Chapter 3: Unseen Foes
Some time ago, I faced an opponent who used an Eastern Warrior deck, that focused on monsters of Eastern Origin. Surprisingly though, he chose to leave out the most obvious of the Eastern monsters, stating that they were too weak.
I think I need to have a talk with him.
0000
After the meeting with Claremont, many of the duelists made their way outside of the hotel and out into the island.
Upon inspection, one would find it in the same condition it had been in when Pegasus held his first duel there over fifty years ago. The only difference know was that the different terrains had been removed from normal gameplay, as it had been too difficult to keep up with all of the current field cards in circulation.
Upon leaving the hotel, Bethany and Tara were given a map of the island that showed the different types of terrain, as well as the help stations that were placed all over the island, in case someone got lost.
"So, where should we head to first?" asked Tara as she surveyed the map.
"Well, I'm not a big fan of the desert, and it's probably too cold by the ocean, so why don't we head over to the forest area first" suggested Bethany, pointing out a group of trees that were not more then a ten minute walk from there current position.
00000
When they reached the edge of the small forest, the first thing they noticed was the lack of duelists in the area.
"Maybe they all decided to stay near the hotel, to make it easier to find other duelists" suggested Bethany, trying to get a better look inside the forest.
"Yeah, but you'd expect to see at least one other duelist out here, I mean, it's not that far from the starting point," replied Tara as she looked at her watch, "it's 6:58, the tournament's scheduled to begin in one minute."
Inching her way closer to the forest entrance, Bethany hid behind one of the trees, as if trying to sneak up on someone.
"And exactly what are you doing?" asked Tara, a confused look on her face.
"I've seen enough movies to know that as soon as the clock strikes seven, someone's going to try to jump out and attack us, so I'm going to get the upper hand" answered Bethany, still peering out from behind the tree.
Tara only shrugged her shoulders as she looked back down at her watch. "4, 3, 2, 1, and the tournament is now under way" Tara remarked as she watched Bethany continue to stare into the forest.
"Excuse me" came a voice from behind the pair, causing Tara and Bethany to scream and jump into the air.
Bethany turned around, expecting to see an intimidating figure; instead they saw a young boy around sixteen years old. He had predominantly Japanese features with short black hair and wore a blue and red striped shirt and jeans.
"God!" Bethany said, giving her heart a few seconds to calm down, "you nearly gave us both heart attacks!"
The young boy took a step back, a look of fear on his face. "I…I'm sorry, but I couldn't help but notice that you were hiding behind that tree, and I thought that perhaps there was some sort of wild animal in the tress you were hiding from."
Tara couldn't help but let out a laugh at that remark, "nope, no animal here but Bethany."
Bethany glared over at Tara before smiling at the boy. "Sorry if we looked a little strange. My name's Bethany and this is Tara."
The boy took a few steps forward to shake Bethany's hand, "and my name's Kyosuke, Kyosuke Ichigoji."
After shaking his hand, Bethany noticed the duel disk situated on his other arm. "Hey, that's right! You must be a duelist too! Well, since the tournament's already started and there's no one else around here, why don't you and me duel?"
Kyosuke thought for a moment before nodding his head, "but let's only wager one data point each, that way we can both still duel after this."
Bethany nodded again as she walked back a few paces and activated her duel disk.
"That's right," thought Bethany, as she watched Kyosuke leaf through his deck, "we have to pick a deckmaster before each duel."
Taking her deck out of its holder, she went through it, trying to find a god monster.
"Well, I only have one of this guy in my deck, and he's not that powerful, so maybe he'll make a better deckmaster."
Placing her card in the slot, Bethany looked over at Kyosuke. "My deckmaster will be The Illusory Gentleman!"
As soon as her card was completely in the disk, a bright flash covered her side of the field as a man dressed in an odd-looking orange suit and cape appeared behind Bethany (1500/1600)
Kyosuke nodded as he placed his card in the slot. "And my deckmaster will be the Armed Ninja."
All was quiet was a moment, until suddenly a bird cawed overhead causing Bethany to look up, but as soon as she look back at Kyosuke, she noticed a man wearing black armored outfit and blue helmet carrying a staff with a cresset blade behind him.
"Alright then, let's begin this duel!" Bethany said as their lifepoint meters both hit 8,000.
"Bethany."
Bethany jumped a little as she turned to see her deckmaster looking at her. "Did you just say something?" she asked.
