The following takes place during Espa Roba – The ESP Duelist.
We've been walking for at least ten minutes, but for some strange reason, we couldn't find any Duelist.
"There must be another way to locate them!" Rebecca says as we stop for a second.
"Wait a minute!" I exclaim "Locate! That's the magic word!"
"Huh?"
"I forgot that the Duel Disk has a Duelist Searching System!"
"Really?" she comments a little bit annoyed "We could have used it before..."
"Sorry!" I answer as I ativate the Searching System.
After a few minutes we arrive in front of a large crowd.
"Do you think what I think?" I ask to Rebecca.
"Yup. Duelist located"
We enter the crowd together and we see two people Dueling: one of them is Gary, the kid I Dueled at Duelist Kingdom; the other one is a blond guy with a purple shirt with a spider motif on it. Wait a minute, that's Koji Nagumo, the Spider Duelist!
LP Koji 4000
LP Gary 800
"Thanks my Lair Wire Trap Card your puny Zoa is destroyed!" Koji says.
"How is this possible?!" Gary exclaims sending Zoa to the Graveyard.
"It's over, kid! Mother Spider, attack directly!"
A giant purple spider on Koji's field steps towards Gary and hits him with its leg sharp as a blade.
LP Koji 4000
LP Gary 0
"4000 to 0!" one member of the crowd exclaims as the others start to mutter about the duel.
"Now, kid!" Koji orders as he approaches Gary "Hand me over your rarest card and your Locator Card!"
Poor Gary handles him Zoa and his only Locator Card.
"This is a good card, but I can't use it in my Spider Deck" Koji comments as he takes the card before turning towards the audience "Well, who's next?!"
I see lots of Duelists from the crowd stepping away. Cowards!
"I am!" I announce as I approach the two Duelists.
"Richard, don't do it!" Gary says getting up "He has the strongest Insect Deck in the world, second only to Weevil Underwood!"
"This should be very interesting then..." I say with confidence.
"Richard?" Koji asks "The Underground King? That's interesting for me as well. Let's duel!"
I activate my Duel Disk with a smirk as Rebecca cheers: "Do your best!"
LP Richard 4000
LP Koji 4000
"I'm going first!" he says drawing a card and taking the second one on his right "I Summon Spyder Spider!"
A purple and yellow spider with a weird spy device on its head appears on the field (ATK: 1500).
"I end my turn"
"Looks like it's better for me to Summon a monster" I comment drawing a card, which is Mirror's Curse. I add the card to my hand, which also contains Torpedo Fish, Shadow Spell, Cannonball Spear Shellfish, Amphibious Bugroth MK-3 and Levia-Dragon - Daedalus.
"For my turn I Summon Torpedo Fish!"
A green mechanical fish appears on the field (ATK: 1000).
"Next I place two cards face-down and end my turn!"
"I assume you'll activate those cards as soon as I attack, right?" Koji asks drawing a card "I sacrifice Spyder Spider to Summon Hunter Spider!"
A brown spider with six legs on its chest appears on the field (ATK: 1600).
"Now!" I declare "I activate my Trap Card Shadow Spell!"
All of a sudden shackles emerge from the card and trap Koji's new monster, its attack power decreasing to 900.
"Too bad" he comments "I activate Remove Trap!"
The spider breaks free from my Trap Card and its attack returns to normal.
"Now I attack with Hunter Spider!"
The legs on the spider's chest start to stretch as they go towards my monster.
"You fell for it!" I exclaim "I activate my face-down Mirror's Curse!"
"Impossible!"
A giant demonic mirror appears, separating our monsters, each side of the mirror reflecting the monster it's facing.
"Mirror's Curse switches the attack and the defense points of two monsters, one I have and one you have!" I explain.
"This is bad!"
All of a sudden the mirror switches and the reflections face the opposing monsters, my monster's attack points becoming 1600 and Koji's 1000. Since the attack has already been declared Torpedo Fish charges towards Hunter Spider and hits it with its forehead, causing its destruction.
LP Richard 4000
LP Koji 3400
"You negated the effect of the wrong card, Koji!" I exclaim.
"It's just a little error" he says as he gets up "I haven't lost a single Duel up until now! You'll be my next victim! I place one card face-down and end my turn!"
"Good! Now Koji has got no monsters on the field!" I think as I silently draw my card. "I Summon Amphibious Bugroth MK-3!"
A red scuba diver-like robot appears on the field (ATK: 1500).
"My monsters have a total of 2500 attack points!" I explain "Time for some serious damage! Go, my monsters! Attack together!"
"I won't let you!" Koji declares as my monsters move towards him "I activate my face-down card Earthen Spider Statue!"
A giant statue resembling a spider appears on Koji's side of the field (DEF: 2500).
"A Trap Monster!" I exclaim.
"That's right!" Koji says chuckling "This Trap Summons itself as a monster to protect my Life Points!"
"He's planning to sacrifice it!" I think as I look at the card I drew at the start of the turn, which is Torrential Tribute. "This Trap Card will deal with you! I place this face-down on the field and end my turn!"
"Then it's my turn!" he says drawing a card "First I activate Card Hexative!"
All of a sudden my face-down card gets pinned down by some chains.
"This card enables your face-down card from activating" Koji explains as he takes the card he drew at the start of the turn "I Tribute Earthen Spider Statue to Summon Mother Spider!"
The same huge spider as before appears on the field (ATK: 2300).
"This is bad!" I think "Mother Spider's attack power is too high!"
