Hello everyone, I seriously hope you're having a better January than I am.
Woke up on the 28th of December, and in my email, there was a notice from my bank about suspicious activity. Seems some jerk hacked onto my credit card and made a fraudulent charge. Luckily the bank caught it before he spent more than $25, but as a result I don't have a credit card now, and it will take Five to seven business days to get another one. After which I'm going to have to change the settings on every single website where I use a credit card.
And this is not the first time it has happened.
I cannot stand cyber crooks. I mean that. They are complete and utter scum, and you never hear about them being caught in the act, because they almost never are.
Still, while I'm relying on an ATM card and for pretty much everything at the moment, I am still managing to do some writing, and I finally got this chapter finished. So read, rate, and review, it would all be a big help. Hopefully, this year will get better.
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Chapter Seventeen
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He Took a Red Pen to It
As I've said before, I will never deny being a nerd. I mean, not like denying it would stop anyone from assuming it. I actually see far more benefits to the label than most folks seem to think. As such, I can understand some of the idiosyncrasies of "nerd culture". Take the movie Red Sonja. Critics condemned this movie back in the 80s, saying it was "the end of sword-and-sorcery fantasy B-movies due to wooden acting, a weird premise, silly set pieces, and bumbling stock characters." So… Those critics may have wanted to look up the definition of "B-movie". Same with films like The Black Cauldron, Weird Science, and Willow. They were campy, cheesy, and a little… off, but the reason they have such a loyal following is that lack of realism makes them entertaining. Usually. In fact, I am of the school of thought that someone who intentionally tries to make a movie campy and cheesy will often wind up with nothing but a hot mess.
But one thing I had never been able to understand was the idea of a waifu, something that supposedly came about around 2010, where fans of anime related to fictional females in anime as if they were dating them. This isn't an accident, anime writers have always known what sells, and even use categories of waifu to appeal to different demographics. Of course, the concept was much older; some of the oldest Trekkies would admit to having such feelings towards Lt. Uhura. It's not limited to anime either; attractive females (and on occasion, males, called husbando by female fans) in movies, comic books, and western cartoons are bound to have a few young folks who treat them as real.
Of course, it applies to Duel Monsters. It seemed natural some cards would lead to duelists showing affection to some of the characters on the cards, especially since the Solid Vision System gives the monsters a pseudo-life that makes them solid enough to touch them. Of course, it was usually a case of them "touching" you, and not in an affectionate way.
So, I just never understood waifu. Until now.
Of course, I had never seen Dark Magician Girl summoned by any opponent other than that Duel Computer, the card was incredibly rare. But given the few times I had seen her on recorded broadcasts, this… This could not be a hologram. She was flesh and blood, and yet… The likeness was almost scary. The long, wavy blonde hair, large green eyes, flawless skin (other than the strange violet markings under her eyes that I assumed was makeup), and a curvy figure that was beautiful but not exaggerated. Her clothing was… I assumed this was a cosplay outfit, but it seemed far too well-made to be something a convention-goer would buy at a costume store. It was of such high quality, it looked like it had been custom-made for a stage actress.
But for now, the biggest concern was that this strange woman was being held prisoner, kept in this cell in a basement of this strange place, held with shackles. Was this some sort of BDSM dungeon for someone with a cosplay fetish?
I should be so lucky, right? That assumption was shot down quickly when she leapt off the bench, straining against the shackles, pleading, "Get me out of here, please!"
"Who are -" I started.
"I'll tell you later, please…"
"Uh…" I looked around. Was there a key to this cell here? Then I remembered something. "Oh, wait…" I quickly took off my backpack. "I, uh, brought a cheeseburger!" The strange woman's eyes widened in excitement as I held up the takeout order from Pandora's Box. "It's probably cold by now, but…"
She did not care. She snatched the bag like a feral wolf, then tore apart the package and devoured the contents. It was like someone who hadn't been fed in days - and I realized that might have been true.
I had no idea what was going on, but that would have to wait, somehow, I had to get this poor woman out of here. But how? Not only did there not seem to be a key in this room, there didn't seem to be anywhere to use a key. The cell didn't seem to have any latch or… any hinges. The bars were set into the stone walls and floor, like it had been built with no intention to let the prisoner out, but then…
How did they put her in there? Did they put her in there and then build the cell around her? And who exactly is "they"?
"How…" I tried to concentrate, this was getting too weird. "How do I open this?"
