Andre - Duel Dome/Aquarius
September 27 - Year 18 4AOS
The day of the Wyvern Cup tournament came at last. Since this was a special event, Sergei had it hosted at the Duel Dome so the players could have access to the holographic systems. He had an entire arena bought out for the whole day. There were tables with food being served by Tyson and his cooking team. He was behind the food stand located right next to the Dueling arena cooking barbeque, fried chicken, popping popcorn, and other treats. As he did this, he handed out brochures advertising his father's new restaurant at the Phobos Corp Mall.
The arena was getting full of players and spectators who received invitations to the event. Andre was sitting alone in the bleachers setting up his deck, adding and removing cards to make his deck balanced. Since coming to Aquarius all those weeks ago, he learned that it was unwise to underestimate these players. Even if the format wasn't as advanced as it was back home in Termnnia, they were still pretty skilled and worked well with what they had. Having a deck with nothing but high ATK monsters was not a wise thing to do so he spent the last few days buying cards.
He paused for a moment and thought about Yuri. If Yuri was going to be in the tournament, it meant he had to contend with his Black Tyranno, who was a very fierce monster capable of ending matches with a single blow if Yuri played him right, and he oftentimes did.
He also prepared his deck for the others in Yuri's group in case they decided to join. If they did, this was going to be hard to win. Tyson had his Behemoth, King of All Animals. Patty and her Zera the Mant, who always devastated her opponents whenever he came out. Natalya was also skilled with her winged-beast deck, using field spells like Mountain and Rising Air Current to raise their ATK to the top of the charts. And her Simorgh was already strong enough as it was with his 2700 ATK. He didn't know what Carter had as an ace, but just like Natalya, he had just the right amount of powerful field spells to make their ATK go up high and overwhelm his opponents.
And Nick…well….he wasn't too worried about Nick.
He soon spotted Yuri and his group below, helping themselves to pizza. They seemed to be having a good time. Patty suddenly pointed to the lounge up in the rafters. Andre looked up too. He narrowed his eyes and his stomach felt as though someone stuck a bag of ice into it. It was Brett, the young man who had him thrown out of the restaurant. He was surrounded by his group. There was one guy who stood out from the rest. A tall guy with black feathery hair wearing a black leather jacket, white pants, and a white scarf. A pretty Japanese girl with long black hair flowing down to the back of her legs was arm in arm with him.
They were getting comfortable in their luxury seats, helping themselves to root beer and soda. Crystal soon came into view dressed in her best, and she was with the girls having dinner with her in the restaurant.
Andre overheard some student talking nearby. One of them identified them as the Dragon Sisters of Aquarius. They were a Dueling Team in the Pro Leagues and were ranked #1 in the whole world. What they all had in beauty, they matched with power; for their decks were filled with the rarest, most powerful dragons in Duel Monsters. And with new sets rumored to come out, Andre had a feeling they were going to get even stronger. One of them, an Asian girl with reddish-black hair came up from behind Crystal and wrapped her arms around her neck. She kissed her cheeks multiple times and laughed. They seemed so happy to be here and watch the event. They were so young, probably still in High School like Andre was, and they all had bright smiles on their faces.
It upset him greatly seeing them under the watchful eye of that Brett character. They seemed to be nothing more than accessories in his eyes. Something to make him look cool. Andre's blood began to boil the more he stared at Brett. He remembered what Patty told him. About how Brett beat Yuri so badly he was in a vegetative state for many weeks. Yuri. That kind and gentle boy. The future High King of his homeworld. If only Brett had known who he was dealing with.
"Five minutes!" called Natalya. She held a microphone, announcing the time left before the tournament began. She was standing next to the grand prize. A check worth 3000 Credits and a six-foot-tall three-level black and gold trophy with a dragon's head and red glass wings crafted on the cup at the top.
Finally, when everyone got settled and the players had arrived, Sergei took the microphone and greeted everyone, thanking them for coming to the event tonight. He made a huge announcement. From here on out, all major events and tournaments in the Ruby Dragon were going to be held in the Duel Dome. That sure got everyone excited. When he was done with the promotions, he called up the participants for the first Duel of the tournament.
