Yu-Gi-Oh: Virtual Disaster

[starjake]

He's baaaaaa-aaaaaack!!

Hallelujah, praise the Lord and pass the ammunition; Virtual Disaster is back online, and with a new chapter to boot!

I've made a few new changes; mostly clarifications on card effects and chapter titles and such.

Anyways, enjoy! And reply!


Virtual Disaster

Chapter 1 – Commencement Dance

I stood in front of the card shop and looked at my reflection; at the person about to register for his first tournament. He had the unusual combination of dirty-blond hair and green eyes. He was tall and relatively skinny. The reflection stared back at me, wide eyes taking note of my details as I took note of his. I thought at it, Watch as you totally bomb your very first tournament, Jake. That would be rather embarrassing.

But embarrassment would have to take the back burner. It was one thing to be embarrassed after a tournament, but to worry about it beforehand would be kind of like burning a bridge and then trying to cross it.

Taking a deep breath, a quick here goes nothing whipped through my head as I walked through the door to the registration table.

The smiling woman behind the table examined each card in my deck. I started thinking to myself again. Good thing I only use English cards. Heck, I don’t think I even own any Japanese cards. Oh wait; I do have that Japanese Humanoid Worm Drake. What a great card that is.

Still smiling, the woman handed me my deck back. “Everything passes. Good luck.” She walked away to deal with another young boy who had just walked in. I glanced over at who it was, then did a double-take. Jet-black hair, a muscular athletic build, and two all-too-familiar piercing brown eyes…it was my friend, Bryan!

Since when does Bryan do card games? I thought he was too much of a sports fanatic to even have time to duel, let alone want to. Huh, it’ll be fun to watch him.

“Yo, Jake! Surprise, surprise!”

“Hey Bryan, I had no idea! Since when do you keep secrets from me?”

“Well, I really only just started a few weeks ago. It was kind of my competitive edge that made me want to take it up. I mean, this is a game you could beat me in, and we can’t have that now, can we?” he said with a wink.

I rolled my eyes. Bryan’s ‘competitive edge’ is what most people would consider ‘psychotic behavior’.

“How good are you anyway, Jake?”

I shrugged. “This is my first tourney, so I don’t really know. I guess I’ll find out.”

“Cool. Well, I’ll see you later.”

“Later.”

I waited around a while as people filtered in. Most were younger than me, but I saw a few older guys, ‘older’ meaning around 40 or so!

Wow, I thought to myself. They must be collectors or something. I couldn’t imagine doing this for a living.

After about ten more minutes, the twenty-something registration woman (with that same grin plastered on her face), got our attention.

“Hello, and welcome to today’s tournament. Thank you all for coming out this morning.

For those of you who might not know the rules, they are very simple: use common sense. Keep equal amounts of dignity and humility whether you win or lose. The winner of a duel will be given one card pack. The tournament champion will not only receive a nice-looking trophy, but he or she will also receive their choice of any one card this shop carries.”

There was an excited murmur through the crowd as everybody wondered what card they would choose if they won. I wondered the same myself.

What kind of card would I want? I think I have every card I need…oh, well; I probably won’t win the tournament anyway.

I suddenly realized the woman was speaking again.

“If you look to your right – ,” she gestured “ – you will see a screen showing you…oh, hang on, it isn’t down yet…”

Everyone was looking curiously at the empty space where she had gestured. There was nothing but ceiling. She clapped twice, and out of the ceiling came a large but thin TV screen.

Impressive, I thought to myself. Nice technology.

Pressing a button on the side of this new contraption, she went on. “As I was saying, you will see a screen to your right –,” she gestured again, earning a laugh or two from a few people “ – which will show you who will be dueling who. I suggest you keep a close eye on this screen, and please follow what it says. We are unfortunately unable to arrange for everybody to duel whomever they would like. Now, I believe the computer has finished organizing your duels, so good luck to all, and may the best duelist win!”

There was a quick cheer, and then everyone crowded around the screen to see whom they were dueling and at what table. After a minute or two, there was enough space for me to see the screen up close. I was at table 4 with someone named Norman.

Hmm…I don’t know anyone named Norman. I guess I’ll have to wait and see who he is.

I waded through the sea of mostly younger kids until I made it to table 4. And there, I found out who Norman was.

He was one of those 40-somethings I saw earlier!

Uh-oh. Something tells me he’s probably way more experienced than I am at this kind of thing. Dang, I don’t wanna lose in the first match!

“Hello. You must be Jake.”

“I am. Norman, I take it?”

He stuck out his hand. “The pleasure is mine. Shall we?”

“Sure,” I replied, shaking his hand. We sat down.

“So what number tournament is this for you, Jake?”

“One,” I mumbled.

He looked slightly surprised. “That’s great! This is my first official tournament, too!”

I perked up a bit at this. “Oh. I was worried that I was gonna get crushed by someone who’d been here a thousand times before.”

He laughed. “Well, this is the first official tournament. I’ve been in plenty of unofficial tournaments before. I’m sure you’ve dueled plenty before, too, right?”

I nodded.

“Well, then, who needs official experience? Unofficial experience is much more useful in my opinion. Anyway, enough with the small talk. Let’s duel! I’ll let you go first, since you’re younger.”

This is going well, I thought as I drew my first six cards. At least he’s a nice guy.

I examined my hand carefully as Norman drew five cards from his deck. I had drawn Solar Flare Dragon, Mystical Space Typhoon, UFO Turtle, Magic Cylinder, Barrel Behind the Door, and Lava Golem.

Hmm. Not a bad hand. I can hopefully get my Solar Flare Dragon combo out early.

“OK, Norman. I’ll set these two cards face-down, and a monster in defense mode. Go ahead.”

Norman drew his sixth card. After thinking a moment, he said, “I’ll set one card face-down, and then summon Kinetic Soldier (1350 / 1800) in attack mode.”

Kinetic Soldier? Weird monster. Well, I’ll let it destroy my UFO Turtle.

“However, I won’t attack. Yet. It’s your move.”

Startled, I drew another card.

Hmm…Blazing Inpachi. I wonder why he didn’t attack? Oh well, I’ll just leave my Turtle in defense without doing much.

“I won’t play anything this turn. Go ahead.”

Norman drew.

“A stall tactic? Won’t work for long. I activate my face-down DNA Transplant to turn every monster on the field into a Water-type. Now, I’ll play A Legendary Ocean, then I’ll summon Sea Serpent Warrior of Darkness (2000 / 1700) in attack mode. I’ll have Kinetic Soldier attack your face-down card.”

Yes! “Thanks, Norman. You’ve destroyed my UFO Turtle. Now, I can Special Summon any Fire monster from my Deck in Attack Mode, as long as that monster has 1500 ATK or less. And…er…” I stuttered as I searched through my Deck. Where’d my Solar Flare Dragon go? C’mon…oh, there it is. “I choose Solar Flare Dragon (1700 / 1200).”

He shrugged. “Too bad you won’t be able to use its effect. My Sea Serpent Warrior will attack it.”

“Correction: it’ll attack you,” I interjected, flipping over my Magic Cylinder.

“Ah, rats. I should’ve known there was a trap waiting to bite me. OK, I’m down by 2000,” he said, scratching out the 8000 on his sheet of paper and writing 6000. “I’ll set this face-down and end my turn.”

OK, I hope this is good. My Solar Flare Dragon will take away 500 of his Life Points at the end of my turn, but it won’t be able to stand up to his monster next time he attacks, I thought as I drew the next card.

Wow, am I lucky! Ring of Destruction! I’ll be able to wipe him out at the beginning of his next turn!

“I’ll set two more cards face-down, then sacrifice your Soldier and Serpent Warrior to summon Lava Golem (3200 / 2700)!”

“Very well,” he said, sending his two monsters to the Graveyard as I placed Lava Golem on his side of the field in defense mode. “But I’m afraid I have a chain to that.”

Uh-oh. “What is it?”

He flipped over the card he had set last turn: Mystical Space Typhoon!

“I’ll destroy the card on your far right.”

Oh no, my Barrel Behind the Door is gone! Oh well, my combo isn’t useless, but it’s still weakened. At least Lava Golem will take away 1000 of his Life Points at the beginning of his turn.

“Darn. OK, I’ll switch my Dragon to defense and my turn is up.”

Norman looked at the card he drew, scratched out 6000 and wrote 4500 (thanks to Solar Flare Dragon and Lava Golem), then set his new card face-down in the Spell/Trap Zone. “I’ll summon another Kinetic Soldier (1550 / 2000) in attack mode. Now, I’ll switch Lava Golem to attack and attack your Dragon with it.”

“Nice try, but my face-down Ring of Destruction will stop it before that happens.”

He scowled at his mistake. “I need to remember those trap cards before I attack. OK, your turn.” He scratched out 4500 and wrote 1300, as I scratched out 8000 and wrote 4800.

I drew. Molten Destruction.

“I’ll destroy your Ocean card by playing Molten Destruction.”

As he placed his Legendary Ocean in the Graveyard, he commented, “You do realize that every monster is a Water-type thanks to my DNA Transplant, right?”

I shook my head. “No, but I won’t need to remember anymore because I’ll reveal my face-down Mystical Space Typhoon and destroy it.”

He shrugged as he put that in the Graveyard, too.

“Now, I’ll summon another Solar Flare Dragon (2000 / 600) in attack mode, and switch my first Dragon to attack as well. You know about their Direct Damage ability, but they have a second effect: if there’s another Pyro-type monster on the field, you can’t attack them. And now my Dragons have 2000 ATK points each, so I’ll have one of them attack your Kinetic Soldier.”

Norman smiled broadly. “Jake, do you know what I do for a living?”

The sudden change of subject startled me. “Huh? Um, well, no.”

“I’m a biologist. To be exact, I deal with cells and DNA. Do you know what DNA is?”

What this had to do with our duel was beyond me. “Well, doesn’t it make up your cells or something?”

“DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is what makes up who you are. It dictates your eye color, you height, your gender…and, some say, your capabilities and your attitude. In essence, it dictates what type of person you are.”

That was all well and good, but… “Um, what does this have to do with anything?”

“Through my occupation, I have learned how to relocate and manipulate DNA. Which is exactly what I built my deck around: DNA manipulation. Confused? My face-down card will clear things up nicely. Reveal DNA Surgery!”

DNA Surgery? That’s such an iffy card. Why would anyone build a deck around it?

“I choose to change the types of all monsters on the field to Warrior. And, now that you’ve attacked and my DNA Surgery is in play, Kinetic Soldier’s unique effect can activate. You know what it does?”

“Sure, its ATK and DEF increase by 2000, but only when it battles with a…Warrior-type…monster,” I trailed off as the realization hit me.

Norman, noticing my realization, smiled. “Understand my strategy, Jake? Now, let’s see, I believe some Life Points need to be removed from your account. 1350, to be exact, and your Solar Flare Dragon is destroyed.”

Shoot!. I have nothing in my deck that’s powerful enough to beat that thing! I need to destroy it outright.

I scratched out 4800 and wrote 3450, a bit shaken up.

“Uh, OK. Um, there’s nothing else I can do, so I’ll end my turn…and the Solar Flare Dragon you didn’t destroy will take away 500 of your Life Points.”

“Correct. I assume that it is my turn then?”

I sighed. “Yes.”

He scratched out 1300 and wrote 800, then drew a card. “Ah, this will help me. I summon Cure Mermaid (1500 / 800) in attack mode. Now, my Kinetic Soldier will do away with your Dragon and a nice helping of your Life Points; 1350, I believe. Then, Cure Mermaid will attack you directly for 1500, leaving you with 600 Life Points! Unless something very unusual happens, your next turn will be your last.”

My hand trembled as I drew my next card.

[starjake]

Chapter 2 – Queen of Autumn Leaves

I looked at my new card and sighed with relief.

“Norman, you have a strong deck, but there is one inherent weakness.”

“Oh? By all means, enlighten me.”

“You rely too heavily on your Spells and Traps. Yes, your Kinetic Soldier is powerful, but its effect is useless without your DNA Surgery.”

He considered that. “True, but I believe my DNA Surgery is still on the field. Meaning my Soldier’s effect still works.”

“Yes, but what if I destroy it?”

He paled slightly.

“I play Harpie’s Feather Duster! Say goodbye to your DNA Surgery.”

He gulped and put his DNA Surgery in his Graveyard.

“Alright! I summon Blazing Inpachi (2350 / 0) in attack mode. I’ll destroy your Kinetic Soldier with it, and I believe that’s a Life Point difference of 1000, enough to finish you off.”

Stunned, he looked at his Life Point tracker. Sure enough, he had only 800 Life points left.

“You know, Norman, you were right. My next turn was my last.”

Sighing, he said, “I lost. You win. Good game, I’ve never seen a Fire deck before.”

After shaking hands, I replied, “I’ve never seen a deck like yours either; very interesting concept. And I thought that all the older folks were just card collectors; I had no idea that they would have time to duel and have a job.”

He looked at me curiously. “What do you mean? You do the same thing.”

I looked up, startled. “What? I don’t have a job.”

“Well, yes and no. You have an occupation, but you don’t have a job.”

I looked at him, confused.

“What do you do all day during the week?”

I thought, and then it hit me. “Oh, you mean school!”

“Exactly. That is your job: to go to school. Well, the working world is kind of like school, but you hopefully like it better and you get paid for it. I have time to have a hobby outside of work. I just like my work so much that I arranged my hobby to reflect my work.”

Laughing slightly, I bid him good duel and goodbye and went up to the table to inform the (still-smiling) woman of my outcome. She congratulated me, then handed me a pack of tournament cards. I started to open it, but she told me to stop. I looked at her, confused.

“Why not?”

She smiled. “That’s just how it works around here.”

What? I thought to myself. That’s not what my friends told me a tourney was like. They’re always talking about how new cards from their tournament packs helped them during their following duels. Oh well, I guess there’s nothing I can do about it. I wonder where Bryan is?

I wandered over to the dueling screen. I immediately saw that Bryan was dueling someone named Shelby at table 7. As I turned to go watch, however, I noticed Bryan standing at the registration table talking to the lady. I guessed that he had won; sure enough, I saw Shelby’s name disappear from its slot with Bryan’s remaining by itself.

Darn. I wanted to see him duel. Oh well, maybe next round.

Soon, round 1 finished and the winners came back to the screen to see who their next opponent was. The first round had had sixteen people in it, but now that eight of them were out, there seemed to be very few of us.

I looked at the screen and saw that I was now paired with a person named Heather. I sighed in relief. Heather went to my school and was a pretty good duelist. However, her preferred deck choice, Plant-types, left her with little options since there weren’t too many useful plant cards. We hadn’t dueled in a while though, and I hadn’t kept up on new plant cards, so staying on my guard would be wise decision.

Before I could think about it much longer, though, a girl with blond hair tied in a ponytail and bright blue eyes came barreling towards me. “Jake, Jake! We’re dueling! Isn’t that great? It’s been so long and I’ve wanted to duel with you a lot but you’re never around and you’re always busy and stuff and I hope today’s duel’ll be fun and we’re gonna have a great time, right?” She had taken 6 seconds to say what would have taken most normal people 6 minutes.

Still try to sort through what Heather had just said, I remembered just why it was that we hadn’t dueled in so long. She never shut up during our duels and I got sick of listening to her. Of course, I never told her that, but today might be a good day…

“Come on, Jake, let’s go, let’s go, I can’t wait to get started!” Her voice had an almost squealing tone to it. My head hurt already.

Good God, I thought to myself. This is not only going to be annoying, but it’ll take forever, too.

We finally got to our table and sat down. “Heather?” I asked in a slightly timid voice.

“Yeah, Jake, whatsa matter? Gonna ask if I can go easy on you? No, no, no, no such chance.”

“No, Heather not that, but – “

“You’re not afraid are you, you were never afraid before when we dueled.”

“Oh no, it doesn’t have anything to do with fear, but would you mind – “

“You always used to beat me before, but today I’m gonna beat you, yes sirree, your track record is gonna go downhill from here, Jake, I’m gonna – “

“HEATHER!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.

She stopped suddenly. “What?”

I was panting hard. “If we’re going to duel,” I said through gritted teeth, “I need you to keep…quiet! The reason I don’t duel you anymore is because our duels take forever due to your speeches! If you keep doing that, we’ll be here all day!”

Her lip quivered as she looked at me. “You mean…you think…I’m…a bigmouth?”

Well, she said it, not me… “You could say that, although I didn’t want to use a nasty word like that.”

She gave such a sad puppy face I wanted to throw up, but decided against it.

“I’m sorry, Heather, you’re a great person and fun to be around, but…you can get annoying sometimes. I’m sorry.”

She took a deep breath. “OK. Well…ok…I’ll try and be quieter. Let’s get on with this.”

I felt horrible now, but I couldn’t take back my words. “OK. You can go first,” I offered, trying to be nice.

She drew her six cards as I drew five.

“OK, Jake. I’ll set a card face-down, then summon Vampire Orchis (1700 / 1000) in attack mode. When it’s summoned successfully, I can Special Summon Des Dendle (300 / 2000) to the field.”

After summoning Vampire Orchis in attack and Des Dendle in defense, she went on. “Now I can activate Des Dendle’s special ability. I can change it to an Equip Spell Card and equip it to Vampire Orchis. Your move.”

I guess I’ve fallen behind on Plant-types. I remember seeing those before, but I don’t remember what they do. Oh, well, help me out deck!

I drew my sixth card and examined my hand.

Backfire, UFO Turtle, Blazing Inpachi, Change of Heart, Twin-Headed Fire Dragon, and Mystical Space Typhoon. Well, I see some possibilities here.

“I’ll start off by playing Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your face-down card.”

“Before your Typhoon destroys it, I’ll activate it: Waboku!”

Argh. I won’t be able to destroy her monster! Oh, well, I can still protect my Life points.

“OK, Heather, I’ll summon Blazing Inpachi (1850 / 0) in attack mode, set this card face-down, and end my turn.”

She smiled at me. “Still using that Fire deck, Jake? That’s great! I always loved dueling your Fire deck and…oh…sorry…” she stammered as I glared at her. “Right, um, ok. I’ll play the Spell Card Forest to increase my Orchis’ attack to 1900, which I believe is enough to destroy your Inpachi. So I’ll have it attack.”

“OK, but before you do, here’s my face-down card: Backfire! When you destroy a Fire monster on my side of the field, you lose 500 Life Points.”

She cringed, scratching out 8000 and writing 7500 as I scratched out my 8000 and wrote 7950.

“OK, Jake, but I’m not done. My Des Dendle’s effect comes into play here. When it’s equipped to a monster and that monster destroys another monster in battle, I can Special Summon a Wicked Plant Token (1000 / 1000) to my side of the field in attack or defense mode…and I choose attack! I’ll attack your Life Points directly with it!” she cheered as she pulled 5 coins out of her pocket and put them next to her deck, then took one of them and placed it on the field heads-up. I scratched out 7950 and wrote 6950.

I need to find a way to get rid of that Vampire Orchis or it’ll just keep making more tokens. Hey, I’ve got it!

“Now, Jake, I’ll set this card face-down and end my turn.”

Grinning inwardly, I drew my next card. It was my Wicked-Breaking Flameberge – Baou.

I’ll save this for later.

“I play Change of Heart, bringing your Vampire Orchis to my side of the field. Then, I’ll sacrifice it to summon my Twin-Headed Fire Dragon (2200 / 1700) in attack mode!”

Heather’s eternally-happy look did not falter at all as I placed her Vampire Orchis and her Des Dendle in the Graveyard.

“And now I – “

As soon as I said those words, though, Norman’s came into my head. 'I need to remember those Trap Cards before I attack.' She didn’t even blink when I got rid of her best monster on the field. She must be waiting for me with that face-down card of hers. I can’t afford to lose my only monster.

“ – won’t attack. Your turn.”

She looked a bit surprised, then drew.

“I’ll switch my Wicked Plant Token to defense, and I’ll set this monster in defense as well. Go ahead.”

I drew Fushi No Tori.

I can’t use its effect, so I’ll bring UFO Turtle out instead.

“I summon UFO Turtle (1400 / 1200) in attack mode.”

‘Activate trap card: Destruction Ring! By sacrificing my Wicked Plant Token, I automatically deal both of us 1000 points of damage!”

That was her face-down card! Boy, I was stupid not to attack, and now I’m down by 1000! Oh well, I guess I’ll get rid of her other monster.

As she wrote in 6500 for her Life Points, I scratched out 6950 and wrote 5950, then, “I’ll attack your face-down monster with my Twin-Headed Fire Dragon.”

She grinned a rather disturbing grin. “You’ve destroyed my Lord Poison. When it’s sent to the Graveyard as a result of battle, I’m allowed to Special Summon any Plant monster from my Graveyard, and I choose Vampire Orchis (1900 / 1200)!”

Uh oh.

“Is it my turn?”

I sighed. “Yes.”

She drew her next card.

“Yay! My deck must love me today! I play my own Spell card: Raigeki! Say goodbye to your big ugly dragon and your turtle!”

I shuddered as I put both of my monsters in the Graveyard. My field was clear!

Wait a sec, no it’s not. I almost forgot my Backfire!

“That Raigeki comes at a price of 500 Life Points thanks to my Backfire card.”

She obligingly scratched out 6500 and wrote in 6000. “I’m still ahead of you, though, and by an awful lot after this turn. I’ll attack your Life Points directly with Vampire Orchis!”

Grimacing, I scratched out 5950 and wrote in 4050, before hearing her singsong voice chant, “Now, I’ll summon another Des Dendle (500 / 2200), and then equip it to my Vampire Orchis. It’s your turn!”

I drew another card, hoping it would at least do some good.

[starjake]

Chapter 3 – Insect Queen

Barrel Behind the Door! Talk about useless right now! Maybe…

“I’ll set this card face-down and this monster in defense. Go ahead.”

She positively cackled when she saw her next card.

“Yay! Another great card! I summon Rainbow Flower in attack mode (600 / 700), and then equip Vampire Orchis with Raregold Armor! My Spell Card forces you to only attack the monster it’s equipped to! Since my Rainbow Flower is allowed to attack your Life Points directly, I'll do so, and then Vampire Orchis will attack your face-down monster! Whee, this is fun!”

I gave her a small glare. Scratching out 4050 and writing in 3450, I picked my Fushi No Tori from the field and put it in my Graveyard.

“You destroyed a Fire monster on my side of the field, so my Backfire means you lose another 500 Life Points.”

“I know,” she said happily, scratching out 6000 and writing 5500. “Now, remember Des Dendle’s ability? I’ll summon Wicked Plant Token in Attack Position (1000 / 1000) again and attack you directly for 1000 damage!”

I gritted my teeth as I subtracted yet more Life Points, bringing me down to 2450.

I drew my next card. Yes!

“I’ll remove my Fushi No Tori from play to Special Summon Inferno in defense (1100 / 1900)! Destroy that!”

She glanced at its defense, nodded, then inquired, “My move?” I returned her nod.

Drawing her next card, she said, “I’ll attack with Rainbow Flower.”

I nodded again and wrote in 1850. “Anything else?”

“Nope. Go ahead.”

Come on, I need…well, I need that too, but I can’t use it yet.

Knowing that my next turn will make the tide turn thanks to the Molten Destruction I now held, I said, “I won’t do anything. Your move.”

She drew. “I’ll attack with Rainbow Flower again.” That brought me to 1250. “Your move again.”

I drew my next card. That’ll do nicely.

“I play Molten Destruction, which increases my monster’s attack to 1600 and brings its defense to 1500, and it also destroys your Forest. Then, I’ll play Wicked-Breaking Flamberge – Baou, discarding my other Twin-Headed Fire Dragon to do so. This brings my Inferno’s attack up to 2100, more than enough to destroy any of your monsters. However, your Armor card forces me to attack your Vampire Orchis, so attack it I will.”

“OK, I lose the Life Points, but Des Dendle is destroyed due to its Union effect, not Vampire Orchis,” she replied, writing in 5100 Life Points. “My turn?”

“Yup,” I said, knowing what at least part of her move was to be.

She drew.

“I’ll attack with Rainbow Flower, switch my Orchis and my token to defense, and end my turn.” She flipped her Token coin tails-up to show defense mode.
I wrote in 850, and then drew a card.

“I summon Fushi No Tori in Attack Position (1700 / 0). I’ll have Inferno destroy your Orchis and Fushi No Tori destroy your Flower, leaving you down by 1300 and, thanks to Fushi No Tori’s effect, my Life Points increase by that same amount. And don’t forget about my Inferno’s effect. When it destroys a monster, you automatically lose 1500 Life Points!” The Life Points now stood me at 2150 and her at 2300.

She pouted at me. “I can still win! And I have the card that will let me do it!” And with that, she drew a card and smiled.

“I’ll play one card face-down and a monster in defense. Go ahead.”

I drew Ring of Destruction. “I’ll set this card face-down, then summon Fushi No Tori back to the field (1700 / 0). Fushi No Tori will attack your face-down card and Inferno will – “

“ – attack absolutely nothing! My face-down monster was Fiber Jar! Time for a restart! We put everything on our fields, in our hands, and in our Graveyards back into our decks and shuffle them, then draw 5 cards!”

ARGH!! I SO had her! Oh well, Let’s see what new hand I get. Ah, this will do.

“I play Graceful Charity, drawing three cards and discarding…um…”

I had drawn Blazing Inpachi, Backfire, and Inferno.

“I’ll discard Blazing Inpachi and Inferno, then pay 800 Life Points to play Premature Burial, reviving that Blazing Inpachi I discarded (1850 / 0). I’ll set 2 more cards face-down and end my turn.”

“OK, Jake, here I go! Yay, this works perfectly! I’ll set 3 cards face-down and this monster in defense mode. Go ahead.”

She has something up her sleeve. 3 face-down cards? Chances are I won’t like at least one if not all three of them. C’mon deck!

I drew my next card.

Monster Reborn? There aren’t any monsters in the Graveyard! This is no help at all!

“I’ll summon another Blazing Inpachi in attack (1850 / 0) and end my turn.”

“Scared of my traps? You should be. Now, let’s see, what’s my next card…ah, perfect! First, I flip Parasite Paracide into attack! And when it’s flipped it – “

“ – goes to my deck face-up, I know,” I muttered, taking the card from her side of the field and shuffling it into my deck.

“But I’m not done yet! I’ll play Jade Insect Whistle! You have to select any Insect monster in your deck and put it aside, shuffle your deck, then put the Insect monster on top of your deck!”

Oh no! That means the next card I’ll draw is Parasite Paracide, meaning I’ll lose 1000 Life Points next turn, and I only have 1350!

“Like my tactics, Jake? I’ll set this monster in defense and end my turn.”

I, of course, drew Parasite Paracide.

“Don’t forget about its effe-“

“I know what it does!” I said through gritted teeth, placing it on my field in defense (500 / 300), and then scratching out 1350 and writing in 350.

She still has too many Trap cards for my liking, and I have too few Life Points to be taking risks.

“There’s nothing I can do. I end my turn.”

She was grinning from ear to ear as she drew her next card. “Yay! First, I’ll summon Petit Moth to the field in attack mode (300 / 200). Then, I’ll reveal my face-down Cocoon of Evolution and equip it to Petit Moth (0 / 2000). Finally, I play Insect Barrier! All of your monsters are Insect-types now thanks to Parasite Paracide, so you can’t attack me! And I’ll end my turn there.”

I drew my next card, hoping it was something that could help.

Change of Heart? That does me no good since I can’t attack! I’ll have to pass again.

“Your go.”

She drew, and then said, “Go ahead.”

I tried hard to show nothing in my expression, but that was getting harder by the minute. Summon another monster, will you? The Lava Golem I held in my hand would take her out, but she needed two monsters for me to sacrifice. I drew.

Hmm, Solar Flare Dragon. This will help a little.

“I summon Solar Flare Dragon (1500 / 1000) and end my turn, meaning you lose 500 Life Points.”

“OK, then,” she said, scratching out 2300 and writing 1800. “I’ll draw…I activate my face-down Time Seal. You have to skip your next Draw Phase. I’ll set this face-down and end my turn.”

This is discouraging. “I can’t draw, so there’s nothing I can do. I’ll end my turn again. You lose 500.”

“OK, I’ll draw…very good. I activate my face-down Pyro Clock of Destiny, moving the turn count forward by one, then I’ll set this face-down and end my turn.”

I drew. YES! This is exactly what I need –

“Before you celebrate too hard, I’ll activate my face-down Drop Off, forcing you to discard that card you just drew.”

I eyes widened. She had forced me to discard my Harpie’s Feather Duster! I took several deep breaths. “Go ahead. Another 500 gone.”

She drew, looked at her card for a moment or two, then set a card face-down.

OK, this better be good…YES!

“I summon another Solar Flare Dragon in attack (1500 / 1000). At the end of my turn, you’ll lose a total of 1000 Life Points, leaving you with 800! However, I can’t attack, so it’s your go.”

The fact that she would lose at the end of my next turn didn’t seem to phase her as she drew again. “Jake, can you count well?”

“What?”

She grinned. “How many turns has it been since I played Petit Moth?”

A sudden realization dawned on me…that’s what she was doing all this time! I was so focused on the fact that I was drawing bad cards to notice!

“If I can count correctly, it has been six turns since I played Petit Moth, meaning I can now sacrifice it to summon the Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth in attack mode (3500 / 3000)! Your puny little dragon is no match for it! Now, my Moth will destroy your dragon and the rest of your Life Points!”

“Will it?”

She looked at me. “My monster has 1500 more attack points than your Dragon, of course it will!”

“Not if I activate my face-down card: Nightmare Wheel! Not only can your Moth not attack, but after I draw next turn you will automatically lose 500 Life Points! And, once I end my next turn, my Dragon will finish off the rest of your Life Points.”

She stared in shock for a minute, then looked down in shame. “You’re right Jake. You win. That was a good duel!”

I sighed in relief, thankful that this was finally over.

[starjake]

Chapter 4 – Different Dimension Gate

Thanking Heather for the good (if not slightly stressful) duel, I walked over to the registration table once more. I noticed that two other people were already standing there. I wasn’t too surprised, since my duel had taken much longer than the last one. I admit I was a bit surprised, though, to see Bryan among those standing there.

“You still in this Jake?”

“Yup, barely. You?”

He laughed. “Same. Better tell the lady you won.”

I agreed, then turned to the lady. Still smiling pleasantly (didn’t her cheeks hurt after all this time?) she congratulated me once more and handed me another unopenable pack of cards for winning.

A few minutes later, the final duel ended, and a young boy with khaki shorts, a yellow shirt, and a backwards baseball cap who couldn’t be any older than twelve walked to the desk, while his adult opponent walked out of the shop.

“Must be good,” I muttered to Bryan.

“Yeah. I’ve seen him somewhere before. Don’t know where, though.”

The young boy walked over to the rest of us and waited for the screen to arrange us in duels. But, just then, three sounds resounded throughout the room.

CRASH!!!

BOOM!!!

TZZZZZT!!

The CRASH occurred as a brilliant flash lit up the room.

The BOOM occurred several microseconds after the flash.

The TZZZZZT occurred after the CRASH and the BOOM as all the lights went out.

“Thunderstorm!” Bryan hissed.

“Ya think?”

I turned to see the little boy looking rather disdainfully at Bryan. But he wasn’t done speaking. “Did ya figure that out all by yaself, or did ya need a cheat sheet?” he continued in what had to be a Brooklyn accent.

Bryan looked at the kid with an expression I could not read. “Little kids talk big these days, I see. Did they not have any more room at the nursery school tournament for you?”

The little kid glared daggers at Bryan. “Little kid? I’m better than you’ll ever be at this game, punk!”

“Well, maybe you are better than me…at T-ball.” I couldn’t help but snigger.

“Whatsa matter with you, kid?” he turned on me. “What’s so funny?”

“Chill out! Geez, what’s your problem?”

“I got two problems and I’m lookin’ em straight in the face!”

Bryan looked at me. “Wow, Jake. This kid is really annoying,” he said with the air of one commenting on the weather.

Speaking of weather…I looked outside to see the trees on the sidewalk bending all over the place due to the wind.

I head a little ‘ahem’ and turned to see the woman looking at us.

“If you’re done arguing,” she rolled her eyes at this point, “we cannot continue the tournament since we have no power. Please get home as soon as you can, and be safe doing so.

Bryan immediately turned on the kid. “Do you need somewon to walk you home in the big, bad, scawie stowm?”

The kid stormed past Bryan in a huff, managing a swift kick to the shin before marching out the door, where his baseball cap promptly flew off into the sky somewhere.

Sighing and rubbing his shin, Bryan looked at me. “I think my house is closer. Wanna come over?”

“Sure thing. Let’s go.”

After a difficult walk through the rainless hurricane, we shoved ourselves into Bryan’s house and slammed the door shut. At that instant, it no longer was a rainless hurricane; rain began streaming down in sheets.

“Better call your mom if the phone still works.”

I did (the phones were fine) and she told me I should probably stay the night since the storm wasn’t supposed to blow itself out until tomorrow morning. “Do you mind?” I asked Bryan, knowing the answer.

“Are you crazy?”

I turned my attention back to the phone. “He doesn’t mind. See you tomorrow.”

“Bye, honey. Love you.”

I muttered a quick “love you too” before hanging up, hoping Bryan wouldn’t hear me (it goes against ‘guy code’ to say mushy stuff like that). However, he must have noticed, because he threw a quick smirk in my direction before heading up to his attic to dig me out a sleeping bag. I sighed and followed him up the stairs.

The next morning, the sun was out, though everything was still very wet from the 'big, bad, scawie stowm'. We walked back to the card shop, wondering when the tournament would start. When we arrived at the shop, though, we saw a sign that read, “To the four remaining tournament participants: The tournament has been moved to 19 Domino St. Please report there by noon today. Thank you.

I looked at Bryan. “Domino Street? Where the heck is that?”

He shrugged. “No idea. I’ve never heard of it. I have a city phone book back at home; maybe that’ll tell us.”

So, after walking back to his house again (this was getting tiring), we looked up Domino Street on the map. And there it was, way in the corner of the city where neither of us had ever had reason to go.

“So, Jake, any idea how we gonna get there?”

“Bike, maybe?”

That being decided, we hopped on bikes (there was an extra at Bryan’s house), and we started riding towards Domino Street. About a half hour later…

“The sheet said it was number 19, right?” I asked as we rode down a very well-kept road.

“Uh huh. Why do you ask?”

“Well, I see number 18 over there, and 20 is right next to it, so 19 should be across the street, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, it isn’t.”

We both stopped and turned to look. Sure enough, numbers 18 and 20 were on one side of the road, and numbers 17 and 21 were on the other. There was no empty lot where 19 should have been or anything. 17 and 21 lived next door to each other.

Suddenly, a voice from behind us called out, “Well, if it ain’t the big shots from yesterday. D’ya have trouble finding the place? Pretty nice, eh?”

We turned and found ourselves staring at the kid from yesterday. Obviously his attitude hadn’t deflated overnight, nor had his big mouth.

“Actually,” remarked Bryan, “we still can’t find the place. I see 17 and 21, but no 19. Since you’re obviously so much more talented than us, can you show us where it is?”

The kid looked at him like he was nuts, then went over to the small alleyway between the two houses. He rather dramatically took a card out of his pocket, placed it on the ground, then yelled out, “Red-Eyes Black Dragon!”

Instantly a door appeared above the card. He gave us one final know-it-all glance, then stepped through the door, which promptly disappeared.

Bryan and I just kind of stood there, blinking and perhaps waiting for something else spectacular to happen. When nothing did, Bryan slowly walked over to where the kid had put his card.

“There’s nothing here,” he reported. “That kid’s card disappeared!”

I walked over and joined him. Sure enough, there was no sign that anything unusual had happened.

“What do you think?” I asked in almost a whisper.

“I want to try it,” said Bryan, pushing me backwards a bit. “I wonder what card we should put down?”

“Are you nuts? Where do you think that door goes?! It could lead us anywhere! You want to trust that little egomaniac?”

“No, but it looks awful cool. Anyway, I don’t have a Red-Eyes, so maybe we should just use any old card. Hmm…”

“Excuse me? We? ‘We’ will do nothing. ‘You’ can throw yourself over whatever cliff is hiding behind that door.”

“Oh, stop being a sissy. Here we go, let’s try this one. Jinzo!” he cried out, laying it on the ground.

Nothing happened.

“Hmm, not the right card. Well, how about…ok, this one.” He laid down a card. “Battle Footballer!”

Immediately the door materialized. Bryan jumped back, stared at it, and grinned at me. He turned and walked through.

“Bryan, don’t walk…through that thing,” I mumbled as the door vanished without a trace, as did he.

Well, I guess there’s nothing left to do. Here goes nothing. Or everything.

I walked over to the spot.

What do Red-Eyes Black Dragon and Battle Footballer have in common? I don’t think there’s anything, and any old card won’t work because Bryan’s Jinzo didn’t. Hmm. Maybe it’s our favorite card. But I don’t have a favorite; I like all of my cards.

I stood there, feeling awfully conspicuous and a bit stupid. What if the people here see me just standing around between two houses? They’d probably think I was trying to decide which one to rob first. In that case, I’d better just pick a card and hope it works. I know: the first monster card in my deck will be my choice. Here goes.

I grabbed the first card from my deck. It was Legendary Flame Lord.

OK, I guess this is it. I threw it on the ground and called out, “Legendary Flame Lord!”

Once again, the door suddenly exploded into being. Half of me longed to walk through it; the other half was telling me to ignore that door and walk away. Since I couldn’t do both, I did neither. Finally, the thought of police taking me away in handcuffs spurred me through the door.

It was the most unusual (and ungainly) entrance I’ve ever made. It was something like being sucked underwater, but I could still breathe. When I finally ‘surfaced’, I was thrown out of the whatever-I-was in and landed rather ungracefully at someone’s feet. I looked up to see the annoying little kid staring down at me, annoyance written all over his smug face.

“You always this acrobatic?”

I stood up, glaring at the kid and trying to regain my dignity. For lack of anything better to do, I looked around.

About four feet away stood Bryan, arms crossed and those piercing eyes looking at something behind me. As for the landscape, we were in some sort of grassy plain, with trees in the distance. Behind those trees rose a mountain. There was a lake between us and the trees. The grass appeared to go on in all the other directions. It looked like we had walked into a painting.

A familiar ‘ahem’ came from behind me. I whirled around to see, of all people, the woman from the tournament! There was something different about her…something missing that I couldn’t quite put my finger on…

I was about to speak when I saw a door leap out of the ground. I jumped back, startled, and a little girl with blond pigtails and a pink dress - she couldn't be any older than eight - walked through the door. She looked around in wonder.

“Wow,” she said in a (fittingly) cute, little-girl voice.

Getting over the surprise of things leaping out of the seemingly-normal ground, I turned my attention back to the woman, who began speaking.

“I’m glad you are all here. We will be holding the semi-final and final matches in a different manner than the matches held before. I will explain the rules.”

“The location of the final two matches is a secret you must find out. You will be needing these.” She turned around and picked something up off the ground, then showed us her findings. They looked amazingly like duel disks. So much, in fact, that…

“These are your duel disks. I believe you know how to use them,” she said in a calm voice, handing them out to each of us in turn. No one else seemed to be as shocked as I was. In fact, no one even seemed to behave any differently after receiving their disks. They slipped them on with no more thought than if they had been putting on watches.

I, however, examined the thing all over. First a door to Narnia or wherever we were, then duel disks? Alarm bells rang annoyingly loud in my head.

“Uh, ma’am, what’s going – “

“Please hold your questions until later. As I was saying, the location of the final two matches is a secret. Your first task, obviously, is to find the semi-final arena. In order to find it, you must win five duels. Now, please take out the tournament packs you won yesterday.”

Luckily, they were still in my jeans pocket, so I took both of them out and stared at them. So many new things had happened that I had no idea what to expect of them.

“You may now open your packs.”

Carefully, as though I were opening a letter bomb (who knows? Maybe I was), I opened my first pack. There were nine cards, but they were cards I’d never even heard of! I looked at the call number, but there was none.

Gee, how convenient. Where did these cards come from?

"Also, these duels will take place under Deckmaster rules. You may choose any monster you like for your Deckmaster.”

Deckmaster rules? I’ve never played by those before. How do I find out what the Deckmaster abilities of my monsters are? I feel like I’m in a video game.

While I was busy thinking to myself, Bryan was asking a question. “Ma’am? How are we going to win five duels? There are only four of us here, and we obviously can’t duel ourselves.”

The woman grinned. “Our holographic abilities have allowed us to create virtual duelists for you to duel against. That leads me to another rule: you may not duel amongst yourselves until you meet in the semi-finals match. Should you try, even just for fun, your duel disks will selfdestruct and leave you disqualified."

"That is all I may tell you. You must discover the solutions to any other
surprises on your own. Good luck!” And she turned and walked back through the door, which promptly vanished.

To say I was in a state of shock would be an understatement. What the heck is going on? None of this makes any sense at all. Where are we supposed to go? And what was wrong with that woman?

“Well, if that doesn’t beat all,” said the smart-mouthed, Brooklyn kid. “We gotta figure out how to do this on our own? Huh,” he snorted, then walked away in some random direction.

The little girl, who up to this point had been quiet and still as a mouse, suddenly spoke. “What are you two going to do?”

Bryan and I looked at each other. I didn’t know what he was thinking (though I could guess), but I was thinking that this little girl should not be wandering alone.

Bryan spoke up. “Well, we don’t know, but why don’t you come with us? I’m not sure it’s such a good idea for you to be wandering around like this…”

“Oh no,” she said in that breathy, dainty little voice of hers. “No, I’ll be fine. My deck and my teddy will protect me, they always have.” It was only then that I saw she was clutching a small black teddy bear.

A teddy bear…a little girl carrying a teddy bear and a bunch of paper-and-ink gaming cards, wandering alone…very not good…

Bryan was talking again. “Well, that’s all well and good, but it would make me feel better if you came with us. I wouldn’t be worried about – “

But what he wouldn’t worry about I never knew, because at that precise moment, we all heard a very loud, “HELP! HELP, GET THEM AWAY FROM ME!”

[starjake]

Chapter 5 – Wild Nature’s Release

We all whirled around and stared as the little egomaniac came running towards us as fast as his little legs could carry him. Running behind him was a large multitude of…but no, it couldn’t be…

Bryan yelled it first. “Those are Skull Servants!”

He was right. They were about 3 feet high, purple rags flapping about their skeletal bodies. And they were running very fast towards the kid…and, of course, towards us.

Before I had a chance to move, the little girl stepped out, a defiant look on her face. “Naughty skeletons. You ought to know better than to chase people.” Without another word, she activated her duel disk.

Now what is she doing? This keeps getting weirder and weirder.

“Help me out Kuriboh!”

Her little voice rang out into the air as she placed a monster card on her duel disk. Immediately, a fuzzy little ball of brown fur with hands, feet, and eyes materialized in front of her. It turned and looked at her with a worried expression.

“Don’t worry, Kuriboh, there may be lots of them, but I can make lots of you, too! I’ll play my Multiply Spell Card!” She slipped it into her duel disk, and instantly Kuriboh began multiplying ten-, hundred-, and thousand-fold! All of the Kuribohs took off towards the horde of Skull Servants and began biting them. Since they were equal in strength, the Skull Servants could fight back, and they all began destroying each other. Soon, the ground was littered with tufts of hair and assorted bones. The kid ran around behind us, panting. We just stood and watched, unable to do much else.

“Kuriboh, come back to me!” she yelled. One of the furballs detached itself from the battle and returned to her side.

“Now for another Spell Card: Raigeki!” She slipped the new Spell Card into her duel disk, and the sky darkened as storm clouds began to float in overhead. Lightning flashed, and one thunderbolt came down from the heavens and obliterated the battlefield and everything on it. Kuriboh gleefully danced around the little girl in midair, while the little girl herself was all smiles. She deactivated her duel disk and Kuriboh vanished.

“So,” she said in her airy voice again, “do you still think I can’t take
care of myself?”

We looked at her, shocked, then back out at where the Raigeki had hit. There was nothing left but some scorched earth. We looked back at her, a little scared now. She gave us an I-told-you-so look and walked off.

After the shock wore off, I turned to Bryan and asked, “And who is that?”

He shrugged. “I think she was the fourth person to win yesterday. She’s so quiet…no wonder we never noticed her, and we were so occupied by that – “

“Humph!”

“ – kid.”

The “Humph!” had come from none other the little brat himself. After a short pause, he confessed, “OK, OK, I’ll admit it: those things freaked me out a little bit. So sue me.”

“Hey, relax, kid,” laughed Bryan. “I would be scared if living skeletons came running after me.”

The kid’s eyes narrowed. “The name’s Joey.”

I snorted with amusement. Joey? And he used a Red-Eyes to open the door…how interesting…

“If you don’t mind my asking, Joey,” I said, “what type of Deck do you run?”

Joey smirked. “You’ll have to find out when you duel me in the final round. Oh, wait, you probably won’t get there anyway. You’ll find out.” And he turned and walked away.

We watched him for a bit, then Bryan turned to me. “So…where do we go from here? Are there clues to help us find the so-called semi-finals arena?”

“I don’t know,” I answered, “but I suggest we don’t walk towards those woods the Skull Servants came from.”

“Agreed. Shall we, then?”

I nodded, then we began walking away from the woods. A large hill separated us from whatever was behind it, and it was up that we strolled. As we were strolling, I began to wonder aloud.

“You know, I don’t remember monsters cards coming to life, do you?”

“No, but in this place, I guess anything is possible. We should be on our – “

“TSSSEEEER!!”

“ – guard? What the heck was that?”

Something flew by us so fast it made me slightly nauseous. I turned and looked up to see a large blue…thing streaking across the sky. It wouldn’t stay still long enough for me to identify. I had to act fast, though; it turned around and began flying towards us. “What do we do?” I yelled.

“That little girl could summon monsters from her Deck using her Duel Disk. Maybe we can to! Do you have a monster with wings in the picture?”

Wings…wings…I don’t know – oh, good grief, Jake, try thinking a bit. I pulled a card out of my Deck.

“Twin-Headed Fire Dragon, attack that thing!” I yelled, slapping the card onto the Duel Disk. The machine hummed to life, then a HUGE two-headed dragon appeared, towering above our heads, red bat-like wings flapping madly to keep it in the air. All of a sudden, Bryan and I were struck by an intense heat wave, so strong it actually took our breath away. Panting, I looked up.

The thing that had attacked us now hovering in midair, and I could make out what it was: a Punished Eagle. I grinned. My dragon was stronger than it by 100 attack points.

“Twin-Headed Fire Dragon, you can destroy it easily!” At these words, it gained some altitude, then zipped towards the eagle and began circling it. The eagle suddenly took off and became a blue streak once again. My dragon reared back both of its heads and blew a stream of fireballs at the streak, but they missed and came hurtling towards us!

“DUCK!” I yelled as Bryan and I both hit the grass. I swear those fireballs actually singed my hair, they came so close. However, in missing us, they had hit the grassy hill behind us. Instantly, a wave of fire rushed across the plain. There was no safe place!

Wait a minute, yes there is! “Bryan, do you have a monster that can fly?”

He gave me a sickened look and shook his head.

Ergh, what do we do? Wait a sec, what about those new cards? I looked through them quickly. I hope this one can carry two of us.

“Benu Phoenix! Get us out of this!” I called out, slapping another monster card onto the duel disk.

A pillar of fire streaked out of the sky and halted in midair before us. The pillar disappeared, and in its place was a…well, brilliant bird. It was a red-orange color, and the crest on its forehead was a burnished gold. It’s wings faded into yellow; it’s long, feathery tail deepened into red.

I was so busy looking at it that I almost entirely forgot about the wildfire that now swept towards us. Thankfully, my phoenix saved us by swooping down and grabbing us in its bright orange claws, then flew towards my dragon.

The battle! I almost forgot.

The Punished Eagle was still whizzing about (how did something that big fly that fast?). I needed to stop it; my dragon was still trying to burn it and all it was doing was burning the area around us.

Can this monster do anything? Maybe the card will tell me. I read the card.

It says once per turn, I can select a monster and prevent its attack during the next turn. Maybe that immobilizing effect will work here! “Benu Phoenix, stop that Punished Eagle in its tracks!”

My phoenix opened its mouth and – of all things – began to sing! It had a sweet, ethereal voice, and I was soon swept up in the beauty of its song.

So was the Punished Eagle. It stopped zipping around and turned towards us, hovering in the air. As my phoenix continued to sing, the eagle suddenly stopped flapping and plummeted towards the ground. It was sound asleep!

Unfortunately, the blazing grass it fell into woke it up. It screeched as its feathers caught on fire, then took off as fast as it could (which was pretty darn fast). It was soon out of sight.

From my phoenix’s other claw, Bryan looked at me and said, “Well, that was fun. What now?”

I shook my head. “I dunno. Down is not an option though,” I said, glancing at the flames.

“I’m assuming you don’t have any Water monsters in a Fire deck.”

I nodded. “Brilliant deduction. I assume the same for you?”

He returned my nod, then watched the fire blaze out of control.

I turned to say something, but stopped short as my Duel Disk bumped into my phoenix’s leg, pressing the deactivation button. Instantly, my phoenix and Twin-Headed Fire Dragon vanished, with nothing holding us up in the air! We, of course, began falling. And, judging from how that eagle had screamed when it hit the flames, this brushfire was no hologram.

“Hydro Force!”

Instantly, a wall of water came shooting up from underneath us, holding us up in midair. It slowly lowered us down to about 5 feet off the ground, at which point two large, long-fingernailed hands plucked us off the water ride and set us on firm, if not very wet, ground.

After gathering our breath, Bryan and I looked at our rescuer. It looked kind of like an Aqua Madoor, but its outfit was maroon instead of light blue, and its hair was a much lighter color. It looked back at us; the mask it wore gave it an almost sinister look.

“Now, that was a killer wave!”

All three of us turned to face the speaker. He was very muscular, with a deep tan, wild black hair, and a scar running down the left side of his face. He looked oddly familiar, though I couldn’t place him at first.

Regaining control of my lungs, I spoke up. “Is this…uh…monster…yours?”

He smiled. “Certainly is. This is Neo Aqua Madoor.”

Neo? I certainly know what an Aqua Madoor is, but Neo Aqua Madoor?

“Well…um…thank you much. You saved our lives.”

“Thank me later. Neo Aqua Madoor, I need you to take care of the fire here.”

Neo Aqua Madoor nodded, then turned and walked/hovered towards
the fire. It threw its arms into the air, and a strange chanting came floating towards our ears. Suddenly, a large wave crashed by and quenched the fire before it spread to the forest. The wave disappeared, then Neo Aqua Madoor came back to us.

“Nice work, Neo Aqua Madoor,” said the stranger.

“Yeah,” I replied, nodding vigorously. “Very nice job.”

The stranger then turned towards us. “So, any particular reason why you decided to burn the place?”

Bryan’s expression turned slightly sour. “I’m incredibly sorry, sir, but this Punished Eagle decided to attack us, and Jake’s Dragon was the only thing we had that flew. Needless to say, its fire attack missed.”

The man nodded. “I see. No worries; it’ll grow back soon enough. It always does.”

Bryan and I just kind of looked at him. “You mean it just…regenerates?”

“Yup. You think that dragon was the first thing to accidentally start a wildfire? I patrol this area. My Water cards stop brushfires in their tracks.”

It was only after he said those words that I noticed the Duel Disk strapped to his arm. “You’re a duelist?”

The man looked slightly insulted. “What? You’ve never heard of Mako Tsunami?”

Of course, you idiot! That’s why he looked familiar! This is the Legendary Fisherman duelist on the TV show!

“Sorry, Mr. Tsunami…I didn’t recognize you at first. I guess the battle kind of shocked me a bit.”

Mako laughed. “First, I’m not old enough to be called Mr. Tsunami. Call me Mako. Second, I would think that you’d be used to battles by now. How long have you lived here?”

My brain suddenly kicked into overdrive. WHAT? LIVED here? Does this guy think –

“Jake!” came a sudden, hissed whisper on my ear. It was Bryan. “Things are starting to make sense now. Just try and get off of this subject and I’ll explain!”

I cleared my throat. “Well…not very long. I just moved in…a few days ago!”

Mako looked surprised. “Where from? My sea travels have taken
me almost everywhere, so I might know it.”

“Well…where I’m from is really inland…no one’s ever heard of it…”
What kind of name do I give? I don’t know the anything about this kind of stuff.

Mako gave me a suspicious look, then said, “OK, whatever.”

Phew!

Bryan looked at Mako slightly unnerved, then said, “Well, thanks a bunch, but we probably ought to get going.”

“Actually, I was wondering something,” replied Mako.

“Oh? What?”

“You,” he said, pointing at me. “I’ve always wanted to see what happens when fire meets water. Want to duel?”

My heart rate leapt up a bit. Go against a Water deck? Do the same rules apply here for dueling as they do in the real world?

“You’re not a sea chicken, are you? Come on, let’s duel!”

The competition side of me was gaining strength. “OK, I’ll duel you, Mako. Get ready for lots of steam!”

Mako laughed. “Alrighty, then. Get set for a whale of a duel!”

Benu Phoenix
Fire/Winged Beast/6 stars/ATK 2300/DEF 1800
Once per turn, during your Main Phase, you can select 1 monster on your opponent’s side of the field. Until the end of your opponent’s next turn, the selected monster cannot attack or change its Battle Position (even due to the effect of a Spell, Trap, or Effect Monster Card), and any effects the monster may have are negated.

Multiply
Quick-Play Spell
Offer 1 “Kuriboh” on your side of the field as a Tribute. Special Summon 1 “Kuriboh Token” (Dark/Fiend/1 star/ATK 300/DEF 200/face-up Defense Position) in each empty Monster Card Zones on your side of the field.
Note: This card is used frequently by Yugi in the anime series, and was introduced to Japan as a Promo card in the “Thousand Rules Bible Book.”

[starjake]

Chapter 6 – The Legendary Fisherman: Part 1

Both of us activated our duel disks and walked a good distance apart from each other.

“Since you challenged me, Mako, I get to decide who goes first. I think I will,” I stated, drawing six cards.

“Whoa there, land-lover. I don’t know what the rules are in your waterless home, but here we have these things called Deckmasters. Mine’s my Neo Aqua Madoor. Pick a monster, kid.”

That both annoyed and worried me. That’s right! I completely forgot about the Deckmaster thing! The rules here are different…what have I gotten myself into…

“Alright, Mako. Let’s see…” I took my deck out and began riffling through it, looking for a monster I liked. It was only then that I remembered the new cards I had received. Maybe those’ll help.

I glanced through them, but figured that I was going to have enough trouble with their normal effects, let alone their hidden Deckmaster abilities. I’ll use my Legendary Flame Lord. I like that card; maybe it likes me back, I thought, the idea making me grin at its foolishness.

Shuffling the new cards into my deck, I removed both Legendary Flame Lord and Incandescent Ordeal and showed them to Mako. “Here’s my choice: Legendary Flame Lord!”

When I yelled those words, both of my cards glowed, then vanished entirely from my hand! Before I could worry about it, though, I had a sudden urge to turn around. I did so, and I saw the Incandescent Ordeal card at about my size, glowing madly! Out of the card came an explosion of flames that touched but did not burn me. And in the flames I could see a person carrying some kind of scepter. Once the fire died down, the person stepped
out to where I could see him.

He wore an almost reptilian-looking outfit. The front had red scales, and the purple hat went up into a dinosaur-like crest. A long flowing cape started at his shoulders and gradually changed into a wavering flame. The purple scepter he held had a large jewel in the top, which burned crimson. A second after he appeared, the air temperature suddenly rose to very, very hot, but I was a little more prepared for it this time. He waved his
scepter, then looked at me, nodded his approval, the stood beside me on the dueling field. Strangely enough, he was about my height, and he even looked like me…vaguely.

I continued to look at him, not only impressed but wondering what he could do as a Deckmaster. How on earth do I find out these things? It’s not he can tell me.

<I most certainly can.>

I jerked and began looking around wildly for the source of the noise. It took a second for me to realize that the “noise” had come from nowhere at all; it seemed to echo from inside my head!

<You catch on fast,> came the voice again.

Hm. There are voices in my head. Am I going crazy?

<Oh, good grief, Jake, I’m a Spellcaster. One who can use magical powers. Wouldn’t it make sense that I could talk to you telepathically?>

I turned and stared at my Legendary Flame Lord, who was looking at me with a look that mixed amusement and annoyance. You can…you can talk!

<Yes, I can talk. Now, can we get on with this?>

What can you do?

<Nothing that can help you right now. I’ll let you know. You can trust me.>

If you say so.

“Alright, Jake, if you’re done gawking, I would like to set sail sometime in this century, if you don’t mind.”

I jerked my head away from Legendary Flame Lord and glared at Mako. “You want to hurry your defeat, do you? Your choice.”

“Just do something.”

I took his advice and looked at my hand. I had Inferno, Blazing Inpachi, and Graceful Charity – all of which I knew well – but I also had three of my new cards, one of which was an Ultra Rare.

According to the woman’s instructions, I need this in my hand in order to win. Does the same hold true for Mako? I guess I’ll find out. Now, what can these new cards do?

There were three new cards, one of which was a monster. The monster card was an interesting one: Blaze Magician.

Hmm. A 1900 ATK 4-star. Not pathetic effect, either. Let’s see what it can do. But first…

“I’ll play my Graceful Charity card!” I fitted the card into the slot, and it instantly materialized before me. An angel swooped out of it and flew to my deck, grabbing three cards and handing them to me. However, it didn’t go away after doing so.

She must want the two cards I need to discard. Alrighty then, what should I give up? Molten Destruction…definitely not…hey this’ll work!

