"Okay, where is a good card shop around here?", I ask, "preferably the one where you wasted the money for those f0's, though preferably not wasting that much money myself."
"I saw a magical Merchant that didn't sell Landoise's Luminous Moss.", Hit suggests, "Also, I didn't buy f0 in this city."
"Yeah I know, but surely there is bigger variety in this weird City of nowhere.", I answer. Maybe I should've taken notes while walking with the dragons.
"Then maybe we can gather allies and look for card shops in one go.", Hit says.
That would make our reason for deciding this via dueling moot, but maybe the people that gives us hints actually want to join as well, that would destroy two Stealth Bird's in one attack.
"Hmmm, okay fine.", I say out of wisdom and humility.
Another tour of walking, it is. But since there is a Tri-Horned Dragon within our vicinity, maybe he will give us answers, as unworthy as the flavor text makes him out to be, they usually aren't stupid.
"Yo, Mr. Big and awesome Dragon!", I call out.
"Oh, it's you again, where are you parents, those dragons?", he asks.
"Uh, what?", Hit would so eye me suspiciously if he had any. I wonder how his vision even works.
"First off, there were two, second, I was paying for them, so I'd be their mother.", I clarify.
"You said would, so are you their big sister actually?", he asks
"Not either. Just rattle off every relationship you'd be willing to assume before this gag gets out of hand.", and no Tri-Horned Dragon's are not known for stuff like this.
"The only thing I was gonna ask was whether, you were a couple. Or triple in this case."
"H-Hell No! I prefer my own species! Why the fuc* are you even asking questions like that?"
"If your own flavor text calls you unworthy, your hobbies get weird.", I don't even have a clue what to name this hobby, "So whaddya ya want?"
"Why did you say 'ya' twice?", Hit asks.
"I didn't. That's one of your two questions.", he answers.
"But you didn't even mention a limit at the beginning of this conversation!", Hit complains.
"And that's your one and only complaint. Rude gestures have a limit of three, by the way.", he says. I've got an idea. I'll call it annoying people with random and unfunny stuff. But he is a necessary evil for now.
"We only wanted to ask you one thing anyway.", I say, "Is there a good card shop other than a Magical Merchant not having Landoise's Luminous Moss -non card form- in his inventory?"
"Oh, why didn't ya say so immediately? It's right next to Marmiting Captain's Restaurant! Should be around this road's corner.", he answers.
"Alright, Hit, let's go!", I order him.
Let's hope we never bring up this bizarre scene again.
We walk a safe distance away from him and Hit mutters: "I really hope he didn't take any moss himself. By the way, who are your parents? Mine are Gruesome Goo and Root Water."
I do not need that Image, even in T-rated context. K is fine though. Who even is the mother in that couplet?
"Do you really need to know? It's certainly, not as suprising of a combination.", I try to dodge it, "N-not that I'm bothered by how yours they look! I *ucking am not!"
"You can admit. I'm kind of weirded out by humanoid monsters doing these things as well.", Hit says, "Anyway, Marmiting Captain's Restaurant is here and the shop is indeed right next to it!"
"Then let's fetch some tuners and fusions, Baby.", I smirk.
The store owner is a Card Trader, though he doesn't have the same sketchy smirk as its card artwork. Or the Dark Aura. As for other customers, there's an Acorno and a Pinecono in the corner.
"Yo, Trader, do we actually trade cards like your name says?", I ask.
"Actually, my name is Hans.", maybe he'd make good friends with Supply, "And Indeed, those are the workings, you give one card to me I give one to you. Of course, some of the rarer cards are not exchanged evenly."
"Huh, I guess I can exchange Ancient Gear Beast for more sensible placeholders.", Hit muses.
I look at the selection he presented, Effect Veiler, Junk Synchron, Blackwing Breeze the Zephyr (btw, I'm only listing the Tuners for now) and a bunch of trashy ones.
"*sigh* *hit, Guess I have to give away Flying Fish and Goat, for Veiler and Junk Synchron."
