Chapter 37: The Gauntlet
All over the city, duelists were being forced to duel Duel Academy's forces. While some duelists managed to defeat them and escape, others were not so lucky and met the cruel fate of being carded.
"Ha! That's another three for the collection."
"Those three were so weak I didn't even break a sweat."
"Hey, how about letting me get a turn next time? I know you love the glory, but some of us want some action too."
"Sorry Frank, but you heard the Professor. Make it quick and easy."
"Yeah, we're just supposed to collect the escapees. But that doesn't mean we can't have some fun along the way."
"You lot make me sick."
The three soldiers turned around to find Gong standing atop a small cliff above them, glaring down intensely.
"Oh yeah? And who do you think you are?"
"I'm Gong Strong, and you are not welcome here!"
"Yeah? Well if you're so confident in your abilities, then we'll take you all on right now!"
"Yeah! Let's see how tough you are against the three of us!"
Gong stoically lifted his duel disk.
"Bring it."
"Not backing down? Good, I like my prey with a little bit of fight in them. It makes it all the more satisfying to crush them!"
DUEL!
OBF 1-3: 4000
Gong: 8000
"Hey look at this, he's just like the rest of them! He's so weak, he needs a handicap right off the bat!"
"Who cares? Let him have all the life points he wants, because by the time we're through with him he won't have any!"
"Well said Benny, especially not after my next play! First, I summon Ancient Gear Hunting Hound (1000/1000) in attack mode! And when he's normal summoned, you take 600 points of damage!"
Gong: 7400
"I'll set one card face down and end my turn. Your move, scum!"
"The only scum I see is the kind right in front of me. Since Gong's graveyard don't have any spell or trap cards, Gong can special summon Superheavy Samurai Big Waraji! And he counts as two tributes when Gong summons a machine type monster, so say hello to Big Benkei! And with his effect, Gong switches him to defense mode."
"Not bad, but not good enough! After all, what harm can he do in defense mode?"
"You're about to find out, because I'll equip him with Superheavy Samurai Soulshield Wall (3500-4700)! And don't think you're in the clear just because he's in defense mode, because Big Benke gives all of Gong's Superheavy Samurai the ability to attack while in defense position!"
"What?"
"Crush that pooch!"
Benkei slammed his fist down hard on the mechanical dog, smashing it into scrap metal.
OBF 1: 300
"Gong ends Gong's turn."
"You fool! Don't you realize if you had attacked either one of us, you'd have eliminated one of us before we could take a turn?"
"Gong would never attack a duelist before they've played a card. It goes against my Heavystrong style of dueling."
"Are you mocking me? I'll make you eat those words with Hand Destruction! Now we all need to discard two cards and draw two more."
Perfect! This fool won't know what hit him until he's 2-dimensional!
"I also summon Ancient Gear Hunting Hound!"
Gong: 6800
"But wait, there's more! Because with Hunting Hound, I don't need Polymerization to fuse my monsters! So I'll combine it with the other one in my hand and Ancient Gear Golem to fusion summon Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem (4400/3400)!"
"Aw yeah, you're in for it now!"
"Look at him, he's quaking in his boots!"
"And he's about to be even more scared, because I activate Limiter Removal! This doubles the attack of my machines (4400-8800)! And don't think you're safe, because Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem can deal piercing damage!"
The mechanical centaur raised his humongous claw, ready to crush Benkei, only for the Soulshield Wall to take the brunt of the attack.
"Nice try, but if a monster equipped with Soulshield Wall is attacked, I can send it to the graveyard to negate the attack. Only downside is that Benkei's defense points will drop to zero (4700-0)."
"Yeah, well don't get too comfortable, because I activate Ancient Gear Explosive! Now Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem gets destroyed, and you take damage equal to half its attack points!"
"Correction, all of its attack points! I activate my trap card, Ancient Gear Booster! Now once per turn, I can double any effect damage my opponent would take from an Ancient Gear card."
A huge explosion rocked the battlefield as the centaur became scrap metal, pushing Gong back a few feet. Gong, stoic as ever, didn't react even as his life points took a dive.
Gong: 2400
"Oh, still think you're a tough guy, huh? Well, when Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem is destroyed, I can bring back the original one from my graveyard (3000/3000)! And with the spell card Mischief of the Time Goddess, I can attack once more!"
"Go for it, Benny!"
"Show this Standard scum who's boss!"
"This is the end for you! Ancient Gear Golem, attack Big Benkei with Mechanized Melee!"
