Yu-Gi-Oh: Virtual Disaster

[starjake]

Chapter 2 - Queen of Autumn Leaves

You know, I thought, I’ve been Bryan’s best friend for years now; you’d think I would know how stubborn he is.

I had been badgering him for the past ten minutes about what his new Deck contained, but the mouth that had so loudly proclaimed its owner’s last victory was now clamped shut, and determined not to spill any secrets. Eventually, I decided to stop; after all, I had been his best friend for years now, and I did know how stubborn he was.

Kara’s slight Irish accent trilled through the shop: “Five minutes remain!” I suddenly realized that I hadn’t turned in my win/loss slip and took it out of my pocket; Norman had signed it while I was gathering my cards. Bryan looked at the sheet of paper quizzically and asked what it was.

Shoot, he doesn’t know about these either; I forgot. “This is a win/loss slip; you mark who won and both players sign it. Do you have yours?”

Bryan’s eyes darted from side to side as he thought. “Um…I didn’t even know I had one.”

In contrast to his eyes, my own eyes rolled. “The slip of paper sitting in the middle of your Duel didn’t pique your interest?”

“What are you talking about? There wasn’t one!”

I stopped short. “What do you mean there wasn’t one? Did Kara forget to give you one or something?”

“Don’t get all fired up over nothing,” responded a voice that sounded supremely bored. “I already took care of it.”

My eyes narrowed. Oh, great, I thought. I know that voice; it can only be –

“Krystal?” asked Bryan, unknowingly finishing my thought. “What do you mean you took care of it?”

She was behind me, so I turned to face her. Her cold, grey eyes were almost slits as she sighed dramatically. “What I mean is, I already signed it, marked that you won, and gave it to Kara. Anything else I need to explain?”

“Hey,” I interjected. “Give him a break; he’s still new to this.”

“Obviously,” she continued. “That’s why I moved the slip out of the way before the game started. I didn’t want him to worry about yet another thing he didn’t know.”

It never failed to amaze me how she could do someone a favor and yet still hurt them in the process.

“But he had to sign it, too!”

“I signed for him.”

My jaw dropped. “That’s illegal!”

This seemed to confuse her. “What? I didn’t lie about who won. I haven’t done anything wrong. You’re the one who whisked him away before he could do what he needed to do, so it’s really your fault.”

I opened my mouth to retaliate, but Bryan – who had been merely watching our banter – finally spoke up: “Let it go, Jake.”

Krystal’s face switched to a triumphant grin as she turned and paraded out of the shop. My face, however, still consisted of a dropped jaw.

“Let it go? Why?”

He shrugged. “It’s not worth fighting over. I mean, she shouldn’t have signed the slip and all, but at least she didn’t lie.”

I wanted to keep going, but Bryan’s expression told me not to. “Look, it’s just a slip of paper. Pick your battles, man.”

There was a pause that lasted until Kara’s voice rang out again. “Time is up! Are there any tied scores?”

There were none, so she got up from behind the counter and walked around, collecting the slips that had not yet been turned in. Then, she took all the slips, walked over to the sheet of paper she had first taped up detailing who the first-round pairings would be, and turned it over.

I did a slight double take. She had drawn a pairings tree on this side, starting with all sixteen people who had signed up and whittling itself down to a single line, reserved for the winner of the tournament. She started writing in the appropriate names, and I noticed – with a mixture of both happiness and disappointment – that Bryan and I were in separate blocks; we wouldn’t even be able to duel each other at all unless it was at the very end.

“The next round will begin in five minutes,” Kara called out. I turned to wish Bryan good luck, but he was already sitting across from his new opponent: a short, stocky little boy with a deck as big as my fist – and none of the cards were sleeved. I grew slightly nervous when ! saw a duelist’s greatest nemesis sitting next to the boy: a woman wearing an old-fashioned dress and a stern expression. Just going by their faces, I could tell they were mother and son.

Oh no, I worried. Bryan’s never had to deal with soccer moms before; they can really distract you. Sure, a lot of them are fine, but some of them assume that every move you make is illegal, and they drive you nuts!

“Jake! Oh, Jaaa-aaaake!” came a loud, singsong girl’s voice.

Speaking of being driven nuts, I thought to myself as I noticed the owner of the voice – a girl my age wearing a tan, leather jacket and a long, blond ponytail – rushing over to me. I closed my eyes and braced myself.

