The Card Professors have two insect users, one who is pushy and direct and confident, and one who is insecure, and relies more on tricks than brute force. The Duel Force has Duelists who use Fire and Ice. I couldn't help but make these two duos tag duel against each other. It also allowed me to connect what would have been two single-chapter duels together into one, and expand that one into two parts. Not to mention that we get to see something of Tucker and Frost's dynamic, and get a look at how well they work together.
Only one of either of these Card Professor characters' original cards were ever released in the actual card game, and that is Mendo Cino's ace monster (which doesn't show up until next chapter). It was heavily watered down from its manga version and ended up just not being a good monster. Needless to say I will be including something closer to the manga version of that monster in this duel.
No card of the day today, as not a whole lot of standout cards have been played so far. Maybe I'll do a double card of the day next time...
No card of the day today, as not a whole lot of standout cards have been played so far. Maybe I'll do a double card of the day next time...
Tucker and Frost vs. Number Seven and Number Eleven
Tucker
Frost and I stepped through door five and found ourselves face to face with Mendo Cino and Klamath Osler, the agents of the Card Professors who had been sent to invite us here in the first place. They were standing at the opposite side of the spacious room, a second large door behind them. The door through which we’d come slid closed behind us with a loud clang.
“Good to see you again,” said the taller, arrogant Mendo Cino.
“You won’t think so soon,” Frost replied, cool and collected as always, her calm indifference making her words sound even more intimidating, “unless you let us through.” She gestured with her hand. I realized that she was trying to use the Shadow Soul of Ice. She looked visibly disappointed when it didn’t work. It really was true that something in this place was blocking our magic. I could only imagine how Frost felt without her mastery over ice. Her magic was more a part of her than mine was a part of me, and I felt naked without it.
“Sorry girlie,” Mendo said, ignorant to what Frost’s gesture meant, “but we can’t let you out. The only way to open either door is to play by the rules of this room.”
He explained the trigger system to us. Alarms immediately went off in my head. This reminded me of the traps that the gang of high-schoolers that I was a part of back when I was in Middle School might have set for a guy they were planning to mess with. They would give him a potential out, but rig everything so that the guy didn’t actually have a chance to do anything.
I glanced over at Frost. Her mind was racing. I could see that she felt the same way that I did. She knew a thing or two about being hopelessly trapped, and I could tell that she was feeling trapped now. She looked over at me, and I nodded. I looked back over at the Card Professors and asked, “How can we be sure that this isn’t some kind of trick?”
“How could it be,” Mendo replied dismissively. “We’ve already triggered the ones on our side. If this were a trick, we’d be trapping ourselves too. Either you can step on your trigger panels and we can get started, or I’ll step off of mine, and that door will never open.”
“And I’d kick your ass straight up,” I told him. “But still, I want by you, so I don’t see the point in arguing. Trap or not, playing your game is the only option.”
I looked over at Frost again. She nodded her agreement, and we stepped at once onto the floor panels just before us.
“This will be a Tag Duel,” Klamath announced, speaking up for the first time, making me wonder what the dynamic was between these two exactly, even if I didn’t dwell on it.
“We’ll start with four thousand Life apiece,” Mendo explained further, “which won’t matter except that I’ll beat you that much sooner, and both team members have to be defeated for their side to lose.”
A Tag Duel? I thought, looking over at Frost and seeing that she was actually smiling. That could actually be fun.
“You’re on,” I exclaimed.
“Then let’s get this started,” Klamath began, drawing his opening hand. “I start out with two face-down cards, and I summon ‘Antlion’.”
A sinkhole appeared in the ground in front of Klamath, but I didn’t see a monster.
“‘Antlion’?” I asked.
“A common Insect card that hides underground and ambushes enemies who attack it,” Frost explained. “It only has fifteen hundred Attack, but it goes up by five hundred if it’s attacked.”
“Good to know,” I said, “thanks.”
Frost smiled slightly, “You’re welcome.”
She drew, “I’ll go next. I set one monster in defense mode, and-.”
“Not so fast!” Klamath interrupted. “Setting a monster activated my Trap card ‘Acid Trap Hole’, destroying your monster instantly.”
Frost’s monster, a fierce-looking lizard with a full-sized snowman on its back, the ‘Snowman Eater’, appeared and then fell through the ground, disappearing with a loud HIIIIISSSSSS!
Frost didn’t react. Despite being free of her old oppressor Mask’s influence, she still didn’t show much emotion when dueling.
