Yugioh 5D's: Konami/Kazuki Takahashi
For someone who hasn't been in dueling in quite a while, Torque appears to be handling himself just fine. His silent prayer's really paying off as he went through round after round against Malcolm's strongest duelist. If only Radley would see him now.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Speak of the devil, Radley came out from his usual path with his gang behind him, along with someone he know less about; possibly someone Radley paid off from out of town. "You're supposed to be back at the bar! What are you doing out here?!"
"You guys were late," Torque told over his shoulder, "So I decided to start without you!"
"What?! Do you actually think you could win against Malcolm's duelist! You're a mechanic! You're supposed to be fixing duel-runners! Leave duel-monsters to someone who actually knows how to duel!"
"What?! You're telling me we're getting beat by some wrench-monkey?!" Malcolm gasped, "That's it! This duel doesn't count! It's over!"
"Nothing's over until there's one winner!" she spoke out over the crowd, "I don't see why we have to stop now. Finally I can have a duel that's worth my time. I'm not gonna let you waste it now," that's a first. She's never gave anyone a complement to her opponent, especially when they're working for Radley. "So, wanna find out who's the strongest duelist in this small town?"
Torque stiffed a snicker as he smirk, "Sure, why not!"
After a long ride out the desert and into city limits, Klaus and Axel could finally see the city up ahead. Though it's only his second time, it looks just as awesome as ever. But there's always disappointment when he found out that he isn't going to some high-rise apartment there; Klaus don't have that kind of money. Instead they drove into the less-appealing rural area near it. He has to live in a low-cost apartment, which conveniently opens from a sheet-metal door for his duel-runner. Soon they managed to settle in and park in their runner, which didn't take much time because they didn't bother to pack anything else. Luckily there's already a bed here.
Now that he has his own home, all he needs now is a job to keep this place afloat. Good thing Toru already recommended him at a garage near here. That's where he's gonna meet him. After saying goodbye to Klaus he then decided to follow the instructions he left him to get there. He figured he wouldn't have any problem but now that he's actually looking for the address, this place seems a bit like a maze regardless of the buildings side-by-side. Soon he stopped at a wide lot to take a break. This seems like an easy town to get lost in but it can't be that far now.
"Are you Axel Xavier…?"
Said person jumped at the call of his name. Who else is here? Toru doesn't sound like that~ When someone stepped out from behind a corner, Axel spotted a girl around his age. She wore a yellow shirt under a white denim jacket. She also has blue hair that she has slicked behind her. "Hey, uh, you wouldn't happen to know where to find a garage around here—"
"Is your name Axel Xavier, or not…?" the girl stared blankly at him. Looks like she really doesn't like to waste time.
"You're talking to him. Who's asking?"
"…Someone who wants a duel." The girl showed her duel-disk and activated it.
Axel sighed, "Alright, let's do this," he pulled out the duel-disk from his holster and activated it, 'I don't know why I even carry it with me but I guess it comes in handy.' "At least give me a name. I'm not in the habit of dueling faceless strangers."
The girl pulled out a coin and tossed it in the air, "Call it…"
"What? Uh, heads!"
The coin was let dropped to the ground. "Tails. I'll be going first. And yes, you may call me Misaki…"
Axel: 4000
Misaki: 4000
"I summon Rai-Mei(3/ATK: 1400/DEF: 1200) in DEF mode…" a young woman appeared on one knee. She has darker blue hair in long, angular pigtails; and wears purple spandex with thunderbolt designs (DEF: 1200), "…Then I place one card face-down and end my turn." A reverse-card appeared.
"Then it's my turn," Axel drew his next card, "Since you have a monster on your field but none on mine, I can discard 2 cards to special-summon the tuner-monster, Barrel Synchron!" the massive metal minotaur rose on the field (ATK: 2850), "Luckily for you I can't attack with this while there's other cards in my hand or field. So I'll summon Quillbolt Hedgehog to the field!" the bolt-quilled hedgehog appeared (ATK: 800). "And with each monster on the field, Barrel Synchron downgrades by 2 levels."
Barrel Synchron: (LV: 7-5)
"And that's not all; I equip Barrel Synchron with the Demotion spell card, lowering him 2 more levels!"
Barrel Synchron: (LV: 5-3)
"And with that done, I can finally tune Barrel Synchron with Quillbolt Hedgehog to synchro-summon Barrel Warrior!" the two monster combined and the black-armored warrior was summoned (ATK: 2200), "And when he's summon using Barrel Synchron as it's tuner, that monster come back as an equip-card for Barrel Warrior! Also he gains counters equal to the difference in Barrel Synchron's original and current levels when synchro-summoning!"
Barrel Warrior: (CTR: 4)
"Barrel Warrior, attack Rai-Mei!" Barrel Warrior fired away and destroyed Misaki's monster.