I handed my Blazing Inpachi and my Solar Flare Dragon to the angel, who was tapping her foot with impatience. She took the cards from me and with a snotty “Hmph!” she tossed them into my Graveyard. She zipped back into the card, which promptly disappeared.

Nice effects. I need to do this more often. I must admit, though: she didn’t have a very charitable attitude.

“Now, I’ll remove the Blazing Inpachi I just discarded from play,” I called out, taking the card from my Graveyard and (for lack of a better place to put it) stuck it in my pocket, “to summon Inferno in Defense Position!”

A horizontal card appeared this time, but my monster’s entrance was far less heavenly than the Graceful Charity card. The card literally erupted in flames, and the strangest-looking beast appeared. It appeared to have four legs, but the flames around it were so intense and the hot air surrounding it so wavering that I could barely tell. The eyes, however, were very distinctive; they were sky-blue, and unusual color to go with flaming
orange/red/yellow. Over the monster appeared a transparent box, in which the numbers 1100 over 1900 could be seen. If possible, the air became even hotter. I began to sweat.

I hope I get used to this intense heat.

“Now, since that was a Special Summon, I’m allowed to summon another monster: Blaze Magician, also in Attack Position!”

This card appeared vertically, with slightly less fire. The monster emerged from the card and she looked startlingly enough like a souped-up Magician of Faith, although her kimono was red with yellow fire designs on it. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail, but it was bright red, and her scepter had, not a crescent moon, but a glowing sun on the end of it. She waved her scepter majestically, then stood, waiting for an order. A box appeared
over her as well, with the numbers 1900 over 1400 inside.

“And now, Blaze Magician’s special ability comes into play,” I called out. She twirled her scepter like a baton, then pointed it at Inferno. A jet of flame zipped out of the sun on the end and surrounded my Inferno, and the 1100 in its stat box rose to 1900.

Mako looked surprised. “What happened?”

I grinned. “If my Blaze Magician is on the field, the base ATK of every Pyro-type monster on my side of the field becomes 1900. And, if you’ll notice, my Inferno qualifies as a Pyro-type monster. Now I’ll set one card face-down and end my turn.”

<Good move Jake,> came the “voice” of my Flame Lord.

I turned towards him. Thanks.

“I see you like to start things off with a bang, Jake. But your fireworks are about to end, for my creatures of the sea can drench your flames any time! Now, the air is a bit hot for my liking, so I’ll cool things down with an entire ocean; A Legendary Ocean, to be precise!”

He inserted his card, and the ground started shaking! A large wave suddenly crashed by, causing my fire monsters to cower (though it did not hurt them). The field was suddenly covered by water, about knee-high! Then, out of the water rose the ancient city of Atlantis, water pouring out of its time-ravaged towers. It was very majestic.

“My field card increases the power of all Water monsters by 200! And now, I’ll use its other effect, which decreases the star level of all Water monsters by one, to summon Giga Gagagigo in Attack Position!”

The card leapt up out of the water, and out of the card leapt a reptilian monster with spiky armor covering various parts of its body. It stared at me and bared its fangs in a ferocious snarl.

“Now, my Ocean brings its ATK to 2650, far more than enough to take out your monsters. And I choose to attack…Inferno! Attack with Hydro Blade Rush!”

At Mako’s command, it ran across the water at an astounding speed. It closed its fists, and claws sprang out from its wrist armor. One slash caused my Inferno to scream in pain, then shatter into a thousand tiny pieces. Thankfully, my monster was in Defense Position, so I lost no Life Points.

Why didn’t he destroy my Blaze Magician? He would have lowered my strength. He must be up to something.

“Now, I’ll set 2 cards face-down and end my turn,” he said, the cards appearing face-down behind his reptilian creature.

<Jake, just to let you know, you missed an opportunity to use your Blaze Magician’s other ability.>

Her what? Oh, that’s right! She can negate Spell Cards!

<At least it wasn’t critical that you destroy that Legendary Ocean.>

True. Any abilities of yours that I could use yet?

<Well, speaking of Spell Cards…take a look at my scepter.>

I did so, and noticed that the color of the gem had brightened into a yellow color.

What’s up with the sudden color change?

<My normal ability still applies. If three Spells are activated, I can destroy every card on his side of the field.>

Nice! Well, better get this show on the road, then.

Seeing as it was my turn, I drew. Ring of Destruction. I grinned. This would work well with the Barrel Behind the Door I had set during the last turn.

“I’ll set a card face-down,” I called out, as another card materialized next to the one I already had on the field. “Now, let’s see…I think I’ll activate this Spell Card: Salamandra!”

I fitted the card into the slot. The holographic version materialized, and the flaming head of a dragon snaked its way out of it. It rushed over to my Blaze Magician and wound itself around her scepter, and her attack score rose to 2600!

I glanced over at my Deckmaster’s scepter, and the gem on the end had turned bright gold; he was ready to use his ability. Luckily, Mako hadn’t noticed anything.

“Your Magician may be stronger than it was,” Mako said, “but my Giga Gagagigo still has 50 more ATK points!”

“Not for long, Mako!” I yelled. “You’re not the only one with a field card! I’ll drain your kiddie pool here, weaken your monster, and power up my monster with one card: Molten Destruction!” I inserted the card into the Duel Disk, and a very drastic change overcame the field.

As soon as the holographic card appeared, the ground started rumbling. Atlantis’ ancient towers began crumbling, and large chunks of them splashed into the ocean. A large rift suddenly cut through the center of the field, and the water rushed into the crevice. More cracks began lining the field. The rumbling intensified to a fever pitch, and then a wall of lava erupted from the main rift in the center. Mako and I both watched it fly high into the air, then fall down towards us! Luckily, the lava was not hot (it wasn’t even real), but it was still unnerving to see it splash down around us.

Suddenly, the circle of rock on which I was standing shot high into the sky! Thankfully, my Flame Lord held onto me so I wouldn’t fall off. Once we had stopped, I looked over at Mako to see that he had experienced something similar. I looked down, and was a bit surprised to see a volcano shooting up around us.

Five minutes ago, we had been dueling in underwater kingdom. Now, we were dueling 10,000 feet above the ground in the crater of an enormous volcano!

I turned towards the field to see all of our holographic cards rising towards us. I watched as Giga Gagagigo’s stats went down to 2450 over 1500, while Blaze Magician’s went up to 3100 over 1000. Talk about an improvement!

“Now, Mako, what was that you were saying about attack scores?”

“Just make your move already; I’ve had quite enough with the dramatics.”

“Alright, then. Blaze Magician! Attack his reptile with Solar Dragon Scepter!”

Gripping her scepter firmly, Blaze Magician twirled it around, then sent Salamandra's fire streaming towards Mako’s monster.

“Hah!” laughed Mako. “You’ve fallen into my trap!”

I gave myself a mental slap on both cheeks. I had been so caught up in Blaze Magician’s major advantage over Mako that I had entirely forgotten about his face-down cards!

“Now, my card won’t destroy your Magician outright, but it will weaken it enough so that my Giga Gagagigo can!”

“Reveal yourself, my Mystical Space Typhoon! Destroy Jake’s Salamandra card!”

He threw his hand out over his left face-down card, which righted itself and immediately caused a swirling black hole to appear under my Salamandra card.

Thankfully, this time I remembered all of my card’s abilities.

“Mako, just because my Magician is a girl doesn’t mean she’s easily weakened. And by activating your Spell Card, you’ve activated her trap!”

Mako looked shocked. “She…she has a trap?”

“Yes, in the form of a special ability! In order to use it, however, I need a Fire monster in my Graveyard. And thanks to your earlier attack, I have one: Inferno!” I called out, taking it out of my Graveyard and putting it in my pocket.

“Now, by removing Inferno from play, my Magician can negate the effect of a Spell Card and destroy it!”

Continued in next post...

[starjake]

Halting the stream of fire that threatened to destroy Giga Gagagigo, she turned towards the vortex, which had started to swallow Salamandra. She held up her left hand and chanted. In her palm, a sphere of white-hot fire formed, which she proceeded to shoot at the vortex. There was a flash of electricity, and the vortex vanished, leaving Salamandra – and Blaze Magician’s attack score – intact.

“So much for your trap. Now, where was I? Oh, yes, that’s right. Attack, Blaze Magician!”

The jet of fire resumed its original course and surrounded Giga Gagagigo, causing it to scream in agony as the flames consumed its scaly, armored flesh. Soon, there was nothing left but a pile of ashes, which blew away in the wind. (J: 8000 / M: 7350)

<Way to go, Jake!> said Legendary Flame Lord, who gave me a high-five. He looked at Blaze Magician. <You did good, too.>

She winked at us, then turned back to Mako.

“Alright, Mako. Let’s see your counter to that!”

“You shall!” he snarled, drawing a card. He looked at it, smiled, then called out, “I play my monster in defense! That’ll do it for me.”

“Humph. Some counter. My move!” I drew.

Hmm. I wonder what I should do? Maybe I’ll just summon Blazing Inpachi.

<Jake, hold on a sec.>

I turned towards Legendary Flame Lord and looked at him quizzically.

<Try out one of those new cards. It’d be best if you learned how use them sooner as opposed to later.>

Hmm, you’re right. OK…uh…how about this one?

He looked at it. <That’ll do nicely. Try it out.>

“Hey, Mako, d’ya like archery?”

He looked at me strangely. “Never tried it…why?”

I grinned. “Well, this card will discourage you from trying it. I summon Apollo’s Archer to the field!”

The card materialized, and a sudden flash made both of us shield our eyes. Then, from the direction of the sun jumped a bald-headed warrior in Greek armor, a bow slung across his back. A stat box with the numbers 1850 over 1050 appeared over his head, which (thanks to the volcano) quickly changed to 2350 over 650.

“And just to let you know, Mako, my Archer has an effect as well! Let’s see how lucky you are.”

As I said this, Apollo’s Archer grabbed his bow and pulled a flaming arrow out of the quiver on his back. In one smooth motion, he strung his bow and shot the arrow straight up.

Mako snorted a laugh. “That was a waste of ammo.”

“Oh? Wait and see.” And I turned my eyes heavenward. Mako, curious, followed my gaze.

Soon enough, the arrow began falling earthward. I watched it with baited breath, hoping…

The arrow pierced Mako’s face-down Spell/Trap Card, which shattered into a thousand tiny pieces. Yes!

“But – but - ,” Mako sputtered. “How did - ?”

“Let me explain. Once per turn, Apollo’s Archer will shoot his bow into the air. And, every turn, the arrow will pierce and destroy one random card on the field. Of course, my side of the field is included, so I could lose one of my own cards. Risky, but worth it in this case, no?”

Mako glared at me. “Fine. Are you going to attack?”

“Actually, now that you mention it…sure! Go, Apollo’s Archer! Attack with Solar Arrow Firestorm!”

Apollo’s Archer strung his bow with three flaming arrows (yes, three at the same time), and fired all of them at Mako’s face-down monster. As the arrows neared the card, the monster it his appeared above it; although the heat from the arrows made it hard to tell, it looked bearlike. It roared, then quickly shattered.

I cocked my head. “What was that?”

Mako grinned. “That was my Mother Grizzly. I assume you know what happens when it’s destroyed.?”

“Yeah, you get a Water monster with 1500 ATK or less in Attack Position.”

“Well, at least you know some things about this game. Here’s the monster I choose: Tentacle Thug!”

Tentacle Thug? Wuzzat?

Legendary Flame Lord looked worried. <Unfortunately, you’re about to find out.>

In place of Mako’s Mother Grizzly, a new card appeared in Attack Position. Then, one long, snaky tentacle covered in suckers wormed its way out of the card, followed by seven more tentacles, identical to the first. Finally, a large octopus head followed all of the tentacles. Two pupil-less, glowing red eyes blazed open and stared at me, giving me chills despite the volcano’s heat. I was worried what it was this beast could do to my monsters when the stat box containing the numbers 0 over 2500 appeared over the card.

0 ATK! And it’s in Attack Position! My Blaze Magician will destroy it and a huge chunk of his Life Points! Why did he summon that weak creature?

“Your monster is weak. It’ll never last!”

“That’s what you think! Tentacle Thug, Tentacles of Vengeance!”

The oversized octopus extended two of its slimy arms…and quickly bound both Blaze Magician and Apollo’s Archer, rendering them unable to move an inch!

Now it was my turn to sputter in disbelief. “Wha – what’s going on?”

Mako laughed. “Ha! As long as my Tentacle Thug is on the field, none of your monsters can change their Battle Positions or attack!”

I stared in disbelief…and a little bit of fear, too.

<Jake! Don’t worry. Remember my ability? Plenty of Spells have been activated, so I can destroy every monster on Mako’s side of the field.>

I had completely forgotten! “Alright, Mako, your Tentacle Thug has overstayed its welcome! It’s time to put this Deckmaster thing to the test!"

"I activate my Deckmaster’s special ability! Every time one of us played a Spell Card, my Legendary Flame Lord’s scepter absorbed power. Three Spells have been played, meaning it has enough energy to destroy every card on your side of the field! And your Tentacle Thug is high up on the endangered species list! Go, Legendary Flame Lord!”

Legendary Flame Lord jumped in front of me, holding his scepter in front of him. The gem on the end, began pulsing. The pulsing increased in tempo, until it was one constant light. He swung it in a semi-circle, and in its wake a half-moon shaped beam of energy remained, which tore towards Tentacle Thug at a slightly alarming rate.

Humph. Good riddance.

Suddenly, a wall of water leapt out of the lava below (yes, weird) and blocked Legendary Flame Lord’s power! I stared, wondering what had happened. The wall vanished, and Tentacle Thug was still there, still safe and sound, and still holding my monsters captive.

“Mako! What’s going on here? I want an explanation!”

Mako grinned a bit evilly. “Oh, I’ll explain all right. You see, you’re not the only one here with a Deckmaster!”

I looked at his Neo Aqua Madoor, which was holding his hands up and chanting something.

“Your Deckmaster’s ability was blocked by mine! You see, as long as Neo Aqua Madoor is my Deckmaster, none of my Water monsters can be destroyed by an effect; they can only be destroyed in battle! Since your Legendary Flame Lord’s energy wave was not attack, my Neo Aqua Madoor could block it!”

Well, that’s unfortunate. I guess I’ll have to destroy that thing the hard way.

<Jake, you can’t!> came Legendary Flame Lord’s frantic ‘voice’.

Why not – oh no!

Mako, noticing the expression on my face, laughed as he knew I knew his strategy. “You see, Jake, I have you in a lock! Neo Aqua Madoor prevents any effects that will destroy my monsters, and Tentacle Thug prevents any attacks that will destroy my monsters! And, as far as I know, there are no other ways to destroy a monster!”

I stared at nothing in particular, not believing what I had heard. There was a rather awkward silence.

Suddenly, as Mako said, “So, Jake, ready to accept defeat?” a rather familiar “TSEEEER!” filled the air and a blue streak rocketed past me and down the side of the volcano.

I sighed. What did that Punished Eagle want this time?

It swooped onto the side of the volcano, grabbed something, and hurtled back in my direction. As it zipped by me, I could see its catch of the day.

“BRYAN!!!”


Apollo's Archer
Fire/Warrior/4 stars/ATK 1850/DEF 1050
Once per turn, during your Main Phase, you can toss a coin and call it. If you call it right, your opponent takes all cards on his/her side of the field and shuffles them, then you randomly select 1 of the cards send it to the Graveyard. If you call the coin toss wrong, you shuffle all cards on your side of the field, then your opponent randomly selects 1 of the cards and sends it to the Graveyard. After this effect resolves, all cards not destroyed are placed in their original positions on the field.

Blaze Magician
Fire/Spellcaster/4 stars/ATK 1900/DEF 1400
As long as this card remains face-up on the field, the base ATK of all Pyro-type monsters on the field becomes 1900. Also, when a Spell Card is activated, you can remove 1 Fire monster in your Graveyard from play to negate the activation and effect of the Spell Card and destroy it.

Tentacle Thug
Water/Aqua/6 stars/ATK 0/DEF 2500
As long as this card remains face-up on the field, your opponent's monsters cannot attack or change their Battle Positions.

[starjake]

Chapter 7 – The Legendary Fisherman: Part 2

I was in a rather difficult situation. Half of me wanted to cream Mako, the other half wanted to save my friend. Sadly, I couldn’t do both.

Fortunately, Mako had some advice. “Don’t worry about him, Jake. No one has ever actually been physically harmed by the monsters here.”

I glared at him. “I don’t know about you, but being plucked off the side of the mountain by a large, vicious eagle falls into my definition of physical harm!”

My opponent smiled slowly. “I assure you, there won’t even be any bruises. Don’t know why that’s the way it is, but time has proved it to be true. He’s not the first person to be snatched up, you know.”

This did little to calm my nerves, but I realized that I had very little choice. Running off to save Bryan would cause me to automatically forfeit the duel.

<Besides, Jake,> came the ‘voice’ of Legendary Flame Lord, <he has his Deck to protect him should things get ugly.>

Wow, good going Jake. Way to forget that he’s a duelist too.

“OK, Mako, sorry ‘bout that. I’ll stay here and finish this.”

“Good choice, Jake. Although, I have to admit, I think I’ve already taken care of that finishing bit,” he laughed.

I frowned in recognition of a point scored. He’s right. I can’t attack or destroy his monster, therefore I can’t get to his Life Points. Any ideas, Legendary Flame Lord?

He thought for a sec. <I don’t know the cards you have in your Deck that well, so no, not really. There must be a way, though; there always is.>

Maybe. I hope this isn’t the exception to the rule. I drew my next card, which turned out to be one of my new cards.

Let’s see…Ember Storm…Continuous Spell…hey, not bad, this’ll at least keep him on the ropes for a little while.

“Mako, I can’t get to your Life Points with monsters, but you’ve left out one important detail: I can still get to your Life Points with Spell Cards. So I’ll play this Ember Storm.”

The card revealed itself on the field, and the lava below us started bubbling frantically. Soon, a large amount of sparks burst out of the lava and began circling the field. Mako eyed them suspiciously.

“Care to tell me what’s going on?”

“Well, Ember Storm is a very useful card. At the beginning of your next turn, after you draw, these embers will change their course slightly, causing them to bypass your monsters and go directly for 200 of your Life Points!”

Mako actually looked a bit scared. Then, a smirk. “I see. But it looks like you’ve forgotten that these embers circle both of us. I’m assuming that means that you will befall the same fate at the beginning of your turn as well!”

I smiled. “Maybe.”

My lack of information seemed to annoy Mako. “Fine then. Is there anything else you wish to do this turn?”

“Not a thing.”

“Then it’s my move.” He snatched a card from his Deck Tray and looked at it.

The instant he did so, a strong, hot wind kicked up, shifting the path of the sparks and aiming them directly at Mako. He had a nice long billisecond to notice this before each of the embers (about 200 of them, to be exact) slammed into and through his muscular chest, leaving scorch marks that had to hurt (J: 8000 / M: 7150). He doubled over in pain - I guess they did hurt.

Panting heavily, he righted himself, and I could see the shiny burn. “That....(pant)…hurt…(gasp)…a lot…(groan).”

I stepped back a bit, realizing the extent of what I had just done. This is real…

<This is why not many people play Fire Decks, Jake. Fire is a very unusual phenomenon. It provides heat and light for those near it, but it can be dangerous and even fatal when not controlled. Being able to control Fire is a noble, yet dangerous responsibility. Not everyone can live up to it.>

That was a moving speech, but I was worried more about Mako. “You OK?”

He grimaced, then replied, “Yes. I’ll be fine. And it’s still my move, so I’ll set this card face-down and summon Cure Mermaid in Attack Mode!”

A card materialized behind his monsters, and a new monster card appeared next to Tentacle Thug. A splash of water revealed a beautiful mermaid, and the numbers 1500 over 800 appeared above its head.

“I’ll end my turn there.”

“Very well, I’ll draw then.”

And as soon as I drew, Mako’s prediction proved true…sort of. The strong wind kicked up again, except this time the embers were pushed towards me. I watched them, hoping that I had read the card right…

And, sure enough, I had. Blaze Magician’s scepter glowed, and all of the embers were magically drawn towards it like a magnet. She directed the embers around me, and they continued on their normal path.

Mako’s mouth open and shut, looking for all the world like a codfish. “Wha – wha – but – why - ?”

I chuckled. “I must’ve forgotten to mention: if there’s ever a Fire monster on our side of the field when the embers try to strike, that Fire monster protects us from those embers. I have plenty of Fire monsters to protect me; you, however, don’t.”

Mako gave me a venomous look before telling me to make my move.

“If you wish. I’ll summon The Thing in the Crater in Attack Mode!”

I placed the card on the disk; its holographic counterpart appeared, but no monster did.

Mako grinned. “I don’t see your monster.”

Neither did I. What’s going on?

<Don’t worry,> said Legendary Flame Lord. <All in good time.>

Isn’t now a good enough time?

Apparently it was, for something happened. To my left, a small cave appeared in the wall of the volcano. Out of the cave shot a being made purely of shadow. It leapt from rock to rock until it finally ‘landed’ on the nothing in front of its card. Now that it was up close, I could see that it was goblin-shaped, with brilliantly white, pupiless eyes. The rest of the being was black. A box with the numbers 1000 over 1200 appeared over its head. Blaze Magician’s staff glowed and, since The Thing in the Crater was a Pyro-type, a stream of fire surrounded it and sent its ATK up to 1900, before the volcano changed its stats to 2400 over 800.

Unfortunately, even though it was made entirely of shadow, another one of Tentacle Thug’s ugly appendages ensnared it and held it tight. But that was OK; I didn’t need it to attack.

“I’ll end my turn there, Mako.”

Mako’s hand shook slightly, knowing that drawing his next card would cause those embers to tear through him again. But, knowing he had to, he drew his card, then gritted his teeth as the storm smashed through another 200 of his Life Points (J: 8000 / M: 6950). However, he smiled a moment later as his Cure Mermaid started to sing a soothing melody. A gentle mist surrounded him, and his Life Points rose to 7750.

Looking at his new card, he smirked, then set it face-down, causing it to materialize behind his monsters next to his other face-down card. He set another monster, then he ended his turn.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to me, Bryan was facing a difficult situation himself. The Punished Eagle had unceremoniously dropped him into a meadow, then streaked off into the horizon. Pulling himself up off the ground and groaning a bit, he looked around and noticed the fact that absolutely no one was around him. He got to his feet and wondered where to go to next, when suddenly…

“Hey, she’s over here guys!”

Bryan looked curiously at the hill which had apparently just spoken. Hoping that there were people on the other side, he cautiously crawled up the slope and peered over the top.

What he saw was a spectacle, to say the least. A large crowd was forming around a beautiful young woman with long golden hair, clear blue eyes, and a gorgeous figure. The most interesting fact about her, however, was that she was playing the harp. Also, a small, green ocarina hung from her neck; closer inspection revealed a dragon carved into it. She was also singing a hauntingly beautiful melody.

Wanting a closer look (who wouldn’t?), Bryan crept closer to the maiden. Unfortunately, the maiden saw him. She smiled, causing butterflies to dance in Bryan’s head.

“And, ‘oo do we ‘ave ‘ere?” asked the woman in a thick French accent. “I do not reemembair you among my vooairs!”

Bryan blushed slightly before replying, “That would be because I’m not one of your wooers. A Punished Eagle dropped me off in the meadow over there, and I was wondering if anyone was around.”

“Oh, ‘ow dreadfale! Attacked by a Puneeshed Eegale! ‘Ow awful!”

Bryan raised an eyebrow. “I’m OK, really…”

“Are you sure, dahling?”

“Oh, yes, I’m sure – “

“I know! Vee shall duel! Zat vill take your mind off of ze terribale attack!”

“Oh, I don’t really – “

“Magnifique! Eet ees settaled! Come vith mee, dahling!” And she got up from the stool she was sitting on and ran (frolicked would be a better word) across the meadow. Seeing as he had little option, he followed.
--------------------------------------------------------
I hope this card gives me a new option, I thought to myself as I drew, while Blaze Magician’s staff guided the attacking embers away from me again.

Monster Reborn? A good card, but not right now. I’ll have to wait until later to use it.

“I pass. Go ahead, Mako.”

He drew, clenched his fists in pain as the embers passed through him yet again, but relaxed when Cure Mermaid’s gentle mist restored him (J: 8000 / M: 8350), then looked at his card.

“Well, well, well, Jake. This will be an unexpected change of plans, but it’s better than what we’ve been sitting here doing! First, I’ll flip my face-down monster into Attack mode: meet Tornado Bird!”

The card rotated and revealed itself. Instantly a huge gust of wind tore across the field, and a large red bird rocketed around the field once before coming to rest in front of the card.

“Now, Jake, when Tornado Bird is flipped face-up, I’m allowed to take any two Spell or Trap Cards on the field and return them to their owner’s hand.

This is not good for me. There are plenty of cards for him to choose from on my side of the field, and losing any of them wouldn’t help me at all!

“And I choose the two face-down cards on my side of the field!”

WHAT? What does he think he’s doing?

Tornado Bird took off into the sky, then hurtled back down in front of Mako’s two face-down cards. One mighty flap, and a hurricane-force gale blew the cards right back to Mako’s hand.

All I could do was look confused.

Mako laughed. “Now, Jake, I bet you’re thinking why would I pull such a crazy move like that?”

Continued in next post...

[starjake]

“The thought had crossed my mind,” I admitted.

“I’ll make it clear to you why. But now for the second step in my plan. I’ll play another Field Card: Umi!”

“You will do nothing of the sort!” I screamed as he inserted the card. I took my Solar Flare Dragon out of my Graveyard that I had discarded from my Graceful Charity and held it high. “Blaze Magician, use this card to stop his water!”

Blaze Magician couldn’t move, but her effect still worked. Her staff glowed, and a jet of fire disintegrated the Umi card.

And Mako started laughing. Loudly.

“What’s so funny?”

He stopped himself before saying to me, “Did you really think I had forgotten about your Blaze Magician’s effect? I know it can stop Spell Cards, so I decided to use my Umi as a decoy. Now I can play the card I was really going to play: another Legendary Ocean card!”

“Mako, I can use her effect more than once per turn!”

“Right, but unless something has missed my attention, you don’t have anymore Fire monsters in your Graveyard to use!”

Shocked, I looked quickly through my Graveyard to affirm that he was right, then stood there, unsure of what to do next. However, the last time he had used that card, nothing terrible had happened to me.

He fitted the card into the slot, and something very unusual happened: the lava below us began swirling around like a whirlpool. It was only when the lava level began falling that I realized it was going down the drain! Also, the rocky pillars we stood upon began cracking, and I feared they would fall apart, but instead they reformed themselves into the ancient towers of Atlantis. And, now that the lava was gone, the ground rumbled, and water gushed out of the bottom of the crater, and it rose until it was almost level with our feet. Not quite an ocean – more like a large lake – but it was enough to cause my monsters to lose 500 ATK points and his to gain 200.

“Ah, this is much better. But, don’t worry about this ocean for too long, Jake; I’m going to get rid of it for you!”

This guy must be insane! First he takes two of his own cards off the field, then he says he’s going to destroy a card that makes his monsters stronger than mine. Why would anyone do that?

<I’m not sure, Jake, but Mako is far from stupid. I’m sure living on the high seas all these years has taught him that some sacrifices are needed to achieve a greater good – which means bad for us. Mako most certainly has a plan.>

For once, Legendary Flame Lord, I hope you’re wrong.

<Oh, trust me Jake, I hope so too.>

“Now, for the final phase in my plan. You remember A Legendary Ocean’s special ability: that it reduces the Star Level of all Water monsters in our hands and on the field by one. The monster I need to summon is normally a Seven Star monster, but my ocean brings it down to a six-star monster, meaning I only need one sacrifice to summon it. I choose to sacrifice my Tornado Bird!”

At least I’ll get to see what a sacrifice looks like in this system. It must be interesting.

And interesting it was. A large stone altar with a picture of a sea serpent carved into it appeared in front of Mako. Tornado Bird whipped around the field one last time, before coming to rest on the altar. Suddenly, a torrent of water erupted (yes, water can erupt just like fire) from the altar and completely surrounded Tornado Bird. When the water died down, Tornado Bird was lying limp on the altar, thoroughly drenched and probably drowned. It dissipated into millions of tiny white particles, which vanished momentarily.

Apparently, the sacrifice was worthwhile, for the top of the altar slid back and a card with its back facing in my direction floated out of it and over to Mako’s side of the field. The altar then faded out of sight. As for the card…it turned around, and I could the picture of a ferocious sea dragon on the front…but no actual sea dragon.

“Now I don’t see your monster.”

Unlike me, however, Mako, apparently knew his monster was coming. “My monster is a legendary creature that controls the seas and tides; he comes when he is good and ready.”

He must’ve been good and ready then, because a dark shadow appeared under the water, and suddenly a water cyclone exploded into being. It stayed there for a moment, soaking Mako and I, before a dark shape appeared at the very top. This caused the cyclone to drop back into the water, revealing a long serpentine body…but no head. What’s more, the body was continually going up and up and up…and up and up some more…

Good God, there’s no end to this creature!

Finally, a tail with two spiny fins came out of the water, and I looked up to see something hurtling towards us at shocking speed. I had one glimpse of a toothy mouth and an armored head before it did the grandfather of all cannonballs, nearly knocking me down. Thankfully, Legendary Flame Lord caught me before I could fall down the side of the mountain. When I looked again, I saw the head racing along the side of the crater, its long, long, long, long - did I mention long? - long body following it. Finally, the head dipped underwater and rose in front of its holographic card. I looked around, and saw that its body was so freaking long that it was wrapped around the enormous crater twice. The creature looked at me and roared a rather high-pitched roar that still scared the daylights out of me, and a box with the numbers 2600 over 1500 materialized, which quickly changed to 2800 over 1700.

Great, like it needs more power.

“Do you like my legendary dragon of the sea? Its name is Levia-Dragon – Daedalus! And it rules over everything wet!” The behemoth roared in agreement.

At least I now understood why Mako so desperately wanted his Legendary Ocean on the field – it made summoning his great beast easier – but why get rid of his Traps?

“Now, I can activate my Dragon’s effect!”

Maybe this is why.

“My beast is powerful on his own, but the ocean he lives in will lend him even greater strength! Sea serpents are known for their violent rampages through the sea, and they cause tidal waves that destroy everything in their path. It requires the entire ocean, but if I give him that, he can destroy every single card on the field!”

WHAT THE HECK!!!!

Legendary Flame Lord glanced at me with a look of horror on his face. <Uh-oh, Jake. This looks bad.>

You think?

“Now, I sacrifice A Legendary Ocean to you, Levia-Dragon! Use the mighty power of the sea to destroy every card in your path!”

The beast’s eyes glowed bright red, a sign that it was about to go on a rampage.

And rampage it did! It started swirling around and around the crater, causing a violent whirlpool to form and me to get dizzy. Then…well, the term ‘water world’ got a whole new meaning.

Every single particle of water in that ocean exploded upward, causing the battle to be drawn underwater for a few seconds. Then, we were above water once more, but where the water had not even touched our feet before, it was now up to my chest, and a vicious current threatened to knock me off of the tower on which I stood.

Mako was shouting something. “Behold the wrath of the Leviathan! Poseidon’s Fury!”

With those words, the sky darkened and lightning flashed as Mako’s enraged sea serpent started slamming itself back and forth, causing massive waves to form. The wind picked up (this was turning into one heck of a maelstrom), and a tidal wave grew on Mako’s side of the field, with his massive beast riding it. I saw one last glimpse of several rows of teeth heading towards me, but I could not look after that as the entire ocean caved in upon my cards, shattering them into oblivion, and submerged my Deckmaster and I completely…and then everything went dark.

When I came to, I saw that I was still standing, thanks to the support of Legendary Flame Lord. I prayed that only a few seconds had passed, then started speaking.

“*cough* Wow, Mako. *sputter* That was *gurgle* some effect.”

“I see that you’re not fit to live on the sea.”

“That’s why I live here!”

I could feel my anger and anxiety growing, but knew that that fact would not help me, so I tried to calm down. However, that became even more difficult when I saw that all of Mako’s monsters remained where they had been before the maelstrom started.

“Mako! Levia-Dragon’s effect is supposed to destroy every card on the field! What’s going on with your monsters?”

Mako smirked, then pointed to his Deckmaster, who was once again chanting a spell.

Several words ran through my head that I probably shouldn’t repeat.

Mako laughed as he saw metaphorical smoke coming out my ears. “Did you forget my Deckmaster’s ability, Jake? It protects my monsters from being destroyed by card effects!”

I was about to lose some serious Life Points.

<Jake! Don’t forget that The Thing in the Crater was destroyed!>

You think I don’t know tha – oh, right! I almost forgot!

Legendary Flame Lord snorted. <I think you did forget.>

Quiet you. “Mako, you actually did me a favor!”

Mako’s face arranged itself in an unreadable expression. “Explain.”

I held up my Duel Disk, on which a small dark figure was dancing. “You destroyed my Thing in the Crater! When it’s destroyed, I get to summon any Pyro-type monster from my hand!”

“And you think you have something strong enough to handle my Levia-Dragon?”

I looked down. “Well…no, but your dragon won’t get to my Life Points this turn! I’ll The Thing in the Crater’s effect to Special Summon Twin-Headed Fire Dragon in Defense Mode.” I placed the card on the Disk, and it appeared horizontally in midair. Soon after, a large bat-winged, two-headed dragon descended and crouched on top of it, the numbers 2200 over 1700 appearing above its heads.

“Hah! Your dragon is no match for my mine! Go, Levia-Dragon! Tempest Force!”

Levia-Dragon (who was once again curled around the crater), drew back its head, as if taking a breath. Then, it spat several large spheres of water at Twin-Headed Dragon, who growled in agony, then dissolved into millions of white particles.

“Now, Cure Mermaid! Attack him directly! Aqua Pulse Blast!”

Cure Mermaid smiled in my direction, then brought her hands to her lips as if to blow a kiss. Instead of cute red hearts, however, several rings of water shot out from her now-outstretched hands, accompanied by a horrible screeching, which was actually worse than getting hit by the water. That wasn’t to say the water didn’t hurt; when all was said and done, I was on my knees and holding my ears in pain. (J: 6500 / M: 8350)

What am I going to do? I thought to myself. I don’t have a monster in my Deck strong enough to take on that behemoth, and even if I did, Tentacle Thug would prevent it from attacking. And Neo Aqua Madoor doesn’t let card effects destroy his monsters! What can I do?


Ember Storm
Continuous Spell
During each of your opponent's Standby Phases, your opponent loses 200 Life Points if a Fire monster does not exist on his/her side of the field. The same happens during each of your Standby Phases.

[starjake]

Chapter 8 – The Legendary Fisherman: Part 3

While I was caught between a rock and a wet place, Bryan was following this strange French woman who he knew nothing about. They walked down the hillside and into a valley, where the lady turned with a beautiful smile, which told Bryan to stop.

“Are you readee, my sveet vooair?”

Unsure as to why the woman thought a duel would help him ‘relax,’ Bryan replied, “I am, miss…”

She giggled. “Cecelia. You may call me Cecelia.”

“OK, Miss Cecelia. Yes, I am ready.”

“Zen vere ees your Deckmastair?”

Bryan looked up, startled. He had forgotten about this rule. Thinking about it for a sec, he didn’t even know what a Deckmaster was!

“Uh, Miss Cecelia? I…uh…well…”

“Yes, dahling?”

“I…don’t know how Deckmasters work.”

There was a silence, after which the people surrounding them (Lady Cecelia’s ‘wooers’) began to laugh.

She looked appalled.

“Cessez de rire! Stop laughing! ‘Ow dare you laugh at zees poor boy! ‘Ee ‘as suffaired a terrible ordeel!” Turning to Bryan, she spoke in a softer tone. “Do not listen to zem, zey are not as kind’earted as moi. A Deckmastair ees a monstair from you deck zat you choose to stand by you during zee entiair duel. Every monstair ‘as a special Deckmastair abilitee. ‘Owevair, you must figure out zees abilitee for yourself. Also, if zair are no monsters on your side of ze field at ze beginning of you turn, you can summon your Deckmastair to ze field to fight for you. Does zat make sense to you, dahling?”

Bryan nodded, while furiously trying to figure out what monster he should choose

“Very vell. Choose your Deckmaster visely!”

Bryan took out his deck and began looking through it. Finally, he chose his Battle Footballer, one of his favorite cards.

“I choose Battle Footballer!” he yelled holding the card high.

Instantly, the card vaporized and rematerialized behind him. Whipping around, he saw a holographic counterpart of the card standing upright, and after a second or two, a mechanized football player jumped out of it and assumed a crouching stance next to him. The machine turned to Bryan, gave a gruff nod, then focused its attention on Cecelia.

“Since you vere so traumatized, you may go first,” came her singsong voice.

Bryan looked up and noticed that a huge phoenix was hovering in the sky above Cecelia. Taken aback, he yelled out, “What is that thing?”

“Why, zees ees my Deckmastair! Eet ees called Benu Phoenix!” And, at the sound of its name, it let out a melodious cry. “It’s beautiful song cuts any damage I take een battle een ‘alf!”

Cringing at the very good effect that Benu Phoenix had, Bryan drew his first six cards.

“Hey kid,” came a gruff voice to Bryan’s right.

Turning, he saw the Battle Footballer was addressing him. “Um…yes?”

“You don’t plan strategies during a game, you plan them before, right?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Dontcha wanna know what I can do? You can’t make a play without knowing all of your options.”

“Oh, right. What is your ability?”

“Once per turn, I can change the position of any face-up monster on the field. I need an energy boost to do it, though; you hafta pay 1000 Life Points.”

Thinking that over, he nodded, then started his move.

“For my first play, I’ll set two cards face-down, then summon Red Archery Girl in Attack Mode!”

Two face-down cards appeared at Bryan’s feet, while a monster card rose vertically. A whirlpool appeared in front of the card, and a clamshell spun out of it and opened to reveal a young mermaid holding a bow. She grinned at Cecelia as the numbers 1400 over 1500 appeared over her head.

“I’ll admit, I’m more for team sports, but individual sports have their place. That’ll end my turn.”

“As you wish, dahling!” she called out in her melodious voice. After drawing her sixth card, she said, “I, too, vill set zees two cards face-down, as vell as zees monstair in Defense Mode. But, vat ees eet? Zat you vill ‘ave to find out on your own!”

The three cards appeared in front of her, and the turn passed back to Bryan as he drew.

“Alright, then. I won’t play anything new, but I will attack! Go, Red Archery Girl, Clamshell Arrow Strike!”

The mermaid giggled, then drew back her bow and fired at Cecelia’s face-down monster…but the arrow became tangled in a large harp. Bryan was confused. “What’s going on?”

“You made ze meestake of attacking a monstair vith higher defense zan your Red Archery Girl’s attack! My monstair vas Spirit of ze ‘Arp!”

She spoke the truth. A lovely young maiden dressed in a yellow robe was kneeling next to the large golden harp that had trapped Red Archery Girl’s arrow, and the numbers 800 over 2000 appeared over her head. Bryan grimaced as his Life Points dropped (B: 7400 / C: 8000). “I’ll end my turn, then.”

Cecelia drew her card. “Now, I shall play a Magic card: ze Chorus of Sanctuary!”

As the terrain was already grassy and meadow-like, there wasn’t much of a change. Flowers started popping up where they hadn’t been before, but the major change came from the sky. At least ten small cherub-like creatures flew down and settled themselves around the duelists in a perfect circle, then started singing a beautiful song. Bryan watched as Spirit of the Harp’s defense rose to 2500.

“Zees Magic Card increases ze defense of all defense-position monstairs by 500 points! Ees it not music to your ears?”

It was a very soothing and pretty song, but Bryan had a duel to worry about.

“Are you done, Cecelia?”

“Vy, yes, of course.”

Bryan drew – and smiled.

“I’ll sacrifice my Red Archery Girl to summon Jinzo!”

A stone altar with gears carved into its side appeared underneath Red Archery Girl, who giggled again before a cloud of dark haze poured out of the altar and totally engulfed her. When the cloud dissipated, she was gone, and the top of the altar slid back. Out of it rose an intimidating being cloaked in a black robe. Its head was withered, and the mechanical mask it wore was a little freaky-looking.

“Now that my Jinzo is on the field, neither of us can activate Trap cards.”

“To true; ‘owevair, my Spirit of ze ‘Arp’s defense is still greatair zen your Jinzo’s attack.”

Bryan looked down at his feet. “Yeah, I know. I guess it’s – “

“Bryan!” came the gruff voice.

He looked over at his crouching Deckmaster. “What?”

“What am I, a benchwarmer? Did you forget my effect already?”

“Your…oh, duh! But wait, 1000 Life Points? That’s a lot…”

“Sometimes you gotta take one for the team, kid. Besides, you still got plenty of energy left. You can take it.”

Bryan thought for a sec, then made up his mind. “I guess it’s time to activate my Deckmaster’s ability! By paying 1000 Life Points, my Battle Footballer can switch the position of a face-up monster on the field! And your Spirit of the Harp has only 800 attack points, making it easy prey for my Jinzo!”

As Bryan Life Points dipped, Battle Footballer rushed across the field and tackled Cecelia’s Spirit of the Harp! Grabbing her by the shoulders, he rather forcefully stood her into Attack Mode, then ran back and crouched beside Bryan once more.

“Now, Jinzo can easily destroy your Spirit of the Harp! Jinzo, destroy it with Cyber Shock Blast!”

“I am sorree, dahling, but zat vil not vork! My face-down card vill prevent it!”

“But you can’t activate Traps because of Jinzo’s effect,” called out Bryan, worried.

She chuckled. “Who said eet ees a Trap Card? Reveal Command Silensair!”

The card rose, and a large totem-pole-like statue materialized in front of it and emitted an incredibly high-pitched screech, deafening Bryan. Once the scream had ended, Spirit of the Harp remained in perfect condition.

Gathering his breath, Bryan inquired, “What happened? I told my Jinzo to destroy your monster; why didn’t it obey me?”

“Because eet did not hear you! Command Silensair’s scream is so loud zat eet deafened your Jinzo, causing it to not hear your command! My monstair ees safe!”

Grumbling, Bryan muttered, “Fine. Go ahead and make your move.”

“Of course,” she replied, drawing her card. She considered her hand for a second before saying, “Now I can sacrifice my monstair to summon a strongair one. And ze strongair one I choose is Flautist of Ayer!”

A new stone altar materialized (this one with a fairy-looking creature carved into it) underneath Spirit of the Harp, who smiled before a great tornado erupted out of the altar and surrounded it completely. When the tornado dissipated, the Spirit of the Harp was no longer there, and the top of the altar slid back to allow a green-skinned fairy with white angel wings to float out of it. The altar crumbled into dust, and Cecelia’s new monster took its place in front of her, while the numbers 2300 over 2250 appeared over its head.

“And, now zat I’ve summoned zees beautiful monstair, I can use her abilitee! Ven she ees summoned, I can choose any monster and control it for one turn! Eet ees time to pay ze pipair!”

Her flautist turned its green-tinged face towards Bryan’s Jinzo, smiled, and snapped its fingers. Instantly, a bluish-silver flute formed around its neck on a thin chain, which it promptly raised to its lips. It blew, and a hypnotically beautiful melody flowed out of it. Jinzo’s ‘eyes’ flashed, and it walked over to her side of the field as though in a trance.

The look on Bryan’s face turned to one of extreme worry as he realized that that had been his only monster…and both of his face-down cards were Traps.

“Now, Jinzo, attack your former mastair! Cybair Shock Blast!”

Obediently, Jinzo raised its hands and formed an energy ball, which it proceeded to shoot at Bryan. He ducked, but the ball came whizzing back towards him from behind and knocked him to the ground as his Life Points dropped dramatically.

“Zair ees more vere zat came from! Flautist of Ayer, attack vith ‘Armonic Pulse!”

The fairy grinned before playing a short, high tune on her flute, which she then aimed at Bryan (who had just gotten up) and shot a brilliant beam of green energy at him, knocking him to the ground once again. (B: 1700 / C: 8000)

Bryan lay there, attempting to summon the strength to get back up. What do I do now? he wondered.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I, too, was wondering what to do. Mako had me in a lock, one which I couldn’t seem to break free of.

“Oh, Jaaaaake?” Mako called out. “I’ll set these two cards face-down again and end my turn.”

Excellent. It would be nice if I could draw a card that would turn things around; too bad I don’t have one! Nevertheless, I was required to draw, so I did. It was a new Trap Card.

Rapid Fire? Hmm…hey this might work…if I could attack!

“I’ll set this card face-down and play this in Defense. Go ahead,” I said, as the two cards appeared in front of me.

“Alright, then, get ready to lose your monster!” he called out as he drew his card. Cure Mermaid sang her song, conjuring the mist and raising Mako’s Life Points (J: 6500 / M: 9150) “Levia-Dragon, attack!”

Once again, the mighty sea serpent shot a series of water spheres at my face-down card. A dark, turtle-like shape appeared before being blown to bits.

“What was that?”

“You have your Mother Grizzly, and I have my UFO Turtle, which does the same thing, except with Fire monsters.”

“I know what it does!” he snapped.

“Then you know that I get to search my Deck for a Fire monster with 1500 ATK or less and summon it in Attack Mode, right?”

He nodded as I pulled out my Deck and searched through it.

This’ll be taking a huge risk; if I don’t draw the other card I need, my combo will be worthless!

<Jake, is it another monster you need?>

I turned to my Deckmaster. Yeah, why?

<I’m all over it. You haven’t seen my actual Deckmaster ability yet, right?>

What is it?

<You can choose to skip your Draw Phase and allow me to summon any Fire monster with 4 stars or lower directly from your hand, Deck, or even your Graveyard.>

So I just need to hope he doesn’t suicide his Cure Mermaid into my Solar Flare Dragon.

<Exactly.>

“Hey, Jake, you gonna use your monster’s effect or not?”

“Patience. I’m strategizing over here. But, you are right, I do have an effect to use,” I replied, putting my deck back into the tray. “I’ll use UFO Turtle’s effect to summon Solar Flare Dragon in Attack Mode!”

The UFO Turtle that had been sent to the Graveyard came zipping out and whizzed around our heads before it landed in front of me. A sci-fi door opened on its side, and out of the door came a snake-like dragon cloaked in flames. The UFO Turtle zipped back into my Graveyard, and the numbers 1500 over 1000 appeared above my dragon’s head. And, as I’d known it would, another tentacle slithered towards my new dragon and bound it.

“You know, you could destroy my dragon with your Cure Mermaid, but then you’d stop gaining Life Points because she would destroy herself in the process.”

“I’m aware of the rules, Jake! I won’t attack with her this turn. But my Leviathan will tear your puny dragon apart!”

“If you’re done, please end your turn. I’m dying to prove how wrong you are.”

Mako’s eyes narrowed. “As you wish. My turn is over. Just try to deny me my victory.”

“Mako, I won’t even bother trying to.”

He smiled. “Good. You’re starting to make sense.”

“I won’t try to deny you your victory; I will deny it!”

Mako grimaced in annoyance. “Enough dramatics. Make your move.”

I smiled. “But dramatics are so much fun. I guess not everyone enjoys true art. Oh well. I’ll draw,” I said, as I reached for my deck…then paused. “On second thought, I won’t draw.”

Mako did a double-take. “But you have to! It’s part of the rules!”

I pointed at my Legendary Flame Lord. “I’m not breaking any rules. My Deckmaster needs me to skip my Draw Phase in order to activate his hidden powers.”

Mako looked at me curiously. “He has another ability?”

Continued in next post...

[starjake]

“He does! By skipping my Draw Phase, I’ve allowed him to summon any level 4 or lower Fire monster from anywhere I choose! Deckmaster, summon my final Solar Flare Dragon from my deck!”

<As you wish.>

He waved his scepter, which glowed with fire, then he pointed it at the field. A stream of fire burst from the tip, and that flame formed into another Solar Flare Dragon (1500 / 1000).

Mako laughed.

“Ha! Your dragons are pathetic! They’re no match for my Levia-Dragon – Daedalus!”

“We shall see. However, in order to see how ‘pathetic’ they are, we have to get to your turn, so I’ll end mine.” As I said those last words, both of my dragons flew across the field and bit Mako, causing his Life to dip dramtically! (J: 6500 / M: 8150)

Staggering back as the two dragons flew back to my side of the field, he screamed at me, “What was that for? It wasn’t your turn anymore and I had monsters on the field!”

“Correct. However, at the end of each of its owner’s turns, Solar Flare Dragon takes away 500 of its opponent’s Life Points. And I have two on the field, meaning you just lost 1000!”

Mako grimaced, but then smirked as he thought of something. “But thanks to my Cure Mermaid, I’ll be gaining 800 at each of my turns. And since my dragon can easily destroy yours, that loss wasn’t really a big deal.”

I just smiled.

“Since you’re so confident, I’ll start my turn and gain 800 Life Points,” he said, drawing a card and gaining Life Points. (J: 6500 / M: 8950) “Then I’ll attack one of your dragons! Go my Leviathan, attack his dragon on the left.”

The powerful water attack came tearing towards one of my Solar Flare Dragons, threatening to extinguish it. But then, a stream of fire intercepted and evaporated it!

Mako stared in shock as the steam blanketed the field. “What the – why didn’t work?”

The steam cleared and he saw that one of my dragons in front of the other, instead of side by side.

“My monsters have more than one effect. They’re not really Dragon-types; they’re classified as Pyro-types. And if there is a Pyro-type on the field along with a Solar Flare Dragon, that Solar Flare Dragon cannot be attacked by any other monster!”

Mako paled beneath his deep tan. “And they’re Pyro-types themselves, so if there are two side by side…”

“…then you can’t attack either one! Now who’s locked!”

<Excellent move, Jake! This might buy you some time to figure out how to beat that Thug and the Leviathan.>

If he doesn’t figure out how to rid the field of my two monsters first.

<I was choosing to be optimistic.>

And I was choosing to be realistic.

<To each his own.>

“So, Mako, anything else you wish to do this turn?”

“Seeing as there’s not much else I can do, no.”

“As I thought. I’ll make my move, then.” I drew.

It’s my Benu Phoenix card! It saved me before, and maybe…YES! It’ll save me now, too!

“Mako, get ready to lose your big squid!”

“And how do you plan to accomplish that?”

“By summoning this monster, known as Benu Phoenix! And I’ll sacrifice one of my Solar Flare Dragons to do it!”

The stone altar appeared on my side of the field this time, with a majestic bird carved into it. One of my dragons glided over to it and coiled itself on top of it. Instantly, a pillar of fire burst from the altar, and Solar Flare Dragon was consumed entirely. The top slid back, and out soared the beautiful Benu Phoenix. It gave a loud cry, then settled down in front of me, while the numbers 2300 over 1800 appeared over its head.

“That, Jake? That parrot is going to destroy my Tentacle Thug? Oh, I’m shaking in my boots.”

“But you’re barefoot.”

He glanced down and then glared at me in recognition of a point scored. “Never mind that. Tentacle Thug, Tentacles of – “ but he was stopped short by a haunting melody. “Where’s that song coming from?”

“A parrot? Songbird would be more appropriate. My Benu Phoenix has a beautiful singing voice, and he’s just dying to show it off! And, from the looks of your Tentacle Thug, it’s an award winner!”

“What?” He looked at his Tentacle Thug, who was drooping slightly. Suddenly, it let out an almighty snore, and the tentacles it had wrapped around my Solar Flare Dragon uncoiled and fell, dangling from its limp body.

Mako was beside himself. “What’s going on here?”

“My phoenix’s song is so captivating, it can completely disable one monster on your side of the field once per turn! That means it can’t attack, it can’t change its position, and most importantly, it can’t use its effects! And that means my monsters are free! Solar Flare Dragon, attack his Tentacle Thug now!”

Solar Flare Dragon uncoiled and flew through the air at alarming speed…but was stopped dead by a wall of what looked like glass.

“Ha! Your dragon fell into, or should I say onto, my trap! It’s called Icicle Shield, and it can only be triggered when one of your monsters attacks. It destroys every monster on your side of the field!”

And, unfortunately, he was right. The icicles began rocketing off of the wall and skewered both of my monsters, destroying them!

“So much for your foolproof plan. And my Tentacle Thug will wake up at the end of my next turn I believe, so watch out!”

“I suggest you follow your own advice, Mako!”

“And why is that, landlover?”

“Because I have a Trap Card too!”

I pushed a button on my duel disk and the card revealed itself.

“What is that card?”

“It’s called Rapid Fire. It can only be activated after I’ve gone through my Battle Phase and if I have no monsters on my side of the field. A small price to pay for its effect!”

Suddenly, fireballs began shooting out of the card and slammed into Mako’s face-down card.

“What’s going on?”

“Rapid Fire takes every Magic and Trap Card on your side of the field and removes it from play! Say goodbye to your facedown card!”

The fireballs continued slamming into the holographic card until it incinerated and vanished from the field.

“And there’s more, Mako! That was the weakest of my Rapid Fire’s abilities. Rapid Fire allows me to repeat the Battle Phase I just had, meaning all the monsters that were on the field during that Battle Phase come back!”

Out of my Graveyard erupted both Solar Flare Dragon and Benu Phoenix. They settled themselves onto the field in their original positions, and they weren’t happy!

“Now, you don’t have any face-down cards for me to worry about, so let’s try this again. Solar Flare Dragon, attack and destroy Tentacle Thug with Solar Explosion!”

Solar Flare Dragon blew a massive fireball at Tentacle Thug, which incinerated on impact.

“And since your Tentacle Thug was in Attack Mode with 0 ATK, you lose a full 1500 Life Points! (J: 6500 / M: 7450) And I’m not done: Benu Phoenix, attack Cure Mermaid with Celestial Inferno!”

The phoenix soared into the air and spread its wings wide, sending down a meteor shower that pummeled Cure Mermaid, who let out a scream before shattering into a billion tiny pieces. (J: 6500 / M: 6650)

“The score’s much closer now!”

“Not for long, Jake! My Levia-Dragon is still stronger than both of your monsters!”

I couldn’t deny that. “How true. Maybe I should set this face-down,” came my reply, as I slid the card into the slot and its holographic clone appeared on the field.

“You’re bluffing!”

“Well, I have to end my turn first, and you know what that means. Solar Flare Dragon, you hungry?”

It once again zipped across the field and bit Mako on the arm, causing his Life Points to drop by another 500. (J: 6500 / M: 6150)

“Your turn.”

Panting due to the bite, Mako drew his card, then ordered, “Levia-Dragon, destroy his Benu Phoenix!”

Levia-Dragon shot his water attack at my phoenix and…a strange contraption appeared in its path.

“You weren’t bluffing!”

“I most certainly was not. You’re not the only one with a Trap. My Magic Cylinder will take your Leviathan’s attack and send it right back at you!”

The attack went tearing back towards Mako, who was thrown back several yards; Neo Aqua Madoor had to catch him to prevent him from falling down the mountain. (J: 6500 / M: 3550)

“Now it’s my turn!” I noted my Barrel Behind the Door, then yelled, “I activate Benu Phoenix’s special ability!” Benu Phoenix opened its mouth and sung a beautiful melody. I watched as Mako’s ugly dragon wavered a bit, struggling to keep its eyes open, then succumbed to the notes and fell fast asleep.

“And that will last until the end of your next turn. And, then, during my next turn, I can just activate its ability again! I’ve got you in another lock!”

Mako grimaced as he realized I was right. I had gotten rid of his Tentacle Thug, and my Benu Phoenix would allow me time to build up enough firepower to destroy his sea serpent.

“Now I’ll set one more card face-down,” the card appeared in front of me, “and end my turn. Remember what happens now? Lunch time!”

Right on cue, Solar Flare Dragon leapt across the field and bit Mako in the leg, taking out yet another 500 Life Points. (J: 6500 / M: 3050)

Mako was beginning to really feel the pain; I could see it in his eyes. I felt sorry for him, and actually wished for a moment or two that the rumble packs in these disks weren’t so realistic. But, there wasn’t a thing I could do about the technology.

“It’s my move,” announced Mako, drawing his new card. “And I’ll end it by setting this face-down. And now my Levia-Dragon wakes up,” he said, as the great beast stirred and arose.

“Only to go right back to la-la land. First, I’ll draw,” I did so, “and now, Benu Phoenix, you know what to do!” And once again, it opened its great beak and sung the monster back to sleep. “I’ll play a monster in Defense Mode and end my turn.” Yet again, Solar Flare Dragon bit another 500 Life Points out of Mako. (J: 6500 / M: 2550)

Mako drew his card, and sighed with relief.

“It’s about time! I might not be able to attack with my leviathan, but I can still make use of it!”

“And how is that?”

“By sacrificing it!” And as he said those words, another stone altar appeared underneath his snoozing dragon, this time with an alligator-like creature carved into it. A water cyclone enveloped the creature entirely, and it disappeared as the top slid back to reveal a creature that looked familiar…

“Remember this guy? He was the first monster I summoned in the duel: Giga Gagagigo! And with 2450 ATK, he’s more than capable of destroying your Phoenix! Go, attack with Hydro Blade Rush!”

His reptilian creature zipped across the field and slashed with hidden wrist blades, shattering Benu Phoenix into smithereens. (J: 6350 / M: 2550) But once the dust had cleared…Benu Phoenix was still there!

Mako was in shock. “But – but – why didn’t anything happen?”

“Oh don’t worry, Mako, you sent it to the Graveyard, but it didn’t stay there very long, thanks to my Call of the Haunted!”

Mako looked at my now-upright Trap Card, and saw that a stream of eerie smoke emanating from the card was wrapped around Benu Phoenix’s ankles.

“Let me guess, you’ll just sing my monster to sleep during your next turn.”

