Isaaru, Episode 2 Summon, the Ultimate Warrior

Having been declared the winner of his very first tournament match, Isaaru plays his way through the remaining rounds of the tournament, with great ease, and finds himself in the top-8 of the tournament. He wins his first match, closely, and has more difficulty with the next match. Isaaru is seen sitting the table at the very front of the hall. He has, in front of him, a fusion monster card known as the "Raging Swordsman of Landstar," one of his favourite cards, and he is about to make his final attack.

"And now I'll use Raging Swordsman of Landstar to attack your Jinzo, ending the game," says Isaaru to his penultimate opponent, his sister Tori finishing her game right next to them at the same time.

"Nice work Isaaru," says the Tournament Organiser, as he steps forward and shakes Isaaru's hand. "I can see a bright future for you around here." Having finished his match, Isaaru walks over to the next table, where his sister has just finished her match, with a big smile on her face.

"So?" asks Isaaru, "Who won? Who's my next opponent?"

"You'll never believe this, but I'm your final opponent," responded Tori.

"Ah! But…I've never been able to beat you before."

"I know. This is going to be fun."

The tournament organiser steps up to his microphone to announce the final match pairings, "Well everyone! We've had an eventful tournament here, with some major upsets and some major surprises. The final match will be between Isaaru and Tori. They have 30 minutes in which to prepare their decks and modify them if they wish to do so."

Isaaru can't think of anything he can possibly do to his deck, so he walks around the groups of people and tries to trade away some of his worse cards. All of a sudden, Dominic comes over to him, with a single card held in his hand.

"Could I speak with you for a moment, Isaaru," whispers Dominic, so that no one else can hear him. "I have something to give you." Dominic goes with Dominic, and he is shown a brand new fusion monster card that he doesn't recognise. "This is a new Landstar monster, only recently released. I can't use it, but I thought that maybe you can."

"You serious?" asks Isaaru, confused as to why Dominic would try to help him. "You mean, you want me to have this card."

"Yeah, just put it to some good use against that sister of yours."

"Great! Thanks a lot. I won't let you down."

"I know you won't." Dominic starts to walk off, but he turns around and shouts back to Isaaru, "Hey, Isaaru. You and I will meet again, and next time, I will not lose. I promise you."

"Don't get your hopes up. I can't lose," responds Isaaru. He has a big smile across his face, and he looks at the clock and sees that he only has a couple of minutes left before the match starts. He looks over at the table where his match will start, and sees Tori sitting down, beckoning him over. He adds the new card he got to his fusion deck, and goes over to the table to face his sister.

He now finds himself in the final match, against his sister, Tori. Determined to beat his sister, for the first time, he shuffles her deck, and sits down opposite her.

"Tori," says Isaaru. "I just want to say, I appreciate everything you've done to help me in this tournament. But now, I'm afraid I have to put all of that aside. I won't expect you to go easy on me, as I won't on you. It's time to duel, sis!"

"Likewise, brother," replies Tori, as she hands Isaaru's deck back to him. "Let's duel!"

"And now," shouts the tournament organiser, "We come to the final match of this tournament. Competitors, shake hands (Isaaru and Tori shake hands), and start your duel. Due to lengths of previous matches, and other various statistics, Tori has been the most outstanding duellist here, and so she will start this match off."

"Very well. Time to duel!" announces Tori, as she draws six cards from the top of her deck. "To start things off, I'll simply play one card face down, and summon Royal Knights (1300/800) in attack mode." She throws down a card with a picture of a shining knight on the front, holding a small sword glowing with energy. "With that, I'll end my turn."

"Well, decent start sis, but it just isn't good enough," remarks Isaaru, as he also picks up 6 cards from his deck. "I'll start by summoning the Knight of Landstar (500/2200) in defence mode, and playing two face down cards to protect him. That'll end my turn."

"That is a good start, but now I'll show you why that tactic won't work against me. I'll draw, and summon a level 6 monster to the field without making a sacrifice."

"Huh?" questions Isaaru. "You can't do that!"

