Chapter TwoSkill Test
Prof smiled as he drew his next card. “You are good,” he said, “but I know every aspect of this game, and I saw you duel at the Duel Force Tournament. I know your strongest monsters and your best cards.”
I smiled, “You’ve assumed that I’m playing with exactly the same deck.”
“No,” Prof countered, “I haven’t. You will have no doubt changed some aspects of your deck, but you won’t have changed your nature. You are predominantly a defensive player, and someone who would rather defend himself that hurt others cannot fight the Duelists of the Order.
“Let me show you how to fight for real! Activate the effect of ‘Ominous Fortunetelling’.” Prof pointed at one of the cards in my hand and declared, “This time, I’ll say Spell.”
I frowned and showed him ‘Monster Reborn’, and my Life Points fell (7300-700=6600).
“‘Monster Reborn’ is it?” Prof asked. “Now, we can’t have that, can we? It just gives you too many options. Let’s see if we can do something about it. I play ‘Card of Demise’, letting me draw until I hold five cards.”
He drew five cards from his deck, smiling exuberantly all the while.
“Perfect,” he said. “You only have two cards in your hand, so I can play ‘Mind Wipe’, forcing you to shuffle your hand into your deck and draw a new hand of the same number of cards.”
I did as I was told, adding my hand to my deck, shuffling, and drawing two cards. This guy uses common cards and overlooked cards, I thought, but he combines them in a way that increases their effectiveness a thousand fold! He can control his opponent’s cards almost as effectively as he can control his own!
“Next,” Prof continued, “now that I’ve removed ‘Monster Reborn’ as an obstacle, I’ll set my sights on your pesky ‘Megarock Dragon’.”
“My monster won’t be dispatched with easily,” I replied, and my monster roared.
Prof ignored me, responding with nothing more than a smile, and his next move, “I activate ‘Double Summon’. Now I can Normal Summon two monsters this turn. I summon the demonic mad scientist ‘Kozaky’ and his giant battle robot ‘Giant Kozaky’.”
‘Kozaky’, a hunch-backed, paled-skinned demon man, wearing glasses, a lab coat, and a purple tie, appeared at Prof’s side. He had spikes protruding from his back, through his coat. Except for the demonic characteristics, he looked a lot like Prof (DEF: 400). ‘Kozaky’ was standing on the shoulder of a house-sized robotic version of himself that rolled along on wheels, made of patch worked metal plating. It had a control booth in the top of its head, and four arms. Its upper right arm ended in a drill, its upper left arm ended in a mallet, and his lower arms ended in clamps (ATK: 2500). ‘Kozaky’ took a step to his left and dropped into the control booth of the giant robot, taking a seat and taking up the controls.
“I activate ‘Union Attack’,” Prof declared, “combining the Attack of my two monsters until the end of the turn (ATK: 2500+400=2900), and I finish my combo with ‘Heart of Clear Water’, equipped to the defense position ‘Kozaky’. ‘Giant Kozaky’ is destroyed when ‘Kozaky’ is no longer in play, but because ‘Kozaky’ is equipped with ‘Heart of Clear Water’ he can’t be destroyed in battle, and he can’t be targeted by Spell cards' effects.”
“Clever,” I said.
Prof flashed an arrogant smile, “I know.
“I attack,” Prof commanded, and the robot speared my dragon’s head with its drill hand. My monster broke apart into tiny pieces of rubble that became part of the gravel at my feet.
“Not bad,” I said. “You managed to defeat my monster, but your turn’s over, and your monster’s Attack returns to normal (ATK: 2500). It’s vulnerable again. Not to mention the fact that your ‘Kozaky isn’t completely invulnerable himself.
“I draw,” I looked over my hand, “and I play ‘Pot of Greed’ to draw two more cards.”
I drew again, looked over my hand, and smiled.
“I realized before I got here,” I explained, “that my normal style of play wouldn’t cut it in the Elite. I’m too cautious, making sure not to let either myself or my opponent get badly hurt. I protect myself and others instead of stopping my opponent from being able to hurt anyone, but that obviously isn’t always enough. After all I lost to the second Order affiliated Duelist that I ever fought. So, on my way here, I made some changes to my deck. Allow me to demonstrate them to you now.
“I summon ‘Red Gadget’ in attack mode,” a small red robot with a large silver gear on its back appeared (ATK: 1300). Prof seemed genuinely surprised for a few seconds before he regained his composure.
“Interesting,” Prof said calmly. “I honestly didn’t expect that.”
“That’s not all,” I said. “When ‘Red Gadget’ is summoned, I get to search my deck for a copy of ‘Yellow Gadget’.”
I fanned out my deck, selected a card, and added it to my hand.
“Next,” I continued, “I reveal ‘Ultimate Offering’, paying five hundred Life Points (6600-500=6100) to summon ‘Yellow Gadget’ as well.”
A squat yellow robot with a gear on its back appeared alongside the first (ATK: 1200).
“And when ‘Yellow Gadget’ is summoned,” I explained, “I get to search my deck for ‘Green Gadget’.”
I searched my deck again, adding yet another monster to my hand. I smiled, My newest combo is nearly complete. Let’s see what Prof thinks after this!
