Chapter Two: Rival
'Tenshi Ryuma. That's his name,' Kaworu explained.
The scene of the two duelists getting on their D-Wheels and starting the engines was reminiscent of the event three years back then. During the finals of the Junior Riding Cup. The incident that sparked the rivalry between the two duelists.
Kaworu, who was not trained in Riding Duels, did not sign up for the event; but Yuchi, who had been practicing ever since elementary school, entered the tournament. The results were excellent for a first-timer like him. Yuchi braved through the preliminary rounds, fought his way up to the semi-finals with a breeze and eventually reached the finals.
The other finalist, also a first-timer, was Tenshi.
'Why have you come for me?' Yuchi asked Tenshi, as both of them made their way to the starting point of the circular track.
'To settle our scores, of course.'
Yuchi would never believe that. In fact, nobody in Yuchi's shoes would be convinced by a reason like this.
As they walk past the spectators, many girls cheered for Yuchi. Despite being quiet and unsociable, Yuchi had some popularity in the school after all.
'How did you manage to convince the Chancellor to arrange this duel?'
'Why should I tell you? Just focus on ending our rivalry for now,' Tenshi replied coldly, his eyes fixed towards the front where the starting point was.
Yuchi and Tenshi rode to the starting point and paused before a horizontal white line. Yuchi took the time to adjust the strap of his helmet. It's always a good practice to ensure the safety of the rider before a duel begins.
A holographic screen appeared before the duelists with the large white number '10' in the middle. It followed that the two duelists settled themselves in the standby position, ready to take off.
'Vroom, vroom,' bellowed the D-Wheels.
The number on the screen changed to '9', followed by '8', '7', and'6'…
The seconds ticked past and Yuchi's heart thumped harder. 'Will I be able to win this duel?', 'What would happen if I lose this one?' were the only questions in his mind right now.
'3', '2', '1'…
'Begin!' shrieked a woman's voice from the screen. Duel Disks unfolded before the duelists. Yuchi and Tenshi immediately turned their deck holders on their wrists to make them face towards them.
'Auto-Pilot Mode, standby.'
'RIDING DUEL, ACCELERATION!' cried both duelists and the race began.
Both D-Wheels darted forward amongst the cheers and shrieks from the spectators. Yuchi maneuvered his accelerator and caused it to dash faster, taking the lead.
'Then I shall go first!' declared a confident Yuchi.
He drew five cards from his deck and slotted it to the side of his deck holder. Pulling out the sixth from his deck, he announced: 'my turn! Draw!'
Tenshi also drew out five cards from his deck and placed it beside his deck holder. His cold, black eyes revealed his nature as an arrogant duelist who seemed to ignore everything in the world when he dueled, except to find a way to outwit his opponent. Yuchi could still see from his dark, gloomy visor that he was the same person as the one who nearly beat him in the duel three years ago.
Yuchi picked out the third card from his left and swiftly inserted it into the monster card slot of his Duel Disk.
'I Normal Summon Marshmallon!' He declared as a weird, pink gummy-like being appeared.
'Marshmallon in Defense Mode? Are you trying to start off with a defensive strategy, Yuchi?' rang Kaworu's mind.
'I set two cards and end my turn,' Yuchi placed two cards facedown into the magic and trap card slots.
'Well, well, well… Trying to defend my attacks, huh?' intimidated Tenshi, who suddenly accelerated and shot his D-Wheel till it nearly crashed into Yuchi's vehicle.
'My turn!' Tenshi pulled out a card from his deck. 'This time, I'll be the first to summon my ace monster,' he thought to himself.
'I summon the Hellish Breaker!' A giant, black robotic-looking monster with long claws protruding out of his hands emerged from a ring of light.
'Hellish Breaker, demolish his Marshmallon to pieces!' the eyes of the robotic monster suddenly glowed red and immediately, it sped towards Yuchi's Marshmallon and ripped it to shreds with his sharp claws.
