Chapter 3: The Almighty Stall, Part 2
Yuri wasn't in a good position in this duel. On his side of the field were two monsters, the blue and gold hero Sparkman and the wild boomerang wielding man Wildheart.
The problem was besides sporting a threatening looking boomerang, Wildheart was also wearing a creepy masked that he was currently trying to pull off to no avail.
This mask stopped Wildheart from attacking at all and worse still, it was still Yuri's opponents turn.
Lars yawned, the way he held himself radiated a lack of energy. Yuri guessed that it was to be expected after duelling for so many hours straight. It hadn't seemed to mess with Lars' skill though.
"Now that Wildheart is no longer an issue, I'm going to declare an attack. On Sparkman, with Emissary of the Afterlife."
Sparkman – Attack: 1600/ Emissary of the Afterlife – Attack: 1600
"Why? I don't get it!" Yuri's voice raised slightly in frustration.
Lars remained silent as the scythe wielding fiend rushed the blue hero. The blade was swung, but before it could slice through Sparkman he grabbed it and charged it with several volts of electricity.
The blade continued through him but the shock destroyed Emissary of the Afterlife.
"When Emissary of the Afterlife is sent from the field to the graveyard both players can choose a level 3 or lower monster from their deck and add it to their hand. Understandably, the deck must be shuffled after this event. " As Lars spoke he picked up his deck and started looking through it.
Yuri did the same. As he looked through his cards a couple of thoughts crossed his mind, such as which card would be most helpful in this situation. He also wondered why a level 3 monster was so important that Lars felt it needed to destroy the only monster on his side of the field.
After a while Yuri decided on adding Elemental HERO Burstinatrix to his hand.
This left Lars with three cards in his hand, and Yuri with four.
"Well, now that that's taken care of I'm going to end my turn. Try not be so predictable."
Yuri gritted his teeth in annoyance, 'Oh, I'll show you.'
Yuri drew his card and glanced at it, The Eye of Truth. Yuri's raised a brow at this, having forgot that he'd put this card in his deck.
'Was there a reason for this?' Yuri thought about it before realising that the point was seeing his opponent's hands.
"Oh, look. Your first wrong of continuous effect damage." Lars said blandly.
Yuri's Life Points: 5000 – 4500
Yuri wanted to grumble but decided on just sighing.
"Okay, I'll start by placing a card face down." As he said this he placed The Eye of Truth face down, honestly hoping that it'd prove useful in the long run.
"Now I'll…" Yuri trailed off as he looked at his hand; Elemental HERO Avian, Elemental HERO Burstinatrix, Elemental HERO Lady Heat and Polymerization.
'Oh so many possibilities.' Yuri thought.
"I'll summon Elemental HERO Lady Heat in attack mode!"
Elemental HERO Lady Heat – Level 4, Effect, Attack: 1300/ Defence: 1000
In a burst of flames a woman appeared, wearing a primarily white spandex suit. The right side of her outfit had a flame theme. She also wore an odd miniskirt, along with her two red arm pads and her flame tiara.
When she was fully formed she giggled, twirled around and blew a kiss at both players with a wink.
Yuri found himself blushing at his monsters antics, whereas Lars raised a brow.
'His cards are strange. I've seen cards emote before, but it seems as if all of his monster do that. Very…interesting.' Lars thought to himself.
Despite that thought what he said out loud was this, "Wow, I wonder what reason you've got a card like that in your deck. Could it be our little test subject has a card crush?" All of this was said with Lars' constant dull tone. He did have a small smirk on his face though.
Yuri's blush intensified, mostly because Lars was right about the card crush. After a moment a thought accorded to Yuri, and his blush died down a bit.
"You don't know what effect Elemental HEROES have, do you?"
Lars remained silent for a moment, before shrugging his shoulders, "Not really, no. But so far I'm guessing they're all about as useful as Wildheart is right now."
A small smile found its way to Yuri's face. It was possible that Lars was lying about that detail, but Yuri doubted it.
