Choice 2: Plant Parade Invasion
A few weeks ago…
Akane Kuroyuki was not in a good mood today. It would be best not to say what happened yesterday, both the aftermath of it was that Haruka stayed in her room, crying, most of the data on her laptop corrupted, and her parents actually angry at her. The other students at school knew that something was up with Akane and stayed away from her.
Except for one boy.
"But…but…you didn't say there was an ante rule…"
Akane rounded a corner and saw two people blocking the way to her classroom. From the fact that they both have Duel Disks and one of them was on the floor, it was a clear sign that was duel just finished. Just who the duelists were, however, caused her to raise an eyebrow. She recognized the two immediately; the loser was one of Akane's most volunteered students, but the duelist that was standing…there was no way she would allow him in the classroom.
The boy leered at the defeated girl. "Yeah, well too bad," he spat. "I won, so I can get whatever I want, so hand over your deck!"
"N-no!" the girl squeaked as the boy tried reaching for the Duel Disk that she was holding. She curled around the device as if it was her very life. "It's important to me, Isaac! You can't have it!"
Isaac sneered as he tugged at the girl's arm. "Oh yeah?" he asked. "Well, if you won't hand it peacefully, I might as well- huh?"
The bully finally noticed Akane's presence and he glared at her.
"What are you staring at?" he asked.
"Nothing," Akane replied. "Just watching how much of an ass you are, robbing a defenseless girl. After all, I heard tons of rumors of how much of an asshole you are."
That seemed to have hit a nerve. "Oh yeah?" he snarled. "Then what about you, walking around without a uniform like you're too cool and old for them-"
"That's because I am," Akane responded. "See, I'm nineteen, and the teachers here allowed the classroom for my own use. You're blocking the way, so could you please get moving?"
"Yeah right. You don't look like you're nineteen!" Isaac countered. "Besides, if you are, then how come you aren't in college, unless you dropped out, which you probably are, you –"
Isaac told an insult so offensive and shocking that every single angry thought in Akane's mind vanished on the spot. She simply stared at the boy as he enjoyed the look on her shocked face. Sniggering, he turned around to where the girl was at, but…she wasn't there.
The boy felt a hand grabbed him behind. Isaac froze as he heard a Duel Disk activated behind him, followed by Akane's angry voice.
"Did I ever tell you the story of the Fool, the Gunman, and the Dragon?" she whispered to his ear.
A Day Ago, During The Afternoon
"DAMN IT!"
Nature let out a frustrated sigh as she looked at the card that was dispensed out of the Duel Terminal, an arcade machine that holds a wide variety of game modes in it. One of the modes allows the player to obtain a random card in the machine, which Nature and her friends were doing for the previous five minutes.
"What's wrong?" one of her friends asked before looking down at the card. "Oh…"
"Another Kuriboh…" Nature sighed as she pocketed it. "And what's worse, I'm out of money…"
"But didn't you say you've got a bunch of yen the other day?" another friend asked. "This is only your fourth try!"
"Yeah, but I keep telling you…"
Another friend, a girl with long chocolate brown hair with faint traces of blue highlights on them spoke up.
"Losing a bit of yen is one thing, but that story you came up with is just ridiculous," the girl said. "How are we supposed to believe that while you were heading back home, you were knocked off of your bike by two people in bear costumes, somehow losing twenty-five thousand yen in the process despite it being safely in your bag?"
Nature frowned. It was true, even though it sounded ridiculous. But finally, she gave up.
"Ugh…can't you lend me some money, Crystal?" Nature asked.
"Afraid not," Crystal replied. "I'm on a budget right now, so I can't spend freely."
"What?" Nature raised an eyebrow. "But you and your parents are rich! Can't you…?"
"Fine," Crystal sighed as she gave her some extra money. "But I swear, if you get another horrid card…"
"Actually, why don't you see Kuroyuki for some money?" one of Nature's friends asked.
"Kuroyuki?" Nature paused as she knelt beside the Duel Terminal. "As in those guys known for their detective work?"