'Unfortunately, Marshmallon cannot be destroyed by battle,' Yuchi revealed a smile, as the shreds joined themselves to form a Marshmallon again.
'Do you seriously think I haven't expected that?' laughed Tenshi, much to the surprise of Yuchi.
Yuchi's Life Points counter dropped from 4000 to 2900. The spectators realized this and some stopped cheering for Yuchi.
'Hellish Breaker's effect,' explained Tenshi, 'is to inflict Piercing damage. Marshmallon's Defense is only 500, but Hellish Breaker's Attack is 1600, so you'll naturally take 1100 damage.'
Tenshi drove his D-Wheel to just beside Yuchi, and said, 'Yuchi, don't ever think of defeating me.'
To his surprise, Yuchi smiled again.
'Oh?' exclaimed Tenshi. 'You have a strategy to defeat me?'
Yuchi pressed the button to the left of his first facedown card, revealing a Trap Card.
'Gift of the Holy Innocent. When I take Battle damage, I am able to activate this card.'
Tenshi's smile turned into a frown.
'I select a monster on my field and Special Summon one Fairy-Type monster from the Deck whose Level is the same as that monster,' Yuchi explained, searching through his pile of cards in his deck holder, while trying to maintain his balance.
'Marshmallon is Level 3, so I summon the Level 3 Tuner Monster, Magical Fairy Apprentice from my Deck,' Yuchi proceeded to explain. He inserted a card he chose into the Duel Disk and appeared a petite angel with white, fluffy wings and a long, grey staff.
'Only 1200 Attack Points, huh?' Tenshi smiled. 'I set two facedown cards and end my turn.'
'As long as he doesn't have a Level 2 or 5 monster next turn, he would not be able to summon his ace monster,' he thought to himself. The smile on his face gradually vanished. 'You've done well, Yuchi. As the rumors have said. But this is as far as you'll go.'
'My turn!'
Yuchi declared with a confident look retained on his face while pulling out a card. He took a quick glance at the card and immediately slotted it to the side of the deck holder.
'I tune my Marshmallon and Magical Fairy Apprentice together!' Yuchi proceeded with an unforeseen strategy, which shocked Tenshi, Kaworu and pretty much half the spectators in the stadium.
'Yuchi, so that's what you were planning after all?' was the first thing that came to Kaworu's mind. He had never seen his friend using a Synchro Monster other than his Supernova Angel Knight before.
He observed Tenshi's expression. Obviously the smile on his face had disappeared and deep furrows emerged in his brow. However, like the patient 'opponent' he had also observed three years ago, Tenshi did not seem to show any form of worry or anxiety in response to Yuchi's strategy, he continued to keep his cool, riding his D-Wheel in the same steady fashion.
The large green rings emerged from the sky and enclosed both Marshmallon and Magical Apprentice Knight, assimilating them into six bright, tiny stars.
'O' warrior of all life, descend from the sky! Summon your great sword, in the name of the Lord!'
The white warrior that was summoned was slightly smaller than Supernova Angel Knight but seemed more agile than his senior. He had large arms, muscular and bulky; his metallic palms were holding onto the handle of what looked like a giant sword, one with a blade that could probably cut off the neck of elephant with one swipe.
'Synchro Summon! The angelic fighter, Fairy of Justice!'
As soon as the new handsome warrior was summoned to the field, the spectators immediately took out their devices and checked on the school's database for more information about it. Apparently some were wondering how could the anti-social Yuchi gain access to such highly rare cards when those who had good relations with people from the local card shops couldn't.
'Attack 2500? That's pretty high for a Level 6 monster,' Kaworu thought so after checking on his device.
'So your strategies have gone out of my predictions, huh?' jeered Tenshi. 'Now that would make a spectacular duel. A duel fit for two archrivals! Ha-ha-ha!'
'Magical Apprentice Knight's effect activates! When I use it for the Synchro Summon of a Fairy-Type monster, I can select one Equip Spell Card from the deck and add it to my hand!' Yuchi explained, searching through his deck. He finally picked one, and without hesitation inserted it into his spell card zone.
