Not Strong Enough
RANA: 2000
ALEX: 100
TURN 3
"Ahaha! That's one hell of a monster you're betting on! It'll be easy to wipe off the field, if the battle involving it doesn't wipe away whatever life points you have left." Rana laughed.
"Yeah, well as long as I'm still in this, I'll make sure neither of those things will happen!" Alex stated.
"We'll see about that. Due to your trap card's effect, your Super HERO Double Ripple's attack rose to 4000, the same as my Phantasm Emperor Trilojig. Your HERO isn't destroyed by battle, but by attacking me, it'll lose half its attack and give it to my monster, making you lose the duel. If you special summon any monster from the graveyard, my Emperor Trilojig's effect will deal you half its attack as damage."
Alex couldn't say anything to that. It was a really bad situation for him, but he needed to win, no matter what.
"Hmph. I'll set another card and end my turn then." Rana finished up, "Your move now."
RANA: 2000
ALEX: 100
TURN 4
"I draw!" Alex began.
Looking down at his hand, he didn't have the best selection to choose from.
"Another trap card… I'm about to lose, so I might as well set everything I can." Alex thought.
"I'll set down 4 cards, switch Super HERO Double Ripple (DEF: 2400) to defense mode and end my turn." Alex's turn ended just as quickly as it began.
"Was that really the best you could do?" Rana looked disappointed.
RANA: 2000
ALEX: 100
TURN 5
"I'll show you how to make use of a turn. I draw!" Rana drew a card, "I'll activate the spell Goddess Erda's Guidance. By discarding a spell card, I can set my trap, Metal Reflect Slime back on my field. The spell card I discarded activates its effect as well! When I send Card of Compensation from my hand to the graveyard, I can draw 2 cards."
"He really used two cards to gain another two cards and got a free trap out of it." Ray said, astounded.
"What a curious combination of cards." Zin noted, "He must have more cards that discard if he has Card of Compensation in his deck."
"I activate the spell card, Extra-Foolish Burial. I pay half my life points to send the Synchro monster, Shiranui Swordsaga, to my graveyard. With that done, I activate the effect of Obessive Uvualoop (ATK: 1200) in my hand! By banishing a synchro monster in my graveyard, I'm allowed to special summon it!" Rana called out a half-human, half-camel holding onto a twisted wooden cane, wearing a rather large red cape and black pants with slits to reveal its knees, "With Shiranui Swordsaga banished, it's effect special summons a Shiranui Token (ATK: 0). Now I'll normal summon Hieratic Dragon of Eset (ATK: 1900). Its effect lets me summon it without tributing, as long as its attack falls to 1000."
RANA: 2000 ÷ 2 = 1000
"All those monsters…" Alex slowly realized what Rana was building up to.
"That's right! I'm tuning my (LV 4) Obsessive Uvualoop with my (LV 1) Shiranui Token and (LV 5) Hieratic Dragon of Eset! Ride with the wind, (LV 10) Baronne de fleur (ATK: 3000)!"
A blast of wind pushed back Alex as a burst of green light shot into the air. Riding on a heavily armoured horse, a baroness in her own set of armour looked down at the battlefield, her red cape fluttering behind her. She wielded a large sword as well as a long red broad shield doubling as a sword scabbard. Her hair was pink, turning into giant petals of a flower behind her head. Pink flower petals scattered around the field as she stood on the field.
"I activate my trap, Void Trap Hole! Since you just summoned a monster with 2000 attack, I can negate its effects and destroy it!" Alex activated a trap as soon as the Flower Baroness touched the field.
"Baronne de Fleur's quick effect. I can negate your trap!" Rana countered.
"And to that, I chain the trap, Lost Wind! This halves Baronne's attack points and negates its effects! This makes it so you don't negate my other trap, so she's getting destroyed!"
"Nice move! But I activate my trap, Dimension Guardian! I target my Baronne de Fleur and prevent it from being destroyed by both battle and card effects!"