The strange woman stopped chewing. "You…" she said. Then she swallowed the last of the burger and said, "You don't know how?"
"Should I?"
Her face fell. Sadly, she sat back down. "When I sent out that card, I hoped someone would get it who… who knew what to do. Wishful thinking, I guess."
"What? Listen, uhm… Ms…"
"B…" she started. "Betty, call me Betty. Look, we're going to have to do this another way, look over there."
Something was not right. When she gave me her name there, it was as if she was going to give me a different one but changed her mind. Her attitude seemed to change too, sounding more cynical than before.
"Wait, what is going on here? Who put you here?"
"Listen, Terone, was it? Is Burt still up there?"
"No, he left, I -"
"Well, he works for the ones who 'put me here' and he's gone to tell them you are here, and take my word for it, you do not want to be here when he gets here. Got it?" I slowly nodded, and she pointed to the wall to my left. "Good. There should be a loose brick over there."
Naturally, I went to the wall. "Left," she said. "About two feet left of where you are."
"Listen, uh," I started. "Maybe I should just go get the police…"
She actually laughed. "Are you kidding, Terone? People like this own police. Even if you find an honest one, what are you going to tell him, that a Duel Monster is being held prisoner in a dungeon under a condemned house? Okay, about a foot up."
I had to admit, that did make sense. She shouted, "There!" as my hand touched the loose brick - except it wasn't loose. When I touched it, it simply… disappeared, leaving an indentation in the wall, about half a meter deep.
Once I got over the shock, I saw that there was something in it. A… collar?
Well, I guess the right term was "choker". It was a band like a necklace that was made to latch into place, but unlike the cheap ones you might find at a place like Spencer Gifts, this was made of what looked like gold, with runes etched in the surface that looked like Elven writing - making such a comparison was another benefit to being a nerd.
"Is this real gold?"
"No, Terone, it is something much, much more valuable. Now put it on."
Almost in a trance, I unlatched the clasp on the back of the choker, cautiously lifting it to my neck. In those short few seconds, all the science fiction films (often horror-themed) where someone was subjected to some high-tech slave collar - the ones that would subject the wearer to horrible pain, strangle them or even explode if he didn't behave - came to the front of my mind…
It clicked into place… Nothing yet…
"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" No doubt about it, she sounded far more cynical and snarkier now, plus a lot more confident than the typical helpless prisoner. "Now take the box of cards."
"What are you talking about, there's no…" Then, I froze. I was almost certain, there had been nothing in that compartment other than the collar a few seconds ago, but now there was indeed a deck case.
"No, Terone, you are not going crazy. Go on, take it."
As I took the case, my hand trembled. What did this woman truly want from me?
Then, I opened the deck case and saw the card on the top of the deck - and briefly, I didn't care what she wanted. It would be worth it. It was there, Cosmo Brain, the card I had put on the top of the private "wish list" I had kept, the retrained "evolution" of my favorite monster… I closed my eyes, briefly picturing Cosmo Queen surge with power, transforming into her true form…
…and then I saw the card under that one, and almost died from the shock.
"Yo, Terone! Earth to Terone!" Betty's voice snapped me back to reality. "Don't get too excited there, Terone, those are my cards, I am lending them to you. Of course, I might not want them back if I ever got out of here, and… are you listening to me?"
I was, but barely. Having gotten over that initial shock, I was looking through them all, many of them were cards that I'd only dreamed of owning. Some of them - mostly Fusion Monsters - I had never heard of, but when I looked at them, my eyes bled. This was a treasure that I would give my soul for…
Well, maybe, maybe not. I wasn't so naive to think there wouldn't be any price at all. I turned to her and sternly asked, "What do you want?"
"Simple, Terone, I want you to use those cards. Use them, and win."
I took my deck from my Duel Disk, leafing through it until I found the Dark Magician Girl card from it. "You want me to use this card too, right?"
She nodded. "But more importantly, you must not lose it. Do not let it out of your sight, do not give it to anyone. I mean that, do not give it to anyone."
"Why is this card so special?"
Betty looked at me sternly, then held her hand out. "Here, let me see it and I'll show you."
"Huh? Okay, sure…" I was about to hand it to her, but then I caught on. "OH NO, no… Don't think so."
She smiled. "See, you're learning! Like I said, go back, use those cards anyway you like, but use them." She moved her hand towards me, towards the collar. "I'm counting on you."
Then, I screamed….
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"Terone? Terone!"
