Episode 30. - Confused? So Are We

Suzanne leaned down behind him, her lips almost brushing against his ear as she whispered her desire to him. Roger Elmist shuddered as she did so, not sure if she was affecting him with the psychic power she claimed to have been developing, or if his slight attraction to her was the cause of his current reaction.

"Please, Roger... all I need is the information on the deck... No one needs to know where I got it. It will be our little secret. You want Mr. Kirricort to be happy, don't you? Don't you want me to be happy?"

Roger's fingers flew furiously over his keyboard as he attempted to ignore Suzanne and continue working. He finally thought of something to tell her to get her off his back. Especially since she had taken to massaging his shoulders to ease his tension.
"I don't know what it is you're talking about, Suzanne. I already gave you the exact deck lists of all four finalists of the grand tournament, and I even updated the deck changes that Yodaz made... you've got everything you asked for... what more could you want?"

She smirked. "Strategy. Come on, don't play shy with me. I know you have a way of keeping track of the way that grand master Yodaz plays his deck. You use it to track and analyze the skills of the applicants that come through here. See? There it is, right on your screen, about to start up..."

Roger had no way out of the conversation now. Sure enough, on his screen, the little blue 'duel pending' window was flashing. He had to activate the data tracker for the test that was about to begin.

Mohamed Al-Hendy was like many young duelists who lived in the area of KirriCorp's main offices. They often applied for jobs as judges, tournament organizers, exhibition presenters, promoters, and representatives. However, each duelist needed to go through at least one duel to showcase their knowledge before even being considered for application. So now, Mohamed ran one hand through his wavy black hair a bit nervously. The elder man sitting in front of him was a pleasant looking bald chap. Probably in his mid fifties. He motioned to Mohamed to sit.

"Um... you go first..." Al-Hendy said, deploying his shields.

"Name?" the elder man asked, not quite smiling, but pleasant nonetheless. He was now playing his shields also, and began to draw his cards.

"Mohamed Al-Hendy," the youth responded, drawing his cards also, and contemplating what his strategy would be.

The old man nodded. "I'm Venn. Venn Haidenmon. Nice to meet you. Plasma Chaser to mana. End turn."

Mohamed looked slightly surprised. "Plasma Chaser? Interesting..." He drew his card now and placed a Natural Snare into his mana zone, and ended his turn, settling into his chair. He felt a bit more comfortable now. His opponent's deck was probably exactly that. A test. Nothing horrendous meant to humiliate or 'weed out' anyone.

Venn drew his card and placed a Thunder Net into his mana zone. Mohamed blinked a few times, in disbelief, at the card. This was certainly not what he had expected from the screening process at KirriCorp.

Suzanne was watching the duel a bit herself, from Roger's screen. The nearby official was recording the duelist's moves into the system, and they were currently being recorded for later analysis. Roger knew now that there was no way to deny Suzanne what she was asking for, but the idea of doing it made him nervous for reasons he did not quite understand.
"Look, why do you need this, anyway? Did Gene ask for this?"

"No, this is so that I can learn to play it, of course. Why start with a substandard deck when I can just go straight to the top?"

Roger shook his head. "But I gave you all four of the decks. The two finalists? What about theirs?"

Suzanne breathed against his neck and ear again, whispering her response, "Not interested. They both came from a different country's dueling style. I want the best American deck I can get. I don't need Japanese decks at this point. Besides... I kind of like his main card... It... speaks to me somehow. It's just the kind of card I was looking for..."

She took the deck out of her bag and drew five cards. The fifth was, in fact, the dreaded Corile. She smiled. Something seemed to emanate from her. Roger shuddered, and squirmed a little in his chair. The archives were confidential, not because of the duels, but because of the fact that with each duel, there was an annotated analysis that was not supposed to be released to the public. Yet, he felt somehow compelled to give Suzanne what she wanted, and his mind was currently racing, trying to figure out what to do about it. He focused his attention back on the screen. Mohamed had just charged water mana...

"I cast Faerie Life. Sending my Cryptic Totem to my mana zone. End turn."

"Ooh," Venn laughed, "That kind of deck, huh? This will be an interesting show then. Thunder Net to mana. Cast Energy Stream. Try to keep up, young man, or that Totem of yours may be no help at all..."

Mohamed made a face. He knew the older man was just ribbing him to make the game more interesting, but it did not seem quite right to be 'threatened' by someone using Plasma Chaser and Thunder Net. He drew his card, charged water mana, and played a Brain Serum, drawing his own two cards to match those that Venn had drawn.

