Chapter 2: The Girl with the Ocean's Name: Part 2
"Charge and Draw!" The Samurai declared, bringing his gauge to two once more, "And I pay Two Gauge in order to play the item Genji Glove". Samurai raised the hand holding his Daisho as it was wreathed in light, his hand clad in a metal gauntlet colored a deep red.
Genji Glove
Katana World/Item
ATK: 2000
CRI: 1
"What?" Marie objected, "Why are you equipping an item? You can't attack with it while you have a monster in the center!"
"I don't plan to," The Samurai quipped. He thrust his hand into the air, his Genji Glove glowing green, "By resting Genji Glove, I give one of my Samurai monsters the ability to attack twice this turn!" Marie and Hideki's expressions went pale as Gilgamesh glowed with the same Green power, "Gilgamesh, attack Archelos!"
"With pleasure!" Gilgamesh lunged forward and, with incredible speed, brought his sword crashing down upon the poor dragon turtle, stirring the dust from the earth. Once it had cleared, only Gilgamesh remained, holding a turtle-shell shield in his hand, and shooting a predatory glance at Hideki.
"Now, attack the fighter!" Samurai commanded.
And Gilgamesh did so, whipping his swords around and cleaving into Hideki for 3 more damage, leaving him at 6.
Hideki knew it was his turn, but his situation had only worsened since his last one. As long as he kept defeating monsters, Gilgamesh was indestructible, and now he could attack twice per turn?! What was Hideki supposed to do?!
"Draw! Charge and Draw!" Hideki looked at his hand. He'd actually drawn a couple of interesting cards. Perhaps if he couldn't go through Gilgamesh, he'd try going around?
"I call Stinging Sprite Pawn to the Center!" Appearing before him was a small, faerie-like creature, though aside from its miniscule size, feminine shape and fluttering wings, it didn't seem to fit the stereotype at all. This faerie was clad in heavy-looking plate armor, wielding a large shield and a lance.
Stinging Sprite Pawn
Aqua World/Nereid
Size 1
ATK: 2000
DEF: 2000
CRI: 1
"Stinging Sprite Pawn can attack the fighter directly as long as they have any open zones! Sprite Pawn, attack the Fighter!" Sprite Pawn flipped its lance around in its hand and dodged around Gilgamesh, coming around at Samurai in a diagonal strike.
Samurai looked unimpressed.
"I pay 1 gauge!" Hideki said, "and cast Precise Strike, which changes the critical of one of my Nereid monsters with only 1 critical to 3 for this attack only!" Sprite Pawn drew its lance back and, with a fierce expression, lunged at Samurai with twice the gusto, hitting him with a harder attack and dropping his health to 5.
However, Samurai merely brushed off the digitally-projected hole that had formed on his chest, causing it to fizzle and fade.
"An interesting diversion," Samurai said, "But nothing more. Draw. Charge and Draw. " He raised his Genji Glove once more, "Now, Gilgamesh, destroy his pawn, then attack the fighter."
Gilgamesh lurched forward and kicked his foot high into the air, bringing it down onto the startled sprite, mashing into a burst of black cards on the pavement before pivoting on his planted foot to deliver a flurry of blades into Hideki's side.
Hideki was now at 3 life. Even with that little trick, he hadn't managed to shake Samurai at all. Unless he drew something now, things looked hopeless, as he was only one blow from Gilgamesh away from losing.
"I draw!" Hideki said as he started his turn. He took one glance at the card he drew, "And I call Stinging Coral Mermaid to the center!" A pink-colored mermaid with a vapid expression covered in matching coral growths appeared before him, letting out what sounded like a combination between yawn and a sigh as it appeared.
Stinging Coral Mermaid
Aqua World/Nereid
Size 1
ATK: 0
DEF: 7000
CRI: 1
At least he could buy some time with this. At 7000 Defense, Gilgamesh couldn't break through so easily. Which is why Hideki was so surprised when Marie protested loudly.
"You moron!" She yelled.
"What?" Hideki shot back.
"You forgot to charge and draw!" Marie returned.
Hideki growled in return. Like he cared at this point! All he had his mind on was surviving this turn. And his new wall …
…promptly exploded. Hideki recoiled as shards of stinging coral struck him, leaving digital pockmarks across his body. As the smoke cleared, he found that his Stinging Coral Mermaid was gone and that his life points had dropped to 1.
