Once again, a small comment from me. If you'd like some fitting music for the duels today, I recommend the following:
- 1st duel: "Grinder" Metal Cover by ToxicxEternity
- 2nd duel: Master Duel BGM Battle Theme #7
- 3rd duel part 1: Master Duel BGM Battle Theme #1
- 3rd duel part 2: Mastter Duel BGM Climax Theme #1 (when the high-level monsters hit the field)
Enjoy!
Chapter 14:
It hadn't even been a week since Blake had been taking the meds Miss Fontaine had prescribed him, but he had already been used to getting a full night's sleep as he should. Which only made it worse when he awoke in cold sweat and with his heartbeat going through the roof once more, a splitting headache assaulting him as he rushed up into a sitting position. He held his head and some kind of whispers he was hearing slowly went quiet, not that he could make out what it said in the first place.
After he took a deep breath, he let out a long-drawn "Fuuuuck. Why is this happening again …", before getting up and ready for the day. 'Please let this be a one-time thing…', he thought, instantly in a bad mood from this. The only saving grace was that he got to rough up some Obelisk students today, and that they might even be somewhat of a challenge. How wrong he was.
It hadn't taken him long to find the trio that Kami wanted him to deal with, but he honestly couldn't see why she cared about them. Probably only to have more numbers on her side, and support from some third-years as well, because it certainly wasn't their dueling skills. Maybe their family names held some value, but none of the forgettable names rang a bell. The first of them had little idea of what he was doing and the cards he used could've been straight out of some structure deck. Not sure what he had expected from a clear sports fanatic, one that actually had a well-defined body other than 90 percent of students. The second one was a bit better, as he held out twice as long as the first, but was clearly more interested in using all the cards from famous people rather than making a consistent deck. A Chimera here, a Legendary Fisherman there, a sprinkle of gambling cards, and to top it all off a Barrel Dragon. The last one actually did some work, but not enough to lose any lifepoints.
Now it was time for the third one, and Blake was incredibly bored from the last two. "Alright, let's get this over with. Can you at least try not to waste my time?", he asked the older, if smaller student, who just laughed at his dormmates for their performance.
"Pah, you might've beaten these weaklings but you've got no chance against me", the student in blue replied with even more bravado than Blake was used to. "I'm only second to the Kaiser himself!"
With a roll of his eyes, Blake got ready for the next duel. "Yeah, sure. And I'm second only to the King of Games. Less talking more playing, if you're actually able to."
"What did you say you little shit?! You'll regret ever showing your face to me!"
(Blake 4000 / Blue Student 4000)
"Let's make this quick, I've got places to be", Blake sighed unenthusiastically, "I set a monster and a face-down. You're it."
"Ha! Is that everything you got? I'll show you a real turn!" 'Please shut the fuck up, I've already got a headache' "I summon Goblin Attack Force! Then I'll-"
Just as the group of goblins hit the field, they sprouted dark dots all over their bodies before their hologram was shattered. "No, you won't. I activate Crush Card Virus, tributing my set Sangan for it. No big monsters for you, but a nice Witch for me", Blake stated dryly as he added the card to his hand. His opponent had to send another two cards from his hand to the GY, that being Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight and Blade Knight, before he ended his turn. Blake knew what he had in hand now, a Command Knight, Warrior Lady of the Wasteland, and United We Stand, no doubt waiting to get his combo piece. Not that it'd help him.
