The month of August has arrived.
"I need a game-changer here," Yusei thought to himself, staring at his deck. "I can't just resort to defending myself. If I do, Leo might summon another monster to attack directly." He positioned his right hand on top, ready to draw.
"Hurry up and draw!" the male twin barked from his runner impatiently. The scientist didn't answer back with his voice; he let his cards do the talking, now holding four cards and three speed counters along with the kid.
"By discarding a monster card from my hand, I can summon Quickdraw Synchron to the field," Yusei explained as a pistol wielding robot levitated into play. "Next I activate Quillbolt Hedgehog's ability: if a tuner is out on the field, I can also summon it to the field." Beside his tuner monster appeared a standard a hedgehog, only sporting bolts out of its back instead of quills.
"I remember this combo," Leo recounted. "Two monsters summoned for practically nothing."
"Then do you remember this?" his opponent asked as Quickdraw and the rodent disappeared in a green light. "I Synchro Summon Junk Archer!" The light scattered, in favor for a hastily-armored archer with a life-size arrow.
"Give me your best shot!" the male twin gloated.
"You asked for it," Yusei responded while his archer fired its arrow at Power Tool Dragon and made it vanish. "With Junk Archer's effect, I can remove a monster from your field 'til the end phase of this turn. Now my archer attacks you directly!" The monster lined up another shot and launched its arrow, straight for Leo's ride.
"Please be safe," Luna hoped for her brother.
"Guess again," Leo revealed slyly as Quickdraw Synchron materialized onto his field and took the hit from Junk Archer. The boy's life points remained untouched.
"What'd you do just now?" Yusei questioned.
"It's a trick I picked up from Jack," the male twin explained, flipping his trap card up. "As soon as you played Junk Archer, I used Tuner Capture to snare your monster to my side of the field and shield myself from your attack."
"Impressive," the scientist complimented his young foe. "That's a professional move."
"I think you'll find I'm full of tricks," he quipped cleverly.
"In that case, I'll put one card face down and end my turn," Yusei concluded.
"And since it's the end phase, Power Tool Dragon returns to the field," Leo reminded him as his dragon reappeared from out of nowhere.
"While Leo seems to be perfectly anticipating each move against him, Yusei doesn't look the least bit rattled," Luna analyzed to herself. "But what's it going to take for him to win?"
"My turn," the younger duelist interrupted, drawing to hold two cards and accumulate four speed counters, same as Yusei. "And time for a power boost." He snatched a card from his hand and placed it in an open spell slot.
"With Speed Energy, I can add 200 attack points to a monster on my field for every speed counter I have," he continued as his dragon was surrounded by a bright yellow glow, surging with more power as its strength jumped to 3,100. "Now the attack!" The mechanical dragon roared and hurled its steam shovel at Junk Archer, smashing it along with 800 of Yusei's life points.
"I play Miracle's Wake!" the scientist countered as his trap flipped up. "Since a monster was destroyed in battle this turn, I can bring it back." The trap card opened a portal and Junk Archer climbed back out into play.
"That thing won't stay down," Leo commented. "If I can't bring it down, I'll use Speed World 2 instead." His speed counters decreased to zero and a beam of energy fired at Yusei, reducing his score to 1,300.
"Oh no," Luna gasped.
"That's all for now," the male twin breathed to end his turn. At this point in the duel, either the crowd was stunned to see Yusei struggling or amazed that Leo was performing well.
"Here goes," the scientist grunted, drawing to hold two cards and five speed counters while Leo got one counter. "I play the speed spell, Angel Baton; now I can draw two cards and discard one." He pulled two cards from his deck and discarded the other one was still left over.
"Remember that this is your best opportunity that lay down some serious hurt," the male twin summarized.
"I know that," Yusei answered, placing a monster card into play. "And Effect Veiler's gonna help." He snapped his fingers once, signaling Junk Archer to shoot Power Tool Dragon out of play.
"Now I tune my archer with Effect Veiler!" he bellowed as his monsters faded away in a green light. "I bring out Stardust Dragon!" From a shimmer of sparkles appeared his signature dragon.
"Long time no see, Stardust," Leo zinged.
"He still has a chance," Luna gauged from the sidelines.
"Next up is Silver Contrails," Yusei added, playing the last card in his hand. "With five speed counters to my name, Stardust Dragon gains a thousand attack points 'til the end of my turn." The frail looking beast gained more muscle as its strength rose to 3,500.
"I did not see this coming," the male twin squeaked.
"Go Stardust Dragon!" the scientist commanded his monster. It built a ball of energy in its maw and blasted it straight towards Leo.
"Be gentle," the female twin mouthed from afar. The male twin held up an arm to shield himself from the attack, but he could only hold off so much of it as his life points plummeted to 500.
"My turn's over," Yusei exhaled calmly. In one fell swoop, the tide of the duel for Yusei went from "underdog" to "come-from-behind." After all, champion duelists don't go down easily.
"And just like before, Power Tool Dragon comes back," Leo coughed as his machine faded back into reality. "Now I draw." With only two cards in his hand and just two speed counters, it was going to take a massive effort to bring Stardust to its knees and he just drew it.
"Looks like all that effort bringing my score down was a waste," he sneered, placing a monster card in play. "Here comes Morphtronic Lantron!" A large and handheld lantern pixilated onto the field.
"I rarely use this next move," the male twin explained. "But with my score one blast away from dropping to zero, I have no other choice." The lantern turned into a green ring and surrounded Power Tool Dragon, revealing seven stars and creating a stream of light.
"Here's Life Stream Dragon!" the kid shouted as an actual breathing and realistic form of his toy dragon gleamed brightly. "Since it was successfully summoned, my life points return to full power!" The crowd buzzed in awe as the boy's life points went back up to 4,000.
"Not good," Yusei and Luna gulped in unison.
How's that for a twist: just when Yusei has turned the tables on this duel, Leo turns them right back and gets all of his points back too. Can he actually do the unthinkable and unseat Yusei as a champion? Or will Yusei come back from the depths a second time and slay Life Stream Dragon? If the reviews heat up again, maybe I'll get to it sooner rather than later. Ball's in your court, peeps.