Episode 9. - Knowledge Is Power

"And that one?" Yodaz asked, looking over at the duelist. The person he was examining had long silver hair tied up in a ponytail behind his head, and piercing grey eyes. He shuffled his deck, the long-sleeved white shirt he wore contrasting against his tanned skin as his hands moved deftly amongst the cards. Libra sighed at how out of touch Yodaz was currently. Ever since he had disappeared for that week, he seemed to be in a different reality.

"That is Hong Kong's constructed champion. Shinji Nykahrii," she answered, "I don't know much about him or his deck. Some people say he's good, others claim he's just lucky."

Yodaz nodded slowly. The duelist hardly seemed to project much Kaijudo in his opinion. His opponent did not either. This was most likely not going to be anywhere near as 'explosive' as the last incident. He moved a bit closer to watch. Not too many of the other spectators were paying attention to this duel. They were apparently hyped about another pair in the far corner of the room. Yodaz had decided to ignore that duel. There was no Kaijudo there at all. So much for the sponsor's claims of only inviting duelists that showed potential in the art.

"Shields deployed," Nykahrii said calmly to his opponent, Razim Klein. Razim nodded, acknowledging similar status, and allowed Nykahrii to charge his first mana. Light mana.

"Oh, brother..." Yodaz sighed, turning to walk away.

"Hm? What? What's weird?" Libra asked in a whisper, looking at the Logic Cube that the silver-haired duelist had placed in his mana zone. Then she remembered Yodaz's general opinion of the Light civilization. She pouted slightly, then grabbed Yodaz by the sleeve and yanked him back. He scowled at her, but then sighed and settled down to watch the duel, mentally admitting to himself that he really had little else to do at this moment.

Klein charged water mana, and ended his turn. Nykahrii responded with nature mana this time, and did not do anything either. Not a totally unexpected beginning to a match, but by now Yodaz was used to opponents trying to summon on their second turn, in order to 'get at him' somehow. Nykahrii and Klein were both very calm, however. Klein charged nature mana of his own. A Fighter Dual Fang, next to his Spiral Gate. Either a simple deck, or he was doing his best to hide its true purpose for as long as he could.

Nykahrii drew his card and charged water mana now, and summoned an Essence Elf. This prompted another groan from Yodaz.
"What is it with that card. Twice in one day?"

Klein charged more nature mana. Natural Snare, and ended his turn.
"It seems I have a bad hand..."

Nykahrii regarded him almost benevolently, as he charged more light mana of his own and summoned Miele, Vizier of Lightning.
"I noticed... Essence Elf, ikei."

"They've got to be kidding," Yodaz noted, "Are they friends or something?"

"Shield Trigger. Spiral Gate. Essence Elf."

Nykahrii nodded and ended his turn. As he did so, his eyes locked with those of Yodaz for a moment. Nykahrii smirked. Yodaz suddenly felt cold and odd. Kaijudo. So the Hong Kong champion had at least something going for him, even if he did use Light civilization cards.

Klein drew his card, sighed, and placed another Fighter Dual Fang in his mana zone, then summoned a Revolver Fish. Nykahrii charged more nature mana, an Essence Elf, and summoned Mist Rias, Sonic Guardian. His Kaijudo suddenly swirled around him as if alive. Cold yet non-threatening. Yodaz's eyes narrowed suspiciously. He had never felt Kaijudo like this before. Nykahrii ended his turn, and Klein drew his card, sending a Mana Nexus to the mana zone. Five mana now. One blocker. Water and Nature in the deck. Yodaz instantly knew what was coming.

"Corile, to return your Mist Rias. End turn."

Nykahrii smiled. Against the Sonic Guardian, Corile's effect was no more than that of Spiral Gate. He drew his card, charged Light mana, and summoned a Senatine Jade Tree, then ended his turn. He did not bother to replace the Mist Rias on the field. Instead, his Kaijudo seemed to reach out into the room, and they were all swept into his mindspace.

There, Nykahrii and his opponent seemed to be standing in shallow water, where vines twisted and water lilies moved. Yodaz raised an eyebrow at the peaceful oddness of the scene. The only difference between them, was the fact that Nykahrii's 'side' was more illuminated than that of Klein. Klein's Kaijudo was no weaker, however, and he drew his card again.

"Corile, to return your Jade Tree. Corile, ikei."

