The next few chapters are just card games. We see Jenna fight her first supernatural duel, and everyone gets some cool action scenes, but otherwise it's pretty standard. Something interesting happens later, so I'll comment again when that comes up.
Chapter FourBeating Up Some Jerkbags Using Trading Cards, Part 1
Tucker
“You guys were seriously in the Elite?” I asked my opponent, the girl called Frost. I was feeling more inquisitive than usual.
Yes, I just insulted myself. I guess Sarah’s attitude is rubbing off on me.
Anyway, I asked my question, and my opponent didn’t speak. She didn’t look me in the eye. She didn’t react or respond at all. She was, no pun intended, as cold as ice.
“Guess you don’t talk much,” I told the girl. I looked her over for a minute. She was pretty, between mine and Sarah’s ages. She didn’t look mean, but she’d attacked Sarah and the others and frozen me. She was our enemy.
“If you don’t wanna talk,” I declared, “Then we’ll duel instead. I’ll go first. I summon ‘Blazing Inpachi’.”
A giant man made of connected logs appeared, his entire body alight with flames (ATK: 1850).
“I set a card and pass,” I said, waiting for any kind of reaction from my foe. Finally, she responded. Her face grew more determined, and she drew an opening hand of six cards.
“I summon my ‘Blizzard Dragon’,” Frost declared, and a pale blue-gray-skinned dragon appeared at her side, its wings folded tight at its sides, its head sitting a foot or so above its master’s (ATK: 1800).
“My monster can freeze an opponent’s monster in place for one full turn,” Frost explained.
“No way,” I said. “My monster’s flames will protect him!”
Frost ignored me. Her dragon breathed a stream of super-chilled air that surrounded my monster, suppressing his flames. Patches of ice formed across my monster’s body. The ice immediately began to melt. It would be gone by the end of my turn, but until then, my monster couldn’t do anything.
“Okay,” I said, “point taken. My move. I summon ‘Thing in the Crater’, defense mode, and end my turn.”
As the smoldering, shadowy humanoid figure of my monster appeared at my side (DEF: 1200), I thought to myself, I’d better play things cool for now. I’ve never seen that dragon card before, and I’ve never fought an ice-themed deck. If John were here, he’d feel things out and take it slow, so that’s what I’m gonna do. After all, who knows how many more cards this girl has that I’ve never even seen.
If I screw up now, I’ll be proving right everything Sarah’s ever said about me, and even worse, I won't be able to protect her. Better safe than sorry.
Jenna
My opponent was a freaky one. Mask had called him Snap. It was obviously some kind of codename, but as I watched my opponent’s face twitch with hyperactive energy, I realized just how appropriate a codename it was.
“I don’t know as much ’bout you as you guys seem to know about us,” I admitted, “but that’s not gonna stop me from doin’ my part to take you guys down. I get this game rolling by setting a monster, and I pass.”
By making such a simple move I was daring my opponent to attack. It was a tactic good against novice Duelists, tricking them into falling for some kind of trap. Any experienced Duelist would wait to attack until their position was more secure, just to be safe. I was testing the actual integrity of my opponent’s erratic-seeming mind.
“I won’t be drawn into attacking so easily, no no,” my opponent said hastily. “No, instead I’ll mimic your play by setting a monster of my own, and I’ll improve upon it by setting three more cards!”
“Too bad for you, my move was only a bluff,” I said. “I was testing you. You passed, except that you played way too many face-down cards. You are setting up a combo, which means there’s a fifty-fifty chance that my monster will survive an attack. A chance that I’m gonna take. Flip-Summon the fierce, piercing beast, ‘Gyaku-Gire Panda’!”
An aggressive-looking panda appeared at my side, holding a stalk of bamboo in his right paw.
“My monster gains extra Attack for every monster my opponent controls,” I explained as my monster roared (ATK: 800+500=1300).
“In response to your Flip-Summon,” Snap countered, “I reveal my Continuous Trap card ‘Synthetic Seraphim’.”
“All that does is summon monsters,” I said. “You’re goin’ out of your way to help my monster out. ‘Panda’, attack!”
My monster charged, with sharp, outstretched claws raised high.
