This was the first Epic Battle to involve a character submitted by another yugiohcardmaker.net user. His character is a kid named Tom who uses a Machine deck. There are multiple versions of this duel, but this is the official version that is canon to the Epic Battles timeline. This is also the first Epic Battle to acknowledge the planned storyline for the series.
This is the last duel to be posted on yugiohcardmaker.net, so unless I decide to post the alternate versions, this is the last Epic Battle for now.
Duel Five
An Unexpected Meeting
As Tom rounded the corner he wondered why he'd even bothered driving so far for a tournament without the other members of his team, the Duel Knights. As a sixteen-year-old, he hadn't even had his license long, making this his first ever road trip. He couldn't even remember what it had been about the online add which had so demanded his attention.
And now, he thought, I can't compete. Late for registration. Whatever.
He looked down at the Duel Disk on his wrist, and at the deck inserted into it, as he ran his opposite hand through his semi-short brown hair. It was still a pretty new deck, and despite the fact that he felt more at home using it than any other deck he'd ever used, he really felt it needed put through its paces, something that he'd yet to do, since the last last tournament he'd taken it to had been cancelled before his turn to compete. Downtrodden, he turned a corner, thinking it would lead to an open street, and instead found himself facing an alleyway between the very same convention center where the tournament was being held, and another, smaller building.
Where did I take a wrong turn? Tom wondered. He frowned, reprimanding himself internally for letting his thoughts distract him, as he rummaged through his pocket and pulled out his phone, hoping that the GPS could direct him to the parking lot where his car waited. As he pecked at the screen, synching up his location, he kept walking, and soon he realized that he was near the back entrance to the convention center. His phone was taking forever, so he decided to slip inside and see if he could get directions from an employee. Tom was nearing the swinging glass doors when suddenly they flew open, and a man stepped out, looking frustrated.
He was hunched over, his hands in his pockets, muttering harsh words under his breath. Tom picked up "rentacops" and several instances of a couple words which rhymed with "spam" and "truck". The man himself was tall and appeared to be in good shape, despite his gruff appearance, which included a black, studded, leather vest, unkempt hair poking from beneath a bandana displaying a skull and a flame, harsh, angular features, and a face that had been several days unshaven. He wore sunglasses, and a scowl. Chains hung from his belt, and a Duel Disk was strapped to his left arm. He noticed Tom, shooting him a scowl. Then he did a double take, catching sight of Tom's Duel Disk.
Suddenly the man's demeanor changed. He smiled in a way that reminded Tom of a car salesman. Looking closely at the man, Tom thought he looked familiar, but he couldn't place him. The man spoke, "He, Kid, they won't let you enter either?"
Tom shook his head apprehensively, "I was late for registration."
"Me too," the man said, stepping away from the doors, toward Tom, and leaning against the wall of the center, "what a f***in' drag."
Tom flinched at the use of such a harsh word, but the man didn't seem to notice. He just remained leaning casually against the building. Tom was unsure what to do, so he waited to see what the man would do next.
"Dammit," the man said, pulling a ciggarette from his pocket and placing it between his teeth, "I was really lookin' forward to duelin' today. It's been a while since I competed, and I really need to get back in the saddle before my dueling muscles, what's the word? Atrophy?"
Tom calmed down a bit, seeing that, as brash as this man was, he and Tom had something in common. He ignored the man's rhetorical question, and said, "I know what you mean. I built a new deck about a week back, and I just can't seem to find a good way to really test it. I was hoping the tournament could-."
"You need to test your deck?" the man asked, interrupting Tom, but also catching Tom's attention with the enthusiasm in his voice. "I'll help you test your deck. We'll duel right here. I'll get to practice, and you'll get to see how your deck stacks up against an experts. Kinda like a 'I sctratch you scratch' kinda thing."
Tom thought about this, and said, "Sorry, man, but if I'm not gonna be in the tournament I really should be going. I mean thanks for the offer, but really if I'm gonna test it against just one person, I'll challenge one of my friends."
Tom made to start walking again, but the man sprung away from the wall and stood in front of Tom, looking salesman-ly again, "Aw, come on, facing my deck'll be like facing ten decks in the tournament. Promise."
Tom looked the man over carefully, and then, suddenly, it hit him where he knew the man from.
