Both Stappelia and Penny were still staring at each other after they had attached their duel disks but neither one of them had said a word.
"Ready little girl?"
"I'm combat-ready."
"Let's duel!"
Penny:4000 Life Points
Stappelia 4000 Life Points
"Why don't you go first little android?"
"Very well."
Penny looked over her hand but then something odd started happening as she felt her internal core heat up and her vision glitched. She believed the correct term for what was a panic.
"Penny relax."
Penny's panic ceased as she turned to see Aqua on her shoulder.
"I understand you have first duel nerves and that's fine but panicking isn't gonna help you or Pietro. Trust yourself and relax. We're all here with you."
Penny took a deep inhale before she looked on her left shoulder to see Aqua as well as Flame and Windy then to her right she saw Earth and Ai.
"Thanks, you guys. Okay, I am now ready."
"You done?"
Stappelia looked up from her book before closing it and putting it away in her pocket dimension.
"Yeah, I'm ready to beat you."
"So full of hope. I can't wait to snuff it out."
Turn 1
Penny looked over her hand before making her play.
"First I summon Pikari Ignister in attack mode then I'll activate its effect which allows me to add 1 Ignister spell or trap card from my deck to my hand. So I'll add to my hand the spell card A.I. Contact."
(Level 4. Light Attribute. ATK 1200/ DEF 600)
The picture on the spell card was Ai doing a peace sign with hearts making Aqua and the others roll their eyes.
"Now I activate my Field Spell Ignister A.I. Land."
Penny grabbed her field spell and placed it in the slot in her duel disk as the area around them began to change as space distorted they now found themselves in a massive floating theme park complete with rides and food stands to Penny's amazement.
"Wow! This theme park is truly incredible. Did you guys make this?"
"No. This is Ai's doing."
"Yeah, and I'll admit it's nice. Say Earth you wouldn't mind taking me back here would you?"
Earth's face took on a digital crimson as he backed up a bit from Aqua.
"S-Sure Aqua. I wouldn't mind."
Flame watched on passively while Ai smirked at their interaction.
"Wow. I forgot that Earth had a thing for Aqua. How long do you think that's been going on?"
"I'd say sometime. What do you think Windy?"
Ai didn't hear anything from Windy making him turn in confusion.
"Windy?"
However, when he turned around to his surprise the green Ignis was gone as he'd gone off to probably explore A.I. Land to Ai's dismay.
"Seriously?"
Aqua after chatting with Earth turned around seeing Flame and Ai but no sign of Windy Aqua turned to the park as she had a calm expression on her face.
"Flame. Earth. Ai. Stay with Penny for a bit. I have to go grab Windy."
"Yup."
"Sure."
"N-Now Aqua I'm sure Windy didn't mean to run off. I'm sure he was just curious."
"I'll be right back Penny."
"Okay, Aqua. Be careful."
Aqua nodded as she hopped off Penny's shoulder and made her way into the park to find Windy.
"Hey, Polendina. It's still your turn."
"Oh. My bad."
Stappelia rolled her eyes.
"Now when I activate Ignister A.I. Land it lets me special summon any level 4 or lower Ignister monster from hand if I don't control any monsters in my main monster zone but hen for the rest of the turn if I use this effect I cannot special summon monsters except cyberse monsters and I can't summon monsters of the same original attribute that A.I. land summoned out."
After Penny activated A.I. Land she looked over her hand again until she remembered one of the combos Ai showed her.
"Now I activate A.I. Contact that I added to my hand thanks to Pikari's effect earlier. A.I. contact only activates when I have A.I. land in my field zone and another copy in my hand. So by revealing the copy in my hand and then sending it to the bottom of my deck, I draw three additional cards."
Upon activation, Penny revealed A.I. Land to Stappelia then placed in at the bottom of her deck then drew three new cards to which her duel disk then shuffled her deck.
"Now from my hand, I activate the effect of Doshin Ignister. When I control an Ignister monster I can special summon him. So I summon him out in defense mode."
Penny grabbed Doshin from her hand and then summoned him out to the field.
(Level 1. Attribute: Earth. ATK 100/DEF 800)
"I'm not done. Now I activate the effect of Gatchiri Ignister from my hand and by negating the effects of one of my Ignister monsters on the field I can special summon him so by negating the effects of Doshin I special summon in defense mode Gatchiri Ignister."