“Reveal,” said Snap over-excitedly, “the Counter Trap card ‘Negate Attack’, stopping you monster in its tracks!”
A vortex appeared in the path of my monster. It swept him up and tossed him back to my side of the field.
“Activating a Counter Trap,” Snap explained, “activates my ‘Synthetic Seraphim’, summon a ‘Seraphim Token’ in defense mode!”
A tiny ceramic angelic creature appeared at my foe’s feet (DEF: 300). My ‘Panda’ roared again as his power rose (ATK: 1300+500=1800).
He knows my ‘Panda”s power, I thought. I even told it to him! Why would he risk summoning a monster, especially one with such low defense? What is his strategy? What is he planning?
“I end my turn,” I said, still wondering.
“Then it’s my turn,” Snap announced ecstatically, his voice cracking with excitement. “I Flip-Summon my ‘Cat of Ill Omen’! This lets me move any Trap from my deck to the top of my deck!”
He fanned out his deck and picked a card, replaced his deck, and placed the card atop it.
“Reveal,” Snap continued, “the Trap card ‘Jar of Greed’. I add the card I just searched to my hand, and I finish with two face-down cards.”
Great, I thought. One of those cards could very easily be the card he just added to his hand, and that card could be any Trap in the game! I have no idea what he’s planning, so I can’t even make a guess what card it is.
This sucks!
Max
“You can’t overcome my powers in a duel,” said my opponent, the mysterious Scourge, “even if your powers are stronger than mine out of a duel, and we never settled whether or not they are.”
“Your pride astounds me,” I remarked. “Your barrier pendant was ineffective against my Wave of Fear, just as your deck will be ineffective against my deck: Fear of Death.”
I drew my opening hand, “I summon ‘Emissary of the Afterlife’ (ATK: 1600).” A fiendish-looking grim reaper appeared, carrying a decorated scythe. “Additionally,” I continued, “I set two cards. Your move.”
“Then the real battle begins now,” Scourge replied. “I summon ‘Familiar Knight’!”
A relatively simple-looking knight appeared, wearing silver-gray armor and a long red cape, his sword drawn and held in a defensive posture (DEF: 1400).
“That’s nothing,” I replied, drawing my next card. “I attack your ‘Knight’ with my reaper’s Screaming Sickle!”
‘Emissary’ slunk forward like a shadow and sliced the ‘Knight’ in half.
“When ‘Familiar Knight’ is destroyed,” Scourge explained, “we each Special Summon a Level Four monster from our respective hands. I know all about your deck. I know that it actually contains very few monsters that are exactly Level Four, and because one of the few monsters is already on your field, I’m betting that you don’t have an appropriate monster in your hand. That means I get to summon a monster, keeping the ratio of monsters on the field at one to one. I’ll begin my turn as if you never even attacked. Through the effect of my ‘Familiar Knight’, I summon ‘Armageddon Knight’!”
A new swordsman appeared, this one wearing scraped and dented rusty-brown armor, goggles, and a tattered red scarf (ATK: 1400).
“When this particular monster is summoned,” Scourge explained, “I can discard a Dark monster from my deck. A monster like ‘Marie the Fallen One’.”
His card ejected from his deck, and he added it to his Graveyard.
“Well,” I said, “you were right about the cards in my hand. But you were wrong too. I will be summoning a monster, and thanks to you, it will be exactly the monster I want! Just the monster I need! I activate ‘The Clinging Darkness’, allowing me to summon the ‘Spirit Reaper’ from my deck!”
I smiled, full of pride, as I was surrounded by a lingering smoky fog, “If you’ve really read about me from my time with the Duel Force, then you know that my ‘Spirit Reaper’ being on the field is very bad for you.” The dark smoke coalesced, taking on the form of a cloaked reaper that emerged suddenly from darkness like the hand of death itself (DEF: 200).
“I end my turn,” I taunted. “Just try to kill me. I’ll be over here, laughing as you fail.”
Amanda
“You seem like a nice girl,” said my leather-bound slut of an opponent in that voice that adults use when they’re being condescending to kids, “so why don’t you just gimme the Soul and leave. If you can get out the door before I get bored I probably won’t chop you up into pieces.”
“You’re a slut,” I said frankly, “and a bitch.”
