The duel was looking grim for both duelists.
Rocky had lost more than 50 percent of his deck, and Nick was hanging on by 2050 life points.
However the duel was still up in the air, Rocky had 4 cards left in his hand, his life points were at 7400, and on the field, he had a Wasteland field magic card, and in face up defense mode were his Giant Soldier of Stone, Stone Statue of The Aztecs, and a Valkyrion the Magna Warrior, and one card facedown.
Nick had 7 cards in his hand, A Royal Keeper facedown, Swarm of Locusts, Ekibyo Drakmord which was affecting Valkyrion, and two cards facedown. "I end my turn." He said.
Rocky drew his next card and said, "I sacrifice my Stone Soldier to set a monster in defense mode, then I set these 4 cards and end my turn."
Nick drew his next card, "I'm not taking any chances with you pal, I know you got something planned and it's not going to work, I reveal Nobleman of Cross out, and Destroy your facedown monster!"
His magic card flipped up, and a blinding light fired out, destroying the monster without effort, it was giant sphinx and it crumbled to dust, (1900/2600).
"Ancient Sphinx, nice try, but now all you have to protect your self is you're statue." Nick stated.
"Not quite kid, I've still got more that enough to defeat you." Rocky said.
"Is that so? I'll end my turn by switching my My Locusts into facedown Defense mode." Nick said.
Rocky drew his card, and watched as the Magna Warrior's head blew up! The rest followed soon after, leaving him with his statue alone.
"God, I love it when that happens." Nick smiled.
"Laugh it up. I summon Muka Muka!" Rocky said, as his monster appeared, it looked like a small bug, with six pink legs with green underbelly, its red compound eyes were glowing, and its top was full of smoke vents! (800/500).
"Ha Ha Ha! What the hell do you think you're going to do with that thing?" Nick nearly broke out in tears.
"I thought u'd say that, so I made sure I had this ready. I reveal my Card of Sanctity! Giving me 6 cards, and powering my monster by 1800 attack points!"
Muka 2's attack jumped up to 2600, "Watch as he destroys the Royal Keeper, attack!" He called out, as his monster dove at the card and shredded Nick's monster to bits.
"I end my turn." He said, and watched Nick draw his next card.
Not good, he may have only a few more cards left in his deck, but still he's got me in a jam, he still has 4 cards facedown, and any of them could stop my Locusts if I try to use its effect, I'm running low on options. I hope this card works.
"I play the Magic Card Reasoning, Call out a monster level."
"Fine, all the monsters you've played so far have been level 4, so I chose that."
Nick drew his next card, and sighed, "Nice guess, but not this time, I call My Freed the Matchless General!" He said, as a mighty warrior, clad in armor and a cape, he carried a large broadsword, and his hair was a long and blonde. (2300/1700).
"I think not, Offerings to the Doomed!" Rocky called out, as his facedown card activated, and out of it came multiple beams of energy, that lanced out towards the General.
But the General's armor canceled the magic, "I guess you forgot about my guy's effect to cancel magic targeted at him."
"Dang." Rocky complained.
"I set this card, and end my turn. Go ahead and try me." Nick dared.
"Before I begin my turn, I activate my Reckless Greed! This allows me to draw my 2 next two cards at the costs of my next two draw phases, but since I don't get one from my offerings, I only get to miss one more!"
Rocky drew his next two cards, and said, "I'll end my turn, so go ahead and try me."
"Get your own lines." Nick said, "I use my monster's effect to allow me to draw a 4 star warrior instead of another card, and I choose to play this!"
A female warrior appeared alongside the two others, she had long brown hair, a delicate face, but wore the outfit of a Dark Scorpion Thief. In her hands was a barbed whip, and one her right arm was the tattoo. "I give you Meanae the Thorn." (1000/1800).
"Next I play the magic of Secret Pass to the Treasures, allowing her to attack your life points!" He said, "But before that I play this! Dark Scorpion Poison!" He loaded the card, and watched as she swung her whip and slashed at him.
Rocky used his Duel Brace to block, but his life points dropped to 6400.
"Now thanks to her ability, I can get one of the cards that have to do with the Dark Scorpions from my deck or grave yard." He said, taking one from his deck.
"I set 2 cards and switch my General into Defense mode I end my turn." He said.
"My turn, and I activate the Jar of Greed, allowing me to take one card." He said, and did so, his hand now was 9 cards, giving his monster 3500 attack points.