"When Rai-Mei is destroyed in battle, her effect activates…" Misaki said and plucked a card from her deck, "…Now I can add one light-attribute monster level-2-or-lower from my deck to my hand."
"Fine with me. I place 2 card face-down and end my turn."
"It's my turn…" Misaki drew her next card, "I activate the trap card Watcannon," her reverse-card opened and a colorful-looking cannon appeared, "I summon (1) Wattlemur(2/ATK: 800/DEF: 100) in DEF mode…" a blue-and-yellow-furred lemur appeared, crackling with electricity (DEF: 100), "…And when a Watt monster is summoned, Wattcannon inflicts 600 points of damage." The cannon suddenly whirred to life and electricity crackled from the barrel, before a volley of electricity was fired at Axel.
Axel: 3400
Misaki: 4000
"So that's what Wattcannon does…" Axel groaned, "And I'm betting he deck's stacked full of those Watt monsters.
"After placing one card face-down, I end my turn…"
"It's my turn!" Axel drew his next card, 'This card should help!' "I summon (11) Drill Synchron(3/ATK: 800/DE: 300) in ATK mode!" a spherical bronze robot appeared standing on small trends, with small drills for hands to go with the large one on his head (ATK: 800), "And his special-ability comes in handy, because now when a warrior monster attacks a weaker monster in DEF mode, he can deal piercing damage! Barrel Warrior, attack!" the warrior monster attacked and destroyed Wattlemur.
Axel: 3400
Misaki: 1900
"And now that he dealt damage, Drill Synchron's second effect allows me to draw one card," Axel drew another card, "And I still have another monster to attack! Drill Synchron!" the large drill fired from Drill Synchron's head.
Axel: 3400
Misaki: 1100
"That ends my turn."
"It's my turn…" Misaki drew her next card, "I activate my face-down card Limit Reverse. This trap returns one monster with 1000-or-less ATK points to my field. And I've chosen Wattlemur…" the electric lemur returned to the field (ATK: 800), "And since I summoned a Watt monster to the field, Wattcannon activates and you take 600 points of damage…" the cannon fired.
Axel: 2800
Misaki: 1100
"Next, I summon (2) Wattberyx(3/ATK: 300/DEF: 0), the tuner monster…" a tiny goldfish with large, ruby eyes appeared, with electricity like the lemur (ATK: 300), "And with another Watt monster summoned, Wattcannon activates…" the cannon fired another round.
Axel: 2200
Misaki: 1100
"Now I tune the level-3 Wattberyx with level-2 Wattlemur…" the two monsters merged as Misaki chanted: "Let the two bolts of electricity merge to empower the incoming beast… I synchro-summon, (3) Wattchimera(6/ATK: 1400/DEF: 1200)!" the monster that rose took the form of a usual chimera beast of a winged lion with a snake's tail, fur colored in red, blue and yellow. The electricity it emitted seem more powerful than the first two Watt monsters (ATK: 1400), "And since another Watt monster is summoned, Wattcannon once again activates…" the cannon fired another round.
Axel: 1600
Misaki: 1100
"I gotta say, you give quite a sting for summoning such weak monsters," Axel admitted, "even if you have to summon a synchro-monster as weak as that."
"Shortcoming, I see… I supposed you don't know that Wattchimera can attack you directly!" the chimera leap over Axel's monsters and charged at him with an electric body slam.
Axel: 200
Misaki: 1100
"And when he attacks directly, one of your cards are placed back to the top of your deck. That ends my turn…"
"Then it's my turn," Axel drew back his previous card, "And since you're the one with the weak monster on your field, that makes your chimera an easy target for my warrior," Barrel Warrior was ready to blast away when he was suddenly stuck in place, slightly twitching, "Alright, am I missing something…?"
"It's Wattlemur's effect…" Misaki explained, "When you destroyed it, you can't conduct your battle-phase the turn after…"
"And you didn't bother to tell me?"
"It's your fault for attacking without knowing of my monster's effect…"
"Well, I guess I shout tell you about Barrel Warrior's effect: once a turn, he deals 500 points of damage for each counter I remove. And lucky for me I have 4, but I'll use 3 of them to take out your life-point!" Barrel Warrior fired off three different rounds at Misaki, blasting away the rest of her life-points.
Axel: 200
Misaki: 0
"Okay, I won. Now would you mind telling me what's going on?" Misaki remained silent and walked off, "Uh, that's not really what I asked you!"
"If you want to see Toru, then follow me…" Misaki spoke.
"You mean you know Toru?" So Axel followed her for a while across the town. Eventually they stopped around the corner to a garage door. "I'm still wondering what this is all about…"
"You'll understand if you go in here…" Misaki opened the door and lead Axel inside. The inside is really a large garage with enough space to hold three duel-runners, including the two already parked, "…Toru. A souvenir."
"Huh, what's with you all of a sudden?" a voice came from behind a very familiar duel-runner and Toru rose up over it.
When Toru's in sight, Axel smiled and waved to him, "What's up…?"
