James 8000
Shrab 8000
"I'll go first." Shrab said, drawing his hand. He smiled, then said "First, I'll play a monster facedown, then activate Card Destruction! This forces us to discard out hands and draw the same number."
They both discarded, after which Shrab ended his turn.
"My turn!" James said. "First I activate the field spell, Clock Tower Prison!"
Behind them, the huge clock in London, Big Ben rose up to dominate the field.
"Destiny heroes? Really?" Shrab asked. "I thought this was your new main deck."
"It is, and as for my strategy, you'll just have to wait and find out, for now I set a facedown and play a monster in facedown, then activate Magical mallet, by returning a card from my hand back to my deck, I can draw a new one."
After drawing, he ended his turn.
"Alright, my turn." Shrab said. "First I flip summon my Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter!" by discarding three cards from my deck, I can destroy any card on the field! I choose your field spell. It doesn't matter what strategy you have if I de-fuse it."
James smiled. "I knew you'd target my tower, so I set the counter trap, Destruction Jammer! This card negates the destruction of my card and instead destroys your monster."
Ryko opened his mouth and fired a beam of light at the tower, which reflected off a golden barrier and struck Ryko, destroying it.
Shrab frowned. "Fine, I Set a monster facedown and end my turn."
"My turn!" James said "Clock tower prison has one clock counter on it, one for each of your turns. When it has four, I no longer take damage from battles."
Shrab groaned. "That's what you want to do, make my skulls high Attack useless?"
James grinned. "Sorta. I set another facedown and summon my Detiny Hero – Dread Servant!
D-Hero Dread Servant
DARK
Warrior
lv.3
ATK/400
DEF/700
When this card is normal summoned, place 1 Clock counter on Clock Tower Prison. When this card is destroyed by battle, you can destroy one spell or trap on your own side of the field.
"Next I play the spell card Field Barrier, which prevents my tower from being destroyed, then I end my turn.
Shrab drew his card and smiled. "First I flip summon my needlebug nest, this monster makes me discard the top five cards of my deck." After he did, a card was ejected from his graveyard.
"Hehm and it looks like one of those cards was Wulf, Lightsworn Beast! Come forth, Wulf!"
An anthro wolf monk with a staff topped with a ring blade in one hand, and a glowing three bladed gauntlet on his hand appeared.
Wulf, Lightsworn Beast
LIGHT
Beast
lv.4
ATK/2100
This card cannot be normal summoned, when this card is discarded from your deck, special summon it.
"Next I tribute my needlebugs to summon Celestia, Lightsworn Angel!"
A beautiful angel appeared on the field.
Celestia, Lightsworn angel
LIGHT
Fairy
lv.6
ATK/2300
When this monster is tribute summoned, you can discard the top four cards of your deck to destroy two cards on the field.
"Celestia will target your field barrier and your facedown monster."
Two beams of light shot out from the angels palm and pierced the cards, which shattered.
After discarding his four cards, he said "Now, I activate the spell card Double Summon!" A screen popped up on James's D-Gazer, showing Shrabs face.
"Do I really have to walk you through this cards effect?"
"Naw, keep going." James said.
"Alright then, I summon my King of the Skull Servants and play my spell card, Inferno Reckless summon. This card lets me summon my other two Kings from my hand, deck or grave yard, and due to the two Skulls and Wightmare in my grave already, they each have 3000 attack!"
King Of the Skull Servants
DARK
Zombie
lv.1
ATK/?↑3000
DEF/0
The original ATK of this card becomes the number of "King of the Skull Servants" and "Skull Servant" cards in your Graveyard x 1000. When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, by removing from play 1 other "King of the Skull Servants" or "Skull Servant" card in your Graveyard, Special Summon this card.
Authors notes
For those who don't know, Skull servants are one of the weakest monsters in the game, with an attack equal to Kuriboh and no ability, they were useless until the King was printed, now there are two more cards, Lady in Wight and Wightmare that also count as Skull Servants in the grave, giving the King of Skull servants a potential attack of 11000.