"I am noticing that you hold 42 cards in your deck. Surely you could spare more than one for a card. Because I do have some cards more specialized towards Ebon Magician Curran.", Card Trader suggests.
I actually have more than that and look into my bag, (which, yes I only now mention, don't at me, nobody cared before) And looked if there was something I didn't need, but might have been good enough for Card Trader.
"Here's a few.", the identity and exact amount of cards probably won't be forshadowing, so I won't tell you until the glorious moment of their debut, "And how about a semi-generic fusioning Spell on top?"
"I don't have a card semi-specialized to you in that regard, so A Dragon's Mirror and/or Polymerization will have to do.", he says.
"Fine by me.", as long as I can summon both of the 2 big dudes, "Your turn, Hit, maybe I can get another customer for a test-out."
And then you can see the card's I got in the next duel. I'm sure the Heart of the Cards will be with me. And as for customer to playtest against, of course, I'll pick the 2 nuts/fruits (whatever Pinecones and Acorns Count as, I'm no heckin' botanist)
"Yo, ya two wanna playtest?"
"Huh, Pinecono do we?", Acorno asks, trying to make a thinking face without much in the way of facial muscles.
"Maybe, Acorno do we have other plans for today?", Pinecono furrows his pinecone head instead of his brows.
"Actually, there are none. We're just leisurely travellers.", Acorno answers.
"Another great coincidence!", my eyes begin to shine, hopefully not in Duel Point signs.
"What was the first?", Acorno tilts his body instead to the side in confusion.
"Uh... not important.", I say.
"Did Acorno even use the word leisurely correctly?", Pinecono makes his own thinking pose, which looks pretty adorable.
"Matter's even less. How about you join my band of travelling leisurely maybe-soon-to-be heroes?", I offer with the greatest *insert appropriate word* I can muster.
"We could, couldn't we?", Acorno says.
"Yes, yes, it could be very interesting.", Pinecono says. Also, you should read their dialogue in the voice of a weird elf from some kind of Good-Night-Story-Kids- Cartoon. Don't be too suprised at how easy this is, we're in a pretty adventure friendly word actually, that first one with Rosenix was definetly just a fluke.
"Hey, Hit, I got us some new companions right of the bat!", I call out.
"Oh, that is great, I just finished my exchange.", he says.
"Is he a friend?", Acorno asks.
"Of course I am. We don't know each other for long though.", Hit says..
"Let's duel outside and see how it goes.", I say.
"Yip, guess we should do that.", Pinecono says, "the customers could get annoyed otherwise."
Acorno (4000lp) and Pinecono (4000lp) vs Curran (4000lp) and Hit (4000lp)
I hope you don't mind that I'm skipping the process of going outside the shop, but I wil tell you that their "drawing animation" looked like the respective fruit they were based on (I'm no botanist, so who wares if Pinecones and Acorns count?) appearing out of nowhere and then cracking to reveal a card.
"We'll start!", Pinecono declares, "I summon Rodenut, then I Special Summon my Acorno by discarding myself, which special summons itself in that case. (Pinecono DEF: 200 Acorno DEF: 400) then I acitvate the Field Spell Forest of the Wild Beast, while I control Plant Type monsters, Beasts cannot be attacked. I set another card and end my turn."
"Since Rodenut gains Counters for every of my special summons and you can remove them to destroy a monster of mine, I merely have to normal summon.", ch, why are the chances to demonstrate my new powers stripped away instantly?, "And I activate Wizard's Discovery to search for myself. I then summon me. I set 5 cards and attacks Acorno", Okay maybe I wouldn't have been able to summon Clear Wing or Starve Venom instantly anyway, but still.
"I activate Half Unbreak on buddy Acorno.", and so my mighty magical ray is caught in... a bunch of frikkin' bubbles.
"I will end my turn.", I say.
"My turn, draw. I also discard Pinecono to summon Acorno and revive Pinecono. I then activate Inferno Reckless Summon on Pinecono."