"Axel?! It's you!" Toru hurried towards Axel and the two high-fived each other, "No way! You didn't bring him all the way from Crash Town, did you, Misaki?"
The girl Misaki narrowed her eyes, "Toru, you dummy… Crash Town is too far away. …Do you really think you could get there in this short of a time?"
"Oh. Um, yeah. I guess not," Toru turned back to Axel, "So, what are you doing here?" it took a while after settling down, but Axel explained that the conflict between Malcolm and Radley escalating, how Klaus showed him his father's duel-runner and helped him move into the city. "So that's it… After what you said I'm worried about West and Nico. But at least they have their dad, so they should be fine. And that runner, I heard it from Klaus when I finished mine. I guess we both did better than our fathers, huh? But wow, it's really been a long time since we've had this group all together, huh?"
"Group?" Axel questioned, "I think it's was just you and me, Toru."
"Oh, right. I mean, of course, a turbo-duel team!"
"Am I missing something?"
"Hang on," Misaki cut in, "…How about we start with introductions and go from there."
"Oh, um, yeah. Sorry, sorry," Toru said, "Let me introduce her then. This is Misaki. A girl turbo-duelist. She's also really good with mech."
"…Nice to met you, Axel," Misaki greeted, "I have heard a lot about you. …Mostly from Toru."
"What are you talking about!" Toru argued, "I just barely mentioned him!"
"…Toru, are you getting shy? It doesn't suit you."
"For someone who doesn't talk very muck, you sure are harsh…" Toru muttered, but then regained his composure, "But anyway, now we can have a 3-person turbo-duel team! We can enter a lot of tournaments with one! Hey, Axel. You'll join, right?"
"I don't know, that really came from out of nowhere…" Axel admitted, "I guess there's no problem with that. I'll do it."
"Alright, then it's settled! All you need now is a duel-runner! By the way, where is it?"
"This is the place." Axel pushed up the garage door to his place and showed them the runner in the middle of the room. It didn't take long when Toru and Misaki looked over it.
"How does it look over there, Misaki?" Toru asked.
"…Difficult."
"Yeah, same here, too."
"It seems like it would be easier to just replace everything…"
"Whoa, wait. Are you sure we should do that?" Axel asked, "This is my dad's bike you're talking about."
"He makes a good point," Toru said, "Can't we use as much of this runner as we can? I mean, all we have to replace is the CPU, the engine and frame."
"We have the former two…" Misaki said, "But the frame we don't have. And the shop is closed today on holiday…"
"That does create quite a problem… But there is one place we can try: the scrapyard!"
"The what?" Axel wondered.
"There's a scrapyard near here…" Misaki explained, "What was dumped there is mostly duel-runner parts. Maybe there's a frame we need for this runner."
"How far is that place?" Axel asked.
"Now that far," Toru said, "It takes 20 minutes on foot. We can get there right now if you could handle carrying a large hunk of metal all the way back here."
"Well, I guess it's worth a shot. Let's head there."
Soon the three reached the scrapyard, which is a fairly large parking lot with piles of old metal wherever. Next to the gate separating it from the public road, someone laid on a lazyboy chair with a magazine open over his face.
"Hey, Tanner. Wake up," Toru shook him awake, "We're we need to ask you something."
The man snorted awake and pulled off the magazine. He's this tall, muscular guy with blue, spiky hair. "Huh, wha…? Oh, hey."
"Sleeping on the job, Tanner?" Toru joked.
"Hey, don't make such a big deal. Came here to sell more scrap?"
"We're wondering if you have a frame from a duel-runner lying around here. Do you."
"Maybe. But I thought you already finished your runners."
"Not for me; it's for my friend here," Toru moved aside and presented Axel, "This is Axel."
"Huh, so you're the guy Toru's talked about," the tall man stood up and gave Axel his hand, smiling, "The name's Bolt Tanner."
Axel accepted and shook his hand, "Hi. I just moved here."
"So I guess you're fixing to be a turbo-duelist, huh? I used to be a pro duelist myself. Maybe I can give you some pointers."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"Now c'mon, let's get you those parts," Tanner unlocked the gate and lead the three inside, "I know it's there somewhere…"
"Hey, what's that over there?" Toru doesn't know how he missed it, but there's a large suit of bulky armor in shades of orange. It seems too big for even Tanner to fit in. It looks brand new. Why would anyone throw this away?
"Oh, that. That was standing there when I came this morning. I'd try it on, but I couldn't find a way to separate it. And I couldn't find any seams to separate the pieces. I don't know why anyone would throw this out. …There's one!" they spotted an old chopper-like frame against a large scrap pile nearby. "Will that do?"
Misaki looks over the frame, "…That will do."
After hauling the piece back to Axel's place, the three were able to fix up Axel's duel-runner. It took a few hours until they're finally done. Once again they're looking at an onyx-black runner, this one actually works.
