Episode 55. - Jin, Master of Blasting Fire

Shinji Nykahrii had his groove back. He had been dueling all day since fixing the twisted ratios in his deck, and everything was coming together well. Many wins, few losses, and an overall feeling of satisfaction regarding the performance of the former championship level deck. At this rate, with a bit more good fortune, he could have another chance at the title.

Now, he was dueling one of the newcomers. He was one of the last to leave the store today, and that meant that now, his only competition were stragglers, usually newer players. He did not mind. The relaxed atmosphere suited him after a long day of dueling, and helping new players learn the game was one of his joys.

Currently, the player that sat opposite him was shuffling a large deck. Zubat Hayabusa, was the name he had given. Shinji was interested to see if the young 'falcon' had any Kaijudo, and watched closely for any signs of such. None were forthcoming.

"You can go first," Hayabusa said. Shinji nodded and charged Nature mana. An Enchanted Soil. His mindspace could not take form with just the nature card, despite the fact that he had learnt the necessity of having such power early on. He ended his turn.

Hayabusa charged Darkness mana. A Lost Soul. Shinji cringed slightly. He disliked seeing players with large decks try to use such cards. It usually did not go well for them. Nevertheless, it was his turn again. He charged a Spiral Gate to mana, letting the water appear, shimmering, teeming with plantlife. He kept his visualization to himself.

"Summon Essence Elf. End turn."

Hayabusa drew his card, contemplated momentarily, then sent a Nature card to his own manazone. A Brood Shell. Shinji carefully extended his Kaijudo toward his opponent, to check for any reaction. There was none. He shrugged and charged his third mana, completing the triad and illuminating his mindscape. Holy Awe.

"Summon Stained Glass. Essence Elf, break shield. Ikei."

Hayabusa had been looking at Shinji oddly ever since the Stained Glass summon. Shinji had assumed that it was because of the oddness of the creature, but now, the true reason revealed itself.

"Sorry. My deck is slow. And you are using rush--"

Shinji shrugged, assuming that his opponent was apologizing somehow for what Shinji might perceive as a beginner's lack of skill...
"No problem--"

"--so I'm leaving," Hayabusa finished, reaching out to pick up his cards. Shinji's Kaijudo rose suddenly, freezing the youngster somewhat, though he meant no harm. He spoke slowly and deliberately, to hold Hayabusa's attention.

"My deck isn't a rush deck..."

The youth laughed, "I'm looking at it, and I'm seeing rush."

"I can just change my style to suit the opponent. If you were playing rush yourself I would summon blockers. If you were playing a different variant I would bounce your creatures. I saw your Brood Shell so I summoned my Stained Glass."

Hayabusa's voice took on a serious tone as he regarded Shinji with disdain.
"I never duel rush duelists."

With that, he picked up his cards, shuffled them together, and walked off, murmuring 'bye'. Shinji responded in kind, but it did not end quite that simply. The glowing red eyes of the Sniper appeared in the water of his mindspace near his feet.

"Did he just forfeit on the third turn in response to an Essence Elf attack?"
Shinji did not need to answer. Clearly, the Aqua Sniper knew that to be exactly what had just occurred, yet its thoughts held such disbelief that the question had probably formed completely out of that.

"Ugh. I wish Ryoma were here. I'd have liked to show him this progression..." Shinji muttered to himself, leaning back in his chair and wondering just where the World Champion was...

Ryoma Echizen was currently at a tournament in Romania. Doing the 'work' of a Champion. Drawing people to the event by presence alone, giving the occasional deck advice to the defeated, and waiting for the final duel to finish so that he could face the tournament winner in a duel, for their chance at the bonus prize.

Andrei Vlad now declared his final attack against his adversary, who did not take it well, cursing mildly about the deck type that 'Jin' was using. Andrei was generally known in the area as 'Jin', and no one seemed surprised that he would be the one to face Ryoma. Ryoma did not either. He had seen quite a bit of Jin's deck.

"Please, go first, Grand Champion," Jin said, bowing his head slightly. Ryoma nodded, and drew his cards. A hand with no light in it. He shrugged it off and placed a Terror Pit into his mana zone.