"Well, I have some new cards since we last played each other. I summon the all-powerful Lightning Gear – Ouka (2400/1400) in attack mode. You see, I can summon this monster without a sacrifice, as long as I send this card to the graveyard at the end of my turn. I'll also play the spell card, Double Summoning. Playing this lets me discard 1 card in my hand (sends "Purple Declarer" to the graveyard) to have an extra normal summon this turn. So, I'll summon Banisher of the Light (100/2000), in defence mode. As long as Banisher is on the field, any card that would be sent to the graveyard is removed from the game instead. Now then, I'll attack your wimpy Knight with my Lightning Gear!"

"I don't think so! I'm sorry sis, but I play the trap card Magic Cylinder! This will negate your attack, and send it back at you as a direct attack on your life points." With that, Tori screams, as she loses 2400 of her life points.

Isaaru – 8000, Tori – 5600

"Fine then," scowls Tori. "I'll set one card face down, and end my turn. Since I end my turn, my Lightning Gear – Ouka is destroyed, and removed from the game with Banisher's effect."

"Good. Now I can play something," responds Isaaru. "I'll draw one card, and summon my Jerry Beans Man (1750/0) in attack mode. Then, I can play the equip spell, Sword of the Soul Eater. Playing this allows me to tribute any number of level 3 normal monster cards on my side of the field to give one of my other cards a power boost, so I'll tribute Knight of Landstar, to give Jerry Beans Man another 1000 attack points (2750/0). With that, I'll use him to attack your Royal Knights!" (Tori 5600 – 2750 + 1300 4150)

Isaaru – 8000, Tori - 4150

"Well then. That was a very amateurish move, wasn't it?" remarks Tori. "You didn't need Jerry Beans Man's power up, and now you've left yourself vulnerable for an attack. I draw! And now I'll summon another Lightning Gear monster, and the most powerful of them all. I'll first play the spell card Book of Moon, which allows me to switch Jerry Beans into defence mode, destroying his power-up."

"No! That leaves me defenceless."

"It sure does. I'll now sacrifice Banisher of the Light to summon Lightning Gear – Rumbling Dragon (2900/1800) in attack mode! My monster is a level 8 card, but it only takes 1 tribute if it gets destroyed during the end of my turn. Also, he has the effect that is known as trample, where he deals damage to your life points, regardless of which position your monster is in. So, I'll use it to attack your face-down Jerry Beans Man!" Isaaru doesn't have anything useful to protect his monsters, and his life points drop to within only a thousand of Tori's. (Isaaru 8000 – 2900 + 0 5100). "But I'm not done, yet. I'll pay 1000 of my life points (Tori 4150 – 1000 3150) to activate the permanent trap card, Skill Drain! As long as this stays on the field, all monster effects are negated, which means that my Lightning Gear monster is not destroyed at the end of my turn, which is now."

Isaaru – 5100, Tori – 3150

"Well it looks as if Isaaru's lucky streak comes to an end, right here folks!" announces the tournament organiser. Dominic is watching the duel from a distance.

"Come on Isaaru. Use the card I gave you," he whispers under his breath.

"Well then, I think it's time I played something, don't you? I'll draw my card, and activate it, Pot of Greed! This allows me to draw two cards from my deck, and one of them is this one, Card of Demise! This is another draw engine. It allows me to draw 5 cards from my deck, as long as I discard my whole hand after five turns." He looks at his new cards, and sees a way he may be able to beat his sister after all. "Ok then sis, ready to start losing?"

"Hardly," replies Tori.

"Well, you should be. I activate the spell card, Landstar Forces! This spell card allows me to special summon any number of normal Landstar monsters from my hand to the field, and I have 3! I summon Swordsman of Landstar (500/1200), Brigadier of Landstar (900/1200) and Grappler of Landstar (1000/500)."

"Yeah, I know you have that card. That's all well and good," says Tori, "but none of them come close to my Lightning Gear monster."

"I know that, but my next few cards will match your monster, point for point. I activate Monster Reborn, which allows me to bring Knight of Landstar (500/2200) back to the field. And now, I can reveal my face-down card, Landstar Unison!"

"Landstar Unison?" gasps Tori. "You didn't have that card in your deck before!"

"Yeah, well my deck has been updated as well."

"Good work Isaaru," whispers Dominic. "Now show her what that new monster can do."