"Now then, King of the Skull servants, attack his D-Hero!"
The first Skull rushed James's monster, claws outstretched. It slashed the warrior to ribbons, the shockwave of the hard-light hologram actually knocking James back a bit.
LP
James 5400
Shrab 8000
"Now, I use Wulf to attack your facedown."
The anthro monk leapt forward, swinging his clawed gauntlet, and cleaved the hologram of the monster card in four, which shattered.
"Next I attack with the remainder of my monsters for game." Shrab said with an air of finality.
The first Skull to attack leapt at James, its claws leaving rends of light in the air. However, when the light faded, there was another monster on the field.
James grinned. "I'm not done yet, I summon Battle Fader!"
The monster resembled some demonic pendulum swinging back and forth.
Battle Fader
DARK
Feind
lv.1
ATK/0
DEF/0
When you take a direct attack, you can special summon this card and end the battle phase. When this card is summoned this way and removed from the field, it is removed from play.
Shrab chuckled. "Ok, you bought yourself one turn, lets see what you can do against my army of monsters."
James smirked. Yes, lets. "My turn, Draw!" He said, practically tear ing the card from his deck. He flipped it and glanced at it with an eye. "Perfect. I summon the tuner, Debris Dragon!"
What looked like a baby Stardust Dragon flew down to hover beside James.
Debris Dragon
WIND
Dragon
lv.4
ATK/1000
DEF/2000
When this card is normal summoned, you can special summon 1 monster with 500 ATK from your graveyard in attack position. This card can only be used to summon a dragon type synchro, and the non-tuners cannot be lv.4
"Debris Dragon, brig back the monster Shrab just destroyed, my Hero Kid!"
A circle of light appeared next to Debris dragon, and a child with a white, red and black power suit, complete with a dome over his masked face appeared.
Hero Kid
EARTH
Warrior
lv.2
ATK/300
DEF/600
When this card is special summoned, you can special summon any number of hero Kids from your deck.
"Now then, Hero kid, bring forth your buddies!" James said, and then there were three Hero Kids.
Shrab smirked. "Red Dragon Archfiend?"
"No!" James said. "Never that. That's Mikes card. I'm never going to use that card."
Shrab rolled his eyes. "Whatever."
"No, I tube my lv.1 Battle Fader and lv.2 Hero Kid to my lv.4 Debris Dragon! I synchro Summon Ancient Fairy Dragon!"
Debris Dragon turned into four rings, which Battle Fader and one of the Hero Kids flew into, bursting into three stars, there was a beam of light, and out of the beam flew a blue serpentine dragon with gold accents, green hair, long arms and pink butterfly wings. Two long green streamer things drifted from the end of its tail.
Ancient Fairy Dragon
LIGHT
Dragon
lv.7
ATK/2100
DEF/3000
Once per turn, you can special summon 1 lv.4 or lower monster from your hand, but cannot battle this turn if you activate this effect. Once per turn, you can destroy a field spell. If you do, gain 1000 LP, and you can add a field spell from your deck to your hand.
"Now then, Ancient fairy dragon lets me summon another monster, and I choose my lv.4 Road Synchron!"
A gold monster with two wheels instead of legs appeared on James's side of the field.
Road Synchron
LIGHT
Machine
lv.4
ATK/1600
DEF/800
If this card is used to synchro summon anything except Road Warrior, decrease this cards lv. By 2. If this card attacks, increase its lv. By 1.
"Now I tune my two lv.2 Hero Kids to my lv. 4 Road Synchron to Synchro summon Road Warrior!"
Road warrior turned into four green rigs, which the Hero kids flew into before bursting into 4 stars, a beam of light shot through the rings, and out of it flew a warrior covered in golden armor, its hands covered by bladed bracers, and a steampunk style device was on its back.
Road Warrior
LIGHT
Warrior
ATK/3000
DEF/1500
Once per turn, you can special summon one lv.2 or lower warrior or machine monster from your deck.
"Go, Road Warrior, Bring out Turbo Synchron!"