Jin made the first move that Ryoma had come to expect from nearly every tournament winner in Europe. It made him smirk.
"Bolmeteus Steel Dragon to mana. End turn."

"Q-tronic Gargantua to mana. End turn. I suppose you have a more interesting variant than most I've seen, but I'm curious. Is it something that you created in response to the metagame here, or moreso that you created it and it, in turn, influenced that metagame?"

Jin looked at Ryoma in slight confusion as he charged a Brain Serum to mana.
"I don't think I know what you're talking about. End turn."

Ryoma's eyes closed momentarily as he sent a Smash Horn to his mana zone. He could have summoned a Blazosaur on the previous turn, or his second Smash Horn on this turn, but he was aware of what his opponent's deck contained, and decided to simply do what he normally did. Go directly for his avatar creature.
"I mean that you have an interesting adaptation of Disruption. Perhaps it should not even be called that. I wanted to know if is the metagame that caused its particular form."

Jin drew his card and charged Darkness mana. A Terror Pit.
"Summon Aqua Hulcus."

Jin drew a new card. Ryoma shrugged, and drew his own, sending a second Terror Pit to his mana zone and now summoning his Blazosaur.
"Surely you know what I mean. The variation in it... what caused it? Or are you being crafty and not telling me in case I can counter it? End turn."

Ryoma smirked now, good-naturedly, realizing that what he had been 'asking' could have given him a slight advantage if Jin had answered. Jin now drew his card and charged a Bloody Squito as his fourth mana, then summoned the customary Locomotiver, causing Ryoma to discard his Smash Horn.

"Hm. I rather expected the Blazosaur to be killed. But in the end, the same move follows. Dimension Gate, to mana, summon Grave Worm Q, to return my Smash Horn to me."
The visualization for this effect was mildly disturbing, as Ryoma's Grave Worm burrowed into the earth to reveal the corpse of the Smash Horn. It seemed to turn to mist and return to Ryoma. He ended his turn there, his Kaijudo gently pushing against that of Jin.

"Energy Stream to mana. Cast Crimson Hammer on your Blazosaur, and summon another Aqua Hulcus," Jin said. He drew his card. Ryoma sighed with a small laugh.

"If you're attempting to hide the variant point, you're doing a very good job of it. Careful you don't keep it up for too long and lose the ability to make use of the variant altogether. Faerie Life to mana, summon Smash Horn, and through Grave Worm's effect revive and summon my Blazosaur as well. End turn."

Jin drew again, but did nothing beyond playing his Magris, Vizier of Magnetism, to his mana zone. Ryoma had already seen that the deck contained Light cards, but a single Magris offered no clues as to what exactly the light did within the deck. He summoned his Blazosaur and ended his turn. Forbos still had not come to him.

"Brain Serum to mana... hm... cast Apocalypse Vise."
The blast of energy from the fire spell obliterated the Grave Worm and both Blazosaurs. Ryoma nodded. He had not yet seen much use of the newest Fire destruction spell, though he did note that in this case, the Blizzard of Spears would have been a decidedly less effective option. He drew his card and finally sent Light into his mana zone. A Holy Awe.

"Apocalypse Vise to mana," Jin declared, "Summon Twin-Cannon Skyterror!"

Ryoma looked a bit impressed, or at least, that was the expression he had. The mana charge of the second fire spell was what had caused that reaction, not the Armored Wyvern that now flapped in the air above Jin in their shared mindspace. All at once, the Kaijudo had appeared, leaving Ryoma with the simple conclusion that this would be both Jin's avatar, and the 'variant'. Which left only the task of figuring out what exactly the Light cards were for...

"Hm... I wonder if I should attack... Twin-Cannon, ikei!"
The dual blasts shattered two shields. The first triggered as a Faerie Life that put a Blazosaur into the mana zone. The second, was Ryoma's Forbos.

"Locomotiver, ikei!"
Another shield triggered. Another Faerie Life. This time, it sent Ryoma's Lost Soul to mana. The champion actually nodded in slight approval. That was currently just about the best place for the card to be. If he needed another soon, he would find another way to get it.

