Ah, Rachel. ILY, Rachel. You are such a biatch, and I love you, because I know where your character is going. This character was so fun to write, you guys. I miss writing for her.
Chapter Four
Rachel
Prof and I made our way out of the Artificial Environment and into another chamber next to it. This chamber was smaller, with ceilings about as high as those in the Arena Room. Not as high as the ones in the AE, but still very high. The chamber was made up of several segments, separated by walls made of safety glass. Each segment was dedicated to a different form of physical conditioning. It was a gym. Prof led me through a room where people were doing yoga, through a weight room, and into a room with two large mats on the floor.
It was a mixed martial arts dojo.
One mat was dominated by people practicing their basic form. On the other mat, a girl about my age was standing, surrounded by a crowd of onlookers who were watching as she incapacitated three large, male attackers in a few seconds. She was wearing loose gray sweatpants and a faded black tank top. She had sandy, dark blond hair and eyes identical to those of the loner, Charlie. It was obvious that she was his younger sister.
“Come on!” the girl roared. “Anyone else wanna try and knock me out?”
I looked over at Prof, gesturing toward the girl, and said, “Let me guess, Rachel?”
Prof nodded, smiling.
I sighed, “I was afraid of that.”
I stepped forward, through the crowd of onlookers. I would have to do something substantial to earn this Duelist’s respect. The jeans I was wearing were fairly loose, and my form utilized mostly my upper body, so I figured I’d be alright.
I sighed again and announced, “I’ll take you on.”
“Who the hell are you?” Rachel demanded.
I smiled as I set my Duel Disk and my bag on the floor beside the mat and turned to face my opponent, “I’ll tell you, if you can beat me.”
The girl smiled a confident, wicked smile and said, “Fine.” Then without another word, without a moment’s posturing, she struck. She was fast, her fists flying one after the other. I raised my left arm and twisted it to deflect both strikes, as I thrust with my right palm, aiming for Rachel’s solar plexus. A hit would knock the wind out of her, impeding her movements. But Rachel saw the attack coming and skipped back, out of reach, spun, and kicked my hand away.
She rolled in close, meaning to knee me in the gut. I blocked with my own knee and reached out, trying to grip my opponent and get her in a pin hold, but she was good. She twisted free and sprung backward, through the air in a spinning corkscrew motion, landed on her palms, and did a handspring onto her feet, all in one fluid motion.
She jumped, launching a kick toward my face. I deflected, and she immediately sprung into a flying kick, which I caught, using a combination of leverage and the speed and weight of my opponent to throw her through the air. She landed hard, face down. Slowly she rose to her feet. She turned toward me, furious.
“You're better than me on the mat,” she said, “but just like everyone else here, I’m a Duelist. We’re gonna finish this fight in a duel.”
I smiled, “That’s fine by me.”
I walked over and picked my Duel Disk back up, strapping it to my left arm where it belonged. My opponent took her Duel Disk out of a gym bag in the corner. Her deck was already in it.
I heard some of the spectators talking. They were taking bets on how many turns it would take me to lose. I swallowed, nervously, and I looked over at Prof. He was smiling a wicked little smirk that told me that I had no idea what I was getting into.
Maybe this was a bad idea.
I steeled myself up, No, win or lose, I have to remain confident. I have to show these guys that I’m strong. I have to show this girl that I’m strong. I have to earn their respect.
“I’ll move first,” I declared. I drew six cards from my deck. “I summon,” I announced, “the living stone giant ‘Destroyer Golem’.”
A twenty-foot-tall humanoid made of bricks and stone appeared. His right arm and fist were considerably larger than his left (ATK: 1500).
“I place two cards face-down,” I concluded, “and end my turn.”
“Then here I come,” said Rachel. “I summon one of my favorite monsters, a legendary beast, the ‘Phantom Beast Cross-Wing’, defense mode. I set a card.”
A large bird with orange-brown feathers appeared in the air next to Rachel. It had three sets of wings, two main sets, the lower of the two replacing its legs, and a third, smaller set that came off of its head like ears (DEF: 1300). Its four main wings formed an “X”.
Rachel smiled, “Your move.”
She’s taunting me, I realized. She’s daring me to damage her this turn.
I drew to begin my turn, Alright, if she wants me to attack, then I will. I don’t know what these ‘Phantom Beasts’ are all about, but it’s time I found out.
