant: 3000
The boy was still grinning. "I will now activate my trap; Return from the Different Dimension. I give up half my life points to special summon my monster cards that have been removed from play. Now, return Valkyrion and a full set of my magnet warriors."
Aliya Renon: 10600
Infinity and Beyond 1st Lieutenant: 1000
"Now I will sacrifice- no. That's what you would want me to do. Your little combo there would finish me off. So instead I will have Valkyrion attack Banisher of the Light. Then Beta will attack Fire Princess. Now I will make sure that my monsters stay on the field. Normally Return from the Different Dimension would make them all go back out of play. But now I will sacrifice all three magnet warriors for Valkyrion the Magna Warrior (3500/3850) and by my first Valkyrion's ability I will sacrifice it to return Alpha the Magnet Warrior (1400/1700), Beta the Magnet Warrior (1700/1600), and Gamma the Magnet Warrior (1500/1800) to the field. Now I end my turn."
Aliya's eyes were wide. There was an entire field full of monsters she couldn't do anything to stop. Well, no, that wasn't true. She could defeat any one of the magnet warriors but then Valkyrion would come down hard on Kycoo and her life points.
"I will switch Kycoo to defense mode and set a card. End turn."
The boy whipped the top card off his deck. "I sacrifice Stone Statue of the Aztecs for Granmarg the Rock Monarch (2400/1000). Its ability lets me destroy one face down card on the field, so I destroy your set card." Draining Shield was smashed by a flying rock and removed from the field.
Lucien could tell that Aliya was getting scared. Whoever invented Rock and Roll may have met this kid. He uses rocks and he is on a roll. I just hope Aliya gets something to stop him soon. The boy continued. "Now Alpha will destroy Kycoo and the rest of my monsters will attack directly for 9100 damage!"
Aliya Renon: 1500
Infinity and Beyond 1st Lieutenant: 1000
Shakily, Aliya made her move. "I summon my second Banisher of the Light (100/2000) and equip him with Heart of Clear Water. I end my turn."
The boy scowled. "I know what you're trying to pull. Heart of Clear Water means that your monster can't be destroyed if it has less than 1300 attack points; you forget that I will still do battle damage. Valkyrion, attack her monster and end this." Valkyrion the Magna Warrior brought down its sword; and nothing happened. Aliya's opponent was furious. "What!"
She gestured around them. "Banisher of the Light is a fairy and my Sanctuary in the Sky prevents me from taking battle damage in a battle involving a fairy. Or did you forget about my field card?" Evidently he had as he scowled angrily.
"It's your turn."
Aliya drew her card and spoke, "I can't do anything. It's your move."
He drew as well. "I'm in a similar state, though not for long. I set a card and end my turn."
As soon as Aliya had drawn he flipped his card, interrupting her turn. "Now it is time for me to seize victory. I activate Dust Tornado and wipe your Sanctuary in the Sky from the field!" A whirl wind swept through the field until it had been returned to its normal state.
Aliya Renon: 2500
Infinity and Beyond 1st Lieutenant: 1000
Aliya's eyes widened. Her hand shook. Lucien was getting really worried now. Well, that only erases about half her options. Regardless it is still possible. Barely. Before he could further analyze the odds of her loosing the duel, she had started her move. "I play Soul Release to remove all five cards in my graveyard from play."
Aliya Renon: 5500
Infinity and Beyond 1st Lieutenant: 1000
"Then I will play this card; Chaos Greed. It has the most difficult requirements to play of any card in my deck. First I must have at least four cards removed from play. Second I am allowed to have none in my graveyard. If I can meet these, I am allowed to draw two cards." A red cloaked woman appeared on the field. Aliya flinched. The woman became surrounded by chaotic energies of all colors until the storm of chaos subsided and all that was left were two glowing cards. They disappeared as Aliya drew. She closed her eyes as and steadied herself as if she was dizzy.
Raoul had told Lucien about what had happened during Aliya's duel against Sanchez. While Lucien's face showed nothing, his hands were clenched, one over the other, so hard that his knuckles had gone white.
Her opponent had been intimidated by the special effects but tried not to show it. "You can't possibly have drawn anything that can stop me."
Aliya opened her eyes.
"On the contrary; I just did. First, I will tribute Banisher of the Light for The Agent of Judgment – Saturn. Then I will play the other card I just drew; another Sanctuary in the Sky."
The boy stared at the violet fairy in disbelief. "No!"
"Yes. Saturn, use your ability, Light of Judgment!" A searing light issued forth from The Agent of Judgment and hit Aliya's opponent head on. The difference between their life points was more than enough to finish him off.
Aliya Renon: 5500
Infinity and Beyond 1st Lieutenant: 0
The judge set down his iced tea and stood up. "The winner of the duel is The Card Shop. Will each team please present their next duelist?" There he goes, questioning things again.
Raoul slapped Aliya on the back as she got down from the duel station making her stumble slightly. Lucien settled her down and got her a bottle of water from the cooler, quietly nodding with a soft smile. He didn't have much time to congratulate her as his attention was needed on Raoul. The next duel was about to start.
And it was going to be a big one. Infinity and Beyond's captain had reprimanded her team mate and was walking up to the duel station herself. Lucien hoped Raoul would win.
Lucien had changed his deck since he had lost everything. That didn't mean he was completely sure of the changes. He had almost reverted back to the one that won him the Regional but decided against it. He just had a gut feeling that the same luck that had allowed his final victory might not stick with him here. And gut feelings are always right, right?
I wish I knew.