"Old school style," he laughed, "Don't worry. I'll keep up. I might even leave you behind."

"I doubt that one, but we'll see," Venn laughed, charging more water mana, "Emerald Grass and Madrillon Fish. End turn."

Mohamed was even more skeptical now. Blockers? So far, the deck seemed like some sort of stall. That would account for the Plasma Chaser. He decided to remark on it, as he drew his own card again and finally charged his fire mana.
"Plasma Chaser stall? Are you serious? Does that even actually work? Summon... Magmarex."

Mohamed had not intended to reveal his Kaijudo in this duel, but he liked his Magmarex. He could not resist a slight visualization on his own part. He did not expect the elder gentleman to smile and say what he said.
"Oh, you're one of those, eh? Even better. At least this one will be entertaining either way."

Mohamed had intended to let his Magmarex fade away after the summon, but now he found himself facing the fish and plant, as the sun seemed to be rising upon a distant shoreline. His Rock Beast was now part of the inland forces, and the two blockers protected the sea. He ended his turn, and took a deep breath. This was not at all what he had expected from his day.

Suzanne had, by now, managed to worm herself into Roger's chair. He had figured that the best way to get out of this situation was through full deniability. He would conveniently 'go on break' and leave Suzanne to 'record the duel'. If any files were mysteriously accessed or downloaded from his terminal whilst he was away from it, he would 'have no idea how that happened'.

This also left Suzanne with the task of quickly querying the database of Yodaz's official tournament play. She did not bother to go too far back. She was checking primarily for his recent duels, and the ones just before the removal of his Bronze-Arm Tribes. There, she would find the clues she would need to master the use of the power of Corile. At least, this was what she hoped.

"Come on, I know you're in there. There must be a secret to this. Whatever that secret is, I need to know it if I am ever going to tap into his mental thing. If those two I saw could do that, and they aren't even champion duelists, imagine what a deck like his can do..."

Venn did little on his turn. He merely charged light mana. Mohamed looked a little confused. The older man seemed to have an extremely laid back attitude toward all this, for a test duelist.

"Hey... you should wake up a little, old man. I'm gonna get pretty far ahead of you soon if you don't do something."

"Be my guest, young'un," Venn laughed, mocking Mohamed for referring to him as 'old man'. He seemed to be quite comfortable as he was. The slight breeze that blew through the room rustled his shirt a bit. He did not seem cold.

"Fine. Thrash Crawler to mana. Magmarex! Evolve into Valkrowzer, Ultra Rock Beast! Double Break! Ikei!"

"Haha! That's more like it! Sure. Why not?" Venn laughed as the giant beast charged into the water, ignoring the hiss of liquid against its body as it did so. Two shields gone. Neither triggered. Venn smiled at Mohamed's attack, and drew his card.

"All right. Senatine Jade Tree, to the manapool. Now let's get that big rock out of our ocean, huh? Aqua Surfer!" Venn declared, happily watching as the Surfer rode in on a much larger wave than he was used to, and removed the Ultra Rock Beast from his turf. Venn himself was not contributing any real Kaijudo to the duel, but certainly seemed to be entertained by the images provided by his opponent. He ended his turn with that.

Suzanne had become slightly distracted by the analysis streaming up on screen of the current duel being recorded. She was currently downloading the information she had found onto her memory key. However, watching Venn go at it with Mohamed was beginning to intrigue her also. She wondered now, exactly how many viable decks were out there. Could the deck she was studying really beat them all?

Mohamed drew his card and charged fire mana. The Magmarex. Venn looked a little surprised. He had not been expecting his opponent to give up the 're-evolution option. Mohamed made it very clear, a few moments later, that he had not in fact done that.
"I summon Bronze-Arm Tribe, and place... Magmarex to mana by its effect. Now I summon Meteosaur, to scorch out your Aqua Surfer. End turn."

Venn watched, slightly less amused now, as the Meteosaur's jet of molten lava shot from its mouth and struck the liquid waverider, evaporating it with a screeching hiss. He placed the card into his discard pile and scoffed a bit. An unexpected turn of events.
"All right. I summon Rondobil, the Explorer. End turn."

