The announcer spoke up, "Ladies and Gentlemen, are you ready for the first duel of bracket A? We have the winners of the Atlantis Cup: Team Unicorn versus Team 5Ds, which is made of former Japanese champion Jack Atlas, the Black Rose Witch Izayoi Aki, and the winner of the Fortune Cup: Fudo Yusei!"
I rubbed my temples as the crowd increased in volume, "I am never being a professional duelist. The crowds are too much for me."
"Now that both teams are in their respective pits, the duel can start! Ready, set, GO!"
The green light flashed, and both runners shot off. Jack took the early lead, but blue flames erupted from Andore's runner, sending him rocketing around the first turn.
Andore seemed to be trying to be heard without a microphone with how loud he yelled, "I start my turn by summoning my tuner Uni-Horned Familiar in defense mode!"
Uni-Horned Familiar-1000
"Then I remove a spell in my hand from play to special summon Monoceros in defense mode!"
Monoceros-1000
"I end my turn with two facedowns."
My eyes went wide, "That makes no sense. His monster Monoceros has a special ability to bring a Beast-Type tuner monster back from the graveyard if it was used in a Synchro summon. He'd benefit from doing a Synchro summon."
Bruno glanced up at me, "She's right. If anything he'd be safer summoning a synchro monster in attack mode than leaving two monsters in defense mode. We all know what his dragon is capable of, and he always summons it."
Jack didn't seem to notice, "When only my opponent has monsters on the field, I can special summon Vice Dragon from my hand."
Vice Dragon-2000
"However, when he is summoned this way, both his attack and defense points are cut in half."
Vice Dragon-1000
"Then I summon Dark Resonator!"
Dark Resonator-1300
A smirk spread across Jack's face, "And now the two of them combine together to create the manifestation of my soul, Red Dragon Archfiend!"
Red Dragon Archfiend-3000
"When he destroys a monster in defense mode, all other monsters in defense mode are destroyed. Take out Uni-Horned Familiar!"
Despite losing a monster, Andore smiled, "If my Familiar is the subject of an attack while in defense mode, he can remove himself from play as long as he takes another monster with him."
Jack's eyes narrowed, "Then I end my attack."
"You can't end your attack if my Familiar uses his ability. And since the attack is continuing, I activate my trap, Different Dimension Barrier-Lost Force. If one of my monsters leaves the field in a way that isn't due to battle, you take your monster's attack points as damage."
Life Points Jack=1000
Andore wasn't even close to done, "Uni-Horned Familiar's effect brings it back into play in defense mode."
Uni-Horned Familiar-1000
"Then I can bring back Monoceros, which allows me to special summon DD Unicorn Knight!"
Monoceros-1000
DD Unicorn Knight-1800
"Now that Monoceros is on the field, I tune him with Uni-Horned Familiar to create Thunder Unicorn!"
Thunder Unicorn-2200
Jack scoffed, "Both of your monsters are still weaker than my Archfiend."
"Not for long. My Unicorn's effect allows me to choose one monster per turn. That monster loses 500 attack points for every monster on my field besides Thunder Unicorn."
My brother's eyebrows went up, "Still not enough for your monster to beat mine."
"It is when you realise that when Monoceros is used in a Synchro Summon with a Beast-Type tuner monster, that tuner is allowed to return to the field."
Uni-Horned Familiar-1000
"Unicorn, take down Red Dragon Archfiend's points!"
Red Dragon Archfiend-2000
Once Archfiend's points were lowered, the Unicorn lowered its head and charged right into it, shattering the form of Jack's most beloved monster, while doing the same to my hope that Jack could take down a single opponent, "Aki, get ready."
Life Points Jack=800
Bruno twisted around, "Yusei, we have a problem. Something is in Jack's air intake valve."
I rushed to the screen, and Dad leaned next to me, "He needs a pit stop."
Luna grabbed the screen, "Should I hold it out?"
"Safety is more important than a duel, plus it will give us a chance to plan. Go."
Both twins rushed over to the fence, and Jack drew his next card, "He looked mad when he saw the screen."
I rubbed my temples, "Idiot, his ego is flaring up again."
Andore had placed a facedown in the time when we were distracted, and Jack cried out, "I summon Mad Archfiend!"
Mad Archfiend-1800
"After that, I activate Powerful Rebirth, which brings back a level 4 or below monster from the graveyard with 100 extra attack and defense points, along with an extra level. I choose Dark Resonator!"
Dark Resonator-1400
"Now that I have both of them on the field, I activate Rage Re-Synchro. By sending the material monsters for a Synchro Summon out of play, I can bring it back from the graveyard!"
Red Dragon Archfiend-3500
"Take out his Unicorn!"
Andore's voice was higher than before, "I-I activate Dimension Trap! By removing one monster on my field from play along with a trap from my graveyard, I can activate that trap's abilities. I choose Different Dimension Barrier-Lost Force, which bounces all battle damage directly back to you."
"You think I don't learn from the past? I activate Overpower, which negates and destroys any card that tries to stop a monster's attack. Red Dragon, keep attacking!"
Life Points Andore=2700
I shifted my weight, "This isn't good. He has a very powerful anti-power deck. That makes Jack the worst person for us to put against him."
Bruno nodded as he watched the screen, "Anyone would have been a better match for him than Jack. And since Jack refused a pit stop, it means we can't talk to him."
One of the cards on Andore's side flipped up, "I activate Parallel Selection. If a Synchro monster of mine is destroyed, I can add one removed card from play to my hand. I choose End of Storm."
My blood went cold as he continued talking, "Since I have four speed counters, I can activate Speed World 2's effect. I remove 4 speed counters, and for every speed spell in my hand, you take 800 points of damage. So in other words, you've just lost."
A beam shot out from the unicorn horn on the front of his runner, crashing into Jack's runner. As the runner slowed down, red lights lit up the runner monitor, as the attempted shut down aggravated the already existing issue with his runner. Wheel of Fortune started to wobble, and then flipped over and crashed to the track, Jack's suit no longer white.
Life Points Jack=0
I rushed to the edge of the pit, but stopped as Jack glared at me, "I can do it. You stay there, or else we'll get disqualified."
He staggered to his feet, and somehow managed to get the runner back up. For once, he had an advantage over our runners. Instead of pushing two wheels, he only had to make one move.
A flash of surprise came from Unicorn's team leader, but quickly died into curiosity.
Footsteps came down the hallway to the pit, and I rushed to catch Carly, "We can't help him. If anyone besides him touches the runner, we get kicked out of the tournament completely."
Mina looked over at me, "Are you okay, Yusei? Jack once let slip that you can sometimes feel another person's pain."
Blinking a couple times to keep my eyes dry, I nodded, "His adrenaline is running so hard that even he doesn't feel the pain. So I'll be fine until he gets in here and calms down."
Dad walked over, and took Carly from me, leading her to the place for family just away from the pit. Mina followed, and I walked over to Aki, "Get Bloody Kiss ready. The second Jack hands off the badge, I need you going."
She ran over to her runner, and pushed it into place, both of our eyes going up to the screen. Andore had 10 speed counters, meaning that Jack only had about six laps to get to the pit.
As Andore hit the maximum speed counters, Jack got within sight of the pit line.
Our speed counters fell almost faster than Jack could walk. 4. 3. 2. 1.
Aki reached out, and Jack practically threw the badge at her the second his tire crossed the line, collapsing into my arms. She shot off like a rocket, and I pulled Jack to his feet as we watched her just barely make it around the corner before him.
A/N: Thanks to PipeDreamPrayer for reviewing on the original version of this chapter!
