Isaaru, Episode 5 The qualifying round! Machines vs. Fairies! (Part One)

Tori was led away from Isaaru and the landing pad by a woman dressed in a light grey suit, with round glasses, a clipboard in her hand, and an attractive look about her. Tori was led around to the back of the island, and they walked for close to fifteen minutes before reaching a large building, similar to a gymnasium, or an auditorium. Tori was then shown her way inside, to a small desk, with another attractive woman sitting at it. The woman had a list of names and numbers in front of her, and she was skimming through them with her pen.

"Hey, Eileen," said the first woman, in the suit. "Here's another one for ya'." Tori was quite startled by this voice. The attractive woman seemed to have a very rough voice, and she seemed to be very fed up, or even angry with her job. The woman behind the desk was completely different however. She looked up from her statistics, and smiled at Tori.

"Hello dear," said Eileen, cheerfully. "And what is your name then?"

"Erm… Tori Watanabe," replied Tori. Having given her name, the secretary skimmed down her page until she found Tori's name on her list.

"Ah yes," said Eileen, finally. "You're the last one to arrive. Miss Rhodes is expecting you."

"Miss Rhodes?" questioned Tori. She slightly recognised the name, but couldn't put a face to it.

"Yes. Miss Alexis Rhodes. She's a pretty famous duellist around these parts. She and Mister Edo Phoenix are helping to organise this event. I'll just buzz her in, and she'll explain to you how the tournament layout is going to work." Eileen pushed a buzzer under her desk, and in two minutes, a tall, pretty girl came through a door behind Eileen's desk. She had long, straight brown hair, a pair of small, round glasses on her face, and she was wearing a similar grey suit and matching mini-skirt as the woman who led Tori into the office.

"So then, you must be Miss Watanabe then?" asked the girl. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Alexis Rhodes. I am helping Andrew Roswell, the World Champion, to organise this event. Myself, and his other PM are organising all tournament entries. I shall be allocating you to a qualifying match before you can be allowed into the tournament itself."

"Oh right," replied Tori. "May I ask, what is happening to my little brother, Isaaru?"

"Oh, your brother has just been in a duel with Andrew, our World Champion."

"Typical," said Tori. "Isaaru is always trying to prove how good he is. I guess he lost?"

"Yeah," said Alexis. "Anyway, I'm sorry to rush, but you are our last entrant, and we have an opponent lined up for you. The tournament starts officially in a few hours, and we need to get you, or your opponent enrolled in the tournament. Follow me please." Alexis walked back through the door, and Tori followed her, smiling at Eileen on her way out of the room. She was then led by Alexis through a series of short corridors, before they appeared at the top of a large arena, with two people duelling at the bottom of the room.

"And now, I play the spell card, Shield and Sword," declared the one man in the duel, who was dressed in a yellow suit. "With this card, by Labyrinth Wall (0/3000) and my Divine Protector – Exordo (0/4000) have their attack and defence values reversed, giving both of them more attack points than anything you can have face-down. And now, my Labyrinth will attack your face-down monster!" Suddenly, in the holograms that were depicting the duel below, the large rocky Labyrinth, now with 3000 attack points, disappeared from its location, and then re-appeared underneath a brown, horizontal rectangle on the ground, skewering a monster that rose out of it. "And now, my Exordo will attack your life points directly." Again, a large golden idol fired a series of bright lights at the person on the other end of the arena, causing him to fall to his knees.

"And, the winner of this duel…" began an announcer dressed in black, who had stepped into the middle of the field. "…is the one and only, Bastion Misawa! He will go on into the final tournament to play for the chance to duel the one and only Andrew Roswell for the prize of winning a job in his company."

"So that's why we're all here?" asked Tori.

"Oh yes," answered Alexis. "That's why you're all here. I'm here, along with Edo Phoenix, as Andrew's exterminators. We already have a job at the company, so we won't win a single thing if we win. We're in this to stop others winning the prize, and to have a bit of fun too."

"Ok then. At least I now know what I'm doing here. Anyway, who's my opponent going to be then?" asked Tori.

"That would be me," answered a squeaky voice. Another girl came running up to Tori and Alexis. She was holding 4 red books in her hands, and had a duel disk strapped to her arm. She was wearing large round glasses, and a baggy silver jumpsuit. She came up to the two of them, and held her hand out to Tori. "My name is Kala Misawa. I am that guy's little sister," she said, as she pointed down at Bastion, who saw her, and waved back at her, smiling. "I guess I'm the one who will ensure you don't get into this tournament."