I heard Jenni's voice, waking me up. I felt woozy, sitting up… on a sidewalk… The sidewalk outside the townhouse?
"How…"
"What the fuck happened?" she shouted. "I had the phone in my hand, and I was just about to call 999!"
"Ugh, well then, good thing I… wait… You waited until now?"
"You told me to give you ten minutes, remember?"
"So why did you wait until -"
I gave a quick look at my watch, and for about the twentieth time today, I thought I was losing my mind. It was 3:06 PM, not even ten minutes since I spoke to her last to tell her to give me ten minutes.
"I'll tell you once I shower…" I groaned.
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As I've said before, there are many ironies in the universe, and I was in the middle of one of them. Obviously, had I gotten home three hours later (which by all logic, I should have) after Jenni had indeed called the police, she'd have been infuriated when I did get home and likely wouldn't have believed a word I said. However, since there was no feasible way I could have gotten back from Hecate's Square in that amount of time, she took what I said more seriously.
Not that I was being completely honest. I told her I'd been roped into another duel (not a lie) and that my opponent had left after losing (again, not a lie). Everything afterwards, however, I kept quiet about - for now. No sense in having Jenni believe I was truly going nuts.
An hour later, I was watching as she was going over Pro Duelist profiles on a website. Finding a male duelist who used Charmers was a simple matter of using a search engine, and there weren't many.
"Let's see," she said, "Louis Paronan, aka Louie the Lilac…" The screen showed a black man wearing purple formalwear, with a lilac lapel flower.
"No, not him," I said. She clicked with her mouse, changing the file to one showing a blonde-haired man in a white suit with a boyish face.
"Jean-Pierre Richaudeau, aka Count R."
"Not him either. This Burt was more… Masculine."
"Well, that's all on this site. You kind of hit the nail on the head there, Terone, the Charmers aren't that popular nowadays, even most female pros who use them are jobbers, or someone trying to make a statement."
"Well, he was certainly in the tournament. I mean he couldn't have just… Wait, that's it. Does this tournament have a website?"
"Way ahead of you Tyrone," she exclaimed. A few quick flicks with a mouse later and she brought up the website, specifically the page outlining the duels. A further click brought up my page. A brief fight card history was there, in order, detailing my duels with Monty, Harrington, and Cindy. The one after that…
"Yeah, that's him."
Strangely, however, the opponent's portrait was there, but only a "?" Where his name would be. Jenny clicked on the portrait.
"Huh? 'page under construction'?"
It did seem that way. Everything on the page was blank. No information about his age or nationality or any of his past duels. In fact, the only thing interesting was his record, crediting him with zero wins, one loss, and zero draws. Even stranger, the page was only created five days ago.
"I seriously don't think they let a newbie into the tournament."
"Maybe he's a bonus boss?"
"Ah, who?"
"Bonus boss, you know, like they have in video games? I mean, why not?"
Actually, that made a lot of sense. It had happened before. Some folks organizing tournaments had taken inspiration from the Eliminators from the original duelist Kingdom, expanding the idea, and putting special duelists into the mix that contestants had to find. Doing so and defeating them would usually score an increased payout or an extra award like cards you could not get otherwise.
Of course, if that was true, it brought up even more questions. Those cards Betty had given me seemed like quite a large reward for defeating one duelist. Was she a real prisoner, or did Anastasia intend this as some odd reality show? What would have happened if I had been able to open that cell?
"Hmm," said Jenni, "it seems your duel with him isn't available for public broadcast but will be available through download on Sunday. Figures they put something like that behind a scheduled paywall. Hey, maybe you're just getting more popular, Terone."
Jenni opened her Favorites page and clicked on a link to Reddit. "At least I know a lost and found site here where I can post a message. Oh, by the way, tried to look up info on that story your boss told you."
"And?"
"Almost nothing. I'll admit records from Victorian era Tuscany are scarce, but there's nothing I could find that comes close to matching the story, nor could I find anything on a brewery owned by anyone named Dario. Only thing I've gotten on it was a forum message from someone who said it reminded her of 'something', but she said she'd get back to me."
I started to think maybe Trask had been pulling my leg.
"I couldn't find anything at all about this Order of Evelyn group. If they're real, they must be very subversive."
Not the best time to be reminded of that, but even if that group was real, Burt didn't fit the story Trask had told me.
