Episode 74. - Dance Of Deck, Duelists' Dream

"And now, for the final duel of this round. Duelist fourteen will face duelist seventy six."

Duelist fourteen was Harriet Torren, and the crowd parted to allow her through, generally so caught up in admiring her that they ignored Libra, who in turn ended up pushing her way through them to the other side of the table. Decks were shuffled and shields deployed.

"Well now, aren't you the cutest thing?" Harriet laughed. It was really the Bombersaur's thought, upon recognizing that the opponent was a Shtra. Libra blushed slightly, trying to hide it. The judges had awarded her first turn. She placed a Critical Blade into mana.

Harriet placed a Tornado Flame, causing Libra to wince as the heat swept over her. Water mana settled this, and an Emeral appeared, but it left Libra's shields untouched. Harriet charged light mana, and calmly passed the turn back to Libra.

"Vile Mulder, Wing of the Void, to mana. Summon Scout Cluster. Emeral, ikei!"

"Now that was an odd one. I'd expect you'd want to hold onto your Demon Command. Mana Nexus to mana, summon Kanesill, the Explorer. End turn."

More water mana spread Libra's ocean up to the volcano peak of Harriet Torren. Her next move took Harriet by surprise. Snake Attack. The Scout Cluster moved first, to Harriet's confusion. She decided it would be best not to block it this time. There were other ways. Emeral did not attack. To do so would be nothing more than suicide.

"Ah, good. They've been coming faithfully all day since I put them in. Amazing that I overlooked the dear things for so long..."
She placed one of the broken shields into her mana zone. A Lunar Charger. Then, summoned the other. Flametropus...

"Aqua Jolter to mana. Summon Splash Zebrafish, and return Critical Blade to my hand from mana, and Scout Cluster to my hand from battle zone."
The Scout Cluster now retreated as they always did. Harriet smirked. This opponent moved around a lot, but that did not imply they could escape.

"Ooh, another one. But I don't need two of you, dear... Flametropus to mana, summon Magmarex!" she declared. The explosive heat of the Rock Beast's arrival scorched Emeral out of existence, leaving the situation clearly in Harriet's hands. The Flametropus rumbled in to break a shield, and Harriet ended her turn.

"Scout Cluster to mana..." Libra sighed, "Cast Critical Blade on your Explorer, and summon Aqua Soldier. Zebrafish, attack Flametropus. Ikei!"
The battle was intense, with the Rock Beast sending burst after burst of flame at the gelatinous swirling mass of liquid. Finally, the Zebrafish managed to drag the Flametropus into the water, but before it could be outright extinguished, it exploded its remaining energy, superheating the water and causing the Zebrafish to also be completely destroyed...

"Burst Shot to mana, cast Lightning Charger..." Harriet declared calmly. The Magmarex quickly cornered the stunned Aqua Soldier, but it, as always, escaped by evaporation. It returned a moment later on Libra's turn, but Harriet did not drive it away again. Instead, she brought her avatar into the battle zone with a triumphant surge of energy, and ended turn.

"A nice run, but I think you are now unable to stop my ultimate soldier. Go, Lancer!"
The Aqua Soldier rose out of the water, its form crystallizing and becoming more powerful. A burst of speed overland brought it to Harriet's shields, and it shattered them effortlessly. The Magmarex that exploded onto the battlefield did not even scratch the freezing creature. Harriet winced slightly. The last time she had encountered a Lancer with serious Kaijudo behind it, had been an unpleasant feeling. It was true. She had nothing left that would stop the great evolved liquid one...

Until she drew her next card.

"Stand back! Gimme room! I can take 'im! Time for a little payback, horse-boy!"
Harriet smiled, casting Lunar Charger, and then, lava and red light burst up around the Bombersaur. Libra could feel the exultant laughter in her mind as it transformed into the one thing that definitely could stop her. Valkrowzer, Ultra Rock Beast!

"Valkrowzer, destroy the Crystal Lancer. Ikei..."
There was no escape from the gigantic fire-rock. The duel had been turned around in an instant, but Libra was not ready to call it over yet. The sound of propellers now filled the air as two of her Hedrians flew into the battle zone.

"That's a bit more than I expected so quickly..." Harriet noted, "Shields up! Mana Nexus!"
The Burst Shot went to her shield zone, and Valkrowzer stomped in, triggering a Spiral Gate which returned one of her Magmarex to her hand. The second one broke the final shield. Now, it was over.