"That artwork is creepier than I would've thought, but I counter with Solemn Warning, I halve my LP (Curran LP: 4000-2000) to negate this summoning effect."
"Well, then I have to settle on summoning myself a second time via normal summon. I overly all three monsters into Mira the Star Bearer. (Nut Counter: 0-3)"
"I didn't look at it before, but why does Rodenut have three counters?", I wonder.
"Oh, did we not choose the method of tag dueling that is technically a battle royal?", Pinecono wonders.
"I don't think so. We actually just started a tag duel and that was it.", Hit says, "And we started it only 45 seconds ago at most."
"A very Embarassing mistake. (Nut Counter: 3-0) I apologize for my partner and myself.", Acorno says.
"Ya know what? Keep these nuts. (Nut Counter: 0-3)", I say, somehow feeling like I just shamelessly (or even proudly) told a bad joke.
"If you say so, I will activate Xyz Unit on him, granting him 200 ATK for his one rank (Mira ATK: 1100-1300) then I activate Malevolent Nuzzler, giving him even more ATK. (ATK: 1300-2000) I set a card and attack Curran."
"Ha, I activate Peril for the Princesses! When I or that *itch Pikeru would be attacked by something that isn't a level 5 or higher monster, I can negate the attack and add both Trial Troll and Trial of the Princesses to my hand."
I do some awesome dodge moves against Mira's glowing star-shaped magical missiles and an silhouette of the trial troll appears before I do a backflip, jumping behind mira. And don't let anyone tell you that this wasn't an accurate description, had you seen it for yourselves, it would've been even more awesome.
"Do you have problems with your sister or something?", Acorno questions.
"I just like the occasional curse.", I argue, "it's just a weird phase I'm going through right now."
"If you say so, I'll end my turn. But right after Hitodenchak's draw phase, I activate my face-down Mind Haxorz, for 500 Life Points (Acorno LP: 4000-3500) I can see all face-down cards of Curran."
"It's Damage Gate, Radiant Mirror Force, Ojama Trio, which I then activate, splitting it up between two for Pipsqueak and one for you. By the way, your nickname's gonna be Ace."
The cards just go face-up, no special animations here.
"It must be really bad with your sister if she doesn't get a nickname.", Pinecono wonders. (Nut Counter: 3-6)
"And I starty my turn now, I activate Become One with the Sea, I Summon myself with the ATK halved (ATK: 600-300) and then activate Filling Flood, which special summons my other two selves as this one now has less than 500 ATK." (Nut Counter: 6-9)
The Aqua-type counterpart of Celestial Transformation depicts a wave with Atlantean Pikeman's silhouette hiding behind it. The Aqua-type counterpart to Machine Dupe, shows Dark Scorpion Chick the Yellow (why couldn't it be meanie?) in a dark prison, about to drown because water is flowing in from the crevices. Pretty dark.
(Technically, he is just looking pretty scared and the water isn't that high up, but c'mon, you know what happens next)
"I follow up with Thousand Energy, giving my level 2 normal monsters 1000 bonus. ATK(ATK: 300-1300; 700-1700) Then I add Umiiruka, trading 400 DEF on all my monsters for 500 ATK on each (ATK: 1300-1800; 1700-2200) I attack Mira with a 2200 Hitodenchak."
"I detach one Overlay Unit to protech Mira (Mira OLU: 3-2 Acorno LP: 3500-3300)"
A pool of green acid appears below Hit's monster selve and spreads below Mira, who creates a star-shaped barrier, vaporizing the acid.
"I attack Mira again."
"And I protect him again. (Mira OLU: 2-1 Acorno LP: 3200-3000)"
"But you have nothing to protect Pinecono's Pinecono. And in my Main Phase 2, I activate Aurora Draw, with an empty hand, I draw 2 cards, then I activate Book of Moon on Rodenut, getting rid of every nut counter. Then I overlay two of myselves into Gachi Gachi Gantetsu, who gives all of my monsters 200 DEF for every overlay unit (DEF: 1800-2200) I set a card and end my turn, which destroys my 1400 ATK self from Become one with the Sea and Thousand Energy."