"Wow, you really showed me. I draw", Blake continued. "I summon Witch of the Black Forest and then activate Double Summon so I can tribute her and summon Inferno Hammer." He'd have to see how this card would perform and if it potentially messed up with his decks balance, but he wanted another high-level monster for exactly this situation. The hulking red muscle mass of a monster lifted its heavy hammer with both hands as it appeared, the skull head of it grinning viciously (2400/0). "My lovely Witch lets me add Dark Armed Dragon from my deck to my hand, and since you have nothing to defend yourself, I'll attack you directly." While he felt more coolness on the card than a regular card gave off, there was no reaction from his supposed partner. One swing of the hammer later, and his opponent was already down to one knee, causing Blake to huff. "I think what you wanted to say earlier was that you're only second to Syrus, not Zane." (Blake 4000 / Blue Student 1600)
"Pah, lucky shot!", his opponent wheezed out and straightened back up. He drew and showed Blake Reinforcement of the Army, which he promptly activated. "Now I summon the Marauding Captain that I just added, whose effect lets me summon Command Knight as well!" A rugged looking warrior with two swords appeared first (1200/400), before blowing the horn on his waist, summoning a female knight clad in red (1200/1900). "My Command Knight gives every Warrior monster I control 400 attack points and can't get targeted for attacks as long as I control another monster!" The knight gave off a dim red aura, that enveloped both her (1600/1900) and the captain (1600/400). "But I'm not done yet: I equip my Marauding Captain with United We Stand, boosting him by 800 points for every monster I control! Try to get past this, you dog." With the spirits of himself and the knight appearing behind him, the captains' muscles swelled tremendously, orange lightning cackling along his body (3200/2000).
"Oh no", Blake gasped in fake shock. "How can I defeat such a strong monster?"
"Finally catching on how out of your league I am?", the other student mocked, the sarcasm flying right over his head. "Now my Captain destroy his monster! Knight, direct attack!" With a burst of speed, the warriors charged in, a cross-slash destroying the red fiend instantly (Blake 3200 / Blue Student 1600), followed by a thrust by the other warrior (Blake 1600 / Blue Student 1600) towards Blake, who looked as bored as he did when the duel started. "Make your next turn count, it'll be your last you fool!" the boy laughed and Blake was once again baffled by how every single Obelisk Blue student had a serious case of brain damage.
He drew a card and looked at his hand. 'While I could bring out Dark Armed, that guy so isn't worth it. Let's show that lizard of mine who's calling the shots here …' Blake thought and wiped the field clean with a Lightning Vortex, discarding his Dark Armed, which at least got him some grumbling as a reaction. "Woops, there goes your entire field, again. If only I had a monster strong enough to finish you off, but I don't have any on hand!"
His opponent was stunned for a moment, before laughing nervously. Until Blake continued. "How good that you have exactly what I need for that! I activate Monster Reborn and summon your Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight to my field!" Dashing in on his purple warhorse, the blue-clad knight appeared, clinging his twin-lances against each other (2300/2100). "Gaia, do all of us a favour and end this duel." The horseman galloped forward and over his target, leaving the poor excuse for a duelist on the ground after him. (Blake 1600 / Blue Student 0)
"By Ra y'all suck. How lucky you are that your parents pay for your sorry asses being kept in the dorm you are, otherwise you'd be scraping toilets at the Slifer dorm", Blake spat out in disgust. "Good thing you don't need to have any skills whatsoever to be of some use." He crouched down to the three defeated students, all of them frustrated or angry, especially now that other people were passing by, pointing and laughing at them. Being used to playing up the big bad from his time doing underground duels, Blake looked down on them and commanded them with a menacing voice. "If you don't want your last year at this school made a living hell, you'll be nice little children and contact Kami Umeno, pledging your support to her as the new Queen of this academy. Do we understand each other?"
The trio gulped and nodded feverously, before scrambling off. Getting back up, Blake sighed and made his way to class. 'This academy really needs to clean up their ranks. Perhaps I can do something about that when I get that stupid title …'
"Ready to lose?", Bright asked with a slight smirk as she adjusted her glasses.
"Whenever you are", Blake countered, smirking himself.
Classes went by like a breeze today, nothing interesting other than the two Ra girls being excited for their duels happening. He'd told Jaden that his spirit didn't have a clue about what the Winged Kuriboh meant regarding 'clashing powers' either, so they shrugged it off for now. Regarding a duel with Alexis, Jaden was supportive to help if needed, but had assured him that she'd most likely accept anyway, as she was always ready to duel rather than talk. Douchebag Princeton had given the duo some quite nasty looks, assuring Blake that he'd have no problem getting that one to duel either.
(Blake 4000 / Bright 4000)
"Looks like it's 'ladies first'. I draw", Bright stated and took a moment to look over her cards. Not knowing what kind of cards to expect, Blake took a look at his own, seeing how he'd be able to make a strong start depending on her turn, even if it left his hand empty. "I'll start with Meteor of Destruction! Since you have more than 3000 lifepoints, I can activate it to inflict a whole 1000 points of damage to you!"