"Wh…what?!" Hideki was stunned.
"Art of Explosive Hades Fall," Samurai returned, pointing to the circle he had played before. The card within was revealed to be another copy of Wandering Ronin, Bunaga. "When you call a monster, I can reveal the monster I concealed within this card. If they are the same size, the monster is destroyed and its wielder suffers two damage," The spell then vanished, "So, what will you do now? Your barrier is gone and you are down to your last life point; And when that one life goes away, so will yours."
Hideki fell to his knees. If the weight of his opponent's superior tactics hadn't sank in before, it did now. This whole time, Samurai had been toying with him like a fool, and had picked now to sink in his fangs. Samurai's demoralizing tactics had worked perfectly, as Hideki had no idea what to do next.
"What are you doing, you moron?!" Marie yelled, "How could you fall for his trap like that?! If Shion were playing, she'd"
"Shut up!" Hideki yelled, shooting to his feet, his face red-hot with rage, "I call Swinging Anchor Mermaid to the center!" The same sultry lass as before popped into existence except…was her hair a different color!? "Anchor Mermaid attacks Gilgamesh!"
"No, you idiot!" Marie yelled, "He's just gonna do the same thing again!"
"I said: Shut UP!" Hideki yelled, a vein bulging in his neck.
Anchor Mermaid darted forward, raised its anchor, and brought it crashing down onto Gilgamesh, who simply intercepted the blow with his turtle shield. The shield was destroyed, but Gilgamesh remained standing due to his Soulguard.
As Hideki's turn ended, Hideki was still panting with rage and Marie was practically tearing her hair out. At this, Samurai enjoyed a sensible chuckle.
"Well then," he said, "A valiant effort, flailing around like a trapped beast, but I suppose that's the best you could do." Samurai still went through the motions of drawing, then charging and drawing, before raising the Genji Glove one more time, "Finish him, Gilgamesh!"
With a triumphant laugh, Gilgamesh leapt into the air and came crashing down onto Anchor Mermaid, stealing his second anchor for the night. He then turned to Hideki and postured himself, obviously relishing the opportunity. He crouched down and raised his swords, keeping the anchor over his shoulder.
"Attack the fighter!" Samurai made a grand gesture, pointing to Hideki with the Genji Glove. Shion could only watch helplessly in her half-conscious state. With a growl, Gilgamesh stepped forward with a slow, menacing walk, clearly intending to drag this slaughter out and enjoy it as long as he could.
Hideki staggered back, his heart nearly bursting from his chest. However, the fear he was feeling was soon thrown off by Marie's less-than supportive words.
"This has got to be the worst night of my life!" She yelled, "I mean, I finally get to the Human World, and not only do I get paired up with the WORST player it has to offer, but now my best friend's going to get kidnapped. If you weren't such a blithering idiot, this wouldn't have happened!"
That was enough. Hideki's rage returned to him. He hadn't asked for any of this, either. All he had been expecting that night was a simple milk run through empty streets, not a life-threatening duel to the death!
"Ya know what?!" Hideki yelled at Marie with a snarl.
"What?!" Marie snarled back.
"Fluid Tactics!" Hideki replied.
Before she even knew what had happened, two of Hideki's gauge had disappeared, a circle had appeared at his right, and Marie found herself in the path of Gilgamesh's attack! She only had enough time to let out a yelp as Gilgamesh's attack came crashing down onto her.
Fluid Tactics
Aqua World/Spell
[Set][Counter][Cast Cost] Pay 1 Gauge.
[Act][Counter] Pay 1 gauge. Move one of your monsters into an adjacent empty zone. If a monster is moved to the Center Zone this way while you are being attacked directly, said monster becomes the new attack target.
The crushing blow whipped up a cloud of dust to end all clouds of dust. Gilgamesh's hulking form could still be seen through crouched over as his attack had landed. Actually, it looked more like had had fallen over. Standing over him was another figure. As things became more clear, Hideki could see that it was…Marie?!
Marie, with her hands firmly on her hips, turned and glared at Hideki. Gilgamesh let out a grunt as she rotated on her feet and loomed over Hideki.