Doshin slumped over as its effects were negated on the field Gatchiri then appeared on the field in defense mode with his shield in front of him.
(Level 8. Attribute: Earth. ATK 0/DEF 3000)
"You're doing great so far Penny!"
"I agree keep going the board's almost set."
"That's Penny for you. You're incredible!"
Penny looked over at Ai, Earth, and Flame as she smiled then blushed at Flame's praise before continuing.
"I activate the effect of Pikari which allows me to change the level of one Ignister monster on my field to a level four so I choose Doshin as my target and make him a level four monster."
Pikari floated over to Doshin as the two Cyberse monsters interacted which Penny found adorable as a ring of light appeared around Doshin making it a level 4 monster.
"Now I use the now Level 4 Doshin and Level 4 Pikari to build the Overlay Network!"
(Level 4 - Level 4 = Rank 4 XYZ)
Both Doshin and Pikari became swirls of yellow energy as they came together forming a galaxy.
"I XYZ Summon Light Dragon Ignister!"
From the swirling galaxy came forth a brilliant golden dragon with giant wings that were divided in two with red eyes and a long body.
Looking over her board Penny was confident.
"I set two cards facedown and end my turn. Your move."
"Very well."
Turn 2
"I draw."
Stappelia looked at the card she drew before looking over her hand. So since you control a card or cards in this case and I don't I special summon from my hand; Chronomaly Moai Carrier in defense mode."
On the field, a blue hologram of a Moai Statue inside a holding device appeared.
(Level 5. Attribute: Earth. ATK 900/DEF 1800)
"Next I activate from my hand the effect of Chronomaly Moai. Since I control a Chronomaly monster I can special summon it to my field in defense mode."
(Level 5. Attribute: Earth. ATK 1800/DEF 1600)
Then appearing on her field next to the carrier was a large Moai statue.
"Now I think I'll play a field spell as well. I activate the field spell Chronomaly City Babylon."
Suddenly the ground beneath Penny and Stappelia began rumbling even Earth and Flame felt it on Penny's shoulders when they all looked up and saw a massive chunk of land descend and crash into the heart of A.I. Land.
*BOOM*
Windy had snuck off to briefly enjoy A.I. Land figuring Earth, Flame, Aqua, and Ai could handle it as he had ridden the Ferris wheel, played games, and was currently enjoying cotton candy digital cotton candy mind you still however he had to hurry back as he only meant to sneak off for a little bit.
'I'm sure they're gonna be alright. I did leave them in the middle of an important duel with Penny and Pietro's lives on the line.'
Windy had a look of guilt as he continued contemplating before he reassured himself.
"It's fine besides what could go wro-"
Windy was interrupted as Babylon crashed into A.I. Land to his horror.
"Why?!"
Ais shouting could be heard from across A.I. Land as the arena crashed into the theme park.
Windy dropped his concessions as he looked on in disbelief and went to all fours as he pounded the ground of the amusement park.
"You mainics! You destroyed it! Darn, you! Darn, you all!
However, the green Ignis stopped his grieving as he saw a shadow loom over them making him turn around and see Aqua who despite having no current readable expression Windy could tell she was upset.
"H-Hey Aqua Look I can explain."
*POW*
Windy was face down in the dirt as Aqua dragged him back towards the duel.
As Babylon landed in the heart of A.I. Land Stappelia smirked while Penny frowned.
"See you up top Pinocchio."
Stappelia then grew two Nevermore wings from her back and flew to the arena with Pietro in his bubble prison behind her while Penny activated her jets with Earth, Flame, and Ai on her left shoulder Aqua carrying Windy joined them on her right shoulder as they all flew up to the arena of Babylon.
-line break-
Both duelists made their way up to the arena as they now stood on opposite sides of a circular arena that went inward with their monsters on their respective fields.
"Hey, Pinocchio. Look down."
Penny indulged her opponent and when she looked down to her surprise she saw a massive city now lying in ruins.
"Welcome to Babylon; The Chronomaly City! I don't have time for a tour of this wonderful city. Let's continue our duel."
"Fine by me."
"Since it's still my turn I'll now build the Overlay Network with Chronomaly Moai Carrier and Chronomaly Moai."