“I activate ‘Enemy Controller’,” I said. A giant game controller appeared. Its cord attached to the chest of Rachel’s monster, and the strange bird changed to attack mode (ATK: 1300).
“Now I attack,” I commanded. “Giant Stone Fist!” ‘Destroyer Golem’ wound up to throw a punch.
“Reveal,” Rachel declared, “the Trap card ‘Next to be Lost’, sending one copy of a monster on my field from my deck to the Graveyard.”
Rachel discarded a second copy of ‘Cross-Wing’ from her deck.
“Due to ‘Cross-Wing’’s effect,” Rachel explained, “‘Phantom Beasts’ I control gain three hundred Attack for every ‘Cross-Wing’ in my Graveyard.”
Rachel smiled as the power of her monster climbed (ATK: 1300+300=1600), “Counterattack with Cross Arrow!”
The six-winged bird was wreathed in a wedge-shaped aura of light and shot forward, tearing straight through my monster’s torso, reducing him to rubble (8000+1500-1600=7900).
“I won’t go down so easily,” I said. “After all ‘Destroyer Golem’ is the weakest card in my deck. I set a card. Go.”
“Draw,” Rachel declared, “and I summon another ‘Phantom Beast’, the ‘Phantom Beast Wild-Horn’.”
A humanoid beast with the head and the horns of a male deer appeared, his fur-covered body decorated with various tribal tattoos. He wore a red cape, and he carried a sword that looked like one of his horns, flattened and made of gleaming steel (ATK: 1700+300=2000).
“Next,” said Rachel, “I activate ‘Painful Choice. You know it?”
I nodded.
“Good. That means I don’t have to explain it to you.” Rachel took five cards from her deck and held them up for me to see. They were ‘Berfomet’, a second copy of ‘Wild-Horn’, a third copy of ‘Cross-Wing’, and two copies of another ‘Phantom Beast’ card, ‘Phantom Beast Thunder-Pegasus’.
I can’t let another ‘Cross-Wing’ end up in the Graveyard, I thought. “In that case,” I said, “add ‘Cross-Wing’ to your hand.”
Rachel smiled, keeping ‘Cross-Wing’ and discarding the others, “Pretty clever, but I’m not the kind of Duelist who ever lets my opponent decide my moves for me. I activate ‘Monster Reincarnation’, discarding ‘Cross-Wing’, and returning the discarded ‘Berfomet’ to my hand.”
With a second ‘Cross-Wing’ in the Graveyard, Rachel’s monsters increased in power yet again (2000+300=2300/1600+300=1900).
“Now,” Rachel commanded, “‘Wild-Horn’, attack directly.”
The beast warrior charged forward, his sword wreathed in an aura of light. He slashed (7900-2300=5600).
“Now I attack with ‘Cross-Wing’,” Rachel declared, “Cross Arrow!”
The bird was wreathed in its wedge-shaped aura, prepared to attack.
“No way,” I said. “Reveal face-down Trap Monster card, ‘Stronghold the Moving Fortress’.”
A massive, armored robot with three round slots in its chest appeared, sitting behind me, its arm hanging almost limp in front of me, protecting me (DEF: 2000).
Rachel scowled and announced, “Then I’ll cancel my attack.” The aura around ‘Cross-Wing’ faded away.
“That ends my turn,” said Rachel. She obviously wasn’t very pleased.
Here it is, I thought. It’s time for me to launch my counterattack.
“I draw,” I declared, “and I reveal the Trap card ‘Ultimate Offering’, giving me the power to summon additional monsters at the cost of five hundred Life Points apiece. So, at the cost of one thousand Life Points (5600-1000=4600) I summon from my hand and deck the three living gears, ‘Red Gadget’, ‘Green Gadget’ and ‘Yellow Gadget’!”
Small red and yellow robots with gears on their backs appeared alongside a small green robot with a gear making up its stomach and chest (ATK: 1300/1200/1400).
“Your monsters are powerful,” I said, “but I have power too. Your monsters are powerful in numbers, but my monsters are even stronger, and they can fight on their own. Rachel, I’m about to win this duel, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Card of the Day:
Phantom Beast Cross-Wing
Played by: Rachel
The rule is that whenever it is appropriate, a main character's favorite card will be put here in its first appearance. Rachel is a main character, and this is her favorite (and probably her most tactically useful) card.
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