Someone mentioned once that rich people were eccentric, that becoming as nutty as Howard Hughes would make you just as rich as he was. I guess it was possible that Trask had… forcibly invited me to that pricey restaurant and paid for a meal that cost more than my credit limit simply out of a need to tell me some bonkers story because it amused him.
If so, I didn't know whether to be thankful or offended. All I knew was, all this was making my head hurt.
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It was ten AM when I woke up the next morning. No surprise, as I was up until two in the morning. The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was my laptop on the bedside table (now on a screensaver pattern) with my deck next to it. This was the reason, of course, I had been up all night.
Naturally, I couldn't have used all the cards Betty had given me, but I had put together one with the best strategy I could think of - obviously, with some of the cards it was hard to actually put a deck list together. When I went to bed, I had planned to have Jenni boot up GLaDOS again, hoping I could give the deck a test run - and hopefully get revenge.
Before I went to shower, I turned the laptop to the Duel Network station. Never hurts to keep on tabs with recent duels, especially when a tournament is happening.
"Hey, dueling fans!" said a cheery and annoying voice that I quickly recognized. "We're here at Piccadilly Circus where one of our favorite up and coming duelists of the Blockbuster Tournament has just cemented another win!"
As much as I didn't like Yolanda, I was interested in seeing just who she was about to interview - until, that is, I saw who it was.
"With this epic win, the currently undefeated Hunter Rian brings his total victory count up to six!"
Oh, for the love of, I thought. It was him, of course, grinning like Gary Oak would after stomping five Pokemon trainers in a row. I could tell by the look on Yolanda's face that her smile was forced. Poor woman hates her job but loves the attention.
"Congratulations, Hunter, I hear this win puts you squarely in the lead! Any words on what you expect to accomplish for the rest of the tournament?"
"Thanks, Yolanda! I have to say I had my doubts about such an unorthodox type of cards at first, and never was a big fan of crossovers, but hey, maybe this will make Duel Monsters even more popular."
"They do say there's no such thing as bad publicity!"
"Of course," said Hunter, not getting the hint. "They also say, it's one thing to master a new trend, and another to start one."
I was about to turn it off, but Yolanda's next question made me want to hear the rest.
"I have heard that only two of your opponents had more than one tournament duel before your match with them, and that some are saying you are actively looking for contestants who meet the bare minimum of Deck Points for you to challenge."
Hunter looked flustered for a few seconds, obviously not expecting that, but he recovered quickly.
"Well, ah, not like anyone made them accept a challenge, you know. As for the Deck Point system, well just because a duelist has a good deck doesn't mean he can use it right, he could have the best deck in the world, and a lot would depend on his actual skill with it."
You're full of prunes, Hunter, I thought, if that were the case, the Notoriety rating wouldn't factor in.
"I mean, do you know how many times I've seen arguments over Barrel Behind the Door? Megamorph and Tyrant Dragon, I've seen so many mistakes with those cards."
That time, I came even closer to turning it off. The mistakes in using Megamorph and Tyrant Dragon were mistakes I myself made once when I was a rookie. I noticed that he hadn't mentioned Patrician of Darkness - he himself had made a common ruling mistake with that card that I had to point out to him. But out of bile fascination, I kept watching.
"There's a rumor that another undefeated contestant is someone you've had a past with, someone you have dueled twice before. Any chance this tournament might see the two of you engaging in a tiebreaker?"
"Hahaha, well, Yolanda, I do make a Point of never turning down a true challenge, but that is entirely up to him. I will say that if he's up for it, I'll much prefer making the challenge in person. Think he knows where to find me."
Enough, I turned it off. I had gotten the message - he had already made the challenge.
He had emphasized the word "Point" for a reason, as The Point was a restaurant in Heathrow where Hunter and I used to go up until junior high school. In fact, both our families used to go there the second Tuesday of the month, always meeting at six PM. Why? No idea. Guess it held some relevance to them that they never told me about.
Back then, I always found it funny how predictable those dinners were. Hunter's dad always ordered ribs with steak fries, his mother ordered chicken parmesan, his space cadet younger sister had cottage cheese, and Hunter himself always went with chili. Ever since we went pro, we had used the place as a "truce zone".
I moved the mouse to the calendar on the icon on the desktop and clicked it. Yes, it was the second Tuesday of the month. Hunter had just thrown the gauntlet.
I had to think about this. With Hunter at six wins and myself at five, I was going to have to duel him eventually, so it was going to have to be today (on his terms) or later, possibly when beating him would be even harder.