"Alright, repairs are finished," Axel wiped his brow, "I say we did a good job."
"The duel-runner is reborn," Misaki said, "Let's try it out."
"…That's what I was gonna say," Toru said, "but I'm really beat today. Wanna do that tomorrow?"
Misaki scoffed, "…Weakling."
"Hey, watch it! Axel, you wanna rest after moving today, don't you?"
"Tomorrow's good." Axel said.
"See, Axel's tired, too!"
"Okay… It's getting late anyway…"
"Just the words I wanted to hear. Thank you so very much, Princess Misaki." Toru joked.
"Princess…?"
"…Forget it. Anyway, let's take the rest of the day off and come back tomorrow morning."
"Sounds good," Axel said, "Let me know when you're coming over."
"Right. Okay, se ya tomorrow." When Toru and Misaki left, Axel shut the door when he realized there's a parcel next to it. He picked it up and there's a note attached to it: 'Hey, boy. I forgot to give you this. You weren't here so I decided to leave it by your doorstep. You should learn to lock your own door. I hope you appreciate the trouble I went through driving all the way back here. This use to be your father's.' He opened it, and there he holds a black spandex suit with pads. This must be his father's turbo suit. Knowing what to wear tomorrow, he went to bed.
The next morning, Toru and Misaki came back over with their duel-runners and Axel showed them the new suit he put on. "Like it? It's my dad's that Klaus gave me."
"Pretty stylish!" Toru admitted.
"…A really 'grand' present for a grandchild…" Misaki spoke, and they could have sworn that she giggled.
"Ugh, what a bad pun…" Toru groaned, "…Now, let's go have that test ride! We can go to the mountain pass outside of town."
"…Oh yeah, the duel-runner shop reopened, starting today." Misaki said, causing them to go silent for a moment.
"Wait, you mean we didn't have to pick up the frame that we didn't even know still works when we could've just bought one from the shop that does?" Axel asked and Misaki nodded.
"Then why did we kill ourselves with all that work yesterday…?" Toru whined.
"We worked hard and finished the duel-runner together…" Misaki said, "…Now we will appreciate it. And the duel-runner will appreciate it, too." Misaki walked back outside.
"I guess Misaki's right…" Axel said, "Working hard for it show's we're devoted."
"And I think it's also the first time I've seen Misaki happy," Toru added, "Now, let's go to the mountain range!"
Later that day, Axel Toru and Misaki made it to the small highway at the mountainside. Axel and Toru are side-by-side on their duel-runners while Misaki stood aside in front of a gas station nearby.
"Alright, there's no better way to test our runners than with our first turbo-duel!" Toru said, "Here, you'll be needing this!" he pulled out a field-spell card and gave it to Axel.
"Hey, I heard of this," Axel said, "Don't we need these to turbo-duel?"
"That's right. Wanna take it out for a test-drive?"
"Can't wait to try it out!" Axel placed the card inside his console the same as Toru, and both runners whirled to life.
"DUEL-MODE ENGAGED," their computer announced, "SPEED WORLD ACTIVATED. AUTO-PILOT STANDING BY." A blue-colored pulse beat from their runners, signaling their ready.
"Alright, let's get to it!" Toru said and he and Axel drove on.
Axel: 4000 (0)
Toru: 4000 (0)
"I'll start things off with the first move!" Toru drew his first card, "I summon Scrap Beast in ATK mode!" the scrapmetal wolf appeared (ATK: 1600), "Then I place 2 card face-down and end my turn!" two reverse-cards appeared.
"Alright, my turn," Axel drew his next card, 'Let's see, the number of speed-counters depend on what speed-spell I can use. So…' "I activate the speed-spell: Overboost! This increases the speed-counters I have by 6, giving me a total of 8 speed-counters! Next, I activate another speed-spell: Offerings to the Doomed! This can destroy your Scrap Beast!"
"I don't think so! I activate my face-down card: the quick-play Scrapstorm!" Toru opened his reverse-card, "Since I have at least 2 speed-counters, I can send a Scrap monster from my deck to the graveyard and destroy the one I have on the field!" Scrap Beast is destroyed. "And when Scrap Beast is destroyed, I can add another Scrap monster from my hand! But that's not all! Since I sent (4) Scrap Searcher(1/ATK: 100/DEF: 300) to the graveyard with Scrapstorm, and there was a Scrap monster destroyed while in the graveyard, then I can summon it from the graveyard!" a bird made of Scrapmetal with headlights on its shoulders appeared (DEF: 300).
"Shoot. I can't draw on my next turn because of Offerings to the Doomed. But I can still wage an attack! I summon (12) Chiron the Mage(4/ATK: 1800/DEF: 1000)!" a centaur-like warrior appeared with a red-gem staff in hand (ATK: 1800), "By sending a card from my hand to the graveyard, one card on your spell/trap zone are destroyed!" Chiron fired a beam from his staff and destroyed Toru's face-down Negate Attack, "Next I remove 6 speed-counters to activate one more speed-spell: Shift Down, and draw 2 more cards!" Axel drew two cards, "Now Chiron, destroy Scrap Searcher!" Chiron fired another blast and destroyed the bird. "Finally I end my turn with a face-down. And because of Overboost, my speed-counters are reduced to one."