(Level 5-Level 5 = Rank 5 XYZ)
Carrier and Moai became golden energy swirling into a galaxy giving birth to Stappelia's monster.
"I XYZ summon Number 33: Chronomaly Machu Mech!"
(Rank 5. Attribute: Light. ATK 2400/ DEF 1500)
From the swirl of energy came a large floating city to the shock of Penny and the Ignis as the city was on what appeared to be the bottom of a pillar.
"Are you all seeing what I'm seeing?"
"Yes."
As Machu Mech finally descended next to the massive arena Stappelia smiled.
"Now I activate the continuous spell card; Chronomaly Pyrmaid Eye Tablet. When I activate this spell card all Chronomaly monsters I control gain 800 ATK."
(2400 + 800 = 3200. ATK 3200/ DEF 1500.)
"I set two cards face down and end my turn."
'As much as I wanted to attack I'd be foolish. I have no idea of her face-downs and as good as my Chronomaly's are at manipulating the attack points of my opponents' monsters there's no successful way to bring them back. Besides I have board control now and my two facedowns will keep it that way.'
"My turn."
Turn 3
"I draw."
Penny looked over her hand before looking back at Stappelia's field then narrowed her green eyes.
"Why didn't she attack?"
"She probably suspected our facedowns and instead is choosing to play reactively seeing what we do and then playing off that."
"Earth is right. If she's wary of our facedowns then we have to force her to act or we'll be stuck playing defense the entire game and that won't benefit us."
"Aqua's right. My deck is focused on beating them down and showing them what for so we need to start acting and I have an idea how."
Ai whispered something into Penny's ear making the android nod in understanding before Penny made her move.
"I detach one Overlay Unit from Light Dragon to activate its effect."
One of the overlay units that was circling Light Dragon went into its chest as the great beast roared.
"When I detach one overlay unit from Light Dragon I can destroy as many monsters on your field up to the number of Ignister monsters I control and since you control only one monster that being Machu Mech it's going to get destroyed!"
"Excellent! It's all going according to plan Penny! Once you clear her field she'll have no defense which means our win is *triumphant music* and her life points are gonna go *Wah Wah Trombone effect*!"
Aqua let out a laugh at Ais sound effects as she agreed, Flame and Windy gave a thumbs up while Earth nodded in quiet agreement. However, to their confusion, Stappelia started laughing out loud.
"You think I wasn't prepared for this? I activate my continuous trap card; Number Wall!"
The trap card appeared and its image was a figure in the middle of a circle of energy with numbers 1-9 around them.
"I can only activate this card if I control a Number Monster and when this card is activated Number Monsters on my field can't be destroyed or card effects except with or by another Number Monster."
As Light Dragon fired the blast charged by its Overlay Unit at Machu Mech the city was protected by a barrier with its number displayed front and center on the barrier.
"Now what will you do?"
While Penny hadn't expected Stappelia's number wall she would still follow Ais's plan.
"I activate my trap card; A.I. Challenge you!"
The image on the card was Ai holding a digital blade while standing across from someone in a digital storm.
"I'm getting tired of these puns."
"Get use to 'em Snake hair!"
"Yeah, puns are great."
Ai and Windy shouted and agreed in solidarity.
Penny chuckled at their bond before she continued.
"When I activate this trap card monsters you control lose 100 ATK for each card I control and since I currently control five cards your Machu Mech loses 500 attack points!"
(3200-500= 2700. Machu Mech ATK/2700)
Penny's face now had a look of displeasure as despite Machu Mech having its attack points lowered she still couldn't destroy it and the card she drew couldn't do anything either.
'Now what do I do?'
However Flame looked over the field and then at the card in Penny's hand until he got an idea.
"Penny."
"Yeah, Flame?"
"Lend me your ear for a sec."
"Sure."
The rest of the Ignis looked on in confusion at Flame and Penny's discussion as Flame started whispering in Penny's ear as Ai did.
"Affirmative friend Flame. I will do my best."
"I believe in you, Penny."
"What're you doing Flame?"
"Yeah, what's the plan?"
Both Earth and Aqua questioned their fiery companion.
"I did the math and this workaround should help us."
Penny used the duel program to run Flame's plan through the algorithm and the plan came up with a 55-60% rate of success so while it was a risk she went with it.
"I summon Achichi Ignister in attack mode."
