Episode 3: The Spark Between Friends, Part 1
“DUEL!” both Yurik and Walt shouted.
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Yurik:
LP: 4000
Walt:
LP: 4000
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“I don’t suppose you would mind taking the first turn,” Yurik spoke.
“Nah,” Walt replied, “I can handle that. Let’s get this ball rolling.”
Kieran kept his eyes on Walt, wondering what kind of deck and strategy he had for himself. Twilight watched him as well, unsure how he could counter a duelist as strong as Yurik. Alice looked to Walt with hope, wondering if his abilities would be able to satisfy her superior. Walt picked a single card from his hand, holding out to reveal it.
“I normal summon Tungsten Wolfram,” Walt declared, placing the card on the right zone of his left blade.
Appearing from an opening blue portal was a beefy wolf-like creature with curled horns, hooves, and fur that glowed a soft yellow.
Tungsten Wolfram
ATK: 500
Lvl.: 3
“When this card is normal summoned,” explained Walt, “it automatically changes itself into defense position.”
Rearing its rump up while lowering its front half down, the creature snarled at Yurik before settling in its stance.
ATK: 500 -> DEF: 2000
“Next,” Walt spoke, grabbing a spell card, “I activate the continuous spell card Coil Construction.”
Placing the card in his front slot, the card appeared face-up on the field, revealing a screwdriver, hammer, and wrench floating in the air and constructing two half-built tesla coils.
“During each of my standby phases,” Walt spoke to Yurik. “I can place one Tesla Counter on this card. I don’t think I need to tell you what happens from there.”
Kieran crossed his arms, observing the field Walt was setting for himself. Walt then picked a purple card from his hand and slid it into the front slot.
“I place one card face down and end my turn,” Walt concluded as a card backing phased right beside his face up spell card.
Status: Hand: 2 Life: 4000 Monsters: 1 Pendulum Zones: 0 Pendulum Scale: - Spells/Traps: 2
So it looks like Walt’s already setting up for his ace monster, Yurik deduced, looking at this hand, which already contained a couple monsters, a couple of traps, and a single spell card. However, he thought, I can’t destroy his monster or his spells and traps at this moment. I think I’ll start on the defensive.
“My turn!” called Yurik, swiping a card from the top of his deck. “Draw!”
Yurik looked at his card, and was surprised to see Twilight Alicorn already, his eyes widening, first with shock, then with disappointment.
Not quite yet, Yurik thought as he placed his ace monster card back into his hand, opting for another.
“I set one monster face down,” declared Yurik, placing the card on the zone face out with the top end turned to face the left.
A card backing of a card in a similar position phased onto Yurik’s side of the field. Kieran observed this strategy with a touch of scorn in his eyes.
This isn’t anything like the strategy I saw facing him, he thought. Is he seriously trying to set his opponent up to win?
Yurik shot a glance to Kieran, noting his furrowed expression. Ignoring it, Yurik grabbed his two traps and set them both inside his frontal slot on his duel disk, the card backs phasing on the floor before him.
“I place two cards face down and end my turn,” he stated.
Status: Hand: 3 Life: 4000 Monsters: 1 Pendulum Zones: 0 Pendulum Scale: - Spell/Traps: 2
Walt forced out a bellowing laugh, arcing his upper body back for dramatic effect. Twilight groaned as she began to see Yurik’s plan in the same light that Kieran did.
“So you’re just waiting for me to get my tesla coils?” Walt asked. “It’s as if you want me to win!”
“I’m not letting that happen,” Yurik responded. “Kieran won’t want to see a complete shutdown by either of us, especially one that’s intentional.”
“Well, the way you’re playing, bro, that’s exactly what you’re going to get.”
Kieran locked his eyes on Walt, his glare going unnoticed by him.
Walt seems to be extremely confident in his abilities, Kieran speculated. However, it’s as if he’s forgotten what he’s fighting for. If Yurik does indeed throw this match for his friend, he’ll destroy any chance Walt has in joining our ranks. However…
Kieran looked back to Yurik, his brave expression wavering slightly with a lack of assurance.
He seems scared now, continued Kieran. It looks as if he’s trying his hardest with what he’s been given thus far. That, or he’s scared that there’s a façade of his that I’ll uncover.
“Come on, Yurik,” muttered Twilight, bobbing up and down with nervousness.
“Let’s go!” shouted Walt, gripping the top card of his deck. “My turn! Draw!”
Walt drew the top card of his deck, looking up at it. Without adding it to his hand, Walt pointed towards his face-up spell card with his right hand.
“During my standby phase,” Walt explained, “one Tesla Counter is added to my Coil Construction card!”