"Shield Trigger," Nykahrii smirked, showing the Dimension Gate card to his opponent, and, within their minds, opening the portal to undo the semi-magical effect of the Corile. He sent the same Senatine Jade Tree back to his hand, and left Klein a bit perplexed, and more than a little annoyed. So far, that was two Corile that had been unable to phase the duelist. Still, one shield had been broken, so in the end, Nykahrii had still been robbed of a card...

"So why don't I feel better about that..." he murmured to himself as he ended his turn.

Nykahrii drew his card, and summoned the Mist Rias instead now, yet again illuminating his area of the battle zone. The two Corile and their defending fish seemed quite unaffected. They were free to do as they liked. So why had the champ left things so untouched?

"Two Corile already, and no real effect," Yodaz noted, "Looks like this one is in trouble. Hmph. If this wasn't Light, I'd be sure this was already over. That's what happens when you try to use just water and nature cards."

Klein drew his card, and smirked, sending his Illusionary Merfolk to mana, much to the surprise of everyone watching. However, he soon 'redeemed' himself by summoning the other he had been holding, and drawing three cards. Nykahrii calmly drew one card for himself.

"Heh. That's better," Yodaz remarked, as Klein's previously ineffective Kaijudo steadily rose.

"Corile, ikei," -- Yodaz sighed at this. The attack might have been necessary due to the nature of Light cards, but he didn't like the idea of attacking his opponent at this point any more than necessary. For good reason...

"Shield Trigger. Amber Grass," Shinji announced calmly. His side of the battle zone became a little brighter, as did his expression, when Klein declared the second attack and returned another shield to his hand. His Kaijudo spiked powerfully now, leaving Yodaz to wonder what he could have obtained. There was no one card that could turn this situation around, that he could think of.

However, Shinji Nykahrii was not a 'one card' kind of duelist. He drew his card, and sent his Aqua Hulcus to his mana zone.
"I summon Senatine Jade Tree--" he drew a card at this point, as Mist Rias shone brightly, "--cast Spiral Gate on your Revolver Fish, and cast Sword of Benevolent Life. Miele... Amber Grass, destroy the Coriles... Mist Rias, break his shield. Ikei."

Klein's Kaijudo wavered wildly as his advantage seemed to disappear. His only counterattacking card was only as strong as Nykahrii's blocker. His shield triggered. Faerie Life. It caused him to charge the other Faerie Life that had been sitting atop his deck, to his mana zone. That might be good. Nykahrii calmly ended his turn, leaving his opponent blinking slightly after the blinding three-pronged assault.

"I must get rid of that Mist Rias..." Klein thought to himself, "But I'll lose even more ground to do it..."

He charged his own Aqua Hulcus to mana, and played a Spiral Gate on the Jade Tree, then summoned a Bronze-Arm Tribe, charging more nature mana, and allowing Nykahrii to draw yet another card, as the Sonic Guardian glowed. Finally, he summoned the Revolver Fish again, and yet again, his adversary's creature glowed, allowing Shinji one more card from his deck, before Klein's Illusionary Merfolk rose up against the Guardian and brought it down. Klein ended his turn. The Guardian was gone. Perhaps now he could regain some of the lost ground.

"You aren't used to this level of competition, are you?" Nykahrii asked his opponent as he drew his card, "People you know can play their cards, but they can't play this game yet, can they...?"

Klein tilted his head, eyeing Nykahrii suspiciously as the silver haired one charged more nature mana.
"There's no difference."

"Oh, there is a difference. I summon Miele, Vizier of Lightning, to tap your Bronze-Arm Tribe--" The ring of electric light encircled the Beast Folk creature-- "Summon Senatine Jade Tree, and cast another Sword of Benevolent Life! Miele, destroy the Bronze-Arm, ikei!"

"Revolver Fish, intercepting attack," Klein responded. His voice contained a hint of reluctance, as the creatures were now of equal power, but the fish would be no help in a counterattack. They clashed, resulting in both of them leaving the battle zone in a sparkling display of electricity and light. The duel was now beginning to make an impact on those around, flashing images into their minds. The Amber Grass now finished off the Bronze-Arm Tribe, and Nykahrii ended his turn, three creatures ahead of his opponent.

Klein drew his card, and carefully weighed his options, then tapped a Faerie Life and an Illusionary Merfolk in his mana zone...
"I cast Faerie Life, to put my...--" he drew the card now, and his eyes instantly betrayed his shock and irritation, before he put back on his 'game face' "--Illusionary Merfolk... to the mana zone."

