Taylor couldn't believe she was going to do it. It was her first night out. The first night after months of research on the cape scene, trying to make something of a costume with her clothes, thinking on how the situation in which she would act as a hero for the first time. And now she was in a corner, with the leader of the ABB near, just having ordered some of his men to kill kids! And she had had no way to test her power beforehand! What if it didn't work as she hoped? What if she just stood there uselessly while a thug shot her? All those thoughts and more swirled inside her head as she jumped out of her hiding hole, right behind a dozen of men holding firearms… and Lung, who turned to face her.
"Lung! I, Khepri, challenge you to a Shadow Game!"
Her heroic battle cry sounded like a child throwing a wimpy tantrum, and Taylor thought she was going to die from embarrassment before the dragon or even the gangbangers simply killed her. With a derisive snort Lung sent a wave of fire in her direction. She stood here like a deer in the headlight, unable to react in time… the fire tongue died before reaching her. Growling, the villain tried to approach... and was stopped in its track by an invisible force. Unpowered gang members tried to shoot, but their bullet simply stopped around them and fell to the ground. One of them tried to approach Taylor, but he simply crashed into the unseen walls that has seemingly been erected around his boss and her.
"What did you do?" Barked Lung, who she noted wasn't growing at all, small flames and puffs of smoke barely coming out of his mask and arms. Seeing this granted Taylor the courage to speak up.
"This is a Shadow Game! If you try to use your power, you automatically lose! If you cheat, you also automatically lose! We will fight using only Duel Monster until one of us win, with no outside interference!"
Lines of energy weaved before them, forming a large field composed of four rows of five rectangular zones with two more zones on each side slightly aside, and two others separating the two time five zones. In the air before Taylor materialized five cards, if cards were made of glowing rainbow light that still managed to be slightly transparent. Her starting hand. The exact same thing appeared in front of Lung, but unlike her own cards his were completely unreadable to her, as if looking through a very bad censor screen. And then the terms popped in her head. As if some rule book had been printed into her mind, she could name and explain everything related to those cards, to the field. Main Monster Zones, Spell and Trap Zones, Field Zone, Graveyard, Deck, Special Summon, Inherent Summon…
"Don't just stand here. Go kill those thieves." Said Lung to his minions in a low growl before speaking to her, sending shiver on her back and taking her out of her reverie. "I'll kill you for this. My turn!"
Lung: 8000 LP – Hand: 5
Khepri: 8000 LP – Hand: 5
"I send Red-Eyes Black Dragon from my hand to the graveyard to special summon Red-Eyes Black Meteor Dragon from my hand!"
The realization that her opponent seemed to have received the same innate understanding of the rules as her violently twisted Taylor's guts. She had hoped in some way her power would advantage her by leaving her opponent confused, and here Lung was already acting like he knew exactly what to do. Damned power, why couldn't she get any advantage over the murderous villain? A shadowy reptilian form was already manifesting, but before it could fully materialized Taylor acted in response.
"I discard Maxx C in my hand to activate its effect! Until the end of this turn, I will draw a card each time you special summon!"
A glittering swarm of small bugs appeared and started to hover over her field. Right after that the monster summoned by Lung appeared, a massive, winged beast covered with black scales, its eyes shining a vicious red.
Red-Eyes Black Meteor Dragon – FIRE/Dragon/Level 6/Effect: 2000/2000
A new card automatically appeared in Taylor's hand as result of the summon, but the villain didn't pay it any attention.
"When summoned this way, its Level increase by 1."
Red-Eyes Black Meteor Dragon – FIRE/Dragon/Level 7/Effect: 2000/2000
"I summon The Black Stone of Legend."
The Black Stone of Legend – FIRE/Dragon/Level 1/Effect: 0/0
"I tribute it to activate its effect and special summon a Level 7 or lower "Red-Eyes" monster from my Deck. I special summon Red-Eyes Soul."
Red-Eyes Soul – FIRE/Dragon/Level 7/Effect: 900/2000
A new card was added to Taylor's hand, but it didn't help her with the two menacing monsters in front of her. Even the instinctive knowledge that their attack and defense points weren't particularly high didn't reassure her at all as one of them roared, the sound hurting her eardrums while the shockwave sent the gang members still present around to the ground. And yet, her attention was brought to the appearance of the new monster. It was remarkably similar to the first yet one of its wings was torn off, as well as one of its arms, and it crouched on the ground while the burned wounds emitted smoke. Inexplicably, she felt it was… closer to Lung? than the other, mightier dragon by its side.
"I overlay my two monsters to Xyz Summon Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon!"