"Then it's my turn!" Toru drew his next card, "I summon the monster I added from Scrap Beast's effect: Scrap Chimera!" the scrapmetal chimera appeared (ATK: 1700), "And when he's summoned, I get to bring back a Scrap monster back from the graveyard. And I choose Scrap Beast!" the scrapmetal wolf appeared (ATK: 1600), "And now I tune them both to synchro-summon Scrap Dragon!" the two scrap monsters merged to form the large scrapmetal dragon (ATK: 2800), "Now, Scrap Dragon, attack!" the dragon blew a stream of fire.
"I activate the trap card, Dimensional Prison!" Axel's reverse-card opened, "This remove the attacking monster from play! And since your dragon's effect can only activate when it's destroyed, you can't summon any monsters!"
Toru groaned, "I end my turn."
"Then it's my turn! But since I can't draw a card due to Offerings to the Doomed last turn, I'll just have to summon (13) Synchro Explorer(2/ATK: 0/DEF: 700)!" a bulging red robot appeared with a hollow gap in its chest (ATK: 0), "And when Synchron Explorer's summoned, I can also summon a tuner-monster from my graveyard with 'Synchron' in it's name! So I summon (14) Bri Synchron(4/ATK: 1500/DEF: 1100)!" a humanoid green-and-white robot with plane-like wings came out of the gap of Synchron Explorer (ATK: 1500), "Now I tune them to synchro-summon X-Saber Urbellum!" the machines merged into the twin-sword mercenary warrior (ATK: 2200), "And when Bri Synchron is used for a synchro-summon, Urbellum gains 600 ATK points (ATK: 2200-2800), "Urbellum and Chiron, attack Toru directly!" Urbellum drew his swords while Chiron aimed his wand and both attacked. Toru's front of his duel-runner opened and steam shot out, shutting down on him.
Axel: 4000 (2)
Toru: 0 (1)
Axel stopped beside Toru, "I guess I win!"
"I guess you did." Toru sighed.
"C'mon, let's get back to the station." The two drove on back to the store…
But when they got there, something was blocking the road, "What is that?" Toru asked as he took a closer look at it, and then realized he saw it before, "Wait, isn't that the same suit of armor Tanner had?"
"I guess he finally figured out how to put it on. But what's he doing here?" Axel got his answered when the armor lift it's arm and showed a similar-colored duel-disk which then activated. "I had to ask…"
"Wait, so he wants an duel?" Toru wondered.
"Well, I already won one duel today. I suppose I'll make it two in a row." Axel got off his runner and took his deck out with his duel-disk. "So, wanna try your hand against me?" Tanner didn't respond, instead drew it's starting hand. "I'll take that as a yes." Axel activated his duel-disk and drew his own hand.
Meanwhile Toru stood beside Misaki, "So what's the deal with Tanner? He's acting kinda strange, don't you think?"
"That's that we're going to find out…" Misaki said as she fiddled with her duel-runner console, "…I'm linking the duel-disk frequencies to our runners so we'll know what they're playing."
Axel: 4000
Tanner: 4000
Tanner's the first to draw and set two cards; one on the spell/trap and monster zones.
"Not really a talker, are you?" Axel said as he drew his next card, "I guess I'll just have to do all the talking, and with the help of (15) Fossil Tusker(4/ATK: 1800/DEF: 0)!" a large, tusk-fanged beast of bones appeared, standing under a mop of dirty white hair (ATK: 1800), "Fossil Tusker, weed out that face-down where I can see it!" the monster stomped towards the set monster, but Tanner activated the face-down A Feint Plan. It protected his set monster as Fossil Tusker backed away, "I guess you saved your monster for now. But I'll try again after this face-down card." Axel concluded.
Tanner drew his next card. He flipped over his monster and the set monster vanished.
"What…?" the ground rumbled under Axel's feet and the concrete suddenly burst, making Fossil Tusker airborne. As it fell back to the ground, a hideous, purple creature caught it in mid air with its vertical rows of teeth. Everyone's mouth gaped open as it carried it back into the hole with it.
Axel: 3700
Tanner: 4000
"Whoa! What kind of monster is that?!" Toru gasped.
"…It's (5) Worm Rakuyeh(4/ATK: 2100/DEF: 1200)," Misaki answered as she looked at her console, "…It's ability allows him to return to its previous position after it attacks. Fortunately, Fossil Tusker inflicts 400 points of damage when sent to the graveyard in battle…"
Axel: 3700
Tanner: 3600
Tanner sets another monster next to its previous one and concluded with another reverse-card.
