Just to forewarn you. In Arlene's duel, her opponent uses some normal monsters that have higher stats than normal, er...normal monsters with no downsides. THESE ARE REAL CARDS. They're going to be released in Strike of Neos, the next expansion. Now that you're warned, on with the fic!
The grim sky on the day of the tournament brought with it some light rain, though not enough to relocate tournament areas - or so Arlene thought. Arriving at the Slifer Red Dorms, Arlene found the area almost completely deserted, apart from a lone man with an umbrella at the ready. Arlene rushed up to him.
"Excuse me, but isn't this where Duel Group G is supposed to be?" The man shook his head.
"It's been relocated to a Duelling Tent. Just follow the cliff right for about ten minutes."
"But it's hardly even raining." At that moment the rain started to become more violent. "Right. Thanks." Arlene muttered through gritted teeth as she tried to get to the Dueling Tent as quickly as possible.
"Haha! I thought my opponent might have chickened out on me!" Arlene rolled her eyes.
Oh boy. Another Duelist who thinks he's the best thing since sliced bread.
"AND my opponent's the girl who drew in her Dueling entry exam! This'll be easy!" Arlene shrugged at this.
Best not to encourage him by retorting.
"Let's just get this over with," Arlene told her challenger, "whatever your name is."
"How can you not know the mighty Devin Pickett?"
"Easily. There are enough of here who think you're the greatest. All of you just blend into one annoying mass."
"Whatever! Let's duel!"
Devin: 4000
Arlene: 4000
"Let's see," Devin muttered, picking up his card. "I'll start by summoning Gene-Warped Warwolf (2000/0100) to the field in attack mode!" Arlene smirked.
"And what downside does this monster have?" Devin looked puzzled. "Pegasus wouldn't release a normal four star monster with 2000 attack!" Devin grinned.
"Actually, that's exactly what he did!" Arlene's jaw dropped.
"You're kidding." Devin grinned widely.
"It gets worse for you! I play the magic card Ancient Rules! Now I can special summon a level 5 or higher monster to the field, so say hello to my 6 star monster Frostsaurus (2600/1700)!"
This is insane! Arlene thought as she stared at these monsters. The standards have really been raised for normal monsters!
"Make your move!" Devin declared. "My monsters are way too powerful for you!"
Don't give in to cheesy dialogue, don't...
"Well, the bigger they are, the harder they fall!"
Crap.
"I summon my Balance Warrior Gyunn (1600/1400) to the field in attack mode! I'll then equip it with Recovery Cannon. This card increases my monster's attack by 300, and whenever I destroy one of your monsters, I gain life points equal to the destroyed monster's attack (1600/1400 - 1900/1400)."
"That's still not enough to..."
"Don't interrupt."
"HEY!"
"Shut up. I know that under ordinary circumstances, Gyunn doesn't have enough attack points..."
"SEE? I TOLD YOU..."
"HOWEVER! Gyunn is not ordinary. For every Light Aura Gyunn has, his attack goes up by 400. And seeing as I activated a magic card..." a Light Aura started to swirl around Gyunn, raising his attack (1900/1400 - 2300/1400). "Gyunn, destroy the warwolf." Devin shielded his eyes as his monster was struck by a beam of white energy. When he opened his eyes, his monster was gone and Arlene's life points had gone up.
Devin: 3700
Arlene: 6000
"One attack changes nothing!"
"That's why I'm setting one card face down." Devin dismissed this and drew his card.
"Time to show you the REAL power of my deck!"
"I can hardly wait."
"I'll summon The Six Samurai - Zanji (1800/1300) in attack mode!" Arlene looked mildly interested as Devin summoned his monster.
Six Samurai against six Balance Warriors...this ought to be good.
"Now, my Frostsaurus will destroy your Balance Warrior!"
"Nope."
"What?"
"I'm activating a quick play magic card known as Artificial Aura! I can add any number of Light or Dark Auras to my Balance Warriors, but I have to pay 1000 life points for each one. I'll choose to add one Light Aura to Gyunn, so up goes Gyunn's attack (2300/1400 - 2700/1400)!" Devin's icy dinosaur shattered as Gyunn launched an assualt on it, then a swirling light raised Arlene's life points even more.