“Why you!” my opponent cried, her crystal Shadow Item flashing. Wind tinted with emerald-colored energy formed around her, forming a swirling disk. She threw it at me. I raised my hand and dispersed her attack with a burst of my own green-tinted wind.
“Play nice,” I said, because I’m awesome like that, and because I wasn’t scared at all (more or less).
“I’m Gale of the Dark Elite,” my opponent spat, “and I will not be bested my some child!”
I smiled a bit, “We’ll see.”
I drew my opening hand, “Activate ‘Pot of Greed’ to draw two cards.”
I drew again, Just what I was hoping for!
“Next,” I continued, “I place three cards face-down and summon ‘Birdface’.”
A humanoid bird with feathered arms and the head of a hawk appeared, hanging in the air to my side (ATK: 1600).
“And finally,” I concluded, “I play the Spell card ‘Card Destruction’ to discard my last two cards and draw two new cards.”
“Maybe you didn’t know,” Gale remarked in an almost seductive voice that I took to signify renewed confidence, “but I also get to throw out my five cards and draw five new cards.”
“Course I knew that,” I said, “I can read.”
My opponent scowled as she looked over her brand new hand, “Prepare to lose, little girl!”
“Why,” I asked casually, “did you draw the five pieces of ‘Exodia’? ’Cuz that’s the only way you’re gonna beat me!”
“You little brat!” Gale exclaimed. “I activate ‘Monster Reborn’ to revive one of the monsters that you were so kind as to discard for me, my ‘Storm Shooter’! I line this birdman monster up with your face-down card on the end!”
The heavily-feathered yellow and blue birdman appeared at Gale’s side, facing my hidden card (ATK: 2300).
“My monster uses Wind Burst,” Gale explained, “to return the card to your hand.” A blast of compressed air launched from the birdman’s flapping wings and blasted my card off of the field.
“I summon another birdman,” Gale declared, “the ‘Sonic Shooter’.” Another monster, almost identical to ‘Storm Shooter’ but slightly smaller and with a pale violet body and brown wings, appeared hovering alongside Gale’s first monster (ATK: 1300).
“‘Storm Shooter’ kills ‘Birdface’,” Gale announced, “with Storm Bullet!”
Gale laughed as my monster was shredded by a blast of compressed air launched with a SNAP! from the birdman‘s flapping wings (8000+1600-2300=7300).
“And I’ll follow up with my ‘Sonic Shooter”s Sonic Burst!”
‘Sonic Shooter’ blasted past me, catching me in his slipstream, nearly knocking me on my butt (7300-1300=6000).
“Destroying ‘Birdface’ lets me search my deck for a ‘Harpie’ monster,” I declared, removing my deck from the loader and taking a card from it, “and I turn the tables in this duel with my key card, the card that will let me beat you this turn!”
“That’s impossible,” my opponent stated, absolutely certain that she was telling the truth. If only she knew how wrong she was.
“My key card,” I continued, “is the Trap card ‘Hysteric Party’! I discard my the ‘Harpie’ that I added to my hand, ‘Harpie Lady 1’, to revive her and the two ‘Harpie Queen’ cards discarded by my ‘Card Destruction’!”
I saw a moment of fear flash behind my opponent’s cold eyes “Wha-?”
On my field appeared three beautiful women, all with feathered wing-arms and bird legs. One had long orange hair and green feathers (‘Harpie Lady 1’ ATK: 1300) and the others were taller and more elegant with long green hair and white feathers (‘Harpie Queen’ ATK: 1900 (each)).
“My ‘Harpie Lady 1’," I explained, "raises the power of my Wind monsters by three hundred apiece (ATK: 1300+300=1600/ATK: 1900+300=2200 (each)). I also play ‘Elegant Egotist’ times two to summon ‘Harpie Lady 2’ and ‘Harpie Lady 3’ from my deck to tribute for ‘Harpie’s Pet Dragon’!”
Two more ‘Harpies’ appeared and were promptly replaced by a large red dragon wearing a golden necklace and crown, as well as a leash-like chain (ATK: 2000).
“As a Wind monster,” I explained, “my ‘Dragon’ gets the bonus from my ‘Harpie 1’. She also gains an additional three hundred Attack for every ‘Harpie Lady’ I control.”