“You guessed right!”

“Then it’s your move.”

“I’ll draw then, and Benu Phoenix can get to work!” Giga Gagagigo curled up and went to sleep. “And I’ll end it at that.” Solar Flare Dragon bit Mako in the other arm, taking off 500 more Life Points. (J: 6350 / M: 2050)

“I’ll draw,” he grunted, since the pain from Solar Flare Dragon’s bites was harsher than ever. “Excellent! I’ll play Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your Call of the Haunted, which also destroys your Benu Phoenix!”

I grimaced as the vortex consumed my Trap Card and sucked a screaming Benu Phoenix in as well. “Anything else you’d like to do, Mako?”

“Nope. That’s enough for one turn.”

“Then I’ll draw and play this card, Monster Reborn!” The holy symbol appeared in the air above my head.

“You’re gonna bring back your Phoenix again? This is getting boring.”

“I agree, so I’m not bringing back Benu Phoenix.”

This shook my opponent. “You – you’re not?”

I shook my head. “Nope. I’m bringing back your monster! Arise, Levia-Dragon – Daedalus!”

The symbol high in the air shifted and twisted into the long, serpentine water dragon, which wrapped itself around the crater before raising its head to growl at Mako. (2600 / 1500)

“Now you know how I felt when I saw that creature. It’s rather terrifying, no? And, just in case you’re hiding something I don’t like, I’ll play my own Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your face-down card!” The vortex appeared underneath his card and sucked it in, destroying it. “Now, Levia-Dragon, attack his sleeping reptile! Tempest Force!” I yelled. Levia-Dragon drew back its head and spat an enormous sphere of water at the napping amphibian, which blew apart at the impact. (J: 6350 / M: 1900)

“Now, Solar Flare Dragon, attack his Life Points directly! Solar Explosion!”

Another sphere, this time of fire, exploded directly on top of Mako, causing him to fall to his knees! (J: 6350 / M: 400)

“And with that, I end my turn.” Right on cue, Solar Flare darted across the field and slammed into Mako, sending him careening into the arms of his Deckmaster and taking out the rest of his Life Points. (J: 6350 / M: 0)

I won! I thought to myself.

<It sure looks like it.>

If only Bryan had seen me.


Battle Footballer
Fire/Machine/4 stars/ATK 1000/DEF 2100
DNSA: Once per turn, during your Main Phase, you can pay 1000 Life Points to switch the Battle Position of 1 face-up monster on your opponent’s side of the field.

Benu Phoenix
Fire/Winged Beast/6 stars/ATK 2300/DEF 1800
DMSA: Reduce all Battle Damage done to your Life Points by half.

Command Silencer
Quick-Play Spell
Negate the attack of one of your opponent’s monsters. Then, draw 1 card from your Deck.
Note: Used by Seto Kaiba in “Clash in the Coliseum Part 3”. All creative credit goes to the writers of that episode.

Flautist of Ayer
Wind/Fairy/6 stars/ATK 2300/DEF 2000
When this card is Tribute Summoned successfully, select 1 face-up monster on your opponent’s side of the field and gain control of it until the End Phase. If your opponent targets this card with a card effect while this card is in the Graveyard, negate the activation and effect of your opponent’s card and destroy it.

[I]Rapid Fire[/B]
Normal Trap
You can only activate this during your Battle Phase when monsters on your side of the field were sent to the Graveyard. Remove all Spell and Trap Cards on your opponent’s side of the field from play. Also, Special Summon all monsters sent from the field to the Graveyard during the Battle Phase.

[starjake]

Chapter 9 – Ultimate Baseball Kid

Speaking of Bryan, he was rather busy being stomped into the ground by Cecelia.

Slowly, he got to his feet, wincing at the very real pain that the rumble disks provided.

“Are you…done?” he gasped.

“Are you ok, dahling? I did not mean to ‘urt you, truly I did not!”

“I’ll be fine,” said Bryan, breathing heavily. “I just want to know if you’re done yet.”

With a concerned look, Ceclia said, “Vy, yes, I end my turn.”

Bryan slowly nodded. “Good…’cause I think that means I get my Jinzo back!”

Fortunately, he was right. Flautist of Ayer’s spell had begun to wear off. The strange glow in Jinzo’s mechanical eyes faded, and it glided back to Bryan’s side of the field.

“I’ll draw since it’s my turn now.” Doing so, he took a glance at the card, and sighed with relief.

“Looks like I’m not out of the game yet, Cecelia! This Magic Card will put some seconds back on the clock!” And with that, he slipped the card into the slot.

The card’s holographic form appeared in front of him. An umpire walked out the card and strolled over to the side of the duel, between Cecelia and Bryan, then held up his hands in a “time-out” signal.

“Vat ees zees card zat you ‘ave played?”

“It’s called Seventh Inning! As I’m sure you know, in a baseball game, there’s a short lapse halfway through the seventh inning to allow the fans to stretch their legs and the players to get a bit of rest. And resting up is what this card is all about!”

“I do not undairstand.”

“My Magic Card heals Life Points based on a simple formula. First, it takes both of our Life Point scores and subtracts one from the other. You have 8000 and I have 1700, a difference of 6300 points. It divides that by two, which is 3150, and adds that to both of our scores!”

“But zat vill make your job even more difficult!”

“I’m not done. The card has a limitation. Players can’t rest up so much that they are stronger than they originally were, and neither can we! In game terms, this card can’t heal past our original Life Points scores, meaning it doesn’t heal you one measly bit! I, on the other hand…”

The umpire looked at Cecelia, frowned slightly, then walked over to Bryan and gave him a reassuring pat on the back. Bryan smiled as his Life Points leapt up to 4850! The man walked back into the card, which promptly disappeared.

“As I said, there’re still plenty of seconds left on the clock, and I intend to play for every last one of them! Now, time for you to meet another of my monsters. He doesn’t do team sports, but he’s very physically fit and very athletic: Legendary Jujitsu Master!”

He slapped the card onto the duel disk, and a gray-skinned, muscular man stepped onto the field. He took up a ready stance as the numbers 1300 over 1800 appeared over his head.

“Let’s try this again. Jinzo, attack her Flautist of Ayer! Cyber Shock Blast!”

Jinzo shot a beam of energy from his forehead, which hit the large green fairy square in the chest! She screamed, then burst.

And then, Bryan heard Benu Phoenix singing softly. “What’s going on?”

“Remember my Deckmastair? It’s effect cuts any damage I take een ‘alf!”

Stunned, Bryan looked as Cecelia’s Life Points went down by a measly 50 points, as opposed to the full 100. (B: 4850 / C: 7950)

“Well, I guess I’ll still attack with Legendary Jujitsu Master. It’ll only do 650 damage, but still…”

Bryan’s rocky warrior jumped across the field and landed a chop directly to Cecelia’s stomach! Her life Points dipped, but slightly. (B: 4850 / C: 7300)

As Cecelia collapsed, the wind knocked out of her, Bryan looked at Legendary Jujitsu Master (who had returned to his side of the field) and asked, “You know, you could be a little more gentle with the ladies here. Doesn’t Jujitsu have a code of ethics?”

The Jujitsu Master shrugged, then turned its attention back to Cecelia, who had gotten back up.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, I didn’t know he would attack you so harshly like that.”

“I’m not angry at you, little one. Vy do you zink zat eet’s called an attack?”

Bryan had to agree that her point was valid. “Well, it’s your turn.”

“As you wish.” She drew, studied her hand, then set a monster face-down and ended her turn.

“Not very talkative anymore, huh?” Bryan muttered to himself as he drew. Thinking up a plan, he called out, “Now I’ll play Monster Reborn to revive your Flautist of Ayer!”

As he slipped the card into the disk, the holy symbol appeared in the air and started shifting into the elegant form of the Flautist. However, halfway through, there was a harsh noise, like a flute that had been blown to loudly, and the symbol exploded!

Bryan had not expected this. “What the – ?”

Cecelia, on the other hand, was grinning. “My Flautist of Ayer is very loyal to me. So loyal, in fact, that she cannot be summoned back from the Graveyard by you!”

Now that’s aggravating, thought Bryan to himself as he put his wasted Monster Reborn in his Graveyard. Well, there’s not much else I can do…

“Jinzo, attack her face-down monster!”

Once again, the dark energy flew across the field, but a large harp caught the blast and sent it ricocheting back, smacking Bryan in the arm. He looked on, upset, as another Spirit of the Harp formed on top of the card and his Life Points dipped slightly. (B: 4750 / C: 7300)

“Well, ok. I’ll set this face-down and end my turn,” he said, disappointed, as another face-down card joined the two he already had.

“As you wish,” came the reply, as Cecelia drew her card. “I vill do nuzing zis turn.”

“Whatever,” said a startled Bryan. He drew.

“I’ll set this monster in Defense. Go ahead.”

She drew her next card. “I’ll do ze same zing as you: one monstair in Defense.”

This is starting to get bland. But with that Spirit of the Harp on the field, I can’t attack! He drew his card…and smiled. I’ll have to wait a turn, but this’ll get rid of Cecelia’s defenses. “I’ll play another monster face-down and end my turn.”

Cecelia nodded, then drew. After considering her hand, she looked up and said, “I have nuzing I can do zees turn. Your move.”

Time to say goodbye to your defense! After drawing his next turn, he called, “Alright, Cecelia, time for my offense to hit the field! I’ll flip my face-down monster: Penguin Soldier!”

The card rotated and lifted to reveal a small penguin with shoulder pads and a sword. The numbers 750 over 500 appeared over it’s head.

“Now, when Penguin Soldier is flipped, I can choose up to 2 monsters on the field and send them back to their owner’s hand! Guess which ones I choose?”

“Not my Spirit of ze ‘Arp!”

“Don’t worry, she’s only going back to your hand. Now, Penguin Soldier, send her two monsters back to her hand!”

Penguin Soldier ran across the field, sword at the ready. He slashed at Spirit of the Harp and Cecelia’s face-down monster, blowing them back to her hand.

“Now, I’ll reveal my other face-down monster as another Red Archery Girl!”

As he spoke those words, the card rotated and lifted as Penguin Soldier’s had, and another whirlpool materialized in front of it, out of which came a clamshell, which proceeded to open and reveal a pretty mermaid armed with a bow.

“I hope your Benu Phoenix has a lot of song in him, because there’s gonna be a lot of attacking! I’ll start off with Jinzo: Cyber Shock Blast!”

Instead of the normal energy blast, Jinzo shot rings of psychokinetic energy from its forehead, which swarmed around Cecelia and forced her to hold her head from the resulting headache! (B: 4750 / C: 6100)

“Red Archery Girl, Clamshell Arrow Strike!”

Red Archery Girl drew back her bow, aimed, and fired an arrow. It whizzed through the air and flew right through Cecelia’s left arm! (B: 4750 / C: 5400)

“Legendary Jujitsu Master, Jujitsu Rock Chop!”

As it had before, the stone man leapt across the field and landed a chop directly across Cecelia’s chest! (B: 4750 / C: 4750)

“And, to finish things off, Penguin Soldier! Rapid Frost Blade!”

Penguin Soldier wound up, as though he was about to throw a baseball. It hurled its sword boomerang-style in Cecelia’s direction, and it slashed right though her leg! (B: 4750 / C: 4375)

When all was said and done, Cecelia was on her knees and cringing, even though Benu Phoenix had cut the damage she had taken in half.

Remembering the pain he had felt from the direct attacks he had received, he called out, “Cecelia? You alright?”

To his surprise, she stood up, without a blemish on her and smiling brightly.

“I’m fine! I’ve endured worse.”

A bit shocked, he passed the turn to her.


I can’t believe it. I won! That was draining for some reason.

As the duel disks powered down, I got one glance at Legendary Flame Lord. He winked at me before vanishing, and his card as well as Incandescent Ordeal formed in my hand.

Thanks.

I looked up. “Thanks, Mako. That was an awesome duel!”

Though he appeared slightly upset, he replied, “It was a whale of a time, Jake. I’m honored to have dueled against a strong opponent such as yourself. What really impressed me, though, is that you never used a really powerful monster, such as I did with my Levia-Dragon. You overcame the ocean’s brute force with clever tactics. Painful, but clever.”

I nodded in appreciation of the compliment. “Thanks. Now, how do we get down from here?” For we were still standing atop the two rocky pillars!

Mako shrugged. “We wait.”

“Wait? What for?”

Suddenly, a quick rumble swept through the area. Mako grinned.

“That.”

I quickly realized what he meant as everything around us – the pillars we stood on, and the empty crater that surrounded us – began breaking and falling to pieces!

“You might want to bring out something that can fly,” came Mako’s calm voice over the roaring of the rocks. I looked over to see that his Neo Aqua Madoor was holding him and a strange, icy-blue aura surrounded them both.

Makes sense, it’s a Spellcaster. Quickly I began to search through my deck and found Benu Phoenix. I slammed the card onto the disk, and instantly, my beautiful screeching phoenix came sailing down from the heavens and plucked me off of the stone tower, just as it crumbled into dust under my feet! The mountain that had surrounded our duel slowly began to sink back into the ground. Soon, nothing was left except an abnormally large patch of dirt.

“Well, Jake, I have a grassland to look after. I’ll see you later!” And with that, Make touched down on the ground and walked off, Neo Aqua Madoor floating behind him.

Benu Phoenix also landed and let me go. I stood up, stretching, then wondered where Bryan had disappeared to.

From what I remember, that Punished Eagle was flying towards the forest, which is…that way. Hm, maybe Benu Phoenix can help me. “Um, d’ya think I could…uh…have a ride? I need to find my friend.”

Benu Phoenix looked at me benignly with one large eye, then slowly settled itself into a crouching position so I could clamor up on to its back. After much huffing and puffing – not to mention a few gentle shoves from Benu Phoenix’s wing - I managed to arrange myself in a sitting position on its back.

“OK, Benu Phoenix. To the forest!” And with those words and a mighty flap from its wings, we were airborne.

At first, my fear of heights kicked in and I couldn’t bear to look around for fear that I might fall. However, fear turned into pure exhilaration! There was nothing I had ever experienced that came even close to this sensation. It was total freedom! The view was pretty nice, too.

We flew towards the forest. It was only then that I remembered about the Skull Servant incident.

You know, Bryan was right. I should stay on my guard. Skull Servants can’t be the only things hiding in those woods. I even need to beware the trees, I thought to myself, as I remembered the picture on Heather’s favorite card, Vampire Orchis. With a name like Vampire…I don’t even want to think about that.

At that point, a whistling noise caught my attention. Benu Phoenix must have been trying to tell me that we had arrived at the forest. Taking a deep breath, I looked down, and saw…trees.

Well, what did you expect, Jake? A bustling metropolis?

I looked ahead and saw a clearing in the woods big enough for Benu Phoenix to let me down in. “Over there,” I yelled to it over the wind, and it began its descent. Soon, we were on the ground. Getting off, I breathed a sigh of relief. As fun as that was, heights were still not my thing.

I looked around. We were in a small grassy area surrounded by…more trees. Not much else to see. Bryan could be anywhere in these woods.

And that was where I made my mistake. I had underestimated the speed of that Punished Eagle. It had actually taken him past the woods. This forest stopped a few miles short of a mountain, and in between the trees and the mountain lay a grassy valley. And it was in this valley that Bryan was dueling against Cecelia.

But, of course, I didn’t know that yet, so I decided to pick a direction and walk in it…then I thought of something. I turned and looked at Benu Phoenix, who blinked benignly.

Hmm. It’s probably not wise to walk through this place without a bodyguard. But Benu Phoenix, much as I would love for him to stay, is too big. And too many of my monsters would burn these woods down just by setting foot in them. Think, Jake, think, I told myself as I rifled through my cards. Maybe my Blaze Magician? That might work.

I looked at Benu Phoenix, who nodded at me before I uttered a word. Slightly shocked, I removed his card from the Duel Disk, causing him to disappear, and placed Blaze Magician’s on instead.

Up close, I realized that she was a tad shorter than I, thought still tall for a girl, and her face looked for all the world like my mother’s!

She smiled at me, and I mentally slapped myself on both cheeks. Get with reality Jake. If you can call this reality. That is not your mother.

“Uh, Blaze Magician, I need you to uh, well…”

<Protect you from the enemies in this forest? I will defend you to the best of my ability, Jake.>

This mind-reading thing is gonna take some getting used to. Oh well, thanks.

She bowed her head. <No thanks are needed, Jake. This is why I am here: to serve and protect you.>

This lavish praise was a bit too…lavish. “Uh, thanks. You did a great job of that in the duel. I’m sorry you were destroyed.”

This time she shook her head. <That was only a holographic projection of me. The real me, the one you speak with now, is as real as you are. Now, come, let us look for your friend.> And with that, she marched into the woods.

And came running back out. <Jake, come quickly! I found something!>

Already? I ran back in after her, and found what she had been referring to. It was a small pixie-like creature wearing brown and red clothing. It held a small club in one hand. The club looked like it had been burning once, but it was now nothing but a glowing coal.

“Do you know what this is?”

<I do not, Jake. I have never seen this monster before. Though the term monster seems to strong for such a cute creature.>

I had to agree. Its face was just too innocent to be called monstrous. And speaking of its face…

“It’s bleeding!”

Blaze Magician stooped down and ran her finger across the delicate cheek.

“Can you heal it?”

She shook her head. <My spells deal with attacking and defending, not healing. Perhaps…do you have a monster that can heal your Life Points in battle?>

I quickly scanned my cards, then pulled out Fushi No Tori. “Yeah, this guy. But…”

<He’s a spirit, yes. Why does that worry you?>

“Never mind. Let’s try it.”


Many miles from us, a woman watched our actions through a card she held in her hand.

“Yes, try it. Try it and fall into the trap I’ve set up for you, little Jake. You may hold the powers of fire now, but thanks to my cleverness, those powers will soon be mine!”


Seventh Inning
Normal Spell
You can only activate this card when your Life Points are lower than your opponent’s Life Points. Subtract your Life Points from your opponent’s Life Points and divide by two, then add the result to both player’s Life Points. Life Points cannot be increased past the original number of Life Points either player started the Duel with through this card’s effect.

[starjake]

Chapter 10 – Super Robolady

I took my Fushi No Tori card and placed it on the Duel Disk.

The instant I did so, a single, red feather floated down from the heavens and hovered in midair in front of Blaze Magician and I. The feather soon grew to about the size of my head and became translucent, then began shifting into the shape of a bird. Soon, there was a small phoenix hovering about three feet in front of me. The only strange thing about the phoenix was that it wasn’t solid. It was hazy and I could actually see the trees through its faint red body.

After getting over the shock of seeing a transparent creature, I timidly asked, “Um, Fushi No Tori, could you, uh, help that little guy down there?” I gestured towards the base of the tree we stood in front of and the little fairy lying there.

Fushi No Tori landed – though its legs were difficult to see – and walked over to its patient. It peered down its beak at the creature and examined the cut on its face closely. After a thorough analysis, it leaned its head towards the creature’s cheek, and…well, I couldn’t tell what happened, but there was the smallest of sparkles and the skin healed itself.

“What did you do?” I asked curiously.

<She cried,> came the ‘voice’ of Blaze Magician.

“She?”

A slow grin grew on Blaze Magician’s face while Fushi No Tori gave me a look that could only be one that said, “Duh!”

<Yes, this small phoenix is a she.>

“How do you know these things?”

<I just do. As for your earlier question, phoenix tears have remarkable healing properties. Mending a simple cut is nothing. These tears could mend anything from a broken bone to a broken heart. Consider yourself lucky to have such a powerful spirit as a part of your team.>

“I will. How’s the little guy doing?”

Blaze Magician and Fushi No Tori both peered at the small creature, then nodded. <It appears to be healed. We should probably – hmm?>

Fushi No Tori had lifted off the forest floor at a startling speed and darted off in some direction, leaving a strangely musical squawk in its wake.

“What’s going on?”

<I’m not sure, but I don’t like it. It takes a great deal to unnerve a spirit monster such as her.>

And then, in midair, a flash of fire flared up. It blinked out as quickly as it had appeared, and in its place there floated a single, translucent feather.

<We must flee! Quickly!> ‘yelled’ Blaze Magician as she grabbed my arm and started dragging me away.

“Woah, wait, hang on a minute, hey, what’s going here?” I managed to stammer out.

<Run with me and it won’t be as difficult!> I decided to follow her advice and began falling into step with her surprisingly speedy run.

<Healing is not the only power of a phoenix. They are creatures of peace, and they have the ability to warn those who are in the path of danger. That’s what that feather meant; it is a phoenix’s warning! She must’ve felt a disturbance and gone to investigate, and she must not have liked what she saw!>

This disturbed me and caused me to run a bit faster.

We ran through the woods at breakneck speed for at least twenty minutes, trying to outrun whatever danger it was that Fushi No Tori had seen. And, speaking of Fushi No Tori…she suddenly flared into existence and flew next to us.

“What’s going on?” I gasped out, trying to breath properly and clutching a stitch in my side.

And, all of sudden, she stopped. It took Blaze Magician and I second or two to stop as well and back to where Fushi No Tori was hovering.

After a few gasps, I looked around at where we were. Somehow I had failed to notice that we were no longer in the forest and now stood, panting, in a field that reached out to a mountain nearby.

I turned to Fushi No Tori. “Can you tell us what’s happening?”

She suddenly flew a few yards away and began slashing at the air her beak, leaving behind streaks of fire. I quickly discovered the lines to be writing of some kind…but I couldn’t make it out.

“Can you interpret that?” I asked Blaze Magician.

<It is the writing of the Spirit World. I think I can translate it…hmm…ok…” She went on like this for some time until Fushi No Tori had finished its message. A minute or two after that, Blaze Magician’s face turned to extreme worry.

“What? Information, please!”

<The message is not pleasant. The creature we saved is called Raging Flame Sprite. By touching it, we somehow drew the attention of the swarm it lived with; there must be some kind of magical bond between them. The swarm is now out to get us!>

My mouth dropped open in surprise. “But…but…but we helped it!”

<Well, I touched it before she healed it,> Blaze Magician commented, gesturing towards Fushi No Tori. <They must’ve connected the cut with my touching it!>

“Well, can we outrun them?”

Me and my big mouth. As soon as I said those words, small fires blazed up in the air around us, and we were suddenly surrounded by dozens of Raging Flame Sprites!

“I guess not. They don’t look to strong; we can take ‘em!” I knew, however, that their sheer numbers would overwhelm my two monsters, so I took Legendary Flame Lord and Benu Phoenix out of my deck and placed their cards on my Duel Disk as well.

“Help us out!”

Instantly, Legendary Flame Lord’s scepter materialized, spinning in midair, at the same time a pillar of fire shot from the sun. The gem on the end of the spinning scepter unleashed a large circle of flame, out of which stepped Legendary Flame Lord. The circle vanished and Legendary Flame Lord grabbed the scepter and swung it, as though stretching his arm. The pillar of flame from the sun, meanwhile, had shaped itself into Benu Phoenix, who gave a loud musical cry.

I don’t care how powerful these little things are. No one can beat this army!

My four monsters formed themselves around me in a circle. The dozens of Raging Flame Sprites eyed them carefully before holding their clubs straight out in front of them like cannons! My monsters tensed, ready to counterattack.

Suddenly, the clubs started glowing, then every last one them shot a blast of fire, which sailed around my monsters and struck me instead! A billionth of a second later, such a wave of pain struck me that I screamed out loud and fell to the ground! Trying to breath, I opened my eyes slightly and saw my clothes on fire and vast burns covering my skin!


Seeing as it was Cecelia’s turn, she drew.

“I vill set zees monstair in Defense and end my turn.”

OK, think, Bryan, he thought to himself as he drew a Troop Dragon. Chances are she’s re-Set that Spirit of the Harp that I sent back to her hand. No point in attacking.

“That’s a good idea, Cecelia. I think I’ll do the same,” he replied, setting my Troop Dragon. “Go ahead.”

She drew her card. “About time! First, I shall summon Hibikime!” The card materialized, and a woman with long blue hair and a sleeveless green dress appeared. Her most distinguishing feature, however, was the large musical note she held in hands like a weapon.

“Now I play zees Magic Card! Have you zeen it before?” she called out, holding up the card. Bryan couldn’t see the details, but it looked like an open book with a building on it.

“Uh, I don’t recognize…wait a sec. I have seen that before, on TV. Is that…Toon World?”

“Correct! ‘Owevair, zees ees not a normal Toon Vorld! Zees ze original, ze one zat vas nevair mass-produced! Only a few exist in ze vorld!” And, with that, she inserted the card.

As soon as the card appeared, a freaky, clashy carnival tune started up, causing the cherubs in the Chorus of Sanctuary surrounding the two duelists to be quiet and cover their ears. Then, a large book spun into existence. When it opened, all kinds of cartoony puffs of smoke and BANGs, BONKs and ZZZZZAPs sprung out of it, while a pop-up-style castle…well, popped up.

“Now, I command my monstairs to entair zees magical vorld!”

The face-down monster flipped to reveal that it was, indeed, a Spirit of the Harp. Both of the musical women grinned at Bryan before leaping into the castle. The book snapped shut, and all sorts of puffs and bangs came from its contents. The book sprang back open and Cecelia introduced her new monsters.

“My monsters have undairgone a transformation! My Hibikime has now become Hibik-anime!”

Out of the door cartwheeled – yes, cartwheeled – a tall slender woman with long blue hair and a tight-fitting sleeveless green dress. She grinned a mischievous grin at Bryan, and her very large lips came within inches of his face. She laughed loudly, then returned to her side of the book as the numbers 1450 over 1000 appeared over her head.

Not exactly a character I’d expect to see with Bugs Bunny, thought a shaken-up Bryan.

“And, my Spirit of ze ‘Arp has become Ze Toon ‘Arpist!”

With that, another woman walked out of the castle door. This one wore a yellow floor-length dress, and had flowing blond hair. Her large blue eyes locked with Bryan’s, and a chill went down his spine; The Toon Harpist was identical in looks to Cecelia herself! (800 / 2500)

Held across her back was the large trademark harp; she walked to her side of the book and set down the harp. Suddenly, the harp turned around all by itself and Bryan could see two eyes sitting at its top!

“Do you like my Toons, Bryan?”

Bryan’s brain, meanwhile, was working overtime. Toons? Only one person used Toons, and that was Maximillion Pegasus. Cecelia…think, Bryan, think…somehow Cecelia and Pegasus are connected…wait a sec! “Pegasus! You’re Cecelia Pegasus, Maximillion Pegasus’ wife!”

Miss Pegasus smiled. “Vy, yes. ‘Ow did you know?”

“But, if that’s true, then you’re…you’re…”

“I am vat, dahling?”

She’s supposed to be dead!

“Oh, I know! You zink I am supposed to be dead!”

Bryan’s mind then stopped working entirely and he simply gaped at her openmouthed.

“Vell…eet ees a long storee. You see, several years ago, I fell ill to a deadly disease. Maxi and I ‘ad been married only a few months, and ‘ee vas ‘eartbroken. So, he used the vast resources he had to search for a cure. Alas, ‘ee could find none.”

“’Owevair, een ‘ees travels, ‘ee bumped into Gozaboro Kaiba. ‘Ee ‘eard of Gozaboro’s son, Noa, ‘oo vas saved from complete death by being imprisoned in a computer. Ven Maxi ‘eard zees, ‘ee wondaired eef zee same could not apply to me?”

Then, Cecelia hung her head. “’Owevair, Gozaboro vas not ze only zing he bumped into on ‘ees journey. As you know, he came into contact vith ze Millenium Eye! Ze Eye itself, of course, vas not a object of darkness, but Maxi heard zat zere vere six uzair Items, and eef ‘ee could ‘ave all of zem, ‘ee vould ‘ave power beyond ‘ees vildest imagination! So, ‘ees plan vas two-fold: first, he vould force Seto Kaiba, Gozaboro’s heir, to share his technology. Zen, he vould use ze power of ze Millenium Items to create me a new body.”

“But all ze powers ze Millenium Eye granted made poor Maxi power-hungry. He realized zat he didn’t need Seto’s technology to save me, zat the Millenium Items could do everything on their own. ‘Owevair, he still wanted Seto Kaiba’s technology for ‘eemself. So, he captured Seto for ‘ees technology and tried to capture Yugi Motot’s Millenium Puzzle. Fortunately, Yugi prevailed, and Maxi saw ze error of ‘ees ways.”

“Vile all zees vas going on, Noa Kaiba vas able to contact me through the television in my ‘ospital room. ‘Ee had found a way to upload my mind into ze virtual vorld ‘ee lived in. My body died, but my mind lived on een cybairspace.”

“After Maxi vas defeated by Yugi and his Millenium Eye vas stolen from him, I contacted him. Oh, you cannot imagine ‘ow ovairjoyed vee vere to see each uzair! Many tears of ‘appiness vere shed zat day. Anyvays, vith Noa’s ‘elp, Maxi managed to build me a new, mechanical body and bring my mind back. ‘Ee offaired to do ze same for Noa ‘eemself, but Noa declined, saying zat ‘ee vould rather have a real body in ‘ees virtual vorld zan a robotic one in zees vorld.”

Bryan just kind of stood there as Cecelia’s story washed over him. Wow. So that’s why my monster’s attacks didn’t seem to faze her; she’s made of metal! Man, what an intense story!

Then, shouts broke out from the Cecelia’s ‘wooers’ surrounding them. “Hey c’mon, less talking and more dueling!” “Yeah, we didn’t come here for storytime!”

Cecelia looked up. “Silence!” she yelled in French.

The crowd instantly silenced. “Uh, sorry, Miss Cecelia.” “Yeah, don’t be mad at us, please!”

This made Cecelia smile. Turning back to Bryan, she winked and said, “I ‘ave zem right undair my thumb. Now, shall we appease zem and continue?”

Bryan stared for another second, then snapped out of it and nodded his agreement.

“Yeah!” “About time!” Another look from Cecelia silenced the crowd once more.

“OK, vere vas I? Oh yes, I vas explaining my Toon Vorld’s capabilities to you! But first, my Toon monsters haven’t attacked yet. So, I switch Toon ‘Arpist to Attack Mode, then I’ll have Hibik-anime attack…oh, I don’t know…YOU!”

“WHAT?” yelled Bryan as Hibik-anime let out a banshee howl, then pulled her note-shaped weapon from her back and leapt right over Bryan’s monsters! She let out another shriek of delight as she slashed Bryan right across the chest! (B: 3300 / C: 4375)

Looking up from the kneeling position he was now, Bryan saw that his Jinzo was covering its ears and sinking into a kneeling position itself!

“Cecelia, what’s up with my Jinzo?”

“My Hibik-anime has a special ability. Not only can she attack your Life Points directly since she’s a Toon monstair, but ven she does, her high-pitched screams force one of your monsters into Defense Position! And she chose to switch Jinzo!”

Uh, ok. Not sure why she wanted to do that.

“And, not only zat, but ze Defense of ze monstair she switches is decreased by 500 points!” (2400 / 2000) -> (2400 / 1500) “Now, I’ll ‘ave Ze Toon ‘Arpist attack!”

Closing his eyes and preparing for another direct assault, he was surprised when he felt none. Opening his eyes a hair, he was shocked to find The Toon Harpist holding her harp high over Jinzo’s head! She brought it smashing down, and, to Bryan’s great surprise, Jinzo keeled over and shattered!

“But – but – but Jinzo’s defense was way more than Toon Harpist’s attack, even with the decrease!”

“You are sadly mistaken! Look more closely!”

Bryan peered across the field to the stats box hovering above The Toon Harpist’s spot on the book, and saw that it had changed from 800 over 2000 to 2000 over 800!

“You see, when Toon Harpist attacks, her attack and defense switch! Meaning zat her attack vas more zan enough to take on Jinzo!”

So that’s why she used Hibik-anime to change Jinzo to Defense Position: so she could take it out with Toon Harpist. That was some strategy!

“And now, I shall end my turn!”

With those words, Toon Harpist leapt back to the large book (her harp had magically fixed itself from the dent Jinzo’s head had made) and Toon World snapped shut with a puff of smoke.

“And, as long as my Toon Vorld stays on ze field, you cannot attack my Toons!”

Now what? I can’t attack her Toons, and her Toons can attack me directly no matter how many monsters I have on the field. I need to find a way to destroy Toon World, and fast!

Just then, Bryan heard a scream come from the other side of the hill. Someone in the crowd looked over to the other side and yelled back, “Hey guys, someone’s being attacked!”

Bryan ran up the hill, duel forgotten, and nearly fell back down at what he saw.

Jake!


Toon World
Continuous Spell
When this card is activated, you can Tribute all face-up monsters on your side of the field to Special Summon Toon versions of those monsters from your hand or Deck to your side of the field. When you Normal Summon, Flip Summon, or Special Summon a monster, you can Tribute it to Special Summon a Toon version of that monster from your hand or Deck. As long as this card remains face-up on the field, when your opponent attacks a Toon monster on your side of the field, you can negate the attack.

Hibik-anime
Earth/Warrior/4 stars/ATK 1450/DEF 1000
This monster cannot be Normal Summoned, Flip Summoned, or Special Summoned unless “Toon World” is face-up on your side of the field. If “Toon World” on your side of the field is destroyed, destroy this card. This monster can attack your opponent’s Life Points directly. When this card attacks, you can switch the Battle Position of 1 face-up monster on your opponent’s side of the field. If the monster targeted by this effect is switched to Attack Position, decrease its ATK by 500 points until the End Phase. If the monster targeted by this effect is switched to Defense Position, decrease its DEF by 500 points until the End Phase.

The Toon Harpist
Light/Fairy/4 stars/ATK 800/DEF 200
This monster cannot be Normal Summoned, Flip Summoned, or Special Summoned unless “Toon World” is face-up on your side of the field. If “Toon World” on your side of the field is destroyed, destroy this card. This monster can attack your opponent’s Life Points directly. When this card attacks, during the Damage Step, switch the original ATK and DEF of this card.

[starjake]

Chapter 11 – Ultimate Baseball Kid Part 2

Bryan ran down the hill as fast as his legs would carry him…until a jet of fire landed at his feet and stopped him dead in his tracks. He looked at the scorched area, then up to see a small pixie-like creature he had never seen before, holding a flaming club and floating about a foot above his head. The creature smirked at him before raising its club and aiming at his face!

Bryan didn’t need to see anymore. He turned on his heel and ran for his life up the hill!

The Raging Flame Sprite cackled, then turned its attention back to what had been a tense standoff. Now it was a raging battle, with the human’s monsters trying to protect him. Grinning once more, it fluttered over once more to punish the human for touching its kin!

Jake (“the human”), meanwhile, had managed to get the fire off of his clothes. Though he was in extensive pain, he looked up to see that, somehow, the Raging Flame Sprites were looking bigger with each attack!

What the…what are…these…things…why are they attacking? And why do…why do they keep…getting bigger? I don’t…don’t get it… Jake was close to passing out; thankfully, his monsters where fighting very hard to keep the Sprites from attacking him directly again.

Unfortunately, they were failing. Neither Jake nor his monsters knew it, but the Sprites were gaining attack power with each successful hit they landed. And there were simply too many! There had to be fifty of them, swarming around like fiery, oversized bees.

On the other side of the hill, Cecelia ran up to Bryan. “Vat ees going on? I heard you call someone’s name.”

Bryan – who was breathing very hard and shaking like an aspen leaf – gasped out, “My friend is over there, and he’s being attacked by these fiery fairy things. He’s got burns all over! But when I tried to help, they attacked me too!”

Cecelia got an angry look on her face. “Cerredwin…” she said with a sneer.

Bryan looked up at her curiously. “S – sorry?”

Cecelia, however, shook her head. “I’ve no time. Come, let us ‘elp your friend.” And she rushed over the hill, Bryan in tow.

She stood at the top of the hill and watched the scene in horror.

Zat wretch! She shall pay for vat she ‘as done to zees land!

Standing tall, she drew a card from her deck and held it high, calling out in a surprisingly strong voice, “Des Countairblow!”

The card flashed briefly, then it shot out dozens of thin red laser beams! They shot through the air and pierced through each and every Raging Flame Sprite! They screamed, then one by one exploded.

It was too late for Jake, though. He had collapsed and blacked out from the immense pain that the burns had caused. His monsters gathered around him, but then parted so Fushi No Tori could reach him. Laying her head on his side, she let the healing tears flow. Wherever they touched, the burns beneath them vanished, revealing healed skin.

Bryan ran over to see if Jake was ok; unfortunately, Jake was not waking up.

He might not have been doing much on the outside, but inside Jake’s mind, he was awful confused.

Wha…what’s going on…


I was surrounded by a world of white. I knew that I was going somewhere. I didn’t know where, but I was going there incredibly fast.

The white vanished. I was in a dark room, floating in midair. Moonlight filtered in through a window. In the room was a bed. A teenage boy lay in the bed. In a sleeping bag on the ground next to the bed lay another teenage boy. Both were sleeping. The one in the bed was still; his only movement was the slow rise and fall of his chest as he breathed slowly and deeply. The boy in the sleeping bag, however, tossed and turned. He was muttering unintelligible things under his breath.

I was back in the white, traveling back to wherever it was I had come from.


My eyes sprang open, my breath short and gasping. I was lying on my side in a meadow. My muscles were shaking all over, as though they had just gone through some sort of incredible shock. I looked down and realized that the clothes I was wearing were badly burnt.

Suddenly, memories of what had happened in the past twenty minutes flooded my head, and I jumped to my feet, looking around wildly for the little evil pixies, but they were nowhere to be seen.

It was only then that I saw Blaze Magician, Legendary Flame Lord, Fushi No Tori, and Benu Phoenix watching me closely with worried expressions.

<Jake! Are you alright?> came Legendary Flame Lord’s ‘voice’.

I blinked a few times, trying to slow my breathing and calm down a little bit. I finally managed to sputter out, “Uh, yeah, I guess. Um, what happened to the…the…what were they called again?”

Blaze Magician answered. <Those were Raging Flame Sprites, remember? Anyways, they somehow managed to attack you even though we were defending you. Not only that, but the more they attacked, the harder they were to defeat. You probably missed most of the battling – you were no match for their fiery clubs. However, someone appeared at the top of that hill over there> - she gestured to the grassy hill ahead of us - <and used a card to destroy every single one of the Sprites!>

I looked to where she had gestured and saw, standing above us, the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Her yellow dress billowed in the breeze, and an ocarina hanging around her neck caught the sunlight, causing it to glimmer and shine. She had long, wavy blond hair, and even from this distance I could tell she had piercing blue eyes. She had a dueling disk on her left arm.

I was so busy staring at her that I almost missed the person standing next to her, also with a dueling disk: Bryan!

I jerked visibly. “Bryan? You’re…you’re not in the woods!”

He grinned. “Nope. Sorry to disappoint you. That Punished Eagle flies faster than we both figured. You alright?” he asked, repeating Blaze Magician’s question.

I nodded, noticing that my muscles were still shaking a bit. “If those Sprites burned me, where are the burns?” I asked Blaze Magician.

At this, she pointed to Fushi No Tori. I turned and saw that her eyes were slightly wet.

Of course! Phoenix tears have healing powers…I had no idea she was that powerful!

Legendary Flame Lord, reading my thoughts, spoke up. <Of course, Benu Phoenix helped a bit.>

I turned to Benu Phoenix, a bit surprised. Somehow I had never made that connection, but it seemed incredibly obvious to me now.

There was one more detail that needed filling, however. Turning to the beautiful woman atop the hill, I asked, “Um…ma’am…I, uh, well…thank you so much! You…well, you saved our lives. I’m really in your debt.”

She smiled, causing my stomach to flip-flop and butterflies to dance in my head. “Vy, eet ees no problem. I vas just doeeng my best to ‘elp.”

Talk about a thick accent. Must be French. “May I ask your name?”

“You may.”

There was a bit of a silence before I realized the joke. Grinning, I asked, “What is your name?”

“Cecelia.”

Just the name made me blush slightly.

“Hey, Jake, guess what?” came Bryan’s excited voice. “I’m having my first duel here! With her!”

I had to admit my first reaction was a twinge of jealousy. Then my senses kicked in and I asked, “Who won?”

Bryan shook his head. “No one yet. It was my turn when I heard your scream.”

My cheeks burned as I thought about me screaming. Not exactly manly behavior. Of course, it didn’t really help that Blaze Magician was snorting in an attempt not to laugh, while Legendary Flame Lord just smiled and turned away.

Trying to change the subject, I called out to Bryan, “Well, don’t let me stop a duel. Besides, I want to see your deck.”

“You’ve come to the right place. Come on over and watch, Jake!”

Excited about Bryan’s duel, I had one last thing to do. I turned to each of my monsters and looked each of them in the eyes.

Thank you.

They nodded to me. Then, I deactivated my dueling disk. My monsters vanished, and I trudged up the hill to watch Bryan and Cecelia’s duel.

I was far from alone. A large group of men surrounded the dueling area, with the focus mostly on Cecelia.

Seeing my expression, Cecelia called out, “Zees are my vooairs. For some strange reeson, I am very populair.”

Suppressing a grin, I nodded.


OK, Bryan, time for a recap. From what I remember, she still had a face-down card, Chorus of Sanctuary, and that rotten Toon World on the field, as well as Hibik-anime and The Toon Harpist. I, on the other hand, had four monsters and two face-down cards. What was the score? Oh, right, I was down 3300 to 4375. I think I was about to start my turn.

I relayed the information to Cecelia, and she nodded in agreement. We both activated our disks and the appropriate cards appeared.

Jake immediately registered shock. “Toon World?” he yelled. “Cecelia, you use a Toon deck?!?”

A gentle grin floated across her face. “Vy, yes. I use Toons as a tribute to my dear Maxi.”

I could almost see the gears turn in Jake’s mind. Sure enough, he came to the same conclusion I had: “You’re Cecelia Pegasus!” He quickly looked at me, an expression of extreme worry painted across his face. “Bryan, do you know anything about – “

I cut him off. “Relax, Jake, I know. We’ve had this conversation. Don’t worry, she’s not out to get our souls.”

Indeed, she appeared insulted at the very thought. “I vould nevair lowair myself to such…such…a despeecable act!”

I glanced at Jake once more. “See? I’ll be fine.”

Not entirely convinced, Jake nodded his head.

Turning my attention back to the situation at hand, I drew a card from my deck as the Life Point counter on my disk rose to 3300.

Excellent! This will protect me from direct attacks for a while…good thing Jinzo’s gone.

“I’ll set another card face-down and end my turn.”

“Zen I’ll draw, dahling.” She did so. “I’ll summon a new Toon! In ze normal vorld, she ees known as Witch of ze Black Forest, but in my magical vorld, she becomes…Toon Sorceress!”

The book began spinning and emitting smoke and comical bangs. It then sprang open to reveal Hibik-anime, The Toon Harpist, and a new monster. This one wore a jet-black robe and a tall pointed hat; in fact, she looked exactly what a cartoon witch would look like, complete with green-tinged skin and broomstick. The only difference lay in her face: on her forehead lay a third eye, which for now remained closed. She got on her broom and zipped towards me, stopping just inches in front of my face. Giving a loud cackle, she flew back over to Cecelia’s side of the field.

“Now, Toon Sorceress, attack!”

Another cackle reached my ears as Toon Sorceress switched her broom to her left hand. She held out her right hand and started to chant.

“Double, double, toil and trouble.
Fire burn and cauldron BUBBLE!”

On the word ‘bubble’, her two normal eyes closed and her third eye opened. I didn’t get to see any details, for a beam of energy shot from the eye in my direction.

I grinned. “And the umpire calls a foul! Reveal my face-down card: Spirit Barrier!”

The card lifted, and my monsters (Red Archery Girl, Penguin Soldier, and Legendary Jujitsu Master) all held up their hands. A band of electricity formed in front of them, blocking the path of Toon Sorceress’s attack, which fizzled into nothing.

“Vat is going on?”

“As long as Spirit Barrier is on the field and as long as I have monsters on the field, any Battle Damage I take is reduced to zero! Your direct attacks are useless!”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jake sag into a sigh of relief. “You had me worried, Bryan!”

“Don’t worry, Jake. I’ve got everything covered.”

“Vell, Bryan, I must say I am eempressed. I ‘ave nuzzing more I can do zees turn.”

I drew my next card.

YES!! This will win me the duel!

“First, I’ll activate my face-down DNA Transplant.” As I said that, the card lifted and a blue-skinned surgeon walked out of it, holding a scalpel.

“As I’m sure you know, Cecelia, this trap allows me to change the Attribute of every monster on the field, and I choose Fire!”

The surgeon held up his scalpel. It suddenly blazed with fire, and the edges of the holographic monster cards blazed with the same energy.

“Vy did you do zees? Eet makes no sense to me.”

I looked over to see surprise written on Jake’s face. I wondered what his reaction would be. This is his deck element after all. “Don’t worry Cecelia, it’ll make sense as soon as I summon this monster: Ultimate Baseball Kid!”

The card righted itself, and out of it stepped the most unlikely of monsters. It was, as its name suggested, a baseball kid. Dressed in a fire-red baseball uniform and armed with a baseball helmet and spiked bat, his face looked too innocent to do any damage, as did his attack score (500 / 1000).

“But vy vould you summon such a weak monstair in Attack?”

“Simple. It gains 1000 attack points for every other Fire monster on the field, including yours! And since every monster is a Fire-type thanks to my DNA Transplant, it gains 6000 attack points!”

Ultimate Baseball Kid’s cute face grew a smug look as its attack score skyrocketed! (6500 / 1000)

“Not only that, but I’ll reveal my face-down monster as Troop Dragon! And, it becomes a Fire-type, giving Ultimate Baseball Kid even more attack!”

The card twisted and righted itself, and out jumped several small dragons, standing on their hind legs and carrying swords. The card glowed with fire, and Ultimate Baseball Kid’s attack rose even more! (7500 / 1000)

“You can’t attack my Toons, don’t forget!”

“I didn’t; my Trap will let my Ultimate Baseball Kid jump right past your Toon World. Activate Line Dr - ”

“NO! Activate Bells of Cacophony!”

Before I could finish calling out the name of my trap card, Cecelia’s lifted. Instantly, there was such a loud clanging and ringing that the crowd surrounding us and I had to cover our ears.

“WHAT THE HECK IS HAPPENING?!?!?!?” I screamed at the top of my lungs.

Slowly, the noise died down, and Cecelia piped up with some information.

“Zat card vas called Bells of Cacophony. It destroys one of your Trap Cards, and it prevents you activating any uzzair Trap Cards until ze end of your next turn!”

Dang it! That Line Drive would’ve won me the duel! “Fine, I’ll end my turn then.”

[starjake]

“Excellent. I’ll draw, zen summon Comical Priestess!”

Once more, the book sprang open to reveal Cecelia’s three original monsters, as well as a woman wearing a ridiculously huge, multicolored turban. A blue-and-green robe bedecked the rest of her, and she flashed a disturbing grin my direction. (1100 / 800)

“Normally, she ees known as ze Lady of Faith. Now, in ze normal vorld, Lady of Faith and Witch of ze Black Forest fuse, do zey not?”

I thought for a second, but didn’t know of it.

“You’re about to find out, for zey fuse in ze Toon World as vell! Go, Polymerization! Fuse my monstairs into Master Guitarist of ze Toons!”

She inserted the card, and its holographic counterpart materialized on the field. Instantly, the vortex painted on the card became real, and Toon Sorceress and Comical Priestess gave a laugh before leaping into it. A few seconds later, a man with short blond hair and wearing leather pants jumped back out as the card vanished. Slung across the man’s back was an electric guitar. (1750 / 1500) The man started laughing maniacally, but it sounded like two people were laughing instead of one. Only when the man swung his guitar to his front did I realize the guitar was laughing as well!

“And, remember Toon Sorceress? Ven she goes to ze Graveyaird, I get to pick any Toon Monstair een my Deck and add it to my ‘and.” She took out her deck and selected a card.

If only I could take control of one of her Toons and attack her with it. Benu Phoenix would still cut the damage in half, but it would better than nothing.

“Of course, your Spireet Barrier prevents me from getting at your Life Points, so I von’t attack. ‘Owevair, ze thought may ‘ave crossed your mind to take control of one of my Toons and attack me vith eet, no?”

My eyes widened as I had just thought that very thing.

“Vell, zees card vill dissuade you from doing zat,” she said, slipping a card face-down. “I vill end my turn.”

A bit unsettled by Cecelia’s ability to read my thoughts, I drew a Pot of Greed.

“I’ll play Pot of Greed to draw two cards,” I called out. I drew them and considered my options.

Think, Bryan. She just set a card to protect her from her own Toons should they be used against her. I don’t know of any anti-Toon cards…wait a sec. Toons attack directly and can’t be attacked…could it be?

I looked at my two new cards. If that face-down card is what I think it is, than this card will do her in. I need to think of that stupid name though! What was it…started with a – hey I remember!

“Alright Cecelia! The umpire says that the bases are dirty; time to clean them up with Gryphon’s Feather Duster!” I inserted the card, and a large feather duster appeared, hovering in midair over my three other cards.

“This card destroys all of my Magic and Trap Cards; in exchange, I gain 500 points for every one that’s destroyed! Time to clean up my act!”

The duster swooped down and brushed my cards into oblivion as my Life Points shot up (B: 4800 / C: 4375). The electricity guarding my Life Points vanished, as did the fire surrounding my monster cards. Ultimate Baseball Kid’s attack sank back to 500.

“Now I’ll end my turn by setting these two cards face-down. Go ahead.”

“You must vant to loose! You realize zat, once I summon anuzzair Toon, you will ‘ave no more Life Points?”

I decided to fake it. “Huh? Oh my gosh, you’re right! I was so interested in gaining more Life Points, I forgot about Spirit Barrier!”

It worked. “Vell zen, I vill make sure you von’t forget again. You have ze potential to be a great duelist, but you cannot afford to make stupeed meestakes such as zat. And so, I vill draw –“ she did so “- and vill now summon ze monstair I received from Toon Sorceress: Manga Maiden of Music!”

Yet another Toon woman appeared, this one wearing a tight-fitting red dress and a seductive smile (1200 / 900).

“Een case you do not recognize her, zink of her as ze Toon version of Sonic Maid. And, ven she ees summoned…”

All of a sudden, the new Toon let out an earsplitting screech. Once again covering my ears, I watched as Ultimate Baseball Kid exploded!

“…she destroys ze monstair on your side of ze field vith ze lowest attack! Now, My Toon Harpist’s attack and defense vill switch as she attacks you directly!”

The Toon Harpist’s attack rose to 2000 as she jumped over my monsters and raised her harp to slam me in the head.

Mother says: always take your vitamins. I thought to my self as I pressed a button on my disk. An instant later, I fell flat on my back as the harp knocked me down.

Ow, I thought, as my Life points changed. (B: 6800)

And then I heard Cecelia’s surprised yell. “But…but…your Life Points…”

Slowly, dizzily, I got up. “You can’t be a good athlete without some vitamins. And my Nutrient Z is just what the doctor ordered! Since your Toon Harpist dealt me 2000 damage, this magical medicine increased my Life Points by 4000 before the damage was calculated! Meaning I now have 2000 more Life Points than when I started!”

Aggravated, Cecelia yelled out, “My uzzair monstairs ‘ave not attacked yet! Go, Master Guitarist!”

The leather-clad man ran across the field, dodged my monsters, and slammed his guitar into my side! (B: 5050 / C: 4375)

I’m falling down way too often, I thought to myself.

“Now, my two musical warriors! Attack togezair!”

This is gonna hurt.

Unfortunately, my prediction came true. Hibik-anime’s screech turned my Red Archery Girl into Defense, but the two slashes to my chest actually sent me flying backwards! (B: 2400 / C: 4375)

“BRYAN!!!!”

I could hear Jake running towards me. “Are you alright? Say something!”

I held up my hand. Slowly, but I did it. “Dude…I’m fine. I can take pain.”

He looked at me doubtfully. “You just keep telling yourself that. Here, let me help you up.” He grabbed me by the hand and pulled; I managed to stand.

“Thanks, man.”

“No prob. You got a way to beat these carnival freaks?”

“I do actually.”

Jake looked at me in surprise. “Let’s see it then.”

I nodded to him, then yelled to Cecelia. “You made a big mistake in attacking with all of your Toons!”

“And vy ees zat?”

“Because of my face-down card! Activate Reverse of Reverse!”

My face-down card lifted, and a stream of magical energy shot from the card and wrapped itself around Cecelia’s face-down card.

“Vat…vat are you doing?”

“You made a mistake in informing me what your face-down card did; because of that, I was able to figure out what it was! It’s Des Counterblow!”

Sure enough, it was. The energy stream dragged the card over to my side of the field, and it lifted. Pinpoints of light began sparkling in front of the card.

“Your Toons specialize in attacking directly, but they can’t be attacked as long as that book stays in play. So you kept this in reserve in case someone tried to use your own strategy against you. Your Des Counterblow destroys every monster that attacked a players’ Life Points directly, and all of your monsters finished doing just that!”

The card began firing hair-thin laser beams at Cecelia’s four Toons, who cowered in fear before shattering into pieces!

Cecelia stared at me with a mixture of horror and fear. “But how…how did…I do not undairstand!”

“I have to admit, it was difficult to figure it out. But then I remembered when you destroyed those pixie things. You used a card to do it. And I could see that they were attacking Jake even though he had monsters to defend him; they must be able to attack Life Points directly. And the card you used, Des Counterblow, destroys monsters that have attacked directly. When you said you have a card to protect yourself from your own Toons, which can attack directly, I was able to put two and two together!”

Cecelia had no more words left. She just stared at me.

“Now, it’s still your turn. Is there something else you’d like to do?”

She gave a frantic look to her hand, then shook her head.

“Then I’ll draw, and play Premature Burial, giving up 800 Life Points to summon Jinzo back to the field!”

As my Life Points dipped (B: 1600 / C: 4375), the ground in front of me split and a mechanical hand shot out. Out of the earth climbed Jinzo (2400 / 1500).

“Then, as every athlete knows, sports players are nothing without equipment, so I’ll give Jinzo this Axe of Despair!” Jinzo’s attack shot up to 3400! “And, finally, I’ll discard my Giant Germ from my hand to give Jinzo the Twin Swords of Flashing Light – Tryce! It decreases his attack by 500 points, but he can attack twice now! And that’s more than 10,000 damage, is enough to finish you off even with your Deckmaster’s ability!”

Legendary Jujitsu Master, Red Archery Girl, Troop Dragon, and Penguin Soldier all attacked one by one. And, bit by bit, her Life Points dropped until Jinzo was the only one who hadn’t attacked.

“Jinzo, attack once with Cyber Shock Axe!”

Jinzo – who now held a large axe in one hand and a thin electric sword in the other – charged up his axe with psychokinetic power and slashed Cecelia right across the chest!

“Now, finish her off with Psycho Shock Rapier!”

Charging up his other weapon, Jinzo hurled it like a javelin, sending Cecelia flying backwards! (B: 1600 / C: 0)


I watched as Bryan’s Jinzo did away with the rest of Cecelia’s Life Points. That was impressive. For having dueled only a few weeks, he sure knows what he’s doing.

“YES!!”

My thoughts were interrupted by Bryan’s passionate yell. Being the athlete that he was, he did a victory dance as his monsters looked on with looks that mixed happiness and concern for Bryan’s mental health. Like I said, his competitive edge could be seen as psychotic behavior.

Meanwhile, most of the crowd surrounding the duel had gathered around Cecelia to try and help her. While their intentions were good, there were so many that they probably ended up hurting more than helping, but Cecelia didn’t seem to mind. She managed to get up (“Are you sure you should get up so fast?” “Yeah, you should lie down and rest, Cecelia!”). Pushing away her wooers, she made her way to Bryan, who now wore one of the biggest grins I’ve ever seen in my life. She stuck out her hand.

“Bryan, zat vas an eencredible duel! I am ‘onaired to ‘ave battled against an opponent as well-trained as yourself.”

Still wearing that ear-to-ear grin, Bryan replied, “Well, you did a great job too; those Toons had me worried for a while!”

At this, Cecelia smiled – causing Bryan’s ears to turn a brilliant shade of red – and spoke. “You truly are a good sportsman, in every sense of ze vord. I know zat you vill be able to ‘elp us.”

This got the attention of both Bryan and myself.

Help her?





Toon Sorceress
Dark/Spellcaster/4 stars/ATK 1100/DEF 1200
This monster cannot be Normal Summoned, Flip Summoned, or Special Summoned unless “Toon World” is face-up on your side of the field. If “Toon World” on your side of the field is destroyed, destroy this card. This monster can attack your opponent’s Life Points directly. When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard, select 1 Toon Monster from your Deck and add it to your hand. Shuffle your Deck afterwards.

Line Drive
Normal Trap
You can only activate this card if "Ultimate Baseball Kid" exists face-up on your side of the field. Pay half of your Life Points. During this turn, "Ultimate Baseball Kid" can attack your opponent's Life Points directly.

Bells of Cacophony
Counter Trap
Negate the activation and effect of an opponent’s Trap Card and destroy it. Your opponent cannot activate Trap Cards until his/her next End Phase.

Comical Priestess
Light/Spellcaster/3 stars/ATK 1100/DEF 800
This monster cannot be Normal Summoned, Flip Summoned, or Special Summoned unless “Toon World” is face-up on your side of the field. If “Toon World” on your side of the field is destroyed, destroy this card. This monster can attack your opponent’s Life Points directly. As long as this card remains face-up on the field, during each of your Standby Phases, increase your Life Points by 500 points.