"Aqua Hulcus, ikei!"
This shield's shattering unleashed a great howling darkness, one that dragged a roaring Twin-Cannon into murky, endless blackness. Terror Pit.

"Hm. You chose... Twin-Cannon... what could you be planning that would make you do that?" Jin wondered aloud, "Aqua Hulcus, final shield. Ikei!"

This one was merely a Smash Horn. Ryoma's next few moves would clearly have to be relatively creative, as he did not have enough mana to do quite that many things. He drew his next card, and smirked doubly. Another Forbos.

"Forbos, Sanctum Guardian! One to mana, and one to--"
He did not need to finish the declaration. The Sanctum Guardian had already split the sky with its descent, and its power brought a Mana Nexus to Ryoma. This, he cast, to form his first defensive line. The Holy Awe from before.

"Smash Horn, attack Hulcus! Ikei!"
The attack was simple, as the Horned Beast charged and trampled the Liquid one. Now, Jin would actually have to be careful. He knew many of the powers of Fire cards, and destructively, he had only one option in that respect. He dealt with this problem in an altogether different way. He did not cast a spell. In fact, he did not even play mana.

"I don't think I intend to let you repeat that trick too often... Summon Bolmeteus Steel Dragon! Locomotiver, ikei!"

The Holy Awe seared down upon the forces of Andrei Vlad, rendering the two remaining creatures helpless as well. Jin smirked. Ryoma's only clear option now was to both summon a creature and play his Apocalypse Vise.

Ryoma saw things a bit differently. Especially since he had drawn a Death Smoke. He sent it to his mana zone, to grant himself just enough resources to do another flashy technique. It was his 'true' option, since he could no longer summon anything that would still allow him to cast Apocalypse Vise himself. This had been partly what Jin had been counting on.

Jin did not quite get what he counted on.

"Smash Horn Q, evolve into Q-tronic Gargantua!"
Ryoma's Horned Beast was engulfed in a pillar of scarlet light, and from it, came his mighty creature. With that creature, came another Mana Nexus, which Ryoma then cast to place one of the Terror Pit cards into his shield zone. He had one more turn's worth of defense.

"Gargantua, attack Bolmeteus! Ikei!"
A sight that not many could claim to have witnessed, now unfolded in their minds. An epic battle between the giant robo-dragon and the truly gargantuan evolved Survivor. The onlookers who were not affected, wondered why it took Jin so long to place his card in the grave. They could not see that the two duelists were literally watching the fight take place.

By comparison, Forbos' victory over the Aqua Hulcus seemed quite understated. This left just the Locomotiver. Things appeared to be turning slightly around. Ryoma's Kaijudo was now shimmering, pressing, apparently ready for just about anything Jin could do.

"It is interesting in a way. We have calculated for nearly everything he can do now, and yet something unnerves. What was the purpose of that Light...?"

Forbos had no time to contemplate further. Jin did not only the unexpected, but the totally crippling, on his turn. The two cards in his hand, were exactly what he needed, in every way. Ryoma's plan had calculated for every combination he could imagine coming out of Jin's deck. This particular combination, had been close to incalculable...

"Ghost Touch, and Pyrofighter Magnus!" Jin now laughed, "Pyrofighter! Break his shield! Ikei!"

The red streak shot in, triggering the dark pit that now consumed the Locomotiver. Ryoma felt his Kaijudo pushed back as Jin ended his turn and picked up the Pyrofighter card. The Smash Horn had been his way to get any necessary spell, whether it had been Death Smoke, Lost Soul, or even an Apocalypse Vise of his own.

He drew his card. Holy Awe.
"Bah. I surrender."

With no creature, he could not stop the Pyrofighter's return. Jin had defeated him. Much to his surprise, in the ensuing rush of players trying to congratulate Jin, Ryoma himself managed to get out of the crowd. He erected a slight 'barrier' of Kaijudo around himself, to prevent most of the duelists from now crowding him, as he stood nearby, conversing mentally with Forbos. It was not long before Jin noticed this, and came over to him.

"Some duel, eh?"

Ryoma smirked and nodded.
"How you all manage to do such things amazes me even now. I had not seen either card in your deck in any of your other duels. Still, quite the elegant finishing move..."