"Holy crap, you're Keith Howard, the American Duel Monsters Champion from when I was a kid. You were at Duelist Kingdom!"
"That's right," the man said, a bit arrogantly, "I ducked outta the tournament scene for a while, but I wanna break back in. But I'm still just as well-versed in the game as I ever was. Unless you've got Yugi Muto on speed dial, you're gonna be hard-pressed to find a challenger tougher than me to test yourself against."
While wondering vaguely what speed dial was, Tom realized that Keith might very well be correct. "Okay," he conceded, "you're on."
"Great!" Keith exclaimed, drawing his opening hand, his and Tom's Life Points blinking to life, displaying eight thousand apiece. "I set one monster," Keith declared, "and I end my turn."
He was smiling, wide and wicked. Tom wasn't sure what to make of such a simple play. He'd read somewhere about Keith, how he used a lot of different decks, but that his favorite was a Machine deck. Having a Machine deck himself, Tom should have been able to make a guess as to what the hidden monster was, but Keith's entire attitude was putting him off, and he couldn't really think. Instead he decided to go ahead and make his move. If the monster was dangerous, Tom would just have to deal with it.
"I set a card," Tom declared, a holographic set Duel Monster's card appearing at his feet, across from the hologram of Keith's card, "and I summon 'Machina Gearframe'."
A lanky orange robot about Tom's height with guns in its arms, and finned legs that resembled rockets appeared at Tom's side (ATK: 1800).
"When I summon this monster," Tom explained, "I can add a Machina card from my deck to my hand."
Gearframe's eyes flickered, and a card protruded from Tom's deck. He added it to his hand. Keith smiled, "Interresting. It looks like you run a Machine deck. You could say I'm pretty familiar with Machine monsters."
Tom didn't respond, instead continuing his turn, declaring, "Next I play 'Card Destruction'. We each discard our hands, and then draw the same number of cards."
Tom discarded his hand and drew four cards, There, now I have the right monster in my Graveyard for my Trap to work when I need it.
Keith also discarded, and drew five cards. He was still smiling, perhaps because he thought it was amusing that Tom had thrown away the card he'd just searched for, or maybe because he'd drawn something worth smiling about. Either way Tom didn't much care. He'd drawn some really great stuff, too.
"Attack," Tom commanded, and his monster took aim, only to have a sphere with metalic legs spring up from Keith's hidden card and grab onto Tom's monster, a light in its round body blinking red.
"You revealed my 'Blast Sphere'," Keith explained with relish, "which means in a turn your monster is blown to bits, dealing damage equal to its Attack to your Life Points."
"I set another card," Tom concluded, frowning, once again reprimanding himself, this time not for seeing something like this coming, and immediately Keith drew.
"I like your deck, Kid," Keith said. "Howabout you show some more of it to me. I play the Spell card 'Pillager'. This let's me steal a card from your ha-."
"Hang on," Tom said indignantly, "you can't play that card! It's been illegal for years."
Keith looked taken aback, "It is, really? But I could use it back in Duelist Kingdom."
He scrathched his head thoutfully, "Sorry, Kid, I guess I've just been out of the game so long I didn't know. But now the card's been played. We either need to do what it says, or restart the duel."
Tom didn't know what to think. Keith seemed to be sincere, and the game was only for fun, so even if he lost it wouldn't be too big a deal. He also really wanted to get this duel over with. Keith didn't seem too bad, but he did seem kinda sleazy, and Tom was anxious to part ways with him as soon as possible.
"Okay," said Tom, "I'll let it go. Here."
He walked over and showed Keith his hand. He already knew what Keith would take. Sure enough, when Keith saw Tom's hand his face grew hungry and he snatched one of Tom's cards away in just more than an instant.
"I take 'Machina Fortress'," Keith said, adding what was easily Tom's most versatile monster to his own hand. Discouraged and a little shaken up, Tom walked back over to his place, and he turned to face his opponent just as a massive blue mechanical tank with a robotic torso and a large back cannon protruding from its back appeared facing him.
"I discard," Keith explained, "'Machina Fortress' itself and 'Machine King' to summon 'Machina Fortress' from the Graveyard, and I attack!"
