Once again I attribute power to "The Fiend Megacyber" that the card simply doesn't have in real life. On one hand, word of me says that this is John's best monster, but on the other hand the nature of this chapter has Tucker having serious trouble fighting what is effectively a Normal Monster.
Chapter FourteenRound Three;
Rival Match! Fiend Megacyber vs. Legendary Flame Lord
Exciting as it was, my situation sucked. I only had a partial strategy prepared, and I was facing a monster with a full three hundred more attack points than my strongest card. I did have one thing going for me: I have pretty good luck most of the time. For example, even though John’s turn wasn’t over, he didn’t have any other cards to play. I for one would call that good luck.
Okay, I thought, preparing to draw, gimme something good!
I pulled the card. It was ‘Gift of the Martyr’.
Huh, I thought, looking from my new card to the rest of my hand, and then back again. Yeah, that could work.
I only had one face-down monster in play, but it was all that I would need. “I end my turn,” I declared.
“Then here we go,” John announced. “I begin and end my turn by attacking your face-down monster.”
‘Black Skull Dragon’ struck, and my monster was revealed to be a smoldering humanoid shape, smoke rolling from it. My monster was burned away in an instant, but it still managed to leave its mark on the field.
“You destroyed ‘The Thing in the Crater’,” I explained, “and as you probably know, when ‘Thing in the Crater’ is destroyed, I get to summon any one Pyro monster from my hand. I summon my favorite monster, ‘Mr. Volcano’!”
A suave man wearing a white button up shirt under a green vest appeared in a burst of flames. He wore a short cape, and his red hair was swept back like one large curl (ATK: 2100).
“Now I summon ‘Royal Firestorm Guard’,” I declared. Beside ‘Mr. Volcano’ there appeared a red dragon, standing upright, covered in armor and wreathed in fire (ATK: 1700).
“I equip ‘Mr. Volcano’ with ‘Burning Spear’,” I declared, and the weapon appeared in my monster’s hand (ATK: 2100+400=2500), “and I’ll follow up with ‘Gift of the Martyr’, tributing my ‘Royal Firestorm Guard’ to add his power to ‘Mr. Volcano’’s!”
‘Royal Firestorm Guard’ became a form of pure fire, melding with the aura that surrounded my ‘Mr. Volcano’. His Attack rose (ATK: 2500+1700=4200).
“I attack with ‘Mr. Volcano’,” I commanded. My monster ran at the dragon. ‘Red-Eyes’ fired his attack, but it was deflected by my monster’s burning aura. ‘Mr. Volcano’ jumped up and threw the spear at the dragon’s head. It hit and stuck between the dragon’s eyes. As he fell, ‘Mr. Volcano’ snapped his fingers, and a stream of flames burst from his hand and poured into the spear and over the dragon. It was reduced to ash (7000+3200-4200=6000). Mr. Volcano snatched the spear out of the air, landed gracefully on his feet, and jumped backward, landing at my side (4200-1700=2500).
“I end my turn.”
“Then I activate ‘Pot of Greed’,” John declared, drawing two cards from his deck. He smiled, even more impressed with me now than he had been, “I place two cards face-down and activate ‘Card of Sanctity’. We each replenish our hands.”
He drew again, “Perfect! I begin by summoning ‘Chaosrider Gustaph’.” A green-skinned fiend warrior wearing red appeared aback a motorcycle, carrying a pike in his left hand (ATK: 1400), “and I follow up with ‘Double Summon’, tributing ‘Chaosrider Gustaph’ to summon ‘The Fiend Megacyber’!”
The motorcyclist was replaced by John’s signature monster, a warrior wearing overlapping panels of yellow armor decorated with black stripes. His fists were charged with yellow and black static energy (ATK: 2200).
“Reveal,” John continued, “the Spell card ‘Fusion Sword Murasame Blade’, rearming my monster.”
The armor over ‘The Fiend Megacyber’’s right forearm stretched out over his hand, lengthening into a long, thin blade (ATK: 2200+800=3000).
“Attack,” John commanded, “with Megacyber Blade!” ‘Fiend Megacyber’ ran straight at my monster, his sword raised. ‘Mr. Volcano’ tried to block with his spear, but the sword passed right through, slashing my monster in half (7700+2500-3000=7200).
“I place a second card face-down,” John declared, “and end my turn.”
Even though my monster had been destroyed, I was smiling. I couldn’t help it. This is it! I thought. ’Card of Sanctity’ gave me everything I needed to win this duel!