Master Guitarist of the Toons
Light/Spellcaster/5 stars/ATK 1750/DEF 1500
“Toon Sorceress” + “Comical Priestess”
This monster cannot be Special Summoned unless “Toon World” is face-up on your side of the field. If “Toon World” on your side of the field is destroyed, destroy this card. This monster can attack your opponent’s Life Points directly. Any Battle Damage this card inflicts to your opponent’s Life Points while it is in Defense Position is doubled.

Manga Maiden of Music
Earth/Warrior/3 stars/ATK 1200/DEF 900
This monster cannot be Normal Summoned, Flip Summoned, or Special Summoned unless “Toon World” is face-up on your side of the field. If “Toon World” on your side of the field is destroyed, destroy this card. This monster can attack your opponent’s Life Points directly. When this monster is Special Summoned successfully, destroy the face-up monster on your opponent’s side of the field with the lowest ATK.

Reverse of Reverse
Normal Trap
When this card resolves, select 1 face-down card on your opponent’s side of the field and activate it as your own card. If the timing of the activation of the selected card is incorrect, destroy it.
Note: Yugi used this card to win his duel with Anubis in Yu-Gi-Oh: The Movie. As far as I know, it has not been released in any language, and I don’t think it has been used on any other occasion in the cartoon.

[starjake]

Chapter 12 – Legendary Flame Lord

As soon as Cecelia had uttered her cryptic message and left us wondering, she turned on her heal and pushed her way back through her small army of wooers. Bewildered, Bryan and I had little choice but to follow. Some of her fan club tried to follow as well, but one look from Cecelia froze them to the spot.

We walked through the valley for some time. It didn’t take long for the meadow of Bryan’s first duel to fall far behind us. Eventually, more and more dirt started showing through the rapidly decreasing grass. Suddenly, as though someone had flipped a switch, the terrain had transformed from meadow-like valley to rocky gorge. And then, Cecelia took a sharp right and started going up.

And I mean up. I had no idea what Cecelia was made of, but she sure as heck wasn’t the prim-and-proper beauty she appeared. We, on the other hand, were sweating profusely and gasping for breath. Even Bryan’s athletically trained body was having trouble.

At long last, we reached the top of the gorge. Sadly, Cecelia didn’t stop. She started trekking out across a barren field at her relentlessly speedy pace. I, not being able to take it anymore, called out, “Can we take a breather? Please?”

Cecelia stopped and turned to look at us. After observing us in our sweaty, tired state, she said, “I am sorree zat you are tired, but we must reach ze top of zees mountain eef you are to see vat I vant to show you.”

As one, both Bryan and I sagged visibly.

“Owevair,” said Cecelia worriedly, “I suppose zat vee can rest ‘eer for a moment.”

Without another word, we both collapsed and stretched our legs out in front of us. Cecelia walked over to us and sat herself between us. My eyes widened slightly and a wave of heat rose to my cheeks as she flashed her oh-so-pretty smile in my direction.

Bryan piped up. “Cecelia, why can’t you show us what you want right here?”

“I must show you a place.”

“Can’t you use your mechanical powers and put on a hologram or something?”

I almost got whiplash from turning my head to stare at Bryan. “Excuse me? Mechanical powers?”

Cecelia, on the other hand, cocked her head and pursed her lips in a look of deep thought. “I ‘ad not conseedaired zat. Per’aps…” And with that, things became very strange. She stood and walked a short distance away. Turning towards us, she said, “Do not be alarmed.”

Excuse me? Mechanical powers? Is Bryan suggesting that this beautiful woman is some kind of robot?

And I very quickly found out that yes, Bryan was indeed suggesting such a possibility.

There was a powering-down sound, and Cecelia instantly transformed into…but no, it couldn’t be.

Instead of a flowing yellow dress and beautiful skin, I saw metal, plastic, and an ivory-colored material, all arranged in the form of…Snoopy?

I looked over to Bryan to ensure that I was not seeing things. His face was arranged in the form of someone who was quite horrified.

I turned back to ‘Cecelia’ – although who knew who this was – to take in her new form, which was not remotely as beautiful as her previous one.

The legs were about as thin as dog’s legs, and actually shaped as such; they even ended in stubby-clawed dog-shaped feet. The arms were as thin as the legs, but these ended in four-fingered hands. But the head was the most unusual. It looked as though someone had taken a dog’s head, made the muzzle shorter and rounder, then moved the eyes so they faced forward. Even the ears were long and floppy, exactly like…

“Snoopy?”

Bryan, who could contain himself no longer, had blurted out the word that certainly was on the forefront of my mind.

“No, Bryan. You may continue to call me Cecelia.”

Both Bryan and I scooted back several feet. I wasn’t sure which was scarier: the fact that a dog was talking to us, or the fact that a robotic dog standing on its’ hind legs was talking to us.

The thing…I mean, Cecelia started walking towards us, making a motion and sound that had to be laughter.

“Relax, I am still the Cecelia you know. I told you about my past, Bryan; why are you so surprised?”

I turned to Bryan. “You knew?”

“Well, I, uh, I mean, well, you see…she told me she was a robot during the duel, but I had no idea she looked like this!”

“YOU KNEW SHE WAS A ROBOT?!? AND YOU DIDN’T CARE?!?”

Quailing under my shocked and furious glare, he said, “Well, what was I supposed to do?”

Another rage threatened to erupt from me before I realized that Bryan was right. He was in the middle of a duel when he found out, and she hadn’t done anything to him. I turned my attention back to Cecelia.

“Well, Bryan might know, but I’m still in the dark here! Some information, please!”

“Jake, cool it! I’ll tell you later. Right now, I think Cecelia has something she wants to tell us.”

Cecelia, who had been watching us bicker like someone at a tennis match, spoke up. “There is. I turned off my hologram so I could use it to show you what this world looked like not that long ago.”

As she held up her arm and busied herself with something on it, thoughts were whizzing around in my head. Something is different about her…other than her looks, that is. I can’t quite – wait a sec! Her accent! It’s gone! “Hey, Cecelia, what happened to your voice?”

Looking up from her work, whatever it was, she replied, “Hmm? Oh, since my outside is no longer a ‘person’, I am using the voice that was programmed into me. I change the voice others hear to match the person I look like. Now, get comfortable. This will take some time.” She turned away from us and paused a minute. Then, the area around us shimmered and changed drastically.

Instead of a barren wasteland, we now sat in a lush field, much like the one where Bryan had dueled Cecelia, except this was not a valley. This field stretched as far as the eye could see. Not only that, but the ravine we had climbed had vanished!

“Where are we?” I asked.

“Exactly where we were before. This is what the land we currently are in looked like about five years ago.”

Bryan and I looked around in wonderment. “What the heck happened?” asked Bryan.

At this, Cecelia hung her head. I could hear resentment in her voice. “Cerredwin.”

Bryan perked up. “You said that when you saw Jake being attacked. What does it mean?”

Cecelia turned to us. “It’s not a word; it’s a name. Cerredwin is the name of the…the…witch…that did THIS.” She pointed at a spot about fifty yards away, and we saw a woman with her back to us. The woman raised her hands and called out in a loud voice, “Aquero reisa!”

There was a rumbling, and suddenly a geyser erupted in front of her! After a minute or so, the geyser subsided, leaving a hole in the ground. Then, the woman made some type of motion with her hands (I couldn’t see it since her back was turned) and she called out, “Jierda deloi!”

At this, a loud thundering and cracking resounded, and an enormous crack flew from both sides of the hole! The crack widened until it was about three feet wide, then stopped. I looked over at the woman, who was down on one knee and appeared to be breathing heavily.

Bryan and I turned towards Cecelia and gave her identical quizzical looks.

“She is speaking in an ancient tongue; a tongue that allows control over the elements. The two phrases she used translate to ‘Raise water’ and ‘Break earth’.”

“But why would she break the earth apart like that?” came Bryan’s questioning voice.

I’m not sure how I could tell, but Cecelia’s ‘face’ appeared to darken. “Because she could. Watch.”

We turned our attention to the woman again. She was getting back to her feet. It appeared to be quite a struggle for her. After finally getting herself in a standing position, she proceeded to walk away from us very slowly.

“Cecelia,” I asked, “I don’t get it. What was she doing, and why is she walking so slowly?”

“She is doing here what she has been doing all over the world: controlling the powers of the elements. Every waking minute is spent trying to achieve that goal; every sleeping moment is spent dreaming about it. As for why she was tired, it takes a great deal of energy to use the magic she did. She was far weaker in the past than she is in present-day.”

“But I still don’t get why she’s doing it.”

At this, Cecelia seemed to become a bit exasperated. “Jake, I do not know all the reasons for her mad obsessions! However, from what I have seen, she simply wants power! And she wants power in a field where she knows no one will try and stop her; after all, precious few people even know about the powers of the elements! You can imagine how few attempt to harness them.”

After a pause, I said, “No one, I bet.”

“You would be right.”

No one said anything for a while. Then, Bryan spoke up. “So what the heck do we have to do with some power-hungry sorceress? You said you needed our help.”

At long last, Cecelia gave a small grin…though I have no idea how I could tell it was a grin. The hologram of the flowery meadow disappeared, bringing us back to the barren wasteland. “For the past five years, Cecelia has grown immensely in her powers. The four main elements are Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire, as you may or may not know. She has mastered all of them but one.”

“Which one?” I asked.

“Interesting you should ask that question, Jake. It is interesting because the element she lacks sits in your duel disk as we speak.”

I looked down at my disk. In it sat my deck; my innocent-looking deck that I had put so much time and effort into.

“Fire? She can’t control Fire?”

Cecelia nodded her head. “Yes, Jake. And the only thing that stands in between her and the powers of Fire is you.”

My shoulders sagged. “Look, Cecelia, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but you’re nuts! Are you trying to tell me I’m some sort of lord of fire or something? If you are, I must admit, I think your internal computer needs some fine-tuning.”

“Draw the top card of your deck.” This came from a surprising source: Bryan. I turned to him.

“Huh?”

He shrugged. “Whenever a major decision happens in the Yu-Gi-Oh world, the characters rely on their cards for inspiration. Try it here.”

“But I’m not making a major decision. The decision is final: she’s loony.”

“I’m not saying I don’t agree with you, Jake, but just try it. What harm could drawing a card do?”

If those aren’t famous last words… I thought to myself as I took another look at my deck.

“You know, Jake, his idea isn’t a bad one. Go ahead and draw.”

After a pause, I said, “Well, since everybody seems to want me to…” I grabbed the first card on my deck and drew it.

It was Legendary Flame Lord.

Exactly who Cecelia was suggesting I was.

I looked up at Cecelia.

This is too much. First, I get sucked into this wherever-I-am through some dimensional portal, then we start getting attacked by duel monsters, then I find out Cecelia – the woman who saved my life - is really some kind of animatronic dog, and now she expects me to believe that I’m some kind of fire warrior?

I looked back at Legendary Flame Lord in my hand.

And she hasn’t even said how someone like me can help her. The only thing this ‘witch’ has done is put a crack in the ground! None of this makes sense!

I looked back up at Cecelia’s robotic doggy face.

“You know something, Cecelia?” I asked, still holding onto my card.

“No, what?”

I leaned closer to her, my eyes narrowed.

“YOU’RE CRAZY!” I screamed at her. I threw my card at her feet and stormed away, back down the ravine we had come here in.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I watched as Jake exploded in anger, threw his card on the ground, and stormed back down the ravine, unsure of whether to follow him or stay clear of him.

Jake, you’re the one who’s crazy. This Cerredwin character is power hungry, and if you have the last element she needs, don’t you think she’ll come after you? I didn’t dare yell my thoughts to him, though, for fear of another outrage. I looked at Cecelia.

“He certainly has a fiery temper.”

Cecelia grinned (I’ll never understand how I saw a smile on the face, but I did), then the hologram of her beautiful former self reappeared. “Yes, ‘ee does.”

“Should we follow him?”

She shook her head. “Zink about zees from ‘ees pairspesctive. ‘Ee ‘as just undairgone un choc énorme; a terreeble shock. Vee must allow some…ah…breezing room.”

Maybe she’s right, I thought to myself. We probably wouldn’t be able to talk to much sense into him right now anyways

“But, Cecelia, if Jake has the single element Cerredwin needs, don’t you think she’ll go after him personally?”

“No, not pairsonallee…’owevair, she ‘as been goeeng aftair ‘eem for some time now.”

This rattled me, to say the least. “Huh?”

“Monstairs ‘ave nevair attacked us in such numbairs before. I believe zat Cerredwin ‘as slowly been focuseeng ze monstair’s attention on Jake and attacking vith zem.”

I thought back to the monsters that had attacked while we were around. There were those Skull Servants, but they never even came close to Jake. That Punished Eagle attacked both of us, and those flaming fairies were certainly focused on him. “But isn’t that more dangerous for Jake? What if those pixie things attack him again, or some other monster that can attack Life Points directly?”

“Zees ‘pixies’ that you keep refaireeng to are called Raging Flame Sprites, and, yes, ‘ee may be in danger of monstairs zat can bypass ‘ees defenses.”

“Then why don’t we help him?”

“Because ‘ee does not vant ‘elp right now. Ve must vait unteel ‘ees tempair cools down.”

A thought suddenly struck me. “How do you know that Jake’s a fire duelist? You’ve never seen him duel.”

With that, she leaned down and picked up the card Jake had thrown at her feet. “Zees card told me all I needed to know.”

I looked at it curiously. “How could a single card tell you anything?”

Cecelia smiled, starting up the butterflies in my head once again. That hologram sure was realistic.

“Do you know anyone else ‘oo uses zees card?”

I thought. “Well, I’ve only been doing this for a few weeks, but I haven’t run across anyone, no.”

She nodded in agreement. “Fire ees possiblee ze most deefeecult element to control, because eet cannot be contained. Vind can be stopped by a vall; vater and earth can stay een one spot. Fire, ‘owevair, ees enairgee eencarnate. Most people, eef only on a subleeminal level, know zat zey do not vant to try and control ze eencontrolable.

But ven I saw zees monstair protecteeng Jake from ze Raging Flame Sprites…I knew zen zat zees vas the person Cerredwin vas looking for.”

I looked down as the card. You know, I’m starting to wonder if Jake had a point in calling Cecelia wacko. She’s really getting into this. Then again, if this is some kind of video game like I think it is, well…these things are bound to happen.

There was a long silence as we both thought our thoughts. After a while, I asked, “Should we at least follow Jake and make sure nothing attacks him again? That Des Counterblow of yours could come in handy.”

Cecelia frowned. “Perhaps. ‘Owevair, I doubt Cerredwin vould use ze same tactics twice. I ‘ave a feeling she vill try a different, more subtle approach.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Jake was walking swiftly away from Cecelia and Bryan, Cerredwin was walking swiftly towards Jake.

Yes, little android, you’re actually right. A subtle approach is exactly what I’m going to try next. And this time, I’ve made sure that you and Jake’s little sports shadow won’t interfere!

[starjake]

Chapter 13 – Gemini Elf

I am not some kind of freaky fire master!
************************************************** **
I watched myself as I began the tournament and dueled against Norman. I saw his Kinetic Soldier wipe out my Solar Flare Dragons and leave me dangerously close to losing. But I managed to pull the exact card I needed to win…
************************************************** **
There is nothing special about me! Cecelia has no idea what she’s talking about; heck, she’s not even real!
************************************************** **
Next came Heather. Her plants held me off until I got something strong enough to get rid of Vampire Orchis. But then I stupidly attacked that Fiber Jar…and she switched from Plants to Insects. And I had no monster in my Deck capable of taking out her Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth…but again, I was able to pull it off with my Nightmare Wheel.
************************************************** **
Now, think for a minute, Jake, whispered that little devil’s advocate voice in my ear. If there’s nothing so special about you, how is it you can pull off a win almost every time? And in the most dire of circumstances, too…
************************************************** **
And then, my world turned upside down. The storm that came out of nowhere…riding my bike with Bryan and finding that weird door…actually going through the door to God only knew what lay on the other side…finding myself in this world, wherever that is…finding out that this is some kind of alternate dimension or virtual reality thing or whatnot…setting the meadow on fire…and then came that duel with Mako Tsunami. During the duel, it seemed a struggle, but from the outside looking in, I was in control most of the time. Mako might’ve kept my monsters in a lock, but I was able to work around that and eventually break free from it. I even managed to put him in a lock. By the end, I had him so worried that he was attacking recklessly, paying no heed to my Traps that eventually spelled out his loss. I actually kept most of my Life Points throughout the entire duel! And Fire triumphed over Water…
************************************************** **
I am a sensible human being. All my life, I was raised to believe in reality. They’re cards, just paper-and-ink cards! There’s nothing real about them! And I don’t know what kooky religion Cecelia the robot abides by, but there sure as heck are no such things as these so-called elemental powers. And, even if by some weird chance there are, I don’t have any of them. Why does she want me to help her fight whatever-her-name is…Cerredwin, I think. Cerredwin’s done nothing; innocent until proven guilty, right?

“Jake!”

I snapped out of my mental conversation and focused my eyes. I had walked quite a fair distance from Cecelia and Bryan. Looking around, I didn’t see either of them.

Who called my name?

“Jake, over here!”

I looked down the ravine to see none other than the smiling woman from the tournament walking towards me! How the heck did she get here? I could’ve sworn I saw her leave.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“But, Cecelia, shouldn’t we at least make sure nothing happens to him, whatever Cerredwin tries to do?”

Cecelia gave a small sigh. “Perhaps eet ees best. Yes, let us go after Jake.” And she began the treacherous hike back down into the ravine. Grateful, I followed.

As soon as we had hit the bottom, however, we found our path blocked by two columns of sparkles, just kind of hanging in the air. There was a sudden flash, forcing me to shield my eyes, and the sparkles were replaced by two people.

They were two girls, but their features were so similar that they had to be identical twins. Each wore identical sky-blue jumpsuits. Each had dark blue hair with white cloths tied decoratively into their hairstyles. And each appeared to be no older than I was!

I just stared. Cecelia did a little more. She strode right up to them and demanded, “Excuse-moi, si’l vous plait! Excuse me, please! ‘Oo do you zink you are?”

They both flashed disturbingly identical grins. Then, they became even more disturbing: they started talking.

The girl on the left spoke first. “I am Tate; pleased to meet you. We have been sent here to greet you!”

Then the girl on the right. “I am Liza; you shall see our new opponents you two shall be!”

This rattled me to no end. I slowly sidled up to Cecelia. “Psst, Cecelia.”

“Vat?” she whispered.

“They’re kooky.”

“Oui. I agree vith you”

She straightened back up. “Vell, vee appreciate ze entairtainment, but zair ees somevair zat vee need to be right now, so eef you’ll excuse us – “

Tate and Liza spoke up at this.

“I’m afraid you did not hear…”

“A dueling time approaches near!”

Still trying to understand how one person could speak like that, let alone two, I decided to say something. “Um…I’m sorry…it’s not that we don’t want to duel…you see, my friend is – “

“Young boy you do not understand; realize this is not our command.”

“There’s someone higher up than we who has commanded that there is a duel to be.”

It was like listening to incredibly bad nursery rhymes. The pair looked at each other.

“If we move this away from here, perhaps then they will lend an ear.”

“Sister, that is a fine plan; perhaps then they will understand.”

The two snapped their fingers and vanished into sparkles once more. Next instant, Cecelia and I became covered in the same sparkles! We had a split second to exchange horrified looks before we enveloped in a white vortex. All I could see was white, I couldn’t see Cecelia; heck, I couldn’t even see me! For all I knew, I was just a couple of floating eyeballs, traveling through this little nothing place.

And then, it ended. With a bit of a thump, I landed on solid ground – I had somehow regained my feet and legs so I would have something to land with. I took a look around to see where we were, and realized that we had somehow ended up back in the valley where Cecelia and I had first dueled. Were we just teleported? Are these freaky girls psychic or something?

One of the twins’ voices came from my left, causing me to jump slightly. “Little boy, do not call us weird.” The other voice completed the rhyme. “Our powers are something to be feared!”

I turned in their direction to see them smirking angrily at me. “Excuse me? Little boy? How can you call me little; you can’t be any older than I am!” It was only then that I realized it. They can read minds…

One of the girls spoke (they had told us their names, but I had no idea who was who). “Never ask a girl her years; the result may have you crying tears!”

“And as for thinking we read your mind, that’s one of many of our powers you’ll find!” came the other twin.

Apparently, this was enough for Cecelia, whose frustrated yell from behind me made me jump again. “Vy are you forcing us to leesten to zeez…zeez…dim-vitted rhymes? Our friend ees een grave dangair, and vee must see eef ‘ee ees alright!”

“You say you do not have the time…”

“…but dueling us will get rid of the rhyme!”

This caught my attention. “Dueling you will get rid of the rhyme? Why? Are you under some sort of curse or something?”

“You’ve hit the nail upon the head; this rhyming causes us much dread!”

“But if we duel you, lose or win, we’ll be out of this state we’re in!”

I turned to Cecelia, who appeared to be as confused as I was. “They’re under a curse…” I paused as I thought. “Cerredwin?” I asked.

Cecelia nodded after a moment. “Eet vould not surprise me; she can probably do such zings as zees. But vat about Jake?”

I was about to answer when that maddening, singsong voice started up again.

“Our master will not let us leave
until we duel!”

“Duel us, please?”

I looked at Cecelia for help. She shrugged.

“I leave zees deecision up to you. “’Ee ees your friend; you vould know vezair or not ‘ee can take care of ‘eemself.”

I looked at my feet, torn between helping two strangers or one friend.

------------------------------------

I stared as the woman running the tournament walked towards me, that grin still plastered on her face. I knew it was rude, but I was far too curious to care.

“Uh…ma’am?”

She stopped in front of me then stooped, putting her hands on her knees and breathing heavily. Once she had caught her breath, she stood straight again and spoke through her smile.

“Glad I caught up with you, Jake. I need your help.”

Oh, great, another damsel in distress. Trying to keep my temper in check, I asked, “Help? With what?”

“I’ve caught word of some woman trying to disrupt the tournament.”

This confused me. “I thought that everyone here other than you, me, Bryan, and the other two contestants were holograms?”

She nodded. “That’s why I’m even more worried than usual. There’s a central computer running all of this,” she made a large sweeping gesture with her arm, “and if one of the holograms is going against programming, that means the computer is telling it to. And that means…”

“…that the computer itself is going against programming! Is it safe to be here anymore?”

The woman didn’t frown, but her everlasting smile faltered slightly. “Well, I haven’t gotten wind of anything else unusual, so I’m hoping we can just finish the tournament; once a winner is declared, we’ll all go back and the computer will shut down. In the meantime, be wary.”

Her earlier comment came to mind. “Why did you say you needed my help?”

“Well, if someone duels this ‘person’ and defeats them, it might do something…I don’t know, though. I can’t get in touch with my technical engineers, and I’m no good with computers.”

I suddenly realized something. “You never told me who this woman was. What should I be looking for?”

“Well, I don’t know of all the holograms that the designers put into this place, but I’ve been told that she wears a yellow dress and has long blond hair, and speaks in a very thick accent of some kind.”

“What was she doing that would disrupt a tournament?”

“Well, all I know is that she’s trying to distract the contestants and feed them fairy-tale stories.”

I must’ve looked puzzled, because she continued. “I got this information from Joey. He said she told him he was some sort of ‘Dragon Master’ or something. He couldn’t tell what ethnicity the accent was, but he said it was definitely something foreign. I guess I can’t blame him…he’s only 11.”

Some thought was buzzing around the back of my head, but I couldn’t pinpoint it. I decided to ignore it. Then, I realized something: she had a duel disk on her left arm.

“You duel?”

“It would make sense, seeing as I’m running a dueling tournament.”

Somehow, I had never come to that conclusion.

“Is there a particular reason why, Jake?”

“Not really…I was just thinking I still have four more duels to go, and I haven’t seen a duelist since Mako – well, there is Cecelia, but Bryan already defeated…wait a sec! That woman! Who’s disrupting the tournament!”

“Yes?”

“She has a yellow dress, long blond hair, and a thick accent?”

“That’s what I said.”

The annoying thought that had been buzzing around the back of my head suddenly leapt to the forefront. “I know her! Her name is Cecelia; you know, Pegasus’s wife? She’s been with us for the past several hours. She’s French and you can barely understand what she’s saying, her accent is so thick.” The fact that she had an android form in which she had no accent came to me, but I decided against telling this to the woman in front of me.

“Well,” the woman shrugged, “I can’t do anything here; we’re in her ‘home turf,’ so to speak, and I can’t do anything about it until I go back to the computer room. And, since she hasn’t done any physical harm that I know of…I guess I’m not as worried as I thought I was!”

That statement struck me as a little odd, but I brushed it aside. “So, uh…as I was saying, I still have four more duels to win, and you’re the first duelist I’ve come across since Mako, so I was wondering – “

“You beat Mako Tsunami? The Water guy?”

“You know him?”

She chuckled. “Well, I certainly don’t know him, but I know of him. He had a strong deck – and it interests me greatly that Fire defeated Water…”

“Wait a sec! How did you know what my deck strategy is?”

At this, she actually threw back her head and laughed. “At the beginning of the tournament I checked your cards to make sure they were legal, remember?”

Feeling a bit sheepish, I replied, “Oh. Right.”

Her grin widened, if that was even possible. “You were wondering something?”

But I was having second thoughts. “Never mind. It probably wouldn’t be worth it anyway…”

“No, tell me Jake, what’s on your mind?”

I gathered my courage and said, “I was wondering if I could duel you.”

----------------------------------------------------------

I know Jake’s a good duelist…but if someone’s after him, then dueling skills might not be enough! On the other hand, dueling these two will help them…and Jake can summon his monsters even if he isn’t dueling anybody…

“OK, you two, we’ll duel you. But even though we’re trying to help, don’t expect us to go easy on you!” Cecelia glanced at me before nodding an affirmative.

The twins looked at us, incredibly grateful smiles on their faces, then they replied in unison, “Thank you much; you’ve made us grin. But prepare to lose, for we shall win!”

We all assumed our positions in a square about twenty feet apart from each other, with Cecelia on my left. And then, a thought occurred to me.

“Uh, how do we duel with four people?”

Cecelia smiled, then stepped forward. “Eet ees seemple. Vee vil start vith Tate,” she nodded to the girl on the left, “zen myself, zen Liza,” the girl in front of me grinned, “zen, finally, Bryan. No one may attack unteel all four of us ‘ave ‘ad our first tairns. You may use your Mageek and Trap Cards to effect yourself or your partner, or both eef ze effect of ze card applies to both players. You may also send your monstairs over to your opponent’s side of ze field to protect zem from an attack. ‘Owevair, you may not look at ze cards een your partner’s ‘ands. Also, eef you equip a card onto one of your partner’s monstairs, you both zen share control of zat monstair. You may attack vith eet, and you may also sacrifice eet. Eff you do so to summon a strongair monstair, zen you both also control ze new monstair. Eef a monstair zat both players control ees destroyed een battle, both players lose ‘alf of ze damage.”

I blinked, trying to absorb all this information.

“Zat ees all. Do you undairstand now, Bryan?”

Continued in next post...

[starjake]

Chapter 14 – Double Attack

I stood in the ravine, watching this woman who I knew nothing about. Speaking of which…

“Uh, excuse me, ma’am?”

“Yes, Jake?”

“What’s your name?”

That perpetual – and, by now, slightly annoying – grin on her face widened a bit. “You may call me Sara.”

Don’t I have a cousin whose name is Sara? Oh, well, not important.

“Jake? You can go first.”

I looked up to see the strangest looking man I’ve ever seen in my life standing next to Sara. It was covered from head to toe in dark blue and black armor. In one hand, it held a ball of white light, and in the other, it held a ball of purple light.

It took a second for me to recognize it. “Is that a Chaos Sorcerer?”

She nodded. “Very good, Jake. Yes, this is Chaos Sorcerer, my Deckmaster. He has a very unique ability, which you’ll see quite shortly. Who is your Deckmaster?”

Slightly upset that she hadn’t told me what her Deckmaster did, I looked through my Deck. Didn’t Cecelia use Benu Phoenix? What did it do…something about Battle Damage…hey I remember! “My Deckmaster is Benu Phoenix!”

The card erupted into flames and formed into the beautiful phoenix. It settled into a hover above my head.

Sara looked impressed. “Good choice. Anyways, like I said, you can go first.”

The life meters set themselves to 8000 as I drew six cards and Sara drew five.

Wow. If this doesn’t win the award for crappiest first hand ever, nothing does. Not much I can do, I guess…

“I’ll play this monster in Defense, as well a card face-down. Go ahead.”

“Alrighty then, I’ll draw…and then I’ll play The Cheerful Coffin!”

The card materialized and out of it came – of all monsters – the Witty Phantom! It gave a bow, then held its arms out as though holding a large invisible object.

“My Cheerful Coffin card allows me to dump up to three monsters from my hand to the Graveyard. I’ll only dump two.”

In the Witty Phantom’s waiting arms, a large coffin shimmered into being. Walking over the Sara, he opened the coffin. Sara took two cards from her hand and placed them carefully into the coffin, which Witty Phantom snapped shut. It then snapped its fingers, and the coffin shrunk to no larger than the palm of his hand. He threw the coffin into her Graveyard, let out a cackle, then faded into thin air.

Why would someone want to throw away their monsters like that?

“Now, Jake, you may be wondering why I would want to throw away my monsters like that.”

OK, this mind-reading thing REALLY needs to stop. I hope to God that this coincidence.

“However, I needed these monsters to be in the Graveyard so I could summon these creatures. Observe. First, I remove Water Magician from the game,” she did so, “to summon Aqua Spirit, in Attack!”

The card appeared, and, in a spray of bubbles, a ghostly blue girl appeared with it. Her long hair seemed to sway back and forth, as though being tugged at by an invisible current (1600 / 1200).

“Next, I remove Spirit of the Books from play to summon Garuda the Wind Spirit, also in Attack!”

This time, a small tornado picked up in front of the card, and after a few seconds, a shape was spinning inside the tornado. The wind subsided, and a human with wings and a hawk’s head stopped spinning and stared at me (1600 / 1200).

Then, suddenly, both of the monster’s attacks skyrocketed to 3000!

I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t, because my jaw was hanging open.

Sara chuckled. “Now you see my Deckmaster’s ability. Whenever I Special Summon a monster by removing a monster from play, the Special Summoned monster’s ATK increases by the removed monster’s ATK. Both Spirit of the Books and Water Magician have 1400 ATK points, so both Aqua Spirit and Garuda the Wind Spirit gained that many points!”

“Now, I’ll set this card face-down and end my turn. No attack.”

As the card appeared behind her, I thought to myself, Yeesh, this’ll be tough. I know what those monsters do. Aqua Spirit switches the Battle Position of one of my face-up monsters during my Standby Phase, and Garuda changes the Battle Position during my End Phase. Maybe if I just keep my monsters face-down…yeah, the monsters have to be face-up for their positions to be switched. That’ll work. I drew my next card.

“Hang on, Jake. I activate this little card: Light of Intervention!”

Crap.

The card rose, and emitted a blindingly white light.

“Whenever either one of us summons a monster, it always has to be face-up!”

Now this is not good. I looked at the card I had drawn.

Well, maybe it is good.

“I’ll flip my face-down UFO Turtle into Attack!” I did so, and the card on the field rotated and lifted to reveal a large turtle with a spaceship for a shell. “And I’ll also activate this face-down card: Backfire!”

The card lifted, and showed Chopman, the Desperate Outlaw chopping through a Blazing Inpachi.

“Now, UFO Turtle, attack Garuda the Wind Spirit!”

This took Sara by surprise. He’s cleverer than I thought.

“Go, UFO Turtle! Attack with Shell Laser!”

The turtle obeyed. A small trapdoor on its shell opened, and out came a relatively large laser gun. It took aim and fired directly at Garuda.

“Garuda, counterattack! Spirit Tornado!”

The hawk-headed human flapped its wings, not only blowing the laser back towards my turtle, but also firing a tornado at the same target. UFO Turtle shattered into a thousand pieces.

“Now, normally, I would lose 1600 Life Points due to that attack, but thanks to my Deckmaster, I only lose half of that!” I called out as Benu Phoenix started singing (J: 7200 / S: 8000).

“And, since UFO Turtle was destroyed as a result of battle, not only do I get a Fire monster from my deck, as long it’s a weak one, but you lose 500 Life Points thanks to Backfire!” I searched through my deck and found Solar Flare Dragon, then shuffled my deck and slipped it back into place as my Backfire card shot a fireball right at Sara. (J: 7200 / S: 7500) “And I choose Solar Flare Dragon. Then I’ll summon this Solar Flare Dragon that I just drew!”

The two cards appeared side by side, and out of each slithered a snake-like dragon, cloaked entirely in fire, save their heads and bat-wing-like ears. (1500 / 1000) (1500 / 1000)

“That’ll do for my turn…Sara?”

For she was down on her knees, and breathing heavily.

“Sara? What’s wrong?”

She slowly looked up, and I saw a shiny burn marring her face!

----------------------------------------------

Tate spoke in that oh-so-aggravating rhyme once more. “It’s my turn now, you silly boy. I am not fooled by your little ploy.”

She drew two cards from her deck, then studied her hand as Cecelia and I watched with baited breath.

“I offer Sangan as a sacrifice to summon a monster who won’t treat you nice!”

A stone altar with a shield and sword carved into its side appeared underneath Sangan, who gave a high cackle before being fully enveloped in a haze of dark energy. The energy subsided, and the top of the altar slid back.

She’s been stalling just so she could summon a heavy-hitter?

Out of the altar jumped a heavily armored man carrying an immense sword. The stats 1550 / 2500 appeared over its head.

And then, though it had been summoned it Attack, it suddenly settled into a defensive stance!

“What the…you can’t change its position as soon as you summon it!”

Tate grinned. “My Total Defense Shogun, you see, has powers that only can benefit me.”

“She’s right.”

I turned my head towards Cecelia. She looked extremely worried.

“Total Defense Shogun ees one of ze most powerful defenses one can use. Ven eet ees summoned, eet automatically switches to Defense. Not only zat, but it can attack even eef eet ees een Defense Mode!”

My gaze swiftly returned to Tate’s new monster. “That’s nuts! Monsters can’t attack when they’re defending!”

This time, Liza spoke up. “Crazy it may be, my friend, but this craziness gladdens us in the end. Now, this card will prove to be your bane; I activate the Trap Kunai with Chain!”

One of the cards in front of Lisa lifted to reveal a three-bladed weapon attached to a long chain. The weapon flew sideways, and Total Defense Shogun held up his hand to catch it in midair. I watched, upset, as its attack rose to 2050.

“This card is one that he’ll adore, for it gives his attack 500 more!” said Liza, referring to the Shogun.

I suddenly realized what Tate was probably about to do…and suppressed a grin.

That’s it, Tate…come on now…

“And don’t forget my Sangan friend, who’s loyal till the very end. When he’s destroyed, he gives me back a monster with a low ATK!”

I thought things had been freaky before. That was nothing compared to what happened next: a third eye appeared on Tate’s forehead! Her two normal eyes closed while she removed her Deck and began searching through it, seeing with only her new eye. After selecting a card, she shuffled and replaced her Deck. A rather familiar high-pitched cackle filled the air as the third eye disappeared and my breathing reappeared.

That…was spooky.

Tate spoke. “My Shogun, he is growing bored. Attack that Kid with Shogun Sword!”

Taking his Kunai with Chain, he wrapped it around his monstrous sword. Then – how I will never know – he somehow managed to walk while still crouching and while being covered in that heavy armor and while carrying that oversized blade. Once he got to my Baseball Kid – who was shaking in his cleats…

“Sorry, Tate, but I was hoping you’d do that. Activate DNA Transplant!”

One of my face-down cards rose and out stepped the blue-skinned surgeon.

Continued in next post...

[starjake]

“My Trap lets me change the Attribute of every face-up monster on the field to any one I choose, and my selection is…Fire!”

The surgeon raised his scalpel…

…and was immediately skewered by a large Swiss Army knife! He exploded with a howl of anguish, and the trap disintegrated.

Needless to say, I was distraught. “My Trap! What happened to it?”

It was then that I saw Liza’s other face-down card had lifted. “My Seven Tools of the Bandit trap got rid of your plan in a snap.” The large Swiss Army knife disappeared, and Liza’s Life Points dipped to 7000.

“It still cost you,” I replied, knowing that it didn’t really matter much.

“But my attack will cost you more. Shogun, continue what you were doing before!”

The Shogun – who had frozen while the Traps were activating – brought his massive sword down and cleaved my Baseball Kid in two! There was a scream as my monster disintegrated, and my Life Points dropped to 6450.

Well, that didn’t exactly go as planned, I thought to myself as I placed my monster card in the Graveyard.

Then, to my consternation, Tate spoke up yet again.

“But wait, there still is more to do; Liza sprung her Trap, I spring mine too!”

Her face-down card lifted, and the hands of the ghostly woman hovering above her formed a dark grey rain cloud.

I had not seen the card before, but I could read its title. “Solemn Wishes? What does that do.”

“Nuzzing zat vee vant to ‘appen. Every time she draws cards from ‘er Deck, she gains 500 Life Points!”

“Cecelia, you have spoken truth. But, will it help you, athletic youth?”

She nodded to signal that she was through for this turn. Cecelia drew.

After a long pause, Cecelia spoke to me. “Bryan, I know zat zees card I drew troubled you een our last duel. But I must play eet eef vee are going to get past zat Shogun.”

Troubled me? What did she play that…oh no… My eyes widened as I realized just what card she was about to play.

“Will it…affect my monsters too?”

Cecelia nodded.

I took a deep, steadying breath. Alright, Bryan, time to grow up a bit. After all, you love to watch TV…

I nodded to Cecelia.

“Very vell, Bryan.”

She slipped the card into her disk, and a drastic change came over our side of the field…---------------------------------------------------------

“SARA!!”

I ran over to her. “Are you…are you ok?”

She hid her face from me once more. Of all the ironies… she thought to herself.

“Sara? Is there something I can do? I…I…I didn’t mean for it to be real fire…”

She muttered something under her breath, then turned to face me again. I gasped; the burn had vanished!

“No problem, Jake. All fixed.”

“But – but – your face – how – I don’t – “

She gave me a very strange look, which was stranger due to the fact that it was devoid of her usual grin. “Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies, Jake.”

I was confused. Sara seemed too nice to hide secrets from anyone. My level of trust in her began to drop.

“Sara? This may be a dumb question, but are you not telling me something?”

Sara looked as though she were trying to smile and not smile at the same time. She ended up frowning, which looked unusual on her.

“As I said, Jake. Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies. Shall we continue this duel?”

Though my instincts told me that I should not, that I should turn off my disk and run far, far away from this woman, my competitive side told me to win first and ask questions later.

“If you quit now, Jake, you’ll automatically lose the duel.”

That does it. “Alright, Sara – if that’s really your name – I don’t know what you did, or how you did it, or what else you can do, but you won’t scare me into submission!” I quickly walked back over to my side of the field and gestured to my Solar Flare Dragons who were still hovering there. “Since I have two Dragons on the field, and I’ve ended my turn…well, get ready to heal yourself again! Go Solar Flare Dragons!” I called out. Following my outstretched arm, they soared through the air and wrapped themselves around Sara and squeezed the breath right out of her. (J: 7200 / S: 7000)

The dragons uncoiled themselves and flew back to their posts in front of their upright cards. Sara now looked much worse for the wear: her light gray business attire was now blackened, and her face was a light red color from almost having been strangled. Her stature did not falter, however.

“Make your move.”

She pointed at Garuda. “Not before Garuda gets to work!”

Her hawk-headed monster flew up into the sky, then gave a mighty flap of its wings, turning the Solar Flare Dragon on my right into Defense Position.

She raised her disk and grabbed a card from her Deck.

“I play Graceful Charity!”

The card appeared and, much like in my duel with Mako, an angel flew out of the card and took three cards from Sara’s Deck and handed them to her, then waited impatiently for Sara to “contribute” two cards to the Graveyard. Sara, without ever taking her eyes off of me, took two cards from her hand and gave them to the snooty angel, who tossed the cards into her Graveyard with a huff, then flew back into her holographic card, which vanished.

“Now I’ll remove the Giant Soldier of Stone I just discarded from play to summon Gigantes in Attack Mode!”

The card appeared on the field, and out of it walked a one-horned lumbering ogre, clad in stone armor and carrying a tree trunk as a club. It stats appeared above its head (1900 / 1300), then Sara’s Chaos Sorcerer chanted a spell to raise Gigantes’ ATK tremendously (3200 / 1300). It bellowed as it joined her Aqua Spirit and Garuda the Wind Spirit.

“But I won’t bother attacking since your dragons protect each other,” she said in a strangely calm voice.

“Then I’ll draw!” I yelled, snatching a card from my Deck.

“Hold on Jake; you know what to do Aqua Spirit!”

The translucent girl held up her hands and shot a stream of bubbles at the Solar Flare Dragon on my left. It cringed, then settled itself down into a coil, indicating Defense Mode.

“Whatever. Time for a change of scenery!” I opened my field card slot. “Benu Phoenix, I’m gonna need a ride; go Molten Destruction!”

Benu Phoenix swooped down and grabbed me…but instead of a volcano appearing around us, lava started pouring over the ravine cliffs that walled us in! Sara’s Chaos Sorcerer closed its eyes and muttered something, then both he and Sara were surrounded by a dark aura and they both floated into the air. Soon, the ravine had turned into a river of lava! My Solar Flare Dragons’ stats changed accordingly (2000 / 600) (2000 / 600).

After a bit of struggling, I had gotten myself into a standing position on Benu Phoenix’s back, and decided to continue the duel from there.

“Now I summon Blaze Magician in Attack Mode!” She glided onto the field and twirled her sun-tipped staff. (1900 / 1400) -> (2400 / 1000) She then pointed her staff at my two dragons and their stats rose as well (2400 / 600) (2400 / 600).

“Since you’re running this little shin-dig, you probably know that Blaze Magician brings the base ATK of all Pyros on my side of the field to 1900, giving my dragons 400 more ATK each!. And I’m not done getting out my monsters; I’ll remove my UFO Turtle from play to summon Inferno in Attack Mode!” The flaming beast lumbered its way out of the card with a roar. (1100 / 1900) -> (2400 / 1500)

“Then I’ll play one more card: Salamandra! Its intense flame grants my Inferno 700 extra ATK points!” A dragon-headed snake made entirely out of fire erupted from the lava underneath us and merged with Inferno’s flaming body. There wasn’t much of a visual difference – fire plus fire just makes more fire – but Inferno’s ATK took off! (3100 / 1500).

“Now, Inferno, attack her Garuda Spirit! Chaos Eruption Blast!”

Inferno took off at a run as the ground began shaking. Garuda looked around in fear and took off into the sky, but several columns of fire shot up from the lava stream below us, blocking its escape route. Inferno leapt into the air and curled up, essentially turning into a fireball. It rammed into Garuda, its flames setting Garuda’s feathers on fire. The hawk-headed human landed on its side and, with a squawk of agony, it exploded! (J: 7200 / S: 6900)

“And don’t forget Inferno’s ability! When it destroys one of your monsters, you lose 1500 Life Points!”

Some embers flew across the field – all that was left of Garuda – and lodged themselves in Sara’s already burned flesh. She did not wince or even move as her Life Points sank further. (J: 7200 / S: 5400)

Humph. She might be able to heal herself, but aside from some high-ATK monsters, she hasn’t been much of a challenge. “It’s your turn, Sara…hope you like it hot,” I said casually as my two Dragons leapt across the field once more and rammed themselves into Sara, knocking her to the ground (J: 7200 / S: 4400). And, as quickly as she fell, she got back up and drew a card.

“Attack Inferno, Gigantes! Ogre Chaos Crush!”

The monstrous ogre rushed across the field and slammed his truck into Inferno’s forehead…or, at least, where a forehead should be, I couldn’t quite tell where Inferno’s head ended and its back began. Inferno let out a roar of pain before shattering (J: 7150 / S: 4400)

This move shocked me. “Sara? Why didn’t you attack Blaze Magician? You would’ve dealt more damage, and when you destroyed it, Inferno’s ATK would decrease since it’s a Pyro-Type, letting your Aqua Spirit destroy it.”

She said nothing. I noticed that a change was ever so slowly coming over her. Her originally tan skin was growing pale, her hair was starting to fall out of its tight bun, her clothes were darkening – probably due to the amount of charring they had undergone - and her glasses had fallen off, revealing shockingly green eyes; the kind of green that pierces you like a laser beam.

“Now, Aqua Spirit, destroy Blaze Magician! Chaos Riptide!”

Aqua Spirit held her hands high and closed her eyes, and a massive whirlpool formed around Blaze Magician, who looked at me and gave a piercing scream…I looked away as my Life Points sank (J: 6850 / S: 4400).

I’m sorry, I thought as both of my Dragons’ ATK scores sank back to 2000.

“I’ve finished my move, Jake. Go ahead. And don’t forget what Aqua Spirit does!”

I drew a card, and once again, Aqua Spirit shot forth a stream of bubbles, forcing my left-bound Dragon into Attack Mode.

“I play Pot of Greed!”

On the field appeared a green jar with a dark blue handle on its side and a wicked grin on its ‘face’. It floated over to my disk and sat on my deck. The lid opened. Not entirely sure of what to do, I looked at it for a few seconds. It spun around so that its ‘face’ was facing me and its grinning face turned into a confused face, as though wondering why I wasn’t doing anything. Then, of all things, a small glowing furball with a face very similar to the Pot’s peeked out of the top of the jar. It grinned, then dived back in. A split second later, it came back out, holding two cards in its miniscule paws. It held them in my direction, and I took them. Both the fuzzball and the Pot flashed me identical grins before vanishing into thin air.

Well, that was odd. Let’s see what I got…Hey! This’ll work great!

“Sara, this has been one hot duel, but it’s about to get even hotter! I sacrifice both your Aqua Spirit and Gigantes to summon one of the most powerful monsters in my Deck: Lava Golem!”

I held the card up, and it suddenly flew across the field of its own accord and settled itself on Sara’s disk!

Now that’s what I call a card trick.

I was expecting the stone altar to appear…but none did. Instead, the lava below us began boiling madly, and suddenly two columns of the molten rock exploded upward and both Aqua Spirit and Gigantes, who had a split second to exchange horrified looks, were totally consumed. As this was happening, Lava Golem’s card rose on the field, and out of it shot a large cage! It hurtled through the air every which way, spinning the entire time, before coming to a stop in the air above Sara. Her Chaos Sorcerer looked on in horror as the bottom of the cage vanished and it slipped over Sara, trapping her! Meanwhile, the two lava geysers had converged and formed into a monstrous shape…

And it was only then that I saw fear in Sara’s eyes. I didn’t know that she was thinking to herself…

So this is the power of Fire…


Kunai with Chain
Normal Trap
When this card’s effect resolves, it is treated as an Equip Spell Card. Increase the ATK of the equipped monster by 500 points. Also, if you activate this card during your opponent’s Battle Phase, you may select 1 of your opponent’s face-up Attack Position monsters and switch it to Defense Position.
Note: This card appears the Japanese Joey Structure Deck and multiple times during the anime (in Joey’s deck, of course). It has yet to be released in English.

[starjake]

Chapter 15 – Divine Wrath

I watched, half awestruck and half terrified, as Cecelia’s Toon World card righted itself, and familiar freaky-carnival music started up. The book spun into being and then moved so that it sat directly between Cecelia and me. It then opened to reveal the pop-up castle. However, the book wasn’t nearly big enough to cover both of our fields, so the pages began lengthening until all of our monsters could fit comfortably.

“Now, I do not know vat you two are planning, but my – I mean, our - mighty Toons will annihilate zose plans!”

The magical book suddenly snapped shut, taking all three of our monsters with it!

I found myself thinking Sorry, Troop Dragon…

The book shook, wobbled, and emitted all kinds of wacky, cartoon noises. It opened again to reveal the pop-up castle. And, in the castle door appeared a shape…

“First, I present to you, Master Guitarist of ze Toons!”

The leather-clad guitarist walked out of the castle with a crazy look on his face that reminded me forcefully of Roger Rabbit. The guitar slung across his back struck a chord all by itself before swinging itself to the musician’s front, allowing all to see its looney, laughing face. (1750 / 1500)

“And, seence my Guitarist looks lonely - ,” right on cue, both he and his guitar put on sad puppy faces, “ – so I vill summon a partner for ‘eem: Hibik-Anime!”

This time, a woman back-flipped out of the castle doors and landed next to Cecelia’s Guitarist. She started to throw a seductive look at the twins, then stopped when she realized that they were girls. Pouting, she turned to the Guitarist, who gave her a…erm…interested look. She returned the look, and I was incredibly worried that something drastic might happen until the guitar bashed itself over its owner’s head, causing stars and little birds to fly around, not to mention a few broken teeth and a black eye. (1450 / 1000)

I hung my head and sighed. Why did I do this again? Someone tell me? Someone other then someone who can read minds? I quickly added, looking up and seeing Liza about to respond. She shut her mouth, disappointed.

“And, of course, my Mageek Card affects both myself and my partner! And so, my Toon Vorld transforms ‘ees Troop Dragon into…ze Anime Drake Army!”

Out of several of the upper level windows flew a trio of small green dragons. They landed in front of me where I could get a good look at them and knelt in Defense Position.

They actually didn’t look that much different than their normal counterparts. Their most distinguishing features were their eyes. Normally, their eyes were small and beady. In Toon World, their eyes were wide open and staring, and they each wore goofy grins on their faces. Also, they had traded in their metal swords for…fake wooden ones? (700 / 800).

Odd choice of weapons. Must be cartoon-related.

It took me a second to realize that Cecelia was speaking again. “And, as you can see, my Toon Vorld ees on both Bryan’s and my field, meaning zat vee both can control any monstairs either one of us summon!”

That got my attention. Now there’s a bonus. I can control her monsters, and she can control mine.

Tate and Liza were eyeing Toon World and its occupants with identical unreadable expressions. Finally, Tate said, “We’re not scared by your world of Toon when we’ve the power of sun and moon.” Liza grinned in agreement.

I cast an uneasy glance at their two Deckmasters. I don’t like the way she said that. Could those Deckmasters have an ability that would prove detrimental for Toons? But, if they do, and Cecelia attacks…

“’Owevair, your Swords do not vear off unteel ze end of my turn. So I’ll set zees card face-down and end my turn.” she said, as another face-down card appeared in front of her.

Liza smiled as she drew her card. “My monster’s no longer face-down; A Cat of Ill Omen will take you down!”

The face-down monster on her side of the field rotated and flipped up to reveal a rather large black cat with an Egyptian-styled collar and glowing red eyes. It glared at me and growled, baring its fangs and hissing. (500 / 300)

“When my Cat’s flipped face-up, you see, it gets a Trap from my Deck for me!”

Suddenly, the Cat leapt up onto Liza’s disk and stared at the deck in it. Its collar flashed and its eyes glowed brighter than ever. Then, one by one, the cards began sliding in and out of the Deck Slot. Apparently, the cat could see through the backs of the cards. One of the claws on its right paw sprang out, and it speared one of the cards. It deftly placed the card on top of the Deck, then returned to its position on the field.

That was…weird.

“This Pot of Greed’s like Tate’s Jar Trap, into my Deck now I can tap!”

As a green and red version of Tate’s card appeared on the field and settled itself onto Liza’s Deck, I thought to myself, That’s good strategy! Her Cat of Ill Omen let her put any Trap Card on top of her Deck, then her Pot of Greed let her immediately draw that card as well as one other. These girls might be crazy, but they seem to be good at dueling…yet I still have no idea what their strategy is! All they seem to be doing is defending…

“This card goes face-down in front of me; you’ll find it spells out victory!” she said as a card appeared in front of her.

Huh? A Trap Card that spells victory? Is that a riddle? Or just more of their cockiness? I hope it’s the latter… I thought to myself, looking at my face-down card. But it doesn’t matter. I’ll use this card to see what they’re planning as soon as Liza ends her turn.

“Oh Bryan, dear? My turn’s no more. Just wait till you see what I have in store.”

I drew. “You know what? I think I’ll take you up on that offer! I activate my face-down card: Respect Play!”

The card lifted and out of it walked a man with long dirty-blond hair and clad in leather armor. He walked to the middle of the field and held out his hands in a symbol of peace.

“My Trap forces us to reveal our hands to one another, so that means no more secrets! Go ahead, Tate; you first!”

The man walked over the Tate and held out his hand. An expression of extreme unhappiness on her face, she begrudgingly allowed the man to examine her hand.

“OK, now let’s see what you’ve got hidden from us, Liza!”

The man walked over to Liza, whose face matched her sister’s, and underwent the same procedure. After he examined her cards, he turned back to me and nodded.

“Alright, let’s take a look at what he found!”

The man walked once more over to Tate’s side of the field, and swept his left arm in a wide upward arc. In the air above Tate appeared three cards: Backup Soldier, Millenium Shield, and…

Exodia the Forbidden One!

Cecelia actually stepped back, as though the image of the card might shoot something at her. “Exodia! You’re attempting to summon Exodia!”

Tate just grinned a rather sinister grin.

So THAT’S what she meant by us losing to ‘wrath divine’! How on earth are we gonna defeat Exodia?

Shaking off the shock, I realized that we weren’t done yet. “Well, we still have to see what Liza has in her hand.”

The leather-clad man – who had been simply waiting patiently – walked over to Liza’s side of the field and swept his right arm in a wide upward arc. And Liza’s cards appeared above her head…

OK…she’s got a Timeater, another Cat of Ill Omen, Fake Trap, Jowgen the Spiritualist, and…Spirit Message L? Why do I know that card?

But Cecelia recognized that last card. “And you are using ze Destiny Board!”

Crap! I remember now! That’s the card Bakura almost beat Yugi with; Yugi could only beat it with Slifer the Sky Dragon!

Then, suddenly, a connection formed in my head.

Wait a sec…both of those strategies…they’re both using Instant Win Decks! I relayed this to Cecelia. “Any ideas?”

“I ‘ave nevair dueled against zeez types of strategies before! I ‘ave no idea vat to do!”

This didn’t exactly hearten me. I looked down at my Deck.

I can think of only one card in my deck that would have a chance. But it relies on three other cards, and I don’t have any of these cards in my hand! I’d better hope for some good draws soon!

Bowing my head, “I’m sorry, Cecelia, but Respect Play forces us to show our hands too.”

The man walked over to her. Unlike our opponents, however, she quite willingly allowed the man to peruse her cards. After he did so, he walked over to me and did the same thing. Then, he stepped back to the middle of the field and, facing us, waved his arms in the air. I looked over to Cecelia’s side of the field and saw the two cards in her hand, neither of which really surprised me: Toon Mermaid and a card called Toon Table of Contents.

I didn’t bother looking over my head. I knew what was in the air above me: Nimble Momonga and Legendary Jujitsu Master.

I watched Tate and Liza glance at the cards hovering above our heads, then focus back on me.

Guess they really don’t care. Well, it’s still my move…

“Now that you’ve seen it, I’ll summon this monster to the field: Nimble Momonga!”

Let’s see what Toon world makes of this!

A pink cloud appeared in front of me with a POOF and…well, let’s just say that the term ‘flying squirrel’ got a whole new meaning.

Out of the pink cloud came the noise of a plane engine, and out zipped a small blue plane. And, sitting in the cockpit was a cartoon squirrel wearing one of those old-fashioned pilot helmets, complete with flying goggles.

Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me! I thought, trying very hard not to laugh out loud.

Cecelia actually did laugh out loud. “Bryan! Vat an excellent choice! My Toon World has turned your Nimble Momonga into Rocky ze Toon Flier!”

Rocky zipped around the field once before coming to hover in the air in front of me. It turned around in its seat and gave me the thumbs-up sign and wink. (1000 / 100)

Still staring at it in half-shock, half-amusement, I shook my head and called out, “All right, Liza! Tate’s monster might be strong, but yours is weak! So, Anime Drake Army, attack her crazy cat!”

My little dragon army took to the air on impossibly tiny wings and zipped towards Liza’s cat, swinging their wooden swords. But instead of slashing with them, they used the flats of the ‘blades’ to simply knock the cat unconscious with a loud BONK. Cartoony stars appeared above the cat’s head and its eyes turned swirly before is dissipated into pixels as Liza Life Points dropped to 6800.

“Alright Rocky, attack him directly!”

Rocky tore across the field…and pulled up sharply to avoid the Shogun that blocked his way.

I blinked. “What gives? That’s Tate’s monster!”

“Bryan, I guess you’ve forgotten the rule! I can control her monsters if I give them a tool!”

A tool? What the heck is she…wait a sec! Her Kunai with Chain! I had forgotten the rule that, if you equip an ally’s monster with your equip card, you both can control it!

“Well, that’s nice, but it doesn’t matter! Rocky’s a Toon Monster, meaning he can attack you directly! Up for round two, Rocky?”

He flashed me a mischievous grin, then shot into the air once more, dodging the massive sword that the Shogun was attempting to use as a fly swatter – or, in this case, a flying-squirrel-swatter. He aimed the nose of his plane down…

…when a burst of fire appeared in front of Liza! Rocky quickly pulled back.

“Now what’s going on?” I asked, slightly exasperated.

The fire slowly gave way to Tate’s Deckmaster, that Solrock thingie. And, since it was Tate’s Deckmaster, she spoke up.

“If your monster’s ability attacks us direct, Solrock blocks the attack and it will not connect!”

Oh great! That means that none of our Toons can use their abilities of attacking directly! That must’ve been why they said they weren’t afraid our Toons.

“Well, there’s nothing more now I can do – “

“ – so I will do something for you!” replied Liza, somehow rhyming with what I had said. “Now that you’re done I can activate this; it’s the strength of my Deck and gives me much bliss!”