Appearing from a bright, sparkling light coming from the surface of the card was a small tesla coil that stood upright on the bottom of the card.
Tesla Counters: 0 -> 1
With that effect taken care of, Walt slammed his drawn monster card onto the left zone of his right blade.
“I summon Tungsten Paladin!” shouted Walt.
Appearing from a blue portal and jumping out from it was a humanoid warrior with glowing, oblong-shaped golden armor and two blinding-white swords. Its helmet concealed all of its facial features, giving it an even more threatening look as it took its offensive battle stance.
Tungsten Paladin
ATK: 2100
Lvl.: 4
A deck with monsters with high ATK and DEF, observed Kieran. An interesting strategy, but how far can he expect to go on that?
“Go!” declared Walt, pointing at the sideways face-down card on Yurik’s side of the field. “Attack Yurik’s face down monster! Slashing Shine!”
With an abnormally fast sprint, the warrior charged at the card with its swords crossed, ready to cut its opponent like shears. As the card came closer towards the monster, the card flipped face up, still on its side. The card glowed as a horse made entirely from dirt and mud with a grassy mane and tail appeared over the card, its legs spread wide in a defensive crouch.
Earth Pony
DEF: 2100
Lvl.: 4
“Oh, crap!” shouted Walt, shocked to see the value of Yurik’s monster’s DEF.
“Wait!” cried Twilight, looking to Kierand and Alice. “What happens now?”
“Just watch,” grumbled Marcus.
The dirty pony turned itself around and lifted its hind legs in the air, aiming them at the golden warrior’s swords. As the warrior swung its blades and the pony bucked its legs, the pony successfully pushed the warrior back, sliding it away about ten feet. With a long leap backwards, the warrior stood back in line with Walt’s other monster.
“I don’t get it?” asked Twilight. “What happened?”
“That’s just it,” explained Alice. “When an attacking monster’s ATK is equal to its target’s DEF, nothing happens. Neither monster is destroyed and neither player takes damage.”
“For future reference,” spoke Marcus, “say if Yurik’s monster’s DEF was higher; neither monster would be destroyed, but Walt would take damage equal to the difference.”
“I get it,” Twilight sighed thankfully. “So they’re both safe.”
Marcus nodded in response, somewhat glad to see her learn the game so quickly. Walt merely looked at Yurik’s monster as it looked him down, huffing impatiently at him.
“When Tungsten Paladin declares an attack,” Walt explained, “it switches itself into defense position, and it cannot change its battle position, except by a card effect.”
Walt turned his card on his zone 90 degrees to the left, the warrior kneeling down and crossing its swords over its chest in response.
ATK: 2100 -> DEF: 200
Yurik nodded, knowing this as much. Walt picked up a purple card in his hand and set it inside his frontal slot.
“I place one card face down and end my turn,” Walt declared.
Status: Hand: 1 Life: 4000 Monsters: 2 Pendulum Zones: 0 Pendulum Scale: - Spell/Traps: 3
Kieran observed Walt with scrutiny once again.
He set a card that was in his hand since the beginning just now? Kieran wondered. What does he plan to accomplish with that?
Walt looked confidently at Yurik, not betraying a single thing about his intended strategy. Yurik however smirked proudly at Walt with a slight chuckle.
“So the only thing really protecting you now is your Wolfram, right?” Yurik asked.
“I’m not putting anything past you at this point,” Walt said, “but more or less, yeah.”
“Then I suppose you’re in for a surprise!”
Twilight kept her eyes to Yurik, awaiting his next move.
“My turn!” Yurik announced. “Draw!”
Yurik looked to his card, seeing a monster card in his hand, making him gasp in positive surprise. Placing the monster in his hand, he grabbed a spell card from his hand and showed it to Walt.
“I activate my quick-play spell Rearing for Charge!” he declared, placing the card into the front slot. “This card switches a defense monster into attack position, and the monster I choose is my Earth Pony!”
Kieran, Marcus, and Twilight gasped, shocked by the bizarre strategy as Earth Pony stood to its hind legs and kicked the front ones out with a loud whinny.
DEF: 2100 -> ATK: 600
He’s using a spell card to change the battle position of his own monster? Kieran thought. Just what is the purpose?
Kieran then looked to Walt, who sported a very foreboding expression which alerted Kieran.
Wait! he realized.
“Now,” explained Yurik, grabbing his recently-drawn monster from his hand, “I activate the effect of Pegassist of Earth!”
There was something to that, mused Kieran.
“When a monster I control has its battle position changed by a card effect, I can special summon this card from my hand!”