The burning meteorite touched down, taking out a quarter of Blakes lifepoints. (Blake 3000 / Bright 4000) Since duels were played with only 4000 instead of the 8000 lifepoints he was used to, he'd never seen someone use that card. He himself opted for Tremendous Fire in the past, as it was more reliable even with the drawback of damaging himself. Wondering where she'd be going with this, the reality of the deck she was playing dawned on him with her next card.
"Next, I activate the Continuous Spell Wave-Motion Cannon." A large, green sci-fi-looking cannon appeared on Bright's side of the field. "I can send it to the graveyard and deal 1000 points of damage for every Standby Phase it has remained on the field. To end my turn, I set a monster and two backrows."
Blake looked at his hand once again. He'd be able to get rid of that cannon before it would become a problem, but he was more concerned about her set cards. Either she was running a straight burn deck and those cards would deal more damage to him, or they were some kind of protection, a Gravity Bind in the worst case. The sight of drawing a defensive Trap card himself wasn't reassuring.
"I activate Mystical Space Typhoon and destroy your set card to the right." The burst of air hit its target, showing that she set Dimensional Wall. "Good thing that one's gone, getting hit by Bastions' copy was bad enough", he chuckled, unsure if he should go all in now. Remembering the time he had hesitated to do so against Jasmine and regretting to do so, he went for the risky play.
"Now I summon Dark Valkyria in attack mode, then activate Polymerization to fuse the Dark Blade and Pitch-Dark Dragon in my hand to summon Dark Blade the Dragon Knight!" The dark-plated valkyrie took her position in front of him (1800/1050), just as his dragon-riding knight touched down next to her (2200/1500).
His opponent let out a whistle. "Going all in from the start, huh?" Her face didn't betray anything, but she checked her cards nonetheless.
"I've got the feeling that I need to, hope you don't mind", Blake answered with a touch of urgency. "Dark Blade, attack her set monster!" The dragon took flight, chomping down on its target's seconds later, revealing a big koala that was munching on some leaves. Before it was destroyed, some of its leaves turned towards Blake and shot at him, dealing some damage. (Blake 2600 / Bright 4000)
"When Des Koala gets flipped, he inflicts 400 points of damage to my opponent", Bright stated matter-of-factly.
His other monster attacked directly without getting stopped. (Blake 2600 / Bright 2200) So, she'd either set a bluff, or some kind of burn-card she'd most likely keep for a big finish. Maybe even some backrow-removal, if he's lucky. He set the last card in his hand before passing back to her, but she didn't react to it.
She drew her next card swiftly, activating it right away. "I activate Graceful Charity in order to draw three cards and then discard two from my hand." Taking one look over her options, Bright smiled as she sent the cards she didn't need to the GY. "Let's see if you got something to stop this", she said playfully as she made her move. "I activate another Continuous Spell in Dark Room of Nightmare. Now every time you take damage from a card effect, it'll deal another 300 points on top." Next to her, a small ruin appeared, shadows dancing across its walls.
Taking in a sharp breath, Blake clicked his tongue. "You're playing a full Burn-deck then. Colour me surprised."
"Indeed, I am. And judging by your reaction I assume I have free reign to continue", she concluded and her glasses reflected the suns light brightly as she shoved them up. "First, I activate my Wave-Motion Cannon, sending it to the graveyard in order to deal 1000 points of damage, as it has been up for one of my Standby Phases." The large cannon bloated up and shot out a wave of blue energy, a fat demon appearing behind it and adding two sharp knives that flew right behind it. "I chain my Trap card: Just Desserts. It inflicts 500 points of damage for every monster you control, which adds up to another 1000."
After Blake was hit by the cannon blast (Blake 1600 / Bright 2200) and the two knifes (Blake 600 / Bright 2200), Bright's ruins glowed ominously, sending to shadows at him one (Blake 300 / Bright 2200) after the other (Blake 0 / Bright 2200), ending the duel swiftly.
As the holograms faded, the two duelists and their onlookers were quiet, before Blake let out an amused laugh. Not knowing why exactly he was laughing, Bright frowned slightly. "What's so funny?"