"I wouldn't bet on it," said Tori, who was now smiling widely. She grabbed Kala's hand and shook it. "My name is Tori, and I never lose a duel."

"I heard you've lost several," replied Kala. "Like, that duel you recently had against your brother. And a duel in which you gave away the National Championships to a boy. I believe his name was Dominic?" Tori blushed brightly when she heard the name.

"Yes, I did, but those two duels are the only ones I have ever lost," said Tori, who had more or less lost her smile by now. "I think we'd better get on with this duel of ours, and see which one of is right."

"Yes, well put Tori," interrupted Alexis. "We need to find out which of you two girls will be competing in the Tournament. I'm sure both of your brothers will be anxious to find out who enters the tournament." With that, they were both led down to the duelling field, and Tori was given her duel disk. While she was being shown how to use it, Bastion approached his little sister.

"Kala," whispered Bastion. "I don't want you to lose this match. Here, I prepared a deck for you. Now go and win your duel, and we shall compete in this tournament together." He handed over a deck to his sister, who beamed as she looked through the cards. She hugged her brother, and stood up straight, looking directly at Tori.

"Don't worry, Big Brother," said Kala. "I won't disappoint you." She loaded her new deck into the slot on the duel disk, and drew five cards. Tori then pulled a deck out of the deck box clipped to her belt, and loaded it into her disk, drawing five cards also.

"Let's duel," said the two girls, simultaneously.

Tori – 8000, Kala – 8000.

"I'll go first," said Kala, drawing a card from her deck. "I summon my Machine King Prototype (1600/1500) in attack mode!" She set a card onto her duel disk, and suddenly, a hologram of a machine monster appeared. This machine monster was mostly made of white and red armour, and was sitting on a throne, like a king. "I'll then activate Double Summoning! With this spell card, I can discard one card in my hand (sends "Mighty Guard" to the graveyard), and I can have an extra normal summon this turn. With my second summon, I can summon my Red Gadget (1300/1500), in attack mode!" A red machine monster appeared on the field next to the Machine King. It had a large gear on its back and had only one eye, staring at Tori. "Also, since I now have another Machine monster out, my Prototype Machine King gains 100 extra attack points (1700/1500). And, I'm not done. By summoning Red Gadget to the field, I can draw another Gadget monster from my deck. Yellow Gadget!"

"Wow, what a turn," said Tori.

"Yes, well I'm almost done. I'll set one card face-down, and that'll end my turn," replied Kala.

"Finally," remarked Tori. "My move! I summon my Dunames Dark Witch (1800/1050) in attack mode!" A fairy creature dressed in a bright white dress appeared on the field, with long white gloves. "Now then, Dark Witch, attack her Prototype Machine King, with celestial shower!" The Dark Witch monster raised her arms into the air, and threw them down at the Machine King, so a shower of light burst from them, tearing the King into pieces (Kala 8000 – 1800 + 1700 7900). "And now, I'll set two face-down cards, to end my turn."

Tori – 8000, Kala – 7900

"Well, I would have expected more from you. Oh well. I suppose you can't be right about everything, can you?" sighed Kala. "Anyway, my move. I summon Yellow Gadget (1200/1200) to the field in attack mode! This monster allows me to draw another Gadget from my deck. So, I draw my Green Gadget to my hand. Next, I'll activate my face-down card, Ultimate Offering! With this, I can pay 500 life points and get another summoning this turn, so I summon Green Gadget (1400/600) in attack mode. (Kala 7900 – 500 7400) This will complete the cycle, allowing me to draw a Red Gadget from my deck to my hand. Now then, I activate Premature Burial. With this, I can summon Prototype Machine King from my graveyard, in attack mode (1600/1500). Also, since I have 3 other machines on the field, he gains an attack increase of 300 points (1900/1500). (Kala 7400 – 800 6600) Now my Machine King, go and attack Tori's Dunames Dark Witch and get your own back!" After a long turn of summoning weird-looking machine monsters, of all sorts of colours, Kala's reborn Machine King launched a barrage of rockets at Tori's monster, destroying it and also taking away some of Tori's life points (Tori 8000 – 1900 + 1800 7900). "And now Tori, I'll attack you directly with all of my Gadgets. Gadgets, attack!" (Tori 7900 – 1200 – 1300 – 1400 4000) The three gadget monster launched themselves at Tori, knocking her down to the ground. She then struggled to get up, having lost a lot of her energy.