Yurik placed the card onto the zone next to his Earth Pony card, and from the blue portal opening beside the monster came a pegasus with a similar body, mane, and tail structure but had wings that were made from sheets of rock, unfurling them wildly as it took its pose.
Pegassist of Earth
ATK: 300
Lvl.: 4
“That’s not all,” continued Yurik. “Now I activate Pegassist of Earth’s effect. When it’s special summoned by its own effect, I can change the battle position of one monster my opponent controls, and I choose your Tungsten Wolfram!”
“So that’s why he did that!” Twilight commented.
“Not a bad play, there,” agreed Marcus.
Pegassist of Earth reared onto its hind legs and forcefully thrust the front hooves onto the ground, causing a chunk of the Earth to spring up from under Tungsten Wolfram, causing it to bounce off and to its feet in a seemingly offensive stance.
DEF: 2000 -> ATK: 500
Walt groaned and bared his teeth at the predicament that he now found himself in.
“And now his monsters’ ATKs are stronger than Walt’s monsters,” spoke Alice. “Amazing.”
Twilight looked to Yurik in reverence, heavily surprised at this ingenuity.
“Now,” Yurik shouted, pointing to Walt’s Tungsten Paladin, “Pegassist of Earth, attack Tungsten Paladin! Shale Shears!”
With a tremendous flap, shards of rock shot out of Pegassist of Earth’s wings and soared into Walt’s warrior, where it disappeared with a painful yell and a burst of sparks which blew through Walt, which he shielded with his right arm.
“You’re up, Earth Pony!” called Yurik. “Attack Tungsten Wolfram!”
Earth Pony galloped out at Walt’s remaining monster, which growled threateningly as the horse came closer.
“Also,” added Yurik, “with Rearing for Charge’s effect, my monster gains an extra 700 ATK during this battle phase when it attacks.”
Earth Pony glowed a touch orange as it continued its attack.
ATK: 600 -> 1300
“No way!” gasped Twilight.
“Say goodbye to your monster, Walt!” Yurik called out.
“The only one saying goodbye is you, dude!” Walt shouted. “I activate my face-down quick-play spell card, Silhouette Shadow!”
Everyone, both human and equine alike on the sidelines gasped in complete surprise as a green card flipped face-up from the ground, featuring the figure of a dragon rendered as a black shape by a bright light behind it.
“This card allows me to reduce a monster’s ATK to 0 until the end phase,” Walt declared, “and I’ll choose your Earth Pony.”
An open-faced lamp with black barn-door shutters pulled out towards the light’s direction appeared in a collection of sparks behind where Earth Pony once stood and turned itself on. Depsite the extremely bright light being shone in Walt’s direction, he stared at the still charging horse as the light shone behind it, rendering it a black figure like the monster on his spell card.
ATK: 1300 -> 0
“Wait!” cried Twilight., looking to the other humans for an answer. “Can’t he stop the attack?”
“The attack target hasn’t changed,” Kieran responded. “The attack must continue.”
“Oh no. Yurik…”
Earth Pony still went on as Tungsten Wolfram ran at its now weaker prey, a hunger in its smile.
“Not today!” shouted Yurik, pointing at one of his set cards in his spell and trap zone. “I activate my own trap, Ponedurance!”
A trap card flipped up to reveal art of a horse headbutting a large, android-like machine, a blast of white light coming from the impact.
“This card lets me target one Pony monster I control,” explains Yurik, “and for the rest of that turn, it cannot be destroyed by battle and any damage with battles involving it is reduced to 0.”
“Figures,” Walt replied with a gentle sigh. “Another stalemate.”
As both Earth Pony and Tungsten Wolfram collided with each other, they both fell to the ground, each one blown back by the other’s force. With nothing left to do, the monsters returned to their sides of the field, each looking each other down. Twilight sighed, glad to see that neither player had lost much.
“Impressive,” Kieran commented, getting Twilight to turn to him.
“What was impressive, Kieran?” she asked.
“Walt knew that Yurik would attack this turn, and that’s why he set his spell card last turn and not the turn previous. Not only that, but he knew Yurik’s intention with using his spell to change his monster’s battle position. He really knows his friend and his deck well. Hmm…”
Twilight, both impressed by Walt’s strategic thinking and the increasing possibility of Walt’s acceptance into the Guardiaboliques, chuckled with a crooked smile. Yurik then plucked his Twilight Alicorn from his hand and reached for the two monsters on the zones on his blades.
“Now,” Yurik proclaimed, “I release my Earth Pony and Pegassist of Earth!”