"Tch! Its effects are still negated and its attack is halved, so I guess that's halfway decent."
After the resolution of the chain, Rana ended his turn, "Since you negated my monster's effect, there's no point in battling. I'll have to end my turn there."
RANA: 1000
ALEX: 100
TURN 6
"Alright, I'm still in this. Draw!" Alex drew a card, "Okay! I activate my continuous trap, Spiritual Swords of Revealing Light!"
Golden Blades of light stabbed into the field, separating one side from the other..
"I'm no expert on stopping attacks but shouldn't he have activated that card when Rana entered the battle phase?" Aria scratched her head.
"It's even worse than that. He needs to pay up 1000 life points to even stop an attack, so he can't even use it." Ray sighed, "Man, we are so going to fail."
"Not unless he plans on sending it to the graveyard." Elise told them.
"Does he have a card that does that?" Ray turned her head to ask Elise.
"Just the one."
Alex revealed a spell card in hand, "I activate Magic Planter! I send Spiritual Swords of Revealing Light to my grave in order to draw 2 cards!"
Drawing two more cards, Alex looked back down at his hand.
"Man, what is up with my draws? It's like all my good luck is gone." Alex thought as he turned his eyes to his opponent, "Or like he has even better luck than me…"
"I'll set the 2 cards I just drew and end my turn." Alex said, feeling a little hopeless.
"How defensive. I feel like I'm the only one dueling in this match." Rana sighed, "Looks like I'm going to have to break through all of your defenses."
RANA: 1000
ALEX: 100
TURN 7
"My turn! I'm going to start with activating my set trap card, Metal Reflect Slime!" Rana unveiled his shiny metal slime once again, "Time to end this. I'm going to reach into the abyss and overlay my (LV 10) Metal Reflect Slime, (LV 10) Baronne de Fleur and (LV 10) Phantasm Emperor Trilojig! Xyz summon! Break it all! (RK 10) Superdimensional Robot Galaxy Destroyer (ATK: 5000)!"
A dark void filled with shimmering stars opened up on the field, dissolving the spoken monsters and revealing a giant mechanical monster with metal wings. It shook the ground with a single step as it readied itself to fight.
"5000 attack!" everyone spectating shouted in surprise.
"I activate my Destroyer's effect! I detach one material from it in order to destroy all spells and traps on your field!" Rana ordered his monster.
"Then I activate my- woah!" Alex ducked as all his backrow exploded.
"Sorry, but you can't activate spells or traps to my monster's effect activation. My turn isn't over yet! I activate the spell card, Obedience! This turn, when this monster with the highest attack battles a defense position monster, that attack target is switched to attack position! Now, attack that HERO and end this duel!"
The giant metal robot raised its fist, ready to attack, but refused.
"What?!" Rana yelled out.
Alex began to laugh loudly, his voice echoing in the nearly quiet room.
"What did you do?" Rana asked him, narrowing his eyes.
"Heheh…" Alex calmed down, "I thought it was funny that after using a spell card called Obedience, your monster wouldn't listen to you. As soon as you started the battle phase, I banished Spiritual Swords of Revealing Light from my graveyard, preventing you from declaring attacks this turn."
"Hah! So you bought yourself another turn? Bring it on." Rana challenged him, setting down his last card.
RANA: 1000
ALEX: 100
TURN 8
"Consider it brought!" Alex said as he drew a card, "I'm going to activate Miracle Fusion! I'll fusion summon using the monsters in my graveyard!"
"Miracle Fusion? That card only allows an Elemental HERO to be summoned. You only have Super HERO monsters, so you can't activate it." Rana pointed out.
"I can. There's an Elemental HERO who only needs HERO monsters as materials, regardless if they're Elemental or not! I'm banishing the WIND attribute Super HERO Wind Walker and the LIGHT attribute Super HERO Amethyst Oracle to fusion summon Elemental HERO Sunrise (ATK:2500)!"
