Episode 69. - Depths Of Contemplation

Arumisa Tel'Unbra shook her short braids, the beads in them making a soft sound as she sat opposite Angga. Dark skin gleamed in the fading afternoon light of the small shop. She smiled at him.

"Me first?"

Angga nodded, settling himself. The new player in his area was a young woman a bit older than him, and she had been quite successful with a deck Angga had never heard of. It had taken nearly a week for him to be able to arrange a duel with her, since their schedules were usually quite different. Now, Angga Rahadyan ran a hand through his own dark hair as Arumisa placed an Ice Vapor, Shadow of Anguish into her mana zone.

"Oh dear... wow..." Angga noted, drawing his sixth card and manacharging a Bluum Erkis, Flare Guardian.

"Hm?" Arumisa asked, smiling pleasantly and adding another Ghost to her mana zone, causing the dim light of the shop to seem even darker to Angga now.

"I heard it was Ghosts, but I guess I did not truly believe it."

She sent another Ice Vapor to mana, following his Diamond Cutter, and summoned a Gray Balloon, Shadow of Greed. She nodded to him. It was definitely ghosts. Angga found himself slightly nervous for some reason, even as he charged more Light mana to drive her wisping shadows back, and summoned a Pala Olesis, Morning Guardian.

The Guardian faced the looming ghost now, in the still of night, over an ocean. The wind whipped around Angga's form as he stood on the deck of an aircraft carrier, looking at Arumisa in the distance. She floated peacefully over the water, her Gray Balloon beside her. Presently, a Shadow Moon joined that, and Angga was now able to charge more water mana and summon a second Pala Olesis.

"I had heard it was Guardians... but I guess I did not truly believe it," Arumisa smiled. She charged Melnia, the Aqua Shadow, and summoned the card she had drawn. A Wailing Shadow Belbetphlo. Angga shuddered. This was going to get very problematic if she started to stack up Slayers. He charged mana. The increase in his Kaijudo quickly alerted Arumisa.

"Petrova?" came the inquisitive thought from a phantom presence on her side. Angga's avatar sent an affirmative response, seeking the form of its adversary, and finally finding it, a shape hard to recognize, but still very potent. Jack Viper, Shadow of Doom...

"Summon Mist Rias, Sonic Guardian."
The sky was not fully illuminated even now, but it was quite clear, on Angga's side, full of stars. Light radiated onto the hull of his ship, from the Guardians on either side. Arumisa's half of the world was shrouded in darkness, the waves whipping up below her. A storm brewing. It was even more potent when she drew her next card. That very storm. Fortunately for Angga, the young lady was one mana short...

"Agh..." she muttered, looking at her hand. A Terror Pit and a Hydro Hurricane. No way to tell which one she truly needed to cast, and she was not quite willing to give up either one in order to cast the other.

"You have a headache?" Angga asked now, sensing the strange reaction in Arumisa's mind as a result of her indecision.

"Not... exactly. I dislike having this sort of luck. I need more practice... End turn."

Angga drew his card, and, without playing any mana, added to the pressure on Arumisa's mind. His avatar now made its appearance, powerfully illuminating his ship and driving back the encroaching shadows. Petrova, Channeler of Suns.

Arumisa shielded her eyes, her Ghosts around her now hissing with displeasure at the glorious illumination that the lady of light now provided. Angga did not even need to declare the effect. It was too obvious. They now shimmered with solar power. Mist Rias glowed, activating a new mechanism on the carrier deck. Immediately, Arumisa knew that her decision had been wrong...

She sent the Wisp Howler that she drew now, to her mana zone, and performed the move she should have done a turn earlier. The waters whipped up around her, and the storm moved in. Hydro Hurricane.

The powerful spell rocked the carrier, driving the three Guardians back into the mobile water fortress. Petrova weathered the storm easily. Arumisa bit her lip in contemplation. The storm would allow her ghosts to assault the carrier's shields, and if she waited, the two Pala Olesis were fairly sure to be quickly deployed again, yet something told her not to overdo it...

"Just Belbetphlo. If you send the Moon, it will trigger Holy Awe. Know this..." Jack now warned his human side. Arumisa hesitated.

