Chapter 12: The First of Many

To avenge his humiliating loss at Duelist Kingdom and Battle City, Weevil Underwood challenges Playmaker to the first duel of the Tournament of Time. And that duel starts now.

"Let's Duel!"

Playmaker: 4000 LP

VS

Weevil Underwood: 4000 LP

"I heard you were the hero of an entire digital world." Weevil noted.

"Word spreads fast where I come from." Playmaker confirmed.

"In that case, I'll start things off."

Turn 1: Weevil (4000)

"First things first, I'll summon Pinch Hopper in attack mode!" Weevil's first monster is a green grasshopper with cleared wings. (Level 4/ATK: 1000/DEF: 1200)

Yusei cringed with disgust at the sight of Pinch Hopper. "What's wrong, Yusei?"

"I'm just not a big fan of bugs." Yusei admitted.

"Not a fan of bugs? Well, let me help you out. I activate Eradicating Aerosol!" Weevil plays his spell card. "This creates a powerful mist that destroys every Insect on the field." A hand with a spray can emerges from the card. The mist emanating from the spray destroys Pinch Hopper right away.

"I was afraid he'd do that."

"What do you mean?" Yuya asked.

"I've seen a combo like this before. When Pinch Hopper is sent to the Graveyard, its special effect lets him summon an Insect from his hand."

"Exactly! And who better than the ruler of the insect kingdom! Here's Insect Queen!" His best monster emerges with a powerful screech. (Level 7/ATK: 2200/DEF: 2400)

"And there's more where that came from. For every insect that's in play, her majesty gains 200 ATK." Weevil added as his monster's attack points rose to 2400.

"Your Insect Queen is powerful, Weevil. However, there is one drawback: the only way it can attack is if you tribute another monster."

"I'm aware of that, so for now, I'll just place this face down and end my turn." Weevil's turn ends with a face-down card.

"Be careful, Playmaker. Weevil's Insect cards are very tricky! They helped him win the Regional championship." Yugi warned him.

"Even a Regional champion has their faults. And I will reveal them, here and now." Playmaker begins his turn.

Turn 2: Playmaker (4000)

"I draw!" Playmaker draws his card. He sees Cynet Codec, along with Balancer Lord, Garbage Collector, Cynet Conflict, Grid Rod, and Linkslayer. He smirks, pleased with his hand.

"To start things off, since I have no monsters out on my field, I can summon Linkslayer!" The gold armored Cyberse monster emerges with its plasma claws. (Level 5/ATK: 2000/DEF: 600)

"Next, I'll summon Balancer Lord!" His next monster is a blue and green armored warrior armed with a sword and shield. (Level 4/ATK: 1700/DEF: 1200)

"He's already got two monsters out." Rex noted.

"I'll wager he's attempting to Link Summon."

"Next, by paying 1000 Life Points, I can activate Balancer Lord's special ability, which lets me summon a new monster onto the field. Here's Garbage Collector!" Playmaker glowed red briefly as his Life Points drop to 3000. A metallic garbage bin full of clusters of data appeared. (Level 2/ATK: 100/DEF: 1900)

"Next, I shall activate Garbage Collector's ability! By returning a Cyberse monster to my hand, I can summon another Cyberse from my deck that has the same Level. I return Level 4 Balancer Lord to summon Lady Debug!" Balancer Lord disappears and a humanoid ladybug with large mirrors where her chest and knees are appears in its place. (Level 4/ATK: 1700/DEF: 1400)

"Now there's something you don't see every day." Rex said.

"When I summon Lady Debug, I can add a Level 3 or lower Cyberse in my deck to my hand." A card slips out of Playmaker's deck and he places it in his hand. "I choose Micro Coder. Next, I create my circuit!" The eight-arrow portal appears. "I set Lady Debug and Garbage Collector in the Link Arrows." The two monsters become energy and enter the portal, lighting up the bottom and bottom-right arrows. "I Link Summon! Link 2 Cyberse Wicckid!" A green-haired child in a black and green hooded robe armed with a small staff emerges. (ATK: 800/Link-2)

"There's the first Link monster." Weevil smirked.

