C.4 - Cosmic Powers
"With Jinzo on the field, you're screwed, Wheeler!" Espa Roba happily declared. (2400/1600)
"Yeah, yeah, you summoned one tall nerd, I don't see how that's gonna help ya. Your guy only ties with my Thousand Dragon!" And even then, he had a card that would utterly ruin that balance. All on the roll of a die.
"You've got no imagination Wheeler! So I guess I'll just have to show you what I mean. I'll show you everything I have, just like you asked! From the moment I pulled this card from one lucky pack, I knew I was made for greatness!"
"It takes more than one lucky pull ta beat me!" He boasted, pointing a thumb back at himself.
"Says the guy relying on bloody Time Wizard, roulette magic!" Espa Roba pointed out angrily.
"Ah.. well…" He sheepishly scratched at his head. That's a good point.
"Whatever!" Espa Roba cut his hand through the air. "First things first, I'll activate my Jinzo's effect. I can declare one of two locations, the field or the hand. This time I'll declare the field!" Jinzo's eyes glowed with pink light before it fired them out like a spotlight over Joey's Field.
He watched in horror as Jinzo's vision looked clean through his trap card, revealing it. "My Skull Dice!"
"Yes Wheeler!" Espa Roba declared. "While Jinzo is on the Field neither of us can use Trap Cards in any capacity, but in addition to that I can actively search for them and destroy any I find and when I do, you'll take 200 damage for each one I destroy!" The spotlight condensed into a thin laser beam that caused his set card to burst into flames and be destroyed.
Joey (2400LP)
"That's just great."
There goes his plan. But it's still true that their monsters are at equal power. There wasn't much he could do about that though…
"With that done, I'll end my turn there." Espa Roba declared.
"Looks like we're at a stalemate." He bantered.
Espa Roba grinned back at him. "For now at the very least."
He then drew from his deck. He then frowned. That's the trap card Fairy Box, he couldn't even hope to use that now that his opponent's Jinzo was sitting on the field.
"Haha!" Espa Roba gloated, causing him to look up from his hand.
"From that expression, I don't even need to use my psychic powers to know that you've drawn a trap card." Espa shrugged.
"Why you!" He growled at the insult, but he forced himself to stay calm, he couldn't let the little oddball get to him. The problem was that his hand wasn't giving him a lot to work with at the moment. The Swordsman Of Landstar, Fairy Box, Gamble and Battle Warrior. None of these cards could tilt the battle into his favour.
Sure, he could attack Jinzo with Thousand Dragon and they'd both be destroyed, but his opponent might have a way to revive that card. So if he does that and sets his trap cards in waiting, all he'd be able to do still is defend himself from Reflect Bounder, if Espa Roba got Jinzo back he'd be able to destroy all of his set traps.
Ah… he'd be taking a lot of damage from Jinzo's effects either way. If he left that Jinzo card on the field, they'd only need to declare his hand and he'd lose two cards and 400 life points.
Hm.. although, he'd be able to minimise the damage he took if he did choose to leave Jinzo on the field by just setting a single card instead of both of them. Agh… he didn't want to have to resort to this but he didn't know what to do about this big guy.
And that wasn't even mentioning that Reflect Bounder card, he had no idea what that effect monster did. He just knew it had an effect due to its orange border. Then there is the fact Espa Roba left in attack mode when he didn't need to…
Ah! That's totally a trap! Maybe not a real trap card, but a trap nonetheless. Maybe Reflect Bounder lives up to its name and it'll destroy Thousand Dragon if he attacked with it against that Reflect Bounder. Then he'd just straight up lose, no ifs or buts about it.
He shook his head. He had to bide his time, that much was becoming more obvious as time passed him by.
"I'll set a single card facedown and summon Battle Warrior in defence mode! Your move Espa Roba!"
"Alright then." Espa grinned as he drew from his deck. "It seems I can't do anything either, I'll set a single monster face-down, use Jinzo's effect to destroy all trap cards you have on the field, attack your Battle Warrior and then end my turn."
There goes his Gamble, losing him yet another 200 life points (2200LP)
Then Jinzo collected a ball of lightning in their hands to throw at his warrior. Destroying them completely. All that remained after the fact on his field was smoke and dust.