A red and gold hero rose from the depths of the blinding purple light that brought him here. He wore mechanical armour and donned a cape. Two curled metal spikes sprung out from his arm bracers as the HERO landed on his feet.
"Sunrise has a lot of great effects. The first one raises all my monster's attack by 200 for every attribute I control. The second lets me destroy any 1 card on the field whenever any HERO monster attacks. That includes my Super HERO Double Ripple!"
Light radiated on Alex's field, raising his monster's ATK by 400, resulting in Elemental HERO Sunrise ATK becoming 2900 and Super HERO Double Ripple at 4400.
"Now I'll switch Double Ripple in attack mode and attack. Then Sunrise's effect lets me target your giant Xyz monster and destroy it!"
"You fell into it! The trap card, Traptrix Trap Hole Nightmare!" Rana revealed, "You activated your special summoned monster's effect, enabling this card to not only destroy your monster, but negate its effect."
"No way!"
The sunlight faded as the red hero fell into the ground, destroyed.
"Any more attempts?" Rana welcomed.
"I activate Fusion Substitute in my graveyard! By banishing it and returning Elemental HERO Sunrise to my Extra Deck, I can draw 1 card!" Alex drew one more card and glanced at it, "And I'll set it facedown and end my turn."
RANA: 1000
ALEX: 100
TURN 9
"Fool. Did you forget my Superdimensional Robot Galaxy Destroyer's effect? I detach one Xyz material from it in order to destroy all spells and traps you control!" Rana laughed as Alex's backrow was destroyed again.
"You're the fool! You activated my trap. Wild Cyclone. If it's destroyed and sent to the grave, I can destroy 1 face-up card on the field! No more robot!" Alex countered.
"What! Did you seriously draw that card now?" Rana exclaimed, surprised, "You've got great luck!"
A cyclone appeared on the field, scraping apart the giant robot and scattering its pieces everywhere.
"Saved…" Alex let out a slow breath.
"We'll see about that." Rana activated the spell card, "Card of Demise! It lets me draw until I have 3 cards as long as I send my hand to the grave during the end phase. I don't have any cards in my hand, so it's just a 3 card draw. Rest assured, you won't be getting hurt as you can't take any damage from me, and I can't special summon either."
Rana drew 3 cards and grinned.
"You might have good luck… but I've got better. I'm setting 2 cards and ending my turn. I'll be discarding my remaining card at this time."
RANA: 1000
ALEX: 100
TURN 10
"I don't like this." Ray grumbled, "He said something like that and barely did anything on his turn. No doubt his backrow has something to easily destroy Double Ripple."
"Or inflict effect damage." Zin added.
"As long as Alex can get a proper card in his hand, he can still overcome this." Elise spoke, "I've seen him get out of worse situations."
Alex drew a card to start his turn, "I draw! Yes! I activate the field spell, City of HEROs! When it's activated, I can add any Super HERO monster to my hand from my deck!"
A plethora of tall and colourful buildings appeared all around them. Various signals of heroes flooded the cloudy sky, a single letter and insignia on all of them.
"I activate my trap card, The Revived Sky God!" Rana called upon an unfathomable force, "I can now special summon Slifer the Sky Dragon from my graveyard."
"Wait… what?" Alex took a step back as the winds gathered and thunder crashed, "You can't mean… that last card you discarded was…"
"That's exactly right! With my trap card, emerge with the force of thunder and descend down from the darkened heavens! I call upon you, Slifer the Sky Dragon (ATK: ?)!"
Loud thunder erupted, deafening the ears. Lightning stuck down nearby buildings and symbols of heroes in the sky disappeared. A leviathan curled down onto the field, whacking buildings down with its body. Giving out a cry that could be heard even through deafened ears, Slifer the Sky Dragon graced the field, its dragonic red body slithering through the air and its wings spread apart, intimidating anything underneath it.