"That... was a fantastic turnaround..." Libra noted, summoning another Soderlight, "Propeller Mutant, ikei!"

The hail of bullets that brought them down, also caused Harriet to lose the Tornado Flame and Magmarex from her hand when they crashed, but her swift action in the face of the situation had ended the problem. The duel was over. She smiled at Libra, tapped her Rock Beast Evolution without declaring the finish, nor surging her energy.

It took awhile, therefore, for Juliet to realize that the duel was over. In the end, that did not matter too much, as the actual judges would now be making the pairings for the second round...

"Crazy stuff out there this year, eh?" Libra nudged Yodaz, as she came to stand beside him. The other duelist nodded, attuning his Kaijudo to that of the young girl that had defeated him. Her number had been called again now, as well as that of Blune Phantom. Their duel would be the next match.

The judges had awarded the first turn to Phantom, as his ability to accelerate was less than Arielle's by a bit. He began not by illuminating the world around him as many of the onlookers would have expected, but instead by placing a Terror Pit as his first mana card...

"Divine Riptide to mana. End turn."
Arielle's power seemed to swirl around Phantom without doing much, as the older duelist now evened out the energy with a Holy Awe, and summoned Sarius, Vizier of Suppression. Arielle's Bronze-Arm Tribe was her next mana card, and a Poisonous Mushroom quickly appeared also, causing a Spiral Gate to go into her mana zone also. The judges had been right...

"You are a very interesting young lady, you know that?" Phantom noted now, sending a Soulswap to his mana zone and summoning a Quixotic Hero. Arielle laughed, and played water mana, summoning Shtra and retrieving her Spiral Gate, causing Phantom's Holy Awe to flow out of his mana zone as well. It returned a moment later, along with a second Vizier of Suppression. They floated calmly there as the Swine Snout charged in to break the first shield. Arielle's energy surged happily. Tangle Fist.

"Tangle Fist to mana! Summon another Shtra, to pick up my Bronze-Arm Tribe. End."
Phantom seemed very slightly unnerved, but he placed the Soulswap that had just left his mana zone, back into it, and attacked again with his Swine Snout. This time, even though the energy was the same, Arielle frowned.

"That's not right... that's weird. Why were they both on top of my deck like that? Cannon Shell to mana, summon Bronze-Arm Tribe, and cast Spiral Gate on your Swine Snout!"

With his sole attacker removed, even if just temporarily, Phantom could do little but summon it again. Arielle sent her next card, one of her Ancient Horns, to mana, and evolved the Bronze-Arm Tribe into the mighty Fighter Dual Fang. This put an Abduction Charger and another Ancient Horn into her mana zone, and using the new power, she cast Spiral Gate again, sending the Quixotic Hero off on its merry way.

Yodaz chuckled to himself. She was definitely quite the young duelist. Phantom would be in all kinds of trouble if she could cast Riptide immediately, but the hum of the girl's mental resonance did not indicate that she would be able to. Dual Fang charged forward, shattering two shields. Neither triggered.

"Holy Awe to mana. Summon Skysword, the Savage Vizier!"
A new shield, and a greater increase in Phantom's world. Arielle seemed not to pay much attention. She now summoned another two Beast Folk. One Bronze-Arm Tribe which sent yet another Spiral Gate to the mana zone, and her avatar...

The shockwave of Tangle Fist's arrival in the battle zone made more than one duelist involuntarily back away from the table. Arielle yelped a quick 'Sorry!' to the room, and sent her Dual Fang in to attack. The first shield it broke was the shield that Skysword had generated, so it greatly surprised her when it triggered a dark pit that swallowed up her great Beast Folk warrior. The other card that Skysword had pulled off the top of Phantom's deck, had also been a Terror Pit. That one had gone into the mana zone.

The other shield did not trigger. Arielle pouted, and ended her turn. Phantom breathed with relief, then sent his Earth Ripper, Talon of Rage, to mana, and summoned a Sarius and two Quixotic Hero. Arielle's speed had fallen short in the face of his blocking force, and her ways of moving that wall of "Suppression" had been used up in the effort of holding off the Swine Snout. On her next turn, with his power now closing in on her slightly, she did the one thing she could do, with the shield that Skysword had broken a moment before...