"I'll destroy the Matchless General, so you can't choose your cards anymore." He said, as his monster struck the general, and blew him to bits!
Nick was surprised, "Hey why didn't you go after Meanae? One, attack and I'd be dead."
"I still see more than one facedown card, and I'm not falling for any of your traps, so I chose to make your options less available. So I end my turn." He said.
"Fine, I draw." He looked at the card and said, "Take this Card Destruction!" Nick dumped his 5 cards into the graveyard and drew 5 more.
Rocky had to now drop 9 cards into his graveyard, and redrew 9 more, leaving his deck with now a very sparse number of cards left.
"And since it's my standby phase, my Poison inflicts 500 battle damage points to your lifepoints, and allows me to draw the one last Dark Scorpion card from Meanae's effect." He said, as he drew the last card.
"Don't be so happy yet, when you activated Card Destruction, you activated these! Elephant Statues of Blessing and Disaster!" He said, as the two cards engaged. A large red elephant appeared and roared at Nick, dropping his life points down to 50! While a Blue elephant appeared alongside Rocky and gave him 2000 extra life points!
"You're hanging by a thread Nicky, one breath and you're finished."
"Don't be so sure yet! I sacrifice my Swarm to summon Grog the Strong to the field!" He said, as a giant muscle bound man in a Dark Scorpion outfit holding a mace appeared, (1800/1500).
"Now I reveal my Monster Reborn, and Bring back Don Zaloog!" He said, as the Leader of the Dark Scorpions appeared along side his teammates, (1400/1500).
"And now I play this, Mustering of The Dark Scorpions, allowing me to summon my Chick the Yellow and Cliff the Trap Remover!"
Chick, despite the name, was a boy kid, wearing the same outfit, but had dirty blonde hair that was cut like a broom, on his back was a large mallet, and his stats were (1000/1000).
Cliff was a grown man with sandy brown hair, he wore glasses, and carried a small dagger, same outfit, but had a very vicious grin on his face. (1200/1000).
"Behold my Dark Scorpion Burglar Team!" Nick said, as all 5 monsters were ready for battle.
"There's a little problem with your math, I may only have one monster on the field, but his stats are double all yours." Rocky stated.
"Yeah, but you're monster isn't the target. You are!" Nick said, his eyes glaring.
"What!?" Rocky demanded.
"Reveal facedown cards, Robbin' Zombie, Robbin Goblin, and Dark Scorpion Combination! This is the end for you, Watch as my monsters strike you directly!"
All of Nick's monsters lunged at Rocky, each swung a weapon at him.
Rocky formed a wide Rema Barrier to block the strikes, but the combined effort of the monsters sent him skidding back wards! (Lp, 6400).
However, then the other cards effects kicked in, 5 cards from his hand were lost to the graveyard, and so were 5 from the top of the deck, both were attributed to the Robbin' cards. But then the Dark Scorpion effects, Muka Muka was sent back to Rocky's hand, and 5 cards were sent to the grave yard from his deck. And finally Meanae returned the combination card back to Nick.
Rocky pulled himself back up, and realized he was down to his last two cards, but he revealed his trap card! "I activate my Des Counterblow!" He said, as 5 red beams fired and blew away all of Nick's monsters.
"So we're both out of monsters eh? I set these two cards and I end my turn."
Rocky drew his next card, "I summon my Legendary Jujitsu Master! (1500/2000). "I attack you directly for the win!" He said, almost in a rant.
"I reveal my Hero Emerges, and since it's my only card in my hand, I can summon it to intercept your strike." Nick said, as his monster appeared.
"I still attack, all I need is hit you!" Rocky said.
But appearing in front of the Monster he summoned, appeared a large purple dragon, with a regular dragon torso from the waist down, however where the neck should go, there was a large spike, and where the arms would be, there were twin necks, each with a dragon's head on the end, each with eyes aimed at the master. (1500/1200).
The Jujitsu Master swung his fist to try and crush the dragon, but the dragon released a powerful flame, causing the two monsters to explode in the impact.
"I win! I win!" Rocky said, hysterically.
"No, you don't. Luck's out for you pal. See my Dragon is one for speedy recoveries." He said, as the Dragon remerged, (1000/1000).
"No..No! This can't be!" Rocky shouted.
"This duel is over, you may have the life points to live, but with one card left, once I attack, the zombie card will take it away, and that means at your next turn, you won't have a card to draw. You lose." Nick explained, as his dragon flew in for the kill.