Mohamed blinked at this one. His opponent had made no effort to remove his Meteosaur, even knowing what was likely to happen because he did not. He drew his card, and summoned a creature that immediately made Suzanne, three floors up in the building, sit up and take notice.
"Corile, on your Explorer, and a Thrash Crawler, to regain my Cryptic Totem from my mana zone. The Rondobil-Aqua Surfer thing is a nice trick, but don't expect it to work when I've got my Totems on my side..."

In his mind, Mohamed's eyes glowed green with the power of the Mystery Totem that was now in his hand. His avatar. He had not yet discerned if Venn had one, and if so, whether it was Rondobil, the Surfer, or the Plasma Chaser. There was no way to tell. Venn had not used any Kaijudo really, but he had also not made a single actual attack, either. He ended his turn.

Suzanne was now intent on the duel. Mohamed had used Corile to set back Venn's attacker. He had lost no advantage by doing so either. He got a creature, and Venn lost one. Just like the Meteosaur, only better. Now Venn drew his card, but did not put his Rondobil back. Instead, he summoned two more Senatine Jade Trees. They appeared, floating and glowing above the water, the sun at their backs now. He ended his turn.

A bleep from the computer told Suzanne that her memory key was full. She had to quickly decide now. Delete the pictures her sister had asked her to print out, and a few personal files, or leave without the rest of Yodaz's data. She remembered then, that she could simply leave the files on Roger's computer instead, so she dumped them into a folder, and deleted them from the storage device, then clicked the button on screen that would allow her to continue downloading. She made sure that all programs were still functioning correctly, then returned to her mental scanning of the duel. Already, her Kaijudo was beginning to shimmer, allowing her to visualize what was happening, even as far away as she was. The images were not the same as those experienced by the two actual duelists, but they were still there.

Mohamed drew his card, and summoned his Cryptic Totem, but nothing more. He did not see the need for more than that at this point. Venn met this ploy by summoning Rondobil again. This time, even with his limited experience, Mohamed could tell that this was the older man's avatar, if he even had one. Venn ended his turn here, since Rondobil was still his only attacker. Mohamed looked wary. Something about this test was beginning to bother him.

"Draw... place Corile to mana, summon Thrash Crawler to retrieve Corile from mana, and summon it now also. To rid me of your Explorer once more. End turn."

"Not much of an attacker today, are you?" Venn laughed, "Although I guess it must be all these blockers. I gotta say, I really am happy all you kids gave up those Skyterrors. They used to be a total pain in th--"

The official in the back cleared his throat loudly, to remind Venn of his tendency to use what some considered to be inappropriate language. Venn laughed to himself, drew his card, and charged mana. Plasma Chaser.
"Energy Stream... one... two... Hmm... Okay, I end turn."

Mohamed stood there amongst his visualization now. He still had the Rock Beast. He could still rush his opponent whenever he wanted, and there was little chance that there was any discard ability hiding anywhere in Venn's very obvious deck build. The Jade Trees, Emerald Grass and Madrillon Fish were all Venn had. He summoned another Cryptic Totem, and attacked Venn's shields with the first.

Venn did not bother to block the assault, much to his surprise. He picked up the two cards with a smile on his face, and waited for Mohamed to end his turn.

Suzanne was confused now. Mohamed seemed to have the duel set in his favor. A few turns of attacking and Venn's blockers would all be gone, leaving him defenseless. Yet, she did not understand Venn's deck or his moves at this point. Was this the way testers were supposed to duel? Was he not trying to win at all?

"I guess some people's job is to win, and some people's job is to make the winners look good," she laughed to herself. She had plans to make sure she was one of the former.

Venn drew his card. He laughed. Mohamed looked at him, wondering if the older man was trying to be silly at this point. He charged mana. Rondobil. Mohamed and Suzanne, both in their respective chairs, wondered simultaneously if he had a sneaky plan, or if he was just trying to throw the duel.
"Two Madrillon Fish and a Phantom Fish, kiddo. End turn."

Mohamed burst into rousing laughter. "So be it, then. You're definitely an interesting one. I guess you let me hit you because you don't have a lot of shield triggers in there anyways, huh. Just the Surfers and lots of blockers?"

He drew his card now, and summoned another Cryptic Totem. He laughed again, his Kaijudo increasing now nearly tenfold.
"Cryptic army! How do you like that!? Cryptic Totem, break his last shield! Ikei!" --there was no interception, and no trigger-- "Now, second Totem, final attack?"

Venn smiled, "Emerald Grass, intercept."