"Aqua Hulcus to mana, cast Divine Riptide!"
Their worlds began to unravel in a maelstrom of shifting energies, causing Phantom to grimace slightly, and his creatures to look around in what appeared to be confusion even for the Viziers of Suppression. Soon, it was over, and nothing remained. That was about to change easily...

"Now, Tangle Fist, weave back my world!" she laughed, tapping the card in her battle zone. Her Ancient Horns and one Aqua Knight returned to her mana zone. She stopped to think a little, but finally decided not to attack, but simply to end her turn. There was still too little she could actually do.

In the end, she had saved herself from the surge of his Kaijudo. Though he was easily able to break all her shields and win on the next turn, the level of psychic energy behind it was mild, and Arielle lost the duel with a gentle, mischievous smile on her young face. This, again, seemed to make Juliet take a bit longer to actually announce the next game...

"Duelist sixty four versus duelist eighty seven!"
Burner emerged from the crowd yet again, finding himself face to face with Shu Lon. He steeled himself for the task ahead, muttering something about how it was going to be tough. He had seen Shu face Rusty at the North American Championship. More importantly, due to Burner's speed and Shu's discarding, Shu would be going first.

The darkness began with a Critical Blade, Shu's writhing miasma of mental projection closing in on Burner immediately. Burner's dual Fire-Nature mana did little to drive it back. Shu placed his next card, a Terror Pit, and ended turn.

"Quixotic Hero to mana, summon Quixotic Hero. End turn."
Shu, again, drew his next card and sent it straight to mana, causing Yodaz to smirk, and, across from him, Gene Kirricort, to nod at that smirk, remembering the conversation the two had had months ago about this exact thing. Shu now summoned a Horrid Worm.

"Twin-Cannon Skyterror, to mana. Summon Bronze-Arm Tribe. Swine Snout, ikei!"
The shield did not trigger, but the attack left Burner a bit more vulnerable than he was used to. Shu again placed his drawn card into his mana zone, and cast Death Smoke on Burner's Bronze-Arm Tribe. The other Beast Folk was quickly overwhelmed by the Horrid Worm, and Burner discarded a third. His Wind-Axe, Warrior Savage. He actually seemed relieved at this, and his next play showed exactly why...

"Pyrofighter Magnus, to mana. Summon Bronze-Arm Tribe, and then cast Soulswap, to bring out my Twin-Cannon Skyterror. Obliterate that worm! Ikei!"
The crowd went into a buzz of excitement at this move, and the screech of the Skyterror, followed by the sound of its blasting cannons, echoed in the minds of those receptive to it.

Shu calmly sent his next card from the top of his deck to mana yet again, completely ignoring whatever it could be, and cast his next spell. The darkness engulfed the Skyterror, aging it to dust in no time at all. Proclamation of Death.

"Yeah, you definitely weren't gonna make this easy for me..."
Burner simply summoned his next card. Swine Snout again. For the first time, Shu actually held onto the card he drew, placing his Gigamente to mana instead and summoning another of the odd Chimera. Burner had not seen this one before. This was a new card altogether. Now, Burner drew his next card and scoffed. He could not even summon this one. An Aqua Hulcus. He placed it into his mana zone and attacked another shield with his Swine Snout.

Shu let the dark train trigger, even though Burner's hand was now empty. More creatures was always a good thing, and it was not likely that the confident duelist would be holding any cards in hand any time soon. Shu's discarding ability had reached the limit of its effectiveness. He summoned his Shadow Moon without playing any mana at all, and the Gigamente bore down on the Quixotic Hero, easily defeating it with the dark aura the Shadow Moon had granted it.

Burner sighed a bit, but nodded to himself. He still had ways, and his charging forces would not be stopped easily. He drew his card, and smirked.
"Rumbling Terahorn!"

The image was not only of the Terahorn, but of a Terahorn with the mighty Gonta riding in on its back. Burner smirked as his avatar's energy spread out through the battle zone. Even Shu's power could not easily stop such a thing. Shu frowned slightly, as his turn began, and the power of his Gigamente became more obvious. The Horrid Worm returned to him from the graveyard. He drew his own avatar card, pushing back Burner's power, but with his discard already fully effective, he did nothing more than summon the Horrid Worm and end his turn. Burner would have to get a very effective card from the top of his deck to outright stop Shu at this point regardless.

