As with any good Yu-Gi-Oh! story, the main source of action and suspense comes in the form of card games, or Duels. Finally, in this chapter, we have the first proper duel I ever wrote. If I wrote it today, I would do things differently, but I think it still turned out okay.
Chapter SixTucker vs. Final Four Deck One;
Out of Luck!
“Is that all you’ve got?” Tucker asked, sounding very confident. Too confident “Your monster may be pretty strong, but I have a ton of stronger Level four monsters in my deck.”
Tucker drew his opening hand with a smile on his face, but when he looked down at his cards, his smile disappeared. I glanced up at his hand and saw why. Despite all of the powerful four star monsters that Tucker had in his deck, Tucker had drawn only monsters that were as strong as or weaker than the robot’s ‘Armored Lizard’. The remaining cards were ‘Gift of the Martyr’ and a few higher level monsters, which he couldn't summon on the first turn.
“Well this sucks,” said Tucker, “but I’m not gonna give up! I summon ‘Flame Ruler’ in attack mode.”
Tucker’s monster appeared, a muscular man with dark skin and blue hair, his visible flesh covered by tribal tattoos, wearing a red jacket and jeans (ATK: 1500). He couldn’t beat the ‘Armored Lizard’, but he could hopefully hold off any of the ‘Lizard’’s attacks for at least a turn.
“Next,” said Tucker, “I lay a face-down card and end my turn.”
“Draw card,” said the robot monotonously. “Activate ‘Graceful Dice’, rolling one dice and targeting my monster.”
A small winged fairy in pink appeared, carrying a large blue dice. It tossed the dice, which landed on a three.
“Effect resolves,” the robot declared. “Increase the strength of ‘Armored Lizard’ by one hundred times the number rolled (1500+(100x3)=1800) until the end of the turn. Summon monster, ‘Panther Warrior’,” A humanoid black panther appeared, wearing purple armor and a green cape, carrying a shield and sword (ATK: 2000).
“Attack ‘Flame Ruler’ with ‘Armored Lizard’,” the robot commanded, and the ‘Lizard’ slashed Tucker’s monster to ribbons with its claws (LP: 8000+1500-1800 =7700). “Sacrifice ‘Armored Lizard’ to attack directly with ‘Panther Warrior’,” ‘Armored Lizard’ disappeared, and ‘Panther Warrior’ slashed across Tucker’s chest with his sword (7700-2000=5700). “End turn.”
Tucker drew, frustrated by his early run of bad luck, and the robot’s early run of good luck. He had finally drawn a decent card, but he was already far enough behind that if he didn’t play this just right, it could be too late for him to bounce back.
“I summon,” said Tucker, “my ‘Fireyarou’ in attack mode.” Tucker’s monster, a young man wearing a pair of baggy maroon pants, appeared at his side. He flexed his muscles and a roaring fire sprang up around him (ATK: 1300). “Next I end my turn with a face-down card.”
Watching from below, Jen saw which card Tucker had set face-down and asked me, “Was that ‘Rush Recklessly’?”
“Yeah,” I answered. “He’s gonna use it when the robot attacks with a new four star monster next turn, destroying that monster, so the robot won’t have a tribute for ‘Panther Warrior’.”
“Will it work?” Sarah asked.
“It should,” answered Jen, the eternal strategist, “unless him opponent tributes the ‘Panther’ for a stronger monster, which I don’t think it will. But his opponent is a machine, and a pretty lucky one at that, so there’s no way to be sure about anything.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I mean,” Jen replied, “that we have no way to know what special programming this robot might have received to give it the advantage.”
“Begin turn,” said the robot. “Draw card. Summon ‘Mad Sword Beast’, attack mode.” A dinosaur with brown skin, a turtle shell, and a blade-like horn appeared on the robot’s field (ATK: 1400).
“Activate Spell card ‘Block Attack’,” the robot declared, “changing ‘Fireyarou’ to defense mode.”
“No way!” Tucker cried out, looking up at Pegasus. “How did your robot know about my face-down card!”
Before Pegasus could respond I said, “I don’t think it did. I think it just realized that it could combine ‘Block Attack’ with ‘Mad Sword Beast’’s piercing effect to deal more damage.”
“What? A piercing effect!?”
“‘Mad Sword Beast’ attacks ‘Fireyarou’,” the robot declared, and the ‘Beast’ struck, slicing ‘Fireyarou’ apart, dealing damage even though Tuck’s monster was defending (5700+1000-1400=5300).
“Sacrifice ‘Mad Sword Beast’ to attack with ‘Panther Warrior’,” the robot said, and the dinosaur disappeared as the Panther swung its blade (5300-2000=3300). “End turn with one face-down card.”
“My move again then,” said Tucker. “I may be a little down on my luck so far, but I’m not gonna give in.” He drew, and smiled confidently.
“Finally,” said Tucker, “some good luck! I play the Spell card ‘Monster Reborn’ to revive my fallen ‘Flame Ruler’.” Tucker’s monster returned to the field, as good as new.
“When ‘Flame Ruler’ is sacrificed to summon a level seven or higher Fire monster,” Tucker explained, “he counts as both sacrifices. On that note, I sacrifice my ‘Flame Ruler’ to summon one of my heaviest heavy hitters, ‘Ryu-Ran’!”