Removing the cards from his blade, the two monsters faded away from the ground up in sparkles at the same time, promptly placing his ace onto the right zone of his left blade.
“Advance summon!” Yurik shouted. “Come to me, Twilight Alicorn!”
A ball of magenta light grew out from the ground where it burst like a bubble, revealing Twilight Alicorn standing strong and proudly before Walt and his remaining monster.
Twilight Alicorn
ATK: 2500
Lvl.: 7
“I end my turn,” Yurik finally concluded.
Status: Hand: 1 Life: 4000 Monsters: 1 Pendulum Zones: 0 Pendulum Scale: - Spell/Traps: 1
Yurik, despite, having his ace out and ready, looked at Walt’s face-up spell card with unease and caution.
His Coil Construction’s going to gain another counter next turn, Yurik planned. Once that happens, I’m going to be in big trouble.
Walt, even with Twilight Alicorn looking at him with an intimidating scowl, couldn’t help but crack a smile towards his friend.
“Yo, Yurik!” called Walt. “I’m glad to see you got your monster out so fast. Now, I can duel a completely different you.”
Yurik, noting the affability in Walt’s voice, smiled in response.
“Yeah,” Yurik agreed. “And now, my new ace monster can now battle your ace.”
“I’m sure he’s looking forward to it,” Walt laughed.
Twilight, unsure what Yurik was referring to as Walt’s ace monster, turned to Alice.
“What is he talking about?” asked Alice.
“Just watch,” she responded.
Twilight turned her attention back to Walt, who continued to banter with Yurik.
“Well,” added Yurik, “by the looks of it, I’d say Alicorn Twilight is itching to take it on. I don’t think you should keep her waiting.”
Walt, slightly surprised by his statement, resumed back into a confident smirk.
“Alright, buddy,” he said. “You asked for it. My turn! Draw!”
Walt whipped a card out, looking at the monster he drew and smiling wide at it.
“And now you shall have your wish,” Walt spoke to Twilight Alicorn.
“Here it comes,” muttered Yurik, an excited grin on his face.
Adding his card to his hand, Walt aimed his outstretched right hand at his face up spell card, looking straight into Yurik’s eyes.
“During my standby phase,” Walt spoke, “my Coil Construction gains another Tesla Counter!”
Another small tesla coil appeared on the card right in front of the first one
Tesla Counters: 1 -> 2
“Now,” Walt declared, “I activate Coil Construction’s effect, destroying itself!”
The card beneath the two tesla coils glowed a bright yellow before it shattered into small, bright bits. The two tesla coils, with nothing to support them, also burst in a similar manner.
“Huh?” Twilight questioned. “Why would he do that?”
“I can think of a couple of reasons…” responded Marcus.
“When my Coil Destruction is destroyed,” Walt explained, “I can add a number of Tesla Coils from my deck to my hand equal to the number of Tesla Counters on it when it was destroyed.”
“That means he’ll have two,” Alice commented.
Walt’s deck began to shuffle inside its slot, and once it stopped, two cards slid out from the top, which Walt grabbed. Without adding them to his hand, he revealed them both to Yurik.
“I set the pendulum scale with the scale 1 Tesla Coil and scale 4 Tesla Coil!” called Walt.
“So they were pendulum monsters!” deduced Twilight.
“And did he say scale one and scale four Tesla Coils?” wondered Marcus, equally surprised.
Walt set both cards on the outer zones of his blade, the number underneath the blue gem on both cards being 1, and the number under the red gem being 4. Rising from the ground in blue pillars of light were two much larger tesla coils that whirred with functionality as a bright 1 appeared over the one on Walt’s left and a bright 4 appeared over the one on Walt’s right.
Tesla Coil
Pendulum Scale: 1
Tesla Coil
Pendulum Scale: 4
“I can now special summon monsters from my hand whose levels are 2 and 3,” Walt declared, picking out the two remaining cards in his hand. “Pendulum summon!”
Placing both monsters on the centermost zones he could with his Tungsten Wolfram still in play, the red portal and star appeared in the air above Walt’s field. Flying down from the portal were two yellow auras that collided on the ground from both sides of Tungsten Wolfram.
When the dust began to clear, two new monsters had appeared. One was a shining blue eel with razor sharp teeth, a glowing underbelly, and matching spots along the top of its body. The other was a bright green bird with a glowing red underbelly, its plumage sparkling like an endless barrage of static.
“Tungsten Steel Eel!” shouted Walt. “Tungsten Quetztatic!”
With firm poses, the monsters both stood beside Tungsten Wolfram.