"Sort of," Crystal spoke. "The Kuroyuki family had branched off. One family in America, another in Europe, and another right here. Mr. and Mrs. Kuroyuki left town earlier, but one of their daughters spends her time back at the school doing some sort of project. She'll pay anyone to help her out on the project, and I hear she pays quite a good amount of money for doing simple things."
Nature's eyes lit up. "Really?" she asked. "C'mon, tell me where she is at school!"
"I hear Kuroyuki's at the only unused classroom in the third floor," Crystal said. "However, you should be careful…there's a reason why many people don't line up to her door. She isn't someone you wouldn't want to cross. Once in her room, do as she says and you should be fine."
"Let's see…Kuroyuki…Kuroyuki…"
Nature arrived on the third floor of the school during lunch. She passed by the unused classroom multiple times, so she knew where it was. But as she made her way across the hallway…
"AAAAARGH!"
Nature stopped as she heard a boy's scream, followed by the sound of a rather unrealistic gunfire. Even so, she was surprised that no came running out of the classrooms to check out what the noise was. The noise was up ahead, and she hurried.
"It's over for you!" a female voice shouted. "Go, finish this!"
'Hey…isn't that coming…from that unused classroom?' Nature realized before she ran faster. Up ahead, she saw fire blasting out of the corner that leads to the unused classroom, followed by the boy's scream again. She heard the female voice speak, but she couldn't hear any of it as the sound of sobbing came.
Upon rounding the corner, Nature saw the source of the screaming; a boy the same age as her lying on the floor with various cards around him. His deck was missing from its slot. There were two other female duelists in front of the door, though it was obvious that the taller of the pair was the female speaker because the other girl was sobbing silently and the taller girl was standing over her. Even though there was a deck in her Duel Disk, she was holding another deck in her hand, and the smaller girl had a Duel Disk on…
"Hey!" Nature shouted angrily as she balled up her hands into fists. She rushed at the girl – big mistake.
As soon as Nature swung a fist, the girl suddenly turned around and caught it. The girl pushed her away with surprising strength, causing her to stagger and fall.
"Piss off," the girl muttered before facing the smaller girl.
"Yeah right!" Nature yelled. "What the hell are you doing to him and Kite, you-"
Nature stopped as she watched the girl kneel down to the smaller girl.
"…Are you alright?" the girl asked. The smaller girl nodded and sniffed. "Don't worry. After this beating, he won't be bothering you anymore."
The taller girl reached into her pocket and pulled out two small bags that made several jingling sounds and handed them to the smaller girl.
"Here," she said. "Sorry that this all happened. It's probably best if you come back another day, okay?"
"Y-yeah…" the smaller girl's response was barely audible as she wiped her eyes. She took the bags and shuffled away, trying to avoid looking at the boy and Nature.
"Now…you." The taller turned to Nature and glared at her. The girl was tall with long black hair that reached her shoulders. She also has hazel eyes and Nature noticed that she wasn't wearing the girl's school uniform. Instead, she had on a black jacket and jeans. "You were with him, weren't you? But then again, that doesn't make sense. You really do seem to care for Kite…"
"What were you doing to them…?" Nature growled. "I know that you took one of their decks…that's…"
"Oh, you mean this?" the taller girl asked, showing Nature the deck before pocketing it. "What is it to take a deck? Not a true duelist? Despicable and disgusting? Would you do it if you know what he did?"
She walked towards the boy and rolled him over. Nature immediately recognized him as Isaac, a troublemaker that could cause a ruckus at school.
"Y'know, I always wonder what is the point of causing trouble. If you get caught, then you'll be punished, right?" the girl asked before facing Nature. "Believe me, who would walk away from someone who insults them right in front of their face? But I suppose this is a good enough punishment. Name's Akane Kuroyuki by the way."
Nature's eyes widen. 'K-Kuroyuki?' she thought. 'THIS is Kuroyuki that Crystal was talking about?'
"So, what do you want anyways?" Akane asked. "Sorry, but I'm not in a good mood today, so if you've come for the project, it's closed. Now why don't you get out of here?"
