About an hour had passed since the exhibition Game Duel between Mira and Eiko. Throughout this time, the interns working for Giichi were distributing the D-Gears made exclusively for this format to those who had attended the format's unveiling. Once all of the available D-Gears had been distributed, those who had attended headed to their homes. Among them were Mira and her two friends, who now had D-Gears of their own. And surprisingly, this included Kero.
"I can't believe it – my own D-Gear!" Kero said, lovingly looking at the D-Gear that was fastened onto his right wrist, its dial navy blue.
"I'm surprised that Giichi let you even have one, after breaking his other one like that," Mira remarked. Her D-Gear had a pearl white dial.
"Well, obviously," Kero said, rather pompously, "Mr. Giichi understood that it was simply an accident, and so he forgave and forgot, and let me have a Duel Disk anyway!"
"It's probably another one of his schemes to get you on his good side," Homanu murmured, as he carried his own D-Gear that had a crimson dial. "But I'm not worried about him now – I'm actually more suspicious about Eiko."
"What do you mean?" Kero asked. "Eiko nearly kicked Mira's ass back there!"
"I know," said Homanu, "but he seemed to 'kick her ass' almost too easily. Seriously, don't you guys find it at all suspicious that even though this was technically his first Game Duel, he was that good at it?"
"Well, it's not like it was his first time dueling altogether," Kero said. "I mean, this is a new format of a game that's been around for quite some time!"
"So how do you explain some of the cards he used, then?!" Homanu argued. "Like that Gandorbis and that 'Orbis Seal' of his? There's no way they'd be included in a demo deck like that!"
"Now that you mention it," Mira said rather thoughtfully, "how did Eiko manage to acquire cards like those?"
"That's what I'd like to know…!" Homanu grumbled.
"Mira! There you are!" a cheerful female voice called. The trio turned their heads, and saw that it belonged to a girl no older than twelve. She had purple eyes and long ginger hair cut into choppy bulks, as well as a frontal tooth gap. Her attire consisted of a cream T-shirt, black ankle-length leggings, and knee-length canary shorts. Strangely enough, her shorts appeared to be rather big for her, since they slightly went above her waist and had to be supported by a brown belt with a silver buckle. Even stranger was her footwear – they were high-top sneakers, but the left one was pastel pink, and the right baby blue.
"Oh – hey, Reggie," Mira greeted her rather glumly.
"I've been looking all over for you since the duel ended!" the girl, Reggie, exclaimed. "Didn't you see me in the crowd?"
"Oh – we were just talking about some stuff," was Mira's excuse. "Sorry we didn't see you."
"Ah, that's alright," Reggie cheerfully said. "What matters is that I was able to get my own Duel Disk for this format!" She presented the D-Gear already fastened on her wrist, which had a baby blue dial. "Speaking of which, you did awesome back there, Mira! And those Upgrade Monsters you used were so cool!"
Upon hearing the mentioning of Upgrade Monsters, Homanu snorted in disgust. "Oh, don't tell me you're gonna start giving Upgrade Monsters flack, too!" Kero teased upon noticing this.
"I have every reason to!" Homanu shouted, startling Kero. "Seriously, why would anyone want to make monsters similar to Link Monsters where they have no Levels, and can only exist in Attack Mode?! I mean, at least with Link Monsters, I can see why they'd only be able to exist in Attack Mode – but with Upgrade Monsters, those features are meaningless!"
"I wouldn't really say that," Mira disagreed. "I mean, Giichi did state that they'd be potentially strong, based on their Grade-"
"That doesn't excuse the fact that they're so poorly designed!" Homanu argued. "Maybe I'll accept the rules for Game Duels as a whole, including the so-called 'new and exclusive Attributes' – but the Upgrade Monsters are where I draw the line!"
"C'mon, don't be such a sourpuss!" Reggie playfully teased. "C'mon, I'll race ya home!" With that declaration, she shot off like a rocket.
"Hey, wait up!" Kero said, chasing after her.
The only ones left of the group were Mira and Homanu. "I'm… I'm sorry you don't like the Upgrade Monsters…" she said, gently consoling him.
"I'm not all that fond of Game Duels, period," Homanu sternly told her. "I'm still gonna participate, since there's pretty much no sense in talking everyone out of Game Duels. But if you actually think I'm gonna be using Upgrade Monsters, you're wrong!"