The dragon’s power rose before my eyes (2000+300+(300x3)=3200). “You’re kidding!” Gale screeched disbelievingly. I ignored her.
“Finally,” I finished, “I reveal ‘United We Stand’, equipping it to my dragon, raising her Attack by another eight hundred for every monster I control!” Gale’s eyes widened and she stared on in horror as the Attack power of my monster grew even further, empowered by the mere presence of her peers (3200+(800x4)=6400).
“My monsters attack at once!” I commanded. My dragon breathed fire, incinerating the ‘Storm Shooter’ (8000+2300-6400=3900), ‘Harpie Lady 1’ shredded ‘Sonic Shooter’ with her powerful claws (3900+1300-1600=3600), and my remaining monsters swiped at my opponent’s exposed form (3600-3800=0). Gale fell to her knees, shocked. I walked over to her, “I’ve never done this, but I guess it’s pretty easy. My Soul knows how to do it.”
I held up my palm, aiming it at my foe’s forehead, and my Soul flashed as I called, “Penalty Game Mind Wipe!”
Gale slumped over, unconscious. I reached down and yanked the crystal Item from her neck.
“You’re still a really bad person,” I said to her, “and not even magic can change that, but at least without your memories of the Shadow Items you won’t be able to hurt people anymore.”
I put the crystal Item in my pocket and walked away.
Kris
I stood facing the lab-coated warp. He looked smart, but I got a feeling from him. A feeling that, as smart as he was, he wasn’t a very imposing gamer. A gamer, especially someone who plays Duel Monsters, has to be able to use their intelligence and instinct together to form a structured deck with a working strategy. When it comes to doing just that, there’s no one better than me, and all the smarts in the world weren’t going to do anything to change that.
“Me first,” I insisted. My opponent didn’t object, so I drew my opening hand. “I summon the multi-armed weapon drone ‘Mechanicalchaser’!”
My monster appeared, levitating at my side, each of its many arms ending in a different weapon (ATK: 1850).
“To finish my turn,” I concluded, “I place two cards face-down. Go.”
“Well then,” Warp announced, “I begin with the Spell card ‘Dark Hole’, a Spell that creates a singularity to swallow your machine.”
“Singu-what?” I asked. “Speak English!”
Warp smiled darkly and pointed straight up, “It means black hole.”
I looked up just in time to see a black vortex crackle open. I could feel its excess gravity pulling me toward it, and I saw the much more substantial effect on my monster as it was pulled inside and literally stretched into a strand of molecules. The vortex closed afterward.
“Not cool, man,” I told my opponent. He ignored me.
“I set a monster,” warp concluded, “and two face-down cards. Your move, young lady. Make the best of it, because you won’t get many more.”
Now it was my turn to ignore him, “Here I go, I draw, and I begin by fusing my ‘Roboyarou’ with my ‘Robolady’ by means of ‘Polymerization’.”
A male, humanoid robot in blue mechanical armor appeared alongside a female humanoid robot in largely identical pink armor. The two monsters merged and formed a slightly larger, darker-skinned male figure in blue armor with pink shoulder pads. A dual-ended lance with pink metal hand guards appeared in his outstretched right hand.
“I present my ‘Super Roboyarou’,” I announced. My monster brandished his weapon (ATK: 1200). “‘Super Roboyarou’ is a machine designed for monster-on-monster combat. His programming allows him to predict the offensive and defensive moves of an enemy capable of fighting him, and allows him to calculate the optimum angle of attack, raising his offensive power in battle by one thousand! I’ll have him attack your monster.”
‘Super Roboyarou’ charged his lance with energy and lunged at the hidden card (ATK: 1200+1000=2200).
“Attacking with your scrap-metal mandroid triggers my Trap, ‘Hidden Singularity’,” Warp explained, “and reveals the face-down ‘Gravitic Orb’.”
Oh crap!
“When ‘Gravitic Orb’ is flipped, the battle positions of your monsters are changed,” Warp explained, “and ‘Hidden Singularity’ destroys any monster that changes to defense mode during the Battle Phase.”