"I activate Landstar Unison, which allows me to summon a monster in my fusion deck, which normally would be very hard for me to summon. Normally, the monster I'm about to summon would be a fusion of 2 fusion monsters, taking 3 Polymerization cards to summon. But with this spell card, I can skip those fusion stages, and fuse these four monsters in front of me to summon the card straight away!"

"Ah!" shouts Tori, evidently surprised by this new card.

"Therefore, I sacrifice all four of my Landstar monsters, to summon The Ultimate Warrior of Landstar! (2900/2300)"

"Ultimate Warrior?"

"Yes. This card is one the most powerful Landstar monsters ever released. It has a similar effect to its fusion materials. During each of my stand-by phases, its level is reduced by 2 stars. He has a second ability, but that is irrelevant for now. I'll lay two cards face-down, just in case, and equip my warrior with the Fusion Sword – Murasame Blade. This gives him an extra 800 attack points, more than enough to destroy your monster. I'll now attack your Lightning Gear with my Ultimate Warrior, and take another big chunk out of your life points." (Tori 3150 – 3700 + 2900 2350)

Isaaru – 5100, Tori - 2350

"Grrr," growls Tori, under her breath. "Well, you took down my Lightning Gear monsters, but I have some other cards I can easily beat you with. I'll draw, and start out with Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy my own Skill Drain card, and then I'll summon a monster known as Reiyad of Relief! (1400/1500) Then, I'll activate the spell card Swords of Revealing Light!"

"And that's where you're wrong. I'll respond to your spell card, with Magic Jammer. I can discard the last card in my hand to the graveyard to negate your spell and destroy it."

"And that is again, where you are wrong! Firstly, when a counter trap card, like Magic Jammer, is activated, my Reiyad's effect comes into play. This allows me to return two fairy monsters that have been removed from play in this duel to my hand. And one of the cards I return is this one, Purple Declarer! When Purple Declarer is in my hand, and you activate a trap card in my turn, I can discard Purple Declarer to the grave yard, along with my Lightning Gear – Ouka, which I just recovered too, to negate your trap, allowing my Swords card to remain on the field. Too bad." Isaaru sighs as he is forced to add Magic Jammer to his graveyard as well. "Now then, you can't attack for another three turns, and I have a monster on the field just in case you manage to seep through my defences. It's your turn."

"At last! I think I'll draw," starts off Isaaru. He looks at the card he has picked up, and sees "Landstar Shot." "Well, I'd might as well not waste this. I'll just end my turn, but of course Ultimate Warrior is now a level 5 monster."

"Very well. I'll draw my card, and just summon a second monster to the field: Artemis of Harvest (1600/1700) in attack mode. With that, I'll end my turn."

"Good. My turn now, and I'll play the continuous spell card, Level Limit Area – B! This turns all of our monsters into defence mode, if they have 4 stars or more." With that, both of Tori's monsters are turned into defence position, being level 4 monsters, but Isaaru doesn't change his Ultimate Warrior.

"Shouldn't you change your warrior's position then?" asked Tori.

"Nope," responded Isaaru. "My monster, since it has been in play for 2 turns, is now a level 3 monster. Anyway, I'll end my turn now."

"Well, there's nothing I can do. I'll draw one card, the spell card Pot of Greed! Now I'll draw 2 cards, set one of them face-down and end my turn."

"Now, I'll finish this, your Swords of Revealing Light is now destroyed, so I can go ahead and attack your monsters. I'll draw, set one card face-down, and now, my Swordsman's special effect comes into play. When he is a level 1 monster, his attack points are doubled, which now gives him a total of 6600 attack points!"

"Come into my trap," whispers Tori.

"Now, I'll use Ultimate Swordsman to attack your Reiyad of Relief!"

"And that is where you fail. I'll activate to counter trap card, Mirror Force, destroying your Ultimate Swordsman."

"Ah! No! My swordsman."

"But that's not all. First, Reiyad of Relief grants me 2 fairy monsters that had been previously destroyed and removed from play, and by Artemis of Harvest lets me draw 1 card, but most importantly, you've triggered the effect of my ultimate fairy monster. When I successfully activate a counter trap, I am allowed to sacrifice all of my monsters in play, and summon the Bringer of Judgement – Boltenis! (2800/1400). When Boltenis is summoned, I can destroy one card on your side of the field for every fairy monster I sacrificed to summon it, so I'll destroy your Level Limit Area – B, and that pathetic face-down card."