(Level 2. Attribute: Fire. ATK 800/DEF 800)
Achichi looked around then saw Penny and gave a cute wave. The summon of Achichi meant that A.I. Challenge you lowered Machu Mech's attack points by another 100 points.
(2700-100=2600. Machu Mech ATK/2600)
"Before I make my next move I use the effect of Achichi to add 1 level four or lower Ignister monster from my deck to my hand so I choose to add Bururu Ignister. Now the conditions have been met. I build the circuit to protect the future!"
Ai turned to his siblings.
"It's time guys! Let's go!"
"Yeah!"
All the other Ignis agreed as they followed Penny into the Link Circuit.
"The requirements are 2 cyberse monsters. Circuit Combine!"
Ai and Windy donned traffic cop outfits as they directed Achichi, Light Dragon, and Gatchiri into the Link arrows Achichi went into the left arrow, Light Dragon went into the bottom arrow, and Gatchiri went into the right arrow. As the circuit brimmed with power a digital screech of a bid could be heard as from the circuit it came forth in a blaze of digital fire.
"Link Summon! Link-3 Fire Phoenix Ignister!"
(Link -3. Attribute: Fire. ATK/2300)
(800-400 = 400. 2400+400 = 2800. Machu Mech ATK/2800)
Penny appeared back in reality as now on her field was a glorious firebird with the Ignister symbol clear on its chest.
"Battle. Fire Phoenix attack Machu Mech!"
"Why would you do that? Machu Mech has more attack points and thanks to Number Wall you can't destroy it by card effects or battle."
Penny smirked.
"You're right but I'm going to be using the effect of Fire Phoenix instead. When Fire Phoenix attacks during damage calculation I can inflict damage to you equal to its attack!"
Fire Phoenix glowed bright red as it prepared its effect Flame grabbed his digital reigns and commanded Phoenix into battle.
"Go Fire Phoenix!"
Phoenix let out an almighty screech as its chest glowed very bright similar to that of a sun a massive blast of digital fire came from its chest blasting Stappelia.
"Ahhh!"
(4000-2300=1700)
Stappelia:1700 LP
"Not bad but even though you dealt me effect damage your precious firebird will still get decimated. Machu Mech!"
To Flame's dismay, the cannons on Machu Mech came out and took aim and started blasting Phoenix as the Ignis did his best to dodge but ultimately Phoenix took a blast square to the chest.
"Flame!"
Flame quickly jumped off as he saw Phoenix screech out in pain as it descended from the sky and exploded.
(2800-2300=500. 4000-500=3500)
Penny: 3500 LP
"That all little Penny?"
"Yes. I end my turn."
"My turn then."
Turn 4
"I draw."
Stappelia smiled as she finally had all the pieces however Penny had a smile of her own.
"Before you do anything I activate the effect of Fire Phoenix from the graveyard. Since it was destroyed last turn I can special summon it back to my field. Welcome back, my fiery friend."
Ashes from below Babylon started swirling up as they turned bright red before Phoenix let out a screech and appeared once again on the battlefield but seeing this made Stappelia start laughing.
"What's so funny?"
"You'll find out little android for you've just sealed your fate."
"First I summon Chronomaly Gordian Knot in attack mode."
(Level 3. Attribute: Earth. ATK 300/DEF 900)
"Since Gordian Knot was normal summoned I activate its effect which allows me to special summon a Chronomaly monster from my hand and then change Gordian Knots level to the current level of the special summoned monster so I'm summoning the only monster in my hand come forth Chronomaly Golden Jet."
(Level 4. Attribute: Light. ATK 1300/DEF 1400)
(Gordian Knot level change- 3+1 = 4)
"Now that both my monsters are level four I once again build the Overlay Network!"
"Again?!"
Ai asked incredulously.
"Get used to it you midget of a program."
Golden Jet and Gordian Knot became swirls of energy forming a galaxy as Stappelia's second XYZ monster hit the field.
"I XYZ summon Number 36; Chronomaly Chateau Huyuk!"
(Rank 4. Attribute: Light. ATK 2000/DEF 2500)
The swirl of XYZ energy was coming from inside Machu Mech as from the inside of the great city emerged what was a second much smaller city surrounded by a digital blue sphere and its number displayed on the right upper side of the barrier as its material swirled around it.
"Don't forget your monster still loses attack points due to A.I. Challenge you."
