Chapter 8:

Tag Duel of Fate! In or Out!

Today is the day. When this class ends, my brother and I have 2 hours to prepare our decks to duel. I can't wait to see who our opponents will be. But right now, we are stuck in class until we get to go. And as always, Mr. Shrewd is looking for people to intimidate.

"Shadow Kurosawa. Explain what using a deck full of FIRE Attribute monsters are meant to do."

"I can tell you this 1 from experience. They are mainly meant to cause effect damage to the opponent. Some have the monster effect while they can be used with other cards. If you used combos like those, with lets say, Solar Flare Dragon, they can burn off a few life points as the duel goes on."

"Heh. Well, it's good that we can hear an answer from you, while you are still here. Django. I'm sorry, but you got yourself in this mess in the first place. Don't you want your brother out of here? He's dead weight."

"Of course not. We are brothers. Even if we have sibling rivalries, which we hardly ever do, we are still a family," said Django.

"Then here's a question for you. What would using an INSECT deck be about?"

"Insect decks are mainly meant to swarm the field at lower levels. Even though they don't have that many higher level monsters, like Doom Dozen and Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth, they can be an annoyance to the opponent with their lower levels and high attack power."

"Hmm. You do know your cards. Too bad if you lose, you go down with your brother. Actually, class is over. Everyone can leave. Django, stay for a 2nd. I'd like a word with you." So everyone left, but Django stayed to see what the Prof. had to say. But secretly, I stood behind the door to spy on what they're saying.

"So what's up Mr. S?"

"Here is a bit of a deal. If your brother's life points are low, you can take them out yourself and we will only have him leave and not you."

"Say WHAT?!" Overhearing that gave me a bit of a sad face.

"Come on. You are much too valuable for this university to lose. Come on. You get to push around your little brother like every other older brother. What do you say?" Overhearing this, I started thinking to myself.

"Man, he's probably right. I would only hold us down. Besides, big brothers live to push around their little siblings. Go ahead bro. I'd only get in the way."

"No deal."

"What?" Mr. Shrewd didn't expect that answer from him.

"You heard me. I said no deal. He's my brother and it's my job to make sure he can survive out here. And also, I wouldn't wish expulsion on anyone, especially my family. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a duel to prepare for." So he walked off, and as he headed towards the door, I took off like a bullet to make sure no one was on my tail. As Django entered the door, he saw I had a deck case in my hand.

"So, you prepare your deck?"

"Yep. And it's funny that Shrewd asked me that question today about fire decks."

"Same about the insects." So we both enjoyed one of our last moments of laughter before we had to head to the duel arena. We saw some strategies between our decks and tried to string together new ones. So then, the time had struck our final hour before we headed into battle.

"Nervous?" Django asked.

"More like excited. Compared to that class, I'm getting to have a duel in one of the biggest danger zones I could be in so far," I replied. "This ought to be a fun duel. Wouldn't you say bro?"
"I sure do." So we stopped at the entrance of the arena. Shrewd was in the concession stand about to announce the duelists participating for the duel.

"Now ladies and gents, it's time for the tag duel!" Everyone in the crowd was cheering for the duel to begin. "First off, we introduce the students. From our very university, we introduce Django and Shadow Kurosawa!" Everyone cheered Django on. I'd rather have not been cheered for rather than booed. As that happened, we gave 1 more high five before we had to start. "And now the challengers. These 2 are the heads of the Princeton Corporation. Slade and Jagger Princeton!" Everyone heard about these two. "And now let the duel begin!"

"I'll start." My brother made the first move. "I start off with my Insect Knight in attack mode!" He played a human sized insect knight with 1900 attack points. "I play a facedown card and end my turn.

"The master of politics will go now." Slade then took his turn. "I summon my Lord of D. in attack mode! I also play a spell card: The Flute of Summoning Dragon! Since Lord of D in on my field, I can summon 2 dragons from my hand. And I choose my Hyozanryu and Luster Dragon #2!" He then played 2 more dragons. You know Luster Dragon, but Hyozanryu is a diamond-like dragon with 2100 attack points. "I'll end my turn with that."

"Quite the beasts, but not good enough. I draw!" My turn. "I start by activating the spell Card Destruction! Now we each send all of our cards from our hands to our graves and draw the same amount we had. And with that done, I now activate my other spell card: Blaze Accelerator!" I activated a turret spell card.

"What does that puny turret do?! Something lame perhaps," said Jagger

"Something lame for you guys maybe. With this card, by sending a pyro-type monster with 500 attack points or less from my hand to the graveyard, like my Volcanic Shell here, I can destroy 1 monster on your field. So now I'll have my accelerator open fire on your Lord of D!" It was a successful hit.

"You'll pay for that you brat. However, thanks to your card, you can't attack this turn."

"I know, but I haven't summoned yet. So I summon my Volcanic Slicer in defense mode!" I plated a volcanic beast with no eyes and a scythe-like tail and 1200 defense points. "And with his ability, once per turn, he can burn off 500 of your life points. So say good-bye!" And with that, the fires cool down. I end it there with 2 facedown cards."

Kurosawa: 8000Princeton: 7500

"Money makes the world go around. And with that money, these cards are mine! My go." It is now Jagger's turn. "I summon Lancer Dragonute!" He played a Dragon lancer with 1500 attack points. "I also play Double Summon, so now I can summon my Axe Dragonute!" He played an axe-wielding dragon with 2000 attack points. "Attack Django's Insect Knight!"