The Grass entangled the Totem, and it crashed to the ground just short of Venn himself. That was the end of the Emerald Grass' contribution to Venn's duel, but the older man did seem thankful. The first true Kaijudo presence he had shown for the duel. Mohamed ended his turn. No point in wasting all his creatures on a fruitless attack, when all he had to do was summon Valkrowzer on the following turn, for the win.

"I've been thinking, my young friend. It doesn't seem to me that you would have many shield triggers in there either. Let's see if that's so..."

Without warning, Venn's Kaijudo began to rise, using Mohamed's as a base for its feedback frequency. It continued to rise as he placed the Senatine Jade Tree into his mana zone, and moreso when he replaced the lost Emerald Grass with a new one.
"Now, I cast... Thunder Net! On your Thrash Crawlers and Coriles!"

The electrical capture system shot out from him, disabling both of Mohamed's blockers and his Cyber Lords, rendering them incapable of motion altogether. Venn smiled wryly. His moment of truth was at hand.
"And finally... Diamond Cutter! Emerald Grass! Ikei!" --the floating flora flew in to wrap around and destroy the first of Mohamed's shields-- "Phantom Fish, ikei!" --this attack was a little more subtle, as the fish floated out of the water and spouted a high pressure water jet at the shield, taking it out with the amplified power granted it by the solar power refracted through diamond energy crystallized in the water on Venn's side of the battle zone. Mohamed began to feel his own Kaijudo weakening-- "Madrillon Fish, ikei!" --another flawless diamondlight assisted attack, again taking out Mohamed's shield with no resistance or trigger-- "Jade Tree, ikei!" --it spun, it glowed, and with a mighty beam generated from its center, it obliterated the fourth of Mohamed's shields-- "Jade Tree, ikei!" --this one spun similarly, and the last beam fractured the final shield, it cracked under the strain, and buckled, shattering...

Mohamed's jaw dropped. All he could manage to do was mouth the quiet "so close" as he watched his defenses all stripped away. Left with nothing more now, he bowed his head and awaited the final attack from Venn. It came in the form of a wet, fishy... kiss.

"Madrillon Fish! Todomeda!"
Venn used none of his actual Kaijudo energy for the final attack, letting it die away after breaking the final shield with the Jade Tree's power. He started to laugh now, and he did not stop laughing for a long time. Mohamed sat quietly and endured the laughter. It did not seem jeering, but he was still at least slightly embarrassed nonetheless.

"Great deck, kid," Venn laughed, "You might want to watch for when your opponent is trying to distract ya, though. Anyways, you're cleared to go in, at least by me. I haven't had so much fun since that girl from last month with the Fire-Water dragon manaburn. Now her... she was nuts. Bwahahahahaha!"

Mohamed sighed. The duel had been completely turned around on him in one attack. Thunder Net... who would have thought it...

"I'm lucky. You didn't have any of the stuff the kids normally have to stop me with. Of course, half the time, they don't know what I'm doin' and end up trying to counter me in all kinds of crazy ways. At least you, you went straight for your own plan. I like that. Good call. Well, what are you waitin' for? Go on in!"

Mohamed got up from his chair and nodded to Venn. "Um, right. Yes. Thank you!"

He walked quickly into the complex. There was no way to tell if he was simply happy to have been cleared for application, or if he was trying to avoid himself any further embarrassment.

"The young ones these days and their sensitive egos..." Venn said, "At least that one didn't look like the type to actually go being ashamed of that or anything. Whoo, that was fun. I mean like crazy fun. I gotta remember his name... Al-Hindi, was it?"

"Al-Hendy," the official recorder nearby corrected, stressing the 'eh' syllable of the name. Venn nodded, smiled, then burst out laughing again.

Three floors up, Roger came back to his terminal to find everything just as he had left it, all except for one strange folder on the desktop. It was named very clearly "DoNotOpen-BeBackForIt". He raised a confused eyebrow at the folder, but resisted the temptation to open it and find out exactly what Suzanne had left on his machine... for about three seconds. Soon, he was sifting through the files, making sure the folder contained nothing that could incriminate him in any way. Suzanne was normally nice to him, but he was still under the impression that the woman was a little less than sane, and so he was taking no chances with his possible continued employment at KirriCorp. No more than he had already taken for the day, anyway. Denying culpability for file access was one thing, but if they found the wrong thing on his computer, he'd lose his job for sure... just like Roy, from Marketing...