Then, my train of thought was interrupted by the Tournament App: "CHALLENGER APPEARS!"
Had he changed his mind? I clicked on the app.
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Fifteen minutes later, Jenni knocked on the door of my room. "Are you going to sleep all day?"
She opened the door, but I had already left, though I left a note:
Jenni -
Went out to give the deck a test run. Duty calls. Be ready to livestream at noon, this one is going to be a blast.
Terone
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Okay, maybe the "duty calls" part went a little overboard. To be honest here, I had been so quick to accept that challenge because it would be fun. I had dueled Lorenzo twice before, and Jenni still kept each duel downloaded onto her PC. One of these days she was going to put together a playlist of my best duels, putting them there - Lorenzo had a style that I couldn't help but admire.
Seeing as the Pandora's Box Multiplex Center was also in Heathrow, I could duel Lorenzo and meet up with Hunter later. Of course, at the time, the connection had yet to "click" ...
It didn't take long to get there - the size of the place meant its parking lot had its own bus stop, and it was that time of day right after morning rush and right before lunch hour. The strange part started when I entered through the main entrance. Lorenzo had told me to go to the "new Club DZ", but the directory didn't seem to have anything like that. After asking an attendant, however, she seemed to expect such an inquiry and gave me directions right away.
Once I got to the place she had indicated - on the lower level, right below the food court - I thought it was the wrong place. A sign on the door said it was "Closed for remodeling". Still, the windows on the front showed lights were on, so I tried the door.
Inside was what seemed to be a juice bar or activity center. There was a dance floor and a stage with a DJ booth and a karaoke machine, a widescreen TV, pool table, foosball table, and of course, arcade games - a typical hangout that the cast of every television high school sitcom would hang out in from the late 80s onward. It still seemed slightly out of place compared to the hamburger and pizza stands on the upper level.
But then I noticed that, in the center of the main room was actually a square platform with holo-imagers placed on the sides and corners. Pros like me knew what this was, a public dueling arena.
My opponent was already there. "Yo, Terone!" shouted Lorenza. He pointed to me with both hands. "How ya doin', how ya doin'?"
"Uh, nice to see you too, Lorenzo. What sort of place is this?"
"A work in progress, Mr. Brickman."
"Huh, Mr. Trask?" He had been sitting at a table near the bar, casually drinking something from a tall glass. "Wait, don't tell me you own this place?"
"Mr. Trask owns twenty percent of this facility," said Hephzibah. "For now, at least."
I had not even noticed her, even though she was sitting with him at the same table. She had been there in plain sight, yet somehow remained inconspicuous, as if she was a shadow.
"Thank you, Hephzibah," he said. "Indeed, Mr. Brickman, I only recently became involved here, and this quaint establishment is my first contribution."
"The… Club DZ…"
"Exactly." He put his arm around my shoulder (something I really didn't like, as his breath smelled like cigar smoke and his aftershave was worse) as he boastfully explained. "See, I figured at first that this place needed a bar and grill or maybe a sports bar, something that parents could use to avoid losing their sanity when bringing their children here, know what I'm saying?"
As I've said before, I certainly did, so I just nodded.
"But then, someone brought up issues I'd rather not deal with, like the problem of having a place that serves alcohol in a complex where most of the customers have problems with sugar and caffeine. So, I figured, why not just design the place with teenagers in mind? After all, this place is where they always come on Friday afternoons, the time of the week when they want to blow off steam by starting one of these games and beating the crud out of a bunch of alien monsters, right?"
He put the pressure into his arm with the word "crud". Seriously, this man had no sense of personal space right now.
"But then I figure, maybe they'd much rather do it by beating the crud out of their friends and classmates…"
"...using Duel Monsters?"
"Exactly, when this place opens, we might even start renting it out for local tournaments. There's even rumors some folks might want to use the whole Multiplex for the next comics convention."
"Uh, yeah, I'd buy that for a dollar. But it's not open yet?"
"Not till next month," said Lorenzo, "but ya know what they say, Terone, never hurts to advertise! So how about it, ready to star in Club DZ's special big sneak peek?"
Seems I had been roped into promoting this new place; not that it was a bad thing. I had to admit, Trask was very business savvy. I would have loved to go to a place like this when I was fourteen.
"Well… let's get this party started then!"
"That's what I like to hear!" laughed Trask, giving me another firm squeeze with his arm.