Tungsten Steel Eel
ATK: 1400
Lvl.: 3
Tungsten Quetztatic
ATK: 1000
Lvl.: 2
As Twilight and Marcus marveled over the swarm of Walt’s monsters, Kieran continued to stare Walt down.
So now he has no cards in his hand, he thought, he has two monsters with under 1500 ATK, and one set spell or trap card. But he can’t be done… not by a long shot.
“Now,” explained Walt, “the effect of Tesla Coil in my right pendulum zone activates. When I pendulum summon monsters while it’s on that zone, I can draw a card for each monster pendulum summoned!”
“No way!” Twilight responded. “Now he’s filling his hand back up.”
Two lighting beams shot from the left Tesla Coil and connected to Walt’s deck. He pinched the top cards of his deck and drew two cards, the beams following them before they faded away, allowing Walt to place him in his empty left hand.
“Then,” continued Walt, “I have the effect of Tesla Coil in my left pendulum zone.”
“There’s more?” Marcus questioned. “Jesus, how many tricks does this kid have?”
“As long as this card is in this zone, all Thunder-type monsters or Tungsten monsters I control gain 500 ATK.”
“And it strengthens them?” Twilight wondered.
“Hmph,” Alice chortled to Kieran, nudging him on the arm. “Perhaps Walt is a strong duelist after all, isn’t he?”
Kieran refused to respond, watching as five beams of lightning shot out from both devices and melded to form five beams of lightning that connected from machine to machine. As this went on, all three of Walt’s monsters glowed with yellow energy.
Tungsten Wolfram
ATK: 500 -> 1000
Tungsten Steel Eel
ATK: 1400 -> 1900
Tungsten Quetztatic
ATK: 1000 -> 1500
“However,” Walt said, “these monsters won’t be staying around for long.”
“About time,” Yurik said, getting pumped for what was about to come.
“I tune my level 3 Tungsten Wolfram and Tungsten Steel Eel with my level 2 Tungsten Quetztatic!”
“Tuning?” Twilight questioned. “What’s does that mean?”
“Looks like that bird of his is a tuner,” Marcus said. “He’s going to synchro summon.”
“Synchro summon?”
Tungsten Quetztatic glowed into a bright-white shape before it burst, leaving only two small orbs of light that both spread out into glowing rings that aligned with one another. Walt’s two remaining monsters hopped up into the rings, becoming nothing but orange, glowing outlines of their bodies with glowing lines to define their other features. Three white stars formed a line inside each of their bodies.
“The lustrous light of my soul,” Walt chanted, “cast all shadows away with your radiance!”
A beam shot up from the ground and through both rings, expanding into a bright, greenish-white pillar.
“Synchro summon!” shouted Walt.
The pillar of light gave way to the monster now formed inside, spreading away to reveal a large dragon with two large white horns, its body seemingly made out of a smooth metal that bent and stretched flexibly as if it were skin. It’s main body was a glowing, golden yellow with a spotless and muscular white underbelly that matched its wings.
“My beacon of victory!” concluded Walt. “Tungsten Dragon!”
Walt’s monster roared loud at both Yurik and Twilight Alicorn, signaling its complete preparedness to fight.
Tungsten Dragon
ATK: 2700
Lvl.: 8
The noise of the dragon’s roar made Twilight cover her ears uncomfortably. Marcus and Kieran looked at Walt’s monster with slight awe, while Alice smiled to see his strongest monster out and ready.
“And now,” Walt explained, “the Tesla Coil in my right pendulum zone increases its ATK by 500, as per its effect.”
The skin on Tungsten Dragon’s body began to illuminate as the lightning beams of the Tesla Coils connected with one another.
ATK: 2700 -> 3200
Yurik, being able to see Walt’s own ace monster facing his own, gained a warm smile on his face, one that was also shared by Walt.
“So now our monsters can formally meet,” Walt said.
“Yeah,” Yurik joked, “if by ‘formally meet,’ you mean ‘fighting brutally against one another.’”
“That too.”
“Hehe, whatever the case, my monster’s ready, Walt! So come on, Tungsten Dragon!” he shouted, throwing his arms to the side. “Just try and take down my Twilight Alicorn!”
Tungsten Dragon, irked by Yurik’s taunts, roared angrily at both him and Twilight Alicorn, Twilight only wincing as she prepared herself for its cry.
“Easy there,” Walt cooed. “It’s time to show her what you’re made of.”
Kieran looked to Yurik, unsure of how he would respond based on his pleasant, fulfilled smile.
“Battle!” Walt shouted. “Tungsten Dragon! Attack Twilight Alicorn! Incandescent Inferno!”