"Ugh… that's just great…" At least his Thousand Dragon still remained on the field, meaning his opponent couldn't get a hit in against his life points.
"If you surrender now Wheeler, maybe I'll forgive your doubting nature and heck, I'll even throw in an autograph." Espa Roba promised, turning his nose up at the blonde.
"Agh! Screw you." This kid was really starting to piss him off.
"My move again! Draw!" And Espa Roba had left that Reflect Bounder in attack mode again… ugh! That's so annoying! "I'll now play the Swordsman Of Landstar in Defence Mode and end my turn." He still couldn't do anything. Things weren't looking good for him.
"My turn, yet again!" Espa Roba called out as he drew another card from his deck. "Next I'll flip summon my face-down monster, the legendary Blacksmith! When they're flip summoned I can add any Equip spell from my deck, so I'll grab an Amplifier!"
Rising from the set card was a hardworking blacksmith hammering away at his anvil. At Espa Roba's request he pulled out a tech manual before growling in frustration, throwing it away and hammering at his anvil even harder and faster than before. When he was done he somehow made a technologically advanced helmet which he gave off to Espa Roba.
The helmet faded as Espa Roba pulled out its corresponding card from his deck.
"Now prepare yourself, because I'm using it right away!" Espa Roba called out. Suddenly that technological helmet appeared over Jinzo's bald cranium, the monster lifted his hands up to the helmet as they cried out in pain, their power rising even further! (2700/1900)
Once the power stopped flowing into their body Jinzo fell limp for a moment before slowly recomposing himself, though looking even more robotic in their movements than they did before for whatever reason.
"Now, in addition to that power boost, Jinzo can force you to send a trap card from your deck to the graveyard and inflict 200 points of damage to you. Go Jinzo, Trap Search!"
He grimaced as he was forced to look through his deck for a trap card, he ended up selecting his Kunai With Chain to send to the graveyard. At this rate he was going to have no trap cards at all. (2000LP)
"Now Jinzo, scan his hand!" Espa Roba called out next, his Jinzo fired a red beam over the cards in his hand, one of which immediately detonated setting that card on fire.
Man, he was glad this stuff was just a hologram as he discarded his burning copy of Fairy Box. His life points continued to trickle down. (1800LP)
"Now let's battle!" Espa Roba called out. "Jinzo Attack his Thousand Dragon!" He declared. Jinzo then fired an orb of electrified dark magic that bored a hole straight through his dragon's chest. Destroying them immediately. (1500LP)
Following that, Reflect Bounder fired its own magical beam of light at his Swordsman, destroying it and opening his board up to direct attacks, which was quickly followed by the Iron Blacksmith Kotetsu attacking him directly. (1000LP)
"Your move Wheeler, and it's going to be your last, so make the most of it!" Espa Roba warned him.
"Agh… looks like i'm gonna have to bet it all on this next card, don't I?" He slowly placed his hand atop his deck, before moving in one fluid motion and drawing his next card.
Mokuba looked down at the duel going on in the street below, it seems like that klutzy blonde could actually put up some resistance in that duel. Though, that did imply that if this was a fair duel, Joey probably could've won this easily. He then turned his head to the small family of four besides him.
They all look basically identical from hair and clothes to Espa Roba, just in various different sizes. They seemed to all be his younger brothers. He'd caught them speaking into an ear piece moments ago, communicating with Espa Roba while also using binoculars to look into Joey's Hand.
Seemed like those Cosmic Powers were nothing more but this kid's family looking over Joey's shoulder.
And in any other circumstance he'd have disqualified this family on the spot. But no, he found that their pleas had resonated with him. They didn't even want to cheat, they'd been made to...
"Brother…" The eldest of the family beside him prayed as they clasped their fingers together. "Please believe in yourself like we do with you."
He found it hard to fault that. Wanting your older brother to not be afraid and to believe in themselves as much as they believed in them…
He leaned his propped up head to the side. Seto… why did you get so worked up over your past so suddenly. You've never been so insecure about what you were. Is this thing you're doing really for the better?
And that's not even mentioning all of those wild feelings he saw his brother show towards his god card. Hesitence, awe at its power and yet fear that he's stuck reliving some past life.
The last time he's been given a destiny was what their adopted father had tried to enforce on them. That.. was truly the worst part of his life looking back at it. Far worse than even when he was kidnapped by Pegasus and he was pretty sure he wasn't alive for portions of that kidnapping.