Floyd Peterson, the deck milling Duelist. And he was up against…Patty! Just as Andre thought. Patty was in the tournament after all. She was dressed to impress with her get-up. She had on a RAPTOR baseball cap backward on her head. She sported a white and pink crop top and tight denim cutoffs and black boots that went up to her knees. On her hands, she had fingerless black gloves with carbon fiber knuckle guards and black athletic sleeves covered her arms. Before the match, she painted gridiron lines on her cheekbones for the sake of looking cool, and it was working on some of the spectators. They ate her look up and adored her. Her exposed curves caused many of the boys in the arena to hoot and whistle for her. Loving the admiration she got from the spectators, she waved at them and blew kisses.
"DUEL!" Sergei shouted once they were both ready.
Floyd began with his usual Needle Worm and Banisher of the Light combo, banished Patty's monsters as well as milling her deck little by little. However, Patty was more than ready to deal with his combo. It might have gotten the best of her last time but it was certainly not going to work this now. After he successfully banished more than 20 cards in Patty's deck, she summoned a new fiend monster called Gran Maju Da Eiza.
This creature could gain 400 ATK points for every one of Patty's banished cards. And since she had 26 cards banished as a result of Banisher of the Light, Gran Maju Da Eiza had 10,400 ATK points, the most ATK anyone on the island had ever seen before. She equipped it with a Fairy Meteor Crush spell that she got from Nick. With it, her fiend could inflict damage to Floyd's Life Points even if his Banisher of the Light was in defense mode. And that was the end of that.
The spectators got up and cheered for Patty's victory. She turned to face them and obnoxiously bowed before turning to look at Floyd. "Oy! Peterson!" she called. She winked and bent over, smacking herself defiantly on her butt before the elevator took her down. Payback for the loss she suffered last time.
Brett swirled his flute of lime soda around with his wrist as he admired Patty from above. "That girl," he said. "Who is she?"
"Her name's Pamela McKnight," said Santiago. "She goes by the name Patty. Because of her affinity with Fiend and Zombie monsters, they call her the Grim Reaper and the Fiend Queen. She's the daughter of RAPTOR's Commander."
"Ah, and so that makes her a rich girl, too. I love her more and more."
"Well, sorry to sour your view on her, but word on the street is she's also good friends with that kid who beat Randall a few weeks ago."
"Yuri huh?" said Brett. He caught Crystal's attention. "Such a shame that girl is wasting her time with the likes of him. She deserves better company, don't you think?"
"Thinking about taking her under your wing, boss?" asked one of Brett's friends. "I've gotta say, I'd love to have her around."
"Same here," drooled another of his friends.
"That'll depend on how well she performs in the tournament. If she makes it to the finals, I'll consider talking to her." '
The tournament progressed. Andre had to deal with a few tough opponents but he was able to pull through. Nick was also in the games, but he was knocked out by a cheerleader from another high school in the first rounds. The semifinals came and went and now there were only two Duelists left.
Andre and Patty.
This is it, Andre thought. In order to be taken seriously as a Duelist by Master Yugi and to be seen as a worthy friend to Prince Yuri, I'm going to have to beat Patty. Damn, she was starting to warm up to me. Hopefully, she doesn't take this loss too hard. I have to do what I have to do.
Patty finally came into view as the elevator took her up to the Duel Pod. Her adoring fans got up and cheered for her again, whistling and calling her name, some even calling her to date them.
"You look good," said Andre, shuffling his deck as he waited for her to stop grandstanding and taking videos for her Instagram reels.
"Wish I could say the same for you," Patty said. She took her deck out of her back pocket and set it on the touch screen mat. "Don't get too mad when I beat you, new kid. You had an incredible journey, but it stops here."
"You sound so sure of yourself," said Andre.
Brett let out a cold chuckle and slowly clapped his hands. "Wow. She sure is sassy. I like this. My money's on her winning this thing. And I'm not saying that because she's got a pretty face and cute butt. She knows how to play her fiend deck really well. This Andre guy. Pfft, he isn't all that impressive. In fact, he bores me."