'Equip Spell Card activate! Mage Power!' Yuchi announced, followed by a loud 'WHAT?' from the spectators.
'With this, Fairy of Justice gains 500 Attack for each Spell or Trap Card on my field, and since I have two of those, it gains 1000 Attack!' Tenshi could only watch as the holographic warrior grew larger and larger and his attack sprang from 2500 to a whopping 3500.
'Fairy of Justice, attack Hellish Breaker! Blade of Justice!' Yuchi shouted out his attack, followed by an ear-piercing slash from the Fairy of Justice's sword, splitting the black robot in half.
Tenshi's Life Points drop drastically to 2100.
'Well done, I must say,' applauded Tenshi. 'But after all are you satisfied with just this kind of achievement?'
'What are you talking about?' Yuchi was confused by Tenshi's words.
'I mean that I'm sure you must have considered my facedown cards before attacking,' explained Tenshi, the long collar of his black jumpsuit swaying in the air. 'What makes you so sure that my facedown cards couldn't counter your unexpected strategy?'
'Ha,' Yuchi finally laughed a little, after months of depress. 'Tenshi, remember three years ago?'
Tenshi smiled. 'As expected,' he thought to himself.
Memories of the duel three years ago reran in his mind. Like today, that day was also a cool day. A fine day for a Riding Duel.
'My turn!' shouted Yuchi. 'I summon my Magical Fairy Apprentice!'
'Oh? It seems that one of our finalists had summoned a Tuner Monster! Is he going to proceed with a Synchro Summon?' the Master of Ceremonies exclaimed in a loud, sharp voice.
Tenshi let out a grudge. He only had a Defense Position monster on the field. How could he, a great duelist, let his opponent summon his Ace Monster first?
'Let's go, my monsters!' cried Yuchi. 'I tune my Level 3 Magical Fairy Apprentice with my Level 5 Sapphire Angel!'
'The lord of paradise, descend from the sky! Flap your great wings, and bring me to victory!'
The two monsters vanished in a flash of bright light and Yuchi's most coveted servant emerged from a pool of stars.
'Synchro Summon! My very best, Supernova Angel Knight!'
'Tenshi,' Yuchi said, waking Tenshi up from the memory lane. 'That time, I was the one who summoned my ace monster earlier.'
'So?' Tenshi rebutted.
'Sorry for saying so, but as the best player of Duel Academy back then, you must have felt disgraced to let a younger opponent summon his ace monster one step earlier than you. Furthermore…'
'Furthermore?'
'Our duel ended without conclusion,' Yuchi explained. 'That makes you even more disgraced.'
Kaworu was impressed with Yuchi today. The amount of talking he had done during the duel was far more than what they had chatted about for three days.
'So,' Yuchi paused and continued, 'you must have thought of ways to stop me from summoning your ace monster earlier than you.'
Tenshi let out his smile once more as Yuchi started to unravel the mysteries surrounding his facedown cards.
'Hence?' he questioned.
'I deduce that your facedown cards could only counter my use of Supernova Angel Knight.'
'Sorry, but I think I'm disappointed,' Tenshi said, much to the surprise of Yuchi.
'You mean those are not the cards that Yuchi had predicted?' Kaworu thought to himself, feeling rather shocked by Tenshi's confession.
'What if I say… Those are only generic traps?'
Yuchi could not conceal his angry look.
'See for yourself!' Tenshi declared, as the spectators started to applaud. 'The ultimate strategy of the former Duel Academy champion!' The crowd were hyped up by Tenshi's words and roared with excitement.
Yuchi looked at his hand. There were no cards that could be played. He ended his turn abruptly.
'My turn!' Tenshi cried.
'Continuous Trap Card activate! Powerful Rebirth!' One of Tenshi's facedown cards finally revealed itself.
'With Powerful Rebirth, I can summon one of the monsters in my Graveyard, and equip it with this card. And of course, I revive my Hellish Breaker!' the black robotic-looking monster returned, energetic as ever.