Penny proclaimed.
"I'm aware but because you have fewer cards than before I won't lose as much plus Huyuk still gains 800 ATK points thanks to Pyramid Eye Tablet still on my field. Plus with what I'm about to do I'm not worried."
(800-400=400. 2000+400 = 2400. Huyuk ATK/2400)
Stappelia smirked as she made her next move.
"I now activate my Trap Card; Chronomaly Esperanza Glyph. During my main phase, I can target one XYZ monster either on my field or graveyard then summon out two Chronomaly that are one level higher than the rank of the monster I chose from my hand, deck, or graveyard then immediately XYZ summon after I summon them out."
The trap card flipped face up showing the image of Golden Jet and Moai around a large blue stone.
"Now I target Number 33 and due to it being a Rank 5 XYZ, I summon out in defense mode both copies of Chronomaly Sol Monolith."
(Level 6. Attribute: Earth. ATK 600/ DEF 600)
Appearing on the field were two tall monoliths each with a golden disk in the center but their bottom halves were broken in two.
"Now I build the Overlay Network using both Sol Monliths to XYZ summon."
Both Monliths came together swirling around in a vibrant galaxy as it swirled together everything started shaking except it was much more violent this time.
"Woah!"
"Ah!"
"I got you Aqua."
"What's happening Flame?!"
"I don't know Windy!"
"I XYZ summon Number 6; Chronomaly Atlandis!"
(Rank 6. Attribute: Light. ATK 2600/ DEF 3000)
The rumbling only increased until Ai saw the source.
"Over there guys!"
Then it appeared as a giant hand burst from the ground is was orange and comprised of rock followed by the second hand which was made of lava. As the monster continued to emerge from the ruined Chronomaly City the right side of its body was revealed to be a massive hunk of ice and its left shoulder was earth and so was the rest of its upper body. Around its torso was a ring with the number 6 and below its face was a medium-sized hole and its back and legs were lava. As Penny could only stare at the colossal monster she felt a familiar feeling in her core but it was different as her core was accelerating and a much higher rotation speed and every metallic fiber over her being was telling her to flee and not look back. Penny Polendina was experiencing fear.
"Don't worry I still know about the effect of A.I. Challenge You but that's not gonna matter in a few moments."
(800-400=400. 2600+400=3000. Atlandis ATK/3000)
"W-What do you mean?"
"Oh? You're afraid. I finally got the machine to feel fear. How fascinating."
Stappelia then created a circle pulled out her notebook and began jotting down everything that had happened so far before tucking her pen away and back into her circle.
"First off I activate the effect of Number 36! By detaching one overlay unit I can target one monster on the field and make its attack points go to 0 until the end of the turn and I target your Fire Phoenix!"
The overlay unit went into the sphere in the middle of the city as Huyuk let out a blue wave of energy that washed over Fire Phoenix the firebird let out a screech before it slumped over completely weak.
(2300-2300=0. Fire Phoenix ATK/0)
"Now I use the effect of Number 33. I can detach an Overlay unit and then target one face-up monster you control then inflict damage to you equal to the difference between your monster's original attack and its current attack."
One of Machu Mech's overlay units got absorbed into its uppermost pillar as a humming was heard then cannons came out from its rig before taking direct aim at Penny. Stappelia made a finger gun before pointing at Penny and firing.
"Bang."
Machu Mech aimed at Penny as the cannons absorbed the essence of Fire Phoenix before full force blasting Penny.
(3500-2300=1300)
Penny: 1200 LP
"Ah!"
"Penny!"
The other Ignis cried out as they were blasted off her shoulder from the impact Penny was now slumped against the wall.
Stappelia started smiling as a cocky wicked grin was on her face.
"I warned you, little girl. Now prepare to lose this duel and say goodbye to this world."
Hey everyone this duel was a bit hard for me as I tried my best to get the Ignis post-VRAINS as in character as I could so if there are any errors please have mercy on me. Also as to why the Ignis aren't giving Penny the best strategies to counter Stappeila's Chronomaly deck it is because they've never encountered a deck like this before or Number Cards as you all know Number Cards aren't in VRAINS so that's why. I'm working on Part 2 of this duel so don't worry about waiting a long time for the upload date and I'll try to make so the turns aren't just spinning in place. Until Next time see ya.