Episode 67. - Reversing Time Before It Burns

Hassan Black had come quite a way to meet this little girl. At sixteen years old, he had taken a long trip in his new car, to this tournament. After hearing of her performance at the North American championships, he had made it his business to find out just how real the stories of Arielle Dumas' incredible dueling ability were. It was a fairly large tournament, and so, Black was able to find her early on, and challenge her during the cross-elimination period.

It was not exactly easy to miss the small head of dark hair. He stood at six feet tall, compared to her four feet and a single inch. Her older brother was not actually that much taller than her. Black noted the resemblance between the two immediately, but found himself wondering why her brother seemed to stay so close, and did not duel himself. Having a younger sister of such ability would have inspired Black to surpass her. That was the kind of person he was.

"Kettou da, little lady. Arielle Dumas, I presume?" came the impressively accented question.

She nodded, smiling at him, her nod signifying both her acknowledgement of his presumption, and her acceptance of his challenge. He flipped the coin, Arielle calling tails. She won the toss, and hopped up into her seat, deploying her shields. Her brother took up a position slightly behind and to the left of her. Black found himself wondering for a moment if it were all a hoax, and the two had some sort of Kaijudo connection that they used to make the younger seem like the true duelist.

This theory was utterly destroyed a moment later when Arielle charged her very first mana card. A Cannon Shell. Black looked across the table at the card in surprise. Not only had it not been in the decklist he had seen for the girl from the Championship, he could not remember having seen that card in tournament play at any time.

The room was now filled with the buzz of duelists and duels. The lighter sparks of Kaijudo in the room would have been slightly disorienting to Black, if they did not pale so much in comparison to the energy emanating from the little one in front of him. He exhaled slowly, charging a Thrash Crawler to his mana zone, and ending his turn.

"How come you have so much?" she asked him now, charging a Spiral Gate to her mana zone and casting a Faerie Life. Black did not exactly know what she was talking about, for if she meant Kaijudo, that Faerie Life caused hers to outstrip his considerably. An Aqua Hulcus went into her mana zone, causing her forest to spread swiftly towards him.

"Vine Charger to mana. Summon Essence Elf."
This creature's appearance in the battle zone seemed to calm Black, and caused Arielle to tilt her head. A quick scan of Black's Kaijudo revealed that this was not, indeed, his avatar, but it was one that was quite important to him.

Arielle had no way of destroying most creatures directly anyway, so now she merely sent one of her Bronze-Arm Tribe to mana for a moment and summoned a Shtra, picking the Beast Folk back up again. Black started in slight surprise. This was not completely unexpected, but the speed with which she had achieved it, was not exactly normal. He picked up his Vine Charger, as she ended her turn. His mindspace started to feel closeted and thick with energy, as he drew his card and again sent his Vine Charger to mana, summoning yet another Essence Elf.

"Oh, I see!" Arielle smiled, "You have Elfie power and Charger spells! You are a very smart person! Bronze-Arm Tribe to mana, and summon Bronze-Arm Tribe also!"
The energy of her forest now grew as the Aqua Knight went into her mana zone as her fifth mana card. Black still had only two.

"Essence Elf to mana, cast--""Wait, no!" came the roar. Black seemed startled. His avatar seldom bothered to speak directly. It was nearly never necessary.

"This little one can stop time, remember? And she is ahead of us already. You don't need me, you need more of them!"

Black slowly nodded, then said to Arielle, "Can I take that back?"

She nodded, giving him a sweet, if a bit hyperenthusiastic, smile. He picked up the Elf and revealed his avatar as he placed it into the mana zone. Arielle's eyes opened wide with wonder and she smiled again. She had never met anyone with this card for an avatar before. She had never even seen anyone play it. This so impressed her that she sounded the name of the awesome card...

"Balesk Baj, the Timeburner... So cool!"

Black cast his Eureka Charger now, the Elves using their power to make the spell easily available to him, and as its power dissipated into the area around him, he cast a Volcano Charger to follow, the explosion dissipating Shtra and spreading a new warmth out over his lands. It had been a good thing indeed that he had put Balesk into mana. Now, his mana was even with hers again. In just one move, he had caught up, and destroyed one of her creatures as well. Arielle's energy seemed to calm now, becoming more intent.