"Okay, my turn," Axel drew his next card, "I activate the spell card Cost Down! By discarding one card from my hand, the level of all monsters in my hand are lowered by 2! Next I summon out Commander Gottoms, Swordmaster!" the leader of the X-Sabers appeared (ATK: 2100), "Not only can he match Gottoms in strength, it has no chance in DEF mode! Attack!" however, Tanner activated a copy of A Feint Attack and cancelled Gottom's attack. "That card again? Fine. I'll end my turn with a face-down."
Tanner drew his next card. He activated the spell Dian Keto the Cure Master and increased his life-points by 1000.
Axel: 3700
Tanner: 4600
Next he flipped over his second monster, which is a red insect-like creature with two heads (ATK: 300), (6) Worm Linx(2/ATK: 300/DEF: 1000). After concluding with another set monster and another face-down, the monster's ATK activates and Tanner drew a card.
"My turn!" Axel drew his next card, "I summon X-Saber Anu Pirahna!" the female X-Saber appeared (ATK: 1800), "And as long as Gottom's on the field, all Saber monsters like Anu Pirahna gain 400 ATK points (ATK: 1800-2200)! Anu Pirahna, attack that Worm Linx!" the X-Saber attacked, by Tanner activated his face-down: the continuous-trap Wall of Revealing Light. After 3000 life-points, a large wall of light rose up around Tanner and his monsters and blocked off Axel's monsters. "There's always next turn, I guess."
Axel: 3700
Tanner: 1600
Tanner drew his next card, after drawing from Worm Linx's effect during Axel's end-phase. He switched it to DEF position and his latest set monster flipped over, revealing a gelatinous bulb with rows of teeth near the bottom (ATK: 400).
"Man, this guy's deck is full of these worm monsters, isn't it?" Toru said.
"And this one is (7) Worm Opera(2/ATK: 400/DEF: 800)…" Misaki reviewed, "…And it lowers the ATK of all foreign monsters by 500."
Opera opened its mouth and a screeching sonic vibrations rippled from it, incapacitating both Gottoms (ATK: 2100-1600) and Anu Pirahna (ATK: 2200-1700). Then Rakuyeh burst from under Gottoms and devoured him whole, before returning to the ground.
Axel: 3300
Tanner: 1600
X-Saber Anu Pirahna: (ATK: 1700-1300)
Worm Opera then vanished and yet another set monster took its place before Tanner concluded his turn, activating Linx's effect.
"Alright, my turn!" Axel drew his next card, "I summon the tuner-monster X-Saber Pashuul!" the warrior X-Saber tuner appeared (ATK: 100), "And now I tune him with Anu Pirahna to synchro-summon…" the two X-Sabers merged and another synchro-monster took their place; this one is a large dragon of ice. Its giant wings form of icy glass, as of the rest of its body. Its head is the form of a giant snowflake, just like the tip of its tail (ATK: 2300), "(16) Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier(6/ATK: 2300/DEF: 1400)!"
"Wow, now that's a rare card!" Toru gasped, "I figured Axel improved his deck, but I didn't know he's have that card!"
"Next I activate Brionac's ability: by discarding a card from my hand, I can take a card from the field and return it to the owner's hand! So your Wall of Revealing Light goes back!" after discarding one of his cards, the wall of light lowered, "Brionac, attack Worm Linx!" after Brionac attacked with an ice breath, Worm Linx froze and then shattered. "That ends my turn."
Tanner drew his next card. His set Rakuyeh vanished to make room for another monster: a strange, red-orange bulb stood by a pair of legs attached to the sides, with a pair of powerful arms on ether its top or bottom (ATK: 2350).
"(8) Worm Warlord(6/ATK: 2350/DEF: 1800)…" Misaki muttered, "This could mean trouble…"
"Yeah, that thing's 50 points stronger than Axel's monster!" Toru said.
"That's not all… When Warlord destroys a monster, it can attack a second time."
As is by command, the warlord grabbed Brionac by its tail, and heaved it into the air ready to slam it to the ground.
"I activate the trap card Skill Successor!" Axel's reverse-card opened, "This card boosts Brionac's ATK by 400 until the end-phase (ATK: 2300-2700)!" Brionac managed to regain its composure and toss Worm Warlord into the air before it smashed its tail against it and destroyed it.
Axel: 3300
Tanner: 1250
Tanner then concluded his turn with two face-downs.
"Just what's Tanner's deal? I don't know why he isn't saying a word," Toru wondered, then called out, "We all know it's you in there! You can stop the silent treatment!"
