Zander teleports into Chaotic from Perim. He's got the same cheerful expression he always carries, although today's seems to be brighter, almost blindingly so. He holds his scanner close to his person. "Well, Zander, it took you a few attempts, but you finally got a scan of a Mipedian Cactus. Good thing Mipendian heat isn't as rough as it is back home." He walks towards one of the boards to upload the scan into his personal collection.
Making his way, he spots a lone Oliver sitting at one of the vacant boards in the common area of the center. Curious, he walks over to the new player to find them lost in thought. The world is mute to them as they seem to be busy constructing a team out of their collection.
Zander reaches his hand out, and grabs their shoulder while calling out, "What do you think you're doing?!" The poor lad jumps in his seat and lets out a yell before seeing that it's Zander.
"Zander? What the hell, mate?" Oliver has gone out of breath with his face turned bright red.
"I just saw you on your own and wanted to see what was up. Almost, I wanted to upload a new scan I got. But that can wait a bit. What are you working on mate?" He looks over at the board to see the work-in-progress board Oliver is making.
"Oh, this? I have my firs match scheduled for today. I wanted to try out some builds before the match," Oliver explains bringing up the full board to display what he's worked on so far.
"Let's have a look here," Zander looks over his team setup. "Ursis up front makes sense. Ribbian armed with the Torwegg, nice, love to see the Mipendian love. Aggroar, cool. I see you also have Zamool behind them both. Nice card."
"Thanks. I got him last night through some online trading. I was trying for something like Tangeth Toborn, but he's apparently gotten very rare and no one seems to be trading for some reason."
Zander nods along as he looks over the rest of the setup, browsing the locations and mugic. "Gloomuck Swamp, Runic Grove, Geonova, okay, I think I can see the type of player you are. You like to mix and match tribes, which is fair. A lot of players do that."
"Thanks, I've been stuck in this trap for ages. Been trying to work on a strategy that works, but I keep on refreshing and starting again. Like, I go back and forth on Ursis being in the front, or back. Then there's what battle gear to use, and what creatures to give them to. It just turns into a mess."
"I hear ya. I think the problem is, you're overthinking it. Try just going with who you want to fight with, or as in this case," Zander's scanner beeps with a notification. "My match starts in 10 minutes. You're welcome to watch if you're up for it. I got to update my collection first." Zander adds his new battle gear to his deck before heading off to the Crellen drome for his scheduled match.
…
Oliver takes a break from team building to watch the fight. He takes a seat at one of the empty tables as both players have already started building up their respective teams. Zander's opponent is a player known as SuspectGreen. After both players have finished building their boards, they lock their decks for the match, revealing both sides to each other and to the audience watching.
Zander is playing a team with full Mipedians. From the front row to the back, his lineup consists of Marquis Darini, Ghatup, Malvadine, Melke, Gnarlus, and Tiaane.
SuspectGreen is playing a mixed tribe deck of UnderWorlders and Danians. Up front, he has Kelvedran, Jaal, and Irsenog, with Dubin, Krekk, and Kughar behind.
"GoldenPatron. Given your five-win record in the Crellen drome, you shall be the first attacker. Please spin the location randomizer." The voiceover calls the start, and Zander delivers. Turning the wheel, his selected locations flash before his eyes before landing on the first. "The first battle will take place in the Mipedim Oasis."
Zander looks over the board, deciding on his first attack. "Marquis Darini will attack Jaal in the Mipedim Oasis."
Selecting their creatures, Zander turns into a lizardman with yellow scales, and a long tail. They have whiskers like a catfish on their forehead, as well as a blue cape that wear around their neck. SuspectGreen becomes Jaal, a larger Mandiblor with a purple head, hands, and mane. Unlike other Mandiblor, Jaal has eight limbs, divided into four arms, and four legs.
The Mipedim Oasis is a lush refuge in the midst of the unforgiving desert, becoming a place of rest and recovery from the heat. Renowned for its cooling gardens and refreshing springs, the Mipendians are very protective of this spot, choosing to attack strangers on sight out of wanting to keep the oasis for themselves.
SuspectGreen walks around the surrounding desert around the oasis, keeping away from the trees. SuspectGreen shields their eyes from the sun, the heat starting to get to them. "Jeez, why do Mipendians love the sun so much? This is killing me."
"Well then, maybe you should keep to the shade," a voice replies from behind before a strong gust of wind hits SuspectGreen in the back. "Cyclone Slam!" SuspectGreen is hit by a sudden appearing cyclone that throws its body into the trees and foliage.