With a huff, Homanu ran home to try and catch up with Reggie and Kero. While Mira wasn't stung by Homanu's harsh criticisms, she was worried about his wellbeing. After a few seconds, she, too, ran to catch up with her friends.
YU-GI-OH! CHRONIXII
LEVEL 1-2
A GAME DUEL OF IDEALS
After less than ten minutes of racing through the streets, Reggie and Kero were just about in the homestretch of their orphanage, with Homanu and Mira about halfway behind. In the end, Reggie reached the front steps first, mostly because she was the one who got a head start.
"Yes! I won, I won!" Reggie cheered, jumping up and down.
"Congrats… you won…" Kero groaned, breathing heavily as he made it not long after. Mira and Homanu eventually arrived, though they were evidently not as much out of breath as Kero was. "I hate it… that you can run… so fast…!"
"Well, you know me!" Reggie beamed. "Full of youth means full of energy!" She was about to rush inside the building when she nearly collided into Sister Golas, who opened the door.
"Mercy me, Regina Abbott!" Sister Golas scolded as she forcibly put Reggie at a distance from her. "What do you think you're doin', nearly runnin' me over like that?!"
"Sorry, Sister Golas," Reggie said, still fully energetic. "It's just that I got back from the debut of Game Duels, and I had a blast watching Mira play a Game Duel for the first time!"
"Glad somebody had fun…" Homanu murmured, crossing his arms.
"Hey, Sister Golas, I'm done with spraying the stained-glass windows," a male voice called. "What do you want me to do next?"
The speaker who entered the hallway was a boy around Homanu's age – sixteen, to be exact. He had green eyes and blue hair spiking outward in the back with light blue bangs that had pink accents. His everyday attire included a slate-colored jacket over a white dress shirt, a blue tie, and pants and shoes that were the same color as his jacket. Since he was spraying windows like he claimed, he also wore an apron and a pair of yellow rubber gloves that held a washcloth in one hand, and a spray bottle in the other.
"Yusaku?!" Reggie cried in disbelief. "You mean you actually stayed here while we had fun at the premiere?!"
"Believe me, I would've come, too," the boy, Yusaku, explained. "But Sister Golas insisted that I stay here and help out with a couple things…"
"That's because you're not ready to go out on your own," Sister Golas reasoned. "I especially don't want you out there alone, after dark!"
"That's pretty much what you say every time I wanna go out for something," Yusaku complained. "Seriously, I'm not some little kid."
"You're certainly not little, Fujiki," Sister Golas scolded, "but you're still a kid."
"Geez, Sister Golas, you don't have to be so overprotective," Mira said.
"Y'know, Mira's right," Homanu said in agreement. "I'm pretty much the same age as Yusaku, and you don't make a fuss whenever I wanna go out on my own!"
"That's because your case is different!" Sister Golas scolded. "But we're not going to discuss this any further!" After calming herself down, she resumed, "I don't have any more chores for you to do, Fujiki, so you're free to go."
"Thanks… I guess," Yusaku murmured.
"Now, if you'll please excuse me, I have some other matters to attend to," Sister Golas announced before turning to leave. Nobody noticed that she paused to look back sadly at the group, before returning to her destination.
"Boy, I'm really sorry, Yusaku," Mira said, comforting him.
"I swear, Sister Golas is so unfair!" Reggie whined, throwing her hands in frustration. "She never even lets me do stuff like stay up late, go to out-of-town parties or concerts or events, nothing!"
"Well, you're twelve," Homanu reasoned, "so it makes sense that Sister Golas has to keep an eye on you until you're old enough to go out and do stuff on your own."
"But by the time she does let me do stuff on my own," Reggie complained, "I'll probably forget how to even have fun! And it'll all be her fault!"
"Reggie, Reggie!" Yusaku said, calming her by placing a hand on her shoulder. "Look, I'm just as irritated as you about Sister Golas being so overprotective like that – but regardless, I'm sure she has good intentions, just like Homanu said."
"I guess you're right…" Reggie grumbled, crossing her arms in annoyance. "But that doesn't mean I'm gonna enjoy it…"
"In the meantime, though," Kero said, "I'm still itching for a Game Duel!"
"I take it that there was a demonstration, and you weren't picked?" Yusaku assumed.
"Actually, he was," Mira explained, "but then he got excited and broke the Duel Disk he was gonna use. He actually got a time-out right then and there."