"Wailing Shadow, break shield. Ikei..."
There was no trigger. Arumisa twitched. She really desperately wanted to make this quick before the guardian blockers returned. She made her second mistake. Disregarding Jack's warning. The Shadow Moon cast its dark spell to shatter the shield, and it blasted light back upon her creatures. Holy Awe.

She bowed her head miserably, feeling Jack's 'scolding'. Angga charged more water mana, and returned his two Pala Olesis to the field, but the true damage had been done. The Gray Balloon could no longer help. The Shadow Moon was vulnerable. Petrova made it quick, but the Ghost's wail made it clear that it was not at all painless.

Arumisa's Terror Pit now swallowed up one of the Morning Guardians, and the Wailing Shadow made a vengeful rush for the Channeler of Suns. The second Morning Guardian got into the way, and the Wailing Shadow's death scream dragged it down into the water along with the dissipating Ghost. The Guardians would protect their leader...

"Energy Stream, to mana. Summon Mist Rias, Sonic Guardian, and La Ura Giga, Sky Guardian."

Arumisa drew her card, and groaned. Angga wondered if something was wrong, again, and in a sense, it was. She had drawn her Jack Viper. A perfect time to appear, had her Wailing Shadow still been there. Now, it made no sense to even summon the creature. She ended her turn, looking at her hand despondently.

Angga charged more Water mana and summoned another Mist Rias, as well as a Jil Warka, though he only drew one new card for this. Arumisa summoned a new Gray Balloon, causing the Mist Rias to activate, but again, only one of them. Angga was being careful with his forces. He charged more water mana. A Crystal Memory.

"La Ura Giga, evolve into Glena Vuele, the Hypnotic! Summon Jil Warka, Time Guardian!"
Surprisingly to Arumisa, Angga only drew two cards by the effect of his Mist Rias, and ended his turn there, with no attack from Glena.

"Doesn't the Scarlet Skyterror or Crystal Paladin worry you?" she asked quietly, sending a Snake Attack to her mana zone, summoning the Shadow Moon she had just drawn, and evolving her Gray Balloon into her avatar.

"It does..." Angga replied, his mind quickly adjusting to the equalizing of power. He sent an Energy Stream to his mana zone, summoned an Aqua Hulcus and the largest craft of his carrier. Bluum Erkis, Flare Guardian.

"That is why, as you can see, I put in some cards that will let me be aggressive regardless."

"It seems I may not be able to keep up. Melnia, the Aqua Shadow. End turn."

Angga took a deep breath, sighed, and sent his Pala Olesis to his mana zone. Petrova glowed with power, and the two spells came forth from the shining carrier. Angga's glasses shimmered as the Holy Awe's power combined with that of the Diamond Cutter, bathing the entire world in light. Arumisa did not actually see when Bluum Erkis fired. She merely sighed as the two superpowered Guardians, Bluum Erkis and Glena Vuele, shattered her defenses, and an Aqua Hulcus leapt out of the water directly after that to shatter the last. She had no triggers. It was over.

"Petrova, Channeler of Suns... Todomeda."

Petrova floated past Jack, almost apologetically delivering the final blow.
"It was good, but it seems you were always one turn behind..."

"Certain people need to learn to listen..." Jack howled softly. Arumisa lowered her head sadly, accepting the finishing blow. Angga's Kaijudo did not spare her, as Jack had mentally requested of Petrova. Arumisa would have to remember this particular defeat very well, if she was to improve in time for the Grand Tournament. Both she and Angga were to be there, and now, the young woman found herself hoping that she would not have to face him then...

Thousands of miles away, an early morning duel was taking place of similar proportions. A tea shop in a park. Libra had agreed to meet Sniper Randnum there for a duel. Sniper had decided to remain in the United States with family for awhile, as he was not currently attending classes at the university he had been sent to in Sweden. He had been able to get in touch with the only other duelist in the surrounding area that had received an invitation to the KirriCorp Grand Tournament. Libra Selene.

Now, Sniper sipped his tea. Libra gave him an odd look and pouted. He deployed his shields quite casually, wondering why she looked that way.

"Something wrong? You can go first."