He then shook his head and looked back at the duel. Now that Espa Roba isn't getting any more instructions, a fact that not even that boy seems to have noticed. This duel is fair, but can Joey make up for lost ground?
He just had to wait and see, he guessed. The blonde was about to draw.
"Let's go!" Joey cheered as he raised the card he just drew. "Now this is what I need."
"Huh?" Espa Roba looked on with curiosity and concern. "What the hell is it this time, Wheeler?"
"Oh you'll see, you'll see right now!" He then activated the spell card immediately. "Go! Stray Lambs!" Suddenly two lamb tokens appeared on Joey's field. The lambs were nothing more than fluffy balls of wool with ram horns coming out the sides of their heads. One was white whilst the other was pink. (0/0)
"So?" Espa Roba pointed out. "They lack any real attack points."
"What makes ya think i'm attacking with these little guys, nah mate, The Stray Lambs spell card makes it so i can't Normal Summon monsters during the turn i activate this card, but it says i can still tribute summon. That's the upside to this card compared to my Scapegoats, so I'll tribute my two Stray Lambs to summon a mighty warrior! Say hello to Gilford The Lightning!" He shouted out.
A lightning bolt then crashed into the field and remained there frozen in place. Then walking out from where the lightning bolt touched the earth a muscled warrior in metal armour and an orange cape walked out of the bolt like it was nothing but a portal. (2800/2000)
"Yeah!" He pumped his fist up. "He's the man, the myth, the legend himself!"
"Shut up! Agh! Why is that card so powerful!" Espa Roba asked.
Joey shook his head. "I got this card from pulling packs with my friends, so here comes the power of trust they placed in me!" He then snapped his fingers. "Now normally Gilford would have an effect if I tributed three monsters for their summon, but I can just summon them just fine when I only have two cards too! Now Gilford, attack his Blacksmith now!"
His warrior unsheathed the massive greatsword from his back which was longer than he was tall and ran towards the blacksmith on Espa Roba's field.
"No!" The Psychic Duelist shouted out. "I won't let you! I activate my trap card, you're in for it now Wheeler!"
"Hey!" Joey called out. "You said Jinzo blocks all traps, that means even your own!"
"You're wrong Wheeler! Because while my Amplifier is on my field, my traps are unaffected by the effects of Jinzo. I can do whatever I want with trap cards! And to prove it take a look at this card! Energy Drain! Now my Blacksmith gains attack and defence points equal to all cards in my hand and I have four, meaning they gain 800 points!" (1300/1300)
Lightning flashed across the battlefield as Gilford carved up the blacksmith, destroying it and sending a massive wave of damage over Espa Roba. "Agh!" (150LP)
Espa Roba snapped his head to the side and closed his eyes to protect himself from the lightning strike. The sudden movement caused a small black box to fall out of the side of his head, out from beneath his hair and clatter to the ground. Espa Roba noticed it after the fact and gasped.
"Hey!" Rex Raptor pointed towards the small machine. "That's an earpiece! You've been getting help for this duel this entire time! No wonder you knew what cards i was playing!"
"W-wait!" Espa Roba cried out. "It's not what it looks like, really!"
But the crowd surrounding them already began grumbling and distrusting Espa Roba. It was clear immediately he wasn't going to be able to convince them otherwise, especially as a look of defeat covered his face.
"Hey?" He asked the exposed Psychic slowly.
"What!" Espa Roba snapped at him. "You want to rub it in too, that i don't belong to even stand here, because you know without this you realise that i'm just some random nobody!"
"That's not what I was gonna say at all…" He replied, slowly shaking his head from side to side.
"Well I don't care what you were going to say! With this tournament and its cash prize I could've erased all the worries of my family. No longer cutting costs so we can live well, no more making makeshift nappies for the little ones! We would've had something! But I guess it's impossible isn't it!"
"Espa…" He tried to get the exposed psychic to listen again.
But Espa Roba just clenched his fist. "No, because there are hacks like you who are just born better, born luckier! Who only does this kind of thing for fun. Well I don't have the luxury, my family doesn't have the luxury. So I don't regret cheating if it meant I had even a slither of a chance of winning for once in my pathetic life!"