'That's not all. Hellish Breaker gains one Level and 100 Attack Points. Of course, the Attack Points don't really matter.' Yuchi widened his eyes as he looked at the Level of Hellish Breaker rise from 4 to 5.
'And then,' he declared, 'I Normal Summon my Berserk Engine No. 4!' A strange-looking android emerged out of a glowing ring.
'Berserk Engine No. 4's effect! When another Level 5 monster is on my field, Berserk Engine's Level increases to 5!'
Yuchi somehow knew what would be coming. Just like his extremely rare Supernova Angel Knight, Tenshi's ace monster, the fearsome Berserk Dragon, was also highly coveted by duelists and card collectors.
'I overlay both of my Level 5 monsters!' Tenshi announced his next step. A shining spiral structure opened up on the racetrack between the two D-Wheels, engulfing the designated monsters.
'With two of my monsters, I construct the Overlay Network!'
Tenshi swiftly pulled out a black card from his Extra Deck and showed it to the crowd. The crowd could not help but gave an ovation to Tenshi's expertise in dueling.
'Xyz Summon! Appear now, my faithful servant, Berserk Dragon!'
'Yuchi,' Tenshi's face suddenly appeared in the screen in front of Yuchi. 'Here's a lesson for you. A real duelist does not think about what his next opponent would do and how to counter it. A real duelist thinks of how to utilize his own strategy well in order to face his next opponent.'
The racetrack trembled as if an earthquake was about to happen. Up above, the dark, gloomy sky was tinted with shades of red and purple, giving one the impression that Zeus might have been furious and hence he set the clouds on fire. Then all of a sudden, the scarlet sky split open and a streak of lightning struck the ground below. The crowd remained exceptionally silent, their eyes wide open.
A large shadow emerged out of the sparks and flashes. Its two black wings and arms and legs opened up, revealing its identity as a dragon. Then, with a blasting roar, the dragon showed its magnificent figure to the crowd, who could only squeal with excitement and perhaps a little fear.
Yuchi held its breath as the black dragon approached closer and closer to him. Even though it was the second time he was encountering it, he still could not remain calm at its appearance.
The great beast looked more like a hybrid of a machine and a dragon rather than a pure-breed dragon. It has four claws on its feet, all which looked like they were made of steel. Not to mention that it had one giant gun-like weapon equipped on its left arm and a blade on the right. The shiny metal plate on its thorax seemed to be its armor.
Kaworu took a glance at the monster's information shown on his device's screen. Tenshi had placed his servant in Attack Position, and its Attack Points was a fearsome 3000.
'Ha-ha-ha!' Tenshi laughed. 'How is it, Yuchi? To let your opponent summon his ace monster first?'
Yuchi had somehow calmed down. He was sure that he could still defeat Tenshi.
'Berserk Dragon's effect! By detaching one of its Xyz Materials, I can destroy one monster you control!' Provided with more power, the dragon let out a victorious cry.
'Berserk Dragon, destroy that Fairy of Justice with your Berserk Buster!' The dragon suddenly went maniac and dashed towards Yuchi's monster full of energy.
'Fairy of Justice's effect!' Yuchi declared. 'By sending an Equip Spell Card equipped to this card to the Graveyard, I can negate its destruction! I remove Mage Power!' A barrier enclosed the monster, protecting it from Berserk Dragon's furious attack. Fairy of Justice's Attack dropped back to 2500.
'But my Berserk Dragon's second effect!' Tenshi laughed. 'Yuchi, you'll now taste the bullets of my ace monster.'
Flames shot out from Berserk Dragon's 'gun', engulfing the D-Wheeler in an inferno.
Yuchi's Life Points dropped from 2900 to 1700, and his D-Wheel was overtaken by Tenshi's D-Wheel.
'Berserk Dragon's Remorseful Flames. Inflict 200 damage to the opponent for every Level that the targeted monster has. I believe you haven't forgotten, Yuchi?' Tenshi explained.