"Next, I activate Cynet Codec!" He plays the Spell he drew. "When I summon a Code Talker monster, I can add a Cyberse monster in my deck to my hand, as long as that monster shares its attribute."

"And when I Link Summon a Code Talker monster, I can use Micro Coder in my hand to Link Summon. I create the circuit again!" The portal opens again. "The summoning conditions are 2 Cyberse monsters. I set Linkslayer from my field and Micro Coder from my hand in the Link Arrows." The two monsters enter the left and right arrows. "I Link Summon! Link 2 Code Talker Inverted!" His new Code Talker monster resembles a smaller version of Encode, only is armed with a spear. (ATK: 1300/Link 2)

"Since Code Talker Inverted was Link Summoned, the effect of Cynet Codec activates! It lets me add the Light-Attribute Backup Secretary to my hand." A card slips out of his Deck and he places it in his hand. "Now Cyberse Wicckid's ability activates! By banishing Garbage Collector from my Graveyard, I can add Cyberse Synchron from my Deck to my hand." Another card slips out of his deck and he reveals it to Weevil. "And thanks to Code Talker Inverted's special ability, I can summon Cyberse Synchron next to its Link." Another monster appears next to Code Talker Inverted, which is a small white drone with a ring that contains three lights around it. (Level 1/ATK: 100/DEF: 100)

"That's a Tuner monster." Yusei identified the monster.

"Did he just say Tuner monster?" Rex gasped.

"And since I have a Cyberse monster on my field, I can summon Backup Secretary!" His purple-wearing monster emerged with her tablet. (Level 3/ATK: 1200/DEF: 800)

"Now I activate Cyberse Synchron's special ability, which lets me double Backup Secretary's Level, from 3 to 6." Playmaker announced his move as the three lights on Cyberse Synchron glow and energize Backup Secretary, changing her Level to 6.

"Now I see what's he's planning." Yusei noted.

"You do?" Yugi asked.

"He's planning to Synchro Summon."

"I don't care if you have a bunch of monsters. They stand no chance against my Insect Queen." Weevil said as he reached for the last card in his hand but stopped. "I could try and infect one of his cards, but that's what he expects me to do. I'll wait and see what he's planning."

"This isn't the first time I've dealt with Insects, and it surely will not be the last! I tune my Level 1 Cyberse Synchron with my Level 6 Backup Secretary! Go!" Both monsters dissipate into energy and reforms into two sets of rings, one blue-green and the other purple. Information tags pointing to the two rings display the levels of the two monsters and the purple ring has six concentric circles. The two rings then change to a bright blue color before merging into a single thin ring. That ring now splits into seven identical rings that rotate clockwise while a series of small green rectangles form a ring that rotates counterclockwise, forming a sort of tunnel. The levels of the Tuner and non-Tuner are shown on a display before the new monster's level takes their place.

"Watch as the flash of lightning strikes from the far reaches of the universe!" Playmaker chants as Weevil and Rex watched in astoundment. The camera goes through the ring tunnel before flashing back to Playmaker. "I Synchro Summon! Rise, Cyberse Quantum Dragon!" A white-armored dragon with dark blue large wings emerges with a roar. (Level 7/ATK: 2500/DEF: 2000)

"So, what Zack said about Playmaker is true." Yuya admitted.

"Huh?"

"I remember Zack saying that like me, he mastered Ritual, Fusion, Synchro, and Xyz Summoning."

"No way!" Yuma gasps in surprise.

"I'm amazed that you can Synchro summon. Too bad it won't help you." Weevil taunted.

"We'll see about that. Cyberse Quantum Dragon, attack his Insect Queen!" Playmaker calls for his attack.

"As I said, they stand no chance against my Queen, especially when I have this! I activate the Trap DNA Surgery!"