An orb of dark energy appeared. My monster thrust his lance through it, causing waves of heavy gravity to wash over him, forcing him to defend himself. An instant later a small black hole opened up and my monster was swallowed up inside.
“During the Damage Step,” I declared, “while the damaged ‘Orb’ is still in play, I reveal ‘Hidden Barrel’, dealing you twelve hundred damage.”
A hidden gun appeared from the ground at my side and fired at my opponent, hitting him square in the chest (8000-1200=6800), and the energy of my foe’s ‘Orb’ faded away. “At least my move wasn’t a total loss.”
Well this is interesting, I thought. Our monster zones are both empty, and his Life is lower than mine, but it’s his turn. This match could go either way.
Cool!
Sarah
“I’ve heard good things about the Duelists of the Duel Force,” said Mask. “I hope you are as worthy as I’ve heard, or else this will be even more boring than I already expect it to be.”
“Don’t worry,” I said sarcastically, “I’ll make this duel interesting for you. After all, that’s what I live for.”
I drew my opening hand and continued seriously, “I begin with ‘Ocean’s Keeper’, the Goldfish Warrior!”
A four and a half foot tall, three-eyed goldfish appeared standing on his tail, grasping a trident in his fins (ATK: 1500).
“Next I place a card face-down and change the battlefield with ‘A Legendary Ocean’!”
I played my card, and the ground below mine and Mask’s feet was disguised by a hologram of a deep ocean, a golden city visible far below the surface.
“This Field Spell card lowers the Levels of monsters I control and monsters in my hand by one,” I explained. “It also boosts the power of Water monsters by two hundred. Monsters like my ‘Ocean’s Keeper’ (ATK: 1500+200=1700). And to secure my advantage, I play ‘Field Barrier’, protecting my Field Spell from being replaced or destroyed.”
The hologram of my Field Spell was encased in an energy barrier. The hologram of my second Spell appeared alongside it.
“You don’t like to leave yourself open, do you?” Mask asked mockingly.
“Being prepared is what I’m good at,” I replied, filled with pride.
“It’s that attitude that will lead to your defeat,” said Mask, equally prideful.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I demanded, annoyed.
Mask chuckled, “You’ll see.”
He drew to begin his first turn, “I summon my ‘Melchid the Four-Faced Beast’.” A strange, levitating creature appeared. It was essentially a central core body with four faces, each looking in a different cardinal direction, and each wearing a different, menacing mask (ATK: 1500).
“Thanks to your Field Spell,” Mask declared, “my monster isn’t even equal to yours in this form, so I’ll increase his power with ‘Mask of Brutality’!”
The mask on the face of ‘Melchid’ that was facing me was replaced by a round tribal mask with an orb in the forehead and small hands reaching out from here the eye holes would have been (1500+1000=2500).
“My monster attacks and kills the ‘Ocean’s Keeper’,” Mask declared. His monster charged full speed at mine, tackling him and crushing him. The four-faced monster continued through toward me.
“Nice try,” I said, “but I have this!” The water at my feet churned and finally sprung up, forming a wall of violently rotating cyclones that deflected the excess battle damage, “I reveal ‘Tornado Wall’! As long as I have access to water, my Life Points are safe from battle damage of any kind. And on top of that, when ‘Ocean’s Keeper’ is destroyed, I get to add the ‘Cranium Fish’ in my deck to my hand!”
A card ejected from my deck. I added it to my hand.
“There’s more than one way to damage you’re Life Points,” said Mask. “I told you that your preparedness would lead to your destruction! Activate ‘Mask of Dispel’, equipping it to the ‘Field Barrier’. While equipped, it will drain away five hundred of your Life at the start of each of my turns.”
A mask like the one from “Scream”, but darker, appeared attached to my ‘Barrier’ Spell.
This guy’s pretty good, I thought, and he seems well prepared, just like me. But I’ve already gotten my ass kicked by this guy and let him lead me and my team into a trap. I will not let him get the best of me again, no matter what!
Card of the Day:
Harpie's Pet Dragon
Played by: Amanda
Amanda participating in a duel is special occasion enough, but if I'm not mistaken, this is also the first time that she's played this iconic card from the "Harpie" archetype. So there ya go.
Original Cards in This Chapter:
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