It's been a few days since Jessie convinced Micheal to join his family in watching a modern-day classic. It's his day off from college, but he still has a reason to come to town.
He walks with purpose, throwing all of his energy into each stride of his legs and he marches up to the card shop. It's not long opened, so there's barely anyone inside. He sees the cute goth girl behind the cashier, and mentally braces himself.
He walks up to the counter, clearly with a motive behind his being here. She's wearing fairly casual attire, dark skinny jeans with a black shirt under a red apron with a name tag, Sophia. Standing at the counter, she hasn't yet noticed him. However, before she lifts her head from her book, he's already moved along to the card rack to gaze at the selection.
Jessie tries to avoid eye contact with her by looking through the binders of cards, pretending to be browsing.
"Can I help you with something?" Jessie jumps on the spot upon hearing her voice directly behind him. He turns to see her standing there. She spots the binder, and engages in small talk, "Looking to make some changes to your deck? Or maybe change it for a new one?"
Jessie looks down at the binder pull of grade 3s from different clans, some related to his Royal Paladins. "Oh, uh, kind of…"
"You're not satisfied with your Garmore deck?"
Jessie is surprised she remembered his deck from the other day, "No. I love my deck. I like playing decks with canines, but can't fault a guy for looking around. Although…that's not why I'm here."
Sophia can tell that he's beating around the bush, and won't just say what he's after. She gets an idea. "Say, how about a card fight? I don't get many customers this early, so maybe you could help kill some time?"
Jessie's eyes sparkle at the idea. "Yeah, that'll be awesome!" His excitement brings a blush to her pale cheeks.
They get set up on a table close to the counter in case she's needed. With their cards on the table, they shuffle their decks and redraw their hands. "Stand up, my Vanguard!" Jessie reveals Blugal, and Sophia turns over Vermillion Gatekeeper.
Jessie 2 damage
VS
Sophia 3 damage
After a few turns, Sophia starts her next one. "I ride Demon Eater. Her skill, I can soul charge and increase her power by 2000. Next, I call Werwolf Sieger to the front rearguard." Sophia has four units in play now, her Vanguard, Werwolf Sieger, Dark Queen of Nightmareland, and Decadent Succubus. "Moving into the attack phase, I'll attack with Sieger."
[Sieger 10000]
Jessie looks at the cards in hand, and then back at the board, taking in his current damage. "No guard." Letting the attack go through, he checks for damage, no trigger.
[Jessie 3 damage]
"With Demon Eater, I'll attack your Vanguard."
[Demon Eater 12000]
"I'll guard that one with Luck Bringer. You'll need two to pass."
[Garmore 8000 + Luck 10000 = 18000]
"Twin Drive. First check, no trigger. Second check, Blitzritter. Critical trigger. I'll give all the effects to my Succubus."
[Succubus 14000 2 Crit]
"With a boost from Dark Queen, my Succubus will attack Garmore with double critical." Using her only boosting unit, Sophia throws out her last attack of the turn.
[Succubus 14000 + Queen 4000 = 18000]
"I'll guard with Marron from my hand, and then intercept with Knight of Trush, Gorgon. When intercepting, Gordon's shield becomes 10000. Combined, the attack misses."
[Garmore 8000 + Marron 5000 + Gordon 10000 = 23000]
"With that, I'll end my turn then." Sophia cracks a smile, something that comes as a surprise to Jessie. He's about to say something, but then becomes smart and shuts up, not wanting to spoil it.
"My go. I stand, and draw." Resetting his side, and seeing her current damage, and Vanguard, Jessie becomes paranoid. "Hmm. Let's see now. I ride Fang of Light, Garmore as my vanguard. His skill, I'll discard Weapon's Dealer, and call Snowgal from my deck, making a total of three of them, plus my starting Blugal. I'll then call Swordsman of the Explosive Flames, Palamedes to the front."
With Jessie's board now full of units, he moves into the attack phase of his turn.