"DNA Surgery!?" Yugi gasped.

"That's right, and it lets me turn every monster on the field into whatever Type I choose. So now, every monster becomes an Insect." The displays on each of Playmaker's monsters change from Cyberse to Insect. "And my Insect Queen gains ATK for every Insect in play, regardless of who controls it." Insect Queen screeches as its ATK rose to 3000.

"Drat! Now Quantum Dragon can't destroy Insect Queen!" Yuma sneered.

"No, Yuma. I was expecting Weevil to play that card."

"You have?"

"Yes, and it's the perfect opportunity to play Cyberse Quantum Dragon's special ability! Any monster that Quantum Dragon battles automatically returns to the hand."

"WHAT!?" Weevil gasps in horror.

"Quantum Return!" Cyberse Quantum Dragon flies through Insect Queen, sending her back to Weevil's hand.

"Nice! That goes to show there's more than one way to squash a bug." Jaden cheered.

"And because Quantum Return successfully activated, Quantum Dragon can attack again!" Playmaker announced.

"Cyberse Wicckid, Code Talker Inverted, attack!" Playmaker calls for attacks from his two Link Monsters. Cyberse Wicckid fires a blast of white energy from his staff, reducing Weevil's Life Points to 3200. A strike from Code Talker Inverted reduces it to 1900.

"Now, Cyberse Quantum Dragon, finish it! Quantum Encryption!" Quantum Dragon fires a beam of black energy from its maw. It strikes Weevil, sending him crashing into Rex, reducing his Life Points to zero.

"He did it! He won!" Yugi cheered.

"And he did it without breaking a sweat!" Yuya added.

Playmaker approached Weevil and Rex. "How humiliating. Beaten in the first duel. This has become Duelist Kingdom all over again."

"That's right, and I believe you owe me your Link Crystal."

"Have mercy."

"Mercy? You should've thought of that before challenging me." Playmaker countered before taking Weevil's Link Crystal.

"Hey, Rex. You feel like facing me next?" Yugi challenged.

"Me? Against the King of Games? Forget this!" Rex said before running off.

"Rex! Where are you going?!"

"I can't take on any of these guys! You're on your own, Weevil!" Rex said to Weevil as he continued running, but he was stopped when he ran into someone. He looked up and saw Zane Truesdale.

"Going somewhere?" Zane spoke, sending chills down Rex's spine.

"Hey, it's Zane!" Jaden spoke, gaining the Cyber duelist's attention.

"Jaden. You've been well." Zane greeted. "I can see that you improved."

"Dueling malevolent beings can do that to you."

"Hey, Zane, was it? Now that you're here, think you can handle Rex Raptor for us?" Yusei asked.

"I'd be happy to." Zane accepted before raising his Duel Disk. "You want to watch me mop the floor with him?"

"Thanks, but we better get going. We need to get more Link Crystals." Jaden declined.

"I recommend splitting up, gather crystals in a different area." Zane suggests.

"Good plan. Jaden, you take the Glacier Area. Yusei, Yuya, you head to the Desert Area. Yuma, Yugi, you two search the Jungle Area. I'll continue scouting the Island Area." Playmaker told the others. "Be sure to contact me if you find anyone."

"Yeah." The others agreed as they split up and head to their designated area.

In his castle, Shade watched Playmaker defeat Weevil with little effort. "How pitiful. A regional champion defeated in the first duel of the competition. Maybe I should send someone stronger."

"Your Excellency." He hears a trooper come in.

"Speak."

"Playmaker's duel, the energy levels were almost off the charts!"

"Is that so? They may be of some use to us after all." Shade smirked. "Keep an eye on them. Be sure to keep me posted."

"Yes, sir."

Shade returns to seeing the six heroes split up. "That's right. Duel with all your heart, for no matter who wins this tournament, I always get the prize." He glances at a crystal around 10 times larger than those handed out to the competitors.