"Big bro…" A voice came through on the earpiece. Prompting both him and Espa Roba to look down at it. "I'm sorry to say this, but you're just wrong. Plain wrong, because… we don't think you need to cheat to win. You're skilled at this game. We hardly even needed to tell you anything about your opponent's hands. I think you ignored us as you got more into this duel even. Your Jinzo is powerful too, but you don't need it. It's not what made you great and… and… personally… I don't think we were born unlucky… After all, I can't think of a better brother than you."
"I.. really…?" Espa's voice cracked as he asked the ear piece.
"Yes Big bro, you're invincible in our eyes. You didn't need to cheat, you're great!"
Espa chuckled to himself as he cried.
"You're right…" The exposed psychic realised as he looked upwards. Probably towards the sky. "I can't deny my family that… i… I've made a mockery of what you thought of me, haven't i? Let me… let me make it up to you, let's restart.." Espa slowly raised his hand up to his duel disk to surrender.
"Stop!" he cried out. His sudden shouting caused Espa Roba to freeze and look back towards him.
He first took a deep breath, considering how he should go about this. "Espa Roba, you've cheated, by all accounts you deserve to lose. But I can't call that a satisfying ending. I think it'll just leave a bitter taste in your mouth."
Espa Roba looked down and away from him sheepishly.
"And the reason that is is because you're like me, we're not so different." He explained. "Because despite playing like a cheater, you've got that spirit of a duelist, someone who wants to play this game to the best of their ability. So let's finish this! You and me! A brawl to the very end."
"I.. I shouldn't.." Espa Roba whispered, it was uncharacteristically quiet for the boy. But he could tell that the exposed psychic couldn't help but consider the offer. It only made him for assured in himself that he said the right things to the green haired boy.
"Take the two monsters on the field, you said it yourself. You pulled Jinzo from packs with your family, I got Gilford also from pulling packs with friends. In a way, this kind of stand-off could only happen because of our friends and family. That's what friendship is ultimately. Something you can't see or quantify, but it affects the very path you and I have walked."
Joey clenched his fist tightly. "What lives would we have lived without them… I don't know what my life would've been like without my pals, and honestly I don't care because I love my friends. I wouldn't want something different from this and I can tell you love your family too. Each of them." He clutched a fist tightly and beat it against his chest, just over his heart.
"Let's honour everyone who has ever cared for us. Let's duel with everything we've got and be happy while we do. Like real duelists would."
Espa Roba nodded, he looked convinced. "Alright…" They then lifted his head up to face him. "Let's go Wheeler! That Locator Card of yours is mine!"
"Like hell!" He bantered back with the exposed psychic. "I'll set one last card face-down and end my turn."
Sun rays filtered through the window, past the curtains into the clinical white room. He was sitting on the side of the bed with an opened laptop on his lap, opened to a website where he was able to see the Duels Of Battle City. He watched with a visual aid for the duel currently ongoing.
From the audio he was receiving from this duel however, he couldn't help but smile.
"He's some guy isn't he? Serenity?" He asked as he turned around to the recovering girl with long brown hair, bandage wraps around her eyes, fresh from her last surgery. With any luck, they'd be the only things preventing her from seeing ever again.
The doctors had said her surgery was a success, but that immediately after the operation her eyes would still be too sore to see without being irritable or outright painful, especially towards sunlight for a few hours. Which was why she still had bandages on.
The younger girl smiled pleasantly. "My brother certainly knows how to flatter. He really is a great guy, don't you think?"
"He has his moments. Mhm. But anyways, how are you feeling?"
"I think I'm not nearly as tired as I was after my surgery, we could leave after Joey's duel is over I think, Tristan." She assured him.
He nodded back. "Alright. Then that's when we'll go and take the train to Domino."
"Draw!" Espa Roba shouted out. "I trust you, my family, I'll win this! In the way a duelist should!" With blazing passion he shouted out. "Jinzo, search his deck."
He winced as he was forced to send his Needle Wall trap card to the graveyard and take another 200 damage. (1600LP)
"Now his field!" Espa Roba called out next. Jinzo lit up its spotlight eyes over his face-down revealing a spell card instead of a trap card. "Scapegoat?" Espa Roba looked on and frowned.
"Mhm." He nodded.