Tori – 4000, Kala – 6600

Tori looked dormant. Surprised that her life points could take such a beating after just one turn, before which she had the upper hand. She looked as if she had lost the will to carry on with the match. "I need a way of rejuvenating my life points," she thought.

"You'd better think fast," said Kala. "I tell you what; I'll finish my turn and give you a bit of time to think then. I set one card face down, and end my turn. Sorry it wasn't any longer, but it's now your turn."

"Ok then," whispered Tori. Her voice was only just loud enough for Kala to hear her. Tori then drew her card, looked at it, and suddenly began to perk up. Evidently, she just drew a card that could turn the whole duel around. "Right then, it's time I just pulled off a move, as you've just done, and turn this around in my favour. First off, is my Pot of Greed card! No need to explain how this card works, but maybe you're a little slow. By playing this, I can draw two cards from my deck." She drew two cards, looked, and smiled even more than she did do before.

"What have you got to smile about then?" laughed Kala.

"Oh nothing," replied Tori. "Only that I drew more cards that will help me to win this game. I activate the spell card, Different Dimensional Designator! With this card, all I have to do is declare the name of any card I think could be in your hand, and if I guess right, then that card is removed from the game. If I guess wrong, then a random card in my hand will be removed instead. I so happen to know that you have a Red Gadget in your hand, so by removing it, you'll stop searching them out for a little while.

"I wouldn't think so Tori," replied Kala. "Sorry to spoil your fun, but I activate the trap card, Dramatic Rescue! By activating this card, I can add one monster on the field to my hand, and then special summon any monster I have in my hand to the field."

"And, how will that help?" asked Tori, not catching on to how this is a counter strategy.

"Well, this will get rid of the Red Gadget in my hand. Since you've already declared Red Gadget, then I'll return the Yellow Gadget on the field to my hand, and in response, summon Red Gadget (1300/1500) to the field in attack mode! But, more importantly, I no longer have Red Gadget in my hand for you to destroy. I have two yellow gadgets though, since I can draw another one from summoning Red Gadget to the field." At this, Tori just bowed her head once again, and sighed under her breath. "Now then, I believe this means I can get rid of a random card in your hand, can't I?"

"Yeah, you can," whispered Tori. She seemed to have gone back to the same state of mind she was in a few moments before.

"Fine then. Show me your hand then." Tori held up her hand, showing four cards. "The one on the far left then." Tori discarded the specified card in her hand, showing it to be 'Lightning Gear – Skyflash.' "Ok then, carry on with your turn then." Tori lifted her head up at these words. She looked somehow angry. Her eyes burned with passion.

"Time to end things," she said. "I summon Royal Knight (1300/800) in attack mode! This is a monster that hardly gets use din my deck, but now I have a reason for using it. If Royal Knight destroys a monster in battle, then that card's attack value is added to my life points. So now, I attack your Red Gadget with Royal Knight! Celestial Slash attack!" Tori's new, white knight lunged at the red machine monster. The sword of her knight struck down the monster's body, spawning a large crack down the middle of it. In response, the Red Gadget fired a small laser pistol at Royal Knight. Both monsters exploded into a shower of small pieces of debris. (Tori 4000 + 1300 5300) Tori looked unscathed by the subsequent cloud of dust that passed by the two of them, while Kala raised her arm to block out the dust. "I set one face down card, bringing my total to 3 face-downs, and end my turn."

Tori – 5300, Kala - 6600

"This isn't the end, as you think it to be," growled Kala. "It is far from over. I activate the trap card, Time Machine! This card brings back a monster on my field which was destroyed in this turn. So welcome back, Red Gadget! (1300/1500). Now then, let's finish this. My move!" she shouted, as she drew a card from her deck.

"Well first off, I activate Multi-Draw," replied Tori. "I can activate Multi-Draw during your stand-by phase, and if it is still in play by the end of my turn, and I have nothing in my hand, I get to draw 5 cards during my next draw phase. You may continue." (At this stage, Tori has only one card left in her hand)

"Good. I summon Yellow Gadget (1200/1200) in attack mode, allowing me to draw Green Gadget to my hand! And now, I attack your life points with all my monsters, ending the duel," said Kala. She seemed to be frustrated a bit more than usual.