"After dueling dozens of duelists that only ever tried to summon many or strong monsters, I was not expecting someone to actually play a deck like this", he answered, reigning in his laughter. Seeing as how Bright was tapping her foot and frowning, he elaborated. "I don't mean any bad with this, you got me good. You could probably win against anyone with that strategy as long as you draw the right cards at the start."
That seemed to pacify her and they walked to the rest of their group. "No harsh feelings for destroying your perfect record?", she teased, the others still being a bit stunned by the short duel.
"Nah, it had to happen at some point. I'd rather have it against a strategy I wasn't prepared for than by bricking or something like that. Well, and better one of you guys", Blake shrugged. While it felt a bit cheap to lose against her like that, he couldn't really blame her. Playing a burn-oriented deck when every duelist only had 4k lifepoints was an easy way to win if one drew the right cards.
"That so? Most guys I defeat like that call my strategy lame and 'lacking honour'. As if everyone needed to smash their heads in with big monsters", she rolled her eyes at that and gave him a playful jab. "And here I thought you'd be a sore loser with how aggressive you present yourself." He didn't get why she looked at Yuma with a bit of relief after that, but he thought nothing of it.
"Yeah, I can see someone reasoning like that." 'Someone like Zane with his stupid code' "That strategy isn't much for show, but it is quite effective", Blake nodded as he shook the other boys out of their stupor. He'd have loved to keep his score at least until Zane, preferably even after him, but there wasn't much he could've done different in this duel. His deck still lacked speed and he had to find a way to change that.
Letting out a short laugh, Bright smirked at that. "It is, and I've been quite successful with it. As long as there aren't any changes to the rules, I don't see a reason to change it."
'Going from 4k to 8k lifepoints would be quite the hassle for you, but as far as I know that amount is only used in the Master's League … another thing to look into, maybe Zane would be up for that change?' As Jaden was finally back from thinking, the gang gushed about the duel, leaving Blake to his thoughts. While playing a Burn-deck wasn't pretty or exciting, it was effective. Considering what opponents would come up in the future – and he hoped that none of them got the idea of building a Burn-deck all of a sudden –, as well as the prospect of dueling to the death, maybe that was something to incorporate into his deck. Or build a second one from scratch, he wasn't sure. Deck-destruction was more to his liking after all.
"Another day another duel", Blake mused as he fought back a yawn. Unfortunately, he woke up in cold sweat once again, leaving him tired and annoyed. The pills he got from Miss Fontaine clearly weren't working, so something else had to be the cause of this. What it was he didn't know, but it had to be connected to those whispers he had heard when waking up. Maybe it were other spirits his partner had talked about? Regardless, he'd have to deal with the cause asap, there's no way he'd expose himself to weeks of unrest again. So, finding it was the first step. Good thing he had more time after today, with the last duel against his … whatever they were happening right now.
"Say, what do you think about raising the stakes a little?", Yuma asked cheekily as the two of them readied their dueldisks, waiting for the coin-flip.
"What did you have in mind for that?", Blake countered, noticing how Brights eyes widened at the side-lines.
"Well …", she sheepishly scratched the back of her head, reminding him Jaden. "If I win, you'll have to go on a date with me!" Okay, that didn't remind him of Jaden but her appearance and mannerism was close enough.
The bespectacled girl on the edge of his vision shook her head, and now he knew why she reacted like that. He raised an eyebrow at Yuma. "And what if I win?" 'And why would you even want that?', he added mentally, but that wasn't something to call her out on in front of everyone.
"Errh … well … what do you want?", she questioned back, a bit unsure.
'Did she expect me to refuse immediately or just forgot to think that far?' "I could use a walking partner in the mornings, if you're up for that. Company sure wouldn't hurt", Blake offered.
"H-How early?"
"Sunrise."
She seemed to mentally fight herself over that, causing her girl friend to chuckle in delight. "Argh … alright! But for that you gotta win first, and it looks like I'm starting!", Yuma finally declared, to which he nodded. (Blake 4000 / Yuma 4000)
"I'll start with a classic T and end my turn", she said as she set one monster and a backrow.
