"So, the first floor boss has finally been located?" Hela mused as she leaned back in her chair. A digital newspaper was spread out on the table between her and Wyo with a headline spanning most the page and a blurry image of a solitary humanoid. Wyo studied the figure, trying to judge who or what it was, but she could barely determine its height let alone any distinguishable features.
"Yeah," she mumbled in reply as she skimmed the article for any useful information. "Seems like it has defeated every challenger so far. Satan's_Child, Agent Agent, YugiMuto234... these were all some serious duelists. If the boss is beating the likes of them I can't imagine what the bosses after this will be like."
"What did they expect? It's a #%^*ing boss! Of course the #%^*er was gonna be powerful. Probably has some crazy strategy up its sleeve ready to crush anything that comes its way."
Wyo glared at Hela, shocked at how cold her friend had become in this virtual hell. Doing her best to get her friend back on topic and away from bashing on people who had died she opened her menu and brought up her deck list. Unlike Hela who had multiple, powerful decks by now, Wyo still had her one single deck focused purely around spellcasters. Even worse was the fact that she had hardly modified the deck since obtaining it.
'I guess that's what I get for being overly cautious when it comes to exploring,' she thought to herself.
"Do you have any ideas or recommendations on how to make this deck run smoother or quicker?" She asked as she scrolled through a small list of available cards to use. "Maybe some sort of draw combos or deck thinning strategies to help get to the cards I need quicker?"
"It might help if you ditched the spellcasters all together," Hela suggested as she herself opened her deck list and picked a random deck. "Take this deck for example: Painful Choice helps put powerful cards in the graveyard where I can easily access them; Cyber Jar, to clear away powerful threats AND draw new cards, as well as Morphing Jar to draw a new hand; maybe even try some synchro monsters for added power. You don't have to JUST use spellcasters you know. Mix it up."
Wyo sat back and crossed her arms, pouting and mumbling something about Hela being possibly being right. It wasn't until her chair was yanked from under her, causing her to tumble hard to the ground, did she let out her breath. Head swimming and throbbing, she pushed herself up onto an elbow as she glanced around, finding Hela grabbing the collar of some kid and pulling him back before he could slip away.
"Let me go! Crazy b#%^*!"
"Oh hell no," Hela hissed as she spun the boy around allowing Wyo to catch sight of his face.
"You?! Aren't you..."
"Ranger," the boy growled as he struggled to shrug off Hela's grip to no avail. "You deleted my sister, Beret, in the opening ceremony duel."
"That wasn't her fault and you #%^*ing know it, you little $#%^," Hela scolded.
"I don't care. Everything would have been better had my sister won instead," he spat back as tears slowly welled up in his eyes. "Why don't you do us all a favor and just go get yourself deleted!"
Hela's fist connected hard against Ranger's chin, sending him crashing into a nearby table before toppling onto the hard cobblestone. Grunting, he picked himself up and brushed the dust from his shirt, turning to glare at Hela as he wiped the digital trickle of blood from the edge of his lips.
"If you want someone to take your anger out on then bring it on little man," Hela taunted as her duel disk snapped into place while she shuffled her deck before slamming it into place.
Wyo started forward to intervene, but Ranger's reply cut her off before she could open her mouth.
"Fine. Just be glad we aren't outside of the barrier," he snarled as his own duel disk activated.
"Duel."
"Duel."
Hela - 4000
Ranger - 4000
"Ladies first," Hela smiled as her fingers danced over her starting hand indecisively. "Hmm, let's start things off with the spell card Card Destruction. Now, each of us discards our entire hands and draw the same amount. And because I discarded Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World with a card effect I can special summon him to my side of the field."
A spear-wielding fiend sprung forth from Hela's graveyard, roaring viciously as it eyed Ranger with its dark eyes. Ranger seemed unfazed as he placed his entire hand in the graveyard and drew five more cards. Hela did the same, only drawing four cards before her graveyard flashed brightly for a few moments.
"Oh, forgot to mention Beiige's pal Broww, Huntsman of Dark World. Because I discarded him with Card Destruction's ability I can now draw one more card." Hela drew one more card before waving a hand at Ranger, inviting him to do his worst. "I end my turn."
Hela - 4000 LP, 30 deck
Ranger - 4000 LP, 30 deck
"Dark World, huh?" Ranger mused as he drew a card. "Should have expected a monster like her to be friends with a fiend like you."
"Call me what you want but don't you dare call Wyo a monster or you'll end up regretting it," Hela replied calmly. Wyo knew her friend too well to know she was anything but.