“Then I play ‘Graceful Charity’,” Frost declared without hesitating, drawing three cards and then discarding two, “and I remove ‘Snowman Eater’ and another Water monster in my Graveyard from play to summon the Ice Wolf, ‘Fenrir’ in attack mode.
A fierce wolf with blue-gray fur appeared, its teeth bared (ATK: 1400), cold mist streaming from it's mouth with each breath.
“Finally I set a card,” she concluded, “and end my turn.”
“Making it my turn,” Mendo Cino replied calmly and confidently. “I summon my ‘Flying Kamakiri #1’,” a humanoid mantis appeared at Mendo’s side, “and I play the Spell card ‘Kamakiri Egg’. Now, once per turn, I get to summon a ‘Kamakiri Egg Token’. I also set a card, and activate the Spell card ‘Labor Pains’. While this Spell card is in play, whenever a Duelist Normal Summons a monster, they pay one thousand Life Points.”
I frowned, As tricky as Klamath’s ‘Antlion’ is, any monster with enough Attack can beat it easily enough. It’s this Mendo guy who’s the real problem. In just one turn he’s laid his entire strategy out in the open, and I don’t know if I can get past it.
“My turn,” I declared, looking over my hand carefully, considering my moves.
If this guy really is planning on swarming the field with Special Summoned monsters while leaving his opponent to suffer the effects of ‘Labor Pains’, then I have to summon as many strong monsters as I can before I can’t afford to summon any more.
“I summon my ‘Blazing Inpachi’,” I declared, my giant burning tree man appearing, towering behind me as I lost Life Points to ‘Labor Pains’ (4000 -> 3000), “and I-.”
“You watch,” Klamath interrupted, “as my ‘Trap Hole’ card destroys your monster before your very eyes!”
A pit appeared beneath my ‘Inpachi’, swallowing him up. I was pretty upset that I’d paid one thousand Life Points and had nothing to show for it. I looked over my hand again.
Nothing to show for it for now, I thought, choosing another card.
“Then I’ll remove my ‘Inpachi’ from play,” I announced, “to Special Summon my ‘Inferno’ in defense mode.”
A living face made of flame formed from a spark, hanging in the air at my side (DEF: 1900).
“And I follow my partner’s suit,” I concluded, “and set a card as well.”
“Alright,” Klamath exclaimed happily, “my Traps are working! This looks like my lucky day.”
He drew, “I tribute my ‘Antlion’ for the ‘Dungeon Worm’ (4000 -> 3000), and I equip it with ‘Insect Armor with Laser Cannon’!”
An insect with large pincers emerged from the ‘Antlion’’s hole, and then disappeared, replaced by a huge, fat-bodied worm. A laser gun appeared strapped to the worm’s back (ATK: 1800 -> 2500).
“I attack ‘Inferno’,” Klamath declared. His monster fired its cannon and blew the living fire apart.
I smiled, Good. My hand isn’t very good. A monster isn’t any use to me right now except to shield my Life Points. But Frost’s situation might be different.
“Draw,” Frost declared, “and I set one monster and end my turn.”
I frowned, I guess not.
But then Frost looked over at me and flashed me a quick, subtle smile. I remembered that she really did enjoy some things, dueling being one of them, and that she was actually pretty good as it too.
“Don’t worry,” she said simply, and I felt sorry for our opponents.
“I was expecting more from you, Ice Duelist,” Mendo Cino told her, smirking and chuckling. “I’ve seen some of your tournament duels, and You were always way more impressive than this.”
That struck me. Frost hadn’t competed in any tournaments since losing her memory and joining with the Duel Force. Did this guy know something about Frost’s past? This could be bad. Frost deserved to know about her past, but if she lost her cool now we might end up having to go back, or worse, we might get stuck in this room. I looked over at her, torn between wanting to support her in demanding that Mendo spill anything he knew, and urging Frost to ignore him, and I saw turmoil in Frost’s eyes. She was agonizing over the same choices. Finally her expression calmed, and she looked up at Mendo Cino, “Sorry to disappoint you.”
“No way,” Mendo replied, “I’m not disappointed. I’m gonna win!”
“We’re gonna win,” Klamath corrected him.
“Yeah,” Mendo agreed, looking over at Klamath like he was something smelly, “that’s what I meant.