'Not giving anything away, hm? I wonder what you're playing …' "My turn. I summon Mystic Tomato in attack position and attack your set monster with it!", Blake announced, his devilish tomato grinning widely (1400/1100) before charging at its target. The set monster was revealed to be a young warrior with short red hair and a curved sword, but instead of getting destroyed, both monsters were swallowed in a dark portal.
"Hehe, my D.D. Warrior banishes both himself and the monster he fights against after damage calculation. So, no monster for you", she explained with a cheeky smile.
'So, Warriors or Earth monsters?' Blake pondered as he set his own face-down before he ended his turn.
"I draw! Oh, that's a nice one: I activate Foolish Burial and send Zeta Reticulant to the graveyard! Then I summon Marauding Captain, whose effect allows me to special summon another monster from my hand. And I chose D.D. Warrior Lady!" The familiar form of the weathered captain appeared (1200/400) and was joined by a black swordswoman in a black outfit, brandishing a glowing sword (1500/1600). Now convinced that she was indeed playing warriors, Blake took a moment to look at the monster she had sent to the GY via the globe in his dueldisk. He'd never heard of it.
'You can tribute 1 "Eva Token" to Special Summon, bla bla bla, while in the graveyard special summon one "Eva Token" each time a monster your opponent controls is removed from play', Blake read as he got hit by the captain (Blake 2800 / Yuma 4000), before shattering her warrior lady by activating his face-down Sakuretsu Armor. 'She's playing a banish-focused deck?! Who the hell does that in this period of time?! And why is it a deck that counters mine too?!' Blake huffed as his opponent ended her turn. A big part of his deck was using the GY and had floating effects, so her strategy completely wrecked his own, which only made him more determined. 'Nope, not losing two times in a row.'
"I'm gonna copy your move real quick: I activate Foolish Burial and send my Necro Gardna to the graveyard. Then, I summon Pitch-Black Warwolf-" 'Who'll hopefully keep me save from something like Dimensional Prison-', Blake said and thought, only to get interrupted by his monster falling into a bottomless pit.
Letting out a chuckle, his opponent cut in. "I'm afraid your doggy has to stay out. Since my Bottomless Traphole not only destroyed but banished your monster from play-", Blake put the card from his graveyard into his pocket, "- the effect of my Zeta Reticulant activates; letting me summon an Eva-Token!" A translucent version of the monster itself appeared on her side of the field (500/500).
Blake grimaced, and with no summons or backrow left to play in his hand, he ended his turn.
"Now I know I can't finish this because of your Gardna, but I can still put you critical. First, I activate the effect of the Zeta Reticulant in my hand. I tribute the Eva-Token to special summon it!" The see-through image of the monster warped into itself, before releasing the real deal (2400/2100). "Next, I tribute my Marauding Captain to summon Divine Knight Ishzark!" Next to the alien-looking monster appeared a knight in white armor, putting his large similarly white sword into the ground beside him (2300/1800). "I'll attack you with both of them directly!"
He banished his Necro Gardna to absorb Zeta's attack, but still went into critical lifepoints due to the knight. Without having managed to put a single point of damage on her as well. (Blake 500 / Yuma 4000). With one card left in her hand, Yuma ended her turn.
"I gotta say, you and Bright both totally should be in Obelisk. You put those guys and girls in there to shame", Blake admitted, letting out a breath of relief at the sight of his next draw. With his opponent blushing at the compliment and her friend nodding along, he made his play. "Now let's see if you can deal with this! I activate Allure of Darkness-" and a shiver ran down his spine, although he had no idea why. "- I banish Giant Germ from my hand to pay its cost. Then I set a monster and two cards face-down. Your move."
Now looking even more fired up than before, no doubt looking forward to her win, Yuma drew and smiled at the card. "Sorry about your monster, but it'll have to go as well. I activate Nobleman of Crossout to banish your set monster!" A knight in shining armor appeared, slashing at Blake's set monster, before it was revealed. The Wall of Illusion Blake had set began to display dark spots all over its body, before exploding just in time to not get hit by her Spell card, instead destroying both of the monsters on her side of the field, as well as the D.D. Assailant in her hand.