"Of course I did" the Gentleman replied, "I thought it would be helpful to you if you knew what my deckmaster power was."
"Ah, okay" said Bethany, "so what exactly is it?" The Gentleman leaned over and whispered something into her ear, causing her to grin. "Alright, that works fine with me!"
Bethany: 8,000 LP
Kyosuke: 8,000LP
As both duelists drew their opening hands, Kyosuke motioned over to Bethany. "I'll let you have the first move."
"Thanks" replied Bethany, as she drew her sixth card, "I'll place one card in defense mode and another card face-down, and end my turn with that."
Two cards appeared in front of Bethany as Kyosuke drew his next card. "I'll summon my Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke in attack mode!"
Laying the card down, the silver clad ninja jumped out from behind Kyosuke and pulled two kunai from his side pouch.
"Now my ninja will attack your face-down card!"
The Grandmaster Ninja leaped into the air and threw both of his kunai at the face-down card. As the kunai flew at the card, it was suddenly replaced by two large bookshelves whose shelves were adorned with unlit lanterns. As the kunai hit the shelves, they seemed to bounce off while the Grandmaster Ninja landed back on the field.
"Sorry, but it looks like my Royal Magical Library (0000/2000) was too strong for your ninja to break" taunted Bethany.
Kyosuke let out a small grunt as he placed a card face-down and ended his turn.
Bethany: 8,000 LP
Kyosuke : 7,800 LP
"Alright, my library saved me for one turn, but with his ninja's effect, he'll destroy it next turn no matter what," thought Bethany as she drew her next card, "well, this won't help, but at least it'll protect my life points."
"I'll place this card face-down and that'll be all."
00000
Seated in his study, Claremont flipped through the latest issue of Duelists Monthly, trying to find something of interest, until one of his bodyguards walked in.
"I'm sorry for the intrusion, sir" the man said, giving a small bow.
"What is it, Alabaster?" asked Claremont, closing the magazine as placing on the side table.
"Well sir, out of the three-hundred duelists on the island, almost all of them are entered into a duel at the moment, and although none of them have ended yet, many of the duelists are looking quite impressive."
"Is that all you interrupted my quiet time for?" asked an impatient Claremont.
"No sir, it seems that two of the duelists might have broken one of your rules." Pulling out a sheet of paper, Alabaster walked over and handed it to Claremont.
"My my" remarked Claremont, looking over the paper, "I will say, even though this does seem quite unethical, it doesn't violate any of the rules I've placed down, so it seems we can do nothing but sit back and watch what happens."
"Yes sir, understand" said Alabaster as he made his way out of the room.
After the door was shut, Claremont took a moment before looking over the paper once more.
"I was only told to chose one, this might end up posing a problem if it gets too out of control."
00000
Drawing his next card, Kyosuke quickly adjusted his glasses before placing his next card down.
"I'll summon the Strike Ninja in attack mode."
Just like Grandmaster Ninja, another ninja, this one clad in all black jumped out from behind Kyosuke and stood beside his partner (1700/1200).
"And then I'll play Stop Defense, changing you library into attack mode!"
Placing the card on the disk, Bethany watched as the bookshelves gave a small rattling noise as the shook a little, before quieting down.
"But now that you've played a spell card, my library gains a counter" remarked Bethany as she watched one of the lamps hanging on the shelves light up.
"It won't matter after this!" said Kyosuke, pointing at the library, "now my Grandmaster will attack your library!"
Once more, Grandmaster Sasuke jumped into the air and launched his kunai at the shelves. This time, once the hit the bookshelves, each kunai let off a small explosion that caused the bookshelves to explode into hundreds of pieces.
Bethany: 6,200 LP
Kyosuke: 7,800 LP
"And now my deckmaster's ability activates!" Kyosuke said, "it's called the Ninjitsu Art of Replication. Whenever one of my monsters with the word 'ninja' in it's name destroys one of your monsters in attack position, I can special summon another of it's kind as long as I discard a card from my hand."
Taking a card from his hand, he quickly placed it in the discard tray, before the card was quickly shot back out of the slot.
"Hey, I think there's something wrong with your disk" Tara pointed out.
"Hehe, nope" replied Kyosuke, "the monster I discarded was my Roc from the Valley of Haze, and if he's discarded from my hand to the graveyard, he goes back to my deck instead, but enough about that monster, my deckmaster is about to give you something else to worry about."