Jin grinned. Ryoma found this one to be quite the good-natured person, which made his next statement all the more meaningful:
"Too bad I can only duel you once. I think I could probably keep in practice against someone whose deck can spring something like that on me suddenly."

"I'm available whenever," Jin laughed.

"Maybe so, but since I am touring, I unfortunately am not. Still, it was nice to meet and duel you. Ghost Touch and Magnus. I think I will be remembering that finish for a long time to come," Ryoma noted, shuffling his deck one more time before placing it back into its case.

"You're not enjoying your tour?" Jin asked now, putting away his own deck also. He did not display further Kaijudo of his own, though it was clear that he was both sensitive to the presence of it, and able to discern it in others.

"It just keeps me a bit busier than I had expected it to," Ryoma answered with a slight frown, "I was not aware that the KirriCorp chain of companies took this particular asset of theirs so seriously, but as I've been informed, KirriCorp takes all their assets very seriously. This evening I even have to attend some sort of ball or gala at the estate of one of their investors or something..."

"You could always just excuse yourself from that if you're tired," Jin shrugged.

Ryoma looked almost shocked at the idea of simply blowing off such an obligation.
"No, no. I don't mean to complain really. Also, I am not tired. It is moreso that I do not quite understand what purpose making me a guest at a function like that serves..."

"We wanted you to have some fun other than dueling. If you have something else in mind, by all means go do that. I will make sure your excuse for not attending is accepted," Jin nodded.

"Wait... 'we'?"
Ryoma suddenly seemed to understand the precise implication of Jin's statement. He wondered if it were merely a miscommunication occurring since they were both speaking English, but something about the way in which Andrei Vlad spoke made him think otherwise. He also believed that he had heard one of the officials speaking about the Vlad family estate. If that was indeed the name of the place, then that would make Jin...

"It is I who got my parents to organize the event specifically. There was going to be some sort of 'meet the champion' type of promotional thing regardless. They asked me a lot about what I thought you'd prefer to attend, so I--"
The grin that now crossed Ryoma's face made Jin stop speaking, seemingly wondering what it was that amused the Champion so.

Ryoma clapped his hand sportingly on Jin's shoulder, then bowed and thanked him.

"Did I not understand something?" Jin asked now, mentally reviewing what he had said.

"I thought this was some sort of stakeholders' event that I was merely going to be a conversation piece at. I did not understand that it had been arranged partly with my own entertainment in mind. The other events such as this that I have attended, have been... a bit boring, I must admit."

Jin now grinned back at Ryoma.
"No, nothing like that. You can even duel all night if that is what you want. There will be other players, and decks, and people who would greatly like to discuss strategies and such with you if you have the time or will. There will not be as much of that here today, so tonight will have to do. Excuse me, though, I'm keeping an opponent waiting..."

"Of course, of course..." Ryoma nodded, still smiling. Young Vlad went off back to the throngs of duelists, who were now, for the most part, engaged in their post-tournament discussion and playtesting.

The Champion now glanced at his watch. It was already almost time to depart. At least now, he knew that his evening would not be a stuffy affair geared towards business partners.

"We still did not actually find out from him what the Light in the deck is for..."

Ryoma puffed a sigh, realizing this now also, but then shrugged with a slight internal smile. He could ask that tonight. In fact, many of his own questions could probably be asked. Fortunate indeed that one of the top duelists in the area was also going to be more or less his host for the evening.

One of the officials, from across the room, tapped his wrist when he noticed that he was within Ryoma's field of vision. Ryoma nodded his acknowledgement of the gesture, and started to head towards the door, bidding goodbye to clusters of duelists along the way. His small entourage of judges and assistants now made their way toward the exit also.

"At least now we know that there will be time, tonight, to ask questions. Perhaps even to find out if there are any others here like us. There are bound to be some..."

For this, Ryoma was grateful. He had many questions. He laughed to himself, hoping that he would not seem too strange engaging in serious Duel Masters related conversations at an event that seemed as if it were going to be a party.

"It is your will to improve... willingness to ask those questions, that has brought us to where we are," Forbos reassured the more 'human' side of himself, "If they invite the champion of Duel Masters and expect him not to talk about the game... then why invite him?"