She could see the vein at Hela's temple pulse angrily. Minor tremors of rage shook her friend from her legs to the top of her head. Wyo could even hear Hela as she breathed in through her nose deeply, doing her best to contain her rage.
"Hela," Wyo called out gently, soothingly. "It's okay. Don't let him get in your head. His words don't bother me."
"You're not a monster, though. Everyone who knows you knows that. You are always so calm and patient, even when you were teaching me how to play. You even helped me through the tough times when... when my mom... when she... So I'll be damned if I let this little boy call you such. Besides, if anyone around here is a monster it's me."
"Oh please," Ranger scoffed. "If you're such a monster then I'm glad I've got knights on my side. I summon Marauding Captain to the field in attack position. And thanks to his ability I'm able to special summon one level four or lower monster to the field. I special summon Command Knight, also in attack position. With him on the field all of my warrior-type monsters will gain 400 attack points, and as long as I control another monster you can't target him for an attack. Next I'll activate the continuous magic card, The A. Forces. For each warrior-type monster I control my warriors gain 200 additional attack points. That means that with these two out on the field that's 400 more each, bringing their totals to 2000 a piece."
"Holy #$%^ you're long winded," Hela huffed as she rolled her eyes.
"Shut up! First I'll destroy your monster with my Marauding Captain." The soldier rushed forward, twin blades slashing effortlessly through Beiige and reducing him to pixilated dust. "But that's not all. Now my Command Knight will attack you directly before ending my turn."
Hela - 1600 LP, 30 deck
Ranger - 4000 LP, 29 deck
Hela was blasted back as the knight cut through her life points, easily shredding half of her remaining total. Dusting herself off she gave a loud and obnoxious yawn.
"Is that it? I was hoping for a little more 'umph', especially from a couple of warriors. Let's see what I can do in return. I draw... well, it's not a game winner but it'll do for now. I activate a continuous spell card myself, The Dark Door. Now, neither of us can attack with a second monster. You'll have to settle with just one attack a turn. I'll set a monster face down in defense position, set three cards face down, and finish this turn by activating Mystical Space Typhoon. Say goodbye to your spell card."
Hela - 1600 LP, 29 deck
Ranger - 4000 LP, 29 deck
Ranger let out a low hiss as he watched his monsters' attack points drop. He waited for Hela to give him another wave indicating his turn to draw his card. Looking it over he couldn't help but grin.
"Only one monster can attack a turn with that spell card, correct? Fine. I summon Mataza the Zapper! And with Command Knight still on the field his attack is boosted to 1700."
"Oh no!" Hela feigned a horrified expression. "Maybe that WOULD have been great if you could attack more than once."
"Who says I can't? Mataza has a neat ability. You see, he can attack twice a turn. Go, Mataza, attack her monster."
The samurai monster easily smashed through Hela's face-down Soul Absorbing Bone Tower before turning its attention to Hela herself and closing in for the final strike.
"Well that sucks... sucks that I needed to activate this face-down quick play spell card. Emergency Provisions allows me to send any number of other spell or trap cards I have on the field to the graveyard and gain 1000 life points for each card sent. So I'll send one of my other face-down cards to the graveyard to give myself a little pick-me-up before your attack can land."
Hela - 900 LP, 29 deck
Ranger - 4000 LP, 28 deck
Hela sighed as she checked her remaining life points. Had she lost any more from that attack she wouldn't be do what she had planned. All she needed was one more card. Drawing a card she huffed disappointedly but knew it wasn't all bad. Checking the field summary display realized just how much more work she had left if she was going to win.
'The kid ain't that bad,' she thought to herself. Looking over at Wyo, her thoughts lingered on Ranger's sister, Beret. 'His sis musta been a pretty good teacher. Too bad for him mine was better.'
"I activate Pot of Greed. Now I can draw two more cards. Next up I summon another Soul Absorbing Bone Tower in attack position. I'll then follow that up with Premature Burial. At the cost of 800 life points I can special summon a monster from my graveyard in attack position, and I choose the first Soul Absorbing Bone Tower that you destroyed last turn."
Hela - 100 LP, 28 deck
Ranger - 4000 LP, 28 deck
"What good will that do? You're on the brink of losing and your monsters are in attack position. All I have to do is attack to win."
"Well, while I control another zombie you can't target my Bone Towers as attack targets. And since they are both zombies you can't target either one. Kinda like your Marauding Captain over there. Also, whenever a zombie is special summoned to my field my Towers force you to discard two cards from your deck to the graveyard."