"With the effect of my trap card, we now each draw 6 cards. I'm sure you know, but Slifer gains 1000 attack and defense for every card in my hand, making its attack now 6000!" Rana declared as the divine-beast's body crackled with yellow lightning.
"Damn… well, I draw 6 too. With City of HEROs effect, I can add a 7th card as well, so I'm adding Super HERO Lady Lonsdaleite to my hand." Alex spoke courageously despite his face displaying the grimness in his heart, "I summon Super HERO Lady Lonsdaleite (ATK: 900) to the field."
"Slifer the Sky Dragon's effect. Any monster you summon in attack position loses 2000 attack, and if that monster's attack drops to 0, it's destroyed."
Crumbling together and shining bright, a lady made of clear crystal wearing a dark crystal armour bodysuit appeared on the field, a white tiara on top of her head. Her hair was made of crystal-like strands that glowed every colour. Lightning struck the rock-type HERO who crumbled away into dust, completely destroyed.
"Fine by me! Whenever Lady Lonsdaleite is sent to the graveyard, her effect lets me look at the top card of my deck, and if it's a trap card, I can activate its effect and send it to the graveyard upon resolution." Alex explained as small shards of crystal floated above Alex's deck.
"If you manage to have a trap card on the top of your deck, then maybe your luck really is as good as mine."
Ignoring Rana, Alex revealed the top card on his deck.
"It's the trap card, Last Second Arrival! Since I'm activating the effect, I don't need to pay attention to the requirements! Which means I can special summon any level 4 or lower Super HERO from my deck! Come out, Super HERO Convergence Driver (DEF: 1500)!"
A bright converging light appeared in the cloudy sky, signaling the need for the HERO Convergence Driver. Appearing onto the field, a lightly armoured warrior with bright blue eyes and blonde hair appeared, equipped with a third robotic arm that was equipped with a sword..
"Once per turn: I can excavate the top 3 cards on my deck, and if any of them are HERO monsters, I can special summon one to my field. Let's see… Spell Calling… Super Polymerization… Aha! It's Super HERO Thunder Wing (DEF: 1500). I'm calling him to the field."
A hero in white spandex with shiny gold armour attachments arrived onto the field, crossing his arms which had giant oval shaped bracers equipped.
"Enough. I activate the trap card, Proof of Powerlessness! While I control a level 7 or higher monster, all monsters you control that are level 5 or lower are instantly destroyed! Just like you, your monsters are powerless."
"Not quite! I activate the effect of City of HEROs! By banishing HERO monsters in my graveyard, I can prevent the destruction of HERO monsters on my field. I'll banish Super HERO Lady Lonsdaleite in order to protect Super HERO Convergence Driver. Super HERO Double Ripple is a level 7 monster, so he's fine. Sorry Thunder Wing, I don't have any more monsters to banish."
The HERO Thunder Wing exploded.
"Now what? You can't normal summon, and there's no monster to special summon using your monster's tricky effects. Your turn is done."
"You've really got to let me finish doing what I do best. Super HERO Thunder Wing lets me add a Super HERO monster to my hand from my deck when it leaves the field. I'm going to add another Super HERO Wind Walker." Alex explained, a little out of breath, "Now I activate the spell Generation Next! Since my life points are lower than yours, I can special summon an Elemental HERO monster from my deck with attack less than or equal to the difference."
"Is there even an Elemental HERO with 900 attack or less?" Rana asked.
"Sure is! The one… the only… Elemental HERO Knospe (DEF: 1000)! It only has 600 attack, but I'm not about to let it get zapped by your monster's lightning by summoning in attack position." Alex special summoned a small plant HERO with buds for arms and a fierce fighting face, "Now I'm activating the spell card, Level Lifter! I send my level 4 Super HERO Wind Walker to the grave in order to target Super HERO Double Ripple and Elemental HERO Knospe and have their levels become equal to the monster I discarded. Time for a level up, Knospe! And a level down for you, Ripple!"