Despite Klein's attempt to make it look natural, Nykahrii still burst out laughing good-naturedly. The Light creatures floating around him seemed to laugh with him, their sparkling glows shifting the lighting in their minds into a subtly shimmering show. Libra seemed enthralled with the display. Yodaz was significantly less impressed. He wanted them to get on with the duel. Seldom did he see such skill displayed by a Light using duelist. Seldom did he encounter them at all. The purple shape swirled into being beside him, on the plane of thought where he and Libra stood side by side watching the duo. Around them, he could make out other duelists that were using their awareness to watch the conflict also. Turning to look over at the purple one, he noticed that the shorter, blue Cyber Lord stood next to Libra also.

Corile scoffed disdainfully at Shtra before turning back to consult with Yodaz.

"Why are we even watching this? Those who follow the Light are no match for us. His skill is irrelevant..."

Yodaz answered with a jovial thought pattern, telling the Corile that he was trying to see if such a duelist could manage to make enough of an impression on him to change his opinion. The Corile 'sighed' in response. Its belief was that there were simply too many flaws in a purely water-nature based deck, to even make the comparison.

By this time, Klein had summoned a Torcon and evolved it into Fighter Dual Fang, enhancing his mana still more with two more water cards.

"Dual Fang, ikei!"

"Jade Tree, interception mode," Nykahrii smiled. He was obviously having fun with this. He placed the Senatine Jade Tree into his graveyard pile, and watched as the Illusionary Merfolk brought down his Amber Grass, leaving him with only one creature of his own. Klein's Kaijudo spiked enormously. Not only was the Fighter Dual Fang apparently his 'leader creature', but now Shinji Nykahrii's advantage seemed to have disappeared. The lone Miele shimmered on his side of the field, no longer throwing enough light to make things look like Nykahrii was in control.

"Something's up..." Yodaz muttered to himself, "This guy's Kaijudo hasn't faltered at all. That's creepy."

Shinji drew a card, and sent an Amber Grass to his mana zone.
"It is always darkest before the dawn, they say. You've already lost, you just don't know it yet. I summon Aqua Sniper."

Behind him, a waterspout raged and whirled, and in the midst of it, two red eyes glowed almost menacingly. Miele swirled out of the way, as the creature sent its raging liquid twister at the Beast Folk and Gel Fish. When it subsided, they were both gone, and Miele happily streaked in to break another of Razim Klein's shields. The swirling energy made it clear that this creature was the 'leader' for Hong Kong's constructed champion.

Yodaz felt Corile practically groan at the sight. Another redundant old creature. One that Corile itself had replaced so long ago in most decks, standing on a battlefield as if it still had something to contribute to the world of Duel Masters. Obsolete ones such as the Sniper and Shtra had no place in real duels.

"Hm... do I really think like that?" Yodaz wondered to himself, "That's almost funny, but probably true..."

"That was a stupid thing to do..." Klein noted as he drew a card, "However, I suppose it was better than nothing. I summon Bronze-Arm Tribe, and Torcon, and I evolve Torcon into Fighter Dual Fang yet again! To top it off, I resummon the Illusionary Merfolk. You can't keep up now. You might as well give up. Dual Fang, attack Miele, Vizier of Lightning!"

There was a small electric squeak as the creature's spark was extinguished by that which towered over it, but there was no change in Shinji Nykahrii. They could all hear the buzzing in the minds of the others around them now, wondering what it was that this duelist was really thinking, that allowed him to stand so confidently in the face of nearly certain defeat.

"You're an interesting duelist, but a tad predictable," Nykahrii remarked, "So try to do something I don't expect this turn, or you're going to regret it. I summon Elf-X and Senatine Jade Tree, and play Spiral Gate on your Illusionary Merfolk. Aqua Sniper, ikei!"

"Ha! Shield Trigger! Natural Snare, on your Jade Tree!"

Nykahrii's eyes widened.
"Good! That's exactly what I had in mind!"

The light faded from his side of the battle zone again, leaving only the Elf and the Sniper. Klein drew his card, satisfied now that he could manage to finish his opponent, if not this turn, on the one that followed. His Kaijudo burst across the room quite naturally as he took it to the limit. This was going to be his most decisive victory ever.

"I summon another Bronze-Arm Tribe, and evolve it into Fighter Dual Fang! This gives me another three mana, enough to bring back my Illusionary Merfolk. Now... you are finished."

With two Fighter Dual Fang on the field, in a tournament setting, all eyes were now on Razim Klein, and he was basking in the attention. His Kaijudo was pulsating through the entire room, in some cases impressing, and in other cases simply annoying other duelists. No one could do anything but wait until the duel was over and the energy that was practically invading their minds subsided. Unfortunately, it was about to get significantly worse.