"We have never faced another who could control Time in the same way..." Tangle Fist noted to Balesk, "Shall we have a race, then?"

"I am always interested in comparing strategies. Let us... 'race'..."

Arielle simply placed a Divine Riptide into her mana zone, and ended her turn. Black put one of his Ardent Lunatron into his, then summoned the third Essence Elf. The combined energy of the triad Tree Folk made his Eureka Charger spell so easily powered, that it paid for itself, bringing him a new card, but whatever that card was, he could not use it right then. His turn ended. Their energy clashed strongly for a moment, for some reason. Black smiled at Arielle as she drew her next card.

"I learnt even more ways to do it!" she smiled at him, summoning an Ancient Horn, the Watcher. The new card from this set had one of the oddest effects. The creature's full power activated due to the fact that no enemy had reached Arielle's defensive line as yet. The Ancient one's mystical power allowed it to restore her entire world, causing all her mana energy to be available to her again. She did not hesitate to use it also, summoning a Tekorax. The squid floated forward, its programming somehow breaching the security systems on Black's own defense grid, revealing the shields to her, and only her.

The first was yet another Eureka Charger. The second and third, both Energy Stream. Most importantly, the fourth and fifth shields were both Twin-Cannon Skyterror. Arielle's expression became sly, in that mischievous way that young children's faces do. She ended her turn.

"Scarlet Skyterror to mana, cast--"

"Stop!" came another warning from Balesk. Black sighed. Arielle nodded before he even asked the question. He picked up the Skyterror, and cast the spell without the extra mana. Mana Bonanza. Arielle's eyes shone with wonderment again as the energy of Black's world seemed to multiply upon itself in almost the exact opposite of the effect of her own main spell. Another Mana Bonanza and Soulswap made his glade greener, another Crystal Memory and Ardent Lunatron made it wetter, a Scarlet Skyterror made it warmer, and another two Vine Charger finished the process, his world now even larger than her own.

Black's psychic energy did not press too strongly on hers even now. His mana stood at fourteen cards, and yet Arielle did not seem worried. She knew where both his Twin-Cannon Skyterrors were.

"Faerie Life to mana," she said casually, sending the card she had just drawn, and putting her elbows on the table, watching to see what Black would manage next. If he did manage to summon Balesk regardless, it was over, and she knew this. There was nothing her deck could do to stop that creature. Black cast an Energy Stream, using only the minimum of energy to do so, and then summoned an Ardent Lunatron, ending his turn.

"Divine Riptide to mana," she continued, almost happily nonchalant. Black shivered for a moment. Something about this little one unnerved him. It would be best to finish her quickly before anything too strange occurred on her side.

"Blizzard of Spears to mana. Cast Crystal Memory."
He was ready, but even with the help of his elves he did not have quite enough power to bring forth his great avatar just then. Still, he would only need one more turn, and then time would simply burn away, for Arielle Dumas. The end would come swiftly.

This, apparently, had been Arielle's thought as well. As soon as she realized that he did not manage to finish her right then, she seemed to perk up even more, sending the card from the top of her deck directly to her mana zone without even bothering to pay attention to it. It had been a Poisonous Mushroom, but this mattered very little in the face of what followed.

"Divine Riptide!" came the gleeful exclamation. Black's face paled as the entire huge world that his Elves had helped him create, was unraveled in front of his eyes. Every single facet of it, vanished, filling him with new potential power. He could begin anew. Arielle did not attack. Black smirked. She was still young. Failing to attack then was quite an error, at least from the perspective of what he was about to do.

"Soulswap to mana. Cast Vine Charger--"
Her Bronze-Arm Tribe was overrun and disabled swiftly, but the effect did not stop there. From the energy of the first Vine Charger, another sprang forth to capture her Tekorax, and from that, yet another Vine Charger, to drag away her Ancient Horn.

Black ended his turn with a slight grin. His world now consisted of only reeds and vines, but her attacking force had been dealt with as well. In just one turn after a Riptide, he had restored himself to four mana cards, through the power of his Elves, and had restored her mana zone also, to three.

"Cannon Shell to mana. Summon Bronze-Arm Tribe--"
The effect added another Ancient Horn to her mana zone, and she used this power to summon a Poisonous Mushroom, which in turn sent a Divine Riptide from her hand to her mana zone.