“Activate,” I declared, anxious to unleash my full power, “the Ritual Spell card ‘Incandescent Ordeal’, tributing the Monster card ‘Sacrificial Fire’ in my hand, treating it as the entire tribute for the Ritual Summon, and summoning out my most powerful monster, ‘Legendary Flame Lord’!”
A hatchling phoenix with bright eyes appeared and was engulfed in flames. The flames flared and from them emerged my monster. He was roughly six feet tall wearing blue armor on his legs, a blue armor crown, and a jacket made of crimson fire. He carried a staff in one hand and a dagger in the other (ATK: 2400). John was trying hard not to look worried, but I could tell that he was.
I smiled, “Next I activate two copies of ‘Hinotama’,” followed up with the Spell card ‘Tremendous Fire’.” Two fireballs fell from the sky, hitting my opponent in the chest (6000-500-500=5000). I snapped my fingers, and flames covered the field (John: 5000-1000=4000/Me: 7200-500=6700). The flames collected, rising up around my monster.
“And now,” I declared, “since three Spell cards have resolved since my monster was summoned, I can activate his special ability, Annihilating Inferno!”
The flames built, and my ‘Flame Lord’ rose into the air. The flames collected into the end of his staff. He swung his staff, flinging the flames at the ground in the center of the field. The flames blossomed out, engulfing John’s monster.
“Attack,” I commanded, and my monster dove through the flames, swinging his blade (4000-2400=1600). The flames fell away, only a few remaining as my monster settled at my side.
“Looks like it’s over,” I said.
“You’re right,” John replied, “it is.” As he spoke, ‘The Fiend Megacyber’ appeared among the flames still burning at his feet.
“What, the ‘Fiend Megacyber’ survived? But how?!”
“The Trap card ‘Interdimensional Matter Transporter’,” John explained. “It lets me transport my monster out of play until the end of the turn. But you knew that. I activated it just before my monster would have burned up in the fire. Now it’s my turn. I equip ‘The Fiend Megacyber’ with the Spell card ‘Assault Armor’.” A white aura appeared around the warrior, dispersing the remaining flames and boosting his strength. “I’ll release the armor,” John announced, sending the Spell card to the Graveyard, “to allow my monster to attack twice this turn.” The ‘Fiend Megacyber’’s white aura flared.
“And to finish it,” John continued, “I activate the Spell card ‘Soul Release’, removing three of the monsters in my Graveyard from play, and combine it with my remaining face-down card, ‘Return from the Different Dimension’, paying half of my Life Points to bring them all back (1600/2=800)!”
Three swirling vortices (what a weird word) appeared in the air above us. From them emerged the two motorcyclists ‘Chaosrider Gustaph’ and ‘Diskblade Rider’, followed by the ‘Black Skull Dragon’ (ATK: 1400/1700/3200).
“You almost had me,” John said. “I knew your ‘Flame Lord’ was coming, and I knew how I would win if he did, but my entire plan hinged on my drawing ‘Return from the Different Dimension’. I would have lost this duel if I hadn’t drawn it when I did. You were a tough opponent. One of the toughest I’ve ever faced.”
John nodded respectfully, and I nodded back.
“‘Black Skull Dragon’,” John commanded, “attack!” The dragon inhaled and then exhaled sharply, unleashing a fireball attack that blew my monster away (6700+2400-3200=5900). “‘Chaosrider’, ‘Diskblade Rider’,” John commanded, “you’re next.” The motorcyclists rode past, slashing with their weapons (5900-1700-1400=2800).
“Now I finish it,” John announced “with my ‘Fiend Megacyber’, Double Megacyber Impact!” His monster shot forward, punching me in the face, spinning, and pummeling me in the gut (2800-2200-2200=0). I fell to my knees as the monsters disappeared. Even the diminished impacts of the solid vision holograms were enough to hurt in such quick succession.
John stepped forward and helped me to my feet. “You know,” I said, “I wasn’t kidding before, I’ve wanted to duel you for a long time.”
“I know,” John replied. “I’ve wanted to duel you too. Ever since I saw you duel in the Grand Championship. You’ve gotten really good Tuck. You’ve really come far in this game. You used to be a good Duelist who had trouble thinking things through, because you had trouble thinking your life through, but now you’ve started to figure your life out a little better, and it’s made you a great Duelist, the equal of any other.”
I smiled. In not so many words, John had branded me his equal, and deep down that’s all I’d ever really wanted.
Card of the Day:
Interdimensional Matter Transporter
Played by: John
One of John's most powerful and versatile effects is the "Strike Ninja" effect to hide a monster out of play for a turn, and with this card, he can give that effect to any monster, allowing his "Fiend Megacyber" to survive the effect of "Legendary Flame Lord", as seen above.
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