Jen's pretty awesome, isn't she?
Chapter Seven
Jen vs. Final Four Deck Two;
Blown Away
“Congratulations,” said Pegasus as Tucker unplugged his Duel Disk and stepped down, “you could have given up when things weren’t going your way. In fact, many Duelists would have given up had they taken forty-seven hundred damage before even dealing their opponent one point! But your fighting spirit burned strong and you came out on top!”
“Yeah yeah,” said Tucker, still refusing to hear what Pegasus had to say, “whatever. Who’s next?”
“Up next will be the smart, smart Jen, the Forest Duelist,” said Pegasus.
Jen shot him a look of coy mock-confusion, “Who, me?”
She stepped up to the arena and connected her Duel Disk, plugging it into the arena port. Life Point counters set at eight thousand apiece. The robot randomly chose itself to go first again, which immediately struck me as odd.
“I hope this thing isn’t using the same deck again,” Jen mumbled under her breath. “I already have a dozen tactics to beat it. It won’t be any fun.”
“Begin turn,” the robot said. “Summon monster card, ‘Cyber Harpie Lady’ in attack mode.”
“Didn’t see that monster in the other deck,” said Jen, her mind obviously racing.
On the robot’s field appeared a woman with long red hair, long green feathers running down her arms, and talons for hands and feet, wearing a purple metallic breastplate and carrying an energized whip (ATK: 1800). “Place two cards face-down. End turn.”
“Good,” said Jen. “Now what do you say we take this thing outside? I begin my turn with the Field Spell card ‘Forest’. In this dark, woodland wasteland, all Insect, Beast, and Plant-type monsters gain two hundred Attack and Defense! And I follow up with one of my strongest cards, my ‘Pinch Hopper’, in attack mode.”
All around Jen and the robot, on and even a bit around the arena, huge trees appeared. Among the trees appeared Jen’s monster, the giant grasshopper, ‘Pinch Hopper’ (ATK: 1000+200=1200).
“I equip my ‘Hopper’ with my Spell card ‘Insect Armor with Laser Cannon’,” said Jen, “raising the Attack of my monster by another seven hundred.”
A laser cannon appeared, strapped to the ‘Hopper’’s back (1200+700=1900).
“Now, I attack your ‘Harpie’ with Laser Cannon Discharge!” A glowing point of energy built in the barrel of the cannon, and fired in a pulse of light at the foe, only to be stopped by a wall of reflective crystal that rose up from the ground, reflecting the beam right back.
“Activate ‘Mirror Wall’ Trap,” said the robot, “reducing the attack of ‘Pinch Hopper’ by half. Counterattack with ‘Cyber Harpie Lady’.” ‘Pinch Hopper’’s Attack dropped (1900/2=950), and the winged woman attacked, snapping her whip and slicing the ‘Hopper’ to pieces with it (8000+950-1800=7150).
“I thought you might have a Trap like ‘Mirror Wall’ ready for me,” said Jen. “‘Harpie’ cards are typically supported by powerful continuous effects. That’s why I chose to attack you with a weaker monster like ‘Pinch Hopper’. Now I know which of your two cards is the greatest threat to me. But first of all, I use the effect of my ‘Pinch Hopper’, letting me summon any Insect-type from my hand. I Special Summon ‘Insect Princess’, my favorite card!”
A humanoid insect with broad, glossy, transparent wings and four slender arms appeared (ATK: 1900+200=2100).
“Now I activate ‘Mystical Space Typhoon’, destroying ‘Mirror Wall’,” Jen declared. A burst of wind tore through the crystal, shattering it.
“Because it’s still my Battle Phase,” Jen declared, “my ‘Princess’ can attack your ‘Harpie’ with her Deadly Pheromones!” Clouds of orange-brown dust spread out from the ‘Insect Princess’’ fluttering wings, surrounding the ‘Cyber Harpie’, suffocating and destroying it (LP: 8000 +1800-2100=7700). Jen looked fiercely at the Duel Robot, “I end my turn.”