Road Warrior reached behind him and whipped out the steampunk device, which looked like a huge, double handled gun. It fired, and a beam of golden light curved down to hit the ground at James's feet, when the light vanished, a short green machine that looked like a small formula one car with arms and feet (no legs) was standing there.
Turbo Synchron
WIND
Machine
lv.1
ATK/100
DEF/500
When this card attacks, you can change the opposing monster to defense mode. When you take battle damage while this card is attacking, You can special summon one monster from your hand equal to or less than the damage you just took.
"Now, I tune my lv.7 Ancient Fairy Dragon to my lv.1 Turbo Synchron to Synchro summon Colossal Fighter"
Shrab watched as the synchro took place. "Wow." He mumbled. "Three synchros in one turn."
Colossal fighter looked like a massive white warrior with blue gems across its body.
Colossal Fighter
DARK
Warrior
lv.8
ATK/2800 ↑ 3700
DEF/1000
This card gains 100 ATK for every warrior monster in any graveyard. When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, special summon 1 warrior type monster from either players graveyard.
"I have four warriors in my grave, and you have five lightsworn warriors, no doubt Jein and Garoth, right?" Shrab nodded.
"Which means my Fighter is strong enough to take out your Skulls."
"You forget." Shrab said "When the first of my three skulls is sent to the graveyard, it'll power up the remaining two by 1000. You're in over your head."
"Am I? I end my turn."
As Shrab drew his card, the clock above them chimed. They looked up to see it had struck 12:00.
"You know what that means, right?" James asked. "It means your time's up. I no longer take damage from any battle."
"The same can't be said for your monsters!" Shrab said. "King, kamikaze with his Road Warrior, giving your brethren the power to win!"
James smiled. "Activate facedown! Astral Barrier!"
Shrabs eyes widened. "That combo!"
"That's right." James said, "Astral Barrier forces your skull servant to attack me directly, and with Clock Tower in play, the damage is reduced to 0."
The Skull rushed at James, who caught the attack on his duel disk, throwing the skeleton back.
Shrab growled. "I end."
They both knew they were at an impasse. James had an impenetrable defense while Shrab had an ultimate offense. They both had cads that could deal with the current situation, it was just a matter of who drew the right cards first.
"I set two cards facedown and end my turn." James said.
Shrab drew. "You know James, My deck is built to cover most any situation, like this for example. I tribute my Wulf to summon a second Celestia, and I use her ability to destroy your warrior and the clock tower."
As the second angel shot her beams of light, explosions ripped through the Colossal fighter and the Clock Tower, reducing both to rubble.
But as the smoke cleared, Shrab saw a new monster.
"Trap card, Assault Mode activate! By tributing my Colossal Fighter, I can summon my Colossal Fighter/Assault Mode!"
Colossal Fighter/Assault Mode
DARK
Warrior
lv.10
ATK/3300
DEF/1500
This card can only be summoned with the effect of "Assault Mode Activate!" When this card is special summoned, you can send up to 2 warrior monsters from your deck to the graveyard. All monsters your opponent controls lose 100 ATK for every warrior monster in your graveyard. When this card is destroyed, you can revive Colossal Fighter.
"I'll use Colossal fighter's effect to send my Junk Synchron and Zero Gardna to the grave. With seven warriors in the grave, all your monsters lose 700ATK, meaning any monster with 4000 ATK or less are fair game."
"End." Shrab said. James drew his card and smiled, he now had everything he needed to win.
"I set a card facedown and end my turn."
"Final draw." Shrab said, drawing his card. "I have in my hand the cards that will lead to my victory!" He showed James a card in his hand. "Opti Camouflage Armor can be equipped to any lv.1 monster, and allows it to attack directly, and I'll activate it after this: Heavy Storm!"
Strong winds began tearing across the field, whipping their clothes and sending sprays of water onto them from the ocean beneath them, of course it being a simulated reality, they didn't feel the water, but it was real enough to make them flinch.
"Ch-chain trap cards!" James stuttered as he raised his hand reflexively to block an illusory wall of water. "No Entry! This changes all your monsters to defense mode!"