The face-down card lifted…

As it did, the sky above Liza began to darken and purple clouds formed. And then, descending from the swirling clouds came a large board with all kinds of symbols written on it. A strange triangle-shaped instrument sat on the board, and it had a large glass circle in it. The triangle moves, and the glass circle came to rest on the letter F.

Then, in front of the now upright card appeared the head of a ghost. The rest of the ghost formed underneath the head, but it wasn’t distinct enough to form a bodily shape. In this misty area, the letter F formed. The ghost floated up a bit and flickered in and out.

Liza spoke above the haunting noises that had started up. “My Destiny Board now lets me connect with Spirit Message card that’s straight from my Deck.” She pulled out her Deck and took a card from it, then shuffled. Putting her Deck back where it belonged, she slipped her new card into her Disk, and a second ghost appeared, this time with the letter I. It floated up to join F.

This is not good. Since Cecelia and I are both her opponents, she gets to bring out another one of those messages and the ends of each of our turns! What can we do to defeat that?

------------------------------------------

I watched as the columns of lava slammed together and reformed into a behemoth that took up most of Sara’s side of the field! It was made entirely of lava, and its shape was only vaguely humanoid. It had two pitch-black eyes on its ‘face’, and two monstrous arms dripping lava stretched out in the air towards me. It roared as the heat from my Molten Destruction strengthened it. (3000 / 2500) -> (3500 / 2100)

Suddenly, a chain sprang from the top of the cage that had imprisoned Sara and slammed into Lava Golem’s chest, causing it to howl – which caused the ravine to shake.

I smirked at Sara. Warning: contents of this duel may be hot. Very, very hot, I thought to myself.

Speaking so my opponent could hear me, I called out, “In case you’re in too much shock to realize it, Sara, let me inform you what’s going on. I’ve just given you a 3000-ATK monster. However, it comes at a price: as long as it’s on your side of the field, each and every time you start your turn Lava Golem will melt, and you’ll lose 1000 Life Points! And, since my two Solar Flare Dragons protect each other, you can’t destroy them with your Golem, however powerful he may be!”

This is almost TOO easy, I thought to myself. I have her in a lock that’ll take out 2000 of her Life Points every turn! This duel’s in the bag!

And then, from somewhere very, very deep inside my head, a little voice spoke up.

Jake, doesn’t this seem a little wrong, perhaps? Don’t you think you’re just a little too excited? Not only that, but this woman is the leader of the tournament! And you seem to be beating her without breaking a sweat.

I mentally slapped myself on both cheeks. Oh please! I don’t need little voices in my head telling me what to do!

As I was fighting with myself, Sara simply watched.

There’s no need to fret, Jake, she thought. You’re going to win this duel; I’ve ensured that. Go ahead and defeat me. Then again, watching you doubt yourself is SO entertaining.

I shook my head in an attempt to clear it. “I set two cards face-down and end my turn,” I said, as two cards appeared in front of me. “Go Solar Flare Dragons!” They leapt across the field and through the bars of the cage that trapped Sara, and they both slammed themselves into her, throwing her against the back of the cage. (J: 6850 / S: 3400)

Well, that’s certainly an obvious move. But, if those are the cards I think they are, then you’ve won, just like I wanted you to.

As my dragons retreated to my side of the field, I really started wondering something. How is it she can take so much abuse? These are obviously very real holograms, and I know that, if I were on the receiving end of those blows, I wouldn’t be getting back up all the time like she is! There’s a lot more to her than meets the eye I guess. But it doesn’t matter, I thought, grinning as I looked at my face-down cards. I’ve already won this duel.

“Make your move, Sara!”

And so the duel ends, she thought. She drew her card. “Now I play – “

“ – absolutely nothing!” I yelled. “Time for me to win, Sara! Go, Ring of Destruction!” One of my face-down cards lifted to reveal a metal ring lined with grenades. It snapped open and hurled itself through the air, eventually snapping shut around Lava Golem’s neck.

Sara grinned. “I know what your Ring does, Jake, but it won’t work! You see, I have a special little monster in my hand that will save me!”

My eyes opened wide. I opened my mouth to speak…

…and the world simply exploded!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Since it was her turn, Tate drew 2 cards. Instantly, the woman above Tate’s head opened her hands to reveal a small rain cloud, which…floated over to Liza and healed her Life Points? (L: 7300)

“But…but…I thought that Solemn Wishes only affected Tate!”

“Only eef she vants eet to. Don’t forget zat she can use her Mageek and Trap Cards for ze bettairment of Liza as vell as herself.”

This double dueling stuff is really complex! It’s like you’re dealing with one person with two decks worth of cards!

Continued in next post...

[starjake]

Since Respect Play was still active, the card-examining man walked back over to Tate. He took a look at her two new cards, nodded, then gestured again. Instantly, a Left Leg of the Forbidden One and a Mystical Space Typhoon appeared above Tate’s head. She smiled.

Crap, now she’s got another Exodia piece!

“I don’t like your card for my hand it does show. But thanks to a storm, your Trap Card will go!” The Mystical Space Typhoon above her head suddenly vanished and reappeared on the field. A black hole appeared underneath the leather-clad man, and with a scream, he sank into the ground as my Trap Card exploded. The cards hovering the air above our heads vanished.

“And with that, now my turn is done. Shall we continue with the fun?”

Cecelia grimaced, then drew a card. But before she did anything, I had to ask a question.

“Tate? Why didn’t you destroy Toon World?”

She scoffed. “Remember, your Toon Monsters don’t bother us. Now, let Cecelia move and stop making a fuss!”

Well, humph to you too. Still seems dumb.

Cecelia cleared her throat. “I shall play ze Mageek card Toon Table of Contents!”

The great book lying in front suddenly started shaking. All of our Toons gave a worried cry and jumped out the way as the pages began flipping backwards, as though caught in a high wind. They stopped on – what else? – the table of contents.

“Now, I can examine zees table and select any card vith Toon een eet’s name zat I find. Zen, I can take ze card from my Deck and add it to my hand!”

The book shrank to normal size, and floated over to Cecelia so she could read it. She ran her finger down the page, then stopped.

“Hmm. Oh, ‘Ibiki-Anime! Can you come ‘ere, si’l vous plait?”

The Toon woman looked confused, but sidled over to Cecelia and started reading the book with her.

“Zees are all such good choices…vat do you zink?”

Hibik-Anime ran her finger down the page as well before stopping on a certain line. Her cartoon face showed great merriment as she pointed vigorously at whatever it was she had picked and nodded her head.

Cecelia practically squealed with delight. “Oo la la! Que magnifique! Vat a marvelous choice!”

Hibik-Anime grinned her seductive grin, then took Cecelia’s Deck out and began searching through it. Finding what she wanted, she handed the card to Cecelia, shuffled the Deck, stuck it back in the disk, and walked back over to the Toon Guitarist.

“My Hibik-Anime chose a vondairful monstair known as ze Toon Demolition Team! And I’ll summon eet immédiatement!”

She placed the card on her disk, and several…somethings…appeared on the field.

What on or off the earth are those?

There were five of them. They looked like humans, save for one very important detail: their skin. More specifically, their skin color. There was a red one, a yellow one, a blue one, a green one, and a black one. Their entire body was colored that single color. Their faces were also strange. They had the typical anime-ish eyes that all Toon monsters seemed to have, but they lacked a nose, mouth, and ears. On a side note, they also all wore hard hats. (300 / 400)

“And zeez construction vorkers have a special ability. Ven zey are summoned, zey automatically can destroy any Trap Card on ze field!”

This perked me up considerably. All right! There goes Liza’s strategy!

“Now, destroy Destiny Board!”

As one, the rainbow-colored team held out their hands, and out of their hands grew various tools: a pickaxe, a shovel, a sledgehammer, etc. They all then rushed over to Liza’s Destiny Board card…but an ominous shape appeared in the air before them, blocking their way.

What the…what’s that thing doing there? Isn’t that Liza’s Deckmaster?

Indeed it was. The frightening moon was hovering in front of the team, whose eyes all widened in fright before they shattered!

I noticed that Liza’s Life Points had dropped to 6300.

“Excellent,” said Cecelia in a very sarcastic tone.

I turned to her. “What’s up?”

“Zair Deckmastairs vork perfectly vith zair Decks. Tate’s defends against ze veakness zat her Deck-type has: Direct attacks zat bypass her powairful defense. Solrock buys her time to draw Exodia. Liza’s Lunatone must be able to protect her Spells and Traps at the cost of 1000 Life Points. Since her strategy revolves entirely around her Destiny Board Trap…zees vill be more difficult zen I thought.”

I turned my attention back to the duel. She’s right. But I can’t let that fact get to me. When I’m in a game, it doesn’t matter how good the opposing team’s strategy is. All that matters is how good our team’s strategy is.

Cecelia nodded to Liza, signaling that her move was done. Instantly, the large triangle sitting on the Destiny Board started moving again, this time stopping on the letter N. Liza’s Deck spat out a card, which she played: Spirit Message N. Another ghost appeared on the field with an N on it, and it floated up to join F and I

Liza drew. “I’ll simply hide this monster from you. Let’s what he can think of to do,” she said, speaking to her sister, who nodded in agreement.

Well, here goes nothing. I drew.

Alright! “First, I’ll set a monster face-down.” I placed my Legendary Jujitsu Master on the disk, and a face-down card appeared in front of me. “Then, I’ll play the card I just drew: it’s called Pinch Hitter!”

The card appeared on the field, showing a picture of Ultimate Baseball Kid looking furious as Battle Footballer was being carried off the field in a stretcher.

“This powerful Magic Card allows me to sacrifice any number of monsters from my side of the field. Then, for every monster I sacrifice, I can Special Summon that many monsters from my Deck, as long as the monsters I summon have 1000 ATK or less. I have three monsters, so I’ll sacrifice all of them!”

I took out my Deck and took out three monster cards. On their own, they were weak, but I just needed one more card, and they’d be strong. My three original monsters all jumped into the Pinch Hitter card as I placed my three new ones face-down on the field and shuffled my Deck.

“Now, meet the monsters I chose! First up is People Running About!”

Four or five peasant-like people ran out of the card. They were clothed in red rags, and had red hair. They looked around them fearfully, as though worried something might come after them. When they saw the hulking form of Total Defense Shogun, they actually clung together out of fear. (600 / 600)

“Next is Oppressed People!”

Instead of running, these peasants sadly walked out of their card, their faces fearful and worried. They wore torn blue robes, and had black hair and blue eyes. (400 / 2000)

“Finally, United Resistance!”

Just as Oppressed People’s entrance was different than People Running About’s, so United Resistance’s entrance was different than Oppressed People’s. They actually marched out of their card, their green eyes shining with determination. They wore yellow robes – though dull-colored, they weren’t torn – and their short blond hair looked ruffled, as though they had just come out of a high wind. (1000 / 400)

I crossed my fingers, wondering what Toon World would turn them into…but nothing happened!

“Wha – wha – why aren’t they Toons?”

Cecelia shrugged. “For some monstairs, zair are simply no Toon versions. Zees must be some of those monstairs.”

It was only then I realized something.

Wait a sec…that Destiny Board will finish spelling its message at the end of Cecelia’s next turn, meaning I can’t draw the card I need before then!

I threw a worried look at Cecelia, trying to tell her that I needed her to finish what I’d started.

Bryan needs help, she thought. He can’t tell me exactly what help he needs, but maybe I can do something for him on my next turn.

Cecelia returned my look. Hoping she had gotten the message I wanted her to get, I called out, “Don’t forget; my Rocky the Toon Flier was sent to the Graveyard, meaning I gain 1000 Life Points, and get to summon 2 more to the field in Defense Mode!”

As my Life Points went up to 7450, a noise like a couple of airplane engines sounded, and two more Rockies swooped out of sky and landed in front of me. They turned off their propellers to show Defense Mode. (1000 / 100 x2)

“My turn’s over, Liza!”

“I see that you’re through. Now I’m one turn closer to defeating you!”

How does she DO that? I thought to myself as a ghost with the letter A floated up to join the other ghosts.

Tate drew her two cards, and the Solemn Wishes cloud floated over to Liza and gave her 500 more Life Points. (L: 6800)

“Why’d he summon those? They’re so weak! Shogun, slash them into next week!”

The Shogun raised his mighty sword…

“Activate Trap!” yelled Cecelia. “Go, Toon Cancellation!”

A TV screen, showing nothing but static, appeared in front of Total Defense Shogun, blocking his path.

“Ven I have my Toon Vorld on ze field,” said Cecelia with a smug look, “I can negate ze attack of any monstair zat attacks Bryan or myself. Your Shogun can no longer hurt Bryan’s monstairs!”

Tate looked very upset. “You’ve angered me and made me frown. I’ll end by playing this face-down.” A card appeared in front of her.

Alright, Cecelia thought as she drew her card. Apparently Tate and Liza didn’t recognize the weak monsters that Bryan summoned. I do, though, and I have a card that will help us tremendously. I just need to draw it…

She drew the card and looked at it.

Yes!

“I play ze Mageek Card Library Database!”

A large black computer appeared in front of Cecelia. She began punching something into the keyboard.

“Now, you two may not recognize zeez ‘veek monstairs’ zat Bryan ‘as played. I, ‘owevair, know zair true power, but zey need a Trap Card to unleash eet. So, as soon as I call out ze name of zees Trap Card, any player ‘oo ‘as one een zair deck can activate eet immediately!”

She held her finger over the ‘Enter’ key. “I call: Huge Revolution!”

All of a sudden, my Deck started glowing, and it spat out a card. Eternally grateful to Cecelia, I quickly slipped the card into my disk. It righted itself, and all of the peasants on my side of the field looked up with fiercely determined expressions. They suddenly produced various weapons from under their ratty clothing: pitchforks, knives, and short swords.

“Why, thank you, Cecelia. I’ll take it from here.”

Cecelia nodded to me.

“As you can see,” I called out to Tate and Liza, “my monsters may look weak, but this Trap Card gives them newfound strength to overthrow any tyranny! When it’s played and these peasants are on the field, they can do THIS!”

Right on cue, my not-so-weak peasants ran across the field and began hacking and slashing at Total Defense Shogun, eventually destroying it!

Liza started yelling. “I won’t let them get away with their attacks! Lunatone, stop them in their tracks!”

But the creepy moon didn’t budge.

I laughed, slightly relieved. I had wondered whether or not she would be able to block it. “Sorry, Liza, but Lunatone can only block effects that specifically go after Magic and Trap Cards; this effect goes after every card on the field!”

One by one, all of Tate and Liza’s many cards shattered, thanks to the handiwork of my monsters. Finally, they turned on Tate and Liza themselves, who drew back in fear.

“Oh, one more thing. You have to discard every card in your hands as well!”

The crowd of peasants glared at Tate and Liza. Rather than face the wrath of these angry people, they discarded their hands without much of a fuss.

“Sorry, girls, but your strategies have been ruined! The revolution destroyed both your Destiny Board, Liza, and your Exodia pieces, Tate!”

They said nothing. Maybe this was something they couldn’t rhyme with.

“Now, even though Bryan’s monstairs just finished, eet ees still my turn! And eef you’ll notice, I’ve yet to attack! So, go Guitarist! Attack Liza vith Toon Concierto Bash!”

The Guitarist ran across the field and slammed his guitar into Liza’s side, sending her sprawling (L: 5150)

Alright! That sun Deckmaster can prevent the effect of attacking directly, but if there are no monsters on the field, we don’t have to use that effect!

“Your turn, ‘Ibik-Anime! Howling Slash!”

Following in the Guitarist’s footsteps, Hibik-Anime raced across the field and let out a scream – although there were no monsters for her to switch to Defense Position, so the effect was a bit useless. However, she still managed to slash another 1400 Life Points out of Liza. (L: 3750)

“I vill leave ze rest up to Bryan.”

Liza shot Cecelia a venomous look before drawing. “I’ll hide this monster from your eyes; you’ve yet to reach your victory prize!” A monster card appeared face-down in front of as the turn passed to me. I drew.

OK, Bryan. Liza’s right: you’re not done yet. Let’s see…Tate’s and Cecelia’s Life Points are untouched, whereas Liza has 3750 points to my 6450. Maybe this card will help me…hmm, Monster Reborn? I’ll save it for later. But, since Tate’s Life Points are wide open…

“Sorry Tate, but you’re next! First, I switch my two squirrels to Attack mode. Then, go Oppressed People! Attack with Sorrowful Wave!”

The people dressed in blue held up their hands and chanted something; immediately, a small wave rushed across the field and ran Tate over. (T: 7600)

“Your turn, People Running About! Stressful Flare!”

The people dressed in red held up their hands and shot a series of fireballs at Tate, burning her jumpsuit and knocking her back a foot or so. (T: 7000)

“And, I don’t want to leave out United Resistance! Determined Charge!”

When the blond-haired people held up their hands, small lightning bolts started shooting down from the clear blue sky, charring Tate’s hairstyle. (T: 6000)

“Finally, attack my Toon Squirrels! Magna Missile Shot!”

Both of my Toons revved their engines, then took off towards Tate, shooting a barrage of ACME missiles. Her Life Points plummeted to 4000.

“That’s all for me, Tate.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------

I threw myself flat onto Benu Phoenix’s back as the shock wave from the exploding Ring of Destruction tore through the air. Benu Phoenix quickly flew backwards, and then up, to get away from the blast. Pieces of lava and molten rock flew everywhere, slamming into the ravine walls and into the molten river below, causing mini-eruptions where they hit.

Burn, baby. Burn, I thought to myself with a grin.

When the smoke cleared, I saw that Lava Golem was gone; all that was left were pieces of metal from the cage that had imprisoned Sara.

Speaking of Sara…she was still standing!

WHAT? That should’ve knocked her out!

She looked at me and chuckled as Benu Phoenix lowered me back to the duel.

“Remember, Jake? I said that I had a monster in my hand that would save me, and he did!”

She held up her disk and a card came out of it. She held it up, and out of it came a jet-black furball that looked remarkably like a Kuriboh.

“Meet Kuribit! If I discard him when I’m about to take damage from a card effect, I can negate that damage! Not only that, but you’re about to lose 3500 Life Points from your own Trap Card!”

I scowled…then realized that I still had another face-down card.

“Am I now?” I said softly.

She took a step back from me. “But…but…there’s nothing you can do!”

I chuckled. “I have to disagree with that, Sara. You see, my face-down card will not only save me, but destroy you! Activate Barrel Behind the Door!”

The card lifted. Automatically, I held out my hand, and a large ornately-decorated pistol appeared in it.

“This Trap Card is quite deadly, especially when combined with Ring of Destruction. I can take any damage that would be dealt to me from a card effect, and deal it to you instead!”

The pistol started glowing and absorbing energy. Sara started shaking.

Benu Phoenix, however, knew what I was about to do, and craned his neck to look at me. He let out a mournful note that I knew meant, “don’t do it! She doesn’t deserve something that cruel! Be reasonable!”

“Heh, this is her fault for agreeing to duel me. If she can’t handle the power of Fire…not my problem.”

Benu Phoenix hung his head in sorrow.

Continued in next post...

[starjake]

You know, came that aggravating little voice again, He has a point. Don’t you think you’re a little too happy about beating her, especially by shooting her with an energy pistol?

Hey, I thought back. This is only a hologram! I’m not actually shooting her. And as for winning…I just defeated the tournament organizer! Tell me that’s not a good thing!

There was no answer.

Well, it’s nice to know I can shut that voice up. Anyways, back to business. “Sorry, Sara, but you’re done for!”

The pistol was actually shaking in my hand now, it had absorbed so much energy.

Take this, freak.

I squeezed the trigger.

The energy bullet exploded from the barrel and tore through air at a shocking speed.

Humph. Good riddance.

The bullet slammed into Sara, sending her flying at least ten yards backwards. In fact, it was only thanks to her Chaos Sorcerer that she didn’t fall into the churning lava below. (S: 0)

I told Benu Phoenix to fly me over to her. As he did, there was a rumbling noise, and the river of lava beneath us suddenly started draining into a crack in the earth that must’ve opened up under it. Soon enough, the lava was gone, and the chasm shoved itself back together again. Benu Phoenix landed and Chaos Sorcerer stopped hovering. I clambered off of Benu Phoenix’s back, and Sara faced me, covered in burns and scorch marks.

It was then that an echo of Mako’s words filled my head.

”No one has ever actually been physically harmed by the monsters here.”

Thoughts of doubt started to fill my head, as did that annoying little voice.

Wait a sec. Things aren’t adding up here. No one has ever been harmed by monsters before…why is it starting now?

And now that I think about it, it’s even worse than duels. Real monsters are attacking people outside of the dueling field…well, as real as this place is.

Oh, shut it, would you? I thought back harshly. I have enough problems to deal with; I don’t need you bugging me, whatever you are!

You can call me your conscience…we used to be good friends… And it stopped talking then.

Humph. I won. That’s all that matters. Now, let’s see how hocus-pocus girl is doing.

But, while I had been arguing with myself, she had vanished.

“Where the he – “

At that moment, I heard an explosion about a mile away. I looked in its direction to see a large thunderstorm swirling about.

Bryan!

----------------------------------------------------------------

“That’s all for me, Tate. Your turn now.”

She scowled, then drew a card.

“I’ll play this monster in Defense; you no longer can attack me hence.”

Dang it, she’s right. That Deckmaster of hers prevents us from attacking directly through effects, and now they’ve both got monsters on the field!

But, that really doesn’t matter; we’ve just ruined both of their strategies! Tate can’t summon Exodia, and Liza’s Destiny Board is history. We just need to Deck them out, and we’ve got this duel in the bag.

“My turn!” called out Cecelia, drawing a card. She looked at it, then said, “I set zees face-down and end my turn.” A face-down card appeared next to her Toon World, then the turn passed to Liza, who drew.

“I’m setting 1 card face-down, too. Now the turn passes to you.”

I drew my card.

Darn. Nothing good. “I pass this turn.”

Tate drew her card.

This is getting boring. Somebody do something, please.

Tate stared at her card…then started laughing.

Cecelia wasn’t in a humorous mood. “And vat, pray tell, ees so funny?”

“I’ve drawn the card that lets me win; my Final Countdown will do you in!”

She slipped the card into her disk, and the field took on a frightening look. The sky darkened as a bunch of small fires flickered into existence in a huge circle around the four of us.

Shoot! I thought to myself as Tate’s Life Points dropped to 2000. I know this card; it lets the user win in twenty turns. And, since there are four of us, those twenty turns will pass real fast!

“Now that’s enough torment for you, and so I’ll say my turn is through.” As soon as those words were uttered, on of the small fires winked out.

There must be a flame for each of the required turns. Well, we won’t have to worry about keeping track.

Cecelia drew a card.

“I set anuzzair card face-down,” she said as another face-down card joined the one already on the field. “Zat ees all.”

Another fire went out as Tate drew. Instead of playing something, however, she simply looked at me and shook her head, which caused another flame to go out.

No rhyme? They must be losing their touch; and not a minute too soon. I was fed up with all that nursery rhyming stuff, I thought to myself as I drew.

Damn it, another useless card! This is pathetic! If something doesn’t happen soon, I’m gonna go nuts! “I pass again.” Yet another flame winked out.

Not to mention that if something doesn’t happen soon, we’ll lose!

Tate drew…and she passed too! It was all I could do to not explode.

C’mon Cecelia, attack, or do something!

Fortunately, Cecelia must’ve been thinking the same thing. She drew, then called out, “I am tired of zees stalling, so eet’s time for me to do somezing about eet! Guitarist, attack Tate’s face-down monster now!

All of our Toons had been falling asleep, mimicking the boredom I felt, but when Cecelia spoke out, they all woke right up, and the Guitarist ran across the field joyously…until he was stopped by an intense wall of bright light that burned my eyes.

Shielding myself from the incredible rays, I called out, “What the – argh – what the heck is going on?”

I heard either Liza or Tate, I couldn’t tell which (since I couldn’t see them and their voices sounded identical), call out “You’ve activated Wall of Revealing Light, which I chose the spring when the time was right! Your weaker monsters can attack no more, though I had to pay 3000 of my score.” (L: 750)

Eventually, my eyes adjusted themselves to the light, but it was still painfully bright. Squinting, I could see that all of our monsters were cringing from the intense beams as well.

“Zair…zair ees nuzzing more…I can do!” called out Cecelia; the light must’ve overloaded her circuitry or something, for she sounded quite out of breath. “Your turn!”

“I’m setting a card face-down, and then, I’m summoning my mystical priest Jowgen!” came what was most likely Liza’s voice from the other side of the ‘wall’.

Jowgen? Is that Jowgen the Spiritualist? Crap, that can destroy every Specially Summoned monster on the field, and all of our Toons were Special Summoned! In fact, even my peasants were Special Summoned too!

“Unfortunately, I’ve no cards of which I can rid, but next turn’s your last, and I do not kid!”

You have to discard a card from your hand to activate Jowgen’s effect, so our monsters are safe. But how can a monster with only 200 attack points defeat our Toon Army?

“Well, I’ll draw then, since your turn has to be done.”

“But YOU are the only one here who is done!”

I heard the sound of a card activating, then, suddenly, the intense light vanished, and I could see again. On Liza’s side of the field was a small priest-like figure dressed in a golden-yellowish robe and funny hat, and held a strange two-pronged staff. The numbers 200 / 1300 were floating above his head.

However, it was Liza’s most recently activated card that worried me. It was a face-up Trap Card that showed a very muscular humanoid and a multi-headed snake wrestling each other.

That’s Kaiba’s card! The Last Turn!

And that was when Cecelia started laughing.

I gave her a strange look. “What’s so funny? Liza just activated an intensely powerful Trap!”

Cecelia stopped laughing, but still had a twinkle in her eyes.

“Liza has just attempted to use one of ze deadliest combonations in all of Duel Monstairs. Normally, you vould special Summon the strongest monstair in your Deck now to do battle with Jowgen. ‘Owevair, Jowgen itself prevents Special Summoning, meaning zat Liza’s won!”

I looked over at Liza, horrified. “Wha – what? She won!”

“So she thinks.”

Liza’s extremely smug and confident expression evaporated in an instant. I turned back to Cecelia. “What do you mean?”

“She’s forgotten zat she ‘as more zen one opponent, and that ze opponent can use her own Traps!”

Two identical looks of extreme worry passed over both Tate’s and Liza’s faces.

“Activate face-down card! Toon Grenade! Zees card can destroy any card on ze field as long as I ‘ave Toon Vorld on ze field…and ze requirements are filled!”

One of her face-down cards lifted, and a large greande with the word ACME printed on its side flew out of the card and slammed itself into Jowgen. The priest had a billisecond to look horrified before the grenade exploded and shattered him into oblivion!

“And now Last Turn resolves, selecting ze face-down monstair on your field!”

Instantly, every card on the field other than Liza’s face-down monster and Last Turn all shattered! There was a loud cry as all the Toons shattered into pixels.

“Now, Bryan! Select one monster from your Deck to defeat Liza’s monstair!”

I quickly ran through my cards in my head, unsure of which to use…then I thought of something. Taking out my Deck, I thought to myself, This will not only take them out, but it will do it by storm!

Holding the monster I wanted to summon in my hand, I called out, “Cecelia, are you allowed to switch Deckmasters?”

She looked at me, confused. “Yes…once per duel, you can pay 2000 Life Points to do so…but vy?”

“You’ll see.”

I turned back to Tate and Liza.

“Now, I banish Sanga of the Thunder back to my Deck!”

Sanga gave a roar before vanishing as my Life Points dropped to 5450.

“Now, behold the one of the most powerful monsters, not just in my deck, but the entire game!”

Massive storm clouds grew out of nowhere as the wind started driving up to hurricane force. Lightning crackled all around me, and rain started coming down in sheets!

“I summon GATE GUARDIAN!”

I slammed the card onto my disk, and the lightning produced a silhouette of a monstrous creature. The earth shook with each step that took him closer to the playing field!

Slowly, he came into view. He was easily thirty feet tall, if not more. His long, muscular arms ended in fingers the size of refrigerators, and in his form you could see the bodies of Suijin, Kazejin, and Sanga of the Thunder. (3750 / 3400)

“Sorry for stealing your line Tate, but, Gate Guardian, OBLITERATE!”

The massive behemoth held up his mighty hand, and all the lightning that had been raining down around us collected on his fist. The wind started spinning around that fist, forming a cyclone, and the rain turned into rock-hard hail as it followed the wind. With a mighty roar, he reached over and slammed his energy-packed fist into Liza’s face-down card, which turned out to be a Giant Soldier of Stone. The Soldier looked up in horror at the powerful punch that quickly slammed into him, causing a massive explosion that sent all of us flying backwards!

When the dust and weather had cleared, there was nothing left but an enormous crater where Liza’s Stone Soldier had been. Liza herself and Tate were spread-eagled on the ground, apparently knocked out.

I picked myself up of the ground to see Cecelia kneeling between them, checking their pulses.

“That didn’t kill them did it?”

“Zat ees vat I’m making sure of. Zat vas quite a powerful creature; I ‘ad no idea zat you even owned a card as rare as Gate Guardian!”

I looked at the card that was still on my disk. “Yeah…when my grandfather learned that I had picked up this game as a hobby, he took me to a card store and said I could pick out any one card I wanted, no matter how expensive. I thought he was bluffing; some of the cards there were worth hundreds of dollars! Joking around, I decided to take his bluff and picked out this card, knowing that he wouldn’t get it.”

“But he did. When he took out his wallet, I realized that he was serious and tried to talk him out of it; it was at least fifty dollars for this thing. But he still bought it. He told that I was worth much more than fifty dollars to him, and if I really wanted it, he would get it for me. So, whenever I play this card, I think of him.”

Cecelia opened her mouth to respond, when we heard a rush of wings. We looked over to see Jake climbing off of Benu Phoenix.

Holy crap! I totally forgot that Jake was even out there! “Jake! You alright?”

He grinned a smug grin that seemed ever-so-slightly out of place, then said, “Yeah, I’m fine. Guess who I just beat?”

Cecelia and I both shrugged.

“Remember that smiling lady who organized this whole thing? I beat her,” he said in a casual air, as though he were commenting on the weather.

As one, our mouths dropped open.

“You…you beat…you beat her?”

“Yeah. Her name was Sara.”

That struck me as odd for some reason. “How good was she?”

“Well, she had this Deckmaster that pumped her monsters to insane attack levels! I thought for sure that Sara’d win when she brought out those 3000 ATK monsters on her first…turn…what?”

For Cecelia and I had both taken a step backwards, away from him. Had he just said…?

“Uh, what’s going on? I did shower this morning…”

“Jake?” I asked in a very cautious voice. “Can you repeat that last thing you said?”

He gave me a very strange look. “I said that I thought for sure that Sara’d win when she…wait a sec.” A look of surprise crossed his face. “Sara’d win…”

“…is the same as…”

“Cerredwin!”


Anime Drake Army
Wind/Dragon/2 stars/ATK 700/DEF 800
This monster cannot be Normal Summoned, Flip Summoned, or Special Summoned unless “Toon World” is face-up on your side of the field. If “Toon World” on your side of the field is destroyed, destroy this card. This monster can attack your opponent’s Life Points directly. When this card is sent to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon 1 “Anime Drake Army” from your hand or Deck in face-up Attack or Defense Position. If “Toon World” is not on the field when this effect resolves, you cannot Special Summon “Anime Drake Army”, instead, you can Special Summon 1 “Troop Dragon” instead.

Rocky the Toon Flier
Earth/Beast/2 stars/ATK 1000/DEF 100
This monster cannot be Normal Summoned, Flip Summoned, or Special Summoned unless “Toon World” is face-up on your side of the field. If “Toon World” on your side of the field is destroyed, destroy this card. This monster can attack your opponent’s Life Points directly. If this card is sent to the Graveyard, increase your Life Points by 1000, and you can Special Summon up to 2 “Rocky the Toon Flier” cards from your hand or Deck in face-up Attack or Defense Position. If “Toon World” is not on the field when this effect resolves, you still gain 1000 Life Points, but you can only Special Summon up to 2 “Nimble Momonga” cards from your Deck instead.

Toon Demolition Team
Fire/Machine/2 stars/ATK 300/DEF 400
This monster cannot be Normal Summoned, Flip Summoned, or Special Summoned unless “Toon World” is face-up on your side of the field. If “Toon World” on your side of the field is destroyed, destroy this card. This monster can attack your opponent’s Life Points directly. When this card is Summoned successfully, you can destroy 1 face-up Trap Card on the field.

Pinch Hitter
Normal Spell
Tribute any number of monsters on your side of the field, then Special Summon a number of monsters from your Deck in face-up Attack Position equal to the number of monsters you Tributed. The Special Summoned monsters must be Level 3 or lower and cannot have ATKs higher than 1000.

Toon Cancellation
Normal Trap
You can only activate this card when “Toon World” is on the field and your opponent declares an attack. Negate that attack and end your opponent’s Battle Phase.

Library Database
Normal Spell
Declare the name of 1 Trap Card. If any player has that card in his/her Deck or in his/her hand, it is immediately activated from wherever it is currently located.

Kuribit
Light/Fiend/1 star/ATK 300/DEF 200
Discard this card from your hand to the Graveyard to make the Effect Damage dealt to you by an opponent’s card effect 0.

Toon Grenade
Normal Trap
You can only activate this card when “Toon World” is on the field. Destroy 1 card in the field.
Note: Kudos to Brian for creating this card and using it in his fic, The Mandate of Heaven.

[starjake]

Chapter 16 – Fear from the Dark

Cerredwin slowly opened her eyes. All she could see was the sky above, painted a beautiful deep blue. She could feel that she was lying spread-eagled on the ground.

It took a few seconds for her to recall the events of the past half-hour. But, when she did, she closed her eyes in pain and her head rolled to one side.

I knew that the power of Fire was strong, but I had no idea that it was THAT strong! I must find a way to add Jake’s power to my own…the stupid boy is oblivious to the outrageous amount of elemental energy pent up inside him.

After recalling some of Jake’s thoughts and comments during the duel, however, she began to think differently. No…perhaps he is less oblivious than I first thought. He seems to be aware that such a power may exist, and it may exist inside him, but for whatever reason he is denying that existence.

He is too far away by now; I cannot read his thoughts from this distance, so I cannot be sure as to what he truly thinks on the matter.

However, she thought, slowly sitting upright, even if I did know what he thought, I am in no condition now to do anything about it.

She examined herself. What she saw confirmed her suspicions of Jake’s true power. Her clothing was in tatters and her once pale skin was now covered in shiny burns. Pain radiated throughout her body, but it wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle.

“Waise heill,” she muttered to herself, touching her right hand to her left arm. When she removed her hand, the skin had renewed itself, though it was still slightly red in color.

Smiling slightly, she ran her fingers all over her burned skin, muttering in the Ancient Language. Wherever her fingers touched, healed skin appeared. It took almost five minutes to finish the job.

Well, that’s that. At least the pain’s gone now. I must return to my home and change my outfit, however; tatters and rags don’t exactly fit the professional look. And with that, she slowly got up, stretched, and walked down the ravine.

-----------------------------------------------------

I just dueled against Cerredwin? Now that just doesn’t seem right!

Bryan started speaking. “Jake, you said this was the woman who’s running this whole game?”

I nodded, unsure of what to say.

Cecelia shook her own head, looking extremely worried. “Zees ees not good, not good at all…”

Bryan looked at her curiously. “Why? Jake just defeated the woman who you say has been giving you so much trouble. How is that a bad thing?”

Cecelia looked into my eyes, and I knew we were thinking the same thing. I, however, spoke before she could reply.

“Because it was too easy, that’s why. I didn’t just defeat her; I creamed her. She barely dented my Life Points.”

I then looked at Cecelia.

“You know, I’m starting to wonder if you’re telling the truth or not.”

I received the expected shocked look from Bryan, but Cecelia’s face was unreadable.

“If that was Cerredwin, she doesn’t seem to be much of a threat. If she’s causing all the trouble that you claim she is, why not just defeat her yourself? I might be a good duelist, but I ain’t no hero!”

Cecelia’s face changed so I could finally understand it. She seemed…sad?

“Jake…Jake, do you not realize zat she ees aftair you! She vants your powairs, and she vill stop at nuzzling to obtain zem!”

“Hmph,” I snorted. I wish she would come up with some new nonsense; this is getting old. “If by ‘powers’ you mean my dueling skills, then you’re absolutely right. That woman I dueled could certainly use some lessons in how to duel. Though I must admit her strategy was unusual.”

Bryan spoke up. “What kind of deck did she run?”

“A chaos spirit deck.”

Bryan looked startled. “Like the ones Noah used?”

I had to think a minute…the TV show was not my forte. Then I remembered. “You mean that blue-haired midget who ran a virtual world? No, not those Spirits. I’m talking about the Spirits that you need to remove a monster in your Graveyard from play in order to summon. She used cards like – “

“ – Garuda the Wind Spireet, Aqua Spireet, and Gigantes, no?”

Cecelia’s words startled me. “How did…how did you know?”

She hung her head. “Because she defeated me vith those creatures.”

This caught my attention really fast. Apparently it did the same with Bryan’s.

“She defeated you? Man, I should know how tough you are…if it weren’t for that Reverse of Reverse Trap I used, I would’ve been toast!”

While I thought slightly less of Cecelia’s dueling skills than I did my own – though that may have been because I had yet to be on the receiving end of them – I had to agree that Cecelia was a formidable opponent. I could not picture the woman I had dueled defeating someone with Cecelia’s strength.

“Cecelia? No offense, but I cannot see someone with a skill level as low as hers defeating someone with a skill level as high as yours.”

“She’s right,” came a female voice.

I turned to my right and saw for the first time that there were twin girls sitting there, both dressed in identical blue jumpsuits, and both wearing dueling disks. I realized then that they had spoken in unison, and since their voices were identical, it had sounded like one person.

Now that’s not something you see every day, I thought to myself.

Bryan, realizing that I had no idea who these two people were, spoke up. “Jake, these are Tate” (he gestured towards the one on the left) “and Liza” (he gestured towards the one on the right). “Cecelia and I had just defeated them when you showed up.”

I suddenly realized that we were standing in a crater roughly ten feet in diameter. “Did you…make this crater? During your duel, I mean.”

Bryan grinned mischievously. “Well, I didn’t…but my monster did.”

My eyes widened in shock. What kind of monster could he have that would make a crater this large? That’s nuts!

Shaking it off, I turned my gaze back to Tate and Liza. “So, why were you all dueling? A bit of fun?”

Both Tate and Liza hung their heads in what looked like shame, but I had no idea why having a friendly duel would cause anyone shame. “Did…I say something?”

Cecelia spoke, but her words were so quiet I had to strain to hear them. “Zey were forced to duel us against zair vill.”

Bryan blurted out, “Yeah, and they kept talking in this really freaky rhyme for the entire duel!”

At this, the twins looked even more embarrassed.

“Zat, too, vas against zair vill.”

“I don’t get this ‘against their will’ stuff. They were brainwashed?”

“No, Jake, we were cursed.”

I looked over to the twins again and realized they had once more spoken in unison. Even more unusual was the fact that they continued to do so.

“Cerredwin is far from the benign woman you believe her to be, Jake Forester. She wanted to confront you alone, without anyone else to support you. She knew that at least Bryan would be with you, but when she learned that Cecelia was with you as well, she decided that two duelists were needed to in order to block both of your friends.”

“We, of course, wanted nothing to do with her; our telepathic abilities showed more than we wanted to know about her schemes. Unfortunately, she wielded some sort of magic that we could do nothing to block. She used her strange brand of magic to channel our psychic power in a negative way, forcing us to speak only in rhyme. However, she also told us that, once we completed a duel against you two” they gestured towards Bryan and Cecelia “the spell would lift. However, she was aware that we had no desire to duel you two and that we might simply start the duel and then forfeit. So she said that we had to duel our hardest against you two, or the curse would not lift.”

If I hear any more of this ‘magic’ crap… “Look, these stories are nice, but storytime’s done, ok? Spells and curses and witches are fun and all, but I’m sick of listening to your fairy tales! And I don’t know who you’re talking about, but that woman I dueled against didn’t have any…powers…” I trailed off as I remember her weird ability to heal her wounds.

Argh…that must’ve been a holographic projection! With holographic abilities this powerful, I’m sure she could fool anyone into believing anything!

---------------------------------------------------------------

Cerredwin walked down the ravine until she reached a strange-looking tree. It was gnarled and obviously very old. One of the branches curved in on itself, and from the tip hung three leaves. She touched each of the three leaves in succession, and a door opened in the ravine wall. Smiling, she walked in.

Ah, home sweet home.

She walked through the cave, which was lit by torches hung on the walls. Reaching a fork in the path, she went left.

After winding her way through the cave, she reached a small room. She went over to a clothes rack and picked out a business suit.

Good thing I keep an extra one of these.

She changed from her burned and tattered suit into her new one, then turned and walked out of the room. Continuing down the cave, she came to another room, which was not lit by torches. The room was lit by an eerie glow that seemed to come from the wall itself, but it wasn’t luminous enough to see anything by except for vague outlines.

“You in there, Tom?

A high-pitched, whispering man’s voice answered her with the ghost of a British accent.

“Must you call me that vile, hideous name?”

“It’s no more vile or hideous than you are.”

This time, the only answer was a hiss.

“Are you swearing at me in snake language again?”

Another hiss, this time accompanied by English. “You dare mock me? Are you trying to aggravate me?”

“I’m not afraid of you, Tom. My magic easily outclasses yours.”

“Ha. That may be true; however, I cannot die. You, on the other hand, can. You know as well as I do that, were we ever to fight, I would eventually emerge victorious.”

Why did I ask for this guy’s help again? The only thing he does is threaten to kill me. “Look, I didn’t come here to argue with you. I came to ask you a favor.”

A chuckle floated across the room. “First you insult me, then ask a favor of me? Let me inform you that that is a poor way to do business. Hannah,” he added with a sneer in his voice.

Cerredwin’s eyes narrowed. “That isn’t my name and you know it! I am Cerredwin now; Hannah no longer exists.”

“I’ve touched a nerve I see. You don’t seem to mind insulting me; why is it that I cannot insult you?”

“I know that this is a concept you’re not used to, but I’m in control of you and not the other way around. That’s why you can’t insult me.”

There was another pause. “Very well.”

“Good. Now, as for the favor, I need you to duel someone for me.”

“Hmph. I’m no fool, you want me to duel Jake, don’t you? Why should I spend my precious time playing a card game, especially since I have nothing to gain from such a battle?”

“Again, you’re working for me! You do as I say!”

“You don’t seem to realize that I am not an underling, to be ordered about at will. I am a master in my art, and I deserve respect for that!”

“True, but you’re still here to do my bidding. You didn’t seem to mind ordering others about in the past, did you? Well, the tables have turned. I revived you to make my job easier; deal with it!”

More hissing. “I shall not be disrespected like that!”

“Quiet, you snake charmer!” yelled Cerredwin in a threatening tone.

“Snake charmer, am I?”

Instantly, Cerredwin sensed something moving in the room. Before she could do anything about it, she found herself tightly wrapped in the coils of an immense serpent!

This again? He needs to think up some new tricks.

Thankfully, her arms were free. She raised her right hand and called out, “Giaxio!” A beam of ice shot from her hand and slammed into the serpent’s face, causing it to shriek in pain and fall to the ground. It slithered away into the darkness.

“If you want to scare me, you’ll have to do more than that, Tom.”

A rather long silence followed this. Then…

“Very well. I will duel Jake on your behalf…since apparently you couldn’t do it.”

“Hmph. I allowed him to win.”

“Of course.”

With that, the minimal light coming from the wall dimmed completely, plunging the room into utter darkness. Cerredwin felt a presence pass by her and out the door. She waited a moment, then proceeded out the door herself. Her compatriot had apparently blown out the torches on his way out, but Cerredwin knew these tunnels far too well to let a minor thing like darkness stop her.

And she needed to hurry. Tom wasn’t the only person she needed to talk to…

------------------------------------------------------

I was sick of this magic crap, sick of those twins speaking in unison, and sick to death of being made out to be a hero! I don’t care how good a duelist I am; there’s no way I’m gonna ‘save the day’. I wanted to compete in a tournament, so I did. I didn’t ask for all this extra stuff, and I don’t want it!

Glaring at Cecelia, Bryan, and the twins, I turned on my heel and started walking away. But before I could get very far…

“You must ‘save the day’,” came the ever-aggravating unison voices of the twins.

If one more person reads my mind… “And just what do you mean by that?”

“You can deny the existence of this threat as much as you like, but that won’t stop it from being there. If anything, you must fight for yourself; for Cerredwin needs your Fire to complete her collection and gain enough power.”

I turned back and faced them. “If she wants my cards, why doesn’t she just get some herself? She does work at a card shop.”

Bryan could apparently no longer contain himself. “You moron! She doesn’t give a crap about your cards; she wants YOU! YOU are what she’s after, Jake! I’ve watched you duel before, Jake, and there’s something about you that I’ve only seen in a few other people! When you duel, you…I don’t know, you change somehow! You’re a different person! Why are you acting like such an idiot?”

I could feel my temper rocketing. “Look, Bryan, maybe you think you’re helping, but let me tell you that you’re not! This is not some kind of video game!”

“Um, Jake, we’re in a virtual world. So I’d have to disagree with you and say that, yes, this IS a video game!”

“Fine then, call it whatever you want! I’m not interested in playing hero and saving the day! I came to this tournament to see how my skills matched up against other duelists, not to see how I would handle a duel when my life is in danger! So, I beg your humble pardon, but I am going to continue on the tournament and see how far I can get! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have three more duels to win before I’m allowed to enter the semi-finals.”

As I turned around and walked off again, I could hear the four of them saying things, but I didn’t know what they were and nor did I care. Activating my disk, I pulled my Benu Phoenix card from my deck.

“Let’s get out of here; I have an opponent to find.”

-----------------------------------------------

It was amazing how much Jake was acting like Kaiba: he refused to acknowledge anything strange even when it was rubbed in his face.

“What are we going to do?” I asked to no one in particular.

Cecelia said, “Vell, eef ‘ee already defeated Cerredwin, zen I guess zat vee do not need to vorry eef ‘ee can ‘andle ‘eemself.”

I frowned. “I’m more worried about the people he comes across. He’s dangerous.”

“He is not as dangerous as he seems.”

I wasn’t sure what surprised me more, the fact that Tate had spoken, or the fact that ONLY Tate had spoken. “Why do you say that?”

Liza answered this time. “He is upset now, which is why he blew up at you, but he does not, I believe, have any intention of hurting anyone. He simply wants the tournament to finish.”

I looked at the ground, unable to say anything.

He’s not the only one…

------------------------------------------------

As I rode Benu Phoenix, I wondered whom my next opponent would be.

Well, I’ve gone up against Mako Tsunami and the leader of the tournament. Bryan’s gone up against Pegasus’s dead wife and a set of psychic twins. I guess there’s no telling who I’m up against next.

I suddenly realized it was awfully cloudy. “Uh, Benu Phoenix, can we go a little lower? I can’t see the ground beneath us.”

He started losing altitude, but the clouds didn’t go away. They actually seemed to get thicker.

That’s weird. What’s up with the sudden fog?

At that moment, a dark shape soared past us, and the temperature decreased even further.

“What the…Benu Phoenix, did you see that?”

It cawed an affirmative, then increased its speed.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough. Another shape flew by us. Then another, and another, and another…

“We’re surrounded!”

Yet another shape came into view, but I could actually see this one. It seemed to be made entirely of a ragged, torn cloak that flapped about every which way, obscuring its true shape. I instantly got a very bad feeling.

As if I needed more freaky things to happen to me… “Benu Phoenix, try and land!”

It started descending rapidly. We were soon out of the cloud cover and over a dense patch of forest. We found a clearing large enough to hold Benu Phoenix and landed there. I wasn’t quite sure I wanted to dismount; after all, those clouds had soaked me and I was freezing, and Benu Phoenix provided plenty of heat.

It was then that I heard the high-pitched, whispering voice that will forever haunt me.

“How thoughtful of you to come. It is unwise to keep Lord Voldemort waiting…”

[starjake]

Chapter 17 – Sorcerer of Dark Magic

I looked around wildly, trying to figure out where that voice was, especially in relation to I was. The larger that distance was, the better.

LORD VOLDEMORT? I might not now that much about popular culture, but there isn’t a person alive who doesn’t know who this guy is! I better get out of here! “Benu Phoenix, on second thought, let’s land somewhere else, shall we?”

He nodded, then spread his wings wide to take off. Unfortunately…

“You won’t be able to leave quite that easily…”

I felt a chill that was colder than a mere decrease in temperature. I looked up to see dozens of the robed creatures swirling above me in some kind of spiral formation.

Suddenly, I remembered a tidbit of information that scared me even more.

Now I remember…those are dementors! They work for Voldemort in the book series; they must do the same here. I’m trapped!

“You seek to reject my hospitality? How rude…”

My breathing started getting short and raspy. If this guy had the same powers here as he did in the books, I was toast!

“I – I’m not scared of you!”

A chuckle floated to my ears. “Then your acting skills must be second to none. I can see the fear in your face; in your eyes; in your very soul. Your fear is so profound that I can even smell it!”

His voice sounded so snakelike that for a second I wondered if I was speaking with a human at all. Then I realized that I probably wasn’t.

“How can you see me? Where are you?” I took all my effort to not ask ‘What are you?’

“You ask too many questions, Jake. However, I shall answer them to humor you.”

He even knows my name!

“First, just because you can’t see me doesn’t mean I can’t see you. As for my whereabouts, I’m right HERE!”

On the word HERE, a large dark shadow suddenly swooped down from the trees and stopped within inches of my face!

“AAAAAHHHHHHH!”

Backing away, the shadow chuckled. “Hmph. And Cerredwin said you didn’t scare easily.”

Trying to calm myself – and failing miserably – I replied, “You – you just – you just st-startled me a bit, th-that’s all.”

I couldn’t see the shadow’s face, but I could sense that it raised an eyebrow (if it had any). “Of course, Jake. Now, I dislike these little pleasantries, so let’s get down to business. You have something I want, and I plan to get it from you. Unfortunately, my incredible magic skills have been dimmed by a certain someone whose magic exceeds mine, so I cannot simply kill you and be done with it. However, I have been told that your skills at dueling are formidable. Am I right?”

What shocked me most about his little speech was that it sounded as though he spoke it through clenched teeth, like he was incredibly angry at something.

“I asked you a question, Jake. Do not be impolite in my presence…my magic may have been dimmed, but I still have some of it left…”

“Uh, yes, yes, they are! Sir,” I added, nodding my head vigorously.

Yet another chuckle. “How amusing. The mighty Master of Fire, reduced to stammering over his words? My, my, how unimpressive…”

His words sparked my ever-ready temper. “Look, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I’m n-not a Master of anything!”

There was a slight pause. Then…laughter?

“Hahaha! You are even more foolish than I thought! I assumed that you were simply untrained in your magic, but you deny its very existence? I can see it in you; it emanates from your soul like a bonfire! What a fool!”

My fear was quickly drowned out by anger. “You call me a fool? Mighty big words for someone babbling about magic and whatnot. You’re the one acting foolish!”

This time the response was a low hiss. “You dare insult me? I am the mighty Lord Voldemort; my powers could easily destroy you, and you DARE to insult me? You will pay for that!”

And with that, he did the very thing I wondered if he could do and hoped he wouldn’t. He held a hand out of his robes – it was deathly white and looked almost like a spider, its fingers were so skinny and long – and in the hand a wand materialized out of thin air. He raised it high before chanting something.

“Avada Keda – AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHH!”

Much to my surprise, a jet of fire had sent Voldemort flying backwards. Even more surprising was that my hand was raised, palm out.

And it was red-hot.

Shocked, I stared at my slightly glowing palm. Did…did I just…do…that?

A million thoughts instantly started rushing through my head at the speed of light.

There’s no way I could’ve done that!

I just protected myself from a curse!

I held my head to try and prevent the rapidly forming headache.

I just sent a powerful magician flying backwards!

What the heck is going on?

“Errrrrrrgggggghhhhh…THIS IS NOT HAPPENING TO ME!”

Instantly, the ground behind me exploded in a pillar of fire! The dementors swirling above me broke formation to dodge the intense flames and Benu Phoenix – who I was still sitting on – gave a loud squawk.

Not noticing the fire behind me, I slowly raised my shaking finger and pointed it at Voldemort.

“Look, you. I don’t know who you are, or what you’ve done to me…but I refuse to be intimidated by your hocus-pocus anymore!”

My breathing was gasping and erratic, and my jaw was clenched in a rage I had never yet felt.

“So, Mr. Voldemort, I don’t know why you brought me here, but I demand that you tell me, so we can do whatever it is and I can get on with my life!”

The fire behind me slowly died down as I slowly regained my composure.

Voldemort got up and glided over to me once more. But, when he spoke this time, I detected the tiniest bit of fear on his voice.

“Very well, Jake. I brought you here so I could duel you. I am looking for that bit of power you displayed a moment ago, and I intend to take it from you!

“Can it, you hooded weirdo! If you want a duel, that’s fine by me,” I yelled, my Disk snapping into position. “But cut the magic act!”

There was a long pause, during which I assumed Voldemort was trying very hard to not attack me again.

“Unfortunately for you, Jake, I can only fulfill half of your request. I will duel you, but I cannot ‘cut the magic act’, as you so eloquently put it.”

After saying this, he held out that freaky hand again – this time wandless – and called out, “Nagini!”

At first, I thought he was trying to use some weird spell; but then I saw that that was not the case. It must have been a name of some kind, because the instant he called it, a rustling noise came from the woods behind him. To my horror, the rustling turned into a hissing, which turned out to come from an enormous snake! It was easily fifty feet long, and as wide around as I was! Its eyes glowed white, and even in the dim light I could see six-inch fangs protruding from its open, hissing mouth. It gave a long hiss that seemed to vary in pitch and intensity, causing Voldemort to chuckle.

“Sorry, I must have missed that joke.”

“You are the joke! She’s asking why I choose to waste my time battling against someone such as yourself.”

With that, he turned to Nagini and started hissing himself! This seemed to satisfy the massive serpent, who turned back in my direction and gave a hiss that soundly strangely like a laugh,

“And what did you tell your pet there?”

“If you could speak Parseltongue, you would know, wouldn’t you?”

“Parsel-what?”

Speaking with the air of one talking to a two-year-old, he said, “Parseltongue. The ancient language of snakes.”

In a new tone of voice, he commanded, “Now, get off that Diricawl of a creature and duel.”

Sliding off Benu Phoenix, who looked highly affronted, I asked, “What did you call my monster?”

“A Diricawl. You may know it as a dodo.”

Now I knew why Benu Phoenix had looked insulted. “Benu Phoenix is no dodo! Perhaps you’d like to see how powerful he is firsthand?” I yelled, glaring at Voldemort, while Benu Phoenix did the same.

“HA HA HA! Your parakeet wouldn’t even be able to come near me!”

“What makes you think he needs to? Benu Phoenix, go ahead and show that fraud magician who’s the boss!”

Benu Phoenix immediately let loose an incredible screech that was so strong it actually made the trees shake! When he stopped…Voldemort was still standing!

After a short pause, he replied, “Oh, was that your attack? I must not have noticed. My turn.”

The wand rematerialized in his hand, and he slashed it diagonally through the air, leaving a streak of purple fire in its wake. The fire tore through the air and slammed into Benu Phoenix, who gave a loud squawk and look of surprise before exploding into a puff of feathers!

Horrified, I stared at the spot where Benu Phoenix had been, then glared daggers at Voldemort. “You…you killed him!”

“Fool. Monsters don’t die. I simply sent it back to your Deck where it belongs. Now, are we going to do this or not? I am a busy wizard, you know…so many lives to destroy…”

I was getting angrier by the minute. “Alright, that’s enough of you! Get out your Duel Disk and let’s do this!”

“A Duel Disk? Oh, that thing on your arm. Thankfully, I am not bound by that pathetic machinery.”

With that, he waved his wand again, and five cards appeared in front of him, their backs turned to me.

“Now, I believe I need a…Deckmaster; is that what they are called? Hmm. Nagini will do nicely.”

This took me aback. “But…but that snake isn’t a Duel Monster!”

“Not yet.”

He pointed that infernal wand at his snake, and it suddenly rose into the air, hissing madly! It began to transform into…something?

Bat wings and legs ending in three claws sprouted all along its monstrous body. The tail sharpened into a wicked-looking blade. Most frightening of all, however, was its head: it lengthened and sharpened into a beak, the eyes moved forward, and horns started sprouting from its forehead!

When the process was complete, I was no longer staring at a snake; I was staring at something more along the lines of a dragon!

“I have transformed my Nagini into something more suitable for the situation at hand; I believe you know it as Serpent Night Dragon!”

The wicked dragon gave out a screech that sounded more like an eagle than a snake, and settled itself down into a curl around its master.

Once I realized that it was a monster I knew about, I relaxed slightly. “And what does your snake-dragon do?”

“It strengthens my Dark monsters by 500 points. I believe you need a Deckmaster as well…”

“I do, and my choice is…” I called out, drawing a card from my Deck. I looked at it.

“How ironic! You called me the Master of Fire; but I can’t be that, because that position is already filled! Meet my Deckmaster: Legendary Flame Lord!”

I held the card I drew high, and the ground behind me erupted into an inferno! Out of the flames stepped the regal Flame Lord.

Taking my Incandescent Ordeal card out of my Deck, I called out, “There’s your Master of Fire!”

Voldemort said nothing.

“About time you shut up. Now, since you’re not doing anything, I’ll make the first move!” I drew six cards from my deck.

Alright! This strategy will mop the floor with that freak of nature!

“I set two cards face-down, and a monster in Defense.” The three cards appeared in front of me. “Then, I play the magic card Molten Destruction!”