Energy built into the tank-like monster's cannon (ATK: 2500), and, without thinkning, and forgetting the state of his own monster, Tom hastily activated his face-down card.
"Reveal," he declared, "'Roll Out!', which allows me to equip a Union monster from my Graveyard to 'Gearframe', using it as a surrogate for his destruction."
Another Machina, a red robot that rolled around on wheels, appeared and attached like armor to the 'Gearframe', taking the brunt of the beam attack, though Tom still took damage (8000 -> 7300).
"I search my deck for a Union monster," Tom explained, "thanks to 'Peacekeeper''s effect."
He flipped through his deck and chose a card.
"You also," Keith said, laughing, "seem to have forgotten that your 'Gearframe' is strapped. Your turn starts, and your monster goes kablooie."
"Oh crap," Tom said, as Keith continued to laugh at him unsympathetically, "I forgot!"
Tom was even more shaken now. This guy was keeping him just out of sorts enough that it was hard to concentrate on the duel. It was a valid strategy, and Tom had had people use it on him before, but this guy was almost disturbing in how good he was at it. Reluctantly Tom drew, and his monster exploded in his face, taking his Life Points down by almost a quarter (7300 -> 5500).
"I set the monster I searched for," Tom declared, trying to keep up a facade of confidence, his face-down monster card hologram appearing between him and his own powerful monster. It was a flimsy wall, but hopefully Keith wouldn't realize just how flimsy it was.
"Then I draw," Keith declared, not missing a beat, "and I discard 'Megasonic Eye' to play 'Tribute to the Doomed', destroying your monster."
No way, Tom thought as his monster, a flying platform, like an oversized skateboard with rockets on its underside and rear appeared, and the ground beneath it split open. Mummy wrappings rose up from the ground and grabbed the machine, pulling it down into the depths.
"I attack with 'Fortress'," Keith declared fiercely. The giant tank robot fired its canon directly at Tom this time, but Tom had a backup plan. Quickly he sent a card from his hand to his Graveyard pile.
"I discard," he declared, an image of a scarecrow made of scrap metal appearing and absorbing the blast, "my 'Swift Scarecrow', protecting myself from your attack."
The blast and the 'Scarecrow' both faded from the field. Tom, having pulled off a pretty good play and saved quite a few of his Life Points, was starting to get his confidence back. He centered himself as Keith set a card, and then Tom drew to begin his next turn. To say that he was relieved to see his newest aquisition would be an understatement. He played it immediately, "I activate 'Swords of Revealing Light'!"
Swords made of light appeared in the sky and fell down upon Keith's field. As soon as they touched the ground, 'Machina Fortress' froze completely, just as Tom knew any monster to appear on Keith's field over the next three turns would as well. The effect could be lifted by destroying the Spell card early, but it would still, hopefully, grant Tom some breathing room.
"I end my turn," Tom declared, and Keith drew.
"Activate 'Monster Reborn'," Keith declared, a robotic man with powerful-looking fists rising up behind him, "to summon the 'Machine King' that I sent to the Graveyard to summon your 'Machina Fortress'. As a Machine Duelist like myself I'm sure you know that my 'Machine King' powers up by one hundred for every Machine in play."
His monster, frozen amongst the 'Swords', still increased in strength (2200 -> 2400).
"I also," Keith continued, "summon 'Motor Shell'."
A robot made up of an engine and two dome-shaped shields perched atop a wheel appeared at the side of the other machines, puffing smoke from its exhaust, which froze in the light of the 'Swords' along with the monster itself (ATK: 1300). 'Machine King' once again grew stronger (2400 -> 2500). The 'Swords' may have given Tom a reprieve, but his need for a repreive had given his opponent one as well. Tom needed to draw something strong enough to handle his own 'Machina Fortress', and he needed to do it fast.
I need my ace card, Tom thought. Nothing else will really do it at this point. I've got to find a way to summon him.
Tom drew, but he was visably disappointed when he didn't draw the monster he'd wanted. "I set two cards," he declared, "and I end my turn."
Keith smiled, "Then it's my turn again, kid."
Tom was taken aback. He heard something almost like contempt in Keith's voice, for just a second.
"I play the Spell I was lucky enough to draw this turn," Keith explained, "my 'Mystical Space Typhoon', destroying your 'Swords of Revealing Light' a turn early!"