"I activate my Draining Shield! So now your monsters attack is negated and we gain life points equal to the attack points of your attacking monster. So we'll be taking those points now!"

Kurosawa: 10000Princeton: 7500

"Nice move, but I still have my Rancer Dragonute, and now he attacks that Volcanic Slicer!"

"And yes, I know his ability," I replied. "When he attack a monster in defense mode, we still take damage."

"And that means 300 of your life points take a hit."

Kurosawa: 9700Princeton: 7500

"And now I can take my turn!" It's my bro's turn. "Draw!" And now I summon my Howling Insect in Defense mode. This is for my brother's Volcanic Slicer! Attack his Rancer Dragonute! And with a facedown card, I'm done." It's Slade's turn.

Kurosawa: 9700Princeton: 7100

"Now let's see what we've got. Now I summon my Luster Dragon! And with him, I attack your brother directly!"

"Sorry, but my facedown trap card has other plans. I activate my Firewall! With this card out, anytime you plan on waging a direct attack against me, I can remove one pyro-type monster from my graveyard from play to negate your attack."

"Say what?!"

"You heard me. Now I remove my Volcanic Rat from play to negate your attack."

"Now my Hyozanryu will attack!"

"Too bad. I remove my Volcanic Blaster from play to negate your attacks."

"Er, then my Luster Dragon #2 will attack Django's Howling Insect."

"As to be expected. His ability now activates! When he's destroyed by battle, I can summon another insect to take his place. So now I bring out my Ultimate Insect LV1!" He played a small caterpillar-like insect with no attack points.

"Fine. I end my turn."

"My move!" My turn. "I now use my Volcanic Shell's effect! While it's in the graveyard, by giving up 500 life points, I can then bring another Volcanic Shell from my deck to my hand. Plus, I also have to give up another 500 life points to keep my Firewall on my field."

Kurosawa: 8700Princeton: 7100

"Now let's do this again. I now use my Blaze Accelerator's effect, using my second Volcanic Shell as the ammo. Now take out his Luster Dragon #2!"

"No! That little toy of your is getting annoying!"

"Too bad, cause I'm enjoying its power while it's making you squirm. Now I summon my second Volcanic Slicer!"

"Not again! I'm starting to get annoyed of that card," replied Slade.

"What? I thought you liked him taking out your life points like he's about to do right now. And with now I activate my Jar of Greed to draw another card. And with this facedown card, I end my turn." It's Jagger's turn.

"Now I play my Polymerization! I fuse my Meteor Dragon while using The Dark - Hex Sealed Fusion as a fusion material substitute to bring out my Meteor B. Dragon!" He played a big meteor-like dragon with 3500 attack points. "Now I attack your Slicer!" Too bad for him, my brother intervened.

"Don't think so. I play my Negate Attack! This cancels both your attack and you battle phase."

"You'll pay for that. I end my turn." It's my brother's turn.

"My move! And since it's my standby phase, my Ultimate Insect can upgrade itself. Now come forth my Ultimate Insect LV3!" It grew into a bigger caterpillar with 1400 attack points. "And with that, his ability causes all of your monsters to lose 300 attack points!"

"So what? Our monsters are still stronger."

"For now. Now I use my Insect Imitation! With this, I can sacrifice one insect-type monster on my field, and summon another one who is one level higher from my deck. So now I summon my Grasschopper!" He played a praying mantis-like insect with 2350 attack points. "And since I haven't summoned this turn, I second summon my Grasschopper!"

"Second Summon?! What's that?!" Both Princetons asked.

"You see. This insect is what's known as a Gemini monster. They count as normal monsters at first, but when you second summon them, they get their special ability. And his allows him to attack all of your monsters one at a time."

"Say what?!"

"Now attack everything but his their Meteor B. Dragon! And I place a facedown card." They were successful. Rancer Dragonute, Luster Dragon, and Hyozanryu are gone. "It's your move." It's Slade's turn.

Kurosawa: 8700Princeton: 4650

"Now I play Card of Sanctity! Now we all draw until we have six cards. Now I play my Polymerization to fuse Lord of D. and Divine Dragon Ragnarok and make King Dragun!" He summoned a celestial-like dragon with 2400 attack points.

"But since I have my Ultimate Insect out, he loses 300 attack points."

"Too bad. I attack your pathetic Ultimate Insect! And with this facedown card, I end." It's my move now.

Kurosawa: 8000Princeton: 4650

"My move."

"And since it is, I activate Dust Tornado to destroy that wimpy turret of yours."

"And that was his best card. Too bad. He'll be out of here soon," said Judas.

"First off I use my Volcanic Shell's ability to add my third one to my hand in exchange for paying 500 life points."

Kurosawa: 7500Princeton: 4650

"Now I summon my Royal Firestorm Guards in attack mode!" I played a monstrous being of flames with 1700 attack points. "And now I activate my Burial from the Different Dimension! This allows me to return up to 3 removed from play monsters and return them to my graveyard. Now I activate my guard's ability. Now I can take four pyro-type monsters and add them to my deck and reshuffle. And then I draw two more cards. Now, I have to pay 500 more life points to keep my Firewall on the field.

Kurosawa: 7000Princeton: 4650

"Now I play Monster Reborn to bring back my Volcanic Rocket!" I then played a volcanic-like pterodactyl with 1900 attack points. "And his ability allows me to take a Blaze Accelerator from my deck or graveyard and bring it to my hand. And now I play it! But now I send it to my graveyard to play my Tri-Blaze Accelerator!"

To be Continued…