"Yeah, that must've been embarrassing!" Reggie said, bursting into laughter.
Kero crossed his arms and frowned at the reminder of his earlier mishap, but he quickly recollected himself. "Well, since I was technically the one who was originally picked for it, it's only fair that you guys owe me a Game Duel!"
"Well, it does make sense…" Mira said rather thoughtfully. "Okay, Kero, you got yourself a Game Duel!"
"Great!" Kero beamed. "And I already know who I want to be my opponent – you, Homanu!" He vigorously pointed at the perplexed Homanu.
"Me?" Homanu asked. "Why me?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Kero replied. "Someone's gotta make you appreciate Upgrade Monsters one way or another!"
"Oh, no!" Homanu said, defensively waving his hands as if he was warding off Kero. "I'll still duel you, but there's no way in Hell I'm gonna use Upgrade Monsters!"
"We'll see about that, now won't we?!" Kero playfully taunted. "Once I'm through with you, you'll practically be desperate to have whatever powerful Upgrade Monsters will be released!"
"Don't count on it!" said Homanu. "Once I got my first deck, I bought some packs, and now my deck doesn't have any Upgrade Monsters – but that's fine, 'cause I'll show you how good I am without them!"
"Then it's on!" Kero beamed. "And I know just where we're gonna have our Game Duel! I'll be outside – don't keep me waiting!" With this declaration, he shot out of the orphanage like a rocket.
"Boy, Kero's really excited about his first Game Duel!" Reggie commented with a giggle.
"But where do you think he's gonna take us?" Homanu asked suspiciously. "I mean, it's just gonna be another duel."
"I know," said Mira, "but you remember how excited he was when he was first picked before me, so I think we should let him have his fun."
"I'll just set up my computer and watch you guys in action," Yusaku said. "At least that's the one thing Sister Golas will allow me to do."
"Okay, so let's go already!" Reggie said, dashing out the door to meet up with Kero.
"We should probably be going, too," said Mira. "We'll be back in time for supper." She and Homanu followed Reggie out the door, while Yusaku headed upstairs.
After about ten minutes of following Kero through the bustling streets of Alba Litora, they finally arrived at their destination, which was some kind of junkyard. "Why are we having our Game Duel here?" Homanu asked.
"Well, Giichi said something about there being different Game World Fields that'd have different Terrains based on the current location, right?"
"Yeah, so?" Homanu impatiently asked.
"So," Kero eagerly suggested, "I say we go to one of those Game World Fields that would have a different Terrain! At least that way, this duel will be much more fun!"
"Y'know, Kero's right!" Reggie energetically agreed. "I say we do that – sure would be better than dueling in boring ol' Alba Litora!"
"Of course she'd take his side…" Homanu muttered under his breath.
"Then it's settled!" Kero beamed. "Time for a little change of scenery – I bring us to Game World Wasteland!"
With this declaration, a Game Duel Field Card moved up to the center of both Disks' touchscreens. Its artwork, as the name suggested, was a literal wasteland. "Now activating Game Duel Field: Game World, Wasteland," the computerized female voice spoke during this sequence.
The entire scenery transformed to resemble the wasteland pictured on the card, complete with the occasional blowing of sand. Despite the obviously bleak landscape, Reggie was in awe at what she was witnessing.
"Hope you're ready, Homanu!" Kero beamed, holding up his Disk and projecting its virtual blade of spring green digital light. "Once I cream you in this duel, maybe you'll show some appreciation towards Upgrade Monsters!" Homanu just frowned to that, but held up his Disk to project its yellow-orange blade.
"Game Duel, game start!" Homanu and Kero shouted.
HOMANU: 4000 LP / KERO: 4000 LP
"Well, Kero," Homanu said, almost scoldingly, "we let you have your fun with picking out the Terrain, so it's only fair that I make the first move!"
"Eh, fine by me," Kero said with a playful shrug. "I'll prove you wrong about Upgrade Monsters either way!"
"We'll see!" Homanu said. His Disk's ring appeared around his wrist. Five stacked digital cards materialized in front of the red-slotted ridge, which he drew. "First, I summon two copies of Fireyarou!"