'The final play!' Tenshi declared. 'Berserk Dragon, attack Fairy of Justice with Ultimate Fire!' Berserk Dragon took a U-Turn and dashed once more towards Yuchi's only monster.
'Trap Card activate!' Yuchi decided that he must defend against his strongest opponent thus far with all his power. 'Threatening Roar!'
'Oh,' Tenshi smiled, 'So you planned to use this card against Berserk Dragon, after all?'
'With this, your attack has been negated!'
'Then I shall set one more card and end my turn! It's your last turn now, Yuchi!'
'My turn!' Yuchi cried, pulling out a card from his deck.
He looked at the card and smiled. Seemed that the fairies heard his prayers.
'I activate my Spell Card, De-Synchro! I send Fairy of Justice to the Graveyard, and in turn, Special Summon both Marshmallon and Magical Fairy Apprentice from my Graveyard!' Yuchi announced his next move with much confidence.
Fairy of Justice disappeared in a puddle of light and his two Synchro Materials returned to the field.
'I tribute my Marshmallon and Advance Summon my Level 5 Sapphire Angel!' Marshmallon disappeared in exchange for the summoning of a fairy that somehow resembled a larger Magical Fairy Apprentice, only he was wearing blue robes and had a blue staff in his hand with a sapphire gem on top.
'Sapphire Angel's effect! When this card is Normal Summoned, I can draw one card!' Yuchi pulled a card out from his deck.
'I tune my Level 3 Magical Fairy Apprentice with my Level 5 Sapphire Angel!'
Tenshi's mouth turned into a wide 'U' shape.
'Finally, Supernova Angel Knight,' said a relieved Kaworu.
'The lord of paradise, descend from the sky! Flap your great wings, and bring me to victory!'
'Synchro Summon! My ultimate ace, Supernova Angel Knight!'
The great white warrior emerged from the sky, its glittering armor gave a whole new color to the originally dark, gloomy sky. The spectators applauded at the return of Yuchi's signature monster.
'So you are here finally! Supernova Angel Knight! Ha-ha-ha!' Tenshi laughed, while his Berserk Dragon loudly roared at the appearance of its eternal rival.
'Yuchi,' Tenshi said. 'Now, the true battle begins.'
Yuchi: LP 1700, Tenshi: LP 2100
Preview of Next Chapter
Yuchi's Riding Duel with Tenshi continued!
Attack after attack, trap after trap… It's a fiery match for sure!
But was Tenshi's purpose of dueling Yuchi really to 'settle their scores'?
Another mysterious man appeared in front of Yuchi!
Who is he? What's his motive?
Don't miss the next Chapter 3: …Am I Weak?
Riding Duel, Acceleration!
Card of the Chapter:
Berserk Dragon
DARK/Rank 5/Machine-Type/Xyz
2 Level 5 Monsters
Effect: By detaching one Xyz Material from this card, select and destroy one monster your opponent controls. Inflict damage to your opponent's Life Points equal to 200* the Level of the selected monster.
ATK 3000/DEF 2500
...
A Note from the Author
As promised, the first full-length duel is featured this chapter.
It's one of the longer duels that I've planned for the fanfiction, so I have no choice but to split it into two chapters, gomen!
Like the original Duel Monsters and Zexal animes, I've decided to start off with a duel between the rivals of the show.
Yuchi uses a Fairy-Type Synchro Deck while Tenshi uses a Machine-Type Xyz Deck.
The main reason for doing so is to emphasize the 'rivalry' between the two rivals.
Synchro is a card colored white, Xyz is a card colored black.
Fairy-Types are mostly LIGHT or WIND attributes, Machine-Types are mostly DARK or EARTH attributes.
The designs of their ace monsters also reflect such a rivalry between them!
Anyway, I've talked too much, so that's all for this chapter.
Next chapter will feature another new character! Don't miss it!
Again, please review after reading! Arigatou!
- Project M.G.