The giant monster reeled his arm backwards before launching it forward, ready to pulverize Gong's monster, but…
"I activate the effect of Superheavy Samurai Soulbuster Gauntlet! Since you attacked Big Benkei when there are only monsters in Gong's graveyard, Gong can discard it and double Big Benkei's original defense points (0-7000)!"
"What? But that would mean-"
"You lose!"
Benkei blocked the fist with his staff before he jabbed it into the ground, creating a plume of lava that cut right through the golem before hitting the soldier, sending him flying.
OBF 2: 0000
"Barry! You'll pay for that. My turn, I draw!"
"I activate the effect of Superheavy Samurai Soulbreaker Armor in my graveyard! By banishing it, I can inflict damage to you equal to the difference in Big Benkei's original and current defense! And since he's back to zero…"
"We'll be taking 3500 points of damage?!"
"Bingo."
The suit of armor exploded, sending the first soldier flying and knocking the last one off his feet.
OBF 1: 0000
OBF 3: 500
Enraged by how easily his allies were defeated, the last soldier picked himself up to continue his play.
"I'm going to enjoy turning you into a card! I summon Ancient Gear Hunting Hound! Take this!"
"No, you take this! Gong activates the effect of Superheavy Samurai Soulbang Cannon! By banishing it when you activate an effect, your effect is negated and we both take 1000 points of damage!"
"What?!"
With one final explosion, the last soldier was sent flying, lying in an unconscious heap with his comrades.
Gong: 1400
OBF 3: 0000
Gong just shook his head and started walking towards the Leo Corp building.
"Pathetic."
Over in the jungle area, Dipper and Kit were facing down three Obelisk Force soldiers of their own.
"Well, well, well, boys, looks like it's our lucky day."
"I'll say. An Xyz user and a samurai wannabe, a two for one deal!"
Kit and Dipper weren't afraid.
"This is the Obelisk Force we were told about? They don't look so tough."
"Yeah. I bet we can take them on all at once."
This got the soldiers riled up.
"You're underestimating us? Come on, we'll show you who's boss!"
"Yeah? Bring it!"
DUEL!
OBF Red: 4000
Kit: 8000
OBF Blue: 4000
Dipper: 8000
OBF Green: 4000
"Here's how this will work. First red will go, then I'll go, then blue, then Dipper, then green. Sound good?"
"Fine by me! And I'll start with the spell card Dark Room of NIghtmare! Now every time you take effect damage, you'll take an extra 300! And I'll get that ball rolling with Ancient Gear Hunting Hound!"
Kit/Dipper: 8000-7400-7100
"Next, I'll use his effect to fuse him with the Ancient Gear Knight in my hand to Fusion Summon Ancient Gear Howitzer (1000/1800) in defense mode! And once per turn I can deal you 1000 points off damage!"
Kit/Dipper: 7100-6100-5800
"I'll end my turn with two cards face down and end my turn."
"Ooh, I'm so scared! I'll begin with XX-Boggart Knight! And with his effect, I'll bring out the tuner monster X-Saber Pashuul (100/0)!"
"I know what you're planning, and it won't work! I activate my trap card, Fusion Trench! Now only Fusion monsters can attack this turn."
"Confident, are you? Well, we'll see how confident you are after this! Since I have two X-Sabers, I can bring out XX-Saber Faultroll! Now, my level 2 Pashuul tunes with level 4 Boggart Knight to Synchro Summon XX-Saber Hyunlei (2300/1300)! And when she's synchro Summoned, she takes three spell or trap cards out!"
"What?"
With a single swipe of her swords, Hyunlei obliterated all of the soldier's backrow.
"And it's about to get worse, because Faultroll lets me bring back my Boggart Knight. Now then, time to dish out some pain! Hyunlei, Boggart Knight, attack Blue directly!"
The defenseless soldier tried to run, but the swordsmen caught up to him and sliced him with their swords, sending him crashing into a tree.
OBF Blue: 0000
"But why let them have all the fun? Faultroll, striked Green over there!"
OBF Green: 1600
"I'll end it there and leave it for Dipper to finish you off. Take it away, pal!"
"With pleasure! First, since you control a monster and I don't, I can special summon Constellar Siat (100/1600) in attack mode! Next, I summon Constellar Pollux (1700/600), and he lets me normal summon an additional Constellar monster this turn, like Constellar Algiedi (1600/1400)! But there's more. Since he was normal summoned, I get to bring out another level 4 or lower Constellar, like my Constellar Kaus (1800/1700)!"