Kyosuke looked back and nodded to his Armed Ninja. Shoving his staff into the ground, the Armed Ninja began to bring his hands together in a series of hand signs.
Suddenly, a gong could be heard from the distance as a second Grandmaster Sasuke appeared beside the first.
"Now my second Sasuke, attack Bethany's face-down!"
Just like the first, the second Sasuke threw his kunai at the face-down, which changed into the image of a young boy with yellow hair dressed in blue holding a staff. The kunai hit the boy as he instantly shattered.
"That was my Apprentice Magician, and when he's destroyed in battle, I can special summon a level 2 spellcaster from my deck in face-down position, and I think I'll choose my second Apprentice." said Bethany, as she placed a card on her disk.
"Fine then, Strike Ninja, attack her second magician with flash-step strike!"
The ninja gave a quick nod before vanishing into thin-air. A moment later he reappeared in the air above the card before launching a set of shuriken downward.
The card was quickly destroyed as Bethany set her third Magician onto the field.
"I'll end my turn with another card face-down" said Kyosuke.
Drawing her card, Bethany smiled a bit as she placed it on the field. "I'll play my Pot of Greed magic card."
A large, green pot appeared in front of her, grinning at her opponent as she drew two more cards from her deck.
"And now I'll sacrifice my last Apprentice Magician to summon my Chaos Command Magician."
As Bethany's face-down card disappeared from the field, a different figure appeared in it's place. A man dressed in a dark-green outfit with a matching cape and hat stood in front of Bethany, brandishing it's staff (2400/1900).
"And now I'll use my own deckmaster's ability. It's called 'Unsure Fate", and for it to work I have to have a spellcaster out on the field. Then I get to show you another spellcaster from my hand who has the same level as the one on the field does."
Taking a card from her hand, Bethany flipped it over to show a monster called Cybernetic Magician.
"Finally, I get to flip a coin. If I call it right, then this monster gets special summoned to the field, but if I call it wrong then my monster is removed from play, it's that simple."
Behind Bethany, The Illusory Gentleman tipped his hat before producing a coin from out of nowhere and tossing it into the air.
"Heads!" shouted Bethany, as the coin landed on the ground head side up.
"Yes! So now my Magician takes center stage" said Bethany, placing the card down.
Almost instantly, a magician similar to the first appeared on the field, although this one was dressed in silver garments and held a silver staff (2400/1000).
"Now, Chaos Commander, attack the Strike Ninja with Chaotic Blast" commanded Bethany, as her monsters staff began to glow, before letting out a burst of dark energy that destroyed the ninja upon impact.
"Now attack the Grandmaster Ninja on the left Cybernetic Magician!"
The Cybernetic Magician began to attack as Kyosuke pressed two buttons on his disk, allowing both of his face-down cards to flip up.
"I activate both of my copies of Ninjitsu Art of Transformation! Now by sending both of my ninjas to the graveyard, I can special summon two monsters from my deck!" said Kyosuke.
Suddenly, both of his ninjas began to form hand signs as their bodies were encased in white smoke. As the smoke cleared two completely different monsters stood in their place.
The first was a large, brown bird whose head was covered by a skull helmet (2400/1400). The second was large, blue koala whose face seemed to emanate a look of peace (2700/2000).
"Now that my ninjas are gone, you can say hello to my Roc from the Valley of Haze and my Big Koala!" Kyosuke said.
"In that case, I'll call off my attack and end my turn with another face-down card."
Kyosuke grinned as he drew his next card, before being interrupted by Bethany.
"Let me ask you something. Why run a ninja deck? I mean, they're great and all, but compared to a lot of the other monsters out there, they kind of come up short."
Kyosuke's grin became a scowl at that remark. "First of all, my ninja's don't 'come up short', they've been doing just fine in this duel, and secondly, I run a ninja deck for family pride."
"Family Pride?" asked Tara.
"Yes, believe it or not, my family lineage runs deep into the Meiji Era of Japan, so deep in fact that one of my ancestors is believed to be one of the founders of the ninjitsu practice, and so I run a ninja deck so that I'll never forget them." answered Kyosuke.
"Now, since I don't want your Cybernetic Magician using his effect anytime soon, I'll have my Big Koala destroy him with down under rage!"
The Big Koala began to charge at Bethany's Magician before she pressed a button on her own disk.