“Begin turn,” said the robot. “Draw card. Play ‘Graceful Charity’. Draw three cards and discard two cards. Reveal ‘Hysteric Party’, discarding one card to Special Summon all ‘Harpie’ monsters from own Graveyard.” Three ‘Cyber Harpie Ladies’ appeared side by side on the robot’s side of the field, ready to strike (ATK: 1800 (each)).
This is weird, I thought. Once again this robot seems to be pulling every card it needs in prefect sequence. I looked into the corner of Jen’s eye, and I could tell that she had seen this as well, and was busy piecing together a way to turn things around in her favor despite it.
“Equip ‘Cyber Harpie Lady’ with ‘Gust Fan’,” the robot continued, “raising Attack by four hundred and lowering Defense by 200 (1800+400=2200). Attack ‘Insect Princess’ with Gust Gale Attack.” The powered up ‘Harpie’ waved a green fan, summoning a burst of wind tinted with green light, and batting it toward the opposing monster. The 'Princess' tried to attack back with its pheromones, but the wind from the fan blew them away, carried through, and sliced ‘Insect Princess’ to pieces (7150 +2100-2200=7050).
“Remaining ‘Cyber Harpie Ladies’ attack directly,” the robot commanded, and the other two ‘Harpies’ lashed out at Jen with their whips (7050-1800-1800=3450). “End turn.”
“Good move,” said Jen calmly, “but your strategy is nothing compared to mine. Everything I’ve done so far has been to draw out your strategy so I could lock it down and work out how to beat it. I summon ‘Larva Moth’ and equip it with ‘Cocoon of Evolution’ (DEF: 2000+200=2200). In two turns my ‘Petit Moth’ will evolve into the ‘Great Moth’, a monster that your ‘Harpie’ monsters will never be able to overcome.”
A green worm the size of a small horse appeared, and became surrounded by a thick cocoon made of silky string.
“I also equip ‘Cocoon’ with ‘Heart of Clear Water’," Jen concluded, "making it impervious to Battle Damage and resistant to Spell cards. Which ends my turn.”
I was puzzled, What is she thinking? 'Great Moth' is strong, but it's not the kind of card that you hinge your entire strategy on. She must be planning something.
As these thoughts went through my head, a new card appeared in the robot’s virtual hand, and it declared, “Draw card. Place cards face-down. End turn.” It was completely unconcerned about Jen's play, because it was taking that plat at face value. As far as the robot was concerned, it had time. That's when it hit me what Jen was doing. She planned to use the very nature of the robot against it.
“I draw,” said Jen, “and-.”
“Reveal,” the robot interrupted, “Trap card ‘Bubble Shot’. You must discard cards from your field and hand until the total number of cards in your hand and on your side of the field equals five.”
“Fine,” said Jen, “I’ll discard the one card in my hand, and then I’ll activate my own Trap card, ‘The Spell Absorbing Life’, increasing my Life Points by four hundred for every effect monster on the field (3450+1600=5050). Now my ‘Great Moth’ will arrive in just one turn.”
“Draw card,” said the robot. “Activate ‘Harpie’s Feather Duster’ to destroy all Spell and Trap cards that you control, since I control a ‘Harpie’ monster.”
The robot's monsters rose into the air, and swept with their wings, creating a gust of wind strong enough to tear the cocoon off of ‘Larvae Moth’ (DEF: 400), and uproot the trees of the‘Forest’, carrying them up toward the high ceiling until they faded away.
“Destroy ‘Larvae Moth’ with ‘Cyber Harpie Lady’, and direct attack with all remaining monsters,” one of the weaker ‘Cyber Harpies’ slashed the ‘Moth’ with her whip, destroying it, and the other two hit Jen directly (5050-2200-1800=1050). “End turn.”