Devin: 3600
Arlene: 7600
"Fine then!" Devin declared. "I'll activate Nightmare's Steelcage! Now neither of us can attack for two turns!"
"Fine with me." Arlene picked up a card and ended her turn.
"Alright! I'll summon The Six Samurai - Kamon (1500/1000) to the field! And because I have another Samurai face up, once per turn instead of battling, I can destroy a face up magic or trap card, so I'll choose your Recovery Cannon!"
"So? My monster still has 2400 attack points without it (2700/1400 - 2400/1400)." Devin didn't say anything for a few seconds. Finally he ended his turn. Arlene picked up a card and ended hers, destroying the Nightmare Steelcage.
"Now time for your REAL nightmares to begin!" Devin announced.
"Very original."
"SILENCE! I summon to the field Great Shogun Shien (2500/2400)!" Now Arlene was starting to get impressed.
Six underlings, and a leader; just like the Balance Warriors.
"Normally my Shogun needs two sacrifices, BUT when there are two or more Six Samurai monsters on the field, I can skip the sacrifices! Even better, while this card is on the field, you can only activate one magic or trap card per turn! So, my Shogun, DESTROY HER MONSTER!"
"Crap!" Arlene blurted out as Gyunn was destroyed.
Devin: 3600
Arlene: 7500
"Now my other two Samurai will attack you directly!" Arlene winced as the two monsters made contact.
Devin: 3600
Arlene: 4200
"I think you're starting to see my deck's power!" Devin noted as Arlene stood up; she had been knocked over by the force of the blows. "This duel will be over soon!"
"Enough with the trash talk!" Arlene yelled. "A duel's a duel! You want to brag, do it on your own time!" Arlene drew her next card.
"Now! WARRIOR of Atlantis (1900/1200) finish the duel!" Bryon declared. His monster slashed at his opponent.
Bryon: 1250
Zander: 0000
"Bryon is the winner!" An announcer declared. A few people applauded politely, but most just glared at Bryon as they had gotten fed up with his over enthusiasm.
"WOOHOO! I WIN!"
"Bryon, please step off the Dueling area."
"YAHHOOO!"
"Now!"
"AWW YEAHH!"
"Security!"
"Envoy of Sky Zeradias (2100/0800), finish this!" Fay grinned as she won her duel.
Davie: 0000
Fay: 9500
"Fay is the winner!" Fay nodded in acknowledgment at the sound of cheers, and wondered how her friends were doing as she stepped away from the Duel Area.
In a remote area of the island, a security guard was talking to someone over the phone while furtively looking around to see if anyone was nearby.
"Sir, the first rounds are well underway. Profits made from the stalls are slow, but we expect them to increase as the tournament progresses. We should have enough money to fund the restoration of the school." The security guard paused as he listened to a voice talking through the phone. "No no, we haven't forgotten about the girl. We're waiting for her to lose a duel...yes. Sir, can I ask about your decision to...of course sir, it's none of my business. I apologise." The guard hung up and stared down at the ground, waiting.
All of the cards Devin, Fay and Bryon used in this chapter are real cards. Some are being released for Strike of Neos, and some for Force of the Breaker, coming after Strike of Neos. If anyone wants to know more about these cards, PM me and I'll be happy to explain.
New cards...
Balance Warrior Gyunn
ATK: 1600 DEF: 1400
Attribute: Dark
Level: 4
Type: Warrior
Image: A serious looking warrior in ragged robes. He has no weapons, but his hands are curled into fists.
Effect: This card can have a total of 3 Auras at any time, and they must be of the same type. For each Light Aura this card has, increase this card's attack by 400. Once per turn during your main phase, you may remove 1 Dark Aura from Gyunn. If you do so, Gyunn can attack your opponent's life points directly this turn. When Gyunn attacks directly, any increase in Gyunn's attack due to Light Auras is ignored.