With a bright glowing in its mouth, Tungsten Dragon reeled its head back, charging up for the attack. Throwing its head forwards, a bright beam shot out of the dragon’s mouth, heading straight for the nervous looking Twilight Alicorn.
“Yurik!” shouted Twilight.
“You might not have been here for my duel with Kieran,” Yurik spoke, “but now you can learn my monster’s effect first hand!”
Yurik pointed his arm at this sole monster.
“I activate the effect of Twilight Alicorn!” shouted Yurik. “Once per turn, I can place this card on an unused pendulum zone I control!”
“Oh, right!” Walt shouted, remembering its effect from the previous morning’s reading.
With a glow of its horn, Twilight Alicorn vanished from the monster card zone and placed itself on the very left side of Yurik’s field.
Twilight Alicorn
Pendulum Scale: 6
“However,” Walt reminded with a wider smile, “now that your field is empty, I’ll just change the attack target to you!”
“Yurik!” Twilight loudly scolded.
The beam shot out much faster towards Yurik with nothing to protect him. The beam landed right at his feet, blowing the ground up from the floor and blasted Yurik back as she screamed in pain, where he and several large chunks of debris rolled to the floor roughly before coming to a stop.
Yurik’s Life Points: 4000 -> 800
Kieran frowned in disappointment as Twilight and Alice looked on with concern. Yurik managed to stand in a weak crouching position as he reached for the screen of his duel disk’s tablet.
“I activate my trap:” he groaned, “Wicked Windfall.”
The card’s art depicted a demonic silhouette handing two glowing cards to a wounded soldier in battered armor.
“When I take battle damage from a direct attack,” he explained, “I can draw a card for every thousand points of damage I just took.”
“3200 damage?” Twilight concluded. “That’s three cards!”
“But first,” Yurik spoke, finally standing to his feet, “I’ll chain the effect of my Pegassist of Water.”
“Huh?” Alice thought aloud. “That monster again?”
“Whenever I take battle damage from an attack,” he continued, “I can special summon this card from my hand.”
Yurik placed the last card of his hand onto the left zone of his right blade, and from the blue portal that formed before him, the furless blue pegasus with the webbed wings and kelpy mane and tail appeared on the field.
Pegassist of Water
ATK: 1500
Lvl.: 4
“Furthermore,” Yurik said, “when I special summon my monster this way, I gain life points equal to half of the battle damage I took.”
Kieran’s eyes raised in intrigue as Yurik’s monster faced him and unfurled its wings. With a mighty fanning of its wings, a misty gust flew into Yurik’s face, providing him with a relieving cool breeze that replenished him.
Yurik’s Life Points: 800 -> 2400
“And finally,” Yurik responded, “the resolution of my Wicked Windfall.”
Kieran kept his eyes on Pegasisst of Water as it turned back while its master drew three cards at once from his deck.
So the Pegassist monsters special summon themselves when a certain situation occurs, Kieran speculated, and then has a secondary effect that’s related to the first. Interesting deck you have there, Yurik Clayer…
Walt, impressed at his friend’s ability to bounce back from his monster’s attack, huffed with a smirk.
“Always with the gimmicky effects,” he chortled.
“Hey!” Yurik shouted, taking offense to his comment. “Don’t be talking smack about my cards! They’ve kept me fighting for this long!”
“Oh, that’s what you call that? Then let me remind you that you need to fight harder.”
Yurik grimaced at Walt’s remarks as he continued drilling him.
“If what I hear is true about you being able to defeat Kieran with that new monster of yours, taking 3200 damage right off the bat is a really poor way of proving that you had the clout to do such a feat.”
“And now my life is at 2400; I’m still fighting strong!”
“And what if you didn’t have that card with you? Would you have still put Twilight Alicorn on the sidelines and take that attack head-on again?”
“Yes! I’ll do everything in my power to prevent its destruction!”
Walt, genuinely shocked by Yurik’s proclamation of his defense, gasped silently before returning to his cocksure demeanor.
“Hmph,” he sighed. “You’re a foolish man, Yurik…”
Yurik clenched his fists, the rise Walt was getting out of him being seeing visibly by Alice and Twilight.
“Let me tell you about foolish,” Yurik responded. “I was beating Kieran by a 3000 to 100 lead just about a half hour ago. Despite the disadvantage he found himself in, he still held just as strong a will to fight as I did and continued to go all out against me.”
Twilight gasped again as she watched Yurik unclench his hand as a wave of hope seemed to wash over him.