'Yeesh, talk about harsh,' Nature winced. 'Who knew that the older daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Kuroyuki is such a potty mouth…'
But as Akane walked towards the door to her classroom, Nature heard her mutter, "Hmph…still, what a pathetic duelist. Still pissed off…doubt running tests by myself will cool my head off."
At that point, Nature stood up. "Wait."
"Yeah, what is it?"
Reaching for her pocket, Nature pulled out her own deck.
"Since Isaac's easy, why not duel against someone like me?" she challenged. "Besides, it's better than just working on whatever it is that you're doing, right?"
Akane thought about that for a moment. Seconds later, she smiled.
"Fine," she agreed. "Let's see what you're made of. Grab your Duel Disk and let's go."
Akane: 4000
Nature: 4000
"Now…let's go," Akane beckoned as she drew.
"I summon Gagaga Magician (1500/1000)!"
A purple-robed man with bronze armor appeared. Chains were wrapped around his body, which were all looped to his belt which has a large golden belt buckle with eight slots; four of them were glowing purple.
"Next, I activate the Spell Gagagacall. With it, if the only monsters I control are Gagaga monsters, I can special summon an additional Gagaga monster from my hand, but if it isn't Xyz Summoned by the end phase, I take damage equal to its attack power. The Gagaga monster I choose is another Gagaga Magician!"
A second bronze-armored wizard appeared.
"Tch…the Gagaga Archetype's main strategy is level manipulation…" Nature muttered.
"That's right. So now, I overlay my two Gagaga Magicians!"
The two Spellcasters' battle cries echoed as they flew up into the air and down into the forming red portal.
"Go, Gagaga Gunman (1500/2400), in defense mode!" Akane cried out as the cowboy leapt out of the portal. He landed on the floor, kneeling, though his hands were still on his pistols.
"I will now activate my Gunman's effect. Determining what the battle position he is in, I can activate a certain effect. Since he is in defense mode, you take 800 points of damage."
Nature's eyes widen as one of Gunman's Xyz Materials flew into one of his pistols. "W-wha-?!"
The entire room blazed as Gunman fired rounds of bullets at Nature. She stumbled backward, blinded by the flashes of light from the guns.
Akane: 4000
Nature: 3200
"And with that, I end my turn," Akane concluded. "C'mon, you can do better than that, right?"
"I'll show you," Nature growled. "It's my turn!"
"From my hand, I'm activating the Spell Card Destruction, forcing both of us to throw away our cards and draw a new hand."
'Huh?' Akane blinked as she discarded her cards. 'Why would she throw away her entire hand? Surely there were some Spells or Traps she could set.'
"Next, I activate the monster Spore's effect from my graveyard. I can banish another Plant-Type monster in my graveyard to special summon it and increase its level by the level of the banished monster. The guy I'm choosing to banish is my level one Copy Plant."
A tiny ball of white fluff with two shiny green eyes and wearing a happy smile appeared.
"Since Copy Plant is level one, Spore's level is increased to level two. And now, I normal summon Scarecrow Knight (1700/1200)."
A scarecrow made out of rather large amounts of straw wearing a knight's helmet and wielding a sword appeared. It seemed to be on the verge of snapping apart into pieces…
"With this, I tune my level two Spore with my level four Scarecrow Knight!"
Light flashed throughout the room and Spore transformed into two large green rings that danced through the air before lining themselves up. The scarecrow flew into the center of the rings and its body grew transparent, revealing four glowing stars inside.
"Go, Synchro Summon!" Nature cried out. Light shot down through the rings as they vanished. Nature reached for her pocket and pulled out a white card. "Appear, Queen of Thorns (2200/1800)!"
The light subsided and floating down was a pale green-skinned woman. The collar of her dress was made out of large leaves while her skirts were red flower petals with thorns wrapped around. Instead of hands, she has two Venus Flytraps and attached to her back were various other types of plants.
"A Synchro Monster…" Akane murmured. "However, your Queen's attack power is lower than my Gunman's defense points!"
"That's why I'm activating my Quick-Play Spell Tough Tomato," Nature responded. "With it, all of my Plants gain 500 extra attack points!"
Queen of Thorns: (2700/1800)
"Let's go! Queen of Thorns, attack Gagaga Gunman with the Path of Thorns!"