With this confidence boost Yuri continued with his turn, "But wait, there's more!"
As Yuri spoke he placed Polymerization on the field. Two orbs of light appeared on either side of him, before forming into monsters.
On his left was a man covered with green feathers from ankle to the top of his head. His feet had three talons each.
On his right was a woman wearing a red spandex suit that was strategically cut to draw the eye. Her hair was long and her lips painted red.
"Lars, Avian and Burstinatrix. Avian and Burstinatrix, Lars!" Yuri introduced with a laugh, "But don't get too attached Lars, these guys aren't sticking around for long!" The two heroes nodded before jumping high into the air.
Yuri's hands clenched together and his eyes became sharp and cold for a moment, "Flaming beauty overlap you're burning essence with one that rules the skies above! FUSION SUMMON!"
As he said this both heroes turned into pixels before shifting together to form one.
Elemental HERO Phoenix Enforcer – Level 6, Fusion, Attack: 2100/ Defence: 1200
From the sky above descended a man shrouded in flames. As he landed on the ground the flames disappeared to reveal a man with a large build in black spandex with areas of red such as the legs, arms and chest.
On his back were two silver wings with a green frame. On his right arm he wielded a three talon gauntlet.
"I give you Elemental HERO Phoenix Enforcer!" Yuri said with smug grin on his face,
'I'm gonna win this turn! After Lady Heat and Phoenix Enforcer attack Lars will be left with 600 lifepoints! Then along with Lady Heat's effect I'll win!'
Lars simply stared at the events before him. He didn't appear to be affected positively or negatively by Yuri's plays. Normally Yuri would be annoyed, but he was in such a good mood.
"I'll attack you directly with Phoenix Enforcer!" Phoenix nodded before flying towards Lars, talons out stretched for damage.
"I activate the effect of the Battle Fader in my hand." Lars turned the card as he spoke to prove it had been there, "When I'm being attacked directly I can summon this card in face up defence position. But much more importantly, it ends the battle phase."
A small field with a grey face appeared in front of Lars. It bounced a bell and clock back and forth. As Phoenix Enforcer got closer it prepared to slash before time seemed to flow backwards. Before Yuri knew it Phoenix Enforcer was standing in front of him again, a glare on his features.
Yuri's eyes widened, before his teeth clenched in barely contained rage.
"Someone looks like they might have a temper tantrum. Does baby want some milk?" Lars' voice took on a hint of mocking.
In that moment Yuri stopped breathing. His teeth loosened and he blinked his eyes softly, 'Don't let him play mind games…'
"I end my turn." Yuri said well rubbing a hand through his pink locks, "That in might I guess now would be a good time to mention Lady Heat's ability."
Lady Heat twirled around happily at having a ability mentioned, "You take 200 points of damage for every Elemental HERO monster on the field. That's 600!"
Lars' Lifepoints: 4000 - 3400
"At this rate the duel will be over in another six turns. Ain't that grand?" Yuri said smugly.
Lars whistled, "It would appear that you've actually done damage to me. Such an achievement, you must quite honoured that I allowed such a feat."
Yuri's eye twitched, but beyond that there wasn't much of a reaction.
Lars drew a card and looked at it for a moment before nodding, "I end my turn."
Yuri's eyes widened in shock, "But you didn't do anything!"
"Nothing in the rules that say I have to do anything on my turn." Lars shrugged.
Yuri wanted to argue his point further but settled for a, "Gods you're boring."
Yuri drew a card. This card became the only card in his hand.
He glanced at it. It was another monster, this time Elemental HERO Bladedge. Yuri could summon this card, but liked his current odds better.
"Before I do anything else I activate the continuous trap card," He flipped the card face up, "The Eye of Truth!"
A stone tablet rose from the field, with a blue and red symbol for an eye decorating the rock.
"As long as this card remains face up on the field you have to show me your cards!" Yuri had a light scowl on his face. He was half expecting Lars three cards to be three copies of Swords of revealing light. He didn't know how or if he could handle such an event.