"What was that for?!" She yelled.
"Wh-why aren't you dead?' Hideki said, suddenly nervous.
A shift in Gilgamesh's weight prompted Marie to leap from on top of him. She did a perfect flip in the air and landed gracefully in front of Hideki. She then rammed her finger straight onto the tip of Hideki's nose.
"You tried to kill me!" She complained.
"So why didn't you die?!" Hideki retorted. Indeed, Marie's defensive power was barely half that of Gilgamesh's attacking power.
"What are you talking about?" Marie chided, "I can't be destroyed by an attack with a power of 5000 or more! Don't you know the abilities of the cards in your own deck?!"
"It's not my deck!" Hideki fired back, heaving.
With a strong harrumph, Marie turned back around to guard the Center, arms firmly crossed and face in a strong pout. Gilgamesh growled at having been robbed of his victory and, in an equally bad mood, returned to his position as well. Samurai remained silent at the development.
Still panting from the outburst, Hideki took the fact that he was now in a better defensive position as a chance to calm down. He put his hand to his face and calmed his breathing. He took a deep, cleansing breath through his nostrils and focused his mind.
"Draw," He then shot a nasty look at Marie, who fired one right back, "Charge and Draw," He sighed again; still nothing in his hand that could defeat Gilgamesh and survive his retribution. Even if he stalled Gilgamesh for now, no doubt Samurai would bring out some other trick to eliminate his one remaining life point, while Samurai himself was still sitting securely at five.
Man, it was a nice night. Well, aside from being caught in a struggle for his life, the weather was still quite pleasent. Hideki took another deep breath of the perfect night air, taking in the moment. At this point, it felt more like delaying the inevitable than anything else. He turned and looked at Marie, who was still obviously pouting. He had to wonder what she was thinking right now. It was probably more than he could manage.
"Ocean Dragon Aquiladon!" Hideki was suddenly snapped out of his stupor by Shion's voice. She was now struggling against Samurai's grip by trying to pull herself up with both arms, "It can break through Gilgamesh's Soul Guard!"
"I said, enough!" A clearly angered Samurai yelled, whipping his arm back and hurling Shion hard into the nearby wall. Shion slammed into the wall and crumpled into a heap, motionless.
"Shion!" Marie yelled in shock.
While startled at first, Hideki soon grit his teeth and looked at what he had at his disposal. In fact, Ocean Dragon Aquiladon was in his hand; he had simply been ignoring it since it dealt less damage than his other cards and could not survive the retribution Gilgamesh could deliver. Then again, Hideki had noticed that Gilgamesh did not gather Sprite Pawn's weapon when he defeated it. Could it be that he could only hold one soul at a time? Skimming some of his other cards, Hideki found that, maybe, he could come up with a plan if Shion was right about Aquiladon's ability, and he himself was right about Gilgamesh's.
"I'll pay 1 gauge to summon Ocean Dragon Aquiladon to the right!" Hideki declared. The monster that appeared to his right resembled a fish more than a dragon, a bipedal beast, covered in ornate fins. Its large, dragon-like head bristling with shark-like teeth was probably the only standout draconic aspect. The newly summoned monster let out a loud, high-pitched roar.
Ocean Dragon, Aquiladon
Aqua World/Ocean Dragon
Size 2
ATK: 6000
DEF: 5000
CRI: 2
[Call Cost]: Pay 1 gauge
[Penetrate]
"Aquiladon attacks Gilgamesh!" Hideki declared. Gilgamesh braced himself as Aquiladon took a deep breath, then thrust its head forward, firing a high-pressure stream of water from its mouth. It thrust through Gilgamesh, bursting him into cards and continuing on towards Samurai, who held up his daisho in defense, the water crashing around it and caused some visible knockback, leaving Samurai at 3 life points. Gilgamesh then reformed minus his anchor, obviously woozy as he staggered about.
"How many times has that happened today?" He asked himself.
Shion had been right. Even though Gilgamesh returned due to Soul Guard, Aquiladon's attack still got through to Samurai.