I had to admit, he was a very enthusiastic employer…
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Okay, I thought, first time using this new deck… Going to either make a complete fool of myself or put on a great show… in front of my boss. Wonder if Lorenzo is just as nervous.
"Yo, Terone! What's the holdup here?"
I'll take that as a no.
(Terone: 8,000) - - - - - - - - (Lorenzo: 8,000)
Still, I had a good opening hand, and I saw a good opening strategy already, so maybe this wouldn't be too bad.
"I'll start by bringing out Summoner Monk!"
Playing the card caused it to appear flat on the ground in front of me, and a wispy, dark mist rose as the monster rose out of it. The Spellcaster was an old man with a moustache and long, white hair, dressed in a priest's vestment and a tall, peaked hat. (800 ATK) "...and, when he's summoned, he moves into Defense Mode." I turned the card, and the Monk sat down in a meditative position, closing his eyes. (1,600 DEF)
"Next I can use his effect." I took a Spell Card from my hand, and then discarded it. Summoner Monk opened his eyes, and a pentagram made of fiery shadowy magic formed around him. He started to chant in an eldritch tongue, and a second pentagram, this one drawn with prismatic light! "By getting rid of a Spell Card, I can summon a Level 4 monster from my deck, so here comes Magician's Valkyria!"
"HELL-O!" came a cheerful, enthusiastic voice, and a female Spellcaster rose out of the second pentagram with a playful spin. She looked like Dark Magician Girl at first; similar outfit with the strapless dress, short skirt, and style of hat, gloves, boots, and long, flowing hair. However, the dress was fancier, with flared shoulders, and a lighter shade of blue while her hair was darker. (1,800 DEF)
"WHOA!" shouted Lorenzo. "There is a card I'd love to set facedown - if you know what I mean."
"Ugh, in your dreams, creep," said Valkyria.
"Easy, easy," I said. "This is just the first turn…" I took a Spell Card and used it. "Next, I'll activate Shadow's Light." Summoner Monk started to chant again, creating an aura of darkness around him. Then, a shimmering point of light appeared above him. "Because he's a Dark Monster, I can summon a Light one from my deck who's the same Level."
The light burst, and when it subsided, another Magician's Valkyria was standing next to the first one. (1,800 DEF)
Lorenzo rubbed his eyes. "Ugh, think I'm seein' double here… four Valkyria?"
"Ha-ha." The second Valkyria put her hand on her hip with a dirty look towards him. "That is one bubble I cannot wait to burst."
"So," I said, "it's your move, Lorenzo."
"Hey, no problem!" He made his first draw, keeping his eyes locked on the two lady Spellcasters. "This sort'a thing is a dream!"
"Well, it's going to be a nightmare soon," I said, "because when Magician's Valkyria is on the field, you can't attack any Spellcaster except her, and because I have two of them and both are Spellcasters…"
Lorenzo looked at the first and then at the second. "Yeah, I… See what you mean…" He used three of his cards, setting one monster and two reversed cards behind it. "Guess that'll do for now, then."
Given what I knew about Lorenzo's deck, I thought I knew what he was up to, figuring the set cards were Alert (a card he could activate if I destroyed his set monster) and Boss Rush (a Continuous Spell Card that could be activated on my turn via the use of Alert). I wasn't sure what the monster was, but I was guessing it was something with "B.E.S." in its name, which would be the final part of the combo.
The monsters that Lorenzo used were based on the bosses of Gradius (the Bacterian Empire Squadron) and were high-Level (mostly) Machines that were not only hard to destroy, but easy to replace.
I didn't want to bite just yet, so I just set two cards in my Spell Zone and signaled the end of my turn.
"Heh, well… This is startin' out pretty dull." Lorenzo drew a card, and then went for his set monster. "Looks like I'm gonna have to make the first move, say hello to my little friend, Planet Pathfinder!"
Turning the card right-side up revealed a cute little robot drone on treaded wheels. Obviously, this was a Duel Monster version of the Mars Pathfinder robotic spacecraft probe. (1,000 ATK) Unfortunately, I knew what this card did, as Lorenzo quickly pointed out.
"Now I can sacrifice this little guy to take a Field Spell from my deck." The small Machine shattered into pixels. "Think I'm gonna use it now… Take us to…. B.E.F. Zone!"