Flicking open my Field slot, I slipped the card into my Disk, and the ground rumbled! The card appeared on the field…

…and shattered into pixels!

“What the – what did you do?” I asked as the ground stopped shaking.

It was only then that I noticed Serpent Night Dragon’s wings. They were glowing a faint white color.

“Huh?”

“I see you are as much of a fool during a duel as you are outside of one. My Serpent Night Dragon prevents the usage of any field cards!”

Ergh…that can’t be good. Most of my monsters depend on that card; without it, they’re weaklings in terms of their attack scores!

“That’s all I can do.”

Another card materialized next to the cards hovering in front of him, bringing the total to six. He waved his wand, and the cards started to rearrange themselves.

“I also choose to set two cards face-down, and I summon Vorse Raider to the field.”

Two of the cards floated into face-down positions, then an upright card floated in front of them. Out of it leapt a humanoid monster wearing leather armor and carrying a monstrous sword in two hands. (1900 / 1200) -> (2400 / 800)

I watched the stats with interest. Looks like Voldemort didn’t tell me everything. It seems as though that dragon of his makes a permanent, indestructible Mystic Plasma Zone on the field. It raises the attack of his monsters, but also lowers their defense. That also explains why any other Field cards are useless; if they were played, they would negate Mystic Plasma Zone’s effect.

“However, I am patient. Three cards hidden from my view could spell trouble for me, and I have time to wait. So wait I will; your move.”

He didn’t take my bait, I thought to myself as I drew a card. Fortunately, if he doesn’t take this kind of bait, I can force-feed it to him! “Well, if you’re too afraid to flip my monster, I’ll do it for you!” I flipped my face-down monster face-up. Its holographic counterpart copied the move, and a strange metallic jar floated out of the card with a wicked grin on its ‘face’. (900 / 900)

“My face-down monster is Cyber Jar! It destroys every monster on the field, including itself!”

Cyber Jar’s ‘mouth’ opened, and started sucking in Voldemort’s Vorse Raider! It grunted and held its sword up to shield itself, but in the end, my Cyber Jar won out. Once Vorse Raider was gone, the ‘mouth’ closed, and Cyber Jar exploded!

“Now, we draw 5 cards and – “

“ – we summon any low-level monsters we get. I am not as foolish as you think; I’m aware of how the card works.”

This guy is getting on my nerves, I thought as I drew my five cards, and as five more cards appeared in front of Voldemort. I examined my draws.

Alright! Two Solar Flare Dragons! I’m gonna cream this creep!

“I got three monsters: Blazing Inpachi, and two Solar Flare Dragons!”

The Solar Flare Dragons I had already seen several times (1500 / 1000 x2), but Blazing Inpachi had yet to show its holographic self.

And what a self it was. It was easily fifteen feet tall, and made entirely of burning logs! Two glowing red spots on its head stood out from the flames, and I assumed that they were eyes. (1850 / 0)

“And, since my two Dragons are on the field, you can’t attack either one of them!”

“How true. Thankfully, I don’t need to.”

This took my by surprise. “What? What do you mean, you don’t need to attack them?”

“You may have gotten three monsters; I, on the other hand, received the maximum benefit of five monsters.”

Hmph. It doesn’t matter if he had a hundred monsters; he still can’t attack my Dragons.

Five ominous beings rose on Voldemort’s side of the field. The first was a large dog with orange eyes and glowing red fur, which I took to be Mad Dog of Darkness. (1900 / 1400) -> (2400 / 1000)

The next monster was a shriveled old man with spiky green hair and dressed in the weirdest-looking outfit I’d ever seen. A strange, spike-covered belt covered its eyes. (1200 / 800) -> (1700 / 400)

Continued in next post...

[starjake]

Once I saw the stats, I remembered what that monster was. Someone used one of those against me once; it’s a Fiend-Type called Newdoria. Man, and I thought the picture was creepy; that’s nothing compared to the real thing!

The third monster was hidden face-down, so I had no idea what it was, but the fourth monster was one I certainly knew; though I’d rarely seen it used. It looked like something out of a nightmare; its face was like something from an Aztec statue, and the body was snake-like. (2000 / 800) -> (2500 / 400)

Ugh…Nuvia the Wicked! It’s strong, but its effect weakens it…why would someone use it?

As the final monster appeared (another face-down card), I called out, “Your Nuvia the Wicked might be the strongest monster on the field right now, but did you forget that it loses 200 attack points for every monster on my side of the field?”

It was true. Nuvia’s stats started dropping. (2500 / 400) -> (1900 / 400)

Unfortunately, I thought to myself, it’s still too powerful for any of my monsters to destroy…for now, anyway. I looked at my hand and saw my Salamandra card. This’ll blast his ugly demons into next week!

“I’ll admit that your monsters are tough, but I’ve got something to make my monsters tougher! Since it’s still my turn, I activate my Salamandra!”

The card materialized on the field, and the familiar dragon-headed flame shot out of the card and merged with the flames on Blazing Inpachi’s body. (1850 / 0) -> (2550 / 0)

“Your monsters are weaklings now!”

Voldemort chuckled. “How right you are. My monsters don’t stand a chance. By all means, attack me, Jake.”

I really didn’t like the way he said that.

He still has two face-down cards…maybe it’d be best if I didn’t attack this turn. After all, he can’t attack any of my monsters!

“Alright, you crazy magician. Like you said, I’ve got time, so I’ll end my turn there. And that means my Dragons can get to work!”

Right on cue, they soared across the field and tore through Voldemort’s body. His life Points dropped to 7000.

“As you wish…I’ll get another card.” A new card appeared next to the three floating in front of him.

Huh? Everyone else that happened to, they ended up screaming in pain! What’s up with this guy…it didn’t even phase him!

“Now, your little stunt allowed me to summon two monsters face-down, as I’m assuming you know. And both of them will destroy your monsters!”

“But you can’t attack them!”

“Like I said, I don’t need to! You do know what a monster effect is, right?”

That’s not good!

“My middle face-down creature is known as the Night Assailant!”

The card rotated and rose to reveal a small man covered in a dark hooded cloak. His face was hidden, but the electric-blue arms protruding from his cloak weren’t, and the long dagger he held certainly wasn’t. (200 / 500) -> (700 / 100)

“When this little assassin is flipped, he automatically destroys any monster on the field. And he’s going after one of your dragons!”

In one fluid motion, the creature raised his dagger and hurled it at the dragon on my left, who roared before exploding! And, even worse, since there was 1 less monster on my side of the field, Nuvia’s ATK rose by 200! (1900 / 400) -> (2100 / 400)

“You still can’t attack my Dragon; technically, he needs another Pyro-Type on my side of the field to stay protected, and my Blazing Inpachi fulfills that requirement!”

“Now, my other monster,” said Voldemort, completely ignoring me, “ is one you may not be familiar with. But don’t worry, it won’t destroy your monsters…”

Now what is that lunatic trying to say? This is driving me crazy!

The other face-down monster rotated and lifted to reveal…nothing?

“I don’t see your monster.”

“That’s because it’s too dark out…just you wait…”

Suddenly, two glowing white spots appeared where the monster was, and a loud hissing came from their direction!

Crap…not another snake!

Slowly, I began to make out details. It was indeed a snake; a relatively large one, though nowhere near as large as Nagini. This was probably only twenty feet long, but it had a black-and-gold hood, and the fangs jutting from its upper jaw seemed just as deadly as Nagini’s. (1600 / 1600) -> (2100 / 1200)

“This is one of my favorite monsters, Cobra King! And, like my Night Assailant, it too has a Flip effect. When it’s flipped, it lowers the ATK of all monsters on your side of the field by 500 points!”

Cobra King rose to its full height, and flared its hood, hissing madly! Blazing Inpachi and my remaining Solar Flare Dragon drew back in fear. (1500 / 1000) -> (1000 / 1000) ; (2550 / 0) -> (2050 / 0)

“Now, let’s see whose monsters are ‘toughest’ now, Jake. Mad Dog of Darkness? Fetch me that oversized log!”

His Mad Dog lifted its head and howled before charging across the field. Its eyes were glowing and insane red, and foam flew from its jaws!

“Sorry, but your puppy’s in for a good spanking! I reveal my Mirror Force trap!”

The face-down card on my left rose, and a shimmering shield appeared in front of Blazing Inpachi.

“Say goodbye to your little army.”

Without warning, a strange-looking fog pierced the shield and it shattered!

“Say what? What did you do?”

“It’s really quite simple. I, too, had face-down cards, one of which was a nasty little card called Nightmare Contagion. It can destroy any Trap Card you try and use if I have a Dark monster in play.”

Several words ran through my head that I probably shouldn’t repeat.

“Oh Mad Dog, feel free to continue your attack…”

The dog pounced on my Inpachi and tore at it savagely with its jaws. Soon, my monster was nothing more than a few glowing sticks lying on the ground! I cringed as my Life Points dipped to 7650 and Nuvia’s ATK rose again, to 2300

“And, now that you no longer have anyone to protect your pathetic dragon…Cobra King, attack!”

Hissing madly, the serpent slithered across the field and sank its fangs into my dragon’s side! Solar Flare Dragon screamed before shattering into pixels! My Life Points dipped again, to 7050.

“You’re wide open for an attack…and my monsters are simply dying to give you one! Attack him directly!”

His three remaining monsters sprang from their positions and attacked! Night Assailant slashed with his dagger, Newdoria slashed with his clawed hands, and Nuvia (who had regained all her attack points) slammed her tail into my chest, sending me sprawling! I groaned as my Life Points plummeted to 3050!

With effort, I pulled myself to my feet. “I’m…not done yet! I still have this face-down card...”

The card lifted, and out of it walked a priest in red robes. He held his hands in a prayer position.

“It’s a trap called…Vengeance Restoration. If…I take Battle Damage from a direct attack…I get to summon…a number of Fire monsters from my Graveyard…equal to the number of monsters that attacked me directly. And…there were there, meaning I get all of my monsters back!”

The priest started chanting, and suddenly, my Blazing Inpachi and both of my dragons appeared back on the field with a roar! The priest smiled, and walked back into the card, which promptly vanished.

“Now…is there anything else you’d like to do, or can I make my move?”

I could sense that Voldemort was upset. “It’s your turn…but your monsters are still weaker than mine!”

I drew a card. He’s got a point. At least there’s something that can defend my Life Points now. Let’s see what I drew…hey, not bad!

“First, I shift all my monsters to Defense!”

Blazing Inpachi knelt, and my two dragons curled into resting positions.

“Next, I set another monster in defense and end my turn.”

A face-down monster appeared next to my dragon. Speaking of my dragons…they leapt across the field and slammed into Voldemort’s torso again. And, again, it didn’t seem to affect him at all! (J: 3050 / V: 6000)

“How pathetic, hiding behind a wall of weak monsters,” Voldemort said as another card appeared in front of him.

“My monsters are far from weak!”

“Well, my face-down card begs to differ…I activate Serpent’s Gaze!”

The card rose, and yet another snake slithered out of it. Like Cobra King, it had a hood, but it was colored red and black as opposed to gold. Its eyes glowed red, and instantly a red aura surrounded Voldemort’s monsters!

“What the…what the heck is that?”

Voldemort chuckled. “This powerful trap allows all Dark monsters on my side of the field to damage your Life Points even if your monsters are in Defense. And, since all my monsters are Dark…well, see for yourself. Mad Dog, destroy his bundle of firewood again!”

Once more, his dog tore apart my Blazing Inpachi, leaving only scraps of wood behind.

Crap! Blazing Inpachi had no defense, meaning I just lost 2400 points!

“Now, to finish you off. Cobra King, attack his face-down monster!”

His serpent slithered over and sank its fangs into my face-down card…but a hand made of burnt wood reached out of the card and pushed the cobra away! The hand was followed by a creature that looked like my Blazing Inpachi, but entirely black and smoking as opposed to red and burning. (100 / 2100)

“What? What’s going on here?”

Now it was my turn to chuckle. “You attacked my Charcoal Inpachi, that’s what’s going on! It has 2100 defense points, meaning your snake can’t crack it, and neither can the rest of your monsters!”

Now Voldemort seemed very upset. “All you’re doing is delaying the inevitable. Why do you fight so, when the odds are this high against you? There’s no way you can win; surrendering would be much easier.”

My eyes narrowed. “Sorry, but I don’t give up just because the odds are against me.”

“Very well, it’s your agony, not mine. I set 1 card face-down and end my turn.”

As his card appeared on the field, I drew.

The only problem is that he’s right. Without my Molten Destruction, my monsters are weaklings. And, if he finds a way to destroy my dragons again, I’m toast! This better be something good… I looked at the card I drew.

Hmm. Magic Cylinder…it’ll buy me a little more time I guess.

“I’m also setting a card face-down and ending my turn,” I called out as I set my Magic Cylinder.

Again, both of my dragons burned away another 1000 of his Life Points. (J: 650 / V: 5000)

“Then I’ll draw…hmm, what a nice card. But first, I’ll activate my face-down card: Royal Decree.”

The card lifted, and a large castle appeared behind Voldemort!

“As long as this card remains on the field, all other Trap Cards can’t be activated.”

So much for that Magic Cylinder…geez this guy’s good!

“Now, I’ll sacrifice both my Night Assailant and my Newdoria…”

Both of them? That can’t be good.

“…to summon Despair from the Dark.”

I watched in horror as a monstrous stone altar appeared in front of Voldemort’s monsters and as Newdoria and Night Assailant leapt onto it. Instantly, purple smoke poured out of the altar, consuming both of his monsters entirely! Then, the altar crumbled…but the smoke remained!

“But…where’s your monster?”

“Ha…fool. That is my monster!”

Sure enough, the smoke started forming into a gigantic shape. There was a jet-black horn on either side of its shadowy head, as well as two glowing yellow eyes, and it had two arms that each ended in immense purple hands. The entire creature seemed to be made of pure darkness! (2800 / 3000) -> (3300 / 2600)

Good God, that’s big! Good thing my monsters are in Defense!

And then came the worst part: two glowing red eyes came from the place were Voldemort’s Serpent Gaze had been…and still was!

“Wait…I thought that your Serpent Gaze was gone!”

“Sorry, but it’s a permanent card.”

Another thought occurred to me. “What about your Royal Decree? That stops your Trap Cards too!”

“Perhaps you were unaware of the fact that, due to my Serpent Gaze’s ability, it can’t be negated?”

No…that means…I’m done!

“Now, to wipe you out! Despair from the Dark, destroy his Charcoal Inpachi now!”

The frightening monster drifted over to my Charcoal Inpachi and reached forward with those hideous hands.

No…I…I’m done for…that Serpent Gaze means his monster will deal me 1200 points of damage, but I only have half that many Life Points!

The hands glowed with an eerie light before picking up my Inpachi…then an enormous yellow mouth opened in the creature’s face! The ugly creature laughed evilly before swallowing my monster whole!

I collapsed as my Life Points fell to zero.

I…I lost…


Cobra King
Dark/Reptile/4 stars/ATK 1600/DEF 1600
FLIP: Decrease the ATK of all face-up monsters on your opponent’s side of the field by 500 points.

Nightmare Contagion
Counter Trap
You can only activate this card if there is at least 1 face-up Dark monster on your side of the field. Negate the activation of and destroy 1 Trap Card.

Vengeance Restoration
Normal Trap
This card can only be activated at the end of your opponent’s Battle Phase. If any monsters on your opponent’s side of the field attacked you directly this turn, you may Special Summon a number of monsters from your Graveyard in face-up Attack Position equal to the number of monsters that attacked you directly.

Serpent’s Gaze
Continuous Trap
If a Dark monster on your side of the field attacks a Defense Position monster on your opponent’s side of the field with an ATK that is higher than the DEF of its target, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent’s Life Points. The activation and effect of this card cannot be negated.

[starjake]

Chapter 18 – Rivalry of Warlords

I watched Jake fly off on his Phoenix and wondered who he would find as his next opponent.

In this world, it could be anybody, I thought to myself.

“So, should we follow him?” I asked to no one in particular.

Tate and Liza answered, once again, in unison. “As we said before, he isn’t dangerous; just upset. He’ll find a duel and use that to vent his anger.”

Cecelia spoke. “In ze meantime, ‘owevair, you still have two duels to vin before you may compete in ze semi-finals, no?”

She had a point. I doubt that this will end before a winner is declared. In that case, I need to win more duels to end this nightmare. “You’re right, Cecelia. Any suggestions?”

She shrugged. “I ‘ave no idea where duelists vould be – vee must find zem.”

That was a great idea, but I was getting tired. “More walking? Isn’t there public transportation around here?”

Cecelia grinned. “You forget zat Jake ees not ze only one vith a Benu Phoenix card.”

Way to be observant, Bryan. “Will it carry all four of us?”

Tate and Liza replied, “There is no need for it to carry four. Due to that rotten curse, Cecelia does have a link to us, and it might be dangerous for us to remain near you for too long. We will stay behind.”

“Are you sure?” I asked.

They both bowed in unison. “Yes. We have faith in your abilities. You will see us again soon, don’t worry.”

And with that, they vanished into sparkles of light.

There was a slight pause before I said, “Well, I guess that’s that. I’m assuming that Benu Phoenix can hold two people, right?”

“Yes.” She removed the card from her deck and placed it on her duel disk. Immediately, a twin copy of Jake’s beautiful phoenix appeared next to us with a musical call. Cecelia climbed on effortlessly, but it took a bit more struggling to get me onto the phoenix’s broad back. After a bit of shifting around, I was settled into a comfortable sitting position – I had never realized how warm it was – and Benu Phoenix spread its wings wide.

“Vair shall vee go?”

I pointed to our left. “How about that way?”

With one flap of its mighty wings, Benu Phoenix soared into the air, and we were off to see what would come our way.

We were so focused on our goal that neither of us noticed the angry pillar of fire tear into the sky about a mile behind us.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After exiting the cave, Cerredwin turned right – the entrance behind her sealed itself – and started walking down the ravine once more.

I must reach Heather soon…I need to get to her before Jake does.

Cerredwin pulled a device that looked like a Palm Pilot out of her pocket. She punched a few keys, then examined the screen.

]Good. She staying in the same general area. Hmm…seems she’s beaten that Joey kid. Let’s see…oh, I guess it doesn’t matter. Joey’s still got four wins under his belt. Cocky little guy. Let’s see how Becky’s doing…I see she also has four wins. My, my, Jake you’re in last place. You’d better catch up soon…

…after your battle with Tom, that is.

She smirked. Stopping where she was and closing her eyes, she concentrated on Voldemort. Soon, an image of him waiting in a tree came into her mind. He was muttering something and waving his wand…she saw a thick fog descend in the area surrounding him and dark shapes began flying from the trees and into the fog.

Clever tactics, Tom. You’re using your old dementor trick again. I certainly don’t like them…but I can’t deny that they’re very good at what they do. Jake’ll be so scared he won’t know what’s going on!

Breaking her concentration, she continued down the ravine. After walking for some time, she came upon a trail that led up the steep wall and into a forest. She took this trail and walked deep into the woods. Soon, she came upon a sunlit meadow, about thirty feet in diameter, and in the meadow was a girl about Jake’s age. She had blond hair tied in a ponytail and pretty blue eyes.

“Heather?”

The girl looked up. “Oh hi, Sara! I’m really glad to see you! I’ve been picking these pretty flowers and looking at all these cute bugs and - ”

“HEATHER!”

The girls stopped speaking in her rapid, squealing voice. “Oh, right. Sorry.”

I can see why Jake thought this girl was aggravating. “I need you to do me a favor.”

“What’s up?”

They spoke for some time. Then…

“Thank you Heather. I know you’ll do well.”

“Yes, Sara,” said Heather in a rather depressed tone of voice.

“Take heart, Heather. After all, you’re not supposed to win this tournament.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“Well, I have things to attend to, so if you’ll – “

At that instant, Cerredwin heard a voice in her head.

oh, God, someone help!

Cerredwin clenched her jaw. TOM! Ergh…I wanted you just to weaken him, not steal his powers for yourself! Why must you always cause problems…

With that, Cerredwin turned on her heel and hurried into the woods.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How…how could I have…he beat me…oh, God, someone help!

Voldemort glided over to me.

“How humiliating. A duelist as strong as you, beaten at his own game. You were foolish to accept my challenge…not, of course, that you had any choice in the matter…”

I was too tired and terrified to be angry. “Fine, you won! Can I leave this freaky place now?”

Voldemort chuckled.

“Oh, I don’t think so. You’ll remember me saying you had something I want, no? And you so kindly whet my appetite for it just a little while ago in that outburst of yours…”

Oh no…not this again… I started scooting myself backwards.

“Now, now, Jake, it is rude to leave while I am talking. I suggest you stay…” He aimed his wand at me and muttered, “Petrificus Totalus.” The wand sprayed some kind of mist on me, and instantly, I was paralyzed, lying there on the ground.

He continued.

“Now, where was I? Oh, yes. Whether you choose to believe it or not, Jake, you have power…power that I want. And, now that I’ve defeated you fair and square, I claim the right to take that power from you and use it myself!”

And then, he did the very last thing I wanted him to do at that moment: he pulled out his wand and aimed it at me.

“Don’t worry, “ he smirked. “This won’t hurt…at least, not too much…”

He muttered something under his breath, and the tip of his wand started to glow a strange green color.

“It hurts less if you don’t struggle…oh, that’s right, you can’t…”

And he called out, “Transferae Incendio!

The green light shot from the tip of the wand…

I closed my eyes, expecting terrible pain to tear through my body…

But, all I heard was a loud “SCHWANG” and a small explosion like a firecracker.

“What?” he yelled. “What happened to my spell?”

I opened my eyes and saw the strangest thing. There was some sort of barrier in between myself and Voldemort’s wand. It was perfectly clear; the only reason I knew it was there was because my breath was fogging it up.

And then…

“Didn’t your mother ever teach you that stealing is wrong?”

Voldemort whipped around and I flicked my eyes over to the source of the voice.

Is that…Cerredwin?

Indeed it was. She was standing next to a tree and holding out her hand, which was covered in a frosty blue aura. She lowered her hand, the aura vanished, and the barrier above me shattered. When the fragments hit my skin, they felt…cold?

Ice…that was a barrier of ice…that explains what happened! The spell hit the perfectly smooth ice and reflected off of it, then it must’ve hit one of the trees and exploded…

“Why must you always cause me trouble, Tom? You know full well that those powers are not yours to take. Yet you try to take them anyways?”

“I beat him in a duel. I even did it fairly. I deserve a reward for my efforts!”

Cerredwin narrowed her eyes. “Funny you should say that…I have just the reward in mind…”

She clapped her hands and called out “Deloi reisa!” Immediately, to my shock, the ground surrounding Voldemort shot upwards and trapped him like some kind of earthen cage!

“Humph. That should keep him contained.” She started walking towards me.

Voldemort, however, was apparently not through causing trouble for Cerredwin. The walls that surrounded him suddenly exploded, and Voldemort appeared a full four feet off the ground. He swooped towards Cerredwin and shot a jet of green light at her. In response, she crossed her arms over her chest and shouted “Giaxio!” and a shield similar to the one that had covered me appeared in front of her and reflected the attack back at Voldemort. He disappeared in a swish of his cloak, causing the deflected spell to hit the tree behind him, which immediately wilted and died.

“You cannot defeat me, Tom!” she called out in a clear, confident voice. “My elemental magic far outclasses your fancy fireworks!”

Instantly, a noise like an eagle’s screech resounded throughout the area, and Cerredwin found herself tightly wrapped in the coils of Voldemort’s Serpent Night Dragon – he had apparently not bothered to un-transform his pet snake. The dragon reared back its head and proceeded to swallow Cerredwin whole! It made a large gulping noise, then let out a screech of triumph. Voldemort reappeared about ten feet in front of his dragon.

“Now that is what I call taking a bite out of crime.”

As soon as he said this, Serpent Night Dragon’s expression of triumph turned to one of worry, then of pain. Suddenly, it exploded with an ear-splitting screech!

“NO! NAGINI!”

Where Nagini had been, Cerredwin sat in a crouching position. She slowly stood, glaring at Voldemort the whole time.

“You dare insult my intelligence by attacking me with brute force? Or did you simply forget that I cannot be contained in anything solid? I can simply expand the air inside a chamber to the point where the chamber cannot handle the air pressure inside and – well, I already gave you a demonstration.”

This is nuts! This woman has actually used rocks, ice and air to do whatever she wanted! Could Bryan and Cecelia have been right? Argh, why do these things happen to me?

“You…you killed my precious Nagini…you will pay!”

He started pointing his wand at three spots on the ground and yelling, “Serpentsortia!” And, wherever he pointed, his wand would shoot a large snake like a living bullet.

Strangely enough, two of the snakes looked familiar. One of them had a gold-and-black hood, and two glowing white eyes. A second was entirely green with two small wings coming off of its hood.

Wait a sec…that first one must be Cobra King; he used that against me in our last duel! And I’ve seen that other one a hundred times, it’s Sinister Serpent. But what’s that tiger one?

There was a third snake, this one tiger-striped. Its most unusual characteristic was the fact that had three heads, none of them hooded, but all very nasty-looking.

I’ve never seen that thing before. I think that wins the weirdest looking snake award!

Unbeknownst to me, however, Cerredwin knew exactly what that last snake was.

[I[Ugh…a Runespoor. In the card game, it can attack three times owing to its three heads, but this isn’t a card game…[/I] She held up her hands palms-out and again yelled, “Giaxio!” This time, though, instead of a shield, two beams of frosty white light shot from her hands and barreled towards Voldemort’s makeshift army.

Continued in next post...

[starjake]

Unfortunately for Cerredwin, these were speedy snakes. They slithered out of the way a millisecond before they would have been blasted. Then, the three snakes leapt into the air and wound themselves around Cerredwin! The Runespoor bound her legs, while Cobra King bound her arms to her body and Sinister Serpent fluttered in with those impossibly tiny wings of its and aimed for the neck! Unable to keep her balance due to the Runespoor, Cerredwin toppled over, and that was when the snakes started biting. I couldn’t see her – she was now out of my field of vision, and I still couldn’t move my head – but I could hear her screams of agony.

This was getting to be too much. I need to get out of here! Don’t spells wear off after a while? I tried with all my might to struggle, to move even a finger, but it didn’t work. I couldn’t even clench my jaw in anger. Come on…something move, anything!

Nothing.

Come one…let…me…GO! Suddenly, a wave of fire surrounded me, and I could move! The fire vanished as quickly as it had appeared, and I sprang to my feet.

What I saw was horrible. Cerredwin lay to about ten feet to my right, and the three snakes had paused to glance at me. Cerredwin herself had her eyes shut in extreme pain, and I could see all sorts of bite marks all over her.

Without any thought on my part, my hand raised itself and my finger pointed at the Runespoor. Instantly, a stream of fire shot from the end of my fingertip and hit the three-headed serpent dead-on! It gave a loud squeal of pain before disintegrating into dust!

My finger repeated the process with Sinister Serpent and Cobra King.

Though I had now regained control of my hand, I didn’t bring it any closer to my face, for fear that I would shoot myself. I simply held it there, pointing at Cerredwin, who was cringing from the massive pain she must have been feeling. Speaking of Cerredwin…

“Jake…” she gasped.

I was unsure of how to answer.

“Don’t…focus…on me. Tom…”

She had referred to Voldemort as Tom before, so I assumed she was now. I turned to face Voldemort…

And backed up ten feet in fear!

Voldemort was still there, hovering in the air, but behind him was the largest…thing…I had ever seen! It seemed to be not one snake, but…I couldn’t even tell, since all of the many heads were writhing and hissing so much!

The skin of the creature was gray-brown and incredibly wrinkled. I couldn’t tell if there was any kind of body that all these heads were attached to; perhaps this was more than one snake.

It was then that Voldemort spoke.

“This is my strongest pet. You should feel flattered that I’ve had to summon him…but no one has stood before it and lived to tell the tale! Behold my Yamata Dragon!”

YAMATA DRAGON! That’s one of the most powerful Spirits in the entire game! How am I supposed to beat that thing?

“Jake…” came the whisper again.

I turned to Cerredwin. “What?”

“Silence, fool! Silencio”

A spell shot from Voldemort’s direction and slammed into Cerredwin’s mouth, and no more sound came from her direction.

Great. Just fantastic, I thought, as I turned to face Voldemort’s mighty serpent once more.

Then, the weird situation turned slightly weirder.

Jake! Listen to me!

I turned to Cerredwin again. “Huh?”

I’m talking telepathically, but that’s not important right now! Listen, I’m too weak to do anything right now. You’re the only one who can defeat that thing!

Uh…sure. Whatever you say.

Jake, use your brain! What have people been telling you?

That I can control fire or something.

Assume for a minute that they’re right. Now, what Attribute is that creature in the game?

I had to think for a second. Fire…

That means you can control it!

I can what?

I didn’t have much time to think about it. The massive serpent suddenly shot all of its many heads in my direction!

Um…what do I do?

But there was no response.

Crap. OK, body, you seem to save my life pretty well. Feel free to do so again!

As soon as I thought that, two words came to mind.

Ophilias dominatus? Well, I’d normally be skeptic, but I’ve no time for that now!

I held up my hand and called out in a clear voice, “Ophilias dominatus!”

My hand blazed with fire, and the snake suddenly stopped its assault. All eight of its heads – I could count them now that they weren’t moving – looked at me with questioning eyes. As much as I really didn’t want to, I looked it square in one of its sixteen eyes and kept my hand held high.

Voldemort, however, was not yet willing to relinquish control of his most powerful pet. He started hissing again; I suddenly realized that he could talk to snakes!

Well, that explains why he likes using snakes so much…

Yamata Dragon turned back towards Voldemort and hissed a reply. Voldemort countered that with…more hissing.

Unsure of what else to do, I called out again, “Ophilias dominatus!”

All of the heads suddenly turned towards Voldemort and opened fire! Eight fireballs flew towards Yamata Dragon’s former controller. A billisecond later, Voldemort had disappeared in a swish of his cloak.

Crap! He could be anywhere!

Yamata Dragon turned its heads towards me and started hissing again.

And how am I supposed to understand what’s going on?

Suddenly, a bonfire erupted to my left! I jumped, but then relaxed when I realized that it was Blaze Magician.

Need my interpreting skills again?

You’re pretty smart.

I do what I can.

She turned towards Yamata Dragon and started listening. About a minute later, she turned back to me.

He says that he would gladly abandon Voldemort – apparently, he wasn’t a very kind master. But he doesn’t really want to serve you either…he wants you to prove yourself before he’ll deem you as his new master.

This whole master thing was a bit of a shock. Master? My monsters aren’t my servants or anything.

Consider it more as the leader of an army. You are the general, and we are your troops. You treat us with respect, like a general treats his troops, but we look to you for guidance during battle.

Uh…sure. So, Yamata Dragon wants me to prove myself as a good general before he enlists?

She smiled. Basically.

And how am I supposed to do that? And what will he do in the meantime?

Ask him.

I don’t speak snake-language.

He can understand you.

The truth was that I really didn’t want to talk to this creature…I disliked the idea of running an army. But, I realized that I didn’t have much choice.

“Uh, Yamata Dragon? Can I…ask you a couple questions?”

He made no response. Hoping that meant yes, I continued.

“Um, first, I really respect your power and abilities and would be honored to have you on my team. But, I have no idea what you want me to do to prove myself to you. What would you like me to do?”

There was a slight pause, then he started hissing again.

Blaze Magician translated. He says he’s not sure himself…ask him the other question.

“Um…what are you going to busy yourself doing as I’m out trying to prove myself?”

There was an immediate response this time.

He says not to worry…he won’t attack any humans and he’ll do his best to remain out of trouble.

This helped me relax, but only slightly. I jumped as he started hissing again.

First off, switch to decaf. Second, he advises you to continue on in the tournament for now. Oh, and you don’t need to worry about Voldemort…Yamata Dragon says that Voldemort’s nowhere near here. Where, he’s not sure, but it’s far away from here.

I breathed a sigh of relief…then gasped as Yamata Dragon vanished into thin air!

“What the…where did he go?”

He’s a Spirit, remember?

“Oh, right.”

She rolled her eyes, then turned away…and gasped!

“What is it…oh, her.”

What do you mean, ‘oh her’? She’s a big threat!

“Normally, yes, but Voldemort’s snakes did her in. I can’t say I feel too much remorse for her…witches are my least favorite people.”

Hey, watch it there…I might not be an actual witch, but I come pretty close.

“Yeah, well, you’re a good guy. Girl,” I added, as she gave me a stern look.

“Hey, sorry, it’s a catch phr – “

At that instant, there was a blood-curdling scream from somewhere in the woods!

Blaze Magician and I looked at each other, then both took off towards the source of the sound as fast as our legs could carry us.


Runespoor Serpent
Dark/Reptile/3 stars/ATK 1200/DEF 0
This card can attack up to three times per Battle Phase. If this card successfully attacks more than twice, it switches to Defense Position during the End Phase.

[starjake]

Chapter 19 – Magical Scientist

Cecelia and I flew towards our next destination. What that destination was, I wasn’t quite sure, but we were headed towards it.

“Cecelia?”

“Yes?”

“I remember you saying that I had two more duels to win.”

“Correct.”

“But I’ve only fought two duels.”

“True, but you ‘ave fought three duelists, no?”

“But the rules state that I need to win five duels, not beat five duelists.”

“True, but zair are deeferent rules zat apply to double duels ven eet comes to counting vins. Normally, each pairson vould gain one vin; however, one pairson may choose to give zair vin to zair partner. Since I am not participating een zees tournament and you are, I have given my vin to you.”

“But, you don’t have to – “

“I know zat I do not ‘ave to. I choose to. Anyvays, vasn’t eet your Gate Guardian zat defeated Tate and Liza?”

I couldn’t really argue that one…I decided to let it go. She did, after all, have a good point: having a win didn’t help her any.

Benu Phoenix let called out in its musical voice. Ceclia listened, then said, “We land ven we see a place we vant to go.”

“You can understand him?”

“Her.”

“You can understand her?”

Cecelia smiled. “I am programmed vith zee ability to translate several thousand languages.”

“Ah. That would do it.”

We were no longer flying over forest, but over a grassy plain. I looked down and saw all kinds of monsters romping around below us. There were two Axe Raiders sparring, a Leogun was sprawled out in the sun, and various bugs zipped about.

I looked towards the horizon and saw something that didn’t seem to fit in this meadow-like area: a large building. It had an abandoned laboratory look to it.

“Cecelia? I didn’t know there were buildings here.”

“Vell, zair are, but not many. I thought I knew of all of zem, but zees is new to me.”

“Could it be dangerous?”

She shook her head. “I highly doubt it. I would completely doubt it, but I don’t vat Cerredwin ‘as been doing een zees area. But, don’t forget, we ‘ave our monstairs to protect us eef need be.”

“True. OK, let’s go exploring!”

“You heard ‘eem Benu Phoenix! Land at zat building!”

Letting out a melodious screech in reply, Cecelia’s phoenix took us towards the building at warp speed. In no time, she had landed, and Cecelia and I had clambored off her back. All three of us stared at the building.

“Well, no time like the present. Shall we?” I asked Cecelia.

She nodded, then glanced at Benu Phoenix, who returned the nod. Cecelia then deactivated her disk, and Benu Phoenix vanished.

We walked up to a black door. I knocked. The knock had a strange ring to it, as though the door were made of steel, and it seemed much louder than it should have, suggesting that it echoed throughout the building.

“I guess it really is abandoned.” I reached out and turned the doorknob. The door creaked as it swung open and a couple of bats flew out.

“Zey are just trying to scare us,” Cecelia whispered.

We walked in, slowly, and the black door swung shut behind us with a bang.

“They’re succeeding,” I whispered back.

Even though it was broad daylight outside, the inside was dimly lit. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I could make out stainless steel shelves that held various test tubes and beakers. Out of curiosity, I ran my finger along one of the shelves and picked up a fair amount of dust.

“Looks like no one’s been here for a while.”

But Cecelia said, “Actually, I zink someone ‘as been ‘ere quite recently.”

“Why?”

In response, she pointed down. I looked at where she was pointing and saw footprints in the dust on the floor. They went forwards for a bit, then took a right past the shelves.

“I’m game if you are.”

“Oui.”

We started to follow the footprints. They wove in and out the shelves – I was starting to think that this was more of a warehouse than a laboratory. Finally, we reached a place that had been swept clean, and the footprints vanished. In their place were two boots.

We slowly looked up. The boots led to black slacks, which led to a white lab coat, which led to the balding head of a man probably in his late forties. He was about my height, and the hair he had left was a dull brown. Through his glasses I could see two sharp, intelligent brown eyes.

After staring at each other for a minute or so, he spoke.

“Please, forgive the mess,” he said, sweeping his arm around. “I had no idea that I would be entertaining guests today.”

He spoke a bit apologetically, but he seemed to be a pleasant man.

“Um…hi. I’m Bryan.”

“Bryan? Aren’t you one of the contestants?”

This startled me a bit for some reason. “Um…yeah. Jake and I both.”

He grinned. “Oh, Jake made it! I’m glad to hear that…I dueled him in the beginning round. That fire deck was something else, let me tell you…”

Now I was really startled. “You…you’re a real person?”

He smiled, then shook his head. “No. I’m simply a holographic representation of my human self, which is going about its business in the real world, I’m assuming. Oh, please forgive, I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Norman.”

Still a little confused, I replied, “Nice to meet you Norman. I see you’re a scientist.”

“Biologist, to be precise. I’m doing some experimentation with a fresh sample of deoxyribonucleic acid I just received.”

I stared at him. “A fresh sample of what?”

“Deoxyribonucleic acid; most call it DNA.”

Great. Mr. Baxton’s science class all over again. “Doesn’t that have something to do with your cells?”

“It has everything to do with your cells.” He grinned a sly grin at me. “Would you like to see a demonstration?”

“Um…no thanks, I’m not much of a science person.”

His grin widened ever so slightly. “No, not that kind of demonstration…” He turned to something behind him and busied himself with it for a second or two, then turned back around.

He now had a duel disk on his arm!

“I meant this kind of demonstration!”

I was now completely confused. “Uh, I don’t get it. What does a duel have to do with science?”

“My deck has everything to do with science. I could use a break from my experiments; after all, all work and no play is no good for brain development.”

I looked at Cecelia, who had remained quiet throughout the whole conversation. She shrugged.

“I see no ‘arm een eet. ‘Ee may be a scienteest, but ‘ee does not appear to be a mad scienteest.”

I nodded, then turned to face Norman. “Alright, I accept. But isn’t this place a little too small for us to duel in?”

“That can change.”

Norman walked over to a shelf. Now that he was out of the way, I could see that behind him was a table covered in all kinds of equipment and glass beakers filled with chemicals.

I heard a beep, and the table began to retract into the floor! When the tabletop had hit floor level, it stopped, and the equipment and beakers began sliding away on some kind of conveyor belt. Soon, the area was completely empty.

“Now that’s impressive,” I said.

Norman walked back. “I certainly like it. Now, is this big enough for you?”

“It’s no football field, but it’ll do,” I said with a grin as my disk snapped into position. Norman’s followed suit.

“Let’s see…for my Deckmaster, I’ll choose this monster!”

Norman held up a purple-rimmed card. Then, behind him appeared an unusual-looking monster that appeared slightly familiar. It seemed to be female, based on the purple kimono and brown-haired ponytail, but a yellowed and sinister-looking mask covered her (its?) face.

“This monster is known as Magician of Darkness. And, as long as it’s face-up on the field, if any Magic or Trap Cards on my side of the field are destroyed by one of your card effects, I can immediately add another copy of it from my deck to my hand!”

Why is it that everyone has massively powerful Deckmasters around here…oh, well.

“Here’s my Deckmaster: Sanga of the Thunder!”

The yellow-orange behemoth appeared behind me with a flash of lightning.

“My Deckmaster can, once during each of my turns, reduce the ATK of one monster on your side of the field to zero! How’s that for a Deckmaster?”

“It’s impressive, but this game isn’t all about ATK points. I’ll go first, if you don’t mind,” said Norman.

I shrugged. “No big deal.”

He drew six cards as I drew five.

“Alright. I think I’ll play this monster face-down and set two more cards face-down. That will end my turn”

He placed the cards on his disk, and three face-down cards appeared in front of him.

Well, this is certainly much nicer than the last duel; I can at least understand what he’s saying, I thought to myself as I drew.

Hmm…this is an unusual hand. Well, it’s worth a shot.

“I summon Alligator’s Sword to the field!” I called out, placing the card on my disk. Instantly, a yellow-and-green alligator standing on its hind legs appeared in front of me. It wore armor on various parts of its body and it held a wicked-looking sword. (1500 / 1200)

“Now, attack his mystery monster with Reptile Blade Slash!”

Alligator’s Sword leapt nimbly across the field and swung at Norman’s monster…

“You’ve sprung my Trap! Activate Gravity Bind!”

One of Norman’s face-down cards lifted and an energy grid appeared across the field! Alligator’s Sword suddenly crashed to the ground and didn’t get up!

“My Trap heightens the gravity on the field from the normal 1.0 to 2.5, which is too strong for monsters that are heavy with too many Stars!”

My Alligator’s Sword looked at me apologetically, then struggled back to my side of the field.

“Well, that was a wasted play. I set one card face-down and end my turn.”

“Very well...I’ll draw then.” He did so, looked at the card, and added it to his hand.

“I’ll lower the temperature a few Celsius degrees by playing Giant Trunade! This mighty wind blows all Magic and Trap cards on the field back to their owner’s hands!”

I removed my Spirit Barrier my disk and put it back in my hand as Norman’s Gravity Bind and his other face-down card vanished.

“Now, for my face-down monster: I reveal my Magical Scientist!”

The card rotated and lifted up to reveal a monster that looked like…well, like a scientist. His hair was long and purple, he wore a dirty gray lab coat, and he had overly large glasses covering his eyes. (300 / 300)

“Now for his effect! I have to pay 1000 Life Points…” Magical Scientist produced a large hypodermic needle, then proceeded to plunge it into Norman’s arm, drawing green, glowing blood! (B: 8000 / N: 7000)

Grunting a bit, Norman said, “In exchange, he can turn those life Points into something new!”

His monster pulled a test tube out of his lab coat, then dumped the liquid into the tube. He hid the needle in his coat, then pulled out an eye dropper full of purple liquid. He added one drop of the liquid to the tube, and smoke started pouring out! Smiling, he dumped the new chemical onto the ground, where it started shifting and growing into something! Soon, a large dinosaur with a metallic cannon in place of an arm was standing next to Magical Scientist. (1800 / 1400) It let out a loud, mechanical roar.

“This is my Cyber Saurus, and it’s more than enough to beat your Alligator! So, attack with Dino Rage Cannon!”

The rather ugly dinosaur robot aimed its cannon at my alligator, and opened fire! Alligator’s Sword gave out a howl of pain, and shattered. (B: 7700 / N: 7000)

“Now, Magical Scientist, attack his Life Points directly! Hyper Needle!”

The scientist produced a smaller needle from his coat and threw it at me! It caught me in the arm, but it only pricked a little bit. It flew back to its owner’s hand all on its own. (B: 7400 / N: 7000)

“Now I sacrifice my Cyber Saurus for a monster called Satellite Cannon!”

Instead of an altar, a large, stainless steel table appeared and Cyber Saurus jumped on it. It let out a roar before the table let out a brilliant beam of light that completely enveloped the dino. The light died down, and Cyber Saurus was gone. The top of the table split in two, and the two parts slid out of sight. Out of the table flew a large satellite, and the table vanished. The satellite flew up to the very top of the lab. (0 / 0)

I let out a laugh.

“You sacrificed a monster with 1800 ATK points for a monster with none at all?”

Norman looked at me a little angrily. “You’ll see why I did that. But, first, I set two cards face-down, and my turn’s over.”

What he did makes no sense…that thing’s got 0 ATK, and he put it in attack mode. It must have some sort of special ability. Hopefully my next card will help me out.

I drew DNA Transplant.

Hey…not too shabby! And I have Ultimate Baseball Kid in my hand too! This’ll surprise him.

“OK, Norman, I’m setting two cards face-down, then summoning Ultimate Baseball Kid in attack!”

Two face-down cards appeared in front of me, then the little batter appeared, glaring at Norman’s two monsters. (500 / 1000)

“Now, Ultimate Baseball Kid, attack his Cannon now! Fireball Slugger!”

Ultimate Baseball Kid looked up at the Satellite Cannon hovering near the ceiling, then looked back at me and shook his head!

“Huh? What’s going on?”

Norman grinned. “My Satellite Cannon has a special effect. It can’t be attacked by any monster with fewer than seven stars.”

Well, that’s aggravating. I have monsters that can fulfill that requirement, but getting them onto the field is no small feat. I don’t need to worry though…that Cannon has no ATK to speak of, and his Scientist is pretty weak too.

“I’ll end my turn there then.”

“Well, I’ll draw…” he did so. “Now, watch carefully, I don’t want you to miss this…”

He pointed at his Cannon. I watched in shock as its ATK and DEF rose to 1000 each!

“Another effect?”

Norman laughed. “My Satellite Cannon gains 1000 ATK and DEF points every time my turn begins! So, the longer it’s on the field, the stronger it gets!”

Well, it’s only got 1000 ATK now, and if he attacks my Kid with it, I’ll spring my DNA Transplant on him, which will increase his ATK to 2500. My Kid might not be able to destroy his Cannon through battle if I attack, but I highly doubt that the same applies if it attacks me. Let’s hope I’m right.

“However, I’m not an idiot. You have a weak monster in Attack mode and two face-down cards. My duel with Jake taught me to be cautious with potential Traps, so all I’m going to do is switch my Scientist to defense and end my turn.” His grubby Scientist sat down cross-legged on the floor.

Dang it, he didn’t take my bait! “Then it’s my move!”

I drew a card.

Continued in next post...

[starjake]

Hmm, not the best time to draw Gryphon’s Feather Duster…I really need these two cards. I’d best save it for later.

“I pass this turn. Nothing I can do.”

“Alright then, my move.”

Norman drew a card, then grinned again as his Cannon powered up. (2000 / 2000)

“I choose to pass as well. Go ahead.”

Upset, I drew my next card.

Reverse of Reverse! I know one of his cards is Gravity Bind…his Cannon required a tribute, so it must be a five- or six-star monster. If he attacks with his mega-powered cannon, I’ll spring this and force him to activate his own Gravity Bind, which will paralyze his monster!

“I’m setting a third card face-down and switching my Baseball Kid to Defense,” I called out, as another face-down card joined to two already on the field and Ultimate Baseball Kid held his bat across his chest in a defensive stance. “That ends my turn.”

“Scared of my Cannon? I’m not surprised, seeing as how it’s about to get even stronger!” Norman laughed as he drew his next card and his Cannon’s strength increased yet again. (3000 / 3000)

“Now, I’m pretty tired of waiting around, so I’ll have my Cannon attack your Baseball Kid!”

The main antenna of the satellite started glowing as it collected energy…

“Hold on there, Norman, I’ve got a little Trap to activate. It’s called Reverse of Reverse!”

Cecelia gasped. That’s the card that won him the duel against me!

The card rose and and magical energy started to gather in front of it.

“This handy little Trap lets me call out the name of a Trap that you have face-down, and if you have it face-down, it’s forced to activate! And, thanks to your little stunt with my Alligator’s Sword, I know that one of your cards is Gravity Bind…so that’s what I’m calling!”

Sure enough, a stream of energy shot from my card and surrounded one of his. The card on his side of the field rose, and a familiar energy grid lined the playing field. And, like I’d hoped, the Cannon came crashing down, unable to maintain its orbit due to the increased gravity.

“Looks like your own Trap backfired on you!”

Norman looked very upset. “Fine then. I end my turn.”

The Cannon had righted itself and was still managing to hover, but only a few inches off of the floor.

I drew my card.

I may have stopped that thing from attacking, but I have to figure out how to beat that strategy. That Gravity Bind prevents all Level 4 or higher monsters from attacking, but only Level 7 or higher monsters can attack that thing, meaning I have get rid of this energy grid before I can attack.

I looked down at the card.

“I play Pot of Greed!”

The card appeared on the field, and a jar appeared on my disk. The lid opened, and I reached in and drew out two cards.

Alright! That’s what I’m talking about!

“I set 1 more card face-down, bringing the total up to three! Then I’ll shift Ultimate Baseball Kid back to attack and end my turn.”

A card appeared face-down in front of me.

“My move!” Norman drew his card and looked at it.

“I set this monster in Defense. That’ll be all.”

This is starting to get aggravating. I drew my next card.

“I’m getting bored, so I’m gonna obliterate your Trap! Activate Dust Tornado!”

The face-down card I had set last turn lifted, and a massive tornado spiraled out of it! It tore across the field and slammed into Norman’s Gravity Bind, shattering it. His Satellite Cannon suddenly shot into the sky again now that the gravity had returned to normal.

Magician of Darkness then held out its staff, and the crescent moon on the end glowed.

“You’ve activated my Deckmaster’s special ability, letting me add another Gravity Bind from my Deck to my hand!” A card shot of his deck, and he grabbed it and added to his hand.

“Too bad you can’t use it yet. Now I play Monster Reborn to bring back Alligator’s Sword!”

The holy symbol appeared in front of me, and it quickly shifted into Alligator’s Sword. He swung his blade and snarled. (1500 / 1200)

“Next, I summon Baby Dragon to the field!”

A small, orange dragon swopped down from the sky and joined my monsters. It let out a squeak as it looked cutely at Norman. (1200 / 700)

“And, I activate this Polymerization! It fuses my Baby Dragon and my Alligator’s Sword together!”

The magic card appeared on the field, and the vortex on it started swirling. Alligator’s Sword and Baby Dragon jumped in…the card started shaking…

“Presenting: Alligator’s Sword Dragon!”

Baby Dragon flew back out of the card, but he had grown significantly, and Alligator’s Sword now rode on his back. (1700 / 1500)

“That’s pretty fancy, but you still can’t get through my Satellite!” yelled Norman, pointing to his Cannon.

“That’s true – thankfully, I don’t need to, thanks to this face-down card. You mentioned DNA, and this card deals primarily with that very thing: DNA Transplant!”

The card lifted and the by-now-familiar surgeon walked out of it. It held its scalpel high.

“This lets me change the Attribute of every monster on the field to one that I choose, and I choose Fire!”

The scalpel suddenly burst into flames, and the edges of all the monsters cards on the field blazed with fire as well.

“This gives me two benefits! First, my Ultimate Baseball Kid gains power for each Fire monster on the field other than himself, and I count three!” Ultimate Baseball Kid’s ATK shot up! (3500 / 1000)

“And, my DNA Transplant also allows me to utilize Alligator’s Sword Dragon’s special ability!”

“And what might that be?” inquired Norman.

That’s pretty clever strategy there, Bryan, thought Cecelia. That Dragon fits perfectly with your deck.

“If the only monsters on your side of the field are Earth, Water, or Fire, or some combination of the three, Alligator’s Sword Dragon can attack you directly! And, since that Gravity Bind isn’t hindering him, he’ll do just that!”

The Dragon took flight and soared right past Norman’s Satellite Cannon. It got in close range, then the alligator leaned over and swiped at Norman with his long sword! (N: 5300 / B: 7400)

“That’ll do it for me.”

Norman drew his card.

“You may have knocked out some of my Life Points, but I’m about to knock out a bunch of yours! First off, my Cannon gains some ATK power…” I watched as the stats rose again, to 4000 each. “Then, I activate Magical Scientist’s effect again, paying 1000 Life Points to do so!” (N: 4300 / B: 7400)

Magical Scientist got up from his sitting position and produced his needle again. He went over to Norman, who stuck out his arm. Drawing more blood, Magical Scientist added his chemical and threw the mixture onto the floor. The mess bubbled and smoked, then formed itself into a large purple wolf with a mane of flower petals. (1800 / 1400)

“This little experiment in genetic engineering is called Flower Wolf, and it’s about to go haywire on your Dragon! Attack now with Savage Forest Crunch!”

The bizarre wolf leapt forward and pounced on my Dragon…

“I activate Spirit Barrier! As long as there are monsters on the field, I don’t lose any Life Points in battle!”

The card rose, and a shield of static electricity formed in front of me. Alligator’s Sword Dragon let out a roar of anguish as it shattered.

“Well, that’s a minor setback…but it doesn’t prevent me from destroying your monsters! Go, Satellite Cannon, attack his Baseball Kid now! Photon Charge!”

The Satellite powered up its cannon again, then shot a beam of intense light at my Kid, who screamed before shattering himself!

When the smoke had cleared, I noticed something peculiar. Satellite Cannon’s ATK and DEF had both reverted back to 0!

Hmm…it looks like that thing has a drawback. It continues to power up every turn, but if it actually completes an attack, it must use up all the power it stored. That could prove useful.

“I’m setting 1 card face-down and ending my turn,” called out Norman, as a face-down card appeared in front of him, joining the one already there.

That’s gotta be the Gravity Bind he got from his Deck! This is gonna be hard…hopefully I get a good draw.

I looked up…and Flower Wolf was gone!

“Where did your dog go?”

Norman explained. “Magical Scientist’s effect has limitations. He can only summon Fusion Monsters of Level 6 or lower. They can’t attack directly, and, at the end of the turn he uses his ability, the monsters he summons go back to the Fusion Deck.”

Well, that makes me feel better. Let’s see here…hey, not bad… “I summon Giant Germ in Attack!”

A large purple sphere of…something…appeared on the field. It undulated and wavered about, making weird globbing noises. (1000 / 100)

“It may not be terribly strong, but it has enough power to wipe out your Scientist. Not only that, but it only has 2 stars, meaning that it can attack even if you spring your Gravity Bind! Go and do your stuff, Giant Germ!”

It floated over to Magical Scientist and absorbed him completely! It hovered back over to my side of the field.

“Your move, Norman.”

“I’ll draw!”

He drew a card, and Satellite Cannon powered up again (1000 / 1000). He looked at the card he drew, then looked at me and said, “As I’m sure you know, we scientists often use rats to experiment on. And, here’s my favorite subject: Giant Rat!”

A frightening monster walked onto the field. It was certainly, as its name suggested, a giant rat. It walked on its hind legs, and its beady eyes glowed yellow. The naked tail whipped about, as though desparate to knock something over, and it held a skull in its right paw! (1400 / 1450)

“It’s a battle of the giants, and I think we both know who’s going to win! Giant Rat, attack his Giant Germ with Rodent Skull Crush!”

The rat monstrosity hurled the skull it held into Giant Germ, causing it to explode into a pile of filth! Thankfully, my Spirit Barrier prevented any damage.

“Why, thank you Norman. You’ve just activated both of Giant Germ’s special abilities!”

“And what are those – argh!”

He had just found out what one of them was. Several of the pieces of my exploded monster had flown across the field and landed on Norman, burning his skin with their acid!

“First, it inflicts 500 damage to your Life Points…you may have discovered this…” Norma glared at me as his Life Points sank (N: 3800 / B: 7400). “Then, I get to summon two more Giant Germs to the field!”

The pieces that remained on the floor started wiggling. Suddenly, they flew into the air and reassembled themselves into two more Giant Germs! (1000 / 100 x2)

“Pah,” barked Norman. “I’m not too worried. Those thing have only 1000 ATK each; like they’ll be able to do much damage to my Rat!”

“Are you done or not?”

“That’s not much of a way to treat your elders, but go ahead.”

I drew my card.

Bingo.

“You might think my Germs have little use, but since there are two of them, they have a BIG use: I can sacrifice them!”

“For what?”

“Patience…now, I sacrifice both of my Germs to summon one of my strongest monsters!”

A larger-than-normal altar appeared under my two Germs. A mighty tornado erupted from the altar, consuming both of them. Then, the top of the altar slid back, and green-and-yellow figure floated out. It looked something like a jar with large arms, and the Japanese symbol for wind shone in gold on its front (2400 / 2200).

“Meet the master of wind: Kazejin! And, while my Germs might not have been able to break through your Rat, this guy certainly can! Kazejin, attack his oversized rodent with Tempest Gale!”

Kazejin raised his fist and a tornado formed around it. Suddenly, I remembered Norman’s face-down card. Oh no, I forgot about his Gravity Bind!

But I knew I couldn’t call off the attack now. Kazejin slammed his wind-covered fist into Giant Rat, as I waited for Norman to call out his Gravity Bind.

To my surprise, Giant Rat let out a feral snarl, then shattered! (N: 2800 / B: 7400)

“Actually, I wanted you to destroy my Rat; when it’s destroyed in battle, I get to summon an Earth monster from my Deck with 1500 ATK or less, and I know just who I’m going to pick!”

I saw that the skull that Giant Rat had been holding was now lying on the floor. It suddenly levitated, and it started laughing as a body formed around it! Soon, I was facing a monster that looked like some sort of high-tech soldier. It had blond hair flowing from underneath its helmet, it was covered in robotic armor, and it held a machine gun in its right hand (1350 / 1800).

“This is Kinetic Soldier! It also happens to be the card that almost did Jake in, so I’d be careful if I were you!”

First off, I’ve only seen this monster once, and that was when Alister used it against Kaiba. But it didn’t use any effect, and Alister only had it so he could use his Soldier Revolt Trap Card. And, even then, he needed Science Soldier and Cyber Soldier of Darkworld on the field as well, which Norman doesn’t have on the field. I don’t get it.

“Well, I don’t have anything else to do, so it’s your move.”

“Thank you.” He drew his card and Satellite Cannon powered up again. (2000 / 2000)

“I set 1 more card face-down and end my turn.”

A third face-down card appeared next to the two already there as I drew my card.