He took two cards from his hand and slapped them onto his blade's outermost floating zones. Two yellow-orange appeared beside Homanu. Flying out of each one was a light orange-skinned male demon with pointed ears and tarsi for legs. [ATK: 1300] [ATK: 1300]
"Then I'll sacrifice them both to Tribute Summon Twin-Headed Behemoth and Twinheaded Beast!" Both of the fiery demons dissipated into yellow-orange pixels, with two more yellow-orange hexagonal portals appearing in their places. Flying out of one of them was a mutated two-headed dragon whose entire body was purple mixed with some red. [ATK: 2200] Emerging out of the other one was a fiery centaur-like hybrid whose upper body consisted of a muscular humanoid with two lion's heads, and yellow-orange flames for their manes. [ATK: 1700]
"I'll place this face-down, and end my turn!" Homanu said, swiping a card from his hand into his blade's centermost horizontal slot. A card materialized behind his two monsters before fading from sight.
"Whoa, what a move!" Reggie exclaimed. "I know this all part of the format, but I still can't believe Homanu was able to summon two strong monsters so easily!"
"Looks like someone's been paying attention to the rules," Mira commented, crossing her arms.
"It's my turn!" Kero declared as his Disk's ring appeared around his right wrist. Five stacked digital cards materialized in front of the red-slotted ridge. "I draw!" he declared, drawing the five cards with his left hand before carefully but hastily analyzing the cards. 'This isn't quite what I wanted,' he thought, until he took a closer look at one of the cards. 'But maybe this card'll help!'
"I activate the Spell Card, Precious Metal Excavation!" he declared. After swiping the card through one of his blade's horizontal slots, an EARTH Spell Card materialized beside him. Its artwork depicted Shovel Crusher scooping up massive amounts of dirt; but in the left shovel was some silver, and the right shovel was some gold.
"To activate this card, I have to send a Machine-Type monster from my hand to the Graveyard, like so!" The four remaining cards in Kero's hand materialized in front of him; he flicked his fingertips across one of them, and the card dissipated into spring green pixels while the others simply faded away.
"Now I get to draw a card. But I'll tell you right now that the monster I discarded was a Normal Monster – and since that's the case, I get to draw two cards, instead!" His Disk's ring reappeared around his wrist. Two more cards stacked on top of each other materialized in front of the red-slotted ridge, which Kero drew. 'Yes!' he thought as he looked at the cards he just drew. 'Now it's really time for the fun to begin!'
"I summon two copies of Cyber Soldier of Darkworld in Attack Mode!" After slapping the two cards onto his blade's leftmost and rightmost floating zones, two spring green hexagonal portals appeared. Emerging out of each portal was a bulky robot that had a purple body and dark blue armor, with yellow wires around the body. [ATK: 1400 – 1600] [ATK: 1400 – 1600]
"Wait a minute – your monsters got stronger?!" Homanu cried, noticing this sudden change.
"Sure did!" Kero haughtily replied. "Remember how I wanted to duel in a Game World Field different from regular Alba Litora? With the one I chose for this duel, its Terrain is 'Wasteland' – which, according to the rules of this Terrain, raises the Attack and Defense of my Machine-Type monsters by two hundred points apiece!"
"So this is the reason Kero wanted to duel here," Mira said suspiciously.
"Who cares?" Reggie joyfully exclaimed. "It's still better than dueling in boring ol' Alba Litora!"
"Mira? Is that you?" a voice called. The whole gang turned their heads to discover that the voice belonged to none other than Mira's previous opponent, Eiko.
"Eiko!" Mira cried. "What are you doing here?"
"Well," Eiko cheerfully explained, "I was hoping to find someone to duel – but then I noticed you, and decided to come on over!" It wasn't long before he noticed the current duel between Homanu and Kero. "Oh… I didn't see that there's already a duel going on. I guess I'll just be going-"
"Oh no, please stay!" Kero eagerly spoke. "You've actually come just in time for one of my proudest moments yet!"
"What do you mean?" Eiko asked.
"Kero's just playing it big by trying to show Homanu how 'wrong' he is about Upgrade Monsters," Mira explained.
"But with what Kero just said… does that mean he actually has one?" Reggie asked Mira.
"Looks like we're about to find out!" Eiko said.
Turning his attention back to Homanu, Kero melodramatically announced, "I sacrifice my two soldiers to summon the one monster that'll make you think twice about dissing Upgrade Monsters!"