She drew her five cards, and, finding her avatar amongst them, felt herself shaken with a strange feeling of discontent. Not at seeing Shtra, but of something she could not place. Sniper did not react much to this apparent internal conflict in his opponent. She made her usual opening move. Dark Reversal to her mana zone.

It was then, that she felt what was off, as Sniper placed his Twin-Cannon Skyterror into his mana zone. She frowned.

"I have a bad feeling my shields are all Emerals and Propeller Mutants..." she noted now, as he ended his turn. She charged water mana, and he charged light, in the form of his avatar.

"Sol Galla, Halo Guardian."
This was the beginning of the illumination of the skyline, for Sniper. More Water mana filled Libra's marine power supply, and her Aqua Soldier rose partway out of the water to face the hovering Guardian. Sniper sipped his tea, and added another to the battle zone.

Libra drew her card, and sighed, her previous trepidation vanishing easily.
"I guess they can't all be Emeral or Mutants. Emeral to mana, summon Shtra."

"Yes, let us stop anything too problematic before it arrives..."
She retrieved the same Emeral, and Sniper picked up his own avatar by the effect of Libra's. His own turn was nothing more than charging his water mana, shifting his world's water into existence. The dawn light streamed from behind both Sniper and Libra in a beautiful impossibility, and now, the true conflict began.

"You come here often?" Phal laughed now, an indirect way of asking Shtra if her own appearance was actually vital to the deck he now faced.

"Not really. I come when I like..." the Cyber Lord replied, seeming deep in thought regarding what exactly should be done with the card that had now become available to Libra.

"You must like slowing me down, then..." Phal noted.

"I like slowing everyone down..." Shtra replied, "Provided they are slower than be to begin with... Now, let's see... what shall I do with you..."

Libra had an Aqua Jolter in her hand, along with an Emeral and a Critical Blade, and finally, Soderlight, the Cold Blade. It was making for a very difficult set of decisions. Finally, she made her choice, sending the Jolter to mana, summoning the Emeral, and unknown to Sniper, swapping the Soderlight in her hand, for one in her shields. This event seemed to make her content, and she cast Critical Blade on one of the Halo Guardians, ending her turn even as the spell's power slashed the shining one in two.

Sniper's turn involved sending one Locomotiver to mana, and summoning another, causing the same Soderlight to be consumed in the black smoke and taken from her. She sent her Aqua Surfer to mana on her own turn, and let Shtra make the first attack...

Sniper did not block this. The shield did not trigger either. He sipped his tea and continued, seeming to lose himself in his own analysis. Finally, he placed a Holy Awe into his mana zone, and cast Crystal Memory.

"I can really see the differences in strategy now that everyone has stopped using the 'kill everything in sight via spell' technique," Libra noted, "Sadly, your Locomotiver stopped me before I could 'negate' some of your spell effects by summoning something strong enough to survive some of it. Oh well. I will hope for a Zebrafishie."

"Yes, it did relieve me to realize what I had discarded. Now... do I attack Shtra?"
The Halo Guardian shimmered with the residual energy from the Crystal Memory, and now streaked in to do just that, striking the Cyber Lord and dissipating it into the water.

Her Aqua Soldier retaliated almost instantly in Sniper's mind, confusing him slightly, until he realized that, although she had drawn her card, she had neither played mana nor summoned. The Soldier battled the Halo Guardian well, without Sol's extra power available to it, and returned to base via evaporation when it was over. Emeral quickly moved in to break another shield, as usual. She was not about to let chances slip past.

Sniper drew his card, and sent his Apocalypse Vise to his mana zone, then tapped three mana, leaving one Light and one Fire available. Energy Stream.

"Crimson Hammer on your Emeral. End turn."

Libra drew a card. A new Shtra. Her Kaijudo flared, taking Sniper by surprise and nearly causing him to spill his tea on himself.

"Now here is an uncomfortable decision..." she noted, leaning over to check the cards in her opponent's mana zone, "... Oh. Or not. Aqua Soldier to mana. Summon Shtra, retrieve Aqua Surfer."

"Bah!" Sniper laughed, setting his cup down and picking up a Locomotiver to add to his hand. This surprised Libra a bit. She had made that play because Sniper only had one Darkness mana, the Locomotiver itself, and she did not expect him to choose that one through Shtra's time bending effect.