SuspectGreen gets back on his feet, knocking over the debris of torn trees as he rises up, "Where are you? Show yourself!"
"I'm right here," SuspectGreen sees footsteps walking towards him before Zander appears, using the Mipendian trait of invisibility to catch SuspectGreen off guard. "I told you to stay in the shade." SuspectGreen tries to attack but Zander turns invisible again before attacking, "Airasult!" He creates three separate wind attacks that follow SuspectGreen. Ducking for cover, only one of the attacks actually hits, but only barely as SuspectGreen leaps for cover.
SuspectGreen jumps out and lands into the water for cover. Zander watches, not wanting to attack someone while they are submerged. Instead, he walks around and stands on the edge of the pond, waiting for them to emerge and attack them.
Suddenly, he feels the ground start to shake. Something is causing the water to bubble up in the oasis.
SuspectGreen bursts from the oasis armored with battle gear. Attached to his arm is the Valric Shard to increase Jaal's earth attacks. And in the other a Spectral Viewer, a special battle gear a creature can be equipped with along with another piece of battle gear.
SuspectGreen lands just over the Zander, on top of the rocks looking down on the oasis. Using the Spectral Viewer, SuspectGreen is able to see Zander, even when invisible. "I gotcha now! Pebblestorm!" He fires a barrage attack at Zander.
He tries to run, but to no avail, he takes the forefront of the attack, knocking him down to the ground, and canceling out his invisibility. The second he was hit by the attack, he could feel something strange happen to Marquis Darini.
SuspectGreen begins laughing, "I knew you favored Mipendians, so I knew to plan about it by equipping Jaal with the Viewer and choosing locations to benefit me." He watches as Zander shakes off what just happened to him, and gets back up. "Let me guess, you're feeling the effects of the parasite?"
Zander is shocked to hear that, only now remembering Jaal's special ability. "You don't mean?"
"Yes. When Jaal damages a creature with an earth attack, that creature becomes infected with a parasite. Then, every attack dealt to them by Jaal's earth attacks becomes stronger, and since he has this," he displays his Valric Shard, "it won't be long for you to be code."
"We'll see about that," Zander rushes SuspectGreen. He sprints towards the hill he stands on while SuspectGreen tries to attack them with more earth attacks. Using Marquis Darini's mastery of the wind, Zander uses his own air attacks to dodge and counter the attacks before they hit him.
Close enough, he uses another attack to leap into the air, and land on the hill with SuspectGreen, putting them on the same level as each other. Turning on the spot, he unveils his battle gear, a Liquidizer.
"What's that going to do against me?" SuspectGreen asks, feeling overconfident despite their standing in the fight.
"Plenty," Zander replies, turning his gear on himself. "Acid Wash!" The Liquidizer grants the wielder water attacks. Using the right move, Zander destroys the parasite within, removing Jaal's advantage.
"No!" SuspectGreen is alarmed. "I can just infect you again!" He goes to throw a punch, but this time Zander is ready for him.
"Frost Blight!" With the Liquilizer he freezes SuspectGreen where he stands, covering everything except his face. With SuspectGreen frozen in place, Zander throws out another attack. "Winterclaw!" Using both his water and air attacks, he creates a giant claw of ice. It grabs hold of SuspectGreen, and crushes him. Jaal explodes into code as he is defeated.
Returning to the drome, Zander transforms back into his humanself as his scanner starts beeping with a call. He answers it, "Hello."
"Mate, that was awesome! I saw the whole thing. How did you know he was going to use the parasite on you?" Oliver is amazed by the display Zander put in the battle.
Zander shakes his head. "I didn't. You see Darini is one of my favorites so I just enjoy equipping him with different gear to mix it up. It just so happened to be the right one for the job."
The signal calls out, alerting Zander to the next game. "Gotta go, mate. Wish me luck," Zander proceeds with the rest of the match, having various battles with his creatures.
Oliver watches the next few battles as they unfold. Ghatup against Kelvedran. Irsenog coded by Malvadine. So far the only creature Zander loses is Tianne, and only when he uses his ability during the fight between Darini and Krekk.
Watching all of this play out, Oliver finally understands Zander's point. Grabbing his scanner, he heads to the portal pads. He casually flips through the locks in his collection at random before locking it into his scanner. "I've got 2 hours until my match. That should be enough time to grab something for my collection. I don't care if it's common mugic or cheap battle gear. It's just a game after all." Oliver portals out of Chaotic into Perim for his out-of-nowhere scan quest.