"I know," Santiago agreed. "All he does is go in aggressively with his big monsters and hopes that will be enough to win."
Brett gulped down the last of his soda. "That may have worked in the early stages of the tournament but now he's up against the best these games had to offer. I'm going to love watching her tear this loser apart."
"DUEL!" Sergei shouted into the microphone once Andre and Patty were ready.
LP 2000
T1
"I'll go first," said Patty. "I set two cards face-down and summoned Baron of the Fiend Sword in attack mode."
She summoned a dog-faced fiend wearing an expensive black suit and a black bowler hat. He sneered, menacingly slapping the blade of his fancy dark sword against his palm.
ATK/1550
"And that ends my turn," said Patty. "Your move, new kid."
T2
"Is that your opening move, Patty? You holding out on me?"
"Yeah, right. I'm not a Duelist like you. Hurry up and make your move."
"I sure will, Patty. Watch this! I summon Launcher Spider in attack mode! With a devastating attack power of 2200! And I'll attack your Baron of the Fiend Sword with him!"
Patty quickly flipped one of her face-down cards up. "You simpleton! I knew that's how you would be starting out. I activate the trap card, Trap Hole of Spikes!"
Before Launcher Spider could fire a single rocket from its launchers, it fell into a hole with spikes at the bottom, piercing through its tough metal armor.
"When you attack with a monster that's been summoned this turn, my trap will destroy it and you take damage equal to half of your monster's ATK points."
"Aww, man!" Andre slammed his fist on the table. "Damn, I've taken damage on my own turn!"
Patty - 2000 LP
900 LP - Andre
Brett howled with laughter and clapped his hands. "Idiot! What did I tell you guys? Patty's no doubt been watching him carefully. She anticipated that fool would start the duel off with his strongest monsters and she made him pay dearly for his amateur mistake by taking him down to his last 900 Life Points."
"She's good," said Santiago. "I wonder how this Andre moron is going to bounce back from this? With only a handful of Life Points left, he can't afford to make mistakes like that again. He's going to have to think carefully if he wants to have a chance against Patty."
"Think? No, he clearly can't think. Not if he's making stupid moves like that. Patty's just one attack away from winning this thing."
T3
"My turn!" said Patty. "I draw. Oooh, I like this card. I summon Zoa in attack mode! Then, I'm going to activate the spell, Allure of Darkness. First, I banish a Dark monster from my hand, and then I can draw two cards."
Andre braced himself for the worst. Then he felt himself breaking apart when he saw her smile.
"Oh, I am just so good. I'm going to lay this little number face-down and then I'm going to end my turn. I don't want to end things too quickly."
T4
"Very funny," said Andre. "I'm not afraid of your boogeymen. I may be down but I'm not out. I have trust in my deck and it gets me out of tight spots right when I need it." He drew his card and smiled. "And my faith rewards me with one of my newest monsters. Dark Magician!"
"What!? The Dark Magician?" Patty asked. "I've never seen one in person before."
Brett leaned forward to get a better look at the monster. "No way! Dark Magician, huh? How'd this loser get a monster of that caliber? He's a prized monster that's only given to the most elite players in the world in special tournaments."
"Relax, boss. He probably stole it or won it from an arrogant player who put it up as a bet."
"Surprised, Patty?" said Andre. "Watch as I boost my magician's strength with Book of Secret Arts. This will increase his ATK by 300. Now he's stronger than your Zoa. Dark Magician, attack!"
"Don't think so! I reveal my face-down card, Metalmorph! Now Zoa's ATK will increase by 300 points!"
Zoa's claws turned to metal. He blocked Dark Magician's attack then ran towards him and sliced him across the chest.
"NO!" Andre yelled. His Life Points trickled to 800 LP. "My Dark Magician! You beat him."
Brett opened another can of lime soda. "She destroyed the Dark Magician without breaking a sweat."
Santiago sniggered in his seat and ate a potato chip. "The Dark Magician is a good card," he said. "But useless in the hands of an incompetent fool."