Long thorns shot out of one of the woman's plant hands and wrapped themselves around the cowboy. He cried out in pain as he was crushed by the might of the thorns.
"Now, I'll set a card and end my turn. With it, Tough Tomato's effect wears off."
Queen of Thorns: (2200/1800)
"Damn…it's my turn," Akane announced. "Yes! Now, from my hand I normal summon-"
Akane was cut off as thorns suddenly shot out of nowhere, wrapping themselves around her arms and legs.
"W-what the?!" she gasped. "What is this?"
"Queen of Thorn's effect," Nature explained. "If you want to normal or special summon a non-Plant-Type monster in your hand, you'll have to give up a 1000 Life Points each."
"What?" Akane shouted. "Ugh…fine! I summon Gagaga Clerk (400/800) – UGH!"
She grunted in pain as the thorns tightened around her arms.
Akane: 3000
Nature: 3200
"E-even so…from my hand, I activate Monster Reborn, reviving Gagaga Gardna (1500/2000) from my graveyard!"
Nature's eyes widen as the shield-wielding man appeared.
"Huh? How did that-?"
"Your Card Destruction," Akane reminded her. "Even though you get a fresh hand out of its effect, it's still dangerous if your opponent throws away a monster and gets a card that revives them instead…"
Nature growled. "Yeah, but you can't Xyz Summon," she pointed out. "Plus, I've seen my share of Gagaga monsters, and I know for the fact that neither of 'em don't have level manipulating effects-"
"-Which is why I'll play the Continuous Spell GagagaSync!" Akane interrupted as she held another card up above her head. It shone, and suddenly, several tiny green gates shot out of the card. They grew rapidly and aligned themselves above Gagaga Clerk.
"The hell?" Nature gasped. "How could you get a rare card like THAT?"
"Let's say I have some sources," Akane smiled. "With GagagaSync, I can target a Gagaga monster that I control and it becomes a Tuner monster. And with level two Earth Gagaga Clerk becoming a Tuner monster, I tune her with level four Earth Gagaga Gardna to Synchro Summon!"
Gagaga Clerk disappeared in a puff of smoke as the rings flew towards Gagaga Gardna. Light shot down from the ceiling, followed by a dragon's roar. The light dispersed and a green dragon with scales like tree bark, appeared.
"Go, Naturia Barkion (2500/1800)!" Akane commanded the dragon. "Attack Queen of Thorns with Leaf Blast!"
The dragon opened its mouth, but instead of fire, a tornado of leaves flew. A light flashed for a moment and the leaves turned into glass, all of them racing towards the green-skinned woman.
"Not so fast!" Nature shouted as she pressed a button on her Duel Disk. "I activate the Trap Thorn Swarm, and it activates when you destroy a Plant-Type monster like my Queen. You take damage equal to her attack points and I can special summon a monster with attack power lower than her."
Thorns shot out of Nature's Trap and past the glass…
"With your Trap, I activate my Barkion's effect," Akane countered. "By banishing two cards from my graveyard, I can negate the activation of a Trap and destroy it!"
Barkion reared its head and this time, it unleashed a stream of fire that reduced the thorns and Nature's Trap to ashes. The glasses sliced apart the Queen of Thorns and several more struck Nature.
Akane: 3000
Nature: 2900
"I think I've done enough damage to you this turn," Akane concluded. "Now, I'm the one with the powerful monster here!"
"I'll get it soon," Nature responded, but bit her lip as she looked at her hand.
'As soon as I get a monster out, that is…'
Nature drew, but instead of adding it to her hand, she placed it on her Duel Disk.
"I'm summoning a monster facedown and end my turn."
'Hmm…must be a bad draw,' Akane thought. 'But then again, I've locked her down upon the use of her Traps for a while, so she'll have to be on the defensive right now. But…what if that monster has a Flip Effect that'll destroy Barkion? Man-Eater Bug's an option, but what if it's just a simple monster that Nature's forced to summon? And speaking of monsters…'
Akane looked at her hand and frowned.
