Author's note: Any cards highlighted in bold are not actual Yugioh cards, but my own creation, more or less.
Chapter 9: Power Drain
My day at New Domino Duel Academy was getting quite interesting. As I got out of the car, I was confronted by one of the people who enjoyed picking on me when I was younger. His name isn't important, as he was just one of many, but he challenged me to a Duel. I accepted on condition that I go first, yet all I really did was place four cards face-down. When he took his turn, he played Gearfried the Iron Knight (1800/1600), followed by Release Restraint to sacrifice the monster and bring out Gearfried the Swordmaster (2600/2200). The Equip Spell Card Excalibur was equipped to the monster, doubling the ATK to 5200.
The bully attacked with the monster, but first I revealed my Nightmare Mirror, discarding one card, negating the attack and dealing 1000 points of damage to him. That was also when I revealed my Aura of Life Transfer Trap Card, moving it to the Field Spell Card slot and gaining the Life Points my opponent had lost as extra Life Points for me. As this happened, a thick vapor emanated from him and streamed towards me, turning blue on the way.
"You may have squeezed by for now, but that still doesn't mean a thing! I place a card face-down and end my turn!" the bully yelled.
"Keep talking… while you can! I draw!" I shouted back. I summoned Bowganian (1300/1000) and activated Nibelung's Treasure, drawing five cards and activating a Spell Card from my Deck on my opponent's side of the field. I chose to activate Scapegoat this way, giving him four Scapegoats, and then I revealed my face-down Nightmare Tri-Mirror. Since my opponent had 'technically' Special Summoned monsters, I could choose a monster and Special Summon that many tokens with the same stats, abilities, everything as my chosen monster. With not much of a choice, I chose Bowganian, gaining four tokens of that monster. From there, I set two more cards face-down.
During his turn, the bully chose to skip the Draw Phase to keep Excalibur on his monster. From there, he equipped Axe of Despair to the monster as well, bringing it up to 6600 Attack points. He attacked, revealing his face-down Safe Zone, and then stating that I couldn't target his monster with any card effects. I could just see in his eyes that he thought he was going to win… the poor fool. He has kept me down long enough! I revealed my Turn Jump, moving the turn count forward by three turns, and each time my Bowganian and the tokens activated their effects, together removing 1500 Life Points per turn, in total taking off 4500. As the monsters shot their arrows into him, all fifteen arrows at that, that same vapor gushed off his body and started streaming into my mouth, turning blue as it came towards me.
Oh, the sweet taste of vengeance. It felt so rewarding to see that pathetic life form's defeated and depleted husk lying on the floor. I didn't kill him; I hadn't even come close to that. I sensed that he, somehow, had Psychic Dueling powers, so I just drained them. And oh, did they taste sweet, as although insubstantial in form, those Psychic Powers tasted like honey, for lack of a better phrase, once you started depleting their Life Points.
"Yes, Toby, it does feel good doesn't it?" a voice spoke inside my head; the very same feminine voice that resonated in my head when I was dreaming about the Void.
"It feels magnificent. To have those who abused and stole from me suffer the same fate is exhilarating," I replied mentally.
"May you continue to enjoy your feast, and take what is rightfully yours back from them."
"Who are you, though? I heard you in a dream I had, but I didn't know who you were."
"My name is not important. You may think of me as your true power. You wanted someone to be a friend to you, so I answered the call and came to you. You wanted to be able to stop the bullying being done to you, so I gave you the power to do so. That same power allowed you to feast on their sweet essences. Although be alert: there is another one coming down the corridor."
"I see her, the one who forcefully made me funnel questions to Misty and answers back to her. I'm going to enjoy taking her down!"
Very predictably, this bully also challenged me to a Duel, opting to go first with the 'Ladies First' rule. She summoned Etoile Cyber (1200/1600), and then used Polymerization to fuse it with the Blade Skater in her hand and Summon Cyber Blader (2100/800). She couldn't attack as this was her first turn, so she let me go.
My hand wasn't great, so I used the one good card I had: Card Destruction, to discard my hand and draw the same number of cards, with my opponent doing the same. My next hand was somewhat better, but still not quite there, so I played Graceful Charity, drawing three cards and discarding two. That was when I got what I wanted. I placed three cards face-down and ended my turn.
When she acted, she used two identical Spell Cards: Fusion Weapon, increasing Cyber Blader's ATK and DEF by 1500, making it 3600/2100, then the second one made it 5100/ 3600. With that, she tried attacking me directly, but I revealed my Nightmare Mirror, discarded one card, negated the attack and made her take 1000 damage. I revealed my other face-down then as well, my Aura of Life Transfer, making me gain the 1000 points of damage to her as an increase to my own Life Points, also moving the Spell to the Field Spell Zone. She had no other choice but to end her turn, although she did place one card face-down.
I drew, and I must have smirked, because this particular bully asked what I was grinning about. First, I revealed my Non Aggression Area, forbidding her from Summoning or Setting Monsters during her turn. I followed that up with Card of Sanctity, allowing both of us to refill our hands, after which I set four cards to fill up my Spell and Trap card zone and ended my turn.
When she drew, she laughed and attacked with her Cyber Blader, but I activated Rescuer from the Grave, removing five cards in my Graveyard from play to negate the attack. That was when she revealed Mischief of the Time Goddess, skipping one turn and moving directly to next turn's Battle Phase. Her Cyber Blader attacked again, but this time I revealed my Nightmare Wheel, stopping it in its tracks.