Both of Kero's cybernetic soldiers dissipated into spring green pixels. But instead of another hexagonal portal, a pillar of yellow electricity shot up behind Kero. Emerging out of the light was a bulky mechanoid with a silvery white body and some yellow circuits, as well as some red cybernetic wings that resembled a cape. Its main weapon was a sword shrouded by some sparks of electricity, and on its center chest piece were two unlit hexagons inside each other.
"Behold – HYPER MACHINE KING!" Kero boldly presented his monster. [GRADE: BASE / BASE ATK: 2000]
"Whoa! What a monster!" Eiko gasped in awe. Even Homanu had to admit he had never seen a monster like it, though he clearly didn't try to show it.
"Since it's obviously a Machine-Type monster, Hyper Machine King will gain a power boost from this Terrain," Kero conceitedly explained. "But it'll be gaining even more power through its own effect! It gains an additional two hundred Attack Points for every Machine-Type monster on the field, including itself!" [BASE ATK: 2000 2400]
"But why stop there, when I can make it even stronger?" He revealed a familiar gray-colored depicting the light gray hexagonal graphic surrounded by blue light. "I inject Hyper Machine King with Upgrade Core Super, bringing it to its 'Super' Grade!"
He immediately placed the card underneath Hyper Machine King's card form. In an instant, the unlit hexagons lit up bright blue, and the electricity shrouding its sword intensified. [GRADE: BASE SUP / CORE: 0 – 2]
"Since Hyper Machine King is now of the 'Super' Grade, its SUP Attack becomes 2300. But thanks to both this Terrain and its own Ability, it'll get stronger than that!" [BASE ATK: 2000 – SUP ATK: 2300 2700]
"Next, I activate the Spell Card, Machine King's Reinforcements!" Another card materialized in Kero's hand, which he swiped through one of his blade's horizontal slots. Another EARTH Spell Card materialized beside him. This time, the artwork depicted Machine King looking down from a cliff and pointing to a nearby battlefield. Below the cliff were Robotic Knight and Mechanicalchaser, obeying the command and rushing into battle. "Since the only monster on my field is a Machine-Type monster with at least two thousand Attack Points, I can activate this by paying fifteen hundred Life Points!" [LP: 4000 – 2500]
"By doing so, I get to resurrect two Machine-Type Normal Monsters from my Graveyard, as long as each of their Attack Points are sixteen hundred or less! I resurrect one of my Cyber Soldiers, and the monster I discarded to activate my previous Spell Card, Machine Attacker!"
Two more spring green hexagonal portals appeared beside Hyper Machine King. Cyber Soldier of Darkworld emerged out of one of them. [ATK: 1400 – 1600] But emerging out of the other was a machine that looked exactly like Cyber Soldier, except its head was fleshy pink and its body armor orange. [ATK: 1600 – 1800] "And with two more Machines on my field, Hyper Machine King gets even stronger!" [SUP ATK: 2700 – 3100]
"But with more Machines on my field, I can also activate Hyper Machine King's Super Effect! By using one Core, one of your monsters will lose Attack Points equal to the number of Machine-Type monsters on my field, multiplied by three hundred! And since I have three Machine-Type monsters, that means one of your monsters will lose nine hundred Attack Points!
"I'll just go ahead and weaken your Twin-Headed Fire Dragon!" he declared, vigorously pointing at the two-headed dragon. The outer hexagon on Hyper Machine King's heart area became unlit as the yellow lights inside its lasers began to shine brightly. [CORE: 2 – 1] Afterwards, the mechanoid stuck out its sword as a bolt of electricity struck at Homanu's two-headed dragon. [ATK: 2200 – 1300]
"Now I'll use his other Core to weaken your Twinheaded Beast!" Kero beamed, pointing at the fiery centaur hybrid. But this time, no lasers formed in Hyper Machine King's cannons. If anything, the inner hexagon that still had a Core remained lit up.
Seeing this left Kero dumbfounded. "What the- why aren't you using your effect?!" Kero whined, stomping his foot in frustration.
"Why isn't Hyper Machine King able to use its Super Effect twice?" Reggie wondered.
"I think I remember seeing something about it from the official rulebooks we got," Mira explained. "Apparently, in this format, individual Effect Monsters can only activate their effects once per turn while on the field – and Upgrade Monsters are certainly no exception, even though they're capable of having multiple effects."
"Hey, Kero!" Eiko called to Kero. "You're not allowed to activate Hyper Machine King's Super Effect more than once in the same turn!"