With a screeching cry the two monsters morphed into silhouettes of light. A dark vortex appeared on the ground, a black galaxy shining with stars giving Taylor vertigo as she looked inside. The two monsters plunged inside it and an explosion of color momentarily blinded her. When her vision came back, she was welcomed with the sight of a terrible creature. A metallic dragon covered in sharp spikes, fire burning from his maw, tail and wings, its eyes a sanguine red staring her down.
Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon – DARK/Dragon/Rank 7/Xyz/Effect: 2800/2400
Its roar cracked the ground open, breaking close windows and sending waves of pain in Taylor's head. If its mere roar was hurting her that much, what would a direct attack do? Would she get burned to a crisp before the duel even finished? A new card was added to her hand, and she cringed. This one would have been useful if she had had it before that dragon was summoned!
"I activate its effect! By detaching a Xyz material, I can special summon a "Red-Eyes" normal monster in my graveyard! I choose Red-Eyes Black Dragon!" And with that order the original black dragon erupted from the ground, triumphant.
Red-Eyes Black Dragon – FIRE/Dragon/Level 7/Normal: 2400/2000
Another card added to her hand. But Taylor had the bad feeling that Lung wasn't finished, and she immediately jumped on the occasion he gave her to use the card she had drawn when he had Xyz summoned.
"I activate the effect of Contact "C" in my hand!" She revealed the card depicting a dark fog with two bright eyes on a man's wrist. "When my opponent normal or special summon a monster, I can special summon it to my opponent's field in defense position!"
The creature depicted on the card appeared on Lung's field, an almost invisible insectoid form visible in the purple mist surrounding it, buzzing loudly yet almost silently compared to the colossal roar of the dragons.
Contact "C" – EARTH/Insect/Level 6/Effect: 1500/2200
"As long as this card is face-up on the field, its controller cannot Fusion, Synchro, Xyz or Link summon unless they use this card as material!"
This visibly annoyed Lung, who had been starting to point at one of the last two cards in his hand. As he already normal summoned this turn, she was confident he would not be able to tribute her Contact "C", but if he had other means of getting rid of it… why was the metallic dragon opening his maw?
"While Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon has Xyz material, each time my opponent activates a card or effect, I inflict 500 damage to them after it resolves." Explained Lung with a satisfied growl.
The monster blew a fireball. Taylor screamed when the heat reached her, her skin singing under her clothes as she put her arms before her head to protect it. Even though it didn't burn as much as she expected, it still hurt like hell! If only 500 damage did this, what would a direct attack from a 2800 attack monster do to her?
Khepri: 7500 LP
"I set a card and end my turn. Play quickly and I will kill you swiftly."
Taylor tried to stop her shaking legs from giving away, barely holding on as she concentrated on her hand. Even if the kids managed to flee by now, she couldn't let Lung go on a rampage. She had to stop him. She barely took notice of the disappearing aura of Maxx C around the field before drawing a card, or rather having it appear in front of her.
"My turn!" She said, trying to not falter.
Lung: 8000 LP – Hand: 1 – Field: Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon, Red-Eyes Black Dragon, Contact "C", 1 Set Spell/Trap.
Khepri: 7500 LP – Hand: 8
"I summon Beetrooper Scout Buggy!"
An armored humanoid insect sporting a red cape and wielding a spear, riding an equally armored ladybug, flew down from high and buzzed on her field, bigger than any insect could be yet insignificant in front of the massive dragons.
Beetrooper Scout Buggy – WIND/Insect/Level 3/Effect: 1000/300
"When he is normal or special summoned, I can special summon another Beetrooper Scout Buggy from my hand, Deck or graveyard! I will summon one from my Deck! Furthermore, I chain the effect of Beetrooper Scale Bomber in my hand, allowing it to special summon itself if an Insect monster is normal or special summoned on my field!"
"No matter. For those two effects, you will take 1000 damage!" Said Lung, apparently annoyed she wasn't just letting herself killed.
The chain resolved in order, allowing another armored and humanoid insect, this time sporting an orange and violet armor, riding an equally colored butterfly and wielding what looked like a burning torch in hand to appear.
Beetrooper Scale Bomber – FIRE/Insect/Level 3/Effect: 1200/2000
Once again the metallic dragon sent a fireball. This time she barely avoided it by throwing herself on the side, scrapping her knees on the asphalt and still having her side burned by the heat.
Khepri – 7000 LP
Right after that another ladybug riding spear wielding insect descended, joining its brother on the battlefield, and Taylor desperately rolled on the floor to avoid the new stream of fire that caught her right leg, making her whimper as she laboriously stood up.
Khepri – 6500 LP
Why couldn't her Scale Bomber activate to destroy that Red-Eyes? The answer popped into Taylor's mind. Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon's damaging effect was continuous, it did not need to activate. Meaning her Scale Bomber, who needed the opponent's monster effect to activate to react, was useless. She had to defeat that monster before it burned her to death, or before her Life Point hit 0. The first was sadly a lot more likely than the second, she observed with no small amount of hopelessness. Why did her stupid power not protect her?