Espa Roba hesitated for just a moment before shaking his head. "No, I know what I need to do!" He then took a card from his hand and slotted it into his Duel Disk. "I play another Cyber Raider, then I'll play my second Amplifier to augment Jinzo's power even further!"
(1400/1300) (3000/2200)
"Now battle! Destroy his Gilford the Lightning!"
Jinzo fired a ball of energy towards his Gilford, crashing into them and destroying it, causing even more of his life points to trickle away. (800LP)
"Cyber Raider, Reflect Bounder! Go!"
"Scapegoat!" He countered, four more tokens appeared on his field, only for two of them to be beaten up and destroyed by Espa Roba's Cyber Raider and Reflect Bounder.
"I'll set two cards face-down and end my turn there Wheeler, now hit me with your best shot!" Espa Roba challenged him,
"You got it, draw!" He took the top card of his deck off, increasing his hand size from one card to two. He couldn't help but chuckle at what he drew. Alright, he could use this, he just had to be a little lucky. "I'll play Monster Reborn! Reviving my Baby Dragon from my graveyard!"
His young yellow-orange wyrmling appeared on the field, flapping its little wings (1200/700)
"And then I'll equip them with this little number I just drew. Graceful Dice!" A small angel appeared on his warrior's shoulder, dressed in overalls and a pink top hat, he spun a small blue dice that they held in both their hands.
"A weak warrior and just some dice? What will that do?" Espa Roba asked cautiously.
Joey grinned to himself as he realised his opponent wasn't even asking it sarcastically. He was genuinely worried. It felt great to have his cards met with respect for once. As it should be!
"Alright, see i get to roll a six-sided die with my graceful dice card once each turn, my monster will then gain attack and defence points equal to that die's result times 100, but more importantly, when equipped to a normal monster they have a second effect, see now, if the dice result is equal to or higher than the level of the equipped monster i'll also get to draw 1 card."
"What! But that monster is so weak, its level is gonna be super low!" Espa Roba gasped.
"That's why I put it in my deck, I don't got that many powerful cards so ya gotta use what ya got." A grin slowly grew across his face. "Alright, now roll the dice!" He shouted out.
The little angel threw their dice in the air. As it fell upwards it suddenly grew three sizes until the dice was roughly as large as a basketball before coming down, spinning on an edge before coming to a stop landing on a four.
He snapped his fingers. "Alright!" He cheered. "Four is higher than three, so that means I get to draw a card." (1600/1100)
He then pulled the next card out of his deck and immediately played it. "Alright, my pulls keep getting better. I play the Dangerous Machine Type-6!"
"Another dice card? You've got a problem I swear…" Espa Roba sighed at him.
"Hey! I can stop when I've won!" He shouted back at him before shaking his head. "Anyways, this baby here-" He tried to slap his hand against the hull of the massive futuristic roulette machine only for his hand to go straight through the hologram. "Has an effect that goes off during each standby phase, but I'm not waiting that long." He clicked his tongue.
"So I'll be using its secondary effect, see it's all or nothing now!" His machine then exploded, catching fire as smoke escaped from its side, the three slots on the front of it began spinning and spinning, faster and faster.
"Huh! What did you do?"
"I destroyed my machine in order to use its effect." He explained. "Now I get to banish a number of cards that flip coins or roll dice in my graveyard. So I'm picking Skull Dice, Needle Wall, Time Wizard and the Dangerous Machine Type-6 I just destroyed!"
"Doing this I get to roll a dice and if that result is equal to or less than the number of cards i just banished I get to draw that many cards! It's one big Roll Of Fate!"
"But what happens if it rolls above that number?" Espa asked.
The slots kept spinning and spinning.
"Then I take 500 points of damage for each card I banished. So that means 2000 points this go around."
"So you'll lose?"
"I'll lose either way if I roll too high." He chuckled, he couldn't stop smiling. His heart was really pumping now.
Suddenly the machine beside him made a loud KaCHUNK sound and all three slots stopped at once, each one revealing the same number. 3.
"That means I get to draw three cards!" He grinned as he pulled more cards from his deck. "Alright, now we're talking, I activate two more Spells! The first is the normal spell Remove Trap, letting me target a set card or trap card on the field and shuffle it into the deck!" He then threw his arm forwards, pointing towards Espa Roba's left.
