The next morning brought dull grey clouds and heavy rain that seemed to be determined to break through Arlene's window. When it became clear that she would not get back to sleep, she rolled out of bed and started to get dressed. She had just put on some dark trousers when someone knocked on her door. Quickly shoving on a T-Shirt, she walked to the door and opened it to see Bryon Perez, the duelist from yesterday.
"Good! MORNING!" He yelled. Arlene winced at being in contact with a morning person.
"Whatisit?" She slurred.
"It's time to DUEL!" Arlene winced again and yawned loudly.
"No thanks." Bryon seemed to ignore her answer.
"Alright then! Let's go find people to duel!" He grabbed Arlene's arm and started running. Arlene tried to cling on to the door, but only succeeded in slamming it shut as she was yanked along the corridor by Bryon.
I'm too tired to care. Arlene thought to herself. I'll have a duel, and then I'll go get some breakfast and then just be lazy. Her outline of the day appealed immensely until she was jolted back to reality when Bryon suddenly let go of her arm and she had to do everything in her power not to fall flat on her face. Arlene looked in front of her and saw a card stall, with many duelists gathered round it.
"Isn't it...great?" He said with a faraway look in his eye.
"Lemme guess. You have to duel to be able to go anywhere near that stall. That's why you wanted to duel someone." Bryon looked sideways to her and grinned.
"Yup! That's why I RECHALLENGE YOU! LET'S DUEL!" Arlene quickly walked towards a Duel Arena with Bryon close behind before too many people started staring. Unfortunately, a lot of Duelists wanted to watch a duel and so gathered round the edges of the Arena. Arlene could hear various shouts of encouragement, though none that she could hear were for her. Bryon and Arlene picked up their Duel Disks and slotted their decks into them.
They probably know about the duel between us yesterday. Well, now that I have some clue as to what my Balance Warriors do, I'll beat him this time!
"Prepare to lose again!" Bryon said dramatically.
"That's what you think!" Arlene retorted, then grimaced as she realised she had given in to the theatrics of dueling.
Arlene: 4000
Bryon: 4000
"Losers first!" Bryon yelled cheerily.
Give me a break! Arlene picked up her sixth card.
"I summon my Balance Warrior Vimetu (0900/2100) in defence mode! Then I'll activate my Spell card Artificial Aura! Now by paying life points in multiples of 1000, I can add a number of Light or Dark Auras to Balance Warriors on the field depending on how much I paid. I pay 3000 life points to add three Dark Auras to Vimetu!"
Arlene: 1000
Bryon: 4000
"I'll finish up by playing Dian Keto the Cure Master, increasing my life points by 1000, and setting one card face down!"
Arlene: 2000
Bryon: 4000
A lot of people started jeering at Arlene when she ended her turn. Arlene scowled and focused on Bryon's move.
"I remember this monster," Bryon said, grinning as he picked up his card. "And I know just how to destroy it! I activate my Spell card Smashing Ground! Now I can destroy one monster on your side of the field, and I choose your Balance Warrior Vimetu!" A large fist rammed into Vimetu. "Now I'll..."
"Hold on." Arlene interrupted, signalling at the field. Vimetu was still there!
"What? But it should have been destroyed!"
"You're forgetting one thing," Arlene explained. "If you remember in our last duel, Vimetu had three Light Auras on it. That meant it could not be destroyed in battle. However, because it now has three Dark Auras on it, it can ONLY be destroyed in battle." Bryon scowled, then smirked.
"Well, sadly for you I don't need to destroy your monster! I activate A Legendary Ocean!" The Duel Arena seemed to fill with water and soon the the bland Arena setting was replaced with an underwater city! "It gets better. I now summon my Amphibious Bugroth MK-3 (1500/1300) to the field, and because of my field card, it gains an extra 200 attack and defence (1500/1300 - 1700/1500)! But wait, there's more! When Umi is on the field, my monster can attack you directly! And yes," Bryon silenced Arlene who was about to interrupt, "my card is called Legendary Ocean, but its card name is also treated as Umi! So now I'll attack you directly!" Bryon's monster - which resembled an underwater exploration machine - fired off two blasts which struck Arlene, severely reducing her life points.
Arlene: 0300
Bryon: 4000
"How do you like THAT?" Arlene stared at him.
"As I told you yesterday, it's rude to point. Are you done?" Bryon nodded and Arlene picked up her card. She looked at Vimetu.