"I use my two Scout Buggy as materials to Link Summon Inzektor Picofalena!"
A large blue square circuit with 8 black arrows pointing outward appeared above the field, like the black galaxy had on the ground before. Taylor's two monsters became streams of light before inserting themselves on the two diagonal arrows on the bottom, illuminating them in green before light erupted from the circuit. Yet that light did not blind her like the Xyz summon did, and Taylor witnessed the woman appear, her body covered in black leather and sporting two pink and yellow butterfly wings, armed with a pink whip.
Inzektor Picofanela – DARK/Insect/Link 2/↙ ↘/Link/Effect: 1000
"When Picofanela is Link summoned, I can discard 1 card and target 1 other Insect monster I control to equip it with 1 Insect monster from my Deck as an Equip Spell! I target Scale Bomber and equip it with Inzektor Hornet, making him gain 500 ATK and DEF!"
Beetrooper Scale Bomber – FIRE/Insect/Level 3/Effect: 1700/2500
This time she narrowly avoided the burning sphere, but when it exploded on the ground she fell harshly, earning a graze on her arm on the torn asphalt. She whined, but still got back up. She was close.
Khepri – 6000 LP
"I activate Inzektor Hornet's effect! By sending it to the graveyard when treated as an Equip Spell, I can target 1 card on my opponent's field and destroy it! I target Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon!"
The Scale Bomber flew above the black dragon and released a stream of smoking and hissing liquid… which ran down the beast with no effect, beside making it snort.
Beetrooper Scale Bomber – FIRE/Insect/Level 3/Effect: 1200/2000
"Stupid. It cannot be destroyed by card effects if it has Xyz material." Said Lung with a bored tone as the monster roared and sent yet again its flames, sending once again Taylor on the ground, frantically extinguishing the fire starting on her shirt.
Khepri – 5500 LP
Shame and hopelessness overwhelmed the bruised and burned girl. She couldn't see the effects of her opponent's cards, how was she supposed to know? How was that fair? Stupid power, stupid decision to go out tonight! Standing up again, Taylor looked at her hand. She could do this. She had something in her Deck that could overpower his dragons, she was persuaded of it… Lung suddenly shifted his attention from the field to the side of the road. Following his gaze, Taylor numbingly realized a hero had arrived on the scene. No, not just a hero. Armsmaster himself, descending from his bike. He jumped toward Lung, his halberd thrusting… Only to be stopped by the unbreakable space delimiting the duel. The hero prodded the field once again before turning toward her.
"You did well to contain Lung. Power down your projections so I can neutralize him."
"I can't! I must finish the duel!" Said Taylor, feeling suddenly that if she didn't do something Lung could forcefully end her turn and start his own. Her own power was putting her on a clock. Why? "I activate the field spell Beetrooper Formation!" Her voice was coarse from the pain, yet she had to declare her actions. Instinctively, she was certain her power would not let act without doing so.
Khepri – 5000 LP
"And I activate its effect! I can target 1 "Beetrooper" monster in my graveyard and special summon it to my side of the field! In exchange, I lose Life Points equal to its original ATK! Come back, Scout Buggy!"
The ladybug riding monster appeared, and her life points fell down even more combined with the dragon's subsequent effect.
Khepri – 3500 LP
"Power down your projections! Your condition is becoming critical!" Warned Arsmaster.
Ignoring the hero trying to pass the field limits and her aching burns, Taylor pulled through with reckless desperation. "I use the spell card Multiplication of Ants! I tribute my Scout Buggy to special summon two "Army Ant Tokens" on my side of the field!"
Army Ant Token – EARTH/Insect/Level 4/Token: 500/1200
Khepri – 3000 LP
"I use my two Army Ant Token and my Inzektor Picofanela as material to Link summon Giant Beetrooper Invincible Atlas!"
Once more the circuit appeared in the sky and all the monsters I designated went to the arrows, guiding the way for the monster I needed to obtain victory. And from the circuit landed a colossal creature, so massive it utterly dwarfed Lung's dragons. A giant armored atlas beetle fortified like a living castle by towers on its back occupied by insectoid soldiers armed with ballistae, and canons armed with harpoons on its flanks.
Giant Beetrooper Invincible Atlas – EARTH/Insect/Link 4/ /↙↑ ↘↓/Link/Effect: 3000
"Now I activate the effect of Beetrooper Sting Lancer in my hand! I target Beetrooper Scout Buggy in my graveyard and Red-Eyes Soul in your graveyard, and then I special summon Sing Lancer, putting both target at the bottom of the Deck!"