When my turn came round, Non Aggression Area disintegrated and she took 500 damage from Nightmare Wheel, also giving me 500 Life Points. As vapor emitted from her, turned blue and streamed into my waiting mouth, I was on 5500 Life Points compared to her 2500. From there, I summoned my Bowganian (1300/1000) and activated Nibelung's Treasure, drawing five cards and activating my Scapegoat on her side of the field. Due to that, I revealed my Nightmare Tri-Mirror, choosing my Bowganian and Special Summoning four Copy Tokens with its stats and abilities.
When her turn came around, she placed four cards face down and activated Emergency Provisions, destroying them to regain 4000 Life Points, also removing 4000 of mine, so that we were on 6500 and 1500 respectively. My strength began draining from me, evaporating, and the vapor turned to a grey color before flowing into the bully's mouth. From there, she used Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Nightmare Wheel, freeing her Cyber Blader. With her monster, she attacked one of my monsters. That was when I revealed a Turn Jump, moving the turn count forward by three. Three End Phases passed for her, which meant that each time, she took 300 damage from each Bowganian and Token on my field, equaling 4500. As my strength returned to me in the form of the blue vapor traveling into me, my Life Points had increased to 6000, while hers had decreased to 2000. Her monster was still attacking, so I revealed a second Turn Jump, taking off the last of her Life Points and, again, Psychic Powers.
After the last of the blue mist blew into my mouth, my adversary collapsed where she stood. About five or so minutes later, the two most notable Duel Academy bullies appeared before me: Brass-Balled Billy and Lady Killer Lucas, the two people I hated most of all. They always made my life at Duel Academy at the first opportunity. The fact that they were taller than me and physically stronger didn't help my case much. "Looks like the little twerp's getting uppity," the former noted. There was some more discussion, but eventually, they decided that they were going to fight me together.
"You can have your Duel," I spoke "…on two conditions. First, since I am facing two of you, I'm taking a handicap of an extra amount of Life Points. Secondly, you are going to share your Life total as well, making you have 8000 starting as well. Also, since there are more than two players, nobody may attack in the opening round."
"Just why do you think we would agree to that?" Lucas began, but Billy cut him off with the sentence "Sure, it's not like a pathetic weakling is going to beat us anyway, so let's let him have his deal. He goes first."
Perfect. As we activated our Duel Disks, I looked at my opening Hand. I placed one card face-down and summoned Newdoria (1200/800). Billy went next, summoning Babycerasaurus (500/500), Special Summoned Gilasaurus (1400/400) by its own effect and placed two cards face down. After that came Lucas, summoning Maiden in Love (400/300) and played Polymerization, fusing it with the Level 5 Succubus Knight in his hand to create Succubus Temptress (2000/1500). He set a card face down to end his turn, since nobody could attack in their first turn.
After I drew, I summoned Nightmare Horse (500/400) and used my own Polymerization to fuse it with the Spirit Reaper in my Hand to summon Reaper on the Nightmare (800/600). Its ability allowed me to disregard the monsters they had on the field and attack them directly, so that was exactly what I did, though not before revealing and moving to the Field Spell Zone my Aura of Life Transfer, gaining the 800 points they lost from the attack. As mist evaporated from their bodies and streamed into my mouth, my Life Points increased to 8800, while they were on 7200. After that came a Pot of Greed for two free cards, then I summoned my Bowganian (1300/1000) and used Advanced Machine Duplication to summon two more from my Deck. My last card was Card of Demise, playing it to get a hand of five cards in exchange for discarding my hand in five turns, after which I placed two cards face-down to end my turn.
Billy's turn saw him play Polymerization, fusing Gilasaurus with the Kaitoptera in his Hand to Fusion Summon Horned Saurus (2000/1000). From there, he activated Card of Sanctity, giving everyone a six-card Hand, followed the Continuous Spell Card Torturous Jurassic Hunger, decreasing all of his Dinosaurs' Defense Points to 0, but increasing their attack by the amount of Defense points lost. As a result, if their DEF lost to fuel the ATK was at least greater than half their original ATK, they gained Piercing, meaning the difference in Battle Damage between its ATK and a defense mode monster's DEF came out of my Life Points. At that point, he summoned Miracle Jurassic Egg (0/2000), played Graceful Charity to draw three and discard two cards, and revealed a face-down Skull Lair, banishing two monsters from his Graveyard to destroy one monster on the field, actually targeting his own Babycerasaurus. However, that thing's effect then activated: since it was destroyed, he could Special Summon a Level 4 or lower Dinosaur from his Deck, summoning Tyranno Infinity (?/0) as a result. This new monster immediately gained 2000 ATK since two monsters were removed from play. Six counters also went on to the Miracle Jurassic Egg, two from the Babycerasaurus that was sent to the Graveyard, and the other four from the two monsters discarded via Graceful Charity.
Next, he had another Gilasaurus Special Summon itself, and from there, the card Foolish Burial was played, sending a monster from his Deck to his Graveyard and increasing the counters on Miracle Jurassic Egg to eight. A Card of Demise was then played, granting him five cards on condition that he discard his Hand in five turns. He still wasn't finished, as the next thing to come was a Double Summon and then a Mad Sword Beast (1400/1200), which was sacrificed, along with the Gilasaurus, to summon Ultimate Tyranno (3000/2200). The Miracle Jurassic Egg with now twelve counters was then sacrificed to bring out Super Conductor Tyranno (3300/1400) from his Deck. Monster Reborn was then used to bring back a Gilasaurus, but directly after that it was Tributed to Summon a Super-Ancient Dinobeast (2700/1400).
Things weren't looking good. Billy had five heavy hitters ready to attack, with Torturous Jurassic Hunger further fuelling their ATK: Horned Saurus with now 3000, Tyranno Infinity with 2000, Ultimate Tyranno with 5200, Super Conductor Tyranno with 4700 and Super-Ancient Dinobeast with 4100 Attack points.