Normally Vimetu would gain an Aura, but once a Balance Warrior has three Auras they can't get any more.
"I'll summon my Balance Warrior Kirud (1500/1500) to the field in attack mode. Then I'll activate the card Recovery Cannon! This card can only be equipped to Balance Warriors, so I'll equip it to Kirud! It then increases my monster's attack by 300, and the best part is, whenever a monster equipped with this card destroys a monster, I regain life points equal to the destroyed monster's attack! Go Kirud, and destroy Bryon's monster!" Kirud launched a white beam of energy from the Recovery Cannon that blasted Amphibious Bugroth MK-3. Then the white beam turned round and circled Arlene before vanishing, increasing her life points.
Arlene: 2000
Bryon: 3900
"Now I'll activate the effect of my Balance Warrior Kirud. I can remove one Light Aura from it once per turn to increase my life points by 800!"
Arlene: 2800
Bryon: 3900
"I thought your turn would never end!" Bryon told her as he drew. "Perfect! I'll play my Spell card Ocean Chant! How do you like THAT?" Arlene shrugged. Bryon was slightly dismayed at her reaction but quickly recovered. "Anyway! I discard one Water monster from my hand, and then I get to special summon a level four or lower Water monster from my graveyard! It can't attack and must be in attack mode though," he muttered under his breath. He discarded a card and with a swirl of water Amphibious Bugroth MK-3 was back. "My monster isn't staying for long though! I sacrifice it to summon my ultimate monster!" Bryon tributed his monster and held up a card into the air. "My Levia-Dragon - Daedalus (2600/1500 - 2800/1700)!" A large Sea Serpent appeared and leered at Arlene.
Pfft. It's just a hologram. Despite that thought, Arlene couldn't help but worry about what was to come.
"Normally, I would have to tribute two monsters for my monster," Bryon explained. "HOWEVER! Legendary Ocean downgrades all Water monsters on the field and in my hand by one star! It's about to get a lot worse for you. Daedalus, activate your effect!" The underwater city started to vanish and the arena shook.
"What's happening?" Arlene called out.
"It's simple. By sending Umi to the graveyard, Daedalus can destroy every single card on the field except for itself!" Arlene looked horrified.
I'll only be left with 200 life points! I have to do something...maybe my face down...
"NOW LEVIA-DRAGON!" Bryon roared. "DESTROY ALL CARDS ON THE FIELD AND ATTACK ARLENE DIRECTLY!" Levia-Dragon Daedalus seemed to shrink as it attacked Arlene.
Arlene: 1400
Bryon: 3900
Bryon gaped. "Umm..." he finally said after a long pause. "What just happened?"
"I activated a trap called Aura Strike," Arlene replied. "I could only activate it when a Balance Warrior was removed from the field. In this case I chose Vimetu. For each counter it had, I could activate one of the four effects Aura Strike has. I could regain my life points by 700, decrease your by 500, increase a Balance Warrior's attack by 400 until my next end phase or decrease one of your monster's attack by 400 until my next end phase. Since Vimetu had three counters, I decreased Daedalus' attack by 1200 points (2600/1500 - 1400/1500)!" Bryon snarled.
Dammit! He thought. This girl has gone from being a ditz to being good in a day! I can't lose to her!
"My move," Arlene drew her card. "I'll summon Balance Warrior Hyan (1800/1200) to the field, and destroy your Levia-Dragon!" Arlene's Warrior drew a rusty sword and slashed Bryon's monster cleanly in two.
Arlene: 1400
Bryon: 3500
"Fine then. My move." Bryon picked up his card and looked at the field.
She may have been able to destroy Levia-Dragon, but once I draw my trump card, she wont stand a chance! For now though, I need to play stalling cards.
"I'll set a monster and end my turn."
"Alright then! I'll summon Balance Warrior Boru (0500/0500) in attack mode! Now Hyan, attack his face down!"
"FOOL!" Bryon yelled. "My monster was Gale Lizard (1400/0700)! When it's flipped, I can send one monster back to your hand, and I choose Hyan!" Hyan was blown back by a gust of wind into Arlene's hand.
"Well Boru can still attack you directly!"
Arlene: 1400
Bryon: 3000
"I'll finish by playing Swords of Revealing Light, meaning you can't attack me for three of your turns!" Bryon said nothing.