"Now that all of us had a turn, what do you think?", Ace asks.
"So far, maybe lean a little bit more into low-level Xyz or Synchro monsters. But I'm gonna take y'all as new adventuring buddies no matter how this goes or whatever weird cards you're gonna show me.", and we all really need to deal better with our hands, there's a lot of wasted cards in everyone's deck. Maybe we should do another prolonged session in the trade shop after this.
"I actually, DO have some low level Xyz.", Pipsqueak says. "But I'll use a Synchro first. I draw and summon Turbo Rocket and tune it to Acorno. I Synchro Summon Turbo Cannon (DEF: 0) I activate its effect to destroy Curran and inflict half of her ATK as damage! (Curran LP: 2000-1400) Then I end my turn."
If only Pinecono had one of these Link Monsters, then he could trade his weak defense monsters or the Ojama Tokens for a monster with better ATK. And maybe Hit should left the Pinecono alive, then the Tokens would have clogged up the field.
"I draw. I summon Stealth Bird, (ATK: 700) attacking the face-down Rodenut and put him face-down again. I end my turn."
"What about Turbo Cannon?", Hit asks.
"I trust you to somehow take it or the tokens out", I say.
"My turn, draw. I summon Junk Synchron, bringing back Acorno."
"Ugh, And I hoped they'd just stay on the field and rot."
"Well, they won't! I tune Junk Synchron, Ojama Token and Acorno to summon Junk Garnda (ATK: 1400), I flip up your Stealth Bird , since he's not a flip monster, I won't take the 1000 damage. I attack and destroy him with Garnda (Curran LP: 1400-700)"
"Wait, I have damage Gate, since I took exactly 700 damage, I get to revive Stealth Bird right away and I place him in defense. (DEF: 1700)"
"I destroy Stealth Bird with Mira. I end my turn."
"Like Hit's and mine to a lesser degree, your decks are a bit over the place and even if there's a huge room for improvement, but I totally like it. Props to both.",
I would have added mad to that praise, but even among intentional cringe it would've been to much, though maybe I'm a little harsh on myself on that one.
"My turn. I activate the equip spell Diamond Pressure on Gachi Gachi, this combines his ATK and DEF. (ATK: 900-3100 DEF: 2200-3100) I change him into attack position-"
"Junk Gardna's power is a quick effect. Though a card like this one a monster that boosts both of its stats is pretty strong.", Acorno says.
"*sigh*, I really should read your cards. I end my turn, "Sorry for betraying your trust."
"Uh, that's a bit of overdramatic phrasing."
"My turn, I summon Nitro Synchron and with a Token and Turbo Cannon to summon Nitro Warrior. With Synchron's effect I draw a card. I activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Curran's Mirror Force. And since I used a Spell card, he gains 1000 ATK. I attack and take out the rest of Curran's LP. (Curran LP: 700-3800=0)
Ace couldn't have known that I would summon him, but had Stealth Bird stayed on the field, I could've changed Gantetsu to attack mode for some Extra Damage."
"That was a *rappy round. But, anyway, not every leader is the strongest fighter.", I excuse myself.
"I hope I can make up for not destroying Turbo Cannon by winning.", Hit apologizes again.
"Actually, it was my fault for activating Ojama Trio when I didn't have an immediate way to destroy them for 900 damage. However they also made a mistake of not using Turbo Cannon to take an overly unit away from Gantetsu."
"My turn, draw. I change Gachi Gachi into attack mode with Junk Gardna's effect. I equip Junk Gardna with Diamond Pressure's Warrior Counterpart, Magnum Shield! (ATK: 1400-4000 DEF: 2600-4000) I change Mira into Defense Position and Gardna into Attack Position and attack Gantetsu! (Hit LP: 4000-3100)"
"I detach one overlay unit to protect him. (ATK/DEF: 3100-2700)"
"Your turn."