"Are you done yet? Hurry up so we can beat you!"
"Tough words for a guy who lost his only advantage, but I'm far from finished! Next, I activate Kaus's effect to raise his level by 1 (4-5). Then I'll use Siat's effect to copy Kaus's level (1-5). And with these two monsters I build the overlay network and Xyz Summon! Rise forth, Rank 5 Constellar Pleiades (2500/1500)!"
"Finally! I can't wait until my next turn when I get to crush it."
"Too bad you won't get one, because this duel ends now! I activate Pleiades's effect! By detaching one overlay unit, I can return one monster on the field to its owner's hand, and I choose your Howitzer!"
"What?"
Pleiades absorbed an overlay unit into his sword which then swung around like a pendulum, sending an arch of light that struck Howitzer, sending it back to the soldier's extra deck.
"Now then, Pleiades, Pollux, attack him directly!"
OBF Red: 0000
"Now Algiedi, finish off the last one!"
OBF Blue: 0000
"Should we take them to Leo Corp?"
"Not unless you want to lug two of them by yourself. Come on, we need to see if anyone else has managed to survive."
In the arctic area, Julia was staring down her own trio of soldiers.
"You really think you can take on all three of us at once? You must be joking."
But Julia stood firm.
"You don't scare me. In fact, I don't even need to attack you to win."
The three Obelisk soldiers laughed.
"Alright then, if you're so suicidal, we'll take you on! You can even go first."
"Yeah, and we won't attack you until we've all had a turn. Got to make this interesting somehow."
"Whatever."
DUEL!
Julia: 8000
OBF 1-3: 4000
"I'll begin with the spell card Brilliant Fusion! I send Gem Knight Crystal, Tourmaline, and Garnett to the graveyard to fusion summon Gem Knight Lady Brilliant Diamond (3400-0)."
"Ha! You have all the advantages in the world, and this is the best you can do? You're almost not even worth carding."
"I'm not done. I summon Gem Knight Lazuli (600/100) in attack mode. Next, I'll tribute her with Brilliant Diamond's effect to special summon Gem Knight Lady Lapis Lazuli from my Extra Deck. I'll end my turn with one card face down."
"That was pathetic! Let me show you how a real Fusion wielder duels. First, I summon Armor Canine- Cannonboxer (1400/1400) in attack mode! And his effect lets me summon another Armor Canine from my hand, so come on out Armor Canine- Bullcopter (600/300)! And when Bullcopter is special summoned, I can add Polymerization to my hand. Now I'll use it to fuse my two monsters together to create Full Armor Canine- Bullforetress (2000/1500) in attack mode! Next, I activate Bullforetress's effect. By discarding the Fusion Recovery in my hand, he gains an additional 1000 attack points (2000-3000). I'll set one card face down and end my turn."
"I too shall summon Cannonboxer, and use his effect to bring Bullcopter to the field, and a Polymerization to my hand. Now I'll fuse them to create Bullforetress, and I too shall boost his attack with Polymerization and Re-Fusion going to the grave (2000-4000). I end my turn with one card face down."
"I also summon Cannonboxer, and use him to call forth Bullcopter. And now I use Polymerization to-"
"Yeah yeah yeah, I get it. Don't you have any originality?"
"Why fix what isn't broken? But I will discard Polymerization, Fusion Recovery, Re-Fusion, and Fusion Birth to give Bullforetress more power (2000-6000)! Regret your decision just yet?"
"Why would I? I'm about to win. First, I activate Fragment Fusion, banishing Tourmaline, Lapis, and Crystal from the graveyard to summon Gem Knight Master Diamond! Next, I'll activate Lapis Lazuli's effect! By sending another copy of her from my extra deck to the graveyard, you lot take 500 points of damage for every special summoned monster on the field!"
The Obelisk Force soldiers braced themselves as a cold wind swept across them, making their life points plummet.
OBF 1-3: 1000
"Ha, nice try, but we're still in the duel!"
"Not for long. By banishing the Lapis Lazuli in my graveyard, Master Diamond gains her effect. So by sending Gem Knight Iolite from my deck to the graveyard, this duel is over!"
With one mighty swing of his sword, Master Diamond created huge shockwaves that sent the soldiers flying.
OBF 1-3: 0000
Julia scoffed, flipping her hair out of her way before heading towards Leo Corp.
"I told them I didn't need to attack."