Lars sighed as three holograms appeared above his head.
Yuri's eyes widened in shock.
Exodia's Right Arm, Exodia's Left Arm and Exodia's Right Leg.
'That's it? That's why he stalling me?' A moment passed and Lars found his eye to be twitching in annoyance.
"EXODIA? That's your win condition? Freaking Exodia!"
Lars nodded his head lazily, "Yeah. Seems to mostly work out okay."
"But that's so boring!"
"Quite. Are we done yet? Can we move onto the standby phase?"
Yuri rolled his eyes in annoyance and he lost lifepoints
Yuri's Lifepoints: 4500 – 4000
"Right. Doing this again. Lady Heat attack his Battle Fader!" Lady Heat gave a yell of excitement before twirling into a small fire storm. When she stopped twirling she kicked the flaming tornado setting it on course for Lars' Battle Fader.
"I activate a trap card." Lars mumbled.
"Of course you do!" Yuri yelled, quite annoyed.
Lars let out a light chuckle, "Suck it up. The trap is Waboku." The ladies in ocean colour robes appeared, one by Lars, and two by Battle Fader.
The flame tornado made contact and there was an explosion. When that explosion calmed down it revealed Battle Fader still in one piece.
"Waboku stops me from taking battle damage this turn, and stops my monsters from being destroyed by battle for the rest of the turn."
"Fine! I end my turn!" Yuri roared. Lady Heat huffed well also flicking her wrist and sending a flame Lars' way.
Lars' Lifepoints: 3400 – 2800
"Don't get me wrong, if I win this I'll still happily take my place at the school and be forever grateful to Lady Heat for her continued service." Lady Heat turned to Yuri with a smile and blew him another kiss, "But it'd be one of the most boring ways possible to win this game."
"Well too bad. Do I look like I care?" Lars asked as he drew another card.
Because of the effects of The Eye of Truth, Yuri could see that the card Lars drew was another Upstart Goblin.
A smile found its way onto Lars face, "Do you by chance know the secondary effect of The Eye of Truth?"
Yuri rolled his eyes in annoyance, "Yeah! I activated the thing! In your standby phase you get 1000 Lifepoints because you have a spell card, I know."
Lars shrugged with a smile still present, "Good to know that kids these day at least read their card's effects."
Lars' Lifepoints: 2800 – 3800
"So, seeing as I've got it right here, how about I activate Upstart Goblin?" He drew another card.
Yuri's Lifepoints: 4000 – 5000
Lars' new card appeared above his head. It was Exodia's Left Leg.
Yuri's fist made swift contact with duel arena's grid. He didn't have the strength to break the grid, but the cards did shift slightly.
"No need for a tantrum." Lars said in his monotone, "I'm going to end my turn now. I mean, look at the bright side! You're going to lose, but at least unlike some other people you lost relatively quickly."
"It's not over yet! It's my turn!" With that little moment of rage Yuri drew another card. He didn't look at it, he couldn't look at it. He hadn't been counting Lars cards, but he knew that the odds of drawing the last piece of Exodia were higher than they were earlier.
The card in his hand could make or break him, 'If I can't at least turn this around a little bit this, I don't know what I can do.'
Realising that he was just wasting time hoping for something good, Yuri looked at the card he had just drawn.
Tribute to the Doomed.
Yuri stared at the card for a moment. Then he glanced at the other card in his hand, Bladedge.
"Well, it's better than nothing. I activate the spell card Tribute to the Doomed!" A mummified hand clawed its way out of the centre of the field. It kept clawing till a mass of rotting flesh covered in aged bandages managed to stand up straight.
Lars rose a brow at this, "Really? What are you going to do? Destroy my monster? It's a good idea, but kind of risky, don't ya think? What if the card I have face down is another trap that'll stop you before you can touch my life points?"
Yuri nodded as he discarded Bladedge, "You see, that is why I'm not destroying Battle Fader."
