Finally, after so many books and so many duels in so many different situations, John has come to the rematch with his rival, Christopher! When I wrote it, I tried really hard to make this duel special. It is the first duel in this book to be more than one part, for example, and it is also the debut duel for some of John's new cards, cards which he will keep in his deck through the rest of the series, at least as far as it is currently written. I hope I did this monumental encounter due justice.
Chapter TwelveEternal Rivalry, Eternal Friendship
John
Tucker lost to Christopher, but he came close. Much closer than Sarah had, and much closer than many of Christopher’s opponents have. Either way I wasn’t surprised that he’d lost. Ever since Christopher walked into the resort that night I knew that he and I were supposed to face each other in this tournament. The pairings for the final round were announced. I was paired against Christopher. Yugi Muto, who had defeated Kaiba in the previous round, was given a buy to the finals, since his opponent, the Masked Duelist, had mysteriously disappeared. That meant that whoever won this next duel between me and Christopher would get to challenge Yugi Muto for the championship title, an honor that I couldn’t even imagine.
For the semi-final round the center of the stadium floor opened up and a larger stage rose up out of the ground. Christopher and I stepped up onto the new duel stage, and it rose several meters into the air. Transparent holographic screens appeared all around us, six in total, that magnified the action in the arena to make it easier to see by the crowd. There were even more people in the stands now. These final duels were the ones that people had come to see.
“Well,” said Christopher, “this is it. Our long awaited rematch. I hope you’ve been looking forward to your defeat as much as I have.”
“I’ve been looking forward to your defeat,” I replied. “Does that count?”
Christopher only smiled in the confident way that he does, drawing his opening hand.
“I’ll go first,” I said. I looked over my hand. Would you look at that! This will be the first chance for me to test out my new monster combo! I smiled at how appropriate that seemed.
“For my turn," I announced, "I set one card and summon a machine monster, ‘Y – Dragon Head’, in attack mode.”
A red robotic dragon, about nine feet long, appeared beside me. It roared, a sound like grinding metal (ATK: 1500).
“A machine monster?” Christopher wondered. “And not even a Dark one. That’s what throws me about you. Anyone else’s deck can be deciphered after just a move or two, but your deck is so unique, yet it’s very powerful. That’s why you are the only Duelist who ever beat me in an official duel, and that’s why I have to prove myself by beating you and removing that one stain from my previously perfect dueling record.”
I smirked confidently, We’ll just see who beats who.
“I play ‘Graceful Charity’,” Christopher declared, drawing three cards and then discarding two. “Next I counter your mechanical dragon with a dragon of my own. I summon ‘Blizzard Dragon’.” The blue-gray dragon appeared (ATK: 1800).
“Attack with Blizzard Blast,” Christopher commanded, and his dragon breathed cold breath at my monster.
“Reveal face-down card ‘Hyper Coat’,” I declared. A layer of blue and chrome armor appeared over my monster’s wings, eyes, and portions of its body (ATK: 1500+500=2000). The cold breath bounced harmlessly off of my monster’s new armor.
“’Y – Dragon Head’, counterattack with mouth cannon!”
My monster fired a beam from his mouth, blowing Christopher’s monster away (8000+1800-2000=7800).
“You know, something told me that wouldn’t work,” said Christopher, “but you know, I had to try.” Christopher pulled two more cards from his hand, “I play ‘Double Summon’, and I summon ‘Solar Flare Dragon’.” A serpentine dragon made of heat and flames appeared (ATK: 1500). “I also place one card face-down, ending my turn, activating my ‘Solar Flare Dragon’’s effect.”
Christopher’s dragon launched a flame at me, and I took five hundred points of damage (8000-500=7500).
“I draw,” I said, “and I summon ‘X – Head Cannon’ in attack mode.” A blue and yellow robotic torso sitting atop a spiked sphere appeared, hovering in the air. It had an energy cannon on each shoulder (ATK: 1800). “I attack ‘Solar Flare Dragon’ with ‘X’, Positron Cannon Blaster!”
My monster fired beams from his cannons.
“Reveal,” said Christopher, “the Trap card ‘Call of the Haunted’, Special Summoning a second ‘Solar Flare Dragon’ from the Graveyard.”
A second dragon appeared beside the first, and ‘X’’s beams were repelled.
“The most impressive power of ‘Solar Flare Dragon’," Christopher explained, thoroughly impressed with himself, "is that he draws heat from another Fire monster to create a heat shield around himself and protect himself from attacks. So while there are two or more ‘Solar Flare Dragons’ on my side of the field, and I control no other monsters, you can’t attack me.”
“I didn’t think that would work,” I said, grinning, “but you know, I had to try. But I’m not done. I remove the ‘X – Head Cannon’ and ‘Y – Dragon Head’ cards from play to combine my monsters into a new monster from my fusion deck.” The ‘Hyper Coat’ armor disappeared, a port opened on ‘Y’’s back, and the spherical base of ‘X – Head Cannon’ settled into it and locked into place with a click, “I summon ‘XY – Dragon Cannon’ (ATK: 2200)! By discarding one card from my hand I can destroy one face-up Spell or Trap card that my opponent controls, so I discard ‘Dark Master – Zorc’ to destroy ‘Call of the Haunted’, and your second dragon along with it.”