Burner drew that card, and summoned it. Bronze-Arm Tribe. It sent an Aqua Surfer to his mana zone. The Terahorn and Warrior Savage remained poised, but did not attack. Burner had long since figured out exactly what form of threat Shu posed, and now, he was totally willing to wait for the chance to make his final strike count.

Shu, on the other hand, was completely ready to begin the attacking. The next card from the top of his deck was a Death Smoke, which he cast on Gonta without hesitation, causing Burner to cough. Gigamente broke one shield, and the Horrid Worm another, devouring it. Burner discarded the card. Magmadragon Jagalzor. He did not seem bothered, once the shield broken by the Horrid Worm triggered. An Aqua Surfer.

The Liquid one washed away the Shadow Moon, stripping the dark energy away from the Locomotiver, Horrid Worm, and Gigamente. Shu ended his turn. Burner breathed with relief. That would be enough. As long as nothing triggered to destroy his creatures, this was it. It would be over if he were fortunate enough to draw a Speed Attacker at this point, and even if not, he could at least clear Shu's field.

He got the card he needed.

"I summon Magmadragon Jagalzor! Terahorn, break shield! Ikei!"
It shattered without trigger, causing Jagalzor to roar in triumph and surge in towards the remaining two shields. Neither of those triggered either, and the Aqua Surfer swept in to deliver the final blow. Burner could not manage to put too much energy behind it, certainly not enough to throw Shu's writhing aura off balance, but the duel was won. Burner exhaled a breath of exhausted relief, and shook Shu's hand firmly.

"You... are a scary guy..." he admitted. Shu simply smirked gently, his Kaijudo receding inside, except for one tendril that moved off in the direction of the announcer's table, to poke Juliet. She quickly continued with her job for the day.

"Victory to duelist sixty four! Next up, duelists twenty seven and one twenty three!"
Rusty Kouizo and Eugene Pradian. Pradian had seen Rusty handle his friend Jeff, and was now preparing himself mentally for the task ahead.

"May the best man win," he nodded to Rusty. For some reason, the judges had awarded first turn to Rusty rather than Pradian. Pradian drew his cards and groaned. Something was clearly odd with his shuffling today. Three of his Rothus, the Traveler, were now in his hand. It was going to be an exceedingly difficult duel if other creatures did not become available quite fast. Rusty charged nature mana, a Torcon.

Pradian drew an Aqua Hulcus, and of course, put one Rothus into his mana zone. Rusty placed his avatar into mana, and summoned his Quixotic Hero. Pradian drew a Terror Pit and placed it into his mana. The situation was correcting itself. All he would need now, was a darkness or fire creature that he could actually summon, or one more water card to provide mana for summoning his Hulcus.

"Roar of the Earth to mana. Summon Aqua Hulcus. Swine Snout, ikei."

Fortunately for Pradian, Rusty's attack provided exactly what he needed. A good thing, considering that his next card had, indeed, been a darkness creature, but not one he would have been able to summon. Rather, a Locomotiver. The shield, on the other hand, was another Aqua Hulcus.

"Aqua Hulcus to mana. Summon Aqua Hulcus. End turn."
He drew an Aqua Surfer by the Hulcus' effect, and smiled at this. Things would not be that hard to salvage from here. Rusty charged water mana. An Energy Stream, and summoned another Quixotic Hero. The first one attacked, triggering a Terror Pit which dragged away the Aqua Hulcus. Things were definitely looking up for Pradian. His next card, was his avatar, just in time to calm him for the difficult decision he faced now.

"If you summon Rothus now we can deal with him a bit more easily than if you do not, but if he tries to evolve the other Swine Snout, and can play something else, Rothus will not help us... Decide quickly. It may not matter too much, which way things go."

Pradian decided easily. If the Hulcus attacked the Swine Snout, and the other did evolve, it could perhaps draw the impending Dual Fang's attention away from his shields, and if it did not, other possibilities would open. He did not summon, merely playing his Aqua Surfer to mana and attacking the Swine Snout with his Aqua Hulcus.

Rusty charged nature mana and cast Energy Stream, ending his turn. Pradian smirked.

"Locomotiver to mana. Summon Smash Warrior Stagrandu. End turn."
Rusty had somewhat lost a few options. Pradian knew this. To evolve anything now would put it directly in the path of the Smash Warrior's onslaught, and even summoning a Blocker would not help enough. With two Rothus in hand and an Aqua Hulcus to complete its effect, either the Blocker or the Dual Fang itself would have to go.