Brett chuckled and slid his hand up Crystal's leg. "That's harsh, Santiago."
"He's only telling it like it is," said Raven's girlfriend.
Down below in the Duel, all Andre could do was end his turn.
T5
Patty was leaning over the table of her pod, her back arched to give her followers in the audience a good view. She yawned, cheek resting on her palm propped up by her elbow.
"So it's about to end so soon?" she said. "Kinda anticlimactic for a tournament that's so hyped. But then again, I didn't expect much going into this seeing your ridiculously simple play style."
"What are you saying?"
"You just toss the strongest monster you can find into your deck and throw them onto the field whenever you Duel. That may work at school but things are serious now. Heh. You always talk about beating Yuri and becoming the best. You won't come even close with moves like that."
"You think you're going to beat me, Patty?"
"With the way things are looking now, it sure is looking that way. If you still think you're going to win, maybe my next move with change your mind. First off, now that I have a Zoa equipped with Metalmorph on the field, I can tribute it to summon Metalzoa!"
Zoa's body was then transformed to be completely cybernetic. There was not an ounce of the original monster remaining. He was now a full-fledged machine with 3000 ATK points.
"And then, I'm going to use my second face-down card. Call of the Haunted. This will let me bring back a monster from my Graveyard. And I choose Zoa!"
Andre couldn't believe it. Now he had to deal with a souped-up Metalzoa and the original Zoa.
"And the fun won't stop there. I activate the spell, Pre-preparation of Rites. Now I can add a Ritual Spell from my deck to my hand as well as a Ritual monster who is named in the spell."
"Oh no!" Andre began to quiver in his sneakers.
Patty sacrificed Baron of the Fiend Sword and Man-Eating Treasure Chest from her hand and summoned her ace.
"Time to play, my love." Patty feverishly kissed the card and slapped it down on the field. "Rise, Zera the Mant!"
Baron of the Fiend Sword vanished into a puff of purple smoke that got sucked into a gold cauldron. The crowd cried out in amazement when Zera the Mant made his appearance at last. Zoa and Metalzoa stood on either side of him, making him look like a king.
"Aw, it's over for him!" Nick said happily. "Patty always knows what to do. Andre didn't stand a chance."
"She's amazing," Brett whispered to himself. She whittled him down to his last few Life Points and was easily able to summon an army of her toughest fiends to battle. This idiot clearly didn't know who he was messing with."
Patty cocked her hip to the right and placed her hand on it. "All right, Andre. If you wanna quit, now's your chance. These three are the main stars of my deck. And if you couldn't handle dealing with just Zera in our casual matches, there's no way you can fight all three of them. You thought you could wow me with that Dark Magician, huh? Man, I wish I could have seen the look on your face when I made Zoa more powerful with Metalmorph. It was priceless."
"Somebody better do something about that attitude of yours," said Andre. "One day, it's gonna come back and bite you in the ass."
"Ooooh," Patty wiggled her bottom tantalizingly. "What are you gonna do hotshot? Punish me? Yeah, right. You're in no position to be making threats. I set one card face-down and end my turn. Hurry up and make your move."
T6
"With pleasure! I've drawn Raigeki! This mighty spell will annihilate all of your monsters at once."
"Yeah, no. Not gonna happen. I activate the trap card, Dark Bribe. This will negate your spell and destroy it. The only drawback is you can draw a card. Not that it matters."
"You sure about that?" Andre asked. "I was expecting you were going to cancel out my card with a trap. I've got you right where I want you, Patty. Your ass is mine!"
"Say what?"
"First, I'm going to activate the spell card, Monster Reborn! And with it, I'll revive my Dark Magician!"
The spectators gasped and oohed and aahed when Dark Magician returned.
"Big deal," said Nick. "Patty beat that thing once, she can do it again."
"I'm not so sure that's going to be the case this time," said Yuri.
Andre held up another spell. "I activate the spell, Riryoku! This card lets me cut the ATK of one of your monsters in half. I choose your Metalzoa. Now the ATK points he lost get added to Dark Magician!"