Hela - 100 LP, 28 deck
Ranger - 4000 LP, 26 deck
"So I can't target them, and even if I could attack I could only do so with one monster a turn. Seems like a turtle strategy to me. Or are you stalling for something big?"
"Nothing big like Exodia if that's what you're wondering," Hela replied as she pointed at her last facedown card. "But I will activate this, Call of the Haunted. Now I get to special summon another monster to the field from my graveyard and I'll choose one I discarded earlier with Card Destruction... my final Soul Absorbing Bone Tower. That makes four more cards you have to discard."
Hela - 100 LP, 28 deck
Ranger - 4000 LP, 22 deck
"That'll do it for me."
Ranger scowled as he drew his card, annoyance flooding his face with a wash of red. Without speaking he played The A. Forces, allowing his monsters to be beefed up once again before ending his turn.
Hela - 100 LP, 28 deck
Ranger - 4000 LP, 21 deck
"Seems like I've hit a nerve. Let's see what other damage I can do with this next card... hmm, not bad. I activate Book of Life. This card allows me to remove from play one of the monsters in your graveyard while simultaneously special summoning one from my graveyard. Go ahead and remove whichever one you want, as for me I'm gonna special summon another card that was discarded with Card Destruction, Pyramid Turtle, in defense position. Your turn."
Ranger groaned as the new zombie appeared on the field causing the three Tower monsters to light up before six cards were sent from his deck to the graveyard.
Hela - 100 LP, 28 deck
Ranger - 4000 LP, 15 deck
"This is getting old real quick," Ranger huffed. Drawing his card he waved Mataza forward, his anger obscuring his reasoning as he pointed at Pyramid Turtle. "Mataza, destroy that piece of garbage."
It felt good to finally be able to do something. Ranger's eyes danced at the sight of the monster erupting into tiny particles. The feeling was short lived, however, when they reformed into Pyramid Turtle once more causing the Bone Towers to light up once more.
"Wha-... What gives?!"
"Thanks to you my turtle's ability activated. When it gets destroyed in battle and sent to the graveyard I'm allowed to special summon one zombie with 2000 or less defense from my deck to the field, and I chose another Pyramid Turtle. That means six more cards from your deck."
Hela - 100 LP, 28 deck
Ranger - 4000 LP, 8 deck
"Screw you! Mataza, attack again!"
Hela simply shook her head as another turtle was destroyed only to be replaced by her third Pyramid Turtle. She watched as six more cards vanished from Ranger's already miniscule deck.
"That's all she wrote, kid," Hela shrugged. "You may as well for-."
"Just keep attacking!" Ranger cried out as tears of rage and defeat rolled down his face. Even when his monsters refused to budge, thanks to Hela's Dark Door spell card, he kept prompting them to march on. It wasn't until Wyo stepped up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder did he let his arms drop as he fell to his knees sobbing. Hela watched as the duel cleared and declared her the victor.
"Ranger? It's okay. Ber-... Your sister would have been proud of you," Wyo said soothingly, still unable to get the girl's name past her own lips. "You seem so much like her. I can tell you two were very close just by watching you duel."
"We... We used the same strat-... the same strategies," he struggled to get out. "I just... I just want my sister back."
Wyo pulled his head into her chest, hugging him tight as he sobbed heavily. Wyo turned to look back at Hela, glaring at her and mouthing, "You're an #$$hole."
"What? The kid needed this," Hela replied. She was about to say something more when she froze and looked around, her gaze slowly taking in the rapidly changing sky. "Umm, guys, what's going on?"
Wyo glance up and watched the sky above the city turn red and menacing. Ranger, still sniffling, did so as well, wiping his eyes clear of tears just to be sure he was seeing things clearly. Suddenly, a siren began wailing all around while warning displays lit up in front of every player's face.
"'Warning'?" Wyo read aloud to nobody in particular. "'Husk invasion'? 'All town safeguards have been disabled'?! 'All duels are to the death until the Husk has been defeated'?!"
"Not good," Hela hissed looking around. "Where is it? We've gotta find it fast and defeat it before someone gets killed."
Wyo shook Ranger back to his senses, getting him to look her in the eyes before speaking.
"Are you going to be okay? Are you going to be able to defend yourself if need be?"
His mouth opened and shut but no words were forming. Swallowing, his eyes narrowed and became serious as he nodded.
"Good. Hela, Ranger, let's go. We've gotta find this thing and get rid of it ASAP."