"Sorry 'bout that. Couldn't get my Crush Card Virus up and running the past few duels, but here it is", Blake announced with a smirk. He'd left her with an empty field and no cards in hand, perfect for a comeback. His opponent grumbled a bit but ended her turn.
'Now that's a monster I can actually use right now, nice' "I summon Dark Crusader and use his effect to send Great Maju Garzett from my hand to the graveyard, so he gets a nice little boost." His dark-clad knight, who had been performing really well ever since he got him, took the stage (1600/200) and let his sword absorb the great fiend (2000/400). "Time for some payback. Dark Crusader; direct attack!" The monster halved his opponents lifepoints (Blake 500 / Yuma 2000) and Blake had to admit that every single one of his dark warriors had been performing marvellously. He really had to think about how to evolve his deck in the future, now being torn between focusing on Warriors or Fiends. With no cards left himself, he ended his turn.
Yuma lightly clapped her cheeks with her hands before she drew her next card. "Here it comes! Yeah! I activate The Warrior Returning Alive and grab myself D.D. Warrior Lady from my graveyard! But since I have no idea what that face-down of yours is I'll set her and end my turn."
Not wasting any time, Blake played the card he just drew. "I activate Graceful Charity, which lets me draw three and then discard two." His opponent grimaced, no doubt expecting him to end the duel with the selection he got. But before doing that he analysed her last turn. "With Zeta Reticulant in your graveyard you could've crashed the Warrior Lady you got back into my monster. While you would've received minor damage, the Eva-Token summoned by the effect would've been enough to finish me off. Why didn't you?", he asked honestly.
"Because I was wary of your face-down", Yuma flinched, assuming she made the wrong choice there. "It would've been enough, yes, but in case you didn't drew another monster next turn it was safer to wait for you to run your monster into mine, leaving me with the token and another card when it was my turn again."
"Sounds like a good plan to me. While it could've been a bluff, you didn't want to take the chance; you wanted to safely win", he nodded in understanding. Everyone looked quite impressed by her strategy, cheering her on. "And you're completely right with that idea, though in the end it didn't matter, I'm afraid." Blake flipped his set Call of the Haunted, bringing back the Dark Blade he had just discarded (1800/1500). "And while this card alone isn't enough to end this duel, it seems like we both got good draws this time." Offering up his trusty black knight as a tribute, he was replaced by the menacing form of Caius the Shadow Monarch (2400/1000), whose dark orb swiftly removed Yuma's set monster from the field. "It's been a great duel and I definitely want to talk cards with both you and Bright when we get the time. But for now, I'll finish this duel. Caius, if you'd be so kind." The monarch sent out another sphere of darkness, reducing Yuma's lifepoints to 0. (Blake 500 / Yuma 0)
Their audience cheered for both of them, and Yuma sunk to her knees as Blake made his way over. "Darn it, I was so close! And now I have to get up even earlier!", she ruffled her hair in frustration, but stopped when Blake offered her a hand.
"It could've gone both ways at the end. While I hate saying it like that; I really got lucky with my last draw, so don't beat yourself up about it", he conceded with a smile. "But for what it's worth, I believe that date you wanted would be better achieved in asking for it, rather than winning it."
She took his hand and blushed, before asking. "So, I just gotta ask, hm?"
Blake pulled her up and she stumbled into him slightly. "I think that's how it works. But only if you're up when I need you tomorrow", he teased, causing her to take a step back and groan.
"Aww, I hate getting up early!"
A triple-duel chapter, whew. Regarding the results of this chapters duels, I'm eager to read your reactions to it. The duel against Yuma was honestly a coin-flip, so I decided it with one too. Her strategy does counter Blake's and she's got ways to bring out big monsters too. Bright on the other hand was a win from the start, simply because she has the cards to protect herself until she gets enough damage in and the damage she needs to do is laughable with the options she has. With that said, I thought it only reasonable to have her win and raise some questions for Blake with her strategy.
I was informed that apparently the anime actually did follow the banlist, colour me surprised. I won't change it here, but it's nice to know. Similarly, your compliments are well received, I'm glad you enjoy the story and hope everyone will keep at it. With this, the mini-arc of dueling against the group has finished and we can get back on track with the anime-plot. Hope you're all prepared for some a little twist here.