“Anyway,” Mendo continued as he drew his next card, “I think it’s about time this duel got going for real. My ‘Kamakiri Egg’ produces a Token Monster.”
‘Kamakiri Egg’, a large spherical egg sack, opened an orifice in its side and produced a slimy little egg, which hatched into a tiny praying mantis (DEF: 500).
“Next I attack ‘Fenrir’,” Mendo declared, “with ‘Flying Kamakiri’. Because they have the same Attack, they’ll both be destroyed. You’ll lose your monster, and I’ll get to activate my monster’s effect and summon another monster from my deck.”
The mantis monster charged, meaning to strike the snarling wolf with its full strength.
“No,” Frost countered, “you won’t, because I reveal ‘Blizzard Wall’, changing my monster to defense mode and placing an Ice Counter on your bug.”
‘Fenrir’ took up a more submissive stance, and a cold, icy wind blew from his fur, pushing the ‘Kamakiri’ back, surrounding it in snow and hail. It still pushed through and still killed the wolf, but it came out of the attack with a layer of ice clinging to its body, and since it wasn’t destroyed, Mendo didn’t get to summon whatever monster he had clearly been hoping to.
Mendo didn’t look happy, “Then I set a card, and I pass the rest of my turn.”
Here goes, I thought.
“I draw!”
Yes!
“Hey Frost,” I asked, “how’s your hand lookin’?”
“Not too good, Paul,” she replied.
“Well,” I told her, “I think I can help with that. I play ‘Card Destruction’. All four of us toss out our hands and we each draw the same number of cards as we threw away.”
So I did just that, and when I saw my new cards, I couldn’t have been happier.
“Now what do you say,” I asked, “we turn this thing up to eleven! I reveal ‘Call of the Haunted’ to revive ‘Tyhone #2’. And I know what you’re going to say,” I said showishly, cutting Mendo off mid insult, “why would I keep a monster like this one in my deck? Well I like to keep a few Fire Attribute Dragon-type monsters in my deck so that they still fit my theme, while allowing me to do this!”
I chose another card from my hand, “I play ‘Monster Reborn’ and tribute ‘Tyhone #2’ to revive another of my discarded monsters, ‘Tyrant Dragon’!”
“What?!” Klamath exclaimed.
“Shut up,” Mendo snapped, “it’s his signature card, and I can handle it.”
As he spoke, ‘Tyhone’ was engulfed in flames, which flared out and took the form of a large, fierce dragon with ragged wings, glimmering bronze scales, and a jewel in its head (ATK: 2900). “No, you can’t,” I told Mendo. “‘Tyrant Dragon’, attack!”
My monster inhaled, and breathed fire down, engulfing the second most dangerous monster in play, Klamath’s ‘Dungeon Worm’, burning it to ashes in an instant (3000 -> 2600).
“And because you still clearly control monsters,” I told my opponents, “my dragon can attack again this turn. Go, Tyrant Burst!”
The dragon attacked again, blasting the ‘Flying Kamakiri’ apart (4000 -> 2500).
“Summon any monster that you want from your deck,” I told Mendo. “I’ll just destroy it when you do. Line ‘em up, and I’ll knock ‘em down!”
Mendo smiled back at me confidently, “We’ll see about that.”
“Then I’ll remove my ‘Inpachi’ from play,” I announced, “to Special Summon my ‘Inferno’ in defense mode.”
A living face made of flame formed from a spark, hanging in the air at my side (DEF: 1900).
“And I follow my partner’s suit,” I concluded, “and set a card as well.”
“Alright,” Klamath exclaimed happily, “my Traps are working! This looks like my lucky day.”
He drew, “I tribute my ‘Antlion’ for the ‘Dungeon Worm’ (4000 -> 3000), and I equip it with ‘Insect Armor with Laser Cannon’!”
An insect with large pincers emerged from the ‘Antlion’’s hole, and then disappeared, replaced by a huge, fat-bodied worm. A laser gun appeared strapped to the worm’s back (ATK: 1800 -> 2500).
“I attack ‘Inferno’,” Klamath declared. His monster fired its cannon and blew the living fire apart.
I smiled, Good. My hand isn’t very good. A monster isn’t any use to me right now except to shield my Life Points. But Frost’s situation might be different.
“Draw,” Frost declared, “and I set one monster and end my turn.”
I frowned, I guess not.
But then Frost looked over at me and flashed me a quick, subtle smile. I remembered that she really did enjoy some things, dueling being one of them, and that she was actually pretty good as it too.