“I’m not going to willingly conserve my own life at the cost of my comrades;” Yurik stated, looking to both Twilight Alicorn and Pegassist of Water, “I never have, and I never will. They’re the ones that give me strength when I have none, much like you, Alice, mom, and Evey have done. I’d give my life defending the lot of you, but as long as I have breath in my lungs, blood pumping through my heart, and at least one life point to my name, I won’t give up!”
Walt was visibly moved by Yurik’s speech, which also positively affected Twilight, Marcus, Alice, and even Kieran, allowing small smiles to be drawn onto their faces.
“Tell me,” Yurik asked with finality, “does that sound foolish to you?”
Yurik stood, waiting for an answer from Walt, who let out a small pre-responsive chuckle.
“Incredibly,” Walt finally responded.
Yurik and Twilight’s mouths hung agape, stunned by Walt’s seeming dismissal of his principles.
“But,” Walt clarified, “brave and caring men have often not been anything but fools. If you think you can still fight this fight and be the shield for your monsters to carry on, to each their own, man.”
Yurik, understanding Walt’s cynical, but accepting response, nodded with a smile on his own face. Twilight, mystified by Walt’s words, kept her lips slightly pursed as she pondered them. Walt took one card from his hand and slipped it inside the front zone of his duel disk.
“I place one card face down and end my turn,” Walt concluded.
Status: Hand: 1 Life: 4000 Monsters: 1 Pendulum Zones: 2 Pendulum Scale: 2 – 3 Spell/Traps: 2
“Wow,” Twilight sighed, feeling winded by the conversation
Yurik finally used the opportunity to look at this new hand, containing one spell, one pendulum monster, and one trap card.
I don’t have any xyz monsters in my extra deck that I can summon with you, Yurik strategized as he looked at the monster in his hand, and nothing else here is going to help me take out Tungsten Dragon by next turn, but if I don’t do something, it’s going to take me out next turn.
“Hey, Yurik!” called Walt. “My dragon and I are getting antsy! Don’t let all that talk of yours go to waste by calling it quits now!”
“Can you give me a second?” Yurik snapped back with an exaggeratedly belligerent tone. “I’m thinking!”
Walt put his hands up defensively and turned away from him, sporting a silly frown on his face. Kieran couldn’t help but note how well the two of them seemed to talk to each other, his eyes fully open and engaged in their seeming chemistry.
So looks like I’m going to need one hell of a lucky draw, thought Yurik. But like hell if I’m not going to take it and have all those words back there mean nothing.
“Here I come!” he announced.
“About time,” Walt joked. “It’s getting late, and I was about ready to fall asleep.”
“Well, you better prepare for it, because I’m going for a knockout. My turn. Draw!”
Yurik drew his card out and peered at it, glad to see what he had acquired.
“I activate my spell card Unioncornity!” Yurik began, showing his drawn card, whose art featured the figure of a unicorn flying out from a duelist’s deck on their duel disk. “This card allows me to add one Unioncorn monster from my deck to my hand. And the one I choose is…”
Yurik’s deck shuffled for only a few moments before a single card slipped out from the top of it, which Yurik picked out and revealed it to Walt, showing him a pendulum monster with a jade-green unicorn running with gusts of wind alongside it on the art.
“…Unioncorn of Wind!”
Walt leaned in, wondering the strategy that Yurik could pull with the monster he chose.
“Unioncorn of Wind…” he thought aloud. “Oh… I see.”
“Next,” Yurik called out, pointing at Twilight Alicorn with his left arm, “I activate Twilight Alicorn’s effect, special summoning itself from my pendulum zone in attack position!”
Twilight Alicorn’s horn glowed bright before it disappeared and reappeared in magic bursts of light at the center of Yurik’s field.
Twilight Alicorn
ATK: 2500
Lvl.: 7
With Yurik’s second Unioncorn monster in his right hand, Yurik grabbed his other pendulum monster from his hand and revealed them both to Walt.
“Now, I set the pendulum scale with the scale 5 Unioncorn of Wind and scale 8 Unioncorn of Light,” Yurik declared.
Yurik placed both monsters on the outermost zones of his blades, causing two pillars to appear on both sides of Yurik’s field. Rising from the ground inside the blue pillars were the jade-green unicorn, its coat tattooed with swirling-dark green designs, as well as a strong, shimmering white unicorn with a brightly lit mane and tail. A number 5 appeared above the green unicorn and a number 8 appeared above the white one.
Unioncorn of Wind
Pendulum Scale: 5
Unioncorn of Light
Pendulum Scale: 8
“What the…” Walt whispered, his eyebrow raised in confusion.
Marcus too looked slightly unsure of Yurik’s intentions for the move he just made.
“However,” Yurik spoke, “pendulum summoning is not my goal here. I activate another effect of my Twilight Alicorn!”