"Before I attack I use this!" Koji says taking the first card on his right "Insect Armor with Laser Cannon! This increases my Mother Spider's attack power by 700!"
The metal armor gets equipped to the spider, its attack power increasing to 3000.
"Now attack with Laser Cannon!"
The cannon fires a blast that hits my Torpedo Fish.
LP Richard 1000
LP Koji 3400
"I took some good damage with that attack..." I comment as I get up "What do I do?"
"It's your turn!" he says chuckling "But you can give up if you want"
"Give up?!" I exclaim offended "Like hell I will! It's my move!"
I draw Ghosts From the Past. Good card, but I can't use it now!
"I Summon Cannonball Spear Shellfish in Defense Mode!"
The weird mollusk appears on my field (DEF: 1000).
"Then I switch Bugroth to Defense Mode and place this card face-down!"
"What are you planning to do?" Koji asks "Mother Spider, destroy that Bugroth of his!"
Once again, the blast hits and my Bugroth is destroyed.
I draw my card silently and place it on the Duel Disk. "I Summon Sea Serpent Warrior of Darkness in Defense Mode and end my turn!"
The sea warrior appears on my field (DEF: 1500).
"You have no chance to win!" Koji says drawing a card "Mother Spider, annihilate his Sea Serpent Warrior of Darkness!"
Mother Spider launches its attack and destroys my monster.
"Then I follow up with this!" he declares activating the card he drew at the start of the turn "I use Power Collapse! This card decreases my Mother Spider's attack power by the attack of your monster until the end of the Battle Phase and it can attack again. And my next target is Cannonball Spear Shellfish!"
As Mother Spider's attack power decreases to 1200, it attacks and destroys my Shellfish.
"Just give up, you have no chance to win!" Koji says with confidence.
"We'll see!" I answer "This is my last turn!"
I silently draw my card and place it on the Duel Disk. "I activate Submerged Treasure! By destroying 1 Magic or Trap Card I have on the field, I can draw two cards!"
I destroy my Torrential Tribute as I do so.
"Now I use my Magic Card Underworld Sacrifice! It allows me to remove monsters from my Graveyard instead of Tributing monsters" I explain "I remove two monsters to Summon Levia-Dragon – Daedalus!"
My ace monster appears on the field (ATK: 2600).
"Then I follow up with my face-down card Ghosts From the Past! This allows me to remove two monsters from my Graveyard and reduce your Mother Spider's attack power to 0!"
"Say what?!"
Mother Spider falls on his knees as it gets weaker.
"Now, Daedalus, attack Mother Spider!"
My ace monster launches its attack and Mother Spider is instantly destroyed.
LP Richard 1000
LP Koji 800
"And now to finish you off!" I say holding up my last card "I use Power Collapse!"
"WHAT?!"
"That's right, I have that card too! But in this case your monster's attack power was 0, so I guess my Daedalus will attack you will full strength!"
"Impossible!"
"Water Blast Attack!"
Daedalus fires the final blow at Koji, who falls to the ground defeated.
LP Richard 1000
LP Koji 0
"YES!" Rebecca cries coming out of the crowd and hugging me from behind and making me blush.
"It can't be... I lost!" Koji yells falling to his knees.
Finally Rebecca lets me go and I approach him. "I won. Give me your Locator Card and your Card Hexative"
"Damn! How could I have lost?!" he yells as he gets up "I can't forgive you!"
He then tries to punch me but, as his rage makes him slower, I easily dodge him and I make him trip.
"Don't you dare to use cheap methods on me, big boy" I say getting angry "Give me your cards now!"
He is a bit scared so he handles me his Locator Card and Card Hexative.
"Good. I'm off now. Let's go, Rebecca"
"Yes!" she answers as we both get out of the crowd.
After a few minutes we stop at a bench and we sit. "You got a very good card" Rebecca comments.
"Yup!" I answer while looking at it "Card Hexative is a very powerful card that blocks the opponent's face-down cards. It will be very useful"
"There's still a question I want to ask you: why you didn't take his Mother Spider?"
I look at her smiling. "Two reasons: first, my Deck is a WATER Deck, so Mother Spider won't be very useful; second, I know that card is very precious to Koji, he simply doesn't know it. Still, I can decide which card from the opponent I may take so I'm not cheating or anything"
"Yeah, you're right"
"And with this, I only need four more Locator Cards and I will go to the finals!"
Altered cards:
Power Collapse
Quick-Play Spell Card
Effect: Activate only when your opponent destroys an opponent's monster by battle. Decrease the ATK of your monster by the ATK of the destroyed monster until the end of the Battle Phase. After this effect resolves, that monster may attack again this turn.
Fan-made cards:
Mirror's Curse
Quick-Play Spell Card
Effect: Select 1 monster you control and 1 your opponent controls. Switch those monster's ATK and DEF until the end of the turn.
Submerged Treasure
Normal Spell Card
Effect: Destroy 1 Spell/Trap Card you control: Draw 2 cards.
Underworld Sacrifice
Normal Spell Card
Effect: Activate when you would Tribute Summon a monster. Banish monsters from your Graveyard instead of Tributing monsters. You can only activate 1 "Underworld Sacrifice" per turn.
And this is how it ends, for now. I actually think that the characters could have been a lot more selective on the card they could take from the opponent: Seto specifically says that the winner can choose which card to take, so I'll use this as my advantage. Two Locator Cards earned, four more to go. Until then, hasta la vista!