"Boosted by Snowgal, Blugal will attack your Vanguard. With two others on my rearguard, their power comes to 8K."
[Blugal 4000 + Snowgal 8000 = 12000]
Sophia doesn't do anything, letting the attack go through. Checking the damage, she doesn't get a trigger.
[Sophia 4 damage]
"Now boosted by Snowgal, Palamedes swings at the Vanguard. With two grade 3s on my board, he gets another 3k when attacking."
[Palamedes 10000 + 3000 + Snowgal 8000 = 21000]
Again, Sophia does nothing, keeping her cards to her side, letting the attack go through, but still no trigger.
[Sophia 5 damage]
Jessie starts to become suspicious. He remembers the trigger she got last turn, yet she hasn't used it yet. "With a boost from Snowgal, Garmore will go for your Vanguard. With three Snowgals and a Blugal he stands at 14000 power."
[Garmore 14000 + Snowgal 8000 = 22000]
Jessie catches Sophia tossing the trigger she got last turn in the drop zone before putting down a guardian, "March Rabbit. Perfect Guard." With that, the attack is nullified regardless of triggers.
"So that's what you were saving for? But why use the trigger as the discard?"
Sophia lets out a slight giggle, "I didn't need it for the turn coming. And I already know you don't play stand triggers, so I have nothing to worry about."
Jessie goes into the twin drive, "First check…second check, nothing. Looks like you were right. Your turn." With the attack over, it's gone back to Sophia.
"Final turn!" Sophia calls out her declaration that she's be winning this turn, ending the game. Jessie is shocked, but very curious. "I ride Edel Rose as my Vanguard." Sophia rides a new unit, one weaker in terms of power, yet with a stronger skill. "I counterblast to use her skill." Turning down two cards in her damage, "Edel Rose gains 5000 power, and another critical. I'll use this skill twice." Turning down another two, she pushes her Vanguard to greater strengths.
[Edel Rose 9000 + 5000 + 5000 = 19000 3 Crit]
"I call Prisoner Beast and Alluring Succubus to the back. Succubus soul charges." Sophia fills her board, giving every unit something to boost and be boosted by. "Boosted by Dark Queen, Decadent Succubus will attack Garmore."
[Decadent 9000 + Dark Queen 4000 = 13000]
Jessie hesitates for a moment, unsure what to do in the situation, given he's on the back foot with limited cards in hand to defend with. "No guard." He takes the damage, revealing a Critical trigger. The power boost to Garmore gives him a line of defense.
[Jessie 4 damage]
[Garmore 15000]
"With a boost from Prisoner Beast, Edel Rose will attack Garmore." Sophia sends out her powered-up Vanguard.
[Edel Rose 19000 + Beast 8000 = 27000]
"I'll guard!" Jessie throws out the only two units he can guard in an attempt to block the attack, Yggdrasil Maiden, Elaine, and Knight of Silence, Gallatin.
[Garmore 15000 + Elaine 10000 + Gallatin 5000 = 30000]
"Twin Drive. First check," she reveals another Edel Rose. "The second check…Cursed Doctor. Heal Trigger. I recover one damage, and give the power to Edel Rose."
[Sophia 4 damage]
[Edel Rose 32000]
With the attack gone through, Jessie takes the triple critical attack from Edel Rose. Turning over his top cards, he finds a trigger, but not a heal. The second is just another Garmore, "Good game."
[Jessie 6 damage]
With the game over, Sophia straightens herself out. Taking a deep breath, she returns to her blank expression. "So, are you going to tell me what you were really here for?"
Jessie looks up at her, clearly caught up in his lie. He takes his own deep breath, clearing his thoughts. Putting on a brave face, he meets her gaze, looking into her eyes. Her heart skips a beat as she looks into his eyes. He opens his mouth to speak and says, "I'd like to apply for the part-time position working here. May I get an application, please?" He just wanted to get a job. "I saw that you had a flyer in the window the other day, and was interested in applying."