"She is fast, and sneaky. She is trying to force our hand, but it seems best to follow her lead. Let them have it."
Black did not hesitate, sending a Blizzard of Spears to mana and chain-casting two Volcano Charger in much the same way, destroying both Arielle's Bronze-Arm and her Poisonous Mushroom. His mana was even with hers again, when she placed her avatar into her mana zone on her next turn.

"Summon Aqua Hulcus..." she drew a card, but did not summon the same card she had drawn, "And Cannon Shell. End turn."

Black now sent a Thrash Crawler to his mana zone, and cast a Eureka Charger. This one involved no chainspell. He used his remaining seven mana to call forth the mighty Twin-Cannon Skyterror. One more turn and Balesk would appear to finish the duel.

Again, Arielle seemed to sense her impending doom, and took steps to prevent it.

"Aqua Knight to mana. Cast Faerie Life, Spiral Gate on your Elf, and another Spiral Gate on your Skyterror. Cannon Shell, attack! Break his shield!"

Black was just about to pick up the card when the mental image of the Colony Beetle's blast striking his Lunatron, snapped him out of it. He did not have that option. Lunatron would not allow any attacks whatsoever. That was the programming of the powerful Cyber Moon.

Today, the Lunatron was not quite powerful enough. Like her Ancient Horn, Arielle's Cannon Shell was capable of drawing power from her defensive line. The blast was so powerful that it obliterated his Lunatron, but she made no further assault. Her turn ended here, leaving Black very slightly confused as to why that was.

"Eureka Charger to mana. Summon Essence Elf, and Twin-Cannon Skyterror. Twin-Cannon, attack the Cannon Shell! Ikei!"
The sky-splitting cannon blasts exchanged between the two caused their entire shared mindspace to rumble, drawing the attention of nearly every duelist in the place. Arielle at full power was something few of them had ever experienced, and to find her in that state, yet her opponent standing up to it, was even rarer. Black's Skyterror's blasts finally overwhelmed her Colony Beetle, and it collapsed to the ground, defeated.

"You seem far less bothered by all this than most people are, little girl. Why is that?" Black finally asked. He was very used to his style of dueling making most opponents nervous, as his power swiftly outstripped theirs. Arielle, in contrast, seemed to be quite content in the situation she currently found herself in.

"I guess you're not that scary for some reason..." she admitted, drawing her card. She had expected it to be something powerful and useful, one of her Abduction Charger, perhaps. As it turned out, it was just a Shtra. She looked over her mana zone, then at her hand, and practically squealed with glee.

"Oooh, ooh! I've always wanted to do this! Dual Fang to mana! Summon Shtra, to return my Ancient Horn to me!"

Black picked up his Volcano Charger, but it did not matter, as the girl now summoned her Ancient Horn, and its mystical energies now flooded her mana zone back to full strength...

"Divine Riptide!"
Black felt his head begin to pound painfully as he picked up each and every card. He was still practically assured a victory, since his Skyterror was still on the field and the girl had already used at least two of her Spiral Gates, but now over half of his deck was in his hand, and most of the rest of it was elsewhere. Arielle's brother brought this to her attention now, with a tone of concern in his voice.

"Elle... what exactly happens inside your head when you win by deck-out?"

The young girl's expression changed instantly to one of confusion and panic. In all her time dueling, she had never experienced such a thing. The recently implemented restriction of all decks to only forty cards, had not even made it likely. She drew more cards and generated more mana than most opponents, and usually even if she was close to decking out, herself, the duel would end. Now she looked over at Black's deck. There were, at most, four cards remaining in it. To her, that seemed rather odd, considering that her own deck was only finally reaching the halfway point, but then she remembered his Bonanza.

"Twenty two cards in hand is fairly retarded..." Black muttered to himself. This confirmed her suspicions. Four cards left. If she could somehow stall him for four turns, she would win, but at what cost to her mind?

"I... I... Aqua Hulcus, break his shield!"
She pointed out one of his Twin-Cannon Skyterror. He picked up the card...

"What? Why... would you give me Twin-Cannon?"

"Um... why not?" she muttered, looking down at her knees and wringing her hands slightly.

"Why not attack something else? A different shield?"
Black was confused now, even if he could only draw four more times before losing, it was practically a sure loss, to give him his Skyterror then. He was not particularly in danger of losing even as things were. Arielle did not answer him anyway.