“Jake! You’re here! Oh, this is gonna be so much fun; it’s been ages since you and I dueled – are you still using a Fire deck? I still have my plants and bugs – I wanna be an entomologist, you know, and a botanist, too! Do you know where we’re sitting? Who was that guy you were talking to; isn’t he on the football team or something? Do you know who that Kara girl is? Oh, listen to me go on and on; I haven’t even let you say hi to me yet!” She then proceeded to hug me.

Her little speech would have taken most people about two minutes to say, but – as usual – she had relayed it in about ten seconds. I knew not why, but it always seemed as though Heather had been born with her vocal cords permanently set on fast-forward.

I turned back around to look at the pairings tree and saw that it did indeed say “Jake Forester” on one line and “Heather Starlette” on the line above it (I took a quick glance down the side of the page and saw that “Bryan Stormack” was paired against “Jimmy Dalton”). I turned back to Heather.

“Hi, Heather. It looks like we’re at table 3.”

Heather and I had been in school together since kindergarten, and she had always been incredibly friendly and outgoing. Bryan liked to tease me by saying that she liked me and I should go out with her; he said this because he knew I would rather walk on sharp tacks than date one of the Chipmunks.

It’s not that she had no good qualities. She was smart, well-intentioned, a good card player and a talented actress. But the voice…the voice I could not handle.

And I’m gonna have to handle it, I thought as we sat down, Heather jabbering away about…something. If I can’t, there’s no way I’ll win, and Bryan would really never let me live that down.

We settled ourselves at table 3. On the other end of the table sat a little boy, even younger than Jimmy Dalton. He wore a plain yellow shirt, denim shorts, and a backwards baseball cap. His opponent was a girl I knew by face but not name; I knew she and I went to school together, but that was about it.

“Like, why do I have to deal with you?” said the girl to her opponent with a scoff, tossing her bleach-blond hair and absent-mindedly admiring her perfectly-manicured nails. “I’m here to duel, not babysit!”

Well, this is going to be a pleasant duel, I thought sarcastically. Little Miss Sunshine in front of me and Little Miss Airhead to my left. I’m surrounded by Valley Girls.

“Begin!” Kara’s voice rang throughout the shop. Heather and I had already shuffled and cut.

“Ladies first,” said Heather and the mystery girl in perfect unison, though neither one acknowledged the fact. I decided to ignore the girl to my left as best I could; listening to one girl was difficult enough, but listening to two was something my brain just couldn’t handle.

“Hmm…” muttered Heather, scanning over her six cards, then choosing one and laying it on the field face-down and sideways. “A face-down monster. Your move, Jakey.”

I shot her a quick glare, and she cringed slightly; trying to cute-ify every name she came across was a bad habit that she couldn’t seem to break, but it drove me crazy.

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” I replied, now scanning over my own six cards.

Moving right along…most of her monsters are weak and cutesy, but they have decent effects. My best bet against her is to play hard and fast. “Familiar-Possessed – Hiita,” I declared, laying out the monster card (1850/1500). “And I’ll attack your mystery monster.”

Heather grinned. “Oops! My mystery monster is Prickle Fairy, and your Hiita can’t even scratch it!”

She flipped the monster over, revealing stats of 300/2000.

“And, not only do you lose 150 Life Points, but Prickle Fairy’s effect means that your Hiita switches to Defense Position now! I am soooooo good!”

I was tempted to massage my temples, but held back. Turning my Hiita monster sideways and selecting another card in my hand, I said, “Alright then, I’ll finish with one card face-down. Your move.”

“Yay!” she responded, drawing a card and immediately playing it: Graceful Charity. Her eyes bright, she quickly drew three cards, then plucked two out of her hand and showed them to me: two Grass Phantoms.

Nodding, I thought, Oh, great. She always follows this up with –

“I’ll summon my third Grass Phantom in Attack Position,” she said happily (1000/1000). “And since two others are in the Graveyard – “

“It gains 1000 ATK, I know,” I muttered, wondering how I could have forgotten about this card of hers, which was neither weak nor cutesy. “Well, go ahead and attack.”

“But I’m not done yet,” she retaliated, pulling another card out of her hand and playing it. “My Forest Field Spell gives Grass Phantom 200 more ATK and DEF, so now I’ll attack with it.” (2200/1200)

Gotcha. “Backfire,” I stated, flipping my face-down card over and moving Hiita to the Graveyard. “You destroyed a Fire monster, so you take 500 damage.”