“Darn,” said Jen, really laying it on thick, “I guess I don’t have any moves left. I guess I lost as soon as I put my faith in a combo like ‘Great Moth’ evolution. Unless that combo was only a decoy.” She smiled and selected a card from her hand, “You see, I wanted you to waste your best cards on my evolution combo so that I could feel confident summoning this. Activate ‘Monster Reborn’ to revive the monster that you sent to my Graveyard with your Trap, my ‘Metal Armored Bug’!”
The room grew dark as a huge form appeared on the ceiling, blocking several of the lights. Jen only smiled across at her opponent, but Sarah, Tucker and I looked up. Clinging to the ceiling was a huge beetle with a metallic shell and sharp blades in place of its front-most legs (ATK: 2800).
“‘Metal Armored Bug’,” Jen commanded, “attack the lead ‘Harpie Lady’, Metal Claw Strike!” ‘Metal Armored Bug’ reached down with its claws and cleaved ‘Cyber Harpie’ in half (7700+2200-2800=7100). “And that,” said Jen, “is my turn.”
“Yes!” said Sarah. “Go Jen!”
“Draw card,” said the robot. “Change two ‘Cyber Harpie Ladies’ to defense mode (DEF: 1500 (each)). “End turn.”
“That won’t help for long,” said Jen. You could tell from her face that, even though she was in control of the situation, she was still hard at work calculating something. “Activate ‘Pot of Greed’ to draw two cards, and attack with ‘Metal Armored Bug’ to destroy a second ‘Cyber Harpie’,” the ‘Bug’ destroyed another monster. “End my turn by placing one card face-down.”
“Begin turn," the robot began. It was completely emotionless, but I could still almost sense desperation behind its words.
"Draw card, and equip ‘Cyber Harpie Lady’ with ‘Cyber Shield’,” the robot continued, the armor that the ‘Harpie’ wore became thicker and fuller (1800+500=2300). “Change to attack mode. Activate ‘Rush Recklessly’, increasing Attack of ‘Cyber Harpie Lady’ by seven hundred (2300+700=3000). Attack ‘Metal Armored Bug’,” A massive spinning funnel of wind built up around the ‘Harpie’. She rose up, flapped her wings hard, and flung all of that wind straight up at the ‘Bug’. I looked up at Jen. She seemed unconcerned.
“Reveal the Trap card ‘Magic Cylinder’,” Jen countered, “catching your attack and redirecting it toward your Life Points.” Two shining metallic cylinders appeared in the air. The ‘Harpie’’s attack was caught by one cylinder, and seconds later the attack re-emerged from the other cylinder, aimed directly at the robot. The attack hit, and the robot’s Life Points fell (7100-3000=4100).
“Now I draw,” Jen looked down at her newest card, and smiled wide. “This will be the last turn. Activate ‘Offerings to the Doomed’, giving up my next draw phase to destroy your ‘Harpie Lady’.” Mummy wraps erupted from the ground beneath ‘Harpie’, grabbing her, and dragging her into the ground, destroying her.
“Now I summon my ‘Arsenal Bug’,” A two-segmented warrior bug appeared, hovering on small wings, carrying a small round shield and a curved sword. “As long as I control another Insect monster, my ‘Arsenal Bug’’s original Attack is 2000. Attack with ‘Arsenal Bug’ directly,” ‘Arsenal Bug’ slashed (4100-2000=2100), “and ‘Metal Armored Bug’ ends it!” The massive ‘Metal Armored Bug’ reached down and its holographic claw “impaled” the robot, ending the duel (2100-2800=0).
Jen smiled, full of pride, “That’s game!”
Card of the Day:
Metal Armored Bug
Played by: Jen
Insects are a powerful type, with some powerful archetypes, but generally they don't have many reliable heavy hitters. This is one of the few, and so it is often the monster that Jen summons when she needs a beefy attacker to hold her opponent off for a few turns while her plan comes together. It isn't quite a "Blue-Eyes White Dragon", but it certainly packs a punch.
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