"What a combo!" Aria marveled, "He was barely holding his own, then suddenly, right at the climax he busts out everything just like that?!"
"Come on Alex, let's finish this!" Ray cheered from her seat.
"On it! I activate the spell, Integration Fusion! With it, I fuse and tune my (LV 3) Super HERO Convergence Driver with my (LV 4) Elemental HERO Knospe! Integration Summon! Strike into the starlit sky, Super HERO Starlight Striker (ATK: 2500)!" Alex yelled out for his HERO.
The clouds were suddenly dispersed by a great wind, revealing light from the HERO signals into the sky, lighting it up along with the many stars shining. A single HERO crashed down onto the field, equipped with two hook swords and giant laser wings on its back.
"Slifer, shrink that monster down." Rana's divine-beast struck down lightning at the HERO monster. Starlight Striker lost 2000 ATK, but did not flinch as its ATK became 500.
"Super HERO Convergence Driver's effect! Because she was used as material for Super HERO Starlight Striker, she gives it an extra 1000 ATK!" Alex pointed out, "With that out of the way, I'm activating the spell, Blustering Winds! This card increases my Starlight Striker's attack and defense by 1000 until my next standby phase!"
Strong winds surrounded HERO monster as its attack rose to 2500.
"If Starlight Striker attacks now, its effect will double its attack. Right now it would only be 5000, so if he can increase it a little more…" Zin murmured to himself.
"He drew 6 cards this round. I'm sure he has a way to increase his monster's attack." Elise confidently said.
"But he's only got 2 left!" Aria realized, "Wow, this really is coming down to the wire!"
"I activate the spell card, Double Spell! By discarding De-Fusion, I can grab your Card of Demise in the graveyard and put it on my field, applying its effects! Now that I don't have any cards in my hand, I draw 3!" Alex said with a smile on his face.
"Well played. You truly learnt from the best." Rana commented.
"This is it! I draw!" Alex drew 3 cards from his deck, "This will work! I play the spell, Magical Stone Excavation. I discard two cards in order to bring back one from my graveyard! The spell I'm adding is Blustering Wind! And I'm immediately activating it! Super HERO Starlight Striker-Full Power!"
Super HERO Starlight Striker's attack reached 3500 as the wind around it blustered forth into a hurricane, driving away the thunderstorm above the field. The shining sky filled with the lights coming from the City of HEROs illuminated the beauty of the sky, while the destruction and fire spreading across the city brought demise.
"Starlight Striker! Attack Slifer the Sky Dragon!" Alex called on the hero, "When my monster attacks, and its original attack is lower than the attack of the monster it's battling, its attack on the field is doubled! Go Starlight Striker! Finish him off!"
The warrior glowed with a shimmering white aura as its ATK doubled to 7000. It launched into the sky, its wings supporting its flight and its blades ready.
"Naive." Rana smiled.
The warrior sliced through the head of divine-beast, destroying it.
"Yeah!" Alex cheered.
RANA: 1000-500=500
"Wait… why?" Alex cried out.
"Don't you see my little friend on the field?" Rana pointed at his newly summoned monster.
A rather large cartoonish mosquito buzzed around, wearing a tophat, gloves on its 4 arms and boots with a star design on them on each foot.
"Smoke Mosquito quick effect halves battle damage when I'm taking damage from a monster's attack and special summons itself. Since I did just take damage, I'm also allowed to special summon Guardian Slime (DEF: 0) at this point. Then, Smoke Mosquito ends the battle phase."
"Ugh… even if I have no cards in my hand, you'd need a monster with attack higher than 7000 to beat my Starlight Striker. Double Ripple can't be destroyed by battle either, so…" Alex shakily said as he ended his turn.
RANA: 1000
ALEX: 100
TURN 11
"I don't need any monster with abnormal attack to beat you, Alex." Rana drew a card, "All I need are the monsters on my field. I activate Smoke Mosquito's effect to copy the level of my Guardian Slime until the end of the turn."