'…I don't have any at all, so if it has an effect that destroys Barkion, I'll definitely be in trouble, so…'
"Hey, are you going to draw?" Nature called. "You haven't drawn for about thirty seconds."
"Fine," Akane sighed as she drew. "Heh…there's my answer, and now...Barkion!"
The dragon sent a stream of leaves-turned-glass at the set card. It flipped over, revealing itself to be a giant puffball. It exploded, sending thorns everywhere; some striking Akane.
Akane: 2500
Nature: 2900
"What? What was that?" Akane demanded.
"That monster which you blew up is my Bombpuff (0/0)," Nature explained. "When you destroyed it, you take 500 points of damage, and as a bonus, I can special summon two more Bombpuffs from my hand or deck."
Too more giant puffballs appeared.
"I'll give you that one," Akane said. "I set a card and end my turn."
Nature drew once more.
"Gotcha now!" Nature shouted as she picked up both of her Bombpuffs. "I overlay my two level four Bombpuffs, and with these two Earth monsters, I build the Overlay Network, and to Xyz Summon Fairy King Albverdich (2300/1400)!"
Rising out of the forming red portal is a pale-skinned man with long silver hair wearing a royal white and red coat. Two orange Xyz Materials orbit around him.
"I'll be detaching a Xyz Material from Albverdich. With it, all non-Earth monsters loses 500 attack and defense points."
Raising a hand, one of the king's Xyz Materials flew into it, and beams of light shot out of his palm, striking Barkion.
"Barkion's a Light monster…" Akane muttered.
Naturia Barkion: (2000/1300)
"And it's weakened for me to attack it. Go, Albverdich!"
The man raised his hand again as light formed. Beams flew and raced for the weakened dragon…
"Like I'll let you do that! I'm activating my Mirror Force Trap!"
"What?!"
A rainbow-colored barrier surrounded Barkion and the beams were all deflected right back at the Fairy King.
"I think you know what Mirror Force does, so I don't think I'll have to explain what it does," Akane said. "You realize what's going to happen next, right?"
"I'm not finished yet!" Nature shouted. "I activate Spore's effect, banishing one of my Bombpuffs to special summon it in defense mode!"
'That Spore's going to be a bother,' Akane thought as the white ball of fluff appeared, though this time even larger.
"I'll end my turn here."
"Draw!" Akane shouted. "Ha…I summon Thunder King Rai-Oh (1900/800)!"
A human-sized blue robot with four lightning rods for arms and legs appeared. Golden markings shaped like thunder covered its surface.
"Rai-Oh, attack Spore!" she shouted. The room illuminated as the robot fired a lightning bolt at Spore, frying it.
"Geez…!"
"Barkion, attack directly!"
Nature braced herself as she was caught in the tornado of glass.
Akane: 2500
Nature: 900
Two monsters. Both of them have rather high attack power, and Nature knew that if she doesn't play a monster that can overpower at least one of them…
Nature growled. "It's over for me, isn't it…?" she muttered.
Akane chuckled. "A duel isn't over until one of us goes down," she said. "Even if you're my opponent, you can't just give up now."
Nature raised an eyebrow. "Even though you were unfriendly when we first ran into each other?"
"Hey, I'm practically unfriendly to everyone," Akane shrugged. "However, from what I can tell, you care about others, and I gotta respect that. So lighten up, alright? Determining what your next draw is, you might still have a chance."
'Huh. It sounds like one of those anime or manga moments where the good guys that were losing would suddenly do something that would tip the scales to their favor and win,' Nature thought as she looked at her deck. 'But this isn't an anime or manga…right? Bah, what the hell.'
And Nature drew. And she smiled.
"I activate Spore's effect!" Nature shouted. "I banish my Queen of Thorns to…"
"Trying to Synchro Summon, are we?" Akane asked. "I'm not letting that happen with Rai-Oh's effect. By sending it to the graveyard, it can negate and destroy the special summoned monster!"
As a portal opened up in front of Nature, electricity swallowed up Rai-Oh and it flew into the portal, forcibly closing it up. The robot exploded seconds later, sending smoke everywhere.
"Ha…" Akane grinned as she looked up. "With that…w-what?!"