"Essence Elf to mana. Vine Charger, Vine Charger, Vine Charger! Twin-Cannon Skyterror, double break! Ikei!"

Both shields shattered without trigger, disappointing Arielle slightly, but she had known quite early on that this was a possibility. Black's Elf continued the assault, but the broken shield triggered, whisking one of those Elves away. Black stopped, seemingly contemplative, and ended his turn.

Arielle drew her card, and smiled softly at it. Tangle Fist. She placed it into her mana zone and summoned a Poisonous Mushroom, sending Tekorax to her mana zone now, and followed this with a Bronze-Arm Tribe, which sent another Tekorax there similarly. Black's mind began to spin with possibilities, and questions as to just what the little one had planned to do, if anything. He had two Elves and a Skyterror now. She had only two shields, and practically no chance of both being able to stop him.

"I don't understand it any better than you. Let us attack and see what happens."

"Twin-Cannon Skyterror to mana. Cast Volcano Charger, Volcano Charger, and Soulswap! Essence Elf to mana, and bring forth Twin-Cannon Skyterror. Ikei, Essence Elf, todomeda!"

The dual cannon blasts crashed down around Arielle, stunning her with Black's psychic energy and ending the duel, but a shake of her dark head later, she was good as new, almost unaffected, apparently, by what most spectators considered to be one of the most incredible displays of dueling they had ever witnessed.

"Good deck there..." he finally said, "I haven't seen many Divine Riptides actually work..."

Arielle simply shrugged. Black seemed to stop, speechless for a bit, then he finally asked the question that was nagging at him... "Why did you give me my Skyterror?"

"I... wouldn't want you to lose that way, and I don't know what happens to me if I win that way, either. Mostly, I didn't want such a cool deck to lose by deckout, though."

"You're a nice girl," he laughed, patting her on the head, "But a bit of a silly one as well."

Arielle's face turned to a scowl, "I already let you fix it! Don't pat me! You wouldn't have been able to stop me at all if you had one less Elf out!"

"I see... you're right. But it was the Elves this time... maybe someone else the next time..."

"Nuh uh! Only your Elves could have done it in time. You got lucky cause I didn't know that I could just attack you. You can't stop me without all your power at once, if I attack!"

"Rematch, then, dear?" Black smirked. He felt confident. She had managed to stop Balesk not once, but twice. There was little chance of her managing to do it in this game as well. If he won the second time, she would be immediately eliminated.

"You're on!" she declared, deploying her shields again and placing an Aqua Hulcus into her mana zone. Black began with a Blizzard of Spears to mana this time. Arielle sent her Bronze-Arm Tribe to mana, and cast Faerie Life, in a repeat of their previous game.

"By the way, that Tekorax actually helps?" Black laughed, charging a Mana Bonanza and summoning an Essence Elf.

"Of course," she replied, sending an Aqua Knight to mana and summoning Shtra, causing her Dual Fang, and his Bonanza, to return through the mindspace. Black sent his Bonanza back to mana now, but had no second Elf to summon. Arielle grinned when she drew her card.

"I'm the one that has her helpers this time. Bronze-Arm Tribe to mana. Summon Shtra number two. Number one, ikei!"

Black made a face as she picked up her Bronze-Arm Tribe and broke his shield in one move, causing him to pick up both the shield and his Mana Bonanza. Her psychic energy surged against him now with an extreme tilt, causing him to shiver slightly. He drew his next card, but again, all he could do was place his Bonanza into mana and end his turn. He sighed.

"Cannon Shell to mana. Summon Bronze-Arm Tribe--"
The spell sent another Shtra to her mana zone, but she did not hesitate, using this to cast a Spiral Gate to remove his single Elf, and make it impossible for him to cast any of his charger spells anyway, or launch even the most basic of counterattacks.

"Now, my Shtra will break your shields!" she declared. The defenses shattered, leaving Black unable to do anything but charge a Crystal Memory and summon an Ardent Lunatron. Arielle drew an Aqua Hulcus, laughed as she sent it to mana, and made her final move.

"Bronze-Arm Tribe, evolve into Fighter Dual Fang! Shtra, ikei! Dual Fang, ikei, and Shtra number two, todomeda!"

By the time Hassan Black regained consciousness fully, the eliminations were almost over...