"It's my turn!" Axel drew his next card, "I summon the tuner Bri Synchron in ATK mode!" the jet-fighter tuner appeared (ATK: 1500), "Next, since Quillbolt Hedgehog is in my graveyard while a tuner's on my field, I can special-summon him to the field!" Quillbolt Hedgehog rose from the graveyard (ATK: 800), "And now I tune Bri Synchron with Quillbolt Hedgehog to summon yet another synchro: Flamvell Uruquiza!" the two monsters merged and created the flame-fisted warrior monster (ATK: 2100), "And there's more; since Bri Synchron's used for a synchro-summon, that synchro-monster loses its effect, but gains 600 ATK points, until the end of the turn (ATK: 2100-2700), "Alright, Uruquiza, attack that face-down monster!" as Uruquiza charged in for an attack, just in time for Tanner to activate his face-down trap card, Waboku, when the card flipped over: an insectoid figure with a dark-green exoskeleton and mosquito-like face (DEF: 2400). Uruquiza's fists couldn't knock it down. The monster, (9) Worm Noble(6/ATK: 1200/DEF: 2400), then has shrouds of darkness creep from behind before they went and struck Axel.
Axel: 1950
Tanner: 1250
"Okay, that's not half bad…" Axel admitted, "I'll end my turn."
Flamvell Uruquiza: (ATK: 2700-2100)
Tanner drew his next card. He activated the spell card Worm Bait, and special-summoned two Worm Tokens (1/ATK: 0/DEF: 0) along with Worm Noble. Those two monsters then distorted and merged into a pool of energy where a much bigger monster climbed out. The golden-skinned, four-armed behemoth stood on four bipedal legs, where it's lower body opened to reveal two large rows of teeth: (10) Worm King(8/ATK: 2700/DEF: 1100).
"Uh-oh… This could be trouble…" Misaki said.
"I know what you mean," Toru asked, "How's Axel gonna get past that much ATK power?"
"No, I mean that monster's special-ability can destroy one of Axel's cards by sacrificing another Worm monster…"
"It does what?!"
Worm King grabbed Worm Noble and crushed it in its arms, them it's lower mouth opened and released a blast that destroyed Brionac, then went for Uruquiza and slammed its four fists into him.
Axel: 1350
Tanner: 1250
"But that leave Axel totally defenseless! If he doesn't have a monster out by that monsters next attack then he'll lose!"
"Then he better summon one this turn…"
"Alright, my turn…" Axel drew his next card, "I've been waiting to use this card; I activate the equip-spell Premature Burial! By paying 800 life-points, I can bring back a monster from my graveyard! And the monster I choose to summon is Commander Gottoms, Swordmaster!" the X-Saber leader returned from the graveyard.
Axel: 550
Tanner: 1250
"Next, I activate my face-down card: the trap, Gottoms' Emergency Call!" Axel opened his reverse-card, "With this, 2 X-Sabers return from the graveyard and join Gottoms in battle! So welcome back X-Saber Anu Pirahna, and X-Saber Airbellum!" the female mercenary and lion-like beastman return to the field, "But they won't be around for long, because now I tune my 2 X-Sabers to form a more powerful X-Saber: Souza!" the two mercenaries merged and the tattered-caped twin swordsman took their place (ATK: 2500-2900), "Now, X-Saber Souza, attack and dethrone that Work King!" Souza brought down his swords and cut down the Worm King.
Axel: 550
Tanner: 1050
"Now to finish you off! Gottoms, attack!" the commander raised his sword and brought in down on Tanner, knocking him off his feet and onto the asphalt.
Axel: 550
Tanner: 0
"That makes two in a row," Axel said as the group gathered around Tanner. "That's a pretty good game you gave me." They waited for a response but still he remained silent.
"C'mon, Tanner enough of the silent treatment!" Toru lightly kicked Tanner's arm, where it gave a vacant ring under the armor, "Huh? Sounds hollow!"
"Well, it is big, after all…" Misaki said.
"No, I mean it's really hollow!" Toru kicked it some more, "Is anyone even home?"
"That's crazy, of course he's in there!" Axel bent down and lift the suit, amazingly with ease, "Hey, it's lighter than it looks!" he rapped on the helmet, receiving more of the similar sound, "Maybe you're right! It's just an empty suit of armor!"
"But how's that possible?" Toru wondered, "Hollow metal doesn't move by itself, let alone work a duel-disk!"
"…Doesn't matter," Misaki spoke, catching the boys' attention, "It wanted to test us in a duel, and we passed. I'm sure Tanner's behind this…"
"You think he could do something like this?" Axel asked.
"I never knew Tanner to do anything like this." Toru said.
"We'll get our answers when we bring it back to him…" Misaki said, "…I'm sure we'll get our answers."
"Alright…"
"If you say so…"
After hauling the suit onto Toru's duel-runner, he, Axel and Misaki rode back to the city.
"I had decent expectations from that X-Saber duelist, but we made more progress than we thought we can get from him."
"Not only did he help complete the first seal, he also managed to give us the next one without much effort."
"That means we can move on to the third seal. Lucky for us we don't have to find our next target to get this next job done; I think it's time to give him a wake-up call..."