He’s got three face-down cards, one of which has got to be Gravity Bind, so attacking with my Kazejin would probably be useless. “I’m going to end my turn without doing anything.”

“That was your last chance. Now, I draw, and Satellite Cannon gets even stronger.” (3000 / 3000). “Now, what biologist’s deck would be complete without a DNA card of its own? Here’s DNA Surgery!”

The card lifted and thousands upon thousands of small, multicolored lights winked into existence all over the field. They quickly converged into a shape that resembled a large double helix.

“This Trap works much like your Transplant, but it changes Types as opposed to Attributes. And the Type I choose is Warrior!”

The double helix exploded, sending the lights slamming into every monster on the field! Kinetic Soldier traded its gun for a sword and a shield appeared on its other arm; Kazejin also gained a sword and shield; but the most unusual change was on Satellite Cannon. The antenna turned into a large sword, and its back turned into a shield. The combination of machinery and old weaponry was bizarre.

After all the changes had been made, a small version of the double helix appeared in front of Norman’s Surgery card.

“Now I summon Mataza the Zapper to the field!”

A small, deeply tanned samurai walked on to the field, garbed in traditional oriential armor and carrying two thin swords. (1300 / 800)

“And for another piece of the puzzle, I activate The A. Forces!”

A Magic Card appeared on the field, and a Warrior Dai Grepher walked out of it. He yelled something, and all three of Norman’s monsters snapped to attention.

“This card gives 200 ATK points to every Warrior on my side of the field for every Warrior on my side of the field!”

That made my head spin. “Huh?”

“’Ee ees saying zat, for each Warrior ‘ee has, all his Warriors gain 200 points!”

I thought for a moment, then realized what was going on. “Wait, since all of your monsters are Warriors now, that means they all gain 600 ATK points!”

Norman grinned. “Precisely.”

Warrior Dai Grepher then walked up to each of Norman’s monsters (Satellite Cannon floated down from the ceiling) and tapped each with his large sword. When he did so, their ATK rose. (3000 / 3000) -> (3600 / 3000) ; (1350 / 1800) -> (1950 / 1800) ; (1300 / 800) -> (1900 / 800) All the monsters saluted, with the exception of Satellite Cannon, the Warrior Dai Grepher walked back into the card.

Continued in next post...

[starjake]

“Now I have an army to take you apart! And I’m starting with Satellite Cannon! Blast his wind god to atoms!”

The Cannon powered up its beam again…

“Not if I have a say in the matter! Kazejin, activate your special ability!”

Kazejin held up its sword and pointed it at Satellite Cannon. Suddenly, a massive tornado appeared around the cannon and started whipping it around in circles!

“If my Kazejin is attacked, I can reduce the ATK of the monster attacking it to zero, which is exactly what that tornado is doing to your Cannon! And, since it’s too late to activate your Gravity Bind…Kazejin, counterattack!”

Kazejin rose into the air and held out his sword. A tornado formed around it, and he slashed that satellite in half! It exploded, and pieces of metal fell to the floor before shattering into pixels. {N: 400 / B: 7400)

Then, Norman started laughing. Hard.

“I missed the joke.”

“You fell for it! Did you think I didn’t know what your Kazejin could do? Satellite Cannon was bait!”

“But both of your other monsters are too weak to attack my monster! Not to mention that, with a Warrior gone, they lose ATK power!”

That was certainly true. Warrior Dai Grepher walked back out of the A. Forces card and yelled again. Both of Norman’s monsters snapped to attention, and Warrior Dai Grepher frowned. He tapped Kinetic Soldeir and Mataza on the shoulder again, and ATKs dropped by 200. (1950 / 1800) -> (1750 / 1800) ; (1900 / 800) -> (1700 / 800). Then, he walked back into the card.

“True, but my Kinetic Soldeir has an effect too!”

“And what might that be?”

“If it does battle with a Warrior monster, its ATK and DEF increase by an amazing 2000 points!”

I gasped. That’s insane! And his DNA Surgery will turn all my monsters into Warriors, which will let his Soldier get that boost!

“And, I’m also aware of the fact that, as powerful as Kazejin’s effect may be, he can only use it once! So, Kinetic Soldier, attack! Militant War Blade!”

His robotic warrior ran across the field, and its ATK shot up to 3750! He slashed with his sword and Kazejin roared before shattering!

“Sadly, that Spirit Barrier prevented you from taking damage, but now that there are no monsters on your side of the field, it can no longer protect you. Now, watch as the special ability of Mataza activates, letting it attack twice!”

Uh oh.

“Mataza, attack him directly with Double Samurai Slash!”

Mataza nimbly leapt across the field and swung both his swords at me, slashing me twice in the chest! I doubled over in pain as I lost 3400 Life Points in one fell swoop! (N: 400 / B: 4000)

Grunting, I managed to get back up. “I’m…not out of the picture yet…it’s my turn now!” With effort, I drew a card.

This isn’t exactly good. I’ve been holding onto my Scapegoat for a while now, so I can use that, but if he summons another monster, not only will all his monsters be strengthened, but he’ll be able to destroy all my tokens, and I’ll have nothing left!

“I play my Scapegoat!”

The card appeared on the field, and four small sheep-like creatues appeared on the field, each a different color. (0 / 0 x4). The DNA Surgery helix exploded and reformed again, causing my sheep to gain old-style Viking helmets with horns on the sides.

“That ends my turn.”

“Hiding behind a wall of weak monsters is no way to win..especially after I summon another monster!” He drew a card. “I summon Kozaky to the field!”

I new scientist creature appeared on the field wearing a lab coat similar to Magical Scientist’s, but this creature’s skin was light grey, its teeth were crooked and a bit pointy, it had shorter dark hair, and it wore glasses through I could not make out any eyes. (400 / 400). A sword and shield quickly formed in its hands.

“Don’t forget my A. Forces card!”

Warrior Dai Grepher again walked out of the card and yelled what I was starting to think was some kind of role-call. All the monsters snapped to attention, and he tapped them each with his sword, causing their ATK to rise. (1750 / 1800) -> (1950 / 1800) ; (1700 / 800) -> (1900 / 800) ; (400 / 400) -> (1000 / 400)

“Now, my army, obliterate his pathetic sheep!”

All my sheep cringed as Norman’s monsters ran across the field and slashed them to ribbons!

“I set 1 more card face-down and end my turn.”

A face-down card appeared, joining the two other hidden cards he had.

“I draw then.”

What the…hey, this might work!

“I set 1 monster face-down as well as 2 more cards face-down. That’s all for me.”

“Hold on. Before you end your turn, I have a little Trap I’d like to use…”

The card he had just set lifted, and Kozaky ran over to Norman’s side.

“This is called Fruits of Kozaky’s Studies. He is, after all, a scientist much like myself, and his research proves quite valuable. Observe…”

Kozaky proceeded to take three cards from the top of Norman’s deck. He showed them to Norman.

“Now, I get to rearrange the top 3 cards of my deck into any order I choose!”

He and Kozaky began whispering to each other and pointing at various cards. Eventually, they came upon an agreement, and Kozaky replaced the newly ordered cards onto Norman’s Deck.

“Now, I’ll start my turn and draw…and I know exactly what I’m drawing…”

He gave the card a grin, then said, “Now, I play Graceful Charity, drawing three cards and discarding two!”

An angel flew out of the card and grabbed three cards from Norman’s Deck. She then waited there, tapping her foot impatiently, until Norman handed her two cards. She tossed them into his Graveyard, then flew back into her card, which vanished.

“Now, for your information, one of the cards I discarded was another genetic experiment known as Makyura the Destructor!”

The ghost of a frightening, one-eyed monster with sharp wrist blades appeared on the field.

“When he’s sent to the Graveyard by any means, I’m allowed to activate Trap Cards from my hand during that turn, such as my own DNA Transplant! I choose Water.”

The Trap appeared on the field, and a familiar-looking surgeon walked out of it, holding his scalpel high. Instead of flames, however, bubbles formed around it, and the edges of all the monster cards on the field changed from fire to an icy-blue aura.

“Wait a sec, what happened to my DNA Transplant? It’s still on the field!”

“There’s a little ruling about that. If there are two of those cards on the field, whichever was activated last overrides the earlier one!”

Well, it’s not like I really needed these cards to be Fire anymore anyways.

“It gets better! I activate my field card: A Legendary Ocean!”

The lab floor began to shake, and a wave suddenly came out of nowhere! It flooded the lab, and tall rocky towers began rising out of the water!

We had been transporated to the City of Atlantis!

“Since this is a field card, and every monster on the field is Water, this would normally would effect your monsters as well. However, this trap that I set at the beginning of the duel will ensure that I get to keep the benefits to myself! Activate Quaratine!”

The face-down card lifted to reveal a team of surgeons stading guard in front of a hospital door. Two surgeons walked out and cross their arms in front of their chests.

“When I activate a card that would normally affect both sides of the field, this card lets me choose which side of the field I want it to affect! And I say that it will only affect my side of the field!”

The two surgeons held out their right hands, and the water and towers disappeared from my side of the field!

Does this guy have a trick for everything or what?

“Now that that’s overwith, we have some stats to recalculate.” (1950 / 1800) -> (2150 / 2000) ; (1900 / 800) -> (2100 / 1000) ; (1000 / 400) -> (1200 / 600)

“I’ll have Kinetic Soldier attack your mystery monster!”

His Soldier ran across the field and struck! A priest in a gray hooded robe appeared before shattering.

“You’ve just flipped my Arsenal Summoner! And, when that happens, I get to add any card with Guardian in its card name from my Deck to my hand!”

The ghost of my destroyed Summoner appeared and started chanting something. Instantly, a card shot out of my Deck. I grabbed it and added it to my hand.

“A fat lot of good it will do you. Now, my two monsters, attack and wipe him out!”

Mataza ran across the field…

“Activate Trap: Nutrient Z! Since I’m about to take over 2000 points of damage from one attack, namely your Mataza’s, I now gain 4000 Life Points before the attack strikes!”

My Life Points shot back up to 8000! I didn’t feel happy for too long, as two attacks from Mataza and the one from Kozaky sent me sprawling backwards. (N: 400 / B: 2600)

“I don’t mean to be rude, but don’t you think you’re just delaying the inevitable?”

“Let me get to my turn and I’ll show you my plan.”

Norman frowned. “I’m not done. I activate Metalsilver Armor! This forces you to attack only my Kinetic Soldier, protecting my other monsters.”

His last Spell/Trap Zone filled with a black and silver, spiked suit of armor. It flew through the air and fixed itself onto Kinetic Soldier.

“Now it’s your turn.”

OK, this had better work… I drew my card.

“Watch closely now…I’m activating my Deckamster’s special ability!”

Sanga raised his right arm, and thunderclouds started forming in the sky!

“I can lower the base ATK of any 1 monster on the field all the way to zero, and I’m going after your favorite monster! Strike his Kinetic Soldier!”

Sanga pointed at Kinetic Soldier, and a bolt of lightning came down from the clouds above and struck him! He fell to one knee as his ATK plummeted. (800 / 2000)

“He’ll still gain attack if you attack him, though!”

“Maybe, but it won’t be enough to break through the monster I’m about to bring out!”

Norman just looked confused.

Cecelia’s eyes opened wide. Wait a minute. That Arsenal Summoner…is he honestly going to pull it off twice in one day?

“First, I’m setting a card face-down, then I play The Cheerful Coffin!”

An orange-skinned monster appeared wearing a purple tuxedo. It gestured, and a coffin appeared in its hands.

“This lets me discard up to three monsters from my hand to my Graveyard, but I’m only going to discard one.”

The monsters walked over to me and opened his coffin. I tossed in the card and he snapped the coffin shut. Snapping his fingers, he somehow made the coffin shrink until it fit in the palm of his hand, then he threw it into my Graveyard. He vanished with a cackle.

“Now I activate the card I just set: Soul Release!”

The card lifted, and a beautiful fairy that seemed to be made entirely of wind flew out of it.

“This card lets me remove up to five cards in our Graveyard from play, and I choose Kazejin and the Suijin I just discarded!”

The fairy flew into the Graveyard and took out the two cards. She handed them to me, but I held onto them.

“Sanga, I now summon you to the field!”

The mighty giant of thunder moved forward until he was in front of me. (2600 / 2200)

“That monster might be strong, but it still can’t break through my powered-up Soldier!”

“True, but he’s about to get some company! I activate my final face-down card: Return from the Different Dimension!”

Cecelia gasped. Of course!

The card lifted, and two rainbow-colored portals suddenly opened behind me.

“Although I have to pay half of my Life Points, its effect more than makes up for it!” (N: 400 / B: 1300). “Watch closely. My Trap lets me summon as many monsters as possible that have been removed from the game to the field! And, there are only two, so here they come: say hello to Kazejin and Suijin!”

I placed the monsters on my disk, and out of the two portals came Kazejin (2400 / 2200) and a large blue creature with arms ending in long fingers appeared; Suijin (2500 / 2400).

It was only then that Norman realized what was going on.

“Are you going to summon what I think you’re going to summon?” he asked in fear.

“That depends. Do you think I’m about to summon THIS?” I showed him the Gate Guardian card I had gotten from Arsenal Summoner’s effect.

He just gulped.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Now, my three monsters! Combine your powers!”

Kazejin raised its hands, and a hurricane-force wind picked up; Suijin raised its hands, and storm clouds formed overhead and rain fell in buckets; Sanga raised its hands and added lightning to the mix.

“Arise, GATE GUARDIAN!”

The three storm lords started moving, floating into position amidst the hurricane that had formed. There was a blinding flash of lightning, and the mighty Gate Guardian stood where my three monsters had been! (3750 / 3400)

“And,” I yelled above the storm, “I have one last card to play, one that fits the current weather quite well: Mystical Space Typhoon! Say good bye to your face-down card!”

Gate Guardian raised its mighty hand, and the tempest focused its energy on Norman’s face-down card, which shattered almost instantly.

“NO! My Gravity Bind!”

“That’s right! Now, since your Kinetic Soldier is still suffering from my Sanga’s effect, it’s no match for my Gate Guardian even with its power boost!”

“No…not again…”

“Gate Guardian, attack his Kinetic Soldier! Guardian Tempest!”

My mighty monster raised its fist high as Kinetic Soldier’s ATK rose to 2800. The rain, wind, and lightning started collecting around his fist, until all I could see was a ball of elemental energy!

“Wipe him out!”

Gate Guardian slammed his fist into Kinetic Soldier who gave a robotic cry before exploding!

Norman’s Life Points dropped to zero.

I breathed a sigh of relief as Gate Guardian stood and turned to face me.

And, before it vanished as the duel disks shut down, I swear I felt a sense of approval emenating from the mighty Guardian.



Magician of Darkness
Dark/Spellcaster/3 stars/ATK 1200 / DEF 600
“Magician of Faith” + “Mask of Darkness”
Once per turn, you may add either 1 Spell Card or 1 Trap Card from your Graveyard to your Deck.

Deckmaster: If a face-up Spell or Trap Card on your side of the field is destroyed, you may select 1 card of the same name from your Deck and add it to your hand. You may not activate or Set to added card during the turn in which this card is activated.

Alligator’s Sword
Earth/Beast/4 stars/ATK 1500/DEF 1200

Satellite Cannon
Light/Machine/5 stars/ATK 0/DEF 0
This card cannot be attacked by monsters of Level 6 or lower. During each of your Standby Phases, increase the ATK and DEF of this card by 1000 points. If this card successfully attacks, the ATK and DEF of this card become 0.

Alligator’s Sword Dragon
Wind/Dragon/5 stars/ATK 1700/DEF 1500
“Alligator’s Sword” + “Baby Dragon”
If the only face-up monsters on your opponent’s side of the field are Earth, Water, and/or Fire-Attribute monsters, this card can attack your opponent directly.

Quarantine
Continuous Trap
You can only activate this card when you activate a Spell or Trap Card that remains on the field and that affects both players. As long as this card remains on the field, when you activate a Spell or Trap Card that remains on the field, you may select which player you want the activated card to affect.

[starjake]

Chapter 20 – Prickle Fairy

Around the time that Bryan and Cecelia were walking into the old lab building, Blaze Magician and I were running through the woods, trying to find out what the source of the scream we had heard was.

I think this qualifies for the ‘weirdest day of my life’ award. I’m defeated by one of the most powerful and feared villains in fictional history, but then saved by someone who I’ve been told is supposed to be my worst enemy. Then, I somehow start controlling fire and befriend a giant eight-headed snake! And now someone’s screaming? If I didn’t know any better, I’d say this was a dream!

“Blaze Magician, you have any idea what that was?” I called out as we ran.

She stopped suddenly.

If I had to guess, she ‘said’, pointing ahead of us, I’d say that.

I looked to where she was pointing and saw the very last person I expected to see.

“Heather?”

She had her back towards us, but there was no mistaking that tan leather jacket; she was the only person I knew who owned one. The mouse-brown hair tied into a ponytail helped confirm my suspicion.

Oddly enough, she was crouched down on the ground, shaking, as though something were about to attack her.

“Heather? What’s going on?”

It was then that I saw what she was staring at. It couldn’t have been any more than two feet high, and it looked much like a slightly translucent crow.

“Um, Blaze Magician?” I whispered, recalling how Fushi No Tori had appeared. “Is that another Spirit?”

She nodded. Yata-Garasu, I believe…but why is this girl so upset?

“Who knows…Heather does plenty of things that I don’t get. Talking, for example.”

You know her?

“Know her? I dueled her in the second round, and we go to school together.”

Before Blaze Magician could respond, Heather suddenly stood up, and the Yata-Garasu took off in fright. Heather turned to face me.

Oh boy…here it comes…

Her face lit with excitement. “Jake! You’re here too! That’s awesome, Jake! That ugly bird attacked one of my little bug friends; that’s why I screamed, to scare it away! And it worked! See, I really like bugs, and birds eat bugs, you know? So I wanted to protect this little guy! Isn’t this place great? I can look at all the plants and bugs; you know, I’m gonna be a field researcher someday, Jake, and then I can spend my whole life wandering around the world looking at all the cool plants and bugs! What do you think, isn’t that a great idea, Jake?”

Blaze Magician and I blinked, then looked at each other.

What did she say?

“I’m not too sure,” I whispered back. “I heard ‘ugly bird’, ‘screamed’, and ‘field researcher’.”

Blaze Magician gave the smallest of nods in reply, and I turned my attention to Heather again.

“Um…nice to see you too.”

She pouted at this. “You weren’t listening! Really, Jake, I don’t get it! I try to have a nice conversation with you, and you don’t even bother to listen to the words I’m speaking. How rude!”

It was the shortest speech I had ever heard her say.

Trying to change the subject to a lighter note, I asked, “So, um, what are you doing here? I thought anyone defeated in the first two rounds didn’t come.”

She spread her arms wide. “Well, here I am! And I love this place so much!” She started skipping around the small meadow. “All the great plants and bugs and – “

“That’s great Heather,” I interrupted. “Have you been dueling?”

She stopped skipping, her back turned to me. She remained strangely quiet.

“Um…Heather?”

“You…you…you DARE talk to me about dueling!” came her voice, clearly in a rage.

“Uh…”

She turned to look at me, and her face was twisted into a furious expression. “You dare talk to me about dueling after our last encounter? After I had you in my grasp, and you still somehow managed to win? After you humiliated my strongest monster? After you insulted me and told me I was a loudmouth?” She pointed at me accusingly. “You’re a rotten person, Jake!”

My eyes widened. “Uh…I’m sorry you feel that way…you came close to winning, you know, if I hadn’t gotten that Nightmare Wheel when I did…”

“Quiet! I don’t want your sympathy!” She held out her left arm, and I was surprised to see a duel disk there. It swung open and snapped into place. “I want a win against you! And I’m going to get it!”

Talk about mood swings…she’s gone totally psycho!

“Oh, and Jake?” she asked sweetly. “Remember that bug I protected? This is what it was…” She held out her other arm, and I saw a two-foot long green worm sitting on it. It had two eye markings on its head.

It was Petit Moth. The card she had almost defeated me with last time.

The moth reared up on its hind ‘legs’ and faced me. It then glowed white and vanished into Heather’s disk.

This is getting creepy…any ideas, Blaze Magician?

Don’t get stung, came her reply. She then gave me a knowing look before vanishing in a burst of fire.

Some support system. “Heather, I’m really not in the mood to duel right now…I’ve been through a hard time…”

“Voldemort getting you down?”

I stared at her, shocked that she knew. “How did you…but you weren’t…”

She grinned a devilish grin. “How do I know? Defeat me and I’ll tell you, Jake. But until then, that’s one secret that won’t be spilled!”

She was really starting to get on my nerves.

“Look, Heather, even if you do know, I still don’t really feel up to a duel right now – “

“You’re scared of flowers and a few bugs? What a sad case you are; I thought fire burned plants and bugs! Face it, Jake: you’re just a scared little boy who won’t try anything unless he knows he’ll succeed!”

This was getting personal. “Heather, I’m sorry if I offended you earlier, but there’s no need to – “

“No need to what? No need to get back at you? I’m just telling it like it is, Jake. The truth hurts, doesn’t it!”

“You know what? Fine. If it’s a duel you want, it’s a duel you’re gonna get, Little Miss Rude!”

She laughed a high-pitched laugh that did not suit her at all. “Excellent! Get ready for the rematch of a lifetime, Jakey!”

My disk swung into position and our Life meters set themselves to 8000 apiece.

“Don’t forget about the new Deckmaster rules! My Deckmaster is sure to wipe the forest floor with you!”

I waited for her to tell me what it was.

I continued to wait for her to tell me what it was.

Finally, I said, “Well?”

She laughed again. “Your powers of observation need work, Jakey! My Deckmaster’s right behind me!” She gestured dramatically.

I looked behind her and saw…trees.

“The forest is your Deckmaster?”

“No, stupid, the tree behind me! Take a closer look!”

Ignoring the insult, I strained my eyes and, to my shock, saw that the large oak tree behind her had a face!

“That tree!”

“Brilliant! Yes, my Deckmaster is a monster called Trent, and it puts a permanent Forest on the field that can’t be destroyed, boosting all of my forest-related monsters and forbidding you to play any Field Magics!”

Not that again! My Molten Destruction is a huge part of my deck!

“Go ahead and pick your Deckmaster, Jakey. Not that it matters; anything you choose is no match for the power of the forest!”

Glaring at her, I called out, “I beg to differ, Heather. We’re surrounded by plenty of flammable material, so my Legendary Flame Lord feels perfectly at home here!” As I said this, the master of fire appeared by my side in an eruption and majestically waved his scepter.

“As they say, ladies first!” Heather called out, drawing six cards before I had a chance to do anything.

“I’d hardly qualify you as a lady, Heather!”

“More insults, I see! Insult me all you want; you won’t win this duel!”

I just grimaced as I drew five cards. “Fine. Go ahead.”

She pulled a card from her hand. “For my first move, I summon Arcane Archer of the Forest to the field!”

She threw the card onto her disk, and a blond-haired man wearing leather clothing and carrying a large wooden bow walked out from among the trees that surrounded us. (900/1400)

“Humph. You talk a good game, but that monster is weak!”

“Perhaps, but not after I exchange his weapon for a better one. I activate Forest Bow!”

She slid the card into her disk. Suddenly, the bow that the man was carrying started sprouting branches and leaves!

“Now that my Archer has this new weapon, he’s treated as a Plant-Type, meaning my Trent increases his power!”

Sure enough, the numbers hovering over her monster’s head started rising. (900/1400) -> (1100/1600)

“I still can wallop that any day.”

“Well, I’ll set this face-down, then. Do your worst!”

A face-down card appeared behind her Archer as I drew a card.

And I of course draw Molten Destruction, which I can’t use! Good thing I have some other worthwhile cards. “That Bow of yours is awful pretty, but I’m afraid that this will obliterate it: I play Mystical Space Typhoon!”

A whirlwind tore across the field…

“Hold on, there, Jakey! I knew you’d try and get rid of the Bow, so I prepared for it! Activate Chlorophyll Shield!”

The card rose, and a shimmering green barrier appeared in the path of the whirlwind, blocking and dissipating it!

“What – what the…what was that?”

“Do you like my Trap? It only works when there’s a Plant monster on my side of the field, but since my Forest Bow turns my Archer into a Plant, I have that part covered! And, if the conditions are met, it can negate a card that tries to destroy one of my cards!”

That’s not cool…I still don’t know what that Bow can do. But now she doesn’t a Trap to hide behind…and this guy is way stronger than that Archer! “I have more tricks up my sleeve: meet Blazing Inpachi!”

The lumbering, fiery giant made of burning logs appeared in front of me. Fortunately, the flames were only a hologram, so he didn’t burn the forest down. (1850/0)

“Now, Blazing Inpachi, attack her Archer now! Brushfire Punch!”

With surprising speed for one so large, Blazing Inpachi leapt across the field and leveled a punch directly at the Arcane Archer…

“Block it, Arcane Archer!”

To my shock, her Archer deftly shielded himself behind his bow! Blazing Inpachi punched and smacked the bow as hard as it could, but to no avail.

“NOW what did you do, Heather?”

She cackled. “My Archer has an effect, silly! If there’s Plant-Type monster on the field, it can’t be attacked…and since he himself is now a Plant-Type, he protects himself!”

Dang it…that’s good strategy! I can’t break through that monster with an attack!

“Fine then, I set 1 card face-down and end my turn.”

The card appeared in front of me. Heather drew her card and grinned mischievously.

“You’ll remember this card, Jakey! I summon Vampire Orchis to the field!”

Oh crud.

One of the trees behind Heather somehow raised it roots and turned around to reveal glowing eyes and a large mouth filled with sharp teeth! Several branches lowered themselves into my sight range and I could see that ended in flowers that also sported fangs! (1700/1000) -> (1900/1200)

“And don’t forget Vampire Orchis’ ability! Now, watch as I summon Des Dendle to the field!”

She put her card on the disk, and the forest floor itself seemed to shake! I saw something slithering out of the woods behind Heather; soon, a large patch of mold had collected itself next to Vampire Orchis. (300/2000) -> (500/2200)

“Now, Des Dendle! Cover Vampire Orchis!”

Obediently, the patch of fungus quickly slithered its way up Vampire Orchis’ trunk until the entire tree was covered!

“That’s unappetizing.”

“Insult it all you like; it’s still enough to wipe out your Blazing Inpachi! Vampire Orchis, attack with Savage Vine!”

Vampire Orchis shot forth its fanged flowers; soon, Blazing Inpachi had been reduced to small chunks of flaming wood! (J: 7950)

“And you may remember what happens when Vampire Orchis destroys a monster when it’s equipped with Des Dendle: I get a new monster!”

Sure enough, Vampire Orchis shook one of its branches, causing a cloud of spores to fall to the ground. Within seconds, a new fanged flower had sprouted from where the spores had fallen! (800/800) -> (1000/1000)

“Sorry, but you won’t be attacking me anymore this turn! Activate Call of the Haunted!”

The card lifted and the ground in front of me split open.

“This trap brings back one monster from my Graveyard in Attack Position, and I bet you can guess who’s making a return appearance!”

A stream of smoke poured out of the card into the newly formed gorge in front of me. Soon, it dragged up Blazing Inpachi. (1850/0)

Heather was visibly upset. “I can’t attack anymore this turn, but I can do this! Wicked Plant Token, load yourself into my Archer’s Bow!”

As the ugly flower uprooted itself and wound itself around one of the Archer’s arrows, I thought, What the heck is she doing, launching her own monster?

“By sacrificing a Plant-Type on my side of the field, I can destroy any Spell or Trap on your side!”

This is not my day!

“Arcane Archer, fire!”

Her Archer loaded the flower-ridden arrow into his bow and shot my Call of the Haunted dead-on, causing it to shatter! As soon as that happened, Blazing Inpachi gave a look behind it and let a roar of horror before shattering itself!

“That’s not all; take a look at my Archer!”

Now what?

I quickly found out. Her Archer’s ATK started rising! (1100/1600) -> (1400/1600)

“ANOTHER effect?”

“Hee hee hee! That’s my Forest Bow’s second ability! If a Forest monster on my side of the field is Tributed for any reason, the monster my Bow is equipped to gains 300 ATK points!” She laughed maliciously again. “That’s all for now.”

“What the heck is a Forest monster?”

“Any monster that’s affected by a Forest Field Card, dummy! Since I apparently have to spell it out for you, that means Beast, Beast-Warrior, Insect, and Plant-Type monsters.”

She was really starting to get under my skin! “Alright then; watch this move!” I yelled as I drew.

OK, nothing I can summon that can defeat that ugly tree, but my Inferno’s Defense can withstand it.

“You’ll remember this move, Heather: I remove my Blazing Inpachi from the game, letting me Special Summon my Inferno in Defense Mode!”

My Blazing Inpachi shot out of my Graveyard and I stuck it in my pocket. I placed Inferno on my disk, and a bonfire erupted in front me. The bonfire condensed into the fiery beast with sky-blue eyes. (1100/1900)

“I’m also playing this monster in Defense.” A face-down monster appeared next to Inferno.

She can destroy my Spells and Traps, but she needs to sacrifice a monster to do so…and the only two Plants she has right now are her Archer and her Orchis. She wouldn’t sacrifice either of those, strong as they are, so I think I’m safe setting this. “I set 1 card face-down and end my turn.”

The card appeared behind my face-down monster.

“Jakey, Jakey…you need to learn how to listen more,” Heather giggled as she drew a card. “Did you already forget about my Archer’s effect?”

“No, I didn’t. You have to sacrifice a Plant to do it, and you only have two strong Plants that you wouldn’t want to sacrifice!”

“Wrong, Jake! I have three Plants!”

Three Plants? Her Archer, her Orchis, and…wait a second…

“Des Dendle, detach yourself from Vampire Orchis!”

To my horror, the slime slithered off of the tree and reformed on the ground as a large patch of mold! (300/2000) -> (500/2200)

“Now, load yourself onto Arcane Archer’s arrow!”

Her Archer pulled out another arrow, which the gloppy pile of slime quickly covered.

“You know what to do, Archer!”

The Archer drew back and fired at my face-down card.

No! My Magic Cylinder!

“And don’t forget about my Bow’s ability. Since I tributed a Forest monster, my Archer gains 300 more ATK points!” (1400/1600) -> (1700/1600)

“It gets better, Jake! I have another Des Dendle in my hand, and I’m going to summon it to the field!”

Once again, the forest floor seemed to gather itself up into a collection of fungus next to Vampire Orchis. (300/2000) -> (500/2200)

“And, since this worked so well last time…Des Dendle! Cover Vampire Orchis!”

Continued in next post...

[starjake]

As if that tree isn’t ugly enough… I thought to myself as Des Dendle crawled up the trunk again.

“Vampire Orchis, attack his face-down monster now!”

The fanged tree shot forth its venomous flowers and struck my face-down monster! The shadow of a turtle appeared before shattering.

“Since I destroyed your monster, I get one of these!” Sure enough, another fanged flower grew from the soil next to Vampire Orchis. (800/800) -> (1000/1000)

“Hold on, Heather! Your monster isn’t the only one with an effect. You destroyed UFO Turtle, and when that happens, I get to do this!” I held up my Disk, and the ghost of my Turtle flew out of the Graveyard and hovered in front of me. “I use its special ability to summon Solar Flare Dragon in Attack Mode!”

A door slid open on UFO Turtle’s ‘shell’, and the fiery snake-like dragon shot out of it. (1500/1000) After that, UFO Turtle zipped back into my Graveyard.

“And since my Inferno is a Pyro monster, you can’t attack my dragon!”

“I know that, Jake! I’m not as dumb as you are!”

Ergh…she’s even more aggravating than usual!

“Oh, Jakey! That’s all for now. Let’s see what your silly fire deck can come up with!”

“Indeed! I draw!”

Benu Phoenix! I thought, looking at the card. This’ll show her!

“You think your Vampire Orchis is strong, but I’ve got someone who’s plenty stronger!”

A stone altar appeared underneath my Inferno.

“I sacrifice my Inferno to summon Benu Phoenix in Attack Mode!”

A pillar of fire erupted from the altar, consuming Inferno. Then, the top of the altar slid back, and out soared the beautiful Benu Phoenix. (2300/1800)

“Benu Phoenix, incinerate that weed! Celestial Inferno!”

Benu Phoenix flapped his mighty wings once, and a shower of flames descended on Vampire Orchis, who cowered in fear!

“Des Dendle, take the hit!”

To my surprise, the gloppy mold gathered itself in front of Vampire Orchis, shielding it! The firestorm hit it, but when the dust cleared…Vampire Orchis was still there!

“What the…what’s going on?”

“Did you forget our last duel? If Vampire Orchis would be destroyed in battle and Des Dendle’s equipped to it, Des Dendle is destroyed instead of it!” she called back as her Life Points dipped. (Heather: 7600)

I need to get rid of that thing, but she keeps protecting her monsters! “I end my turn. Go, Solar Flare Dragon!”

Right on cue, my dragon flew across the field and slammed into Heather, sending her back a few feet. (Heather: 7100)

“Ergh…I hate fire! It burns up all my pretty flowers and bugs!”

“I hope you can adjust, because as long as my dragon’s on the field, that will happen every turn!”

“Well then, why don’t I just get rid of it!” she yelled, drawing a card. She looked at it, then started laughing!

“I don’t get what’s so funny.”

“How good I am, that’s what’s so funny! Take a look at what I just drew!” She held the card out to me. It was Magic card.

“What is that?”

She threw it into her disk. “It’s called Sylvan Rejuvenation. Wait until you see what it does!”

The card appeared on the field, and suddenly a large bunch of roots shot from the ground and wrapped themselves around Heather!

“With this Magic Card, I get a fresh start! Not only do I draw cards until there are six in my hand – “ the roots sprouted branches and four cards appeared on the ends, “ – but I get 500 Life Points each card I draw!”

No way! I thought to myself as the roots glowed and Heather’s Life meter started rising. [/I]That means she gets 2000 more Life Points![/I]

Heather smiled a wicked smile as the roots retracted and her Life Points skyrocketed. (Heather: 9100) Then, she examined her new hand.

“Hmm…ok, Jakey, I think I’ll summon this little guy. You remember him, right?”

She slapped a monster card onto her disk, and a small caterpillar with eye markings on its face appeared on the field. (300/200) -> (500/400)

“Petit Moth! You’re trying to bring out Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth again!”

She cackled. “So you do remember him! Good! That means when I use him for my master plan, you’ll be even more terrified! Tee hee hee!”

I’ve gotta get rid of that worm before she summons her ugly moth…even if it didn’t have a power boost, it’s way stronger that anything in my deck, and I can’t count on getting my Nightmare Wheel again!

“Jakey? I’ve got another card for you. It’s called Binding Roots!”

A card appeared on the field, and suddenly hundreds of roots shot from the forest floor and completely ensnared Benu Phoenix, who gave a loud screech!

“What have you done now?”

“Prevented your Phoenix from attacking! Binding Roots traps one monster on the field, preventing it from moving!”

That’s aggravating… “Any other annoying moves you’d like to make?”

“Nope. I think that’s enough for one turn.”

I drew.

Hey…I remember this guy! He helped me out when I dueled Mako!

“You like your Archer so much, I think I’ll counter it with one of mine! I summon Apollo’s Archer to the field!”

A Greek warrior leapt from the direction of the sun and landed in a crouching position. He stood and readied his bow. (1850/1050)

“And wait till you see his ability!”

Apollo’s Archer aimed an arrow at the sky and fired! The arrow vanished from sight.

“What was that for?”

“Just you wait.”

Soon, the arrow came plummeting back down to earth and pierced Heather’s Binding Roots card, and the roots surrounding Benu Phoenix shattered!

“Once per turn, his arrows destroy a random card on the field, and it looks like your Binding Roots was where the wind blew his arrow! Now my Benu Phoenix is free to attack!” I glared at Petit Moth. “You’re not gonna get away with your moth combo this time, Heather! You’ve left your worm wide open for an attack, and you know what my Benu Phoenix does with worms, right?” Benu Phoenix snapped its beak in anticipation.

“Benu Phoenix…”

Jake, wait! came Legendary Flame Lord’s horrified ‘voice’.

But I didn’t hear it until it was too late.

“…snap up her caterpillar!”

Benu Phoenix soared into the sky…

“Activate Trap!”

“You don’t have any Traps!”

“Then what’s this?”

I heard the sound of a trap activating. Then a tree moved and I could see that Heather had hidden a Trap Card behind it!

Wait a minute…that’s Vampire Orchis! I was so focused on her caterpillar that Vampire Orchis just blended into the rest of the woods! “When did you set that Trap?”

“During my last turn! It’s not my fault that you were busy sweating it over a lousy caterpillar!”

“But you never even said – “

“Hah! Some duelist you are! You can’t even pay attention when your opponent is telling you their moves! You’re pathetic!”

Jake, don’t listen to her!

But I was listening to her…

Did she really tell me about it, and I just didn’t listen? I thought. [/I]Maybe she’s right…[/I]

“Ahem. If you don’t mind, I have a move to finish making. The Trap I activated is called Mimesis! Wait until you see what it does!”

Her Petit Moth suddenly glowed with purple light! It quickly began shifting into something else!

“My Trap only works when you attack an Insect monster on my side of the field. When you do, I get to return the attacked monster to my hand – “ she took the card of her disk, “ – and replace it with a new one, which you’re forced to attack!”

I looked at where Petit Moth had been, but now there was a much larger caterpillar, which was a much darker green and black. (800/800) -> (1000/1000)

“So, go ahead, Benu Phoenix! Attack my Parasite Caterpillar!”

She must really want to protect her Petit Moth…but that caterpillar is barely any stronger! What’s going on? Unless…does it have some kind of ability? “Benu Phoenix, wait! Don’t attack it!”

But it was too late! Benu Phoenix came swooping down from the sky and snapped up her caterpillar in its beak! It gave a satisfied gulp, then flew back to my side of the field.

It was then I noticed Heather giggling. “What’s so funny?”

She pointed at my monster. “Take a look at your Phoenix!”

I did so, and stepped back out of shock! Benu Phoenix’s face was a sickly shade of green, and all its feathers were drooping!

“Maybe it was something he ate!” she chortled, nearly falling over herself at her joke.

“What the heck did you do to Benu Phoenix?”

“Hah! Parasite Caterpillar has a special ability! When it’s destroyed in battle, the monster that destroyed it can no longer attack, change its Battle Position, or even protect you from a direct attack!”

“Say WHAT?”

“It gets better! In three turns, your Benu Phoenix will become even prettier…when it transforms into Poison Butterfly, that is! Hee hee hee!”

She’s gonna turn my Phoenix into a bug! “That’s low, Heather!”

“It’s perfectly legal, Jake! I’ve done nothing wrong!”

That depends on your definition of wrong. “Alright, Apollo’s Archer, attack her face-down monster!”

Apollo’s strung three flaming arrows and fired at her face-down card…but they simply bounced off!

“Now what’s going on?”

A pink cocoon materialized above the card (0 / 2000) -> (200 / 2200). I grimaced as my Life Points dipped. (Jake: 7200)

“Don’t forget that my Cocoon of Evolution can be a monster all by itself, and it has more then enough DEF to take on your ugly Archer! And, I wouldn’t count on him staying around for too long, because he’s weaker than my Vampire Orchis!”

Damn it! Why didn’t I attack that with Benu Phoenix? Heather said her Mimesis only worked if I attacked one of her bugs, so she wouldn’t have been able to activate it, and wouldn’t be in this mess! What’s going on with me?

“Oh, Jakey? You in there? I don’t mind if you space out from shock, but just tell me that you’ve ended your turn first so I can finish you off!”

Jake, came the ‘voice’ of Legendary Flame Lord. You need to snap out of it! You’re making poor plays and not thinking things out at all; that’s why you’re losing! Don’t forget that I’m here to help you with all my abilities!

I looked at my hand. All I had were a useless Molten Destruction and Twin-Headed Fire Dragon that I couldn’t summon this turn.

“I end my turn,” I said with a sigh.

“Music to my ears!” yelled Heather, drawing a card. After looking at it, she grinned, then called out, “Now, I’m summoning Petit Moth again, and not only that, but I’m switching Cocoon of Evolution to Attack Mode!”

The small worm appeared on the field for the second time, and two of the web strings that bound her Cocoon to the ground undid themselves and positioned themselves like arms.

“And, since I’m a woman of my word…Vampire Orchis, rid the field of his Apollo’s Archer!”

Once again, Vampire Orchis shot forth its fanged flowers and chomped Apollo’s Archer into pieces. (Jake: 7150)

“And, since your only other monster can’t protect you from a direct attack…Arcane Archer, attack Jake!”

Her Archer strung an arrow and sent it flying into my arm, making me gasp; it didn’t hurt, but it was very unnerving to see an arrow sticking out of my arm. (Jake: 5450)

“Now, Petit Moth! Sic ‘im!”

Petit Moth shot across the field at a pace that I did not expect a caterpillar to achieve and slammed into me, knocking me over! (Jake: 4950)

“Cocoon, your turn!”

The two web string-arms shot in my direction and whipped me across the chest! (Jake: 4750)

“Now, I’ll activate my Cocoon’s special ability, allowing me to equip it to Petit Moth!”

A hole suddenly appeared in the Cocoon, which Petit Moth quickly slithered into. The Cocoon then repaired itself, and Petit Moth disappeared from sight.

“And, to make sure that my Moth remains safe in his shelter, I’m equipping Vampire Orchis with Raregold Armor, meaning if you attack, you can only attack it!”

I remember that move…she pulled it on me last time we dueled!

“Alright…I think that’s enough damage for one turn. Make your next pathetic move!”

I hung my head.

How on earth can I beat her now? In six turns, that bug will evolve into the most powerful Insect-Type monster in the entire game, and I don’t have many cards that can defeat it! Not only that, but while I’m struggling trying to beat that thing, she’ll probably be able to pull another monster out of her hat…

Jake, wake up!

I looked over at Legendary Flame Lord. What?

Listen to yourself! You still have over half of your Life Points and plenty of cards in your Deck. Not to mention my abilities; I’m not here to watch, you know! What’s up with you? You’re not acting like yourself.

I hung my head again. I…I’m afraid, I guess.

Afraid? Afraid of what? The only thing this aggravating girl can hurt is your sanity.

I shook my head. Not her. I’m afraid of myself.

What? What are you talking about?

I gave a mental sigh. Back in the woods, my body acted all on its own, without me thinking at all. Everyone’s telling me I can control fire, but I couldn’t control it at all! What if that happens again? As much as Heather annoys me sometimes and as creepy as she’s acting right now, I don’t want to hurt her!

Well, whenever your fire powers have been released, it’s always been in a moment of life-threatening danger, which I don’t think this qualifies as. But you have something more pressing at hand; if you don’t start giving this duel your all, you’re gonna have another loss on your roster, and you don’t want that. If you think a little bit, you can turn this duel around and wipe out her monsters!

I thought for a minute.

Wait a second…that’s right! I completely forgot about Legendary Flame Lord’s effects! I stole a glance at his scepter, which was glowing a brilliant gold. And enough Magic Cards have been activated to use them! I just need to refresh my hand… “Alright, Heather, get ready to put a loss under your belt!”

She looked surprised. “Huh? What do you mean; there’s not a card in your Deck that can help you!”

“There is this one!” I called, drawing my card.

Alright! “I play Graceful Charity! This lets me refresh my hand, so get ready!”

The angel swooped onto the field and handed me three cards. She had little time to wait, however, because I had already decided to give up my Molten Destruction and Twin-Headed Fire Dragon, both of which were useless to me at the time. She looked a bit surprised at my speedy donation, then smiled and vanished into a sparkle of light.

These should help me big time. But first, I have some business to attend to. “Heather, get ready to lose all of your monsters!”

“And just how do you intend to do that?”

“Take a look at Legendary Flame Lord’s staff!”

She did so. “So it’s a little shinier than it was before. So what?”

“That’s more than a cosmetic change. Remember all those Magic Cards you played?”

“Of course; there the reason I’m winning!”

“Well, now they’re the reason you’ll be losing! Whenever a Magic Card is played, my Deckmaster stored power, and now that at least three of them have played, he can use that power! Legendary Flame Lord, use your ability to destroy every last one of her monsters!”

He nodded and smiled, then leapt in front of me and held his out his scepter. Drawing it back, he swung it in a wide arc, leaving behind a trail of fire that slammed into all of Heather’s monsters, who screamed as they were burned alive!

Heather just stared at the place where her monsters had been. “My…my precious bugs and flowers…”

“If you thought that was bad, then get a load of this little guy; I summon Fushi No Tori to the field!”

I threw the card down on my disk, and a lone red feather fell from the sky. There was a flash of light, and a slightly translucent phoenix was hovering in front of me. It let out a joyful cry. (1200 / 0)

“Since there’s absolutely nothing on your field…Fushi No Tori, attack her directly!”

Fushi No Tori looked at me rather sadly, but did as I asked, flying across the field and through Heather. (Heather: 7900) Fushi No Tori then flew back to my side of the field and landed on my shoulder, hanging her head.

“What’s up with your bird?”

“She’s a creature of peace, so she doesn’t like attacking. If she does, she feels guilty, and her tears have healing powers! So, whenever you lose Life Points from her, I gain just as many!” (Jake: 5950)

“Hmph. I still have way more Life Points than you do!”

“True, but I have something else that can deplete them. I activate Ember Storm!”

A ring of embers suddenly winked into existence around us.

“That’s all for me. Fushi No Tori, you did a good job; take a rest in my hand.”

Fushi No Tori looked at me gratefully, then vanished.

Continued in next post...

[starjake]

“Your move.”

Heather looked visibly upset. “You destroyed my precious monsters; you’ll pay!” she yelled, drawing a card.

“Before I pay, my Magic Card activates!”

The circle of embers started spinning faster. Then, they changed their course slightly, plowing through and making her scream! (Heather: 7700)

“Ember Storm takes away 200 Life Points during our Standby Phases if there aren’t any Fire monsters on our side of the field! And since you don’t use Fire monsters, my Magic Card will keep taking away 200 Life Points every turn!”

She glared at me. “You…I’m sick of your Fire cards! Time to get rid of you!” She held up a Magic Card. “I activate Monster Reborn to bring back Vampire Orchis!”

The holy symbol appeared on the field, and it quickly transformed into her toothy tree. (1700 / 1000) -> (1900 / 1200)

“But wait, there’s more! I summon Pinch Hopper as well!”

She threw the card on her disk, and a large grasshopper appeared next to her Vampire Orchis. (1000 / 1200) -> (1200 / 1400)

“It gets better! Remember my Sylvan Rejuvenation?”

Grimacing, I nodded.

“Well, since it’s such a useful card, I have two in my deck, and I use my second one!”

The roots erupted from the ground and surrounded her again, and six cards appeared on them.

“Since I have no cards in my hand, I get the maximum benefit of drawing six cards and gaining 3000 Life Points!”

The roots glowed as the cards floated into her hand. The roots then retracted. (Heather: 10700)

She’s got over ten thousand Life Points!

“Now, since your Benu Phoenix can’t protect you…monsters, attack!”

Vampire Orchis slapped me with its flowers, while Pinch Hopper leapt across the field and kicked me in the stomach with its powerful hind legs, sending me sprawling! (Jake: 2850)

“I set 1 card face-down, and end my turn.”

Groaning, I dragged myself up off the ground. At least she told me she was setting a card this time.

I drew a card.

“Fortunately, even though my Benu Phoenix can’t attack, he’s still a creature of Fire, so he protects me from Ember Storm.”

Sure enough, Benu Phoenix managed to raise one wing and direct the embers away from me.

I then looked over at Legendary Flame Lord’s staff. It was golden again.

Awesome!

“You must not listen well, Heather. Remember my Flame Lord’s ability?”

She remained silent, for once.

“Three more Magic Cards have been played, so Legendary Flame Lord can do this,” I yelled, pointing at her monsters. For a second time, Legendary Flame Lord leapt in front of me and shot a fiery energy wave at her monsters, burning them to a crisp!

That was when Heather started to laugh. Loudly.

“What’s so funny?”

“How dumb do you think I am? Of course I remembered your Deckmaster’s special ability, and I purposely played two more Magic Cards so you would use it!”

Huh? Why on earth would she do something like that?

It was only then that I noticed a small cocoon on the field where Pinch Hopper had been. “What’s that cocoon doing there?”

She cackled again. “I needed Pinch Hopper to be destroyed so I could use its effect! See, whenever it’s destroyed, I can summon any Insect monster from my hand, and I have just the monster! Meet one of the strongest Insects in my deck: Insect King!”

The cocoon started shaking, and suddenly an immense green insectoid leg shot out of it! Another leg followed it, then a huge pair of blue mandibles. Soon, a monstrous fly was hovering over Heather! Its giant compound eyes glinted in the sunlight, and the buzzing of its huge wings made the trees shake! (3000 / 2500) -> (3200 / 2700)

“What the…what is that thing?”

“This is my Insect King, and its special effect is about to activate!”

“Special effect? It’s still my turn!”

“It doesn’t matter whose turn it is for this effect to activate!”

Suddenly, the ground in front of Heather started cracking open!

Great. Now what?

“When Insect King is Special Summoned, I get to summon any number of Insect monsters in my hand directly to the field! And I’ve got two.”

Out of the ground crawled a cockroach carrying a shield and sword and a small blue-and-red worm. (1900 / 1500) -> (2100 / 1700) ; (0 / 0) ; (200 / 200)

“What are those things?”

“First off is Insect Knight! It’s one of the strongest non-Tribute bug monsters out there with 1900 ATK.”

The roach reared up on its hind legs and waved its sword menacingly.

“Second is Ultimate Insect LV1! Don’t bother using a Magic Card on it, because it’s immune to all Magic Cards!”

Yeah, but it’s really weak…I shouldn’t need a Magic Card to get rid of that pathetic thing.

“Well, it’s still my turn, and I summon Fushi No Tori back to the field!”

Once again, the small phoenix appeared on the field and gave a warbling cry. (1200 / 0)

“Fushi No Tori, attack her Ultimate Insect!”

Fushi No Tori flew across the field and stretched out its talons…

“Activate Trap Card!”

Suddenly, Insect Knight’s shield became bigger and fancier, and it jumped in the way!

“My Draining Shield Trap will take all of your monster’s ATK points and add them to my Life Points!” (Heather: 11900)

Now she has almost twelve thousand Life Points! How am I ever going to get rid of them all?

“It’s still your move. Anything else you want to do?”

I snapped back to reality. “As a matter of fact, yes! I activate a Magic Card: Incineration!”

A bonfire suddenly erupted around Insect King!

“This Magic Card can only work when there’s a Fire monster on my side of the field, but when there is, I can destroy any monster on the field! And your Insect King provides a lot of fuel!”

The bonfire blazed for a minute or so, then died down…and Insect King was still there!

“Wait…what’s going on?”

“My Insect King is even more powerful than it looks! It’s immune to all Magic Cards!”

Oh great. “I set once card face-down and end my turn.” A card appeared on the field and Fushi No Tori flew back into my hand.

“Then it’s my turn, and my monster effects can get to work!”

“Your monster effects?”

“Both my Insect King and Ultimate Insect have effects that activate as soon as I draw! So watch out,” she yelled as she drew a card.

Suddenly, a small white worm-like creature appeared on the field in front of Heather! (0 / 0) -> (200 / 200)

“Every turn, my Insect King summons a Larvae Token to the field, which means more bugs for me!”

Then, Ultimate Insect glowed and started growing! Soon, it had transformed into some kind of cocoon-thing with eyespots all over it. (1400 / 900) -> (1600 / 1100)

“Meet Ultimate Insect LV3! And if you think its 1600 ATK isn’t enough of an improvement, watch its effect!”

Her cocoon shot a stream of webbing onto Benu Phoenix, who cried out in pain as its ATK started dropping! (2300 / 1800) -> (2000 / 1800)

“As long as Ultimate Insect LV3 was summoned by LV1’s effect, all your monsters have their ATK lowered by 300 points!”

Not like that really matters, since I can’t attack with it anyway!

“Now to start my turn…I summon Anti-Aircraft Flower!”

A large yellow flower grew out of the ground. Its petals opened to reveal a long antenna pointed in my direction. (0 / 1600) -> (200 / 1800)

“Next, I activate a Magic Card: Pot of Greed!”

The grinning pot appeared on her disk, and she reached in and drew two cards.

“Now, since you have a face-down card and I have no means of destroying it, I’m not going to bother attacking…but I’m still going to damage your Life Points! I activate Anti-Aircraft Flower’s special effect! Larvae Token, load yourself into Anti-Aircraft Flower!”

The rather disgusting worm slithered its way into Anti-Aircraft Flower’s petals and the gun glowed with energy,

“If I sacrifice an Insect monster, I can deal you 800 points of damage! Fire when ready!”

This is not gonna feel good.

The flower aimed its antenna, which apparently was a gun, and fired the larvae at me! When it struck, it shattered, but my Life Points dropped to 2050.

As I gathered myself up of the ground, Heather said, “I’ll finish my turn by playing Insect Barrier.” A web of golden strands suddenly divided to field in two.

If I can play another Magic Card next turn, I’ll be able to wipe out her monsters again…but I need to draw one first. I drew a card. [/I]And this isn’t it![/I]

Just then, Heather started laughing hysterically!

“Get ready Jake! Remember how I said that Benu Phoenix was about to get prettier? It’s been three turns since you destroyed Parasite Caterpillar, and now its venom reaches its full potency!”

I watched in horror as Benu Phoenix shrieked in pain and started glowing a sickly green color.

‘What are you doing to my Phoenix?”

Benu Phoenix’s beautiful wings transformed into butterfly wings, its eyes bugged out and its crest turned into two antennae. A butterfly now hovered where Benu Phoenix had been! (2700 / 2000)

“Your Phoenix just hasn’t been himself lately, has he?”

“Again, what happened to Benu Phoenix!”

“He’s a new monster now called Poison Butterfly! And, even though it has 2700 ATK points, he can’t attack thanks to my Insect Barrier! And don’t forget Ultimate Insect’s ability!”

Again, her cocoon-like thing shot webbing onto Poison Butterfly’s face, causing its ATK to drop to 2400.

“It gets better! Thanks your own Magic Card, you lose 200 Life Points since there aren’t any Fire monsters on your side of the field anymore!”

Uh oh.

The embers flew in my direction, and I screamed in pain as they tore through me! (Jake: 1850)

Panting, I looked at my hand.

She didn’t attack last turn because of my face-down card; I wish she would’ve, cause Mirror Force would get rid of all her monsters. But, she’ll probably not attack again, meaning I can use Legendary Flame Lord’s second effect to summon my third Solar Flare Dragon from my Deck, then I can summon the one in my hand for a lock. Then I just need to figure out how to boost my Life Points, or else she’ll just keep blasting them with her Anti-Aircraft Flower! “There’s nothing I can do this turn. I’m done.”

“Hee hee hee! Music to my ears, Jake!”

The look in her eyes worried me. Now what?

I soon figured out why she was so happy. Poison Butterfly started flapping its wings, and a toxic dust surrounded me, making me gag and feel nauseous! (Jake: 1350)

“What – “ (cough) “ – just happened?”

“Poison Butterfly does have one downside…for you! As long as it’s on the field, its controller loses 500 Life Points at the ends of their turns thanks its poisonous wings!”

Dang it…she’s gotten good!

“And it’s my turn now.” She drew a card.

“Don’t forget about Ember Storm! You still don’t have a Fire monster, so you lose 200 Life Points!”

She clenched her fists as the embers passed through her again. (Heather: 11500)

“Ergh…your pathetic Magic Card doesn’t mean that much to me…I still have almost ten times as many Life Points as you do! And I have effects that activate now too!”

Once again, a larvae crawled its way out of the ground thanks to Insect King’s ability. (0 / 0) -> (200 / 200)

“And, my Ultimate Insect isn’t done evolving! Meet Ultimate Insect LV5!”

Another one?

Yes, there was another one. The weird bug started changing again, this time into something that was definitely a cocoon. It was sleek and silver, and supported by several taught web strings. (2300 / 900) -> (2500 / 1100)

“Remember LV3’s effect? This guy has the same effect, only stronger!”

One of the web strings lifted and wrapped itself around Poison Butterfly, lowering its ATK further! (2700 / 2000) -> (2200 / 2000)

“LV3 lowered ATK by 300 points, but my new cocoon lowers ATK by 500 points, meaning your new Butterfly is even weaker than it was before! And now, get ready to be shot again!”

Not that flower again!

Her larvae loaded itself into Anti-Aircraft Flower once more, and shot itself into me, leaving me with only 550 Life Points!

“I’ll think I’ll do you a favor from now on…shooting people with bugs isn’t nice, so I’m going to Tribute my Flower for a stronger Plant!”

A stone altar appeared underneath Anti-Aircraft Flower, looking out of place in this wooden arena. A pillar of water shot of out of the altar, drowning the flower and making it disappear. Then, the top of the altar slid back, and out floated a fairy-looking creature holding a regal scepter. The fairy had blond hair and blue eyes, two large paper-thin butterfly wings, and was clothed in a very elegant white robe with an incredibly ornate neckline. (2200 / 1500) -> (2400 / 1700)

“This is Fairy King Truesdale, the ruler of all Plants! Just wait until I switch him into Defense Mode, because then he raises the ATK of all my Plants by 500 points!”

Good thing she doesn’t have any Plants on the field…yet, anyway.

“And with that, I end my turn. Not that there’s anything you can do. In two of your turns, you’ll be wiped out thanks to Poison Butterfly!”

She’s got a good point…maybe I should just give up. After all, at the end of my next turn, I’ll only have 50 Life Points!

It was then that I heard Legendary Flame Lord. Don’t you dare give in, Jake.

I looked over to him. Huh?