Samurai growled. "That will be your last turn!" he declared, "Draw! Charge and Draw!" However, as soon as that 1 gauge had appeared, two of them vanished, "I cast Art of Explosive: Hades Fall! And another Art of Explosive: Hades Fall!" Two identical circles appeared next to him, each holding a separate card, "You may have gotten through Gilgamesh's defenses, but you have merely delayed the inevitable! Gilgamesh! Attack Aquiladon!"
Gilgamesh let out a loud roar and lunged for the Ocean Dragon.
"Not so fast!" Hideki yelled, "I'll pay one gauge to cast 'Freeze!'!" A chilling wave of energy flew from Hideki's fingertips and struck the advancing Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh went wide-eyed as he found himself suddenly frozen solid in a huge crystal of ice!
Freeze! Aqua World/Spell
You may only play this card while an opponent's monster is attacking.
[Cast Cost] Pay 1 Gauge.
Nullify the attack. The attacking monster cannot ready until the end of your opponent's next turn.
There was the obvious creaking of leather as Samurai's fist tightened around the belt of his daisho. Hideki wasn't sure at the time, but he thought he might have heard a growl come from the masked stranger. Equally shocking was Marie's expression. She seemed surprised that Hideki had actually made a good move for once. Hideki even found himself feeling a little smug.
"All right, let's go!" He declared, "Draw! Charge and Draw!" Hideki checked the cards he had pulled; finally, he'd drawn an item card! How did they work again? "I pay 1 gauge to activate Fluid Tactics and move Marie to the Left!" The gauge he had just played vanished from the field and Marie hopped to the left area, leaving the center area, and the frozen Gilgamesh, wide-open, "And, I equip the Torque Drillpeedo!" Hideki's right arm was bathed in light; mounted to his arm was what looked like heavy underwater gear colored yellow, a funnel with a screw propeller in the back lead up the side of the arm which was tipped with a drill at the end.
Torque Drillpeedo
Aqua World/Item
ATK: 3000
CRI: 2
"Aquiladon attacks Gilgamesh!" Aquiladon reared up and fired off another stream of water. Gilgamesh's muffled complaints were drowned out as the water pierced through the frozen fighter, shattering him into a thousand pieces, this time for good. Samurai was again taken by surprise as the water slammed into him.
"Marie attacks the Fighter!"
"Right!" Marie yelled. Arms swept back, Marie charged at the reeling Samurai, "This is for Shion!" She yelled as she leapt into the air, ready to deliver the final blow. Just then, Samurai's eyes whipped up towards her and he grabbed one of the cards in his hand.
"Genji Shield!" He called. An ornate, rectangular shield appeared between him and Marie, blocking Marie's kick, "With Genji Shield, I nullify an attack against me while my center is open!" Marie kicked off of the shield and flipped back into position.
"You'd better have another one, then, cuz here we go!" Hideki yelled. Supporting his right arm with his left, he charged up his weapon, the power of the screw and drill winding up to attack speed, then releasing as he lunged forward at the staggered Samurai. The Samurai let out a frustrated roar, as all he could do was raise his daisho to block the incoming attack.
Hideki's attack landed spot-on. The sound of metal-on-metal pierced the night air as Hideki delivered the finishing blow. Hideki's teeth clenched tightly as Samurai tried to resist. However, the force was so great, that a crack began to form in the red jewel on Samurai's daisho. Taking note of this, Samurai suddenly pulled away.
Hideki's balance was thrown off by the retreat and he fell forwards onto the ground. Around him, all of the other features of the game; Bushido, Fluid Tactics, Aquiladon, the Gauge, his weapon, all of it blinked away except for Marie. When he looked up again, Samurai was gone, the sound of fleeing footsteps being the only trace he left behind.
"Did…did I just win?" Hideki said as he rose to his feet.
"Don't congratulate yourself too much," Marie snarked as she walked up to Hideki, "You were only able to win because of Shio-" Then realization snapped, "Shion!" Marie yelled, shoving Hideki to the side and back into the main walkway as she dashed towards Shion's motionless body, "Shion, are you okay?" Shion let out a faint groan as Marie cradled her head in her arms.
"Oh, Shion, you're all right," Marie said with relief. Hideki sighed and stood up again. Seeing Marie hold Shion's head in her lap, he wondered just what kind of relationship the two girls had.
He didn't have much time to think, though, as a large, green dragon foot came crashing down and pinned him to the street once more.