He charged a Dark Reversal, and summoned the dark train, robbing her of a Spiral Gate.
"How many do you run, incidentally?"

She drew her Snake Attack, replying, "Two..."

"Ooh, now here is something I have not been able to personally do in awhile..." Shtra laughed gleefully, instantly putting Phal on guard.

"Snake Attack!" Libra declared. The shield energy erupted into dark psionic snakes, guided by the will of the Cyber Lord to the shields of the dawn. Dark triggers seared the snaking energy, a Terror Pit swallowing up the Cyber Lord, and a Ghost Touch dragging away the Surfer. Surprisingly to Sniper, Libra's Kaijudo seemed to celebrate hitting them both.

"Haha, got them! Well... the Ghost Touch wasn't as nice, but I was hoping to hit Terror Pit."

"I was kind of hoping it would just stay there..." Sniper said, "Pala Olesis, Morning Guardian."

He declared only one, but he had summoned two of the creatures. Libra's mouth made a small 'o', as the obvious sound of 'oooh' was made.

"That's going to require a Lancer..." she noted in a mutter, as Sniper simultaneously wondered to himself, aloud, if he should spring the trap Emeral had set for him.

"Ah, true..." he realized, "That could cause me to walk directly into a Lancer... But... you only have five mana and no hand, so if it triggers... Locomotiver, ikei!"

The shield did not trigger, surprising the pale duelist. Libra laughed to herself.
"Actually, the funny part of that is..."

"Wait, it wasn't a trap?"

"I needed to play Emmy and the Critical Blade... but I wanted you to think Emmy was working, so I put down..." she tapped her mana now, placing the card into the battle zone, and having the large crystalline scorpion rise out of her ocean. Soderlight.

"And picked up Soderlight too. Although you discarded that. Sometimes I wonder if I can truly sense what cards are where. Some days it feels very much that way..."

"Ah, I love games like this... so much thinking..."

"Yes, now you cannot outright attack, so it will have to soak up one of your larger destructive spells..." At this point Sniper casted a Terror Pit-- "And there it is..."

The scorpion sank into the dark vortex beneath the waves again, but Libra drew another, instantly summoning it, and smiling at Sniper Randnum.
"Hehe... try again..."

"Ah, no! Come on deck... give me something sexy to deal with this..."

"Few things are quite 'sexy enough' at this point."

He drew his card, and frowned, then sent the Aqua Hulcus to his mana zone, casting Ghost Touch to drag away her Crystal Lancer, and summoning his avatar at last...

"Now let's try this again, without the trickery..." Phal noted, as the Terror Pit spell returned to Sniper's hand. Shtra seemed to smile at her counterpart.

"You need not worry, you have just discarded my 'trickery' anyway," the Cyber Lord admitted as the Aqua Soldier now joined the Soderlight in the battle zone. Soderlight streamed forward through the water, leaving a dark wake, and crashing into another shield. Sniper picked it up, and drew his card.

"Will you throw yourself against Soderlight?" Shtra now laughed, but her mirth was cut short by the spell that came. Rumble Gate. Phal swooped down, firing a bolt of shining energy into the body of the Spirit Quartz. For a moment it almost looked like Soderlight would be able to counterattack, but then suddenly, it simply shattered, its shards sinking beneath the water. Pala Olesis quickly dealt with the Aqua Soldier, and the Locomotiver broke another shield. It did not trigger. Another Soldier.

"Splash Zebrafish to mana. Summon Aqua Soldier, and Aqua Soldier. You were definitely going to get Lanced to death... though I expected to see a Twin-Cannon by now..."

Sniper pointed at the card in his mana zone, to remind Libra of where it was. She blushed sheepishly. It had, after all, been his first mana card.

"Right... I knew I was doing all this for a reason... just forgot what it was..."

"Crystal Memory to mana. Crimson Hammer, and Terror Pit..."
The Soldiers escaped to 'base', and the final assault began. The dark trains streaked in, shattering the two final shields, and Phal loomed towards her, as Libra now had nothing in her battle zone at all.

"Phal Eega, Dawn Guardian. Todomeda."