True, you’re in a tough spot, but there are still cards in your Deck and your Life Points haven’t hit zero. There’s no reason quit until one of those two things are no longer true! Keep fighting; there are cards in your Deck that can help you! Believe in yourself and in your Deck, and you can’t lose! Now use that plan you came up with a second ago.

But that won’t drop her Life Points to zero in time!

Trust your Deck; it’ll come through for you!

I looked at my Deck, then my hand, then at Legendary Flame Lord, who was looking at me with a determined look in his eyes. I took a deep breath.

“What’re you waiting for, Jakey? Draw your card! Or did you forget the rules?”

I gave Heather a fierce look. “I’m not drawing this turn.”

“You’re forfeiting? Whee, that means I – “

“I’m not forfeiting either.”

Heather’s look of elation turned to one of confusion. “But…you have to draw!”

“Not if I activate my Deckmaster’s special ability! I can skip my Draw Phase to summon any Fire monster from my Deck with 4 stars or lower, and I choose my Solar Flare Dragon!”

Continued in next post...

[starjake]

Legendary Flame Lord nodded, then held out his staff. A stream of fire erupted from the end, which transformed into the fiery snake-like dragon. (1500 / 1000) -> (1000 / 1000)

“Now I can summon my third Solar Flare Dragon from my hand!” Another dragon appeared beside the first one. (1500 / 1000) -> (1000 / 1000)

“Hah! Thanks to my Ultimate Insect, your monsters have only 1000 ATK points!”

“True, but my monsters protect each other since they’re both Pyro-Types, so you can’t attack either one of them!”

Heather looked upset, but then smiled.

“Not that that matters. You can stall all you want; you’re done at the end of your next turn!”

“We’ll see about that once we get to the end my next turn. However, we still have the end of this turn to worry about!”

Poison Butterfly flapped its wings again, and I choked on the toxic dust! (Jake: 50)

Gasping for air, I called out, “I may have lost Life Points, but you’re about to lose more! Go, my Dragons!”

Both of the Dragons snarled, then soared across the field and bit Heather on her arms! She screamed as her Life Points dropped dramatically! (Heather: 10500)

Panting, she yelled, “You may have taken away some Life Points, but not nearly enough! I still have over ten thousand, while you’re down to fifty! There’s no way you can win! Just do yourself a favor and give up; it’s hopeless for you!”

“I’m not giving up, Heather!”

“Fine then, be stubborn! That’ll make it all the more fun when I defeat you!” She drew a card. “Now, prepare to meet the final form of my Ultimate Insect line!”

Again?

The silvery cocoon suddenly split down the middle, and a tarrying creature came out. It appeared to a moth of some sort, with huge blue, spiky-haired legs. Its mandibles were easily four feet long, and the spiked shell on its back split in half to reveal four see-through wings! (2600 / 1200) -> (2800 / 1400)

“This is Ultimate Insect LV7! And its effect is even more powerful than its previous, because reduces your monsters’ ATK and DEF by 700!”

I looked on dumbstruck as my monsters’ stats plummeted. (2700 / 2000) -> (2000 / 1300) ; (1500 / 1000) -> (800 / 300) x2

“Just in case you do pull something out of your hat, I’m summoning Dreamsprite in Attack Mode!”

A cute blue fairy with red hair and long ears appeared on the field. (300 / 200) -> (500 / 400)

Ugh…I can’t let those low stats fool me. If I attack that thing, it can redirect the attack to another monster on her field!

“And, on the offchance that you choose to attack, I’m going to force you attack it by equipping it with another Raregold Armor!”

The blue fairy was suddenly covered in silver-and-gold armor that glinted in the sunlight.

That was smart…if I do attack, now she can choose what monster I attack!

“I end my turn with that…but don’t you think this is enough? Even if you destroy all my monsters next turn, you barely have enough firepower to even dent my Life Points! There’s no way can win now; just give up!”

I shut my eyes tight. I have to ignore her and trust my Deck, like Legendary Flame Lord said. Deck, I need a card that can help me out, and I need it now!

I put my hand to my Deck…

Trust your cards, Jake…just put your trust in your cards…

I drew my card…

You’d better be right, Legendary Flame Lord…

I looked at the card…

And smiled!

“Yee hah! Take a look at what I just drew, Little Miss Flower! It’s a Magic Card called Flames of Renewal!”

I threw it into my disk, and my Graveyard started glowing with fire!

“This little number lets me remove any number of Fire monsters in my Graveyard from play, and since there are six, I’ll remove all of them!”

The ghostly shapes of Benu Phoenix, Solar Flare Dragon, UFO Turtle, Inferno, Twin-Headed Fire Dragon, and Apollo’s Archer surrounded me.

“And, for each one I remove from play, I get 500 Life Points, which brings me out of the gutter and back in the game!”

The ghosts of my monsters suddenly turned into a bonfire! I was surrounded by fire!

This is weird, I thought, as the flames surrounded me and crawled on my skin. Fire is supposed to burn things…but this feels like I’m tanning at the beach! I didn’t know fire could feel good!

The flames died down, and I noticed with great pleasure that my Life Points had shot up to 3050!

I grinned. “What were you saying about me being done after this turn?”

Heather just sneered at me.

“And it gets even better, because you’ve played three Magic Cards, so Legendary Flame Lord can do this!”

Grinning, my Deckmaster shot a stream of Fire energy at Heather’s side of the field, completely clearing it of monsters!

“Your Ultimate Insect is gone, meaning that my monster get the stats back to normal! Since that Insect Barrier is still there, Poison Butterfly still can’t attack, but my two Solar Flare Dragons sure can! Attack her Life Points directly!”

Both Solar Dragons leapt across the field and slammed into Heather sending her flying into a tree trunk! (Heather: 7500)

Poison Butterfly started flapping its wings again, but I was prepared this time and held my breath. (Jake: 2550) Once the dust had disappeared, I yelled, “Get ready, because they’re about to attack you again!”

Right on cue, they soared across the field again and bit her on her arms, making her scream! (Heather: 6500)

“I haven’t been defeated yet, Heather, and nothing you say will make me quit!”

She glared at me before drawing her card.

“I summon Lord Poison to the field!”

A rather ugly looking creature made of pond slime appeared on the field. It was colored dark green, almost black, and its two ‘arms’ ended in wicked claws. (1500 / 1000) -> (1700 / 1200)

“Lord Poison, attack his Poison Butterfly now!”

What? A suicide mission?

Lord Poison swiped at Poison Butterfly with its claws, but the Butterfly dodged and gave a mighty flap of its wings, blowing Lord Poison into oblivion. (Heather: 5500)

“When Lord Poison is destroyed in battle, I can Special Summon any Plant from my Graveyard other than another Lord Poison. Return to me, Fairy King!”

Oh. She used the same tactic I use with my UFO Turtle.

Some scum had remained on the field when Lord Poison had been destroyed. The scum floated into the air and formed itself into the regal king of Plants. (2200 / 1500) -> (2400 / 1700)

“Go ahead, Jake.”

“Gladly.” I drew. Monster Reborn.

Hmm…there’s nothing in either Graveyard that can beat her Fairy King, but her Fairy King can’t attack any of my monsters. And, if she somehow destroys my monsters, I still have Mirror Force set. “Nothing I can do this turn.”

Yet again, Poison Butterfly flapped its wings, dropping my Life Points by 500, while both Solar Flare Dragons bit into Heather’s Life Points again. (Heather: 4500 / Jake: 2050)

Grunting, Heather yelled, “I draw!”

She looked at the card she drew, then called out, “I pay 800 Life Points to play Premature Burial! This lets me bring back any monster in my Graveyard, and I know just who to pick!”

The ground beneath her cracked open, and out buzzed her Insect King! (3000 / 2500) -> (3200 / 2700)

“Try getting past this guy!”

“I did it once, and I’ll happily do it again!” I drew a card.

I looked up at Heather. “That was your last chance.”

She looked at me, horrified. “Wha…what do you mean? I still have over 4000 Life Points and two powerful monsters to protect me!”

“Right, but I’m about to activate this: Harpie’s Feather Duster! It destroys every Magic and Trap Card on your side of the field, meaning your Insect Barrier and Premature Burial are toast! And, since Insect King is being held on the field by Premature Burial, it’s toast too!”

A large feather appeared over Heather side of the field, and with one massive sweep, it destroyed both of her Magic Cards…but when the dust had cleared, Insect King was still there!

“It should have been destroyed!”

“But thanks to a little ruling in my favor, it wasn’t! Remember that Insect King isn’t affected by Magic Cards while it’s on the field, and technically it’s the effect of Premature Burial which would have destroyed it!”

I suddenly understood. “And since Premature Burial is a Magic Card, Insect King isn’t affected by that effect.”

“That’s right!”

I shook my head. “Not that that matters…it’s still the last turn of the Duel! I activate Monster Reborn, bringing back your Ultimate Insect LV7!”

The large moth suddenly appeared on my side of the field next to Poison Butterfly. (2600 / 1200)

“Too bad it has to be summoned through the effect of Ultimate Insect LV5 for its stat-lowering effect to work!”

“Who cares about its effect? I don’t need that to destroy you! Think about the Magic Cards!”

Heather looked confused, then realized what had happened. “That’s three: Your Monster Reborn and Harpie’s Feather Duster…”

“And your Premature Burial! Legendary Flame Lord, go!”

For the fourth and final time, Legendary Flame Lord incinerated both of Heather’s monsters.

“Well look at that. You have nothing to protect you, and I have two of your strongest monsters! How interesting…now, Poison Butterfly! Attack her with Toxic Gale!”

Poison Butterfly flapped its wings once, and a huge blast of winds and toxic spores tore across and the field and sent Heather flying backwards! (Heather: 1800)

She slowly got up.

“I’d stay down if I were you…Ultimate Insect LV7! Attack her directly with Hypersonic Claw!”

Eagerly clicking its mandibles, it zipped across the field slashed Heather with them, knocking her down and finishing the duel. (Heather: 0 / Jake: 2050)

My disk deactivated and all the monsters disappeared. Legendary Flame Lord gave me a thumbs up before disappearing himself.

I walked over to Heather and opened my mouth to speak.

“That was great, Jake.”

I closed my mouth quickly. What did she mean?

“You won, and you believe in yourself now.”

What was she talking about?

Slowly, she settled herself into a sitting position. “You were supposed to win that duel…you needed a boost of confidence in your abilities and in yourself, and I was charged with doing that. I’m sorry I had to act mean and nasty, Jake.” She looked at me and I was astonished to see tears in her eyes. “Can you forgive me?”

I was shocked. One minute she was acting like a bully, the next she wore a cute little girl face? “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

Heather hung her head.

“Jake, Sara told me I had to let you win.”



Trent
Earth/Plant/5 stars/ATK 1800/DEF 1500
(DMSA): Increase the ATK and DEF of all Beast-, Beast-Warrior-, Insect-, and Plant-Type monsters on your side of the field by 200 points. If your opponent activates a Field Spell Card, negate the activation and effect of the card and destroy it (this is not optional).

Forest Bow
Equip Spell
This card can only be equipped to "Arcane Archer of the Forest". The equipped monster is treated as a Plant-Type monster. Also, when a Beast-, Beast-Warrior-, Insect-, or Plant-Type monster on your side of the field is Tributed, increase the ATK of the monster equipped with this card by 300 points.

Chlorophyll Shield
Normal Trap
You can only activate this card if there is a face-up Plant-Type monster on your side of the field. Negate the activation and effect of a card that would destroy a card on your side of the field and destroy the activated card.

Sylvan Rejuvenation
Normal Spell
You can only activate this card if there is a face-up Plant-Type monster on your side of the field. Draw cards from your Deck until you have 6 cards in your hand. For each card you draw by this effect, increase your Life Points by 500.

Mimesis
Normal Trap
You can only activate this card when your opponent declares a Level 4 or lower Insect-Type monster on your side of the field as an attack target. Return the targeted Insect-Type monster to your hand. Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower Insect-Type monster from your hand to the field. The Special Summoned monster becomes the new target of the attack.

Parasite Caterpillar
Earth/Insect/3 stars/ATK 800/DEF 800
If this card is destroyed as a result of battle, place 1 "Cocoon Counter" on the monster that destroyed this monster. If a monster has a "Cocoon Counter" on it, the monster cannot attack, change its Battle Position, or be Tributed for any reason, and if it is the only monster on your side of the field, your opponent can attack you directly. During your opponent's 3rd Standby Phase after this effect is activated, Tribute 1 monster with 1 "Cocoon Counter" on it to Special Summon 1 "Poison Butterfly" from your hand or Deck to your opponent's side of the field.

Binding Roots
Continuous Spell
Select 1 face-up monster on the field. As long as this card remains face-up on the field, the selected monster cannot attack.

Incineration
Normal Spell
You can only activate this card if there is a face-up Fire monster on your side of the field. Destroy 1 face-up monster on the field.

Insect King
Earth/Insect/8 stars/ATK 3000/DEF 2500
As long as this card remains face-up on the field, it is unaffected by any Spell Cards. When this card is Special Summoned successfully, you can Special Summon any number of Level 4 or lower Insect-Type monsters from your hand to the field. Also, during each of your Standby Phases, you can Special Summon 1 "Larvae Token" (Earth/Insect/1 star/ATK 0/DEF 0) to your side of the field in face-up Defense Position.

Poison Butterfly
Wind/Insect/7 stars/ATK 2700/DEF 2000
This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card is Special Summoned through the effect of “Parasite Caterpillar”. Inflict 500 points of damage to the Life Points of this card’s controller during each of his/her End Phases.
Note: Mimesis, Parasite Caterpillar, and Poison Butterfly all appeared during Weevil's rematch with Yami during the three-part series "On the Wrong Track". Creative credit goes to the creators of those episodes.

Flames of Renewal
Normal Spell
Remove any number Fire monsters in your Graveyard from play. Increase your Life Points by an amount equal to the number of monsters removed from play by this effect x500.
Note: Kudos to Venusaur for creating this card for his Yu-Gi-Oh Junior fics.

[starjake]

Chapter 21 – Toon World

Heather’s statement shook me up, to say the least.

OK, now I am officially confused. Why has Sara or Cerredwin or whatever her name is picked me out as her favorite? When I dueled her, I won; when I was in trouble, she helped me; and now she’s telling other duelists to make sure I win? And isn’t this the same woman who Bryan and Cecelia are telling me to be careful of?

I sat down next to her, unsure of what to say. Thankfully, she started speaking.

“A while ago, I was here in this meadow, looking at a cocoon I had found, when Sara came up to me and asked me a favor…”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Heather?”

I looked up from the cocoon I was watching. “Oh hi, Sara! I’m really glad to see you! I’ve been picking these pretty flowers and looking at all these cute bugs and - ”

“HEATHER!”

I stopped talking; I’d forgotten that I talk too fast for some people. “Oh, right. Sorry.”

“I need you to do me a favor.”

“What’s up?”

“You remember Jake, right?”

“Of course I remember Jake! He’s a great friend of mine!”

She raised an eyebrow before continuing. “Heather, I need you to duel him…but with the regulations I place.”

It took me a second to figure out what that meant. “Uh…ok.”

“I need you to duel your absolute hardest…I’m going to show you a few new cards to help you out…but he needs to win.”

I cocked my head. “Um…if you don’t mind my asking, why?”

She shook her head. “That’s not important. He just needs to win. Oh, and one more thing. Remember how he finally broke down and called you a loudmouth?”

I dropped my eyes. I remembered that conversation all too well. “Yes.”

“I need you to fulfill that name. I need you to be as aggravating as you can possibly be!”

I stared at her. “But, why – “

“Heather, he needs a confidence boost. He’s about to lose a duel against Voldemort, and other things have happened to make him confused, angry, and scared.”

I completely missed the end of the sentence. “He’s dueling Lord Voldemort? Is he nuts?”

“No…he ran into Voldemort, Voldemort challenged him, and he was too cocky to say no. Don’t worry…Voldemort can’t do anything to him.”

That calmed me down slightly. Very slightly. “Are you absolutely sure he’s not in danger?”

Sara looked at me funny. “Yes, I’m positive. Why?”

I quickly shook my head. “No reason. So Jake needs some morale support?”

“Yes…but, because of his personality and the pressures of the tournament, he needs to win a challenging duel to get that support.”

“So why do I need to be aggravating on purpose? I have a hard enough time not coming as aggravating naturally.”

Sara gave me a serious look. “Heather, you’ve been in plenty of plays; I know you’re a great actress.”

How did she know that? “Yeah…go on.”

“When he defeats you in a duel after such odds are against him, that’ll boost his self-confidence.”

Such odds? “What odds?”

“Well, I’m going to improve your deck a bit with some new cards…if you mess with his mind a little bit, he’ll be shaken up. If he wins with all that going against him…you’ll be helping him in the long run. Use your acting skills to help him, Heather.”

After a pause, I nodded, but deep down inside, I was feeling totally rotten. I don’t want to hurt Jake…

“Here are some new cards for your Deck, Heather.” She walked over to me and produced several cards.

Hmm…Forest Bow is nice; makes Arcane Archer even stronger…holy cow, look at this Sylvan Rejuvenation! That’s powerful! And…she’s given me two of them! “Thanks, Sara.”

“You’re welcome. Thank you Heather. I know you’ll do well.”

“Yes, Sara,” I said, snapping back to what I had to do.

“Take heart, Heather. After all, you’re not supposed to win this tournament.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“Well, I have things to attend to, so if you’ll – “

She suddenly stopped and looked incredibly worried. Then, she turned on her heel and hurried off into the woods without even saying goodbye to me.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Heather grew silent, and I sat back.

Wow. I always thought she was just some sort of aggravating pest. I had no idea that she actually cared about me as a friend.

Heather, however, was thinking something totally different.

I’ve told him everything…half of me wants him to see how I feel, and the other half of me doesn’t…why does this always have to be so confusing!

I looked up at her at the same time she looked up at me.

“I – “ we both said, stopping out of surprise.

“You first, Heather.”

She swallowed, as though she were about to say something important. “I…well…no, you go ahead.”

This is getting awkward. “I just wanted to thank you for being such a friend. I always thought you were just some kid I knew from school, but I never knew you actually cared that much. Thanks, Heather.”

Well…I guess he didn’t see it. “Sure…anytime, Jake. I’ll always catch your back.” Then I smiled slightly. “Just remember that I’m only a virtual person; you didn’t have this conversation with the real Heather.”

Now I was confused again. “So…the real Heather is still as shallow and aggravating as ever.”

She cringed slightly. “No, no…I was based off of her, so we’re the same person.” Seeing my confused look, she went on. “Think about it like I’m in two places at the same time. One of me is here, chatting with you right now, and the other is out in the real world, doing whatever. We’re the same person; just in different places. Get it now?”

“Sort of.”

She giggled her schoolgirl giggle again. “You crack me up, Jake, you really do.”

I slowly got up and stretched. “Well, I have to find two more duelists to defeat before I can get into the semi-finals. Will you be there, Heather?”

“Of course. I’ll cheer you on loudest!”

I laughed, then realized something. “Wait…how do you know where they are?”

“Oh I already know. The only people here who don’t know are the contestants themselves.”

I stared. “Can you tell me?”

She giggled. “Now, now, Jake…I can’t let you cheat!”

“But I’ll still – “

“Jake, I’m not telling! You’ll have to find out the hard way.” And she crossed her arms, settling the matter.

“Oh, fine then. Be that way. Anyways, I’ve got to go. See you later!” I called as I walked into a sunny part of the woods.

“Bye, Jake!” I heard her call back.

I didn’t hear her thoughts, though.

I’ll miss you…

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Geez, Bryan, did you have to win so viciously?” asked Norman as he pressed the button again, causing his laboratory to reassemble itself.

I laughed. “I do what I have to. It didn’t hurt you, did it?”

“I think I have a sprained dignity, but other than that, I’m fine.”

That must be an old-person saying. “So…you having fun out here?”

“Oh yes! This place is ideal for my research…too bad I can’t get the information to my real-world self, but this is fun nonetheless. How are you doing in the tournament?”

“That duel against you makes four wins.”

“Hey, that’s great! That’s only one more win, right?”

“Zat ees right.”

I had almost forgotten Cecelia was there. “You’ve been awful quiet.”

“I vanted you to vin zat duel on your own. You did perfectly fine vithout my ‘elp.”

“Thanks for the compliment.”

“You are velcome.”

I turned to Normal. “Thanks to you to; I’m one step closer to the semi-finals now!”

He gave a polite nod. “Anytime; that was fun. I need to do that more often.”

“In that case, I’ll see you soon?”

“You will; I’ll be at the semi-finals, cheering you on!”

“I look forward to it. Later!” I called as I walked away.

“Bye!”

Cecelia and I slowly made our way out of the building. When we reached the door, we found it had been propped open!

“That’s a little strange.”

Cecelia shrugged. “I’ve seen strangair.” With that, we both walked out…not noticing the pair of beady eyes hiding among the shelves.

Once we were out in the sunlight again and our eyes had adjusted, Cecelia looked at me. “Alright, champion dueleest. Vere to now?”

I shrugged. “We flew to get here; let’s walk for a while and see what comes up.”

Cecelia imitated my shrug. “Fine by me.”

“How about…that way?” I said, pointing towards a distant hill. “We haven’t been there yet.”

“From vat I remembair, zair ees a lake on ze uzzair side of zat ‘eel.”

“Maybe we’ll find a Water duelist there,” I joked.

“Pairhaps…but stay on your guard. Don’t forget zat monstairs leeve here, much like animals do een your vorld. Zair are bound to be many monstairs drinking from ze lake…not to mention monstairs een ze lake.”

“Meh, we’ve got our decks to protect us. We’ll do fine.”

She nodded, and we both set off towards the lake.

The being which the pair of beady eyes belonged to set off towards the lake as well, right behind us.

About a half-hour later, we reached the hill. Cecelia was right, I could hear things splashing in the water, but I doubted we were in any true danger. “You ready, Cecelia?” I asked, activating my Disk, just in case.

“Oui,” she said, activating her own Disk. But before we could take another step…

“Ah!” yelled Cecelia as her Disk was yanked downwards. I looked down to see…a ball? It was a large blue ball with yellow zigzag stripes, but it didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary.

“My Deck!”

Cecelia was staring at her Disk, which was missing one very important indgredient: her cards. “My Deck! Somevon stole eet; I felt zair hand!”

I looked behind us and saw a very small and very round person running away from us. He (or she) was holding a stick of some kind.

“I’m guessing that that’s the person the hand belonged to! Hey, stop! Those are hers!”

It kept running.

A little fat guy wants to challenge me to a footrace? Bad choice for him… I took off in its direction.

As I expected, it took me no time at all to catch up to the little guy. I reached and grabbed it by the shoulder, and turned to face me…and I gasped in surprise!

It was a he, but it was the ugliest he I had ever seen. It was a clown; a very fat, dirty, and repulsive clown. It smiled at me with yellowed and broken teeth, then swatted my hand away with its stick. It kept running.

“You can’t outrun me!” I took off after it again.

“Bryan, wait!”

I looked behind me to see Cecelia attempting to catch up with my fleet stride. She was carrying the ball with her.

“Vat is zat zing?”

“It’s the ugliest clown I’ve ever seen in my life.”

SPLAT!

My head jerked forward as something was thrown against it. Something gooey and…made of whipped cream?

“Very funny. He threw a pie at me.”

I turned to run after him again, but he had stopped. He held out a card from Cecelia’s deck, but I could not tell what it was. Then, to my astonishment, the card glowed, and the ugly clown jumped into it and vanished! The card stopped glowing and fluttered to the ground.

We looked at each other, then quickly ran over to the card.

“My Toon Vorld!”

I was busy wiping the pie off of my head. I didn’t dare taste it…something from a clown that disturbing was not trustworthy in my book.

“Any ideas on how to get zat clown out of my card?”

Finishing with the pie, I shrugged. “Pick it up and shake it until he falls out?”

Cecelia reached down and grabbed the card…and it started glowing again!

“Bryan!” she screamed, grabbing onto my arm. This proved to be a mistake, because I felt a weird tingling feeling, and we were suddenly sucked into the card as well!

We were falling in some white void filled with little strips of gaudy colors. I, for one, was panicking. “Any ideas?”

Cecelia looked at me. “Scream?”

I looked back down, and saw that the floor of whatever it was we were in was rushing towards us.

“AAAaaaaaaaaa……”

SPROING!

We landed on something hard but very stretchy. It gave a bit, then shot us back into the air!

“Um…what was that?”

“A trampoline?”

Our ascent slowed, and our descent began again. However, we did not hit the trampoline as hard this time. We were shot back into the air again with less force, and the process repeated itself until we were sitting on the trampoline, wondering what the heck had happened to us and where the heck we were.

We were in some sort of rocky cavern. It looked like a regular cave, but there was something very not right about it.

“Uh…Cecelia?” I asked, my eyes still wandering about the cave.

“Yes?”

“Does something seem strange about this place to you?”

“Um…now zat you mention eet…yes.”

Another pause.

“You wouldn’t happen to know what, would you?”

“Vell…pairhaps eet ees ze fact zat zees cave looks…hand-drawn?”

Continued in next post...

[starjake]

I took this new clue into consideration. After a thorough examination, I realized that she was right. The cave we were in was outlined in thick black lines, and the brown of the walls was very unnatural.

I turned to Cecelia to say something…and I gasped!

“Vat?” she said distractedly, then gasped and stared at me!

“Your…your eyes…they’re all big and weird…”

“And your skeen ees…strangely-colaired…”

We simply stared at each other for a few moments as the truth settled into our shocked brains.

Finally, I said, “Are we…cartoons?”

We both blinked simultaneously.

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

We both screamed simultaneously, too.

I frantically held my hands up in front of my face. They were outlined in thick black lines, and had been recolored a weird yellowish-tan. Cecelia was also outlined in thick black lines, and her yellow hair never moved.

I was completely unsure of what to do; sports training had not prepared me for my sudden transformation into a cartoon character. However, I soon realized that, even though we both looked very unusual, we were not in any pain from the fall, nor was anything physically wrong with us. Our hearts were beating – rapidly, but beating – and our lungs were taking in air.

How bizarre, I thought to myself. I didn’t know cartoons had to breathe.

Cecelia and I looked at each other again, and without another word, slid off of the trampoline and onto the cave floor. Unsure of what else to do, we started walking down the path.

“Any idea where we are?”

“Non. Zees ‘as nevair ‘appened to me before.”

I chuckled nervously. “I guess I can understand that. Think anything lives in here?”

Cecelia shuddered. “I sairtainly ‘ope not. Zair ees no telling vat vee might come across.”

Suddenly, a loud screeching resounded throughout the cave, along with the sounds of hundreds of wings flapping. We both jumped and whipped around just in time to see…nothing.

“Vat vas zat?”

An answer came very quickly. There was another rush of hundreds of wings, and I felt a large multitude of somethings flutter by my head! I ducked and covered my head with my arms. Soon, the fluttering creatures were gone.

I cautiously rose from my crouching position. “What were those?”

“Bats. Dark Bats, I zink.”

Rising to my full height, I tried to think of a monster called Dark Bat. Eventually, I remembered. “That’s some weak monster that Duke Devlin used once, right? I guess we needn’t have worried.”

Cecelia shook her head. “But zey looked strange. Like…” She tried to think of something that would adequately describe their strangeness. “Like us. And zees cave.”

“Like cartoons?”

She nodded.

I thought about that as we continued through the cave. Something was starting to piece itself together in my head. “Cecelia, I think I’ve figured out where we are.”

“Vair?”

All of a sudden, the cave surrounding us vanished into thin air, and we were standing amongst some kind of city. Everything was painted in too-bright colors, so much so that I had to shield my eyes and look down until they adjusted. Upon seeing the ‘ground’ we were standing on, my suspicions were confirmed.

“Well, we got sucked into a Toon World card, right? I think we’re in the actual world of Toons.”

Cecelia looked down the ground as well. It was, quite clearly, the page of a book.

Her head snapped back up as a loud cackle sounded over us. I dropped my hand and squinted – this was a very bright place – and I saw a person in front of us. A very short and very round person, standing on a ball and carrying a stick for balance.

“Is that the clown that stole your cards?”

“I zink so. And I zink I’ve figured out ‘oo ‘ee ees as vell.”

My eyes had finally adjusted to the gaudiness surrounding us. I could see that the clown was no longer dirty and grungy, but just as brilliantly colored as the rest of this world. His clown outfit was a bright lime green, and the fuzzy balls covering it were sunshine yellow. His wrinkled face was covered with white face paint and a smug expression.

“Hold on…I’ve seen that thing before. That’s a Crass Clown, isn’t it?”

Cecelia nodded, then spoke to the creature. “Vat do you vant vith us?”

The clown cackled again and held out its left arm. A gaudy, multicolored Duel Disk suddenly appeared on it and snapped into position.

That thing wants to duel! And I thought I’d seen it all… “You want a duel? Fine then, you’re – “ I was stopped short by Cecelia’s arm blocking my path.

“Zees ees my battle.”

I stepped back, a little surprised. “Uh…but your cards…”

She held up her Disk, and I could see her deck had been restored. “Don’t ask how, but my cards are here. Zis clown attacked me, and I want a chance to fight back!”

As much as I was itching for another duel, I relented. “Go get ‘em, Cecelia!”

She nodded once, then stepped in front of me, her Disk swinging into position. “As Bryan said, you’re on!”

The clown deftly flipped off of the ball he was standing on and landed about twenty feet away. He stuck his balancing stick into the ground and grinned slyly at Cecelia.

For being so fat, that thing’s pretty agile. Or maybe the normal laws of physics don’t apply here.

“Ladies first!” Cecelia yelled, but before she could draw, the clown drew six cards and, a split second later, a strange monster was standing in front of him. It was certainly another clown, but I didn’t recognize it. It had a big green nose, and wore a bright pink shirt covered in yellow stars. Two large, cartoonish eyes peeked out from under its purple hair. The numbers 1200 / 900 appeared over its head as a face-down card appeared behind it.

“Hmph!” Cecelia snorted. “Zis clown ees sairtanly living up to eet’s name; no manners at all. Ee didn’t even show me ‘ees Deckmastair!”

“Cecelia,” I asked from the sidelines. “I think he is his own Deckmaster.”

“Oh. Zat vould make sense.”

“What is that thing?”

“Eef I ‘ad to guess, eet ees Dream Clown. Now, do not eentairupt me; I must concentrate.”

I shut my mouth.

“First, my Deckmastair! Come forth, Benu Phoenix!”

A large bonfire erupted in the air over her head, and Benu Phoenix appeared…sort of. It, too, had been transformed by Toon World. Every last one of its feathers had been turned into golden music notes!

Cecelia just stared at it for a minute, dumbstruck. She had obviously never summoned her Phoenix while Toon World was on the field before. She quickly got over it, though, and returned her attention to the duel, drawing six cards and examining them.

Hmm. I have to get rid of that Clown; I know of its powers that can destroy my monsters. This will do. “I summon Gemini Elf in Attack Mode!”

Two tall elves appeared on the field next to each other, one redhead and one blond, both dressed in very form-fitting outfits. They grinned identical seductive grins with their overly-large lips. (1900 / 900)

“Vait…Zey are Toons! But I summoned zair normal vairsion!”

She did? I thought. That’s strange…wait a second! “Cecelia, we’re in Toon World! If I had to guess, everything you both summon will become Toons!”

She gasped. No! Gemini Elf would’ve destroyed his Clown, but Toon Gemini Elf has to wait a turn before attacking, and he’ll have a chance to destroy it by then! I need to do something to protect myself…these will do. “I set two cards face-down and end my tairn.”

Cackling again, Crass Clown, drew another card, then put his hand over his Dream Clown card and quite show-offishly turned it sideways. The Dream Clown on the field sank into a crouching position, but didn’t remain there; he suddenly sprang into the air and somersaulted, bringing his foot on top of one of the Elves heads’! She screamed before shattering, but the second Elf didn’t have much time to react. Dream Clown quickly slammed his fist into the remaining Elf’s stomach, and her eyes bugged out with a sound like an old car horn, and she joined the fate of her twin. Dream Clown then deftly backflipped to his original crouching position on Crass Clown’s side of the field.

And the turn wasn’t over yet. Crass Clown took another card from his hand and threw it on the disk; instantly, an elegantly dressed clown with an overly large hat and a black-and-white face spun into existence next to Dream Clown. He swept off his feathered hat in a dramatic bow as the numbers 500 / 1200 appeared above him.

Kaiba used that card in the movie; it has to be Peten the Dark Clown! This thing must use a deck centered around Clown monsters…this was one of the first deck-types I went up against when I first started dueling, and I was creamed! I hope Cecelia does better than I did!

Then, suddenly, the end of Crass Clown’s balancing stick glowed, and Dream Clown rose into Attack Mode once more!

Cecelia was beside herself. “Vat are you doing! You already changed eets position once; you cannot do eet again!” The only response she got was a mad cackle.

I, on the other hand, had noticed the glowing balancing stick.

Hang on…Crass Clown’s normal effect involves switching between battle positions. Since Crass Clown is its own Deckmaster, its Deckmaster ability might let it change the battle positions of its monsters! “I figured it out Cecelia! It’s his Deckma – “ I was stopped short by a pie in the face. Literally.

This is gross!

“Nevair mind, Bryan. I zink I undairstand now, too. Make your move, clown!”

With yet another cackle – did this thing speak any other language? – Crass Clown merely pointed towards Cecelia, and Dream Clown leapt across the field, fist clenched.

“Activate Trap: Toon Grenade!”

One of Cecelia’s face-down cards lifted, and the ACME grenade slammed into Dream Clown, shattering it before the attack went through.

“If zis really ees Toon Vorld, zen I can use any of my Toon Cards vithout actually playing ze Toon Vorld Mageek Card!”

Unfortunately, there was still Peten to worry about…but where had he gone?

Uh-oh. Cecelia!

He had reappeared behind her, and brandished a short knife! She didn’t realize his location until he stabbed her in the back!

Or, tried too, anyway. The knife hit her with a CLANG and actually bent! I breathed a sigh of relief.

Even here, she’s an android! Good thing…that would’ve done some major damage, and not just to her Life Points! Peten looked unhappy as he examined his bent blade, then sprang back to his side of the field as Cecelia’s Life Points dipped slightly. (Cecelia: 7750)

Straightening, Cecelia glared at her opponent, then made to draw a card, assuming it was her turn. Unfortunately, Crass Clown’s staff glowed again, and Peten sank into a crouch before she could draw.

It seems that his Deckmaster’s ability lets him change the position of all his monsters whenever he wants. Good thing my Toons don’t care about what positions his monsters are in! “My move!”

She drew a card and looked at it.

Hibikime! Now I can get a monster on the field! “I summon my Hibikime to ze field!”

The sexy musical woman appeared with a flourish. (1450 / 1000)

“And, since we’re on a parimanent Toon field, she automatically becomes Hibik-anime, meaning she can attack you directly!”

Letting out a scream of delight that forced Peten into Attack Mode (500 / 1200) -> (0 / 1200), Hibik-anime ran across the field and slashed Crass Clown with her musical note weapon. (Crass Clown: 6550) Crass Clown fell over and actually rolled around before managing to get on his feet again. He shook an angry fist before drawing a card. Looking at it, he laughed, then did the last thing I expected him to do: he waddled onto the field! (1350 / 1400)

What…is he summoning himself to the field? But he’s weak as a monster!

Cecelia seemed surprised as I was. This is unusual. What’s he planning to do?

He pulled a card from his hand and threw onto his gaudy disk; immediately, a large clown with bizarre makeup and an even more bizarre jester’s outfit appeared. (600 / 1500)

Um…, I thought to myself. Saggi the Dark Clown, I’m guessing? It certainly fits the theme, but it’s just as weak as the rest of them. What’s this kook planning?

I soon found out. Pulling a second card from his hand, he slid it into his disk, and a familiar-looking holy symbol appeared behind him, which soon morphed into Dream Clown. The clown held up its fists in a fighting stance. (1200 / 900) Then, Crass Clown’s staff glowed again, and Dream Clown suddenly crouched into Defense!

Not this again!

Dream Clown shot from his crouching stance and slammed into Hibik-anime, who screamed before shattering!

Cecelia wasn’t pleased. Wonderful. Now I have three monsters who can attack me directly. Good thing my Phoenix will reduce my damage.

But Crass Clown still wasn’t ready to attack. He pulled another card from his hand and activated it; a Magic Card appeared on the field and black lightning suddenly shot out of it!

“What the…Cecelia, what is that?”

“Bad news. Eet ees a Mageek Card called Negateeve Enairgee, and eet doubles ze attack of all Dark monstairs een play!”

I quickly studied the monsters on the field. Oh, great! All the monsters that can attack this turn are Dark!

The black lightning started flowing into the three clowns – Dream Clown remained unaffected – and their attacks started rising! (500 / 1200) -> (1000 / 1200) ; (600 / 1500) -> (1200 / 1500) ; (1350 / 1400) -> (2700 / 1400)

The army of clowns grinned evilly at Cecelia before rushing her! She screamed in terror as Peten stabbed, Crass Clown punched, and Saggi hurled a ball of dark energy! (Cecelia: 5300)

As Cecelia picked herself up off the ‘ground’, I noticed something.

Wait a sec…is it me, or have none of those Clowns been Toonified? “Cecelia, they aren’t Toons!”

It took her a minute to realize what I meant, but then she understood. “You’re right, but I’m not about to complain.

She’s got a point; their Toon versions could likely be even deadlier. Not to mention that they’re already clowns; could they get any Toonier?

Cecelia drew. That Crass Clown has 2700 attack points now, and I don’t have anything that can beat it in battle. I already used up my Toon Grenade too. And he’s got me in a lock with that Dream Clown! He’ll switch it to Attack Mode next turn, then use that Deckmaster ability again to shift it back into Defense, destroying whatever I summon! I need a good card… She looked at what she drew.

Lightning Vortex! This is exactly what I need! “I discard my Sangan to activate Lightning Vortex!”

A massive thunderstorm suddenly appeared above Toon World, and several lightning bolts rained from the heavens! But…they were blocked by something.

Now what? I thought to myself.

Then I saw. Crass Clown’s face-down card had revealed itself to be a Magic Jammer. A shield of energy covered the clowns, and they remained unharmed.

Drat! How am I going to destroy those clowns? I’ll have to defend for now. “I set one more card face-down and end my tairn.”

The card appeared in front of Cecelia as Crass Clown drew. Dream Clown stood in Attack Mode, then all four rushed Cecelia at once!

“Go, Negate Attack!”

The card lifted and a large swirling vortex halted all four of the clowns in their tracks. Disappointed, they trudged back over to their side of the field. Crass Clown waved his hand, signaling the end of his turn.

Alright, that only protected me for one turn. I need a good card, and I need it now! She shakily drew and looked at the card. Yes! “I activate Library Database!”

She used that in our duel against Tate and Liza! It brought my Huge Revolution right out of my deck…but what Trap does she have that she can use?

A large computer monitor had appeared in front of Cecelia. She typed something into it, then turned it around so Crass Clown could see. “Plummeting Safe” was written in large letters on the screen.

Suddenly, the noise of something falling came to my ears. What’s that?

“Normally, my Plummeting Safe Trap can only be activated when I am attacked, but since I used my Library Database, I can bypass that restriction and destroy any monstair on ze field!”

Crass Clown looked upwards in horror as a large safe slammed him in the ground. After a few moments, the safe door opened, revealing a highly dizzy Crass Clown, who tumbled onto the ground.

“And, since you are your own Deckmastair, and you were technically destroyed, you automatically lose!”

Sure enough, all the cards and monsters on the field vanished, leaving Crass Clown by himself.

I ran over to Cecelia. “Great job! You creamed that clown’s clock!”

Her face changed from tannish-yellow to bright red, which I assumed passed for a blush in this world. “Eet vas nuzzing. Now, how to get out of ‘ere…”

We needn’t have worried. The too-colorful world around us started swirling, much like the colors in a paint can, and a huge gust of wind sent us flying upwards!

“Whoa!”

There was a flash of light, and we were back. I looked around.

“Cecelia?”

“Yes?”

“This isn’t where we were, was it?”

She looked around. Instead of a sun-drenched meadow, we were on a barren, grassless wasteland, and the sky was a frightening red color.

I looked down. “Hey, it’s your Toon World card!” I picked it up and handed it to Cecelia, who grasped it lovingly and put it back in her deck, where it belonged. Then, she returned to our surroundings and voiced the thought going through my head.

“Where are we?”


Crass Clown
Dark/Fiend/4 stars/ATK 1350/DEF 1400
DMSA: You can change the Battle Positions of any face-up monster on your side of the field. You cannot change the Battle Position of the same monster more than once per turn.

Negative Energy
Normal Spell
Double the ATK of all face-up Dark monsters on the field. This ATK increase lasts as long as the affected monsters remain face-up on the field.
Note: Used by Pegasus in “Champion vs. Creator Part 1”. Creative credit goes to the writers of that episode.

Plummeting Safe
Normal Trap
You can only activate this card is "Toon World" is face-up on your side of the field and a monster on your opponent's side of the field declares an attack. Destroy the attacking monster.
Note: Plummeting Safe first appeared in Dark Sage's fic Mandate of Heaven. Kudos to him for creating it.


Well, that was strange side-trip to nowhere, hmm? If you're curious as to where Bryan and Cecelia are and how they got there, you're going to have to wait; Jake has to catch up in his wins! We meet a new duelist with a brand-new strategy; don't miss Chapter 22 - Secret Pass to the Treasures!

[Dark Sage]

Well, I'm glad to see that this fanfic is back on its feet.

I also like the fact that you used the Plummeting Safe trap that I invented in my own fanfic. It's nice to be remembered.

One problem though - you didn't outline Crass Clown's Deckmaster ability with the new card.

So, it seems Ceredwin has other resouces, and is sending assassins after Cecelia. It doesn't surprise me. Cecelia is the biggest wrench in her machinery thusfar.

This worked when you tried it on me, so...

I await the next chapter!

- Dark Sage

[Shuppet Master]

Nice to see this story back up, Starjake! I also noticed the use of card titles. I won't say anything, but you may want to be careful in the future, because Commencent Dance was used by myself in "Sister of Anansi."

That duel between Cecilia and the Crass Clown, where everyone was a Toon(except the clowns) was pretty freaky. Glad that Cecilia defeated that crazy clown. That's the danger of putting your deckmaster on the field. I thought it was going to fuse with Dream Clown to form Bickuribox, but this is just as deadly.and the heart of Clown Control decks, shifting battle positions.

I think I know why they ended up in a barren wasteland. Old Cerrediwn came by while the others were in the card and sucked the living life from the meadow! Mwa ha ha! :biggrin:

[Master of Paradox]

Well... I've seen Clown duels before, but Clown Control is a new one to me. And this was a very fun duel to read, partially due to the sheer weird factor of clown monsters.

I'm really starting to enjoy this story - it started a bit slow, but now it's picking up steam, although I'm still a little confused as to who's real and who's virtual. I guess that's part of the point.

My only words of warning are to keep an eye on your tags (you messed up on a couple of endtags in the early chapters) and to make sure you don't go too far with your created cards. Other than that, I can't think of anything to complain about.

[starjake]

I'm baaaaaaack!

It's been awhile (and I know it's up later than I said it would be Dark Sage, but I forgot that I had a schedule I had to adhere to this past weekend). Hopefully, the wait will have been worth it.

Enough babbling. Without further ado...

Chapter 22 – Secret Pass to the Treasures

My conversation with Heather still buzzing around in my head, I walked through the woods. It was really a pleasant place; sunlight filtered through the leaves, birds chirped, and various critters scampered about: Nimble Momongas, Petit Moths (I remembered my duel with Heather and shuddered), and a Des Koala or two. It was quite serene.

Hmm, I wondered to myself. I still have two more duels to win before I can enter the semi-finals. If Heather’s here, I wonder if Norman is too? It would be cool to have a rematch against him. But, in this place, there’s no telling who I’m up against next! I don’t even know where to find people…I guess I’ll just go in a direction and see if I bump into anyone who’s up for a challenge. That decided, I kept heading further into the woods.

After about a half hour of walking, I started noticing a change in the scenery. It was still only woods, but less sunlight filtered through the leaves, and the pleasant sound of chirping birds was giving way to the more raucous calls of ravens and crows. I no longer saw cute Des Koalas, but darker-looking monsters such as Meda Bats and Leghuls.

Great, the last time I was in a dark forest, I got walloped by Lord Voldemort! Almost subconsciously, I drew a card from my deck and placed it on my disk; immediately, Fushi No Tori appeared next to me, hovering in the air without flapping her translucent wings. We both looked at each other for a moment, then she landed on my shoulder and I continued walking. I wasn’t entirely sure why I continued walking, but I did.

As I kind of expected, the forest didn’t get any friendlier. Mist started swirling around my feet, and the bird chirps replaced themselves with bestial howls.

“Alright, Fushi No Tori, get ready…I don’t know what’s out here, but I’m not going to be caught off guard this time!” Fushi No Tori nodded in agreement. Then, her head perked up and she looked closely at a point in the distance. I followed her gaze.

“What do you see?”

She looked at me, then pointed her beak at my disk.

“Oh, right, there’s a bit of a language barrier. Hang on…” I searched through my deck until I found Blaze Magician’s card, then put that on the disk next to Fushi No Tori’s. She appeared in a flash of fire.

“Yes?”

“Fushi No Tori saw something down that way,” I said, gesturing. “Can you tell what it is?”

Blaze Magician held out her staff, and the sun on the end started glowing, forming a sort of searchlight. Squinting in the sudden brilliance, I looked to where Fushi No Tori had seen whatever it was.

“There’s just a big hole,” I said, rather disappointed.

Blaze Magician looked at me, a bit exasperated. “You’re smarter than that, Jake! Think: we’re in the woods, and there’s a big hole up ahead.”

“A cave?”

She rolled her eyes. “Your intelligence is staggering.”

I decided to ignore the wisecrack. “Well, the last time I went somewhere dark and spooky, I almost didn’t live to tell about it. How about we turn around and…um…” I trailed off, wilting under Blaze Magician’s glare. “What?”

“You need to build up your confidence, Jake. The fact that you almost didn’t live to tell about your last encounter means that you actually did survive; trust yourself!”

I looked sheepishly at my hands. “Well, I do seem to be able to defend myself…”

Blaze Magician grabbed my arm and started dragging me towards the cave. “OK, OK, I’m going!” I yelled in protest.

Soon, we had reached the cave. It was very large – at least twice as tall as I and three times as wide – and Blaze Magician’s improvised torch showed that the tunnel continued for quite a distance.

“So is this some kind of mountain?”

“It would appear that way. Let’s go, Jake.”

Upset that my change in subject had failed, I followed Blaze Magician into the cave, Fushi No Tori still on my shoulder.

Guided by Blaze Magician’s staff, we walked for quite a while. Looking around, I saw that the cave walls were covered in drawings of what seemed to be extremely short people fighting off enemies of all kinds. One of the paintings may have even depicted a dragon, though I couldn’t quite tell. Then, suddenly…

“Halt!”

The voice was nasal, yet very commanding. It echoed throughout the cave, so that it sounded as though a hundred people were shouting “Halt!” at me. I looked around, wondering where this person was.

“State your name and business!”

Fushi No Tori crooned softly, encouraging me to speak. I looked at Blaze Magician, who nodded. Taking a deep breath, I spoke.

“My name is Jake Forester, and we – well, my monsters and I, anyway – were wandering around in the woods, looking for someone to duel, when we came across this cave.” I took another deep breath. “We didn’t know we were intruding.”

There was no answer.

“I – I guess we’ll leave, then…” And, rather thankfully, I turned to go.

“Halt!”

Now I was confused. I couldn’t go forward, but now I couldn’t leave?

“You said your name was Jacob Forester?”

I frowned slightly. I HATE being called Jacob… “Yes, I did.”

There was a short silence, then, “You may come forward.”

Growing more curious, I walked forward, ahead of Blaze Magician. “Where are you?” I asked.

I saw a slight movement in front of me. I squinted, trying to make out what had moved. “Hello?”

“I’m right here,” said the voice, quite close by. Startled, I looked every which way…then, down. And there he was.

At least, I assumed it was a he. He couldn’t have been any taller than two feet high, but everything except his height seemed to be elongated. His batty ears stretched out on either side of his head, and the nose was equally as long, as though he were related to Pinocchio and had just told a lie. He was bald, but the skin on his head was incredibly wrinkled. His fingers were long and seemed rather pointy, as did his shoes. He was dressed in – of all things – a business suit. His beady little eyes examined me thoroughly through half-moon spectacles. After a full minute, he spoke again.

“Well, you certainly look like him, and your traveling companions seem to fit the bill. Have you come to make a withdrawal, then?”

I was still rather shocked at the little creature in front of me, and this simply added another shock. “A – a withdrawal? What are you talking about?”

He once again looked at me closely. “A withdrawal. Meaning a removal of items from your account.”

Account? What is this, a bank? “Um…I’m sorry, but I don’t have anything stored here…”

“Behind me, through that door - ” he gestured behind him and I saw a large wooden door – “there is a vault with the name Jacob Forester on it. It was created not that long ago and contains many valuable commodities. So, yes, I believe you do have something stored here.”

After this little speech, he examined me closely again. All I could do was stare. What is this guy talking about? And why does he keep calling me Jacob; I hate that!

“Your insecurity is causing me to doubt your identity. Are you sure that – “

“Yes! That’s my name, but I have never opened an account here!” I looked around. “Speaking of which, where is here, anyhow?”

“We are in the Central Mountain Vaults. However, that is unimportant; of greater urgency is your identity. I cannot allow you past that door until I know who you are.”

I was about to ask “Who said I want to go through that door,” but then I remembered something this little guy had said.

“It was created not long ago and contains several valuable commodities.”

Valuable commodities? I was suddenly interested. “What kind of valuable commodities were you talking about?”

His eyes narrowed, becoming even beadier than before. “I cannot tell you that if I do not have proof of your identity. I’ll need some form of identification, please.”

I quickly reached for my pocket, but then realized that, before this whole thing had started, I had left my wallet at Bryan’s house to ensure that I didn’t spend all kinds of money on cards. “Um, sorry…it’s at my friend’s house.”

“Then I’ll have to find your identity the hard way. Please wait here.” He walked off to a corner of the cave. I, meanwhile, was not very willing to ‘wait here’ after his last words. “The – the hard way?”

He came back to me, and I saw a shiny gold duel disk on his left arm. “The hard way, yes. You are a duelist, and each duelist has his or her own style that cannot be perfectly copied; a sort of fingerprint, if you will.” He raised his arm. “You said you were wandering through the woods looking for a duel, no? Here is a chance to kill two birds with one stone.”

My mind was racing. I don’t know anything about this creature or how he duels, but I do need another win. And, if I win, I might get something out of it! “Alright, you’re on, Mr…um…”

“You may call me Griphook.”

Now there’s a name to remember. I gave Fushi No Tori a look, and she vanished into my deck without a second thought. However, I thought of something when I got to Blaze Magician.

What can you do as a Deckmaster?

She looked startled for a second, then thought back, Um…I can power up your monsters.

Fine by me. “Blaze Magician and I accept your challenge, Griphook!” Blaze Magician took up a ready stance behind me.

“Very well. Here’s my choice of Deckmaster: the Goblin of Greed.”

Of all things, a Pot of Greed appeared behind Griphook. It grinned its eternal grin at me and started wobbling. Suddenly, out of the lid popped a large, green-skinned, ogre-like creature wearing a plushy hat and red-and-yellow vest. It reached into the Pot and pulled out another container, this one colored red and gold, which I recognized as Pot of Greed’s Trap cousin: Jar of Greed. Settling itself into a cross-legged position, it placed the two containers to either side and folded its arms, giving me a smug look.

I’ve heard of that creature; it prevents either of us from discarding cards from our hands. What on earth can it do as a Deckmaster?

“I issued the challenge; therefore, I think it fair that you choose who shall start this duel.”

Snapping out of my thoughts, I said, “Thank you, Griphook. I’ll take the honor of first move, if you don’t mind.” Both our disks activated and our life meters set themselves to 8000 apiece as I drew six cards and he drew five.

I don’t know how he plays, so I’d best play it safe for now. “Alright, I’m throwing out a monster face-down, and that’ll do it for me.” A hidden monster appeared before me, and Griphook drew.

“I summon Goblin Elite Attack Force,” he stated, placing a card on his golden disk. Instantly, out of the earth sprang three goblin creatures wearing armor and carrying shields. (2200 / 1500)

Elite? These guys actually have a defense score, but their name and look is so similar to the regular Attack Force…

I had little time to wonder though, as Griphook commanded, “Goblin Elite Attack Force, attack his face-down monster now!”

At these words, the goblin army sprang forward and slashed through my hidden monster’s card. What looked like a furball with three eyes appeared before screaming and shattering.

I grinned. “Thanks for destroying my Sangan, Griphook! Now I can get a monster from my deck with a low Attack score and add it to my hand.” Let’s see…I think I’ll take a Solar Flare Dragon.

Without warning, my eyes suddenly closed, and the oddest sensation came over me. I almost screamed when I felt a third eye form on my forehead, and it looked down at my deck. I was even more shocked when I could see the Solar Flare Dragon card I was thinking of suddenly appear. It poked itself out of my deck, and the third eye closed and vanished as my regular eyes opened. Pulling my dragon out of my deck, I thought, Note to self: never EVER use Sangan again!

Shaking my head to clear it, I looked up – using only two eyes – and saw that all three of Griphook’s goblins were panting, as though the last attack had taken a lot of energy out of them. They knelt down on the ground, too tired to stand.

“Like the normal Goblin Attack Force,” Griphook explained, “Goblin Elite Attack Force must shift into Defense mode after it attacks.”

I thought as much. “Anything else?”

“I set 3 cards face-down and end my turn.”

I drew. Hmm, I can’t exactly use Lava Golem now. Better go with this one. “Get ready to lose your little army; here comes Blazing Inpachi!”

The walking brushfire appeared in a fiery flash, its red eyes glaring menacingly. (1850 / 0)

Suddenly, Blaze Magician’s scepter glowed, as did the top card of my deck. I gave her a look. What are you doing?

Using my Deckmaster ability, she thought back. Whenever you summon a Fire monster, you draw cards from your deck until you draw another Fire monster. For every card you draw, the summoned monster gains 300 Attack and Defense points. However, you then have to discard cards from your hand equal to the number of cards you drew.

I thought that over. Sounds fair enough. I grabbed the top card of my deck and showed it to Blaze Magician: Fushi No Tori.

Very well, now discard.

I examined my hand and decided to give up Twin-Headed Fire Dragon. Blaze Magician nodded, then aimed her staff at Blazing Inpachi and shot a stream of fire at it, causing its stats to rise slightly. (1850 / 0) -> (2150 / 300)

I looked back over at Griphook’s side of the field, smiling, but my smile faltered when I saw that one of his Trap Cards had revealed itself. A rather large, bald man wearing a red shirt and a short, thin man wearing a green shirt sat cross-legged in front of the card. Large cloth bags surrounded them.

“My Appropriate Trap activated when you drew a card. From now on, every time you draw a card aside from the beginning of your turn, I get to draw two cards myself.”

Great…and I’m going to draw cards every time I summon a Fire monster! “Too bad your Trap won’t protect you from this! Blazing Inpachi, incinerate his goblins now! Brushfire Punch!”

With surprising agility for one so large, Blazing Inpachi leapt across the field and slammed its fiery fist into Griphook’s goblins, who roared before shattering.

“Now I can thank you, Jake. You’ve allowed me to activate my Trap: Michizure!”

The card lifted, and the earth underneath Blazing Inpachi split open! It fell deep into the crevice, which closed up again.

“This Trap activates when a monster on my side of the field is sent to the Graveyard. When that happens, it immediately destroys one monster on your side of the field. Now you have no unfair advantages over me.”

Dang it! Better protect myself. “I’ll set a card face-down and end my turn.”

A vertical face-down card appeared in front of me. My Magic Cylinder should buy me some time to get another monster on the field.

“My move, then.” He drew a card an examined it closely before adding it to his hand. Pulling out another card, he slid it into his disk, announcing, “I activate Infinite Cards, which allows both of us to ignore the six-card limit rule at the ends of our turns.”

Why on earth would that help him? So what if he can have a ton of cards in his hand?

“Now,” he said oh-so-calmly, taking another card from his hand, “I play Graceful Charity, the effect of which I assume you know.”

Duh; everyone uses that card.

The angel swooped onto the field and handed Griphook three cards (she had to bend down to reach him). He studied his increased hand for some time, while the ‘charitable’ angel grew more and more impatient. Finally, he took two cards from his hand and stretched his arm up to the angel, who took them, gave a look that clearly said ‘It’s about time!’ and vanished.

Then, to my surprise, the Goblin of Greed behind Griphook suddenly stood up and waddled over to Griphook’s deck. Drawing two more cards, he handed them to Griphook before sitting back down.

Needless to say, I was confused. “Care to fill me in on what just happened?”

“My Deckmaster has a special ability, allowing me to draw a card every time I discard one from my hand. Since my Graceful Charity forced me to discard two cards, I get to draw two more. And that’s not all; I can also now activate my final Trap. Reveal Forced Requisition!”

A burly soldier dressed in purple robes walked out of the now-upright Trap. He was carrying a treasure chest.

“This card is like an opposite version of Appropriate. From now on, whenever I discard cards from my hand, you must also discard. And now, to defend my Life Points, I summon Giant Orc to the field.”

A huge troll lumbered its way onto the field, carrying a club as big around as my whole body. (2200 / 0)

Good thing I have a Trap; getting attacked by that club would NOT be my idea of a good time!

“And, with that, I end my turn.”

Continued...