"Good bye Champ, Twin Headed Behemoth Attack now with Duo Fire Barrage!" He said, as the dragon let loose a powerful burst of flame that slammed into Rocky, sending his last card to the graveyard, and winning the Game for Nick.
Nick looked at his duel brace, and read the 50 LP marker, "Been a while since I've been down this low. But enough of that, I got to get back to the castle." He said, turning around.
"Watch your back!" A voice called out from the trees.
Nick, without thinking flipped to his side, as a green, stony arm smashed into the ground where he was standing.
"You won't get away with this!" Rocky shouted, inside the form of the Master.
"Flame Saber Incineration!"
A massive wave of fire descended from the trees, and nailed the rock master, but it merely pushed him aside.
Nick looked up to see Aaron and The Dark Fire Soldier waiting up in the trees.
"Looks like you can use a hand." Aaron said.
"Aaron? Never mind me; the Castle is going to be attacked by Dan! You got to stop him!" Nick called out.
V suddenly froze, Dan, the Horseman of War, oh great.
"V, you go back and help them out at the castle, I'll stay and fight." Aaron said.
"What!? You shouldn't even be moving."
"If this Dan is so special, you're needed back there. I can handle myself. Now GO!" Aaron said, as he slowly headed down the tree.
V gave the kid one last look, before jumping through the trees back to the castle.
Nick slammed the Don Zaloog card back on the Duel Brace, "SPIRIT MERGE!"
In a bright flash of light, he emerged, and drew his guns. "Never bring fists to a gun fight, so eat lead!" He started firing rounds right into the Rock hard monster, but the bullets were barely scratching the hide!
"Now this isn't funny." Nick said, as the Master swung his fist, and sent Don flying backwards.
Just then, he hit something hard to stop his flailing. He turned around to see the form of Gearfried.
"Aaron? What the hell are you doing?"
Just then, the iron knight vanished, leaving the tired boy back to normal.
"Saving your ass." He said, holding up a card, "I think you could use this." It was the Magical Marionette.
"Wha...How'd you...No...I can't." Nick sputtered, seeing his favorite card in front of him, but scared at the same time.
"Nick, I saw what happened at the tournament, how this card seemingly came alive. But I know this card is apart of you, there is no reason to fear it." Aaron said.
"But I can't, that card could have killed everyone in the crowd." Don said.
"I don't think so, you won't kill those people, why should this guy?" Aaron said.
"Shut up and FIGHT!" Rocky shouted as he swung his fist at them.
Aaron engaged a card in his duel brace, "NEGATE ATTACK!"
A swirling vortex surrounded the two, as the Granite Brain slammed against it, trying to break in.
"I can't keep him out forever, Nick. So either you get over it and summon this guy to help you, or I'll do it." Aaron stated.
Nick looked in shock, No way, this guy is supposed to be bedridden for a week, and he's doing better against Rocky than I am. But he can't be serious, if he tries, what little Rema he got back will be sucked right out of him.
But Aaron closed his eyes, and the card began to glow, and a swirling energy vortex started to form.
NO! I can't let him do it, if I did, I'd be the same scared kid I was back then.
Don's form vanished, and Nick's remained, he grabbed the card from Aaron's hands, and slammed it onto his duel brace. "MAGICAL MARIONETTE, I SUMMON YOU!!!"
A powerful burst of energy shot out of the card, and flew right into the sky, to reveal a figure, in light purple armor, a crimson red cape on his back, his face was covered by a mask, he carried a strange ominous presence as he floated above them all.
Nick was frozen, the true form of his card had come and was ready to fight for him.
Rocky was scared, "No! This can not be! You should be too afraid to play that card!"
"A friend of mine showed me what I've been running from wasn't worth all those years of hesitation. Prepare to taste true power!" Nick said, as the Marionette's arms crossed and a large puppet appeared holding a pair of blades.
"BE GONE!" Nick called out, as the monster slashed his blades, and sent the Jujitsu Master flying over the trees and into the distance.
Nick calmed down, and watched as his monster nodded at him, then vanished back into the card in his hand.
"Till the next time," Nick said, "So you ready to get back to the castle?"
"Alright, let's get going then." Aaron said.
Nick put the Twin Headed Behemoth card in his duel brace, and the Dragon appeared, "You afraid of heights?"
Aaron wallowed in grief, "Why me?"