Rusty had a different plan in mind.
"Summon Bronze-Arm Tribe, generate mana... summon Aqua Hulcus."

Pradian burst out laughing at the situation. He had a card in his hand that could deal with it, but it was not exactly the ideal situation for needing to use it. Nevertheless he accepted the shield that the Quixotic Hero now broke, and did not hesitate on his own turn, when, to his surprise, he drew his fourth Rothus.

"Searing Wave!"
The energy of Pradian's mana zone exploded outward, causing him to send one Rothus and one Locomotiver to his graveyard. The heatwave swept over Rusty's three creatures, destroying them, leaving his battle zone devoid of life.

He remedied that a moment later, placing Torcon into mana and summoning an Aqua Guard, instantly evolving it into his mighty avatar. The Crystal Lancer shattered Pradian's final two shields, and, as Rusty had surmised, an Aqua Surfer triggered from them. Pradian smiled mischievously as the Surfer came to a calm stop, simply walking onto the battlefield, board in hand. It did not remove Rusty's Crystal Lancer. A showdown of avatar creatures was about to occur.

"I summon Simian Warrior Grash! Smash Warrior, attack the Crystal Lancer! Ikei!"
Stagrandu's power was always quite special. Against weaker creatures, the giant rocket propelled metal mallet-hand was a worthless addition that did nothing but slow the Armorloid down. Against something as large as a Crystal Lancer, that attachment spelled doom.

The thrust systems of the Armorloid's 'mallet hand' fired up, and it charged in at the Crystal Lancer. There was no way for the Lancer to escape. Even if it had not attacked, Stagrandu's programming would have made it possible.

"Gotcha!"
The weapon shattered the body of the Lancer powerfully. Pradian ended his turn, but still made a face, and said aloud...

"I think I lost..."

Rusty drew his card and ended his turn. Pradian drew another Searing Wave, placed his Tornado Flame into his mana zone, and summoned another Rothus. Grash did his tinkering, and Rothus rumbled into Rusty's territory on a self-destructive suicide mission, destroying one mana card and delaying any possible appearances of a Fighter Dual Fang. Rusty drew his card and placed his Swine Snout into mana. He could only wait, and hope to evolve quickly to deliver a finishing blow.

"Aqua Surfer to mana. Summon Hourglass Mutant, and Rothus, the Traveler!"
Another explosion yet again delayed any chance of Dual Fang appearing, but Pradian knew what Rusty's deck was like. It was really only a matter of time. He could not afford to delay for too long, yet he could not attack and risk giving Rusty exactly what he needed.

"Hang on... deciding..."
Rusty nodded, watching as Pradian carefully considered the state of his mana zone.

"Go for it now, whilst he can't quite manage the Dual Fang. If the Lancer reappears, we were more or less doomed anyway!"
Pradian nodded in response to his avatar, and sent his Aqua Hulcus to break one shield, then his Surfer to shatter another. That shattering caused Rusty's Kaijudo to powerfully surge, and Pradian instantly knew. It had gone wrong.

Rusty calmly flipped the top card of his deck into his mana zone, not even bothering to check what it was first. It was, actually, a Dual Fang. In their minds now, Rusty did not actually summon the Aqua Guard first. He simply tapped all his mana, combined two cards into one, and placed that single creature on the field... tapped. Crystal Lancer.

"Todomeda."
The crowd erupted into cheers, and Rusty's energy blasted over Pradian powerfully. When the younger duelist managed to compose himself finally, after Juliet had announced Rusty the winner, he asked the question that would have haunted him greatly if he did not.

"You got the Lancer from your shields, or were you holding it all that time?"

Rusty smirked, "Both the Lancer and the Guard came from the broken shields... But I was still ready... Bronze-Arm and Dual Fang were in my hand also."

Pradian sighed. The "Liquid Beast" was an overwhelming creature. Now, the next pairing came over the announcement system, Juliet's voice carrying through the room...

"Now duelist seventy three will face duelist eighty nine! Good luck to you both!"
Leo Motane stepped forward, shuffling his deck. Mughees Drynn appeared from the same side of the crowd, and circled the table to his own place. This was an epic tournament...