Her jaw dropped; when the smoke cleared, a giant was standing in front of her; Grandsoil the Elemental Lord (2800/2200).
"Grandsoil can be special summoned when I have exactly five Earth monsters in my graveyard," Nature explained.
"So Spore's was just a distraction…" Akane muttered. "But how? Last time I checked, you only had four monsters in your graveyard; Scarecrow Knight, the two Bombpuffs, and your Fairy King-"
She stopped, realizing what Nature did.
"…Your Card Destruction," she realized.
"Yep," Nature nodded. "One of the cards sent was my Earth Gigaplant, so the requirements are all there. And now, I activate Grandsoil's effect when he gets summoned, allowing me to special summon an additional monster from either of our graveyards, and the one I choose is the Gigaplant!"
The giant plant-beast hybrid rose out from the ground shrieking.
"N-no!" Akane's eyes widen as she realized the situation she was in.
"Yes! Gigaplant, take out Barkion!"
Roots shot out from the ground and wrapped around the dragon. Barkion struggled, but it didn't have the strength as it was swallowed up by the plant monster.
Akane: 2300
Nature: 900
"C'mon Grandsoil! Let's finish this!"
And as Grandsoil looked down upon her, Akane braced herself as the giant swung a fist at her.
And it was over.
Akane: 0
Nature: *WINNER*
'Heh…she's a tough one, alright.'
"Hey. Are you okay?"
Akane opened her eyes. Nature was standing over her, holding out her hand. Akane grabbed it and pulled herself up.
"Looks like I won," Nature said. "So, are you feeling better?"
Akane thought about it for a moment. "Actually, I do feel a whole lot better," she responded. "Thanks for the duel, I suppose. And do tell me, what's your name?"
"Nature Verde."
"Nature…" Akane murmured. She smirked. "Let's duel again some time."
The sound of a ringing phone waked Akane. She sat there, wondering what just happened before she looked at the window. The skies were starting to turn golden.
'Huh…must've fell asleep…but for that long?' she wondered as she pulled out her phone from her bag. She pressed it to her ear.
"Kuroyuki speaking."
"Um…Big Sister?" a timid voice responded. Akane groaned. It was Haruka.
"Yeah, yeah," she responded. "I'll pick you up now."
TRIVIA
The "smaller girl" in this chapter who is referenced as "Kite" is Hikari Kite, an OC made by decode9. Like I mentioned in the previous Choice, several OCs that appeared or will appear in ZEXAL Our Souls will also appear as cameos here.
Tough Tomato
Quick-Play Spell
All face-up Plant-Type monsters you control gain 500 ATK until the End Phase of your turn.
(This card was used by Housaku Yasai/Tombo Tillbitty in Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL Episode 30. All credit goes to the writers.)
Bombpuff
EARTH/Plant/1/0/0
When this card is destroyed: Inflict 500 damage to your opponent and you can Special Summon 2 "Bombpuffs" from your hand or Deck.
Scarecrow Knight
EARTH/Plant/4/1700/1200
When a monster you control is selected as an attack target: You can discard this card to negate the attack.
Gagagacall
Spell
You can only activate this card is you only control 1 or more "Gagaga" monsters. Special Summon 1 "Gagaga" monster from your hand. If you don't Xyz Summon this turn, you take damage equal to the Special Summoned monster's ATK.
GagagaSync
Continuous Spell
Target 1 "Gagaga" monster you control. That monster is treated as a Tuner monster. You can only activate this card every two turns.
Thorn Swarm
Trap
When a Plant-Type monster you control is destroyed: your opponent takes damage equal to the destroyed monster's ATK and you can Special Summon 1 monster whose ATK is equal to or lower than the destroyed monster's ATK.
(The above 5 cards are created by me.)
Akane: Friends and acquaintances…I certainly have lots of acquaintances, but not a lot of "friends". The only ones I consider my friends at school are both Nature and Crystal Ageina, a retired Pro Duelist who used to be called the "Ice Princess" or the "Underwater Queen". I'll always remember that Memory of me meeting her, especially the part where I give a rich brat a lesson that she deserves. How? Well you better find out next time…