"I trigger a trap card," said Tori, quietly. "I use Hallowed Life Barrier. By discarding one card in my hand, I can negate all damage done to me in this turn. So I'll discard Lightning Gear Ouka in my hand, to return the turn flow to me. Now then, since I have nothing in hand, and Multi-Draw is still in play, I draw five cards."

"How can you…" said Kala.

"I activate the spell card, Monster Reincarnation," replied Tori. Oblivious to the fact that anyone was talking to her. "With this, I can discard one card in my hand, and add Lightning Gear Ouka to my hand. Then, I'll summon my Lightning Gear monster to the field, in attack mode. (2400/1400) My monster can run right over your Machine King. Ouka, launch your lightning blast, attack. Obliterate her King." Ouka launched a stream of yellow lightning at the Machine King, bursting it into millions of tiny pieces. (Machine King has 2000 attack points, due to four machines being on the field) (Kala 6600 – 2400 + 2000 6200). Kala seemed to be thinking something to herself. She realises that Ouka is destroyed at the end of the turn it is summoned, if it is summoned without a sacrifice. This leads her to believe that Tori has begun to duel relentlessly.

Tori – 5300, Kala – 6200

Isaaru was lying down on his bed, thinking about the match he just had against Andrew. He was still distraught about his loss.

"How?" asked Isaaru, to himself. He continually said the same word over and over again, for around 5 minutes. He then decided he should go outside his room, just to check on a few things. As soon as he tried to open the door, Edo opened it for him, from the other side of the door.

"Well Isaaru, good to see you've decided to start walking again," said Edo, cheerfully. "Follow me please."

"Where are we going?" asked Isaaru.

"To see your sister lose herself in a duel," replied Edo. "I've been watching your sister's qualifying match on the television screens we have around the complex, and she's losing herself."

"How's she doing in the duel itself?" asked Isaaru.

"Not too badly, she still has lots of life points left, and so has her opponent, so they both have a long way to go. The thing is, she's lost herself in the duel. She isn't acting herself. Her attitude is completely different from when she started the duel."

"What can I do about it?"

"We thought that maybe seeing her brother may bring her spirits back. So, I'm taking you to the duel by this mobile transport unit that we have. We'll be there in about a minute or two. I just hope she doesn't lose before we get there."

"Me too," replied Isaaru. He cared very much for his Sister, and so was obviously very nervous about what might happen in the duel. "Don't worry sis. I'm coming for you."

Tori – 5300, Kala – 6200

Having realised an obvious change in Tori's attitude, Kala suddenly snapped into her duelling frame of mind again.

"Now, she has no monsters on her field, and two cards face down," thought Kala to herself. "Before, I attacked with everything, and she didn't activate either of her face-down cards, so I wouldn't think they're any threat to me. Her duelling style has changed immensely, and I don't think she realises she's left herself wide open. Now is my chance to attack, but I'll have to keep my attack within the cards I have out right now, just in case she triggers something to my summoning of a monster."

"Come on Kala," shouted Tori, who seemed to be getting worse and worse, the more the duel persisted. "I'm waiting for you. I don't exactly want to be entered into the tournament in ten hours time do I?"

"Fine then, my move!" replied Kala, drawing a card from her duel disk. "I attack your life points directly with all four of my gadget monsters!" (Tori 5300 – 1200 – 1300 – 1300 – 1400 100) Tori suddenly snapped into her senses, just as she was struck by 4 brightly coloured, yellow, green and red lasers. She fell to her knees once again, and clutched her stomach in pain. She appeared to look exactly like she did do before she began to lose herself in the duel. She looked saddened, and had once again lost the will to continue. With 100 life points remaining, it became clear to her that she did not have much longer left in the match before she lost.

Tori – 100, Kala – 6200.

Suddenly, a door opened at the top of the arena, and two men burst through it. They were Edo and Isaaru, who had managed to reach to duel arena. Isaaru hurried down the stairs of the stands, and ran up to the side of the duel arena. Tori looked up at him, and a small smile started to creep onto her face.

"Tori!" shouted Isaaru.

"Yes," she replied, quietly, still distraught.