DUEL-MON DATABASE
(1) Wattlemur
Stats: [Thunder/Effect] LV: 3 (ATK: 800/DEF: 100)
Attribute: LIGHT
Effect: If this card in its owner's possession is destroyed by your opponent's card (either by battle or by card effect): Your opponent cannot conduct their Battle Phase during their next turn.
(2) Wattberyx
Stats: [Thunder/Tuner] LV: 3 (ATK: 300/DEF: 0)
Attribute: LIGHT
Effect: When this card inflicts Battle Damage to your opponent by a direct attack, discard 1 random card from your opponent's hand.
(3) Wattchimera
Stats: [Thunder/Synchro/Effect] LV: 6 (ATK: 1400/DEF: 1200)
Attribute: LIGHT
Effect: 1 "Watt" Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner Thunder-Type monsters
This card can attack your opponent directly. When this card inflicts Battle Damage to your opponent by a direct attack, place 1 random card from your opponent's hand on top of their Deck.
(4) Scrap Searcher
Stats: [Winged-Beast/Effect] LV: 1 (ATK: 100/DEF: 300)
Attribute: EARTH
Effect: When a "Scrap" monster you control, except "Scrap Searcher", is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard while this card is in the Graveyard, you can Special Summon this card from your Graveyard. When this card is Special Summoned, destroy all face-up monsters you control, except "Scrap" monsters.
(5) Worm Rakuyeh
Stats: [Reptile/Effect] LV: 4 (ATK: 2100/DEF: 1200)
Attribute: LIGHT
Effect: This card can only declare an attack during the turn it is flipped face-up. If this card attacks, it is changed to face-down Defense Position at the end of the Battle Phase.
(6) Worm Linx
Stats: [Reptile/Effect] LV: 10 (ATK: 300/DEF: 1200)
Attribute: LIGHT
Effect: FLIP: During each End Phase, if this card is face-up, draw 1 card.
(7) Worm Opera
Stats: [Reptile/Effect] LV: 2 (ATK: 400/DEF: 800)
Attribute: LIGHT
Effect: FLIP: All face-up monsters on the field lose 500 ATK, except Reptile-Type "Worm" monsters.
(8) Worm Warlord
Stats: [Reptile/Effect] LV: 6 (ATK: 2350/DEF: 1800)
Attribute: LIGHT
Effect: This card cannot be Special Summoned. Negate the effects of Effect Monsters destroyed by battle with this card. If this card destroys an opponent's monster by battle, it can attack once again in a row.
(9) Worm Noble
Stats: [Reptile/Effect] LV: 6 (ATK: 1200/DEF: 2400)
Attribute: LIGHT
Effect: FLIP: If this card is flipped face-up by an opponent's monster's attack, inflict damage to your opponent equal to half the attacking monster's ATK.
(10) Worm King
Stats: [Reptile/Effect] LV: 8 (ATK: 2700/DEF: 1100)
Attribute: LIGHT
Effect: This card can be Tribute Summoned in face-up Attack Position by Tributing 1 Reptile-Type "Worm" monster. You can Tribute 1 Reptile-Type "Worm" monster to select 1 card your opponent controls, and destroy it.
(11) Drill Synchron
Stats: [Machine/Tuner] LV: 3 (ATK: 800/DEF: 300)
Attribute: EARTH
Effect: While you control this face-up card, during each battle between a Warrior-Type attacking monster you control and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is lower than the ATK of the attacking monster, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent. Once per turn, when you inflict battle damage to your opponent with this effect, you can draw 1 card.
(12) Chiron the Mage
Stats: [Beast-Warrior/Effect] LV: 4 (ATK: 1800/DEF: 1000)
Attribute: EARTH
Effect: Once per turn: You can discard 1 Spell Card, then target 1 Spell/Trap Card your opponent controls; destroy that target.
(13) Synchron Explorer
Stats: [Machine/Effect] LV: 2 (ATK: 0/DEF: 700)
Attribute: EARTH
Effect: When this card is Normal Summoned, you can select 1 "Synchron" monster in your Graveyard and Special Summon it. Its effects are negated.
(14) Bri Synchron
Stats: [Machine/Tuner] LV: 4 (ATK: 1500/DEF: 1100)
Attribute: EARTH
Effect: If this card is sent to the Graveyard as a Synchro Material Monster, until the End Phase of this turn, the Synchro Monster that used this card as a Synchro Material Monster gains 600 ATK but its effects are negated.
(15) Fossil Tusker
Stats: [Rock/Effect] LV: 4 (ATK: 1800/DEF: 0)
Attribute: EARTH
Effect: When this card destroys an opponent's monster by battle and sends it to the Graveyard, inflict 400 damage to your opponent.
(12) Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
Stats: [Sea Serpent/Synchro/Effect] LV6 ATK/ 2300 DEF/1400
Attribute: WATER
Effect: 1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters
You can discard any number of cards to return the same number of cards from the field to the hand.
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