'Oh, now they tell me!' Kero thought, still frustrated. 'And I probably should've weakened Twinheaded Beast instead!' His overconfidence quickly returned. 'No matter – I'll still cut Homanu down to size!'
"Hyper Machine King, attack Twin-Headed Fire Dragon!" Kero said aloud. Hyper Machine King swung its sword, unleashing a wave of electricity at the two-headed dragon. The electricity vaporized the dragon upon contact, creating an explosion on Homanu's field. Homanu tried his hardest to withstand the force of the explosion. [LP: 4000 – 2200]
"Machine Attacker, attack Twinheaded Beast!" The orange-armored machine charged towards the fiery centaur hybrid and thrust its right arm at the beast, shattering it into pixels. [LP: 2200 – 2100]
"Cyber Soldier of Darkworld, attack Homanu directly!" The purple-armored machine charged towards Homanu, swinging its right fist across Homanu, making him fall sideways. [LP: 2100 – 500]
"Ha-ha!" Kero laughed triumphantly. "I just brought you down to your last five hundred Life Points! And it's especially thanks to my Hyper Machine King! So, howdya like Upgrade Monsters now?!" Homanu just growled to that remark as he struggled to get himself up. "Your move, Homanu!" the smug Kero playfully taunted.
'I'm not gonna let Kero beat me so easily!' Homanu angrily thought, seething through his clenched teeth. 'And especially not by an Upgrade Monster!'
"Let's do this!" he snarled, his Disk's ring appearing around his wrist once again. Five stacked digital cards materialized in front of the red-slotted ridge, which Homanu vigorously drew. After looking at his newly replenished hand, a look of determination crossed his face.
"I activate the Spell Card, Fires of Hope!" He took one of the cards and vigorously swiped it through his blade's centermost horizontal slot. A FIRE Spell Card materialized beside him, its artwork depicting two Hinotama Souls protecting a wounded Brushfire Knight who was standing on one knee.
"Since I have no monsters on my field, I can Special Summon two Level Four or lower FIRE-Attribute Normal Monsters from my Graveyard! I resurrect my two copies of Fireyarou!" Two more yellow-orange hexagonal portals appeared beside him, and the fiery demon leapt out of each one of them. [ATK: 1300] [ATK: 1300]
"But once I activate this card, I'm only allowed to Normal Summon one monster, and it has to be a monster of the FIRE Attribute. But that's perfectly fine, 'cause I'll sacrifice both of my monsters to bring out the best card in my deck!"
Both of the fiery demons were engulfed in red-orange flames. The intensity of the flames amplified as they merged into a giant pillar. Leaping out of the pillar was a muscular man that closely resembled Homanu himself. He wore an orange jumpsuit decorated with golden flames, and had crimson gauntlets and boots.
"I Tribute Summon – NITRO AVENGER, FIREHEART!" Homanu declared as the summoned monster struck a pose, which unleashed some flickers of flames. [ATK: 2400]
"Wow, that's a pretty cool monster!" the impressed Kero said before his overconfidence returned. "Too bad it won't be enough to beat me or my monsters!"
"You think so, huh?" Homanu remarked, to Kero's confusion. "I activate Fireheart's effect! By sending two FIRE-Attribute cards from my hand to the Graveyard, all other monsters whose original Attack Points are twenty-four hundred or less will be destroyed!" Two cards materialized in front of Homanu. Within a single move, he swiped his fingertips across the two cards, transforming them into yellow-orange pixels. The pixels transferred to Fireheart's fists, transforming them into fairly large fireballs.
"Wait… did he say original Attack Points of twenty-four hundred or below?" the uneasy Kero asked, looking down at the monsters placed on his blade. After observing their base Attack Points thoroughly, he over-exaggeratingly panicked once again. "SO THAT MEANS IT'S GONNA DESTROY ALL OF MY MONSTERS?!"
"That's exactly right!" Homanu boldly replied. Fireheart placed his two fiery fists together, and then vigorously pulled them apart, unleashing a streak of fire that struck all of Kero's machines, shattering them into pixels. Kero tried his hardest to protect himself from the force of the destruction.
"Well… even if you attack me directly," Kero said, pulling himself together, "I'll still have Life Points to try and make a comeback on my next turn!"