“I pay one thousand Life Points (6100-1000=5100),” I announced, “to summon ‘Green Gadget’, and to tribute ‘Green Gadget’ and ‘Red Gadget’ to summon another monster in their place.”
‘Green Gadget’, a green robot with a gear making up its stomach appeared (ATK: 1400), and it and the red robot disappeared.
“I summon,” I declared, and from the sky above us descended a massive armless, legless mechanical dragon made of ancient-looking, irregular metallic plates, “the ‘Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon’ (ATK: 3000)!
“My monster’s strong on its own,” I explained, “but it gains additional effects based on which ‘Gadget’ monsters were tributed it to summon it. Because I tributed ‘Red Gadget’ and ‘Green Gadget’, my monster deals piecing damage, and deals an additional four hundred damage each time it reducing your Life Points through battle. I attack ‘Kozaky’ with Composite Burst!”
The dragon opened its mouth, its ancient jaw creaking, and breathed a wave of green, red, and white energy on the demonic scientist. ‘Kozaky’ threw up his arms, but the effort was unnecessary, since the magic bubble that was ‘Heart of Clear Water’ deflected the blow for him (7000+400-3000-400=4000).
“I set a card,” I concluded, “and I end.”
Prof drew a card, smiling, “You’ve recovered the lead, but I’ll make sure it doesn’t last. First, ‘Ominous’ activates.” He pointed at a card in my hand and declared Monster. I showed him the Spell card ‘Enemy Controller’. My Life remained the same.
“No matter,” said Prof. “‘Giant Kozaky’ attacks ‘Yellow Gadget’,” Prof commanded, and the giant weapon monster crushed the foot-tall robot with his mallet (5100+1200-2500=3800). “Next,” Prof continued, “I activate ‘Creature Swap’. You give me control of your dragon, and In exchange, you get control of ‘Giant Kozaky’.”
“Then I combo,” I said, acting out of desperation, “with ‘Limiter Removal’, doubling the dragon’s attack (ATK: 6000).” ‘Kozaky’ jumped out of ‘Giant Kozaky’’s control booth, and the giant robot switched places with my dragon.
“Your turn ends,” I announced, “and the negative effect of ‘Limiter Removal’ destroys my dragon before you can use it.”
The ‘Gadjiltron Dragon’ fell apart.
“I draw,” I declared, “and I end my turn by setting two cards.” I only have one card left in my hand, meaning that my chances of taking repetitive damage from ‘Ominous Fortunetelling’ has greatly increased, but I don’t have any other choice. This is my only chance.
“I draw,” said Prof, “and I activate the effect of ‘Ominous’, declaring Monster.”
“Correct,” I said, showing him ‘Exxod, Master of the Guard’ (3800-700=3100).
“I tribute ‘Kozaky’,” Prof declared, “to summon ‘Woodborg Inpachi’ in defense mode.” ‘Kozaky’ was replaced by a massive humanoid torso made of charred logs and cybernetic components, sitting atop a tank-like base (DEF: 2500).
“When ‘Kozaky’ is removed from the field,” Prof explained, “‘Giant Kozaky’ is destroyed. And when ‘Giant Kozaky’ is destroyed, his controller takes damage equal to his Attack.”
The giant robot exploded, taking my Life Points with it (3100-2500=600).
“Next turn,” said Prof, “even if you keep your next card in your hand, which you won’t, I’ll have a fifty percent chance of hitting you with the effect of ‘Ominous Fortunetelling’, since I know that you still hold ‘Exxod’. I’ll hit your Life Points next turn, and I’ll win. I’ll win without even having to attack you. Even if you do draw a monster, it won’t be enough to finish me off. There’s nothing that you can do.”
“Don’t count on it,” I replied. “Despite what you may think, you don’t know everything. Reveal face-down card ‘Call of the Haunted’, calling my ‘Gadjiltron Dragon’ back from the dead!”
There was a flash, and the mechanical dragon returned to the field with a fierce roar (ATK: 3000).
“I also activate ‘Megamorph’,” I declared. My dragon doubled in both size and power (ATK: 6000).
“You can attack,” said Prof, “but the result will be the same.”
“I guess you forgot which Spell card you revealed in my hand a few turns ago using ‘Ominous Fortunetelling’’s effect,” I replied, and I watched as Prof’s eyes filled with a terrible realization. “That’s right,” I continued, “I reveal my face-down ‘Enemy Controller’!”
A giant game controller appeared floating in the air ahead of me. Its cord reached out and plugged into the machinery in ‘Woodborg’’s chest. The massive monster relaxed its stance, changing to attack position (ATK: 500).
“I attack!” I commanded, and my monster breathed a wave of light on the ‘Woodborg Inpachi’, reducing it to ash (4000+500-6000=0).
I smiled proudly, “It looks like that’s game.”
Prof walked toward me, his face unreadable. Then he smiled and offered me his hand. “Robert Stone,” he said, “welcome to the Duelists Elite.”
Card of the Day:
Ominous Fortunetelling
Played by: Prof
Like Jen, Prof is a Badass Bookworm, though unlike Jen, he doesn't have surprising hidden physical strength. All of his battle prowess comes from his knowledge. Therefor a card which can allow him to glean knowledge of his opponent's hand is very important to his success.
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