As all Shrabs monsters took on defensive stances, Shrab laughed. "To bad you dodn't shave Red Dragon Archfeind, you might have won, but as it is, this only delays my attack for one turn."
We'll see, I'll show you I don't need Mikes card to win, I'll create my own Red Demons Dragon!"
"What? How?" Shrab asked.
"Like this!" James said through the howling winds, had it not been for their D-Gazers, they wouldn't even be able to hear each other over the wind and roar of the ocean. "I chain a trap to my first one, Tragedy! This traps' so old no one uses it anymore, but it has the ability to destroy all my opponents monsters in defense! Since my first trap did just that, well…"
Shrabs eyes widened as he watched as heavy storm shattered all the spells and traps on the field, the shards impaling his own monsters, which vanished from the field.
"Well crap." He said. "I can't do anything at this point. Your move."
Right then! "Activate spell card," James said. "Synchro change! I swap out my Road Warrior for another lv.8 synchro. Soar! Stardust Dragon!"
Miles above them, a point of light brightened and shot a column of light to the deck of the boat, the column started to explode starting from the top and going down. In the leading edge of the explosion they cold see an object falling to earth. Just before the object hit, in a final grand burst the remaining light exploded into a trillion shards of light, casting an unearthly glow on the dragon hovering there.
Stardust Dragon
WIND
Dragon
lv.8
ATK/2500
DEF/2000
You can sacrifice this card to negate any destruction effect. If this card is in the graveyard due to its own effect, special summon it at the end of the turn.
"Next I normal summon the monster Dark Bug!"
From the side of the boat what appeared to be a Tetris block on eight spindly legs crawled onto the deck, a line of silk trailing from it and over the side.
"I use Dark Bugs effect to revive a level three tuner from my graveyard, its effect negated. The monster I revive is Junk Synchron!"
"What!" Shrab said. "When was that put in the graveyard?"
James smirked. "On your first turn, you played Card Destruction, making me discard my entire hand, remember?"
"Ohhh, yeah."
As the insect monster continued crawling up, a bundle wrapped in a silk cocoon was dragged onto the deck, it's shape vaguely resembling Junk Synchron.
The Spider then went over and bit Junk Synchron, forcing it to turn into three green rings, Dark Bug in turn becoming a white star.
"I tune my level 1 Dark Bug to my level 3 Junk Synchron to Synchro summon, Armory Arm!"
A column of light shot through the ring, and a robotic gauntlet flew out abd attached itself to Colossal Fighter.
Armory Arm
LIGHT
Machine
lv.4
ATK/1800
Once per turn you can equip this monster to another monster to give that monster 1000 ATK points, and the ability to inflict half the ATK of monsters it fights as damage.
So Colossal Fighters ATK goes up to 4300! Ready! Stardust Dragon, attack with Shooting Sonic!"
Energy gathered in the dragons' mouth and shot out as a silver beam that threw Shrab back and blew a hole in the deck of the ship, the ocean visible below them, but the lower decks were shrouded in an inky blackness.
LP
James 5400
Shrab 5500
"And next, Colossal Fighter/Assault Mode, attack directly!" The giant blue warrior rose into the air on jets, and flew full-on into Shrab, who was shoved back into the rail, which buckled under the impact. Between James and Shrab was a wide path of splintered floor boards jutting up at odd angles, smoke pouring from the gaps in some places.
LP
James 5400
Shrab 1200
"That was cheap man!" Shrab said. "Using your powers like that, I could have gone overboard!"
But James wasn't even looking at Shrab, he was staring at the mainland, which was fast approaching. Quickly he hit a button on his duel disk and the monsters vanished, a wave of green energy swept over the boat as the virtual reality faded, along with any "damage" to the ship.
"Why'd you quit?" Shrab said, drawing his next card to look. "Not that it would have mattered."
"Look for yourself." James said. Shrab followed his gaze, seeing a green lgith that was slowly fading somewhere in the city.
James turned to Shrab. "Orichalcos. We're on the right track."