"I beg to differ!" Homanu corrected him. "I activate the card I had face-down since the duel began: Flaming Fist!" A card materialized on Homanu's field before transforming into a FIRE Spell Card. Its artwork depicted Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi, with his right fist being engulfed in fire.
"This card gives Fireheart – a Level Seven Pyro-Type monster on my field – one hundred Attack Points for every Monster Card of the FIRE Attribute in my Graveyard! And I have a total of four!" Fireheart's right fist was engulfed in yellow-orange fire. [ATK: 2400 – 2800]
Kero, now realizing the predicament he was in, was left horrified. "Um… maybe we can talk this out?" he squeakily pleaded.
"Nothing doing!" Homanu said. "Fireheart, attack Kero directly and end this duel!"
Fireheart flung the fireball on his right fist directly at Kero. The fireball struck at Kero, flinging him backwards. After being tossed a few times, he finally landed on his back. [LP: 2500 – 0] Upon his defeat, a virtual screen displayed Homanu's profile with the words 'WIN' written above in a gold cybernetic font. Only then did the entire scenery return to the junkyard.
"Whoa, Homanu, you were amazing!" Reggie cheered.
"Thanks," Homanu said, almost unmoved by that compliment. Shifting his attention to Kero, who was just getting himself up, he stated, "See that, Kero? I didn't have any Upgrade Monsters in my deck, and I was still able to beat you! Just comes to show you that they're not as good as you, Giichi, or anyone else would say they are!"
"Jeez, Homanu, get a grip," Mira gently scolded. "You hate Upgrade Monsters – we get it! It's not like you're gonna get everyone to agree with you about them, just like that!"
"You're right, I don't expect everyone to agree with me on Upgrade Monsters," Homanu said grimly. "But sooner or later, everyone's got to realize that they're not as useful or well-designed as they say they are!"
Homanu's comment, especially with the way he said it, made his friends look uncomfortable, especially Eiko. Realizing this, Homanu sighed through his nostrils and spoke more gently. "I'm sorry – I guess I got a little upset, especially with Kero's taunts about them," he said.
"Hey, it happens to the best of us," Mira said, calmly placing an arm on Homanu's shoulder. "Let's just head home."
"Well, at least I got my Game Duel, so sure!" Kero chirped.
"Let's go, guys!" Reggie beamed as she ran back home.
"Hey, wait up!" Kero whined, trying to follow behind. It wasn't long before Mira and Homanu followed them, as well.
Now alone, Eiko reached into his pocket and pulled out two necklaces, each one containing a different tablet encased inside a tag hung by a string. One of the two necklaces was the same one Eiko pulled out after his duel against Mira. The other had a red tag and a gold ring, hung by a gold string. Encased inside the ring was a ruby crystal with the carving of a crude volcano. "Anything?" he asked quietly, not wanting to catch anyone else's attention.
'That guy with the red hair really needs to take a chill pill!' the amethyst tablet complained. 'He's acting like anything new in Duel Monsters is the work of the devil, or something!'
"Well, thanks for sharing that bit of info," Eiko groaned with a sigh. "But is there anything else to report?"
'Well, I might've felt something from that Homanu character,' was the comment of the ruby tablet, who spoke in a stylized female Australian accent.
"From Homanu?" the concerned Eiko said with a frown. "Are you sure you weren't noticing anything from someone like Kero?"
'Well, that Kero boy's certainly got some spunk,' the ruby tablet explained. 'But nope, I felt a stronger reaction from Homanu. He might be one of whom we're looking for, too!'
'Oh, this probably won't be good!' the amethyst tablet whimpered. 'He won't be able to use the cards essential to our mission with that kind of attitude!'
'Yeah, but it still doesn't change what I felt!'
"Look, now is definitely not the time for discussions on Homanu's 'attitude' or stuff like that!" Eiko quietly argued. "We gotta keep looking, and we're to do nothing until we know for certain that those two are really who we're looking for!" With that declaration, he placed the two necklaces back in his pocket and wandered off, continuing his supposed search for whoever it was he was looking for.
FEATURED CARD – LEVEL 1-2
Nitro Avenger – Fireheart
FIRE/Pyro – Effect/7/2400/0
If you Tribute Summon this card, the Tributes must be FIRE Attribute.
REQUIREMENT Send 2 FIRE Attribute cards from your hand to the Graveyard.