Shinji Nykahrii began to laugh again, and as he did, his Kaijudo began to expand, radiating and flowing through Razim's, matching it at every turn. At no time did he seem even the slightest bit flustered. This was him in his element, as much as it was Razim in his. Bernadette shifted her sons toward the exit to shield them from the Kaijudo influence. Yodaz and Libra put up their mental barriers. Those who had no such defenses simply watched, slack jawed, as Nykahrii stared down Klein.

"All right, enough!" Razim exclaimed finally, realizing that his influence was not at all affecting Shinji. He would go for the direct approach.
"Dual Fang! Get rid of that Aqua Sniper. Ikei!"

"Finally..." Yodaz felt Corile think, "We are rid of the eyesore..."

Razim was really in the zone now, but Shinji didn't seem to take the loss of his creature as hard as Razim expected him to. He decided to drive the point home a bit more securely.
"Fighter Dual Fang! Double break his shields! Ikei!"

Shinji Nykahrii smiled, as he reached out and confidently flipped over his shields. Not picked them up, as was customary, but merely flipped them both over, one at a time.
"Shield Trigger, naturally. Logic Cube... and Holy Awe."

The light that engulfed the battle zone made all that were present and attuned to the duel instinctively shield their eyes. This made them look quite ridiculous to the other members of the viewing audience, but it did hint strongly at the underlying possibility of something unseen going on. Shinji watched as Razim tapped his creature, then picked up his deck and began to search through it. With a mischievous light in his eyes and an equally mischievous grin on his face, he revealed his chosen card. Diamond Cutter. Razim suddenly realized what was about to happen, and his Kaijudo buckled like cheap cardboard.

"It was a good game," Shinji noted, "Alas, it was practically a foregone conclusion. I place Holy Awe into my mana zone, and play Dimension Gate to retrieve my Emeral. Now, I summon it and play Diamond Cutter, and attack you with my Emeral to break your last shield. Ikei! Let's see what you've got!"

Razim picked up his shield, hoping against hope, but shook his head sadly. It could not save him. Shinji shrugged, and declared the final attack.

"Elf-X! Todomeda!"

Even without his light creatures, Shinji Nykahrii had still flooded the battle zone in a cascade of spectral light, to bring the duel to an end. His opponent was almost ejected from the zone, along with both his Dual Fang. Razim's breaths came in rasping gulps as he did his best to convince his lungs that he was not underwater and that it was perfectly all right to breathe.

"I just want to know one thing..." he finally gasped out, "How did you know? How did you do it?"

"That was simple," Nykahrii explained, "Your Corile hit my Dimension Gate very early into the actual duel. Even though all I got out of my deck was the same Senatine Jade Tree, I had a very good look at what was left in it. Therefore I knew what my shields were. The more of them you broke, the more obvious that became, until I was left with two and I knew what they were. There was nothing you could do about it."

"I...see..."

Cowed now, the duelist picked up his cards and shuffled them into a single pile. It had been his second loss, and as per tournament rules, he had now been eliminated from the competition.

Yodaz sighed.
"They're losing to Light decks now. When will people learn not to limit themselves to playing only one or two civilizations? You need to have the power of at least three or four to do anything worthwhile. Even the Light deck played three at least."

Libra sighed as she looked from the Hong Kong champ, over at the undisputed champion.
"You will never change, will you?"

"I change when the game changes. Don't blame me. Blame yourselves or the game..."

Shinji Nykahrii looked over at Yodaz now and fixed him with the same cold yet gentle stare that Yodaz had been under before.
"You are the world champion, yes? I look forward to dueling you."

Yodaz scoffed slightly.
"I doubt you will get that far, since you can't make many changes to your deck in the tournament."

"You expect me to be defeated? Why is that?"

"You ignore so many of the fundamentals of building decks. Firstly, you based yours on the weakest civilization, then you--"

Shinji cut him off.
"Stop. I've heard enough. I look forward to facing you even more now. Goodbye."

He turned and walked away. Yodaz raised his eyebrow and looked at the retreating figure disdainfully.
"What's his problem?"

Libra sighed, turned her back on Yodaz also and walked away, leaving the champ wondering if they found the truth so offensive that they could not bear to hear it.

"Let the amateurs be as they wish to be. We have a tournament to win..."

Corile's words brought Yodaz less comfort than usual today. He was seriously beginning to wonder what it was that made all these duelists do less than their best at this game...