"Since he's about to be destroyed, I'll play my Magical Dimension spell card and use him as a sacrifice!"
The spell card lifted, as chains shot out of it, entangling both the Cybernetic Magician and Kyosuke's Big Koala before both monsters and the chains disappeared from the field.
"And now I'll special summon my second Cybernetic Magician from my hand" said Bethany, as another Cybernetic Magician appeared on the field.
Kyosuke bit his lip a little as he looked at the field, "I guess I'll switch my other monster to defense mode and end my turn."
The giant bird landed on the ground and shielded itself with it's wings as Bethany drew her card.
"Alright! And now it's time for my favorite monster to take to the field, but to do that I'll have to sacrifice both spell casters on the field to bring him out."
Both spellcasters nodded in approval as the disappeared from the field.
"And now I'll summon the Sorcerer of Dark Magic to the field!" Placing the card down, the field remained quiet for a moment, before a dark vortex opened up on the field.
As Bethany, Tara, and Kyosuke looked on, a figure descended from out of the portal. Dressed in all black, he wore a black cape and hat and carried a matching staff that flowed with dark magic (3200/2800).
"T..that's you favorite monster?" stuttered Kyosuke.
"Yep! He was the first monster I won in a tournament, and not only is he powerful, but his magic prevents any of your traps from going off" replied Bethany, "and since he was a special summoning, I'll use my normal summoning to bring out my Magician's Valkyria!"
In another flash of light, a monster looking similar to Dark Magician Girl appeared next to the Sorcerer, giving him a small smile before facing Kyosuke (1600/1800).
"And finally, I'll use my Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your trap card, since I know destroying it will take you monster with it as well."
Playing the magic card, Kyosuke could only watch in horror as the column of wind ripped over and shattered the trap card, causing Roc to howl in pain before it shattered as well.
"Now my magicians attack Kyosuke's lifepoints directly!" commanded Bethany.
Raising up their staffs, both magicians fired off two beams of energy that hit Kyosuke in the chest, causing him to double over in pain.
"Are you okay?" asked Bethany.
Taking a moment to compose himself, Kyosuke gave the thumbs-up before Bethany ended her turn.
Bethany: 6,200 LP
Kyosuke: 3,400 LP
Drawing his next card, Kyosuke looked at it in anger.
"Why couldn't I have drawn you one turn ago? I need to sacrifice one of my ninja monsters to bring this guy out, but with him out, taking out her spellcasters would be simple."
"Alright, your magician might be immune to traps, but he's still weak against effects, so I'll place this monster face-down and end my turn." Kyosuke said as the card appeared in front of him.
Drawing her next card, Bethany's smile grew bigger. "I'll play Monster Reborn to bring back my Chaos Command Magician to the field!"
A glowing ahnk appeared on the field as the dark robed magician stepped out of it and back onto the field.
"And now my…" started Bethany, before looking at Kyosuke's face-down monster.
"He could be lying, but it that monster could take out my Dark Sorcerer, then I'd be in trouble," thought Bethany,
"what were the ninja monster's again? I don't think any of them could destroy my monsters…but maybe Claremont added some new ninja monsters…better play it safe."
"I skip my battle phase this turn and leave it to you."
Kyosuke smiled as he flipped his face-down monster up, revealing a female ninja with green hair wearing a purple outfit (1100/200).
"Look like you fell for it," smirked Kyosuke, "that was just my Lady Ninja Yae, and even though she can't take down your monsters, she's definitely going to help, but first I'll use her effect."
Taking his newly drawn card, Kyosuke flipped it over, showing it to be another copy of Roc from the Valley of Haze, and put it back in his deck.
Feeling the wind pick up around her, Yae pulled out a rope and hook and jumped over all of Bethany's monsters before latching onto Bethany's face-downs and yanking them up, causing them to fly off the field and back into Bethany's hand.
"And now I'll sacrifice my Lady Ninja Yae for my favorite monster" said Kyosuke.
Yae nodded as she pulled a smoke bomb out of her belt and threw it on the ground, causing it to explode and fill Kyosuke's side of the field with smoke.
"Now it's time to meet the founder of art of ninjitsu and top ninja of them all…Ninja Master Raiken!"
As the smoke cleared, a new figure stood where Yae once was, clad in all black, his suit covered every inch of his body, except for a small opening for him to see through. On his belt were a few small weapons, but what really stood out was the katana that was strung on his back (2900/2600).