Crystal covered her open mouth with her fingers. "Now his attack becomes 4000!"
Andre continued. "And then, I activate this spell card, Blue Medicine, which will increase my Life Points by 400, giving me just enough points to activate this card. Diffusion Wave-Motion! This card works when I have a Level 7 or higher spellcaster on the field. It lets said magician attack all your monsters at once. You fell for it, Patty. I knew you couldn't help but summon all those monsters at once. I've seen you Duel lots of times. Summoning all those monsters at once is a clever move. You know how to use your cards well. But I was smarter than you this time!"
"You set me up?" Patty whispered.
"What!" Nick shouted. "Andre planned this all along!"
"That can't be!" Carter slapped both his hands on the side of his head.
"You thought I just played the same old way at school, huh? Well, I don't do that anymore. I've changed. You can thank Yuri for that. Dark Magician! Attack and destroy Patty's army of fiends!"
Dark Magician spun his staff around and held it up high. A ball of black energy formed over the top of his staff and it released dark magic blades across the air that cut Patty's monsters and her Life Points down to size.
Winner: Andre
"Boys and girls!" shouted Sergei. "We have our winner! Andre Martin!"
"What a shame," Brett said. He stood up, feeling sour over Andre's victory. "Still, keep an eye on her. That girl shows a lot of promise."
"And what of this Andre guy?" Santiago asked.
"He just got lucky." Brett straightened his tie. "He's of no interest to me."
Brett thanked him, then looked at Crystal. "And you," he held out his hand. "Come along now. It's time for your bath."
Crystal looked at her friends. "I'll catch up with you guys later. Enjoy the party. If you encounter Yuri, tell him I said hi."
Down below the crowd gathered around the stage as Natalya handed Andre the trophy and the check with the prize money. Meanwhile, Yuri and the others gathered around Patty.
"I screwed up," she said. "Argh! I shouldn't have taken him so lightly. I had my best monsters out."
"Don't worry," said Yuri. "You tried your best. And with the new sets coming out next month, your fiends are sure to get plenty of support that will take him down next time."
"This is going to be troublesome," said Nick. His voice was hoarse and he felt as though someone stabbed him in the gut. He hadn't felt this way since he went to Wrestlemania XXX with Yuri and saw the Undertaker's 21-year winning streak come to an end at the hands of Brock Lesnar.
"What's going to be troublesome?" Carter asked.
"That guy," Nick jerked his thumb back at Andre, who was taking pictures with Sergei and Natalya. "He's done everything he needed to do to become one of the school's Duel Kings."
"Forget about that stupid title," said Tyson. He rubbed his hands on Patty's back to soothe her. "We're gonna graduate in a few more months so it's gonna mean nothing pretty soon. If anything, we should forget about Duel Kings and trophies and shit like that. Let's just go back to having fun at the Ruby Dragon after school. The competition takes the fun away and brings out the worst in us."
"I totally agree," said Carter. "Patty. I haven't seen you yap your mouth like that. So unlike you."
"I know. I made myself look really bad up there. I was just so caught up in the moment, you know."
"Forget about it," said Yuri. "Let's head over to my house and raid the freezer. Mom bought a ton of tubs of ice cream the other day. You know what that means."
"Ice cream tower!" Patty cheered happily. "Now that's what I'm talking about."
"I've got plenty of toppings we can use from the kitchen," said Tyson. "Let's celebrate Patty the Loser!"
"Har, har, har. Eat my ass, Tyson."
Tyson bobbed his head up and down, raising his eyebrow. "Hey now, that's not a bad idea. I could soak it up in some barbecue sauce, toast it in the oven till it's cooked to perfection."
"Oh, God!" Patty slapped her palm over her face.
"Yeah, but first I'm gonna tenderize it real good!" He slapped his hands together.
"I GET IT!" Patty slapped his arm. He backed away laughing. "Cannibal!" Patty burst out laughing.
The friends left the arena and headed for Yuri's house, hoping that a little ice cream and some time together would soothe the wounds of Patty's defeat and brighten her day.