A gust of wind pierced Tom's Spell card like a spear, and it and the 'Swords' faded from the field. Immediately Keith's monsters began to move ever so slightly as they awaited their controller's command.
"I equip 'Motor Shell'," Keith declared, "with Engine Tuner, increasing its Attack by half its Defense."
Tiny little men appeared and gave the Machine a tune up (1300 -> 2100) and then hung onto it, maintaining its systems.
"I set a card, and all three of my monsters attack directly!" Keith commanded. 'Machina Fortress' charged its cannon and fired, 'Machine King' launched his fists like rockets, and the 'Motor Shell' closed its shields around itself and rolled toward Tom.
"Reveal," Tom announced, desperately, "Dimensional Prison', on my own 'Machina Fortress' I'm tired of you having it. This trap removes it from play and negates its attack. I have to discard a card due to the 'Fortress'' effect," he sent 'Machina Armored Unit' to the Graveyard, "but its worth it to get my monster back, so to speak, and to make sure I last through the turn."
The 'Fortress' and its blast were absorbed by a ripple in the air around the Machine, and it vanished from the field. Meanwhile the attacks of the other two monsters hit Tom full force, reducing his Life Points to within a stone's throw of defeat (5500 -> 1000).
This is it, Tom thought, with the help of my 'Machina Fortress' he's been taking me apart, and now, if I don't draw the right monster, I'm going to lose.
Tom drew, and he frowned. He didn't know whether to feel happy, or defeated. It was a useful monster, but it wasn't the one Tom needed. It would, however, allow his a second chance to draw the card he did need. Having no other choice, Tom declared, "I summon 'Scrap Recycler'."
A monster resembling a white bucket on wheels with two robotic arms appeared at Tom's side.
"When I summon this monster," Tom explained, "I can send a Machine, like my 'Yellow Gadget', from my deck to my Graveyard, and once per turn I can shuffle two Machines from my Graveyard into my deck to draw a card. I shuffle 'Yellow Gadget' and 'Machina Gearframe' into my deck."
Tom shuffled his deck, and he replaced it. He hesitated only a moment before he drew again. For just a moment, he felt like he had connected with that card, like he'd called out to it. He ignored this feeling, however, as he usually did, chalking it up to nerves. He turned the card over in his hand, and he sighed with relief.
"Next I reveal," Tom declared, "the Trap 'Roll Out!', equipping 'Heavy Mech Support Platform' in my Graveyard to my monster, and I separate it from my monster in order to summon it to the field."
The floating platform appeared again, wrapped like armor around the 'Scrap' monster. It separated from him and transformed back into the oversized flying skateboard.
"I play 'Double Summon'," Tom continued, building momentum quickly, "and tribute both of my monsters to summon my ace card," the two weaker machines disappeared, replaced by a huge white mech, standing fifteen feet tall, with huge shoulders and powerful-looking red fists, "my 'Perfect Machine King', a monster which gains five hundred Attack for ever other Machine on the field (2700 -> 3700). I attack your 'Machine King' with mine!"
The mech's giant shoulders opened, and a barrage of missiles launched from them, swarming the lesser 'Machine King', blasting him to pieces. Keith lost Life Points, finally (8000 -> 6800), but he was still smiling that off-putting, wicked smile. The explosion of 'Perfect Machine King''s missiles left a lot of smoke floating around Keith's side of the field, suddenly that smoke parted, revealing a giant black chamber, which opened, revealing 'Machine King' inside. The robot stepped out of the chamber, which faded away.
"My 'Time Machine' card," Keith explained, "snatches my 'Machine King' from the past, just before your attack would have hit him, and brings him to the present as good as new."
"I didn't destroy your monster," Tom conceded, "but I did manage to get my monster off of your field and summon my strongest card. This duel is far from over."
Keith laughed condecendingly, "Not really. For my turn, I tribute both of my monsters to summon 'Fiendish Engine Omega'!"
Both of Keith's monsters disappeared, replaced by a mighty demonic robot with red armor, horns, a tail, giant shoulder pauldrons with smoking exhaust pipes protruding from the top, and huge, fierce metal blades protruding forward from its wrists. Heat rolled off of it, like steam off of a hot engine (ATK: 2800).