"Who's that?" asked Bethany, "that's not a ninja monster I've seen before!"
Kyosuke chuckled, "your right, Raiken was released as a promotional prize card in a few of the larger cities in Japan, I was just lucky enough to be in Osaka on the day they were holding one of those tournaments."
Bethany took a deep breath as she looked at the monster that was now staring at her and her monsters.
"It's okay, he might be strong enough to destroy my Valkyria, but then I'll destroy him with my Dark Sorcerer and finish him off with my Chaos Commander."
"Go ahead and attack then!" taunted Bethany.
"Oh, I will. Raiken, attack her Valkyria with your ultimate flash-step!"
Bethany watched as Raiken stood, motionless for a few more moments, until suddenly it appeared in front of her, mere inches away from her, his katana out of his sheath and at his side.
After staring at her for a few more moments, Raiken disappeared and reappeared back on Kyosuke's side,
Bethany was just about to say something, when she noticed her Magician's Valkyria suddenly falling to her knees, clutching her side before shattering.
Bethany: 4,900 LP
Kyosuke: 3,400 LP
"Luckily for you, I only have one Raiken in my deck, so my deckmaster's ability can't be used to bring out another one." smirked Kyosuke, ending his turn.
Drawing her card, Bethany only smiled as she looked at her magicians.
"Looks like you made a mistake, Kyosuke," said Bethany, "your ninja might have been stronger then two of my monsters, but my Dark Sorcerer is still stronger! "
"Now, Sorcerer of Dark Magic, attack hi ninja with Dark Flare Strike!"
As Bethany's Sorcerer began to chant and his staff began to give off dark energy, Kyosuke smiled as he tapped on his duel disk.
"Alright Raiken, it's time to use your ability, shroud flash-step!"
As Bethany's Sorcerer finished his chant, he released a ball of black energy right at Raiken, causing an explosion right upon impact.
"Alright! And that's the end of your grand ninja" exclaimed Bethany, as Tara cheered from the sidelines.
"Hm, that's what you think" replied Kyosuke.
Bethany began to question him again, as the dark figure of Raiken appeared in front of her.
Looking down at her, even though she couldn't see his mouth, his eyes help a smug expression in them.
As Raiken disappeared again and reappeared on Kyosuke's side, Bethany watched as her Sorcerer's staff suddenly broke in half, shattering. Her Sorcerer looked at his hands for a moment before clutching his stomach in stomach in pain and shattering.
"H..H..How?" asked a stupefied Bethany.
"That's the power of my Raiken," said Kyosuke, "even though he's the greatest ninja of them all, he still benefits from the other ninja's around him, and so, once per turn, by removing one ninja monster in my graveyard from play, I can negate one attack on him."
"But if I remove two ninja monsters from play, I can not only negate the attack on him, but destroy the attacking monster as well."
Continuing to smile, he pulled his Lady Ninja Yae and Strike Ninja from the graveyard and put them in his side-pocket,
"I'll…switch my other monster to defense and end my turn" said Bethany, as her Chaos Commander shielded himself with his staff.
"Fine then, I'll play my own Pot of Greed" said Kyosuke, putting his newly-drawn card in to the slot.
The grinning green jar appeared once again as Kyosuke drew two more cards.
"Then I'll place a monster in face-down defense position and let my Raiken destroy your last defense!"
Bethany turned away at the last moment, not wanting to see another of her monsters die. Only looking after she heard the sound of shattering, she found Raiken back on Kyosuke's side of the field.
"And I'll end with that."
Drawing her next card, Bethany smiled.
"Old Vindictive Magician…with that I could at least destroy that Ninja Raiken, then maybe I could stand a chance!"
"Alright, I'll place a card in defense mode and end my turn!"
Kyosuke drew his next card, "you now, I knew you would be that."
Bethany's smile faded as Kyosuke placed another card on his disk.
"So now I'll equip my Ninja Raiken with a new spell card, Ninjitsu Art of Total Defense!"
A card appeared on the field, bearing the image of the Strike Ninja in front of a wooden gate. What stood out the most, though, were the thousands of shurikens that were lodged in the gate, except in the area behind the Strike Ninja that formed a complete silhouette of him.
"With this card equipped to any of my ninja monster's, it makes them unaffected by spell cards, traps, or effects."
Bethany's mouth dropped as she realized what this meant for her monster's effect.