"Okay, wish me luck, DRAW! I equip him with Scroll of Bewitchment, changing his attribute to water. Since Diamond Pressure, unlike Magnum Shield carries over boosts and drops, this only brings it up by a 100 (ATK/DEF: 2800), but I can take out Nitro Warrior. And I detach an overlay unit (ATK/DEF: 2800-2400) so Gantetsu survives this fight."
"I could've saved my friends Nitro Warrior with Junk Gardna, but now he is fully vulnerable.", Ace says, "If my friend doesn't get a monster that can get over 2400 ATK, then I can still deal 3600 points of damage with Mira and Junk Gardna to you."
"My turn, draw! I activate Instant Fusion (Pinecono LP: 4000-3000) to summon Panzer Dragon. I end my turn and Instant Fusion's drawback destroys him.
But when Panzer Dragon is destroyed, he can do that to another card on the field, I choose Gachi Gachi Gantetsu."
"My turn, draw. Oh, I forgot to take out Ancient Gear Beast *sigh*, guess I have to surrender again. (Hit LP: 3100x0=0)"
WINNER: Ace and Pipsqueak
"While I'm bummed out myself, not every duel can be as awesome as it's on TV.", I say, "We'll get an awesome hero vs villain showdown eventually."
"But it wasn't completely boring.", Ace says and that it means it was partially boring, knobhead!,"We're not gonna drop being part of your adventurer's group."
"Yep yep, it'll be fun. And we can just duel until you draw your cool new cards.", Pipsqueak says.
"We'll definetly do that, but first, we need two more friends and then we're set to find the first quest to solve!", I say.
"Isn't it usually a five-man band?", Hit asks.
"But that way we can save the time of recruiting the sixth ranger into this ragtag bunch of misfits.", I argue.
"And what kind of monster do you have in mind?", Ace wonders.
"Definetly it has to be 2 girls, I don't need to be in the dueling world's weirdest reverse harem.", I say.
As if on cue, we heard a scream around the corner.
"Very minor change of plans, how about we have a minor rescue mission first and see if the rescued will join out of gratitude.", I say.
"Let's go!", Hit says.
"Alright!", Pipsqueak and Ace say in unison.
I know how Magnum Shield works, I just like to stylize it as uniting ATK and DEF. And yeah, this feels slightly weirder than the first one.
And no, this isn't just a dumping ground for all the weird *hit I can't put in Arc-VRAINS.
But don't worry, we're going to get past these joke duels and see the usual epic clashes eventually, even if the decks used in them are playground-style mashups. Also, next chapter is going to be the last recruitment chapter and I'll write that one's duels scribt in advance and not in the same breath as the chapter, that will also make it more exciting.
Wizard's Discovery
Trial Troll
Aurora Draw
OC cards:
Forest of the Wild Beast
Normal Spell
Effect: Beast-type monsters you control cannot be attacked as long as you control plant-type monsters.
Become One with the Sea
Normal Spell
Effect: Special Summon one Aqua-type monster from your hand, but halve its ATK. Destroy it during the End Phase
Filling Flood
Normal Spell
Effect: Target one Aqua-type monster you control, special summon as many monsters with the same name as possible from your deck.
Peril of the Princesses
Normal Trap
Effect: When "White Magician Pikeru" or "Ebon Magician Curran" is attacked by a monster that doesn't have a level, or which is level 5 or higher, negate the attack, then add "Trial Troll" and "Trial of the Princesses" to your hand.
Diamond Pressure
Equip Spell
Effect: Equip only to a rock-type monster, while in Attack Position it gains ATK equal to its DEF and in Defense Position it gains DEF equal to its ATK.
OC effects:
Solemn Warning
Only halves your LP as cost
By Anime effect (While correcting Arc-VRAINS, I'll begin clarifying when I use the anime effect over the real one)
Soul Charge