"But, that was my last defence!" exclaimed Isaaru.

"That's right. And now it's my turn. I summon Lightning Gear – Skyflash (1000/500) in attack mode. This monster lets me draw one card when it does damage to your life points with a direct attack. It's time for you to lose this tournament. Skyflash, Boltenis, attack him directly." She points her finger at Isaaru, as his life points drop down to below hers for the first time in the duel. (Isaaru 5100 – 2800 – 1000 1300)

Isaaru – 1300, Tori – 2350.

"I'll end my turn, and see if you can come back from that crushing blow."

"I only have one card with which to turn this game around," sighs Isaaru. "Let's see now." He picks up his card, and smiles. "I've drawn, the spell card Graceful Charity! I'll activate it, so I can draw 3 cards, and discard 2 of them." He draws 3 cards, and picks out the one he wants to keep. "I'm sorry sis, but it's time for me to win this duel. I activate the spell card, Premature Burial! I have to give up 800 life points to play this card, but it is worth it (Isaaru 1300 – 800 500). I can now special summon my Ultimate Warrior of Landstar (5800/2300) to the field, in attack mode. You see, when I special summon my Warrior from my graveyard, he keeps the number of stars he had when he was destroyed in the field."

Isaaru – 500, Tori - 2350

"Well, that really is the end of the duel. Well done Isaaru," says Tori, knowing what is about to happen. "Go ahead, finish this."

"With pleasure," replies Isaaru, a tear dripping down his face. "Now, I'll attack your Bringer of Judgement – Boltenis, with my Ultimate Swordsman of Landstar, ending the game!" (Tori 2350 – 5800 + 2800 0)

Isaaru – 500, Tori – 0

"I lost to you. At last. Well done Isaaru, very well done." By this time, Isaaru is crying, with tears of joy, and he collapses into his sisters arms.

"Thank you Tori. Thank you so much," cried Isaaru. He stands up, and composes himself as the Tournament Organiser comes over to him with his prizes for winning the tournament.

END

Next time (Chapter 3: Arrival of the Gods)

As Isaaru wins the tournament, he is confronted by a large, shady figure who tells him of a major international tournament in the ruins of Domino city, in which legendary duellists such as Mai Valentine, Joey Wheeler and Bastion Misawa would be competing. He has always been keen to see Domino city, the site at which his heroes duelled in the youth of their careers, and he and his sister are whisked away. They are given brand new duel disks by this new character, but the plane they are in is suddenly taken out of control. The shady figure explains that this is a test of Isaaru's skills as a promising duellist. He straps on a duel disk of his own, and inserts his deck into the slot. Isaaru responds in the same way, and they stand, facing each other, ready to draw their first cards.

New cards used in this chapter (which are not in the TCG):

Ultimate Warrior of Landstar

Warrior / Fusion / Effect / EARTH

2900 / 2300 / 7

"Raging Swordsman of Landstar" + "Impregnable Brigadier of Landstar"

The fusion summon of this card can only be conducted with the above fusion material monsters. During each of your own standby phases in which this card is face-up on your side of the field, decrease the level of this card by 2 stars. When the level of this card is equal to 1 star, then the original ATK and DEF values of this card are doubled. If this card has been destroyed by a card effect, and it is special summoned from the graveyard, then this monster's level becomes the number of stars that this card had when it was sent to the graveyard.

Landstar Forces

Normal Spell / SPELL

Special Summon any number of normal monsters from your hand with the word "Landstar" in its card name.

Landstar Unison

Quickplay Spell / SPELL

Tribute a face-up "Swordsman of Landstar," "Brigadier of Landstar," "Grappler of Landstar" and "Knight of Landstar" on your side of the field and special summon one "Ultimate Warrior of Landstar" from your fusion deck.

Double Summoning

Normal Spell / SPELL

Discard one card from your hand to the graveyard, in order to be able to normal summon 2 monsters during the turn this card is activated.