“Don’t worry,” she said simply, and I felt sorry for our opponents.
“I was expecting more from you, Ice Duelist,” Mendo Cino told her, smirking and chuckling. “I’ve seen some of your tournament duels, and You were always way more impressive than this.”
That struck me. Frost hadn’t competed in any tournaments since losing her memory and joining with the Duel Force. Did this guy know something about Frost’s past? This could be bad. Frost deserved to know about her past, but if she lost her cool now we might end up having to go back, or worse, we might get stuck in this room. I looked over at her, torn between wanting to support her in demanding that Mendo spill anything he knew, and urging Frost to ignore him, and I saw turmoil in Frost’s eyes. She was agonizing over the same choices. Finally her expression calmed, and she looked up at Mendo Cino, “Sorry to disappoint you.”
“No way,” Mendo replied, “I’m not disappointed. I’m gonna win!”
“We’re gonna win,” Klamath corrected him.
“Yeah,” Mendo agreed, looking over at Klamath like he was something smelly, “that’s what I meant.
“Anyway,” Mendo continued as he drew his next card, “I think it’s about time this duel got going for real. My ‘Kamakiri Egg’ produces a Token Monster.”
‘Kamakiri Egg’, a large spherical egg sack, opened an orifice in its side and produced a slimy little egg, which hatched into a tiny praying mantis (DEF: 500).
“Next I attack ‘Fenrir’,” Mendo declared, “with ‘Flying Kamakiri’. Because they have the same Attack, they’ll both be destroyed. You’ll lose your monster, and I’ll get to activate my monster’s effect and summon another monster from my deck.”
The mantis monster charged, meaning to strike the snarling wolf with its full strength.
“No,” Frost countered, “you won’t, because I reveal ‘Blizzard Wall’, changing my monster to defense mode and placing an Ice Counter on your bug.”
‘Fenrir’ took up a more submissive stance, and a cold, icy wind blew from his fur, pushing the ‘Kamakiri’ back, surrounding it in snow and hail. It still pushed through and still killed the wolf, but it came out of the attack with a layer of ice clinging to its body, and since it wasn’t destroyed, Mendo didn’t get to summon whatever monster he had clearly been hoping to.
Mendo didn’t look happy, “Then I set a card, and I pass the rest of my turn.”
Here goes, I thought.
“I draw!”
Yes!
“Hey Frost,” I asked, “how’s your hand lookin’?”
“Not too good, Paul,” she replied.
“Well,” I told her, “I think I can help with that. I play ‘Card Destruction’. All four of us toss out our hands and we each draw the same number of cards as we threw away.”
So I did just that, and when I saw my new cards, I couldn’t have been happier.
“Now what do you say,” I asked, “we turn this thing up to eleven! I reveal ‘Call of the Haunted’ to revive ‘Tyhone #2’. And I know what you’re going to say,” I said showishly, cutting Mendo off mid insult, “why would I keep a monster like this one in my deck? Well I like to keep a few Fire Attribute Dragon-type monsters in my deck so that they still fit my theme, while allowing me to do this!”
I chose another card from my hand, “I play ‘Monster Reborn’ and tribute ‘Tyhone #2’ to revive another of my discarded monsters, ‘Tyrant Dragon’!”
“What?!” Klamath exclaimed.
“Shut up,” Mendo snapped, “it’s his signature card, and I can handle it.”
As he spoke, ‘Tyhone’ was engulfed in flames, which flared out and took the form of a large, fierce dragon with ragged wings, glimmering bronze scales, and a jewel in its head (ATK: 2900). “No, you can’t,” I told Mendo. “‘Tyrant Dragon’, attack!”
My monster inhaled, and breathed fire down, engulfing the second most dangerous monster in play, Klamath’s ‘Dungeon Worm’, burning it to ashes in an instant (3000 -> 2600).
“And because you still clearly control monsters,” I told my opponents, “my dragon can attack again this turn. Go, Tyrant Burst!”
The dragon attacked again, blasting the ‘Flying Kamakiri’ apart (4000 -> 2500).
“Summon any monster that you want from your deck,” I told Mendo. “I’ll just destroy it when you do. Line ‘em up, and I’ll knock ‘em down!”
Mendo smiled back at me confidently, “We’ll see about that.”
And suddenly, seeing the look in my opponent’s eyes, and despite the presence of my dragon at my side, I felt worried.
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