Lars sighed, "Fine, I'll bite. What are you going to destroy?"
"Wildheart, come on." Yuri shook his head as if that should have been obvious,
Lars turned to look at the mask wearing wild man. He had forgotten that he was even there.
Lars was now confused, "Why would you do that?"
"Well you see, Wildheart is currently equipped with the Cyclone Boomerang spell card."
"Yes?"
"Cyclone Boomerang's secondary effect destroys all spell and trap cards on your side of the field if Wildheart is destroyed by a card effect, hence Tribute to the Doomed."
The mummy dragged itself over to Wildheart, grabbed his arm, then proceeded rapidly mummify the wild man. Wildheart, the mummy and the mask all exploded in sparkles.
This explosion sent the boomerang flying, it went round and round the field till it stopped on top of Lars face down card.
The card rose to reveal that underneath was what appeared to be a scarecrow made of iron. That the card exploded.
"Well would you look at that, you have nothing on the field that can stop my attack. You have no quick play cards in your hand. Looks like I might finally get to hit." Yuri listed off in a slow and offbeat hopeful tone.
Lars looked at these factors before nodding his head, "You might be correct."
"Lady Heat destroy Battle Fader. For good." One fiery tornado later and Lars' field was completely empty.
"Phoenix Enforce?" Said monster smirked, jumped high into the sky before coming back down again with an outstretched claw.
Lars' Lifepoints: 3800 – 1700
"And that's all folks!" Yuri said teeth clenched into a fake smile.
Lady Heat shot a stream of fire Lars' way.
Lars' Lifepoints: 1700 – 1300
"Seeing as we're missing one elemental hero since last time, Lady Heat's effect lowers. So, now I guess it all comes down to one key deciding factor, huh?"
Lars looked down at his deck. Then to his hand of Exodia pieces.
"So, I might win right now. Or I might draw something completely useless. Or I draw swords of revealing light and this duel continues till someone loses their mind."
Yuri's eye involuntarily twitched.
"Right, best draw then." He drew a card, and looked at it blankly.
A moment later a fifth card appeared above Lars' head.
Millennium Shield
Yuri's eyes widened in shock. That was a level five monster, it couldn't be summoned.
"Well I guess that's what I get for reworking my own deck instead of using the one Leo gave me. I end my turn."
Without a word Yuri drew his card, and pointed at Lars. His monsters seemed to get the basics of the plan.
Lars' Lifepoints: 1300 - 0
Lars clapped his hands together, "Good effort kid, you passed."
Yuri started laughing. It wasn't a very sound laugh, to most outsiders it might have sounded insane.
"Really? I won?"
"Yes. Here," He took a card out of his pocket and threw it across the arena to Yuri. The boy was surprised by this, but managed to catch it.
Yuri looked the card over, it had the purple frame of a fusion card but no information about how to summon it. The picture was just a solid block of red.
The card was apparently called Red Dorm.
"Come back to this shop in around a month, and take that card. That'll be how you get your school uniforms and some basic reading material Congrats, you made it."
Yuri was back to giggling like madman. He left the duel arena, and sat down on the ground.
Eventually one of the staff members got a hold of Yuri's mother, who didn't seem to mind her son being out at half past midnight.
Well...that happened. Don't be surprised if there isn't another duel for a while. This was...painful. I'd like to apologise if you were bored well reading this, I hadn't really thought this whole stall duelist thing through, and now here we are.
The duelist I was talking about last time was the rare hunter, or Seeker, in challenge mode of Legacy of a duelist. I've only beaten him once, and the duels take forever.
In other news, it's my birthday. Woo. In the short term this means I'm probably going to be busy reading since I'm getting so many books.
Thanks for reading, it means a lot. Also it's now time for shameless self promotion, if you happen to enjoy Pokemon and don't mind OCs, please check out 'A Stroll Through Kalos'. It's a side project from a while back. Think about it as a birthday gift to me, from you.
See ya later.