During the next three turns, it was simply a case of summoning monsters. Bryon summoned Sea Serpent Warrior of Darkness (1800/1500) on his turn, and Arlene responded by resummoning her Balance Warrior Hyan. Bryon then tributed his monster for Neo Aqua Madoor (1200/3000) in defence mode and Arlene did nothing on her turn. Finally Bryon set a card and ended his turn, meaning the Swords of Revealing light were destroyed. Arlene picked up her card.
"Now it's time to activate Boru's special ability!" Arlene announced. "Whenever a monster is normal summoned or flip summoned Boru gets a Light Aura, and by removing a Light Aura, I can draw a card. So I'll remove all three of Boru's counters to draw three more cards!" Arlene picked up three cards. "Just so you don't think that Boru's broken, I have to keep him in face up attack mode otherwise he's destroyed. Anyway, I'll set one card and end my turn."
"Well it was fun dueling you," Bryon announced. Now time to end this. I reveal Call of the Haunted, allowing me to bring back a monster from the grave, and I choose Levia-Dragon - Daedalus!" He took a dramatic pause before continuing. "I did say before that Levia-Dragon was my ultimate card. Unfortunately for you, I lied. I sacrifice my Levia-Dragon to summon...OCEAN DRAGON LORD - NEO DAEDALUS (2900/1600)!" Arlene was shaking as she watched Levia-Dragon mutate into a two headed beast. "Now, do you remember Levia-Dragon - Daedalus' effect?" Arlene nodded. "Ocean Dragon Lord does one better. By sending an Umi to the graveyard, I can destroy all cards on the field AND IN OUR HANDS except for my Ocean Dragon Lord!" Bryon placed a second Legendary Ocean Field card on his duel disk and swiftly removed it. Bryon laughed manically as the first of Arlene's cards was destroyed, then froze when she revealed a face down.
"This duel's done." She said. "Because I activate my Atomic Reaction trap card! I activate this when one of my cards gets sent to the graveyard. Until the end of this turn, for every card of mine that's sent to the graveyard, you lose 500 life points, and that includes the card used to activate the effect! Do you know what that means?" She paused.
Should I be OTT? Ah, why not? I've never won before! She pointed at Bryon.
"Since there were 5 cards in my hand and two monsters on the field, you lose 3500 life points!" Bryon shielded himself as his side of the field was hit with several explosions. When the smoke cleared, Bryon's life points had been reduced to 0.
Arlene: 1400
Bryon: 0000
"I...lost." Bryon muttered as the crowd cheered. Arlene said nothing but walked up to Bryon.
"C'mon. Let's go to the card stall."
New cards...
Recovery Cannon
Equip Magic
Image: A small white miniature cannon.
Effect: You can only equip this card to a monster with "Balance Warrior" in its name. Increase the equipped monster's attack by 300. When the equipped monster destroys a monster in battle, increase your life points by an amount equal to the destroyed monster's attack.
Ocean Chant
Normal Magic
Image: Four druids underwater in a circle. In the middle of the circle there is a blue light.
Effect: Discard 1 Water Attribute monster from your hand. Special summon 1 level 4 or lower Water monster from your graveyard and special summon it to the field. The special summoned monster must be special summoned in attack mode. The special summoned monster cannot change its battle position except by a card effect and cannot attack.
Aura Strike
Normal Trap
Image: Warrior Dai Grepher being attacked by several Light and Dark Auras.
Effect: You can activate this card when a monster with "Balance Warrior" in its name is removed from the field while it has at least 1 Light Aura or 1 Dark Aura. For each Aura the monster had, you may activate one of the following effects: increase your life points by 700, decrease your opponent's life points by 500, increase a monster on the field with "Balance Warrior" in its name's attack by 400 until your second end phase after this card's activation or decrease an opponents monster's attack by 400 until your second end phase after this card's activation. Each effect can be used more than once.
Balance Warrior Boru
ATK: 0500 DEF: 0500
Attribute: Fire
Level: 2
Type: Warrior
Image: A small warrior dressed in tattered robes holding a small dagger.
Effect: This card can have a total of 3 Auras at any time, and they must be of the same type. Each time a monster is normal summoned or flip summoned, place 1 Light Aura on this card. Each time a monster is special summoned, place 1 Dark Aura on this card. During your main phase, you may remove a number of Light Auras from this card to draw a number of cards from your deck equal to the amount of Auras removed, or you may remove a number of Dark Auras from this card to randomly discard a number of cards from your opponent's hand equal to the amount of Dark Auras removed. You may only use one of these effects once per turn. If this card is not in face up attack position, it is immediately destroyed.