"Also," Keith continued, "when a monster which is equipped with 'Engine Tuner' is tributed to summon a new monster, 'Engine Tuner' equips to that monster instead."
The little elvish mechanics appeared again, improving Keith's new monster as they had his last (2800 -> 3800). Tom stared in silence at this monster which so outclassed his, even with its increased power (ATK: 3200).
"And don't think you're gonna survive the turn just because my monster can't kill you yet. My 'Fiendish Engine' has an ability too. Once per turn he can overclock himself and increase his own Attack by one thousand!"
The giant demon engine began to rumble, its massive shoulders shaking, and its power increased again, rising so high that nothing in Tom's deck could hope to overcome it, not that that would matter.
"I attack," Keith concluded, still grinning, and his monster struck Tom's down, slicing through him like butter. Tom's Life Points fell to zero.
"You're not bad, Kid," Keith said walking over to stand right by Tom. "I like some of your cards a lot. That 'Machina Fortress' was particularly powerful," he handed the monster back to Tom, "but I think 'Perfect Machine King' is more my style."
"More your style?" Tom asked, apprehensively. "For what?"
"For my ante of course!" Keith announced, almost gleefully.
"No way," Tom said, quickly stacking his cards together and putting them in the pocket of the windbreaker he wore, "we never agreed to an ante."
It was then that he realized just how sleazy Keith really was. "You just saw that I use Machines like you," Tom deduced, "and now you want to take my best monster!"
"Fine," said Keith, his voice and his posture turning hostile, "if you don't wanna give me 'Perfect Machine King', maybe I'll just beat the Sh*t out of you and take all of your cards."
He advanced on Tom, cornering him against the opposite wall, but before he could do anything, a voice came from back in the alley, and Keith halted.
"I watched that entire duel," the voice said, "and no one said anything about an ante until right now. Even if you had, antes are frowned upon in Duel Monsters nowadays."
Both Tom and Keith turned to look at the source of the voice as he emerged from the shadowy alley. He had medium length, unkempt brown hair and dark brown eyes, and he wore a black jacket, open in the front, over a white t-shirt and jeans, and a purple crystal charm around his neck. He had his hands casually in his pockets as he approached Tom and Keith, stopping a few yards away.
"I guess you didn't know that though," he said, "Keith Howard, or, as you were often better known, "Bandit" Keith. This kid wouldn't know that, though, would he? He was still pretty young back before Duelist Kingdom, when you criminal activities ensured that you couldn't even get jobs as a Player Killer."
"Shut up," Keith snapped, "I was U.S. Champion!"
Tom looked from the young man in black to Keith, and he could see that Keith was starting to come unravelled. He used the fact that the young man was causing a distraction to slip past Keith and spring to the young man's side.
"You're a scoundrel, "Bandit" Keith," the young man said. "Leave, now, before you get hurt."
Keith seemed to size the young man up. He looked fit and strong, and at about twenty-one, he was certainly much younger than Keith, who seemed to be in his late thirties. After a moment, Keith threw up his arms in a gesture of surrender, and he walked away.
The young man turned to Tom, "You okay?"
"Yeah," Tom answered, looking from the retreating figure of Keith to the young man. "Hey, don't I know you from somewhere?"
"I wouldn't think so," the young man said, "I'm in town with a couple of my cousins for the tournament, but I missed registration finding a place to park."
Tom smiled a bit, "Everybody's missing registration today."
The young man chuckled, "It would seem that way."
He shook Tom's hand, "I'm John, with the-."
"The Duel Force," Tom interjected, "right, I do know you, or of you, I guess. Anyway, thanks man. If you hadn't shown up I don't know what woulda happened."
"Always happy to lend a hand," John replied. "Now, whether you mind or not, I'm walking you to wherever you need to go."
John and Tom together were able to figure out the direction of Tom's car, and they set out, arriving within minutes. John waited while Tom got into his car, the two young men chatting. Then, as Tom was about to say goodbye and close his door to drive away, John got serious.
"Listen," he said, "you're good, but you need to get better. I have a feeling that you and I are going to meet again, and when we do you might need to handle stronger Duelists than Keith."
Before Tom could respond, John turned, and he walked away, leaving Tom to ponder his words in silence.
No comments:
Post a Comment