On Tucker’s field appeared a large spotted egg. In the bottom half of the egg were three holes, two for the legs of the creature inside, and one for its tail. The top half of the egg shattered and fell away, revealing the body, head, and wings of a large red dragon, a piece of eggshell still resting atop its head (ATK: 2200).
“My ‘Ryu Ran’ is one of the most powerful Fire monster monsters in the game, and it’s much more powerful than your ‘Panther’. I attack your ‘Panther’,” Tucker commanded, “with Nostril Blaze!”
‘Ryu-Ran’ inhaled, and exhaled sharply through his nose, expelling a stream of flames. The flames hit ‘Panther Warrior’’s shield, threatening to incinerate him.
“Reveal,” the robot countered, “‘Skull Dice’ Trap card. Decrease opposing monster’s Attack power by one hundred times the number rolled.” Another dice carrier appeared, this time a small devil in black carrying a red dice. He rolled the dice, which landed on five (2200-(100x5)=1700). ‘Panther Warrior’ pushed through the flames, meaning to counterattack, but was forced to stop abruptly when Tucker’s dragon threw his wings open, flinging the panther away.
“Well then, I reveal my face-down, ‘Rush Recklessly’,” said Tucker, “raising the Attack power of my ‘Ryu-Ran’ by seven hundred until the end of the turn!” ‘Ryu-Ran’ rushed forward, catching several lingering flames from his previous attack, and slammed into the still-stunned ‘Panther Warrior’ (1700+700=2400). The ‘Panther’ broke apart into pixels, and the robot took its first hit (8000+2000-2400=7600).
“I may still be behind,” said Tucker, “but now I control the field. This is a whole new duel!”
“Begin turn,” said the robot. “Draw card. Activate ‘Pot of Greed’. Draw two more cards. One face-down card. Summon ‘Baby Dragon’ in defense mode.”
A small orange dragon the size of a large dog appeared between Tucker and his robotic foe (DEF: 700). “End turn.”
“Running scared?” Tucker asked. “Draw-.”
“Reveal,” the robot cut in, “Spell card ‘Scapegoat’, Special Summoning four ‘Sheep Tokens’ in defense mode.” Four small sheep appeared, one orange, one pink, one red, and one blue, each with the same curved goat horns (DEF: 0 (each)). The robot thought it was well defended, but by wasting its last move setting up such an extensive defense, there was a very good chance that it had just given Tucker the opening he needed. He just needed to draw the right card.
Tucker smiled and announced, “Activate ‘Card Destruction! We throw out our hands and draw the same number of cards. And with these cards I throw out my bad luck, and pick up some good!” Tucker tossed his hand of three and drew three new cards. The robot discarded two cards and drew two. Tucker’s smile widened. “Next,” he continued, “I play my own ‘Pot of Greed’ card to draw two cards, and I remove ‘Flame Ruler’ in my Graveyard from play to summon my ‘Inferno’.”
A spark appeared in the air, and the living flame that was ‘Inferno’ sprung forth from it (ATK: 1100). I knew right away what my friend was planning. It was one of the moves that he and I had worked out together to use against Joshua.
“Next up,” said Tucker, “I sacrifice ‘Inferno’ to summon my favorite card, ‘Mr. Volcano’,” a suave gentleman wearing a white shirt and a green vest with blazing red hair appeared (ATK: 2100).
“Finally,” said Tucker, “I equip my ‘Mr. Volcano’ with ‘Big Bang Shot’ giving my monster four hundred Attack points and Piercing (2100+400=2500). I also reveal my ‘Gift of the Martyr’, sacrificing my ‘Ryu-Ran’ to raise the Attack of my ‘Mr. Volcano’ by another twenty-two hundred until the end of the turn.” ‘Ryu-Ran’ disappeared, and fire rose up all around ‘Mr. Volcano’ (2500+2200=4700).
“And from my hand I activate ‘Inferno Life’,” Tucker continued. “This Spell card chains to the tail end of a Spell or Trap card effect that has me sacrifice a Fire monster, and gives another Fire monster I control five hundred Attack times the level of the sacrificed monster. ‘Ryu-Ran’ was a level seven monster, so that’s another thirty-five hundred Attack (4700+3500=8200)!”
The fire surrounding ‘Mr. Volcano’ flared up even more. “‘Mr. Volcano,” Tucker commanded, “attack ‘Sheep Token’ with Volcano Burst Flame!”
‘Mr. Volcano’ became completely surrounded by an intense white-hot blaze. He snapped his fingers, and the flames exploded forth, engulfing the ‘Token’ and continuing through, hitting the robot directly. I felt a dull heat wash over me, the holographic arena’s attempt to simulate a heat that probably would have cooked me alive if it has been real. By the time the heat had passed, the robot’s field was empty, and its Life Points were zero. Despite a slow start, Tucker had won.
Card of the Day:
Mr. Volcano
Played by: Tucker
This is Tucker's favorite monster, because he sees himself in it. If you read the description, you can see that it is a lot like how one might describe Tucker, who is goofy and mild-mannered, but has a tendency to overreact. The parallel becomes more and more obvious as the story progresses. The first time that a character's favorite card makes an impact on an important duel, it is likely that it will show up here.
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