The star on the boots of Smoke Mosquito duplicated, putting two on each glove and an additional two on the front of its tophat, becoming a level 10 monster.
"I'll reach into the abyss and overlay my two (LV 10) monsters to Xyz summon! With the tremors of the earth, arrive now! (RK 10) Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max (ATK: 3000)!"
A dark spiral appeared on the ground, absorbing the monsters needed to bring out a ridiculously long rail cannon.
"It's over…" Aria slumped back in her chair.
"What do you mean? It's only got 3000 attack. That's not enough to beat Starlight Striker." Ray asked her.
"Ugh… How long have you been playing this game that you don't know what that card does?" Aria slumped further down as she asked Ray and Elise.
"Almost 4 weeks now." Ray replied.
"A little over a month." Elise answered.
"Argh… I can't believe I got beat by someone who's only been playing for like, a month…" Ray slumped to the floor, "Just… just watch."
"I activate Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max's effect. I'll detach an Xyz material to deal 2000 points of damage to you, ending the duel. Fire away!" Rana ended the duel.
The giant cannon lowered itself to aim directly at Alex and fired a powerful shot, blasting him away.
ALEX: 100-2000=0
DUEL END
As the smoke cleared, Alex could be seen on all fours on the ground.
"Just like that…" he whispered to the ground.
Getting himself up, he shouted at Rana, asking, "Rana! I don't understand, if you had that card… Why didn't you play it sooner? You could have finished me off so much sooner…"
Rana gave Alex a quiet smile, "This duel was a test. It wasn't meant for me to go all out. It was meant to see how you would use your skills to get out of tough situations and impossible dilemmas. You did well in that regard. I had fun too."
"That… it doesn't feel right!" Alex walked closer to Rana, "How can you fight such an intense duel to only say it was a test… How can you fight so intensely but not completely commit to it?"
"Why does it bother you that much? You seemed to be fine with it during the tournament finale."
"Huh?"
"Your duel with Micheal Dresden, the 4th strongest duelist. He wasn't fighting at his best either."
A feeling of confusion waved over Alex.
"What do you mean he wasn't fighting at his best?" Alex asked Rana, "We had a close duel!"
Rana gave Alex a puzzled look, "Alex, almost every duel surrounding the top 5 has them holding back. They're asked to lengthen the duel as much as they can, otherwise the spectators feel cheated out of a duel if they win too quickly. You tied with him, which is unheard of, so you should be proud of that achievement."
"That's… so frustrating! I dueled them with everything I had and you're telling me they held back?" Alex fell to his knees, "How did I have so much trouble against someone giving me a handicap…? Even with these Super HEROs… With Integration Summoning… Why aren't I strong enough?"
"Integration monsters… they're interesting. Everyone has generic copies of Integration monsters now. However, those of us at the top, we already have powerful monsters. If you truly want to reach our level, then you need to develop Integration Summoning a little more. You need to experience a duel a little more too." Rana turned around and started to walk away. As he did, he spoke to Alex, "You pass, Alex. Make that guild, get stronger, and duel me once more. I look forward to seeing how much stronger your dueling can get. Until then."
LIGHT LV3 ATK: 1000 DEF: 1500 TUNER
Super HERO Convergence Driver
Once per turn: Excavate the top 3 cards of your deck. If you excavate a HERO monster(s), special summon it and return the other cards to the deck, otherwise destroy this card. If this card is used as a material for a summon of a HERO monster from your Extra Deck, that monster gains 1000 attack.
EARTH LV4 ATK: 900 DEF: 2200
Super HERO Lady Lonsdaleite
If this card is sent to the GY: look at the top card on your deck. If it is a normal trap card, you can activate its effects and send it to the GY upon resolution. If this card is attacked, this card cannot be destroyed by battle until the end of the battle phase. You can only use each effect of "Super HERO Lady Lonsdaleite" once per turn.