"And then, just because I can, I'll flip my White Ninja over!" said Kyosuke.
The face-down disappeared, revealing yet another ninja, this one dressed in a pure white outfit with twin tails of cloth flying behind him in the breeze (1500/800).
"And when my White Ninja is flipped over, one of your defense position monsters is destroyed. So go ahead and take out her last defense!"
The White Ninja nodded before taking out a pair of sais and leaping into the air. Giving them a quick spin in his hands before landing, he rammed the sais into the face-down card as the old magician appeared for a moment before disappearing.
"Too bad, if I would have attacked that, it would have at least saved you some lifepoints" taunted Kyosuke.
"But now it time for my ninjas to work-out a little. Alright guys, attack her directly with shuriken swarm!"
Both ninjas jumped into the air and released a wave of shurikens that hit Bethany dead-on, causing her lifepoints to plummet.
Bethany: 500 LP
Kyosuke: 3,900 LP
"I'll end my turn with that, but with the field being how it is, I doubt you'll find a way to make a comeback" said Kyosuke.
Bethany drew her next card, looking at it for only a second before slapping it on her disk.
"I'll activate Card of Sanctity!"
The sky above both duelists shone with a yellow light as coins began falling onto the ground.
"Now we both draw until we have six cards" he said, as they both refilled their hands.
"Alright, I'm pretty sure he has only two ninjas left in his graveyard," thought Bethany, looking at her new hand, "he could either destroy one of my monsters, or negate two different attacks, chances are he'll destroy it, unless…"
"Alright, I'll start by summoning my second Magician's Valkyria to the field in attack mode!"
A second female magician, similar to the Dark Magician Girl, but with a different outfit appeared (1600/1800).
"And then I'll lay a face-down card and end my turn!"
As the card appeared in front of Bethany, Kyosuke drew his next card.
"So, giving up on fighting back?" asked Kyosuke.
"Nope, just stalling a little" replied Bethany, "I'll activate my Call of the Haunting card to bring back my first Valkyria from the graveyard!"
As her trap card lifted, the ground in front of it burst open as another Valkyria rose up from the ground.
"So?" asked Kyosuke, "it doesn't matter if there's one of them or one-thousand! My ninja's still way strong enough to take them down!"
"Yeah, but sometime's strength isn't all that matters" answered Bethany, "my Magician's Valkyria's have an interesting effect. While one of them is on the field, you can't attack another Spellcaster without taking it out first."
"And since I have two out on the field, you can't attack either, because the first one protects the second, and the second one protects the first!"
Kyosuke looked at the field at let out a groan as Tara gave a small cheer from the sidelines.
"Alright Bethany! Way to stay alive!" yelled Tara.
"Fine fine" muttered Kyosuke, "you saved yourself for one turn, I'll just lay this face-down on the field and call it a turn."
As Bethany drew her next card, her smile grew.
"One turn was all I needed, because now I'll bring out another star in my deck."
"I'll sacrifice both of my Magician's to summon my Dark Magician!"
On the field, both Magician's Valkyria's rose their staffs together, creating a large energy field that covered the field.
When the energy died down, a male creature wearing a purple suit and holding a purple staff stood on the field (2500/2100).
"And?" asked an impatient Kyosuke.
"And" began Bethany, "I'll play two spell cards that go perfectly with my Dark Magician."
"First off is his signature card, Dark Magic Attack!"
Raising his staff high in the air, the Dark Magician released a large ball of dark energy that flew past Kyosuke's ninjas and slammed into magic and trap zone, obliterating his Ninjutsu defense card and his face-down Magic Cylinders card.
Kyosuke began to shake a little, before looking over to his Ninja and calming down a little.
"And now that your defense card is gone, I can get rid of your Ninja with this, Thousand Knives!"
The Dark Magician raised his staff once again, but this time, hundreds and hundreds of knives appeared in front of him and flew at a rapid speed towards Ninja Raiken.
Kyosuke turned his head to avoid seeing his monster being pierced like a pin cushion.
As Raiken shattered, Kyosuke began to shake with a mixture of anger and fear.
"Finally, my monster will destroy your White Ninja with Dark Magic Attack!"
S the Dark Magician began to chant, a ball of dark energy formed at the top of his staff before it was launched, hitting the White Ninja and destroying him on impact.