‘X’ aimed his cannons, and ‘Y’ opened his mouth. They fired their beams in tandem, destroying Christopher’s Trap, and his monster.
“I set one card,” I declared, “and end my turn.” I crossed my arms, brimming with pride.
Without even a pause, Christopher drew his card and began his move. “I only needed my second monster for the duration of that turn, to protect my first monster from attacks, letting me sacrifice him this turn to summon ‘King Pyron’, a Gemini Monster.”
Cool, I thought. I’ve never faced Gemini Monsters before.
“Next,” said Christopher, “I reveal ‘Ultimate Offering’, paying fifteen hundred Life Points (7800-1500=6300) to summon ‘Aquarian Allessa’, and to Second Summon both of my monsters, activating their effects (ATK: 1500 (each)).
“Now, finally, I play ‘Card of Sanctity’, allowing us both to draw until we hold six cards,” Christopher continued. We both drew, and Christopher continued with his monologue, “Perfect. I drew just what I needed. I play ‘Union Attack’, allowing my monsters to attack together for the duration of the turn.”
‘King Pyron’ threw a ball of fire, and ‘Allessa’ threw a ball of water. The two attacks hit my monster, and he was pulled apart by opposing forces.
“You discard a card from your hand due to my ‘Allessa’’s effect,” Christopher explained. “And since ‘Union Attack’ lowers the battle damage that you take this turn to zero, I’ll go ahead and use ‘Pyron’’s effect as well, dealing you one thousand points of damage.”
‘Pyron’ summoned fire and it poured over me, dealing me damage (7500-1000=6500).
“And to finish my turn, I play ‘Magical Stone Excavation’, discarding ‘Blazing Warrior Lady’ and ‘Polymerization’ to return ‘Card of Sanctity’ to my hand. Your deck might be hard to read, but I’ll still defeat it.”
“There’s one thing you haven’t considered,” I told my rival. “You’re fighting my deck, but you’re also fighting me, and I’m more than just the cards in my deck.”
“We’ll see, won’t we?”
He’s just like he was before, I thought. So confident. I’m still not sure how I managed to win last time. I keep thinking that maybe I just got lucky.
I sighed, and I remembered that duel:
I have to end this Duel now, I thought, or admit defeat, but even if I summon my ‘Summoned Skull’, the strongest card in my hand, I will only deal Christopher one thousand damage!
And then I noticed another card that I’d just drawn, my newest card.
“I think it's about time we ended this Duel,” I said, grinning with confidence. “I’ll begin my comeback with the Spell Card ‘Monster Reborn’ to return my ‘Fiend Megacyber’ to the field!”
My warrior appeared again, fists charged and ready, but he was no longer my trump card. “I sacrifice my ‘Fiend Megacyber’,” I announced, “to summon ‘Great Maju Garzett’!”
The crowd fell silent as ‘Fiend Megacyber’ became wisps of black smoke. The smoke reformed into a tall, brown skeletal demon with a crystal in his forehead. “The ‘Great Maju Garzett’’s attack power,” I explained, “becomes two times the attack points of the sacrificed monster (ATK: 2200x2=4400).”
Several people in the audience gasped as they realized what this meant. With no face-down cards and only thirteen hundred Life Points, Christopher could not survive my ‘Great Maju’’s attack. “‘Great Maju Garzett’,” I commanded, “finish him off with Vile Energy Blast!” ‘Great Maju’ thrust with his palm, discharging a burst of black energy that incinerated Christopher’s monster and ended Christopher’s reign all at once.
I smiled, No, it wasn’t luck. It was more than that. The cards that I used in that duel were cards that I chose for a reason. They were all like extensions of myself. They were cards that I was meant to put into my deck. I believe in myself, and in my cards. That’s why I won, and that’s why I’m going to win again.
I smiled confidently at Christopher and declared, “Your strategy may be good, better than mine even, and you may have the unique ability to pick up on a person’s strategy at a glance, but I’m still going to win, because I have something that you are lacking. I have faith. Faith that, even if I don't realize why, I'm drawn to the cards that I put into my deck for a reason. Faith that, when it comes down to it, I'll have the skill and the instinct to shape those cards into just the right play. I had that faith in our last duel, and just like in our last duel, that faith is what is going to decide this!”
Card of the Day:
King Pyron
Played by: Christopher
I wanted "Frost and Flame Dragon" to go here, but it wasn't actually played this chapter, unfortunately, so instead I decided to put another of Christopher's more useful monsters here instead. "King Pyron" may be difficult to summon, but it has a very potent effect which accelerates Christopher's already-fast damage strategy.
Original Cards in This Chapter:
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