She pouted. I took a mental note that our Life Points were 7850 to 7500, in my favor. “Fine, it’s your move,” she said, still looking upset.

I drew…only to hear “JUDGE!” from the other side of the room, the side in which Bryan and Jimmy were dueling. My back was turned to them, but I didn’t even need to turn around to know what had happened: Jimmy’s mother was pulling the typical soccer-mom routine and calling Bryan out on what was most likely a perfectly legal move.

Then again, I thought, Bryan’s still new to the game and doesn’t know all the intricacies yet…she might take advantage of that! Maybe I should go over and –

“Jaaa-aaake!” came Heather’s voice. “It’s your turn, remember, silly? Go ahead and draw a card; I wanna keep going!”

I shook my head slightly and came back to my senses. What am I thinking; I can’t go over there! I’m busy over here! And with that, I drew.

Hmm…this Cyber Phoenix is the only monster in my hand, so I need to Summon it…but I also have Creature Swap. Let’s see…if I use Creature Swap, I could get her Grass Phantom, which would lose 1000 ATK because there aren’t any copies of it in my Graveyard, putting it at equal ATK with Cyber Phoenix. If that happens…I’ll have it attack Cyber Phoenix, which will destroy both of them and let me draw a card. But…if she gives me Prickle Fairy…well, then I’ll have a strong defender. I win either way! “I Summon Cyber Phoenix in Attack Position, and use Creature Swap to give it to you,” I said aloud, placing the two cards on the table (1200/1600).

Heather barely blinked before saying (at the speed of light), “I’ll give you Prickle Fairy in exchange.”

I was a little disappointed; I had been hoping for Grass Phantom. But, after rethinking it, I realized that having a monster with 2200 DEF was a good thing, especially since I had no monsters in my hand. Not to mention Prickle Fairy’s effect, I thought as we switched monsters. “I’ll lay this face-down and end my turn,” I finished, putting me at two cards in my hand.

“Alright, Jake,” said Heather with a mischievous grin, “you’re really gonna regret that move. I’ll sacrifice your Cyber Phoenix to Summon Fairy King Truesdale.”

Heather hadn’t been kidding when she said it had been a while since we had dueled; I had completely forgotten about the monster she laid on the table as I put Cyber Phoenix in my Graveyard (2200/1500).

“And my Forest card puts it at 2400 ATK; 200 more than Prickle Fairy’s DEF, so say good bye to your last monster!” she cried out happily, pushing forward on the holofoil monster.

“Prickle Fairy doesn’t have to survive the battle in order for its effect to activate,” I countered grumpily, moving the card into her Graveyard. “Fairy King switches to Defense Position now.”

“And I’m so glad it did! It has to be in Defense Position in order to apply its effect; an effect that gives 500 more ATK to every Plant monster I have…like my Grass Phantom!”

I was slightly stunned; she had taken my edge and turned it against me! With all the power-up effects on the field right now, Grass Phantom has 2700 ATK; that means I’m down to 5150. “Nice move, Heather,” I said, slightly impressed.

“Thank you, Jake! Now I’ll give you a chance to make one.”

I’d better; all I have right now are two Spells I can’t use at the moment! I drew.

“One monster face-down,” I said confidently. “Your turn.”

She drew her card, then frowned slightly and added it to her hand. Picking another card, she said, “Neo-Spacian Glow Moss.” And she laid it on the table (300/900).

I thought I was going to fall out of my chair; out of all the moves I was expecting, this was not one of them. It took me a minute to remember that this Neo-Spacian was, indeed, a Plant monster.

Meaning, I realized further, that it gets 700 more ATK from Forest and Truesdale…she’s gotten better!

“I’m going to declare an attack with Glow Moss, which means its effect activates, so you get to draw a card now and show it to me, and its Type will determine what happens next, alright?”

At least it’s a free card. I drew one card, then grinned and showed it to her: Pot of Greed.

She then matched my grin. “That’s a Spell Card, so this attack becomes a direct attack! Go get him!”

I looked at her strangely. “It’s just a card, Heather…you know that, right?”

“Oh, come on, lighten up, Jake! You play so seriously; have some fun!”

Another annoying “JUDGE!” call from behind me interrupted my train of thought. Poor Bryan, I worried to myself. It’ll be a miracle if he gets out of this duel without a headache.