Bethany: 500 LP
Kyosuke: 2,900 LP
"H…h…how…" stuttered Kyosuke, "my best card…taken out…"
"Hey, it'll be okay" said Bethany, "my turns over."
Kyosuke nervously drew his next card.
"One card…face-down in defense and that'll be it."
"It's time to end this" said Bethany, "I'll Skilled Dark Magician in attack mode."
Beside the Dark Magician appeared another Spellcaster, this one clad in darker clothing, holding a black staff (1900/1700).
"And then I'll play Tribute to the Doomed!"
Discarding her Ebon Magician Curran, the ground on Kyosuke's side began to crack, until suddenly, white bandages began flying out of the ground and wrapping up the face-down monster until it finally shattered.
"And now, both of my magicians will attack with Combined Dark Crush!" shouted Bethany.
Touching their staffs together, the two magician's began to chant as a huge ball of black energy formed in-between them, growing in size until it finally flew across the field, hitting Kyosuke in the chest, causing him to hit the ground.
Bethany: 500LP
Kyosuke: 0000 LP
As the holograms faded, Bethany ran over to Kyosuke and tried helped him up. "Are you okay?"
Getting to his knees, Kyosuke began to cough as Tara rushed over to help him. Flashing them both the peace sign, Kyosuke got to his feet before turning off his duel disk. "Yep, it was a good duel, and I couldn't think of anyone better to give my data point to then you."
Bethany smiled as her duel disk began to beep. Looking down at it, she noticed the small reader on it displayed the number '3'.
"Well, take care of yourselves, I hope we can meet again in the finals." Kyosuke said, as he gave a small wave as Bethany and Tara began to walk off.
"Oh, by the way" Bethany, interjected, turning around to face Kyosuke, "do you know where…"
Bethany stopped mid-sentence when she realized that Kyosuke was no longer behind them.
"Where did he go?" asked Bethany.
"Maybe his family was rooted more deeply in the Ninjitsu ways then we thought" replied Tara.
Bethany nodded as Tara turned to face her, "So, where should we go to next?"
Bethany thought for a moment, "well, I guess since I've been in a duel, it's your turn to find one."
"Alright!"
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Back inside his study, Claremont sat in his chair, sipping a glass of wine as Alabaster entered the room.
"Sir, it seems that most of the duels have ended, and nearly seventy of the participants have already been eliminated from the tournament."
Claremont smiled as he heard the news, "very good, this is moving along faster then I thought it would. I want you to continue monitoring the duels taking place and report back to me when half of the participants have been taken out."
"Yes sir!" answered Alabaster as he made his way out of the room.
"Yes, it won't be long now."
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Original Card:
Title: Ninja Master Raiken
Attribute: Dark
Type: Warrior/Effect
Level: 6
Attack: 2900
Defense: 2600
Effect: This monster may only be summoned by sacrificing a monster that includes "Ninja" in it's card name. Once per turn, when this card is attacked, you may activate one of the following effect:
-By removing one monster card that includes "ninja" in it's card name from your graveyard from play, you may negate the attack.
-By removing two monster cards that include "ninja" in their card names from your graveyard from play, you may negate the attack and destroy the attacking monster.
Title: Ninjitsu Art of Defense
Type: Equip Spell Card
Image: Strike Ninja standing in front of a wooden wall. Thousands of shurikens are lodged in the wall behind him, except for the area right behind him, forming a complete image of him.
Effect: Equip this to one card that includes "ninja" in it's card name. While this card is equipped, the equipped monster cannot be destroyed by spell cards, trap cards, or effects.
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Deckmaster Abilties:
Title: Armed Ninja
Effect: "Ninjitsu Art of Multiplication"- When a monster on your side of the field whose card name includes "ninja" destroys an opponents attack position monster, you may discard one card from you hand, then special summon another copy of the attacking monster from your hand or deck.
Title: The Illusory Gentlemen
Effect: "Unsure Fate"- Choose one Spellcaster type monster on your side of the field, the choose one Spellcaster type monster in your hand whose level is equal to the chosen monster on your field. Show the card in your hand to your opponent and then flip a coin and call it. If you call it right, you may special summon the chosen monster from your hand to the field, if you chose wrong then remove the chosen monster from your hand from play.
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Now that Bethany's won her first duel, it's Tara's turn to find an opponent, but before she can do that, the two stumble upon a duel that has more then data chips to win or lose. Find out what I mean in the next chapter entitled, "David and Goliath."