EFFECT Destroy all face-up monsters on your opponent's field with an original ATK of 2400 or less. During this turn, you can only attack with this card.
GIICHI CORPORATION CARD DATABASE
Game World – Wasteland
Game Duel Field
PLAYER 1: 4000 LP / PLAYER 2 LP: 4000 LP
TERRAIN: WASTELAND Monsters strong in this Terrain (Cyborg, Dinosaur, Machine, Rock, and Zombie Types) gain 200 ATK/DEF. Monsters weak in this Terrain (Aqua, Fish, Plant, and Sea Serpent Types) lose 200 ATK/DEF.
If a PLAYER's LP become 0, they lose the Game Duel.
Fireyarou
FIRE/Pyro – Normal/4/1300/1000
A malevolent creature wrapped in flames that attacks enemies with intense fire.
Twin-Headed Fire Dragon
FIRE/Pyro – Normal/6/2200/1700
Two dragons fused as one from the effects of the Big Bang.
Twinheaded Beast
FIRE/Beast – Effect/6/1700/1900
REQUIREMENT None
CONTINUOUS EFFECT This card can attack twice during the same Battle Phase.
Precious Metal Excavation
EARTH/Spell Card
REQUIREMENT Send 1 Machine Type monster from your hand to the Graveyard.
EFFECT Draw 1 card. Then, if you sent a Normal Monster to the Graveyard for this card's requirement, draw 1 additional card.
Cyber Soldier of Darkworld
DEMON MAGIC/Machine – Normal/4/1400/1200
A mechanical soldier that won't stop attacking until all life readings have been extinguished from its sensors.
Hyper Machine King
THUNDER/Machine – Upgrade – Effect
ATK {BASE 2000 / SUP 2300}
CORE {SUP 2}
Must first be Normal Summoned by Tributing 2 monsters, and then can be Special Summoned.
REQUIREMENTS
●BASE CONTINUOUS BASE EFFECT / Grade BASE or higher
●SUP EFFECT / Grade SUP: 1 Core.
CONTINUOUS BASE EFFECT This card gains ATK equal to [the number of face-up Machine Type monsters on the field] x 200.
SUP EFFECT 1 face-up monster on your opponent's field loses ATK equal to [the number of Machine Type monsters you control] x 300.
Machine King's Reinforcements
EARTH/Spell Card
REQUIREMENT If the only monster on your field is a face-up Machine Type monster with 2000 or more ATK, pay 1500 LP.
EFFECT Special Summon 2 Machine Type Normal Monsters with 1600 or less ATK from your Graveyard face-up to your field. This turn, you can only attack with Machine Type monsters.
Machine Attacker
EARTH/Machine – Normal/5/1600/1300
This machine, created to lead charges into enemy territory, mows down enemies by rushing.
Fires of Hope
FIRE/Spell Card
REQUIREMENT You have no monsters on your field.
EFFECT Special Summon 2 Level 4 or lower FIRE Attribute Normal Monsters from your Graveyard face-up to your field, but destroy them during the End Phase. For the rest of this turn, you cannot Special Summon or Set monsters, you cannot Normal Summon non-FIRE Attribute monsters, and you can only Normal Summon once.
Nitro Avenger – Fireheart
FIRE/Pyro – Effect/7/2400/0
If you Tribute Summon this card, the Tributes must be FIRE Attribute.
REQUIREMENT Send 2 FIRE Attribute cards from your hand to the Graveyard.
EFFECT Destroy all face-up monsters on your opponent's field with 2400 or less original ATK. This turn, you can only attack with this card.
Flaming Fist
FIRE/Spell Card
REQUIREMENT None
EFFECT This turn, 1 face-up Level 7 or higher Pyro Type monster on your field gains ATK equal to [the number of FIRE Attribute Monster Cards in your Graveyard] x 100, also if it attacks a Defense Position monster, it inflicts piercing battle damage.
Next time on Yu-Gi-Oh! CHRONIXII…
There is a Game Duel featuring the much-loved icon of Alba Litora, Arthur Rutherford, who valiantly defeats his opponent! But the loser takes out her frustrations on Eiko, and Mira suddenly ends up dueling Hawk for Eiko's safety, with Mira's own deck on the line! Will Mira defeat Hawk and keep her deck? And what other surprises might be coming her way? Find out in Level 1-3: Rescue Game Duel! Game Duel, game start!