That card briefly raised, revealing itself to be a Trap card called Widespread Ruin before it was shuffled into the deck, leaving Espa Roba with just one set card in his back row.
"The second spell I'll use is The Warrior Returning Alive! Which I'll use to add Gilford the Lightning!"
"Hah, what are you going to do with that?" Espa Roba taunted. "You can't tribute your scapegoat tokens, so you've only got one weak little monster in your field.
"You may be right at the moment, but I have a plan for that." He grinned. "Courtesy of my friend Teà, here's a card she loves to use. The Rains Of Mercy!"
As he played the last spell he'd drawn from his Dangerous Machine, a light sprinkling of rain fell over the field. Causing Espa Roba to bite his lip.
Joey (1800LP)
Espa Roba (1150LP)
"This card gives us both 1000 life points, then afterwards we can both summon any number of normal monsters from our graveyard, but if we do this you'll take damage equal to the total attack of all those monsters!" He explained with a smile on his face.
Espa Roba grimaced. "I don't even have any Normal Monsters i can summon then…"
"Then I'll use it myself. And I'll use it to summon my Battle Warrior and Swordsman Of Landstar! Of course by summoning those two, I'll take 1200 points of damage." A white aura surrounded him before two beams of light shot out of him in an arc, hitting the ground and causing his two monsters to appear on the field. (600LP)
"Now I'll tribute all three of them in order to summon someone you're more than familiar with!" He grinned. "So say hello to my Gilford The Lightning, who when I summon by tributing three monsters instead of two, destroys all cards on the field!"
"I'll chain my quick-play spell, Magic Reflector, which I'll use to prevent my Jinzo from being destroyed by battle or card effects once per turn." Espa quickly called out, just as Gilford hit the field in a massive flash of lightning that sent a powerful shockwave rolling over the field. A barrier of protective light appeared around Jinzo, but the other monsters and spells on the field weren't so lucky.
They were simply disintegrated in the blast.
Once the lightning explosion had faded away as well as Jinzo's barrier, the Psycho Shocker stumbled down to one knee as their helmet also shattered. Weakening them to their original strength without the techno helmets to help it. (2400)
"Damn…" Espa realised it.
He nodded back. "You played well." he assured them before pointing his hand forwards. "Gilford, Attack Jinzo and end this duel!"
His warrior launched across the field and swung their massive greatsword, cutting down Jinzo.
Espa Roba's life points dwindled downwards. (700LP)
"That's my turn."
"Ah… so it's mine." Espa Roba then drew a card, but shook his head. "I'll set a single monster down and end my turn."
"Mine!" He called out as he drew. He then summoned the monster he drew. A normal monster called Panther Warrior (2000/1600)
"Gilford, attack their face-down monster!" It did, destroying the set Breaker, The Magical Warrior and leaving Espa Roba's field empty. "Now Panther Warrior!" The mighty cat-knight leapt up and brought its sword down over Espa Roba, slashing across the boy's mid-section, depleting the last of their life points. (0LP)
There was a beat of silence after that last attack. Where not even the crowd made a sound.
The silence was only broken by the sound of a person clapping. He looked off to his side and saw that the clapping person was someone he recognised. "Teà?" He whispered.
More people began to clap. More and more people joined in until practically the entire crowd was clapping at their duel.
He looked towards Espa Roba, who wasn't happy at having lost, but they looked proud of themselves. He understood that feeling. He turned things around in the later half of this duel and acted like a duelist should instead of acting like a cheater.
He had to commend them on that.
Ending Notes
Hello, Mimikree here
Lots of changed up cards here, as you can probably expect by now. I'm especially fond of the Dangerous Machine Type-6 changes, see it's second effect is based off of Roll Of Fate which was just a roll a die, then draw that many cards card that had no cost. So this is a slightly more nerfed version of that.
Espa Roba is a fun character, he really only appears as an episodic antagonist in the series, and he's only really rememberable because of both Jinzo and how his family reflects Serenity, Joey's sister, which is both really cool things. Espa Roba's deck of futuristic monsters is also kind of cool and.i hope i both captured his arrogance and his eventual realisation later in the chapter.
I also considered cutting this into two chapters at some point, but decided against it ultimately.
Thanks for reading, i hope you've enjoyed this. Until next time.