"I know you can do this, sis," cried Isaaru. "I know you can. You helped me to win that tournament, and now I'm going to help you into this one. Just snap out of it sis!" Suddenly, Tori opened her eyes, and realised what she was doing. She stood up on her feet, and looked straight at Kala. She appeared to look herself again. She then looked down at Isaaru, and winked at him, smiling. Isaaru, started smiling too, and sat down to watch the end of the match.

"Kala," said Tori. "I'm sorry for being how I was. I wasn't focused on our match. But now, I'm fully focused on this, and I promise I won't disappoint this crowd. I activate my two face-down cards! Two copies, of Damage Condenser! With these, I can summon two monsters from my deck that have an attack value equal to, or less than the damage you just dealt to me. Therefore, I get two monsters that have less than 1400 attack points. I summon Green Declarer (300/500) and Purple Declarer (300/500), both in attack mode!"

"Nice move," replied Kala, now smiling. "Let's see how this goes. I summon Robotic Knight #1 (1600/1800) in defence mode!" A robotic soldier appeared on the field, holding a golden sword in one arm, and with a green machine gun turret on the other arm. "As long as this stays on the field in defence mode, all my machine monsters gain a boost of 500 attack and defence points."

(2100/2300) Robotic Knight #1

(1700/1700) Yellow Gadget

(1800/2000) Red Gadget

(1900/1100) Green Gadget

"Now, I also equip the spell card 7 Completed to my Robotic Knight, which gives my machine an extra 700 defence points, giving it a total of 3000 defence points (2100/3000), so it is that much harder to get past. And now, it's your move!"

"Nice move," said Tori, obviously beginning to enjoy the match. "Now, let's see what I can come up with." She rested her palm on the top of her deck, but hesitated for a moment.

"Come on Tori," cried Isaaru. "You can do it." With that, she pulled the top card of her deck from her duel disk, looked at it, and smiled.

"Now, I sacrifice my two monsters to summon this! Guardian Angel Joan! (2800/2000)" Tori threw down the very card that Isaaru gave to her. A bright light filled the field, and her two monsters disappeared, a beautiful white angel appeared from the light, and descended upon the field. Kala raised a hand to the light, as it dazzled her, and everyone watching it. "It's time to throw this duel back into my favour Kala. Time for the duel of your life!"

END (To be continued)

Next time (Chapter 6: The qualifying round! Machines vs. Fairies! (Part Two))

Tori summons the all powerful Guardian Angel Joan. Her special ability allows her to revive many of the life points she lost during the duel, and take a large chunk out of Kala's life points. Kala responds with a series of Robotic Knight monsters, which manage to defend her life points, until she draws a card which allows her to unify their powers, and possibly win her the game. Meanwhile, Dominic finds his way into Andrew Roswell's office. As Andrew is approached, he takes an interest in Dominic, and offers him a place in the tournament, as an exterminator. As Andrew introduces his new exterminator the other three he has hired, he reveals to all of his tournament participants, to layout of the tournament they will be competing in, revealing a big surprise to all of the participants. Especially Isaaru.

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

Multi-Draw

Continuous Trap / TRAP

This card can only be activated during your opponent's stand-by phase. If this card is face-up on the field during the end phase of the turn it is activated, and you have no cards in your hand, you can remove this face-up card from play to draw 5 cards during your next draw phase.

Divine Protector Exordo

Rock / Effect

EARTH

0 / 4000 / 8

(This card is being released in the Earth structure deck, as the main nomi monster, so I won't go to any lengths to find its effect for you)

Red Gadget

Machine / Effect

EARTH

1300 / 1500 / 4

When this card is summoned to the field (excluding flip summon), add one "Yellow Gadget" from your deck to your hand.

Yellow Gadget

Machine / Effect

EARTH

1200 / 1200 / 4

When this card is summoned to the field (excluding flip summon), add one "Green Gadget" from your deck to your hand.

Green Gadget

Machine / Effect

EARTH

1400 / 600 / 4

When this card is summoned to the field (excluding flip summon), add one "Red Gadget" from your deck to your hand.

Robotic Knight #1

Machine / Effect

EARTH

1600 / 1800 / 4

This card's name is treated as "Robotic Knight" while it is face-up on the field. As long as this card is face-up on your side of the field, in defense position, increase the ATK and DEF of all machine type monsters on your side of the field by 500 points.