Just after she revealed her card the two designated cards flew away from their respective graveyards and her monster descended: a flying hornet almost as big as Lung's dragons, its sting a large metallic weapon with two large spears replacing its most forward legs.
Beetrooper Sting Lancer – EARTH/Insect/Level 7/Effect: 2400/1800
Khepri – 2500 LP
"When its normal or special summoned, Sting Lancer allows me to add 1 ''Beetrooper''Spell or Trap from my Deck to my hand! I add Beetrooper Descent to my hand!"
Khepri – 2000 LP
Taylor crumpled to her knees, barely feeling her legs or even her arms anymore. The heated air burned her throat with each inspiration, terrible flashes was splitting her head open, and her clothes had burned or melted on several part of her body. Yet her eyes were still fixated on the villain, ignoring even the hero trying to speak to her on the side.
"I activate Beetrooper Descent, which special summon 1 "Beetrooper Token"… and since I control an Insect monster with 3000 or more ATK, I can also destroy 1 Spell or Trap you control. I… destroy your only face-down!"
The face-down card was revealed before exploding into a thousand pieces. A Trap card, "Fiery Fervor". A card that could have cost her the game had he had the chance to activate it. At the same time, a round dung beetle covered by thick armor was dropped on her field.
Beetrooper Token – EARTH/Insect/Level 3/Token: 1000/1000
Khepri – 1500 LP
"I.. I activate Invincible Atlas' effects… I tribute Beetrooper Token to increase its ATK by 2000… until the end of this turn."
Khepri – 1000 LP
Giant Beetrooper Invincible Atlas – EARTH/Insect/Link 4/ /↙↑ ↘↓/Link/Effect: 5000
"Battle!... Invincible Atlas… attacks Red-Eyes Black Dragon!"
The titanic monster buzzed even louder, its harpoon canons firing at the dragon while the insect manning ballistae shot in unison. Lung simply crossed his arms, supremely confident. Attack declaration… before damage calculation… now!
"I activate… a…" Taylor coughed dolorously, pushing words through her throat as if they were nails. "Quick play spell! Star Power!"
One of the last cards in her hand turned to face Lung, representing a living yellow star and two calculator like robots in a party. She hurled her last words with all her remaining willpower.
"During damage calculation, my Link monster gain ATK equal to 400x the total Level or Rank of monsters it points to! Invincible Atlas points to Sting Lancer and Scale Bomber on my field, and also Contact "C" on yours! I win!"
Giant Beetrooper Invincible Atlas – EARTH/Insect/Link 4/ /↙↑ ↘↓/Link/Effect: 11400
"You bitch!" Screamed Lung, but whatever he was trying to do did nothing as the projectiles pierced his dragon, killing it and provoking a gigantic explosion. The blast threw Taylor away and her head collided with the ground, darkness taking her away alongside a faint feeling of pride…
Lung – 0 LP
KHEPRI WINS!
Author's note: I have so little time to write, and this parasite of a story just took all of the space in my head until I finally wrote it out if it. It's done and I will be able to focus on my ongoing stories. Taylor, or rather, Khepri here, couldn't have any other deck than Beetrooper in my opinion (Khepri is a beetle god on top of it!). I hesitated a lot for Lung with all the dragons and wyrms archetypes around, but I decided that Red-Eyes and their burn aspect would perfectly suit him. They of course are not playing optimized versions but rather more or less pure decks with some generic helpful cards corresponding to the way their powers work. Lung doesn't have Dragoon for example since he does not have anyone or anything that could give him Dark Magician, if you get what I mean. In the same note, none of them played optimally in the slightest.
I hesitated in giving them skills too but decided against it for Khepri (since she already has the power of initiating the Duel in a sense) and Lung's own wasn't relevant here since he got OTK (After taking battle damage, regain that much LP +1000 and increases the ATK of all monsters he controls to become equal to the ATK of the opponent's monster with the highest ATK+100).
Here are the other characters/Decks I have thoughts of:
- Armsmaster: Metalfoes (I don't think he fits Sky Striker)
- Dragon: Machina (I don't think the name alone is enough to make her play Cyber Dragon, or Rokket, though I hesitate with Ignister)
- Kaiser: Ritual Dogmatika (Extra Deck xenophobia is xenophobia)
- Bakuda: Burn (what a surprise!)
- Eidolon: Pile Deck (just throw everything that can work at a situation until it sticks, isn't it?)
- Panacea: Nurse Burn (except that her Skill is a permanent Nurse, so she doesn't need either Reficule or Bad Reaction)
- Noelle: Amorphage
Honestly if anyone wants to adopt this I won't refuse, I simply don't want to develop it further.