The walls and warm decor of Club DZ melted away, changing to a… Well, this is a little hard to describe, but first, imagine the huge docking bay of the Death Star original Star Wars, the set where the Millennium Falcon was for much of the second act of the movie. Then change the clean, bright walls with those of a cave, and all the consoles and monitors to creepy looking organic devices. Finally, put a huge, malevolent looking cybernetic eye above the field, surrounded in a membrane covered with veins, ominously glowering down. Once you have that in your mind, you've got a pretty decent image of what this Field Spell had conjured up, sort of a cross between a space station within the depths of Hell.
"Nice place, ain't it?"
I was still trying to take in this whole thing. Finally, I just said,
"Kind of depends on your definition of nice I suppose…"
"Well, this place gives the B.E.S. ships a lot of perks. First off, usin' this Field Spell lets me take my favorite card from my deck."
"Boss Rush?"
He flipped the infamous Spell Card around. "You got it, but I'm not gonna use it right now. First off, I'll use another of B.E.F. Zone's perks, that lets me Special Summon a B.E.S. monster every turn. Like the B.E.S. Big Core MK-2!"
The huge eye-thing crackled with eldritch synapses, and binary symbols formed in the center of the arena, forming into a huge spaceship. It sort of looked like a Klingon Bird of Prey, but with larger "wings" on the sides, with a shinier hull that had red highlights. To either side of the hull right behind the bow was a glowing silver sphere. These were the "cores", the vulnerable parts of a Bacterian battleship. (2,400 ATK)
"Normally, special summoning this piece of work gives it three core-shields, but the Field Spell gives it an extra one."
This, of course, was the "gimmick" of these monsters. They couldn't be destroyed in battle, but anytime they battled, during either players' battle phase, they would lose one of their core-shields. If they had no shield when they battled, they'd be destroyed at the end of the battle.
"I'm not half done! Because you got more monsters than I do, I can also bring out the B.E.S. Blaster Cannon Core!"
Again, the eye-thing used its dark synapse to conjure up more binary magic, creating a second spaceship, just as large as the first, but this time, saucer-shaped, with two cannon turrets in the front, to either size of a gap that held a blue optic sensor. This only had one core in the center, which was blue. (2,500 ATK)
This was indeed a problem, but I was still focused on that big eye. "Uh, what exactly is that thing, anyway?"
"Eh? Oh, that? It's called the Zelos Force, some sort'a bioweapon. Anyway, again, summoning Blaster Cannon Core that way gives it three core-shields, an' the Field Spell gives it a fourth.
"Now, since I got two Machines, I can use Iron Draw!" He used the Spell Card, and then lifted his right hand, and a metal glove appeared on it. He drew twice. "There we go… Next, I'm gonna sacrifice my Big Core MK-2."
This was something of a surprise, but sure enough, the two-core battleship dissolved into binary energy again, the Zelos Force cast its strange spell, and a new battleship appeared. This one was a bulky, solid, crest-shaped craft with an armored hull, gun turrets, and a large core. (2,300 ATK)
"The Big Core?" This was, in fact, just a generic Bacterian ship, with no real extra effects.
"Hey, sometimes the simpler ones work better - show you in a minute." One of his facedown cards lifted - naturally, it was neither of the cards I had mentioned, it was Call of the Haunted. Using it created a spiraling wormhole above Lorenzo, causing the Big Core MK-2 to fly out. (2,400 ATK)
"Oh, an' one more thing… The Field Spell also gives all of these monsters 500 more Attack Points!" (Big Core: 2,800 ATK, Big Core MK-2: 3,000 ATK, Blaster Cannon Core: 3,000 ATK)
Damn, I thought. That combo with Alert would have given me one big spaceship to deal with, instead, he had brought out a fleet of them.
"Don't worry, Terone," said the first Valkyria. "We're still here, and if he wants to get to you, he has to go thought us!"
"That ain't as tough as you think, ladies, 'cause I've got another Trap Card." His second set card lifted up. "E.M.R., the Electromagnetic Railgun! By using this card, I can sacrifice a Machine, and then for every thousand Attack Points it has, I can wipe out one of your monsters!"
The Big Core's core turned purple and the whole ship started to burn with violet energy. "Oh, I hate acronyms," said the second Valkyria. Then the whole Field Spell seemed to be engulfed with a conflagration of flames and static electricity…
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Well, it seems like Terone's new deck strategy is off to an explosive start, but then, so is Lorenzo's, and you haven't seen anything yet.
Hope everyone stays warm and stays safe. I'll be back, and so will both my fics. Be there!