“Another one?” sighed Walt with slight agitation.
“Once per turn, I can target two monsters in my pendulum zones and special summon them to my side of the field!”
Walt, astounded by this effect, stepped forwards with an agape mouth, wanting to see it for himself as closely as possible. Even Marcus had gasped at the power that Yurik’s monster held.
“I now special summon my Unioncorn of Wind and Unioncorn of Light!” Yurik announced. “Summon Shine!”
Twilight Alicorn strained as its horn began to shine, causing both monsters in Yurik’s pendulum zone pillars to be covered in a magenta light. Both of them disappeared and reappeared in a similar manner to Yurik’s field, the green unicorn being placed next to Pegassist of Water and the white unicorn standing next to Twilight Alicorn.
Unioncorn of Wind
ATK: 1500
Lvl.: 4
Unioncorn of Light
ATK: 1900
Lvl.: 4
“Three new monsters,” Marcus gasped in awe, “just like that. That card is incredible!”
“And three of his monsters are level four,” Kieran commented. “Neither of them are stronger than Walt’s Tungsten Dragon. He’ll have to xyz summon.”
But what will he summon? Twilight wondered.
Walt watched wearily as Yurik turned his head to his Pegassist of Water and his Unioncorn of Wind, knowing exactly what would be coming his way.
“I now overlay my Unioncorn of Wind and Pegassist of Water!” Yurik declared.
His blue pegasus and green unicorn transformed into wispy blue and green auras that began to fly up and about in the air before flying down towards a red portal opening up on the ground.
“With these two monsters,” Yurik continued, “I construct the overlay network! Xyz summon!”
The two auras flew in, making the portal turn bright. Flying out from the portal was a strong alicorn stallion with a forest-green coat and black stripes along its body, as well as two orbs of light orbiting around it. Its mane and tail appeared to be flying out from their bases and swirled around like a tornado without end.
“Come on!” called Yurik. “Allicorn of Typhoons!”
The monster refused to land, instead hovering above the ground and using its massive wings to keep itself afloat.
Allicorn of Typhoons
ATK: 2300
Rnk.: 4
Walt shielded his face from the strong gusts being produced by Yurik’s new monster’s wings.
“Amazing,” Walt groaned to himself as his body continued to be pummeled by wind. “And to think how much a single card can change someone’s skill.”
Twilight couldn’t help but look at Yurik’s monsters with a touch of concern.
“Wait,” she spoke, turning to Kieran and Alice, “I don’t understand. Yurik’s monsters are still weaker than Walt’s. What is he supposed to prove with this?”
“Just sit back, Twilight,” advised Alice, “and let Yurik work his magic.”
Yurik turned to his flying alicorn with a prepared smile.
“Ready for this, buddy?” he asked it.
The horse, turning its head to face Yurik, gave a positive snort and bobbing of its entire head and neck.
“Good,” he responded back. “I now activate Allicorn of Typhoons’s effect!”
Yurik slid Pegassist of Water from underneath his card and slipped it into his graveyard, an orb circling around the monster and melding with its horn.
“Once per turn,” explained Yurik, “I can detach one xyz material from this card to destroy one spell or trap card my opponent controls…”
Walt made an uncomfortable ticking sound with his mouth, knowing which card would be subject to destruction.
“…and the card I choose is the Tesla Coil in your left pendulum zone!”
“That’s right!” realized Twilight. “It’s just like the last duel!”
“And now that my monster’s in the pendulum zone,” explained Yurik, referring to Kieran’s Guardia Sniper, “your monster’s effect can no longer target my Twilight Alicorn, since it’s now treated as a spell card.”
“Since it’s treated as a spell card,” concluded Twilight, “it can be destroyed like one! Nice play, Yurik!”
With its horn still glowing bright, Allicorn of Typhoons flew out towards Walt’s card at tremendous speeds. Flipping its lower body forward around 90 degrees, a ball of yellow light shot out of the alicorn’s horn as it flapped its wings out at the tesla coil, the gusts melding with the spell to form a comet with a windy tail.
The beam crashed into the metal contraption, bending and breaking it beyond repair as both it and the spell disappeared in a scattering of gold sparks.
“But there’s more!” exclaimed Yurik. “When Allicorn of Typhoons successfully destroys a spell or trap card with its effect, it gains 500 ATK until the end phase.”
The glowing around the returning alicorn’s horn wouldn’t cease as it began to cover its entire body.
ATK: 2300 -> 2800
“And now that your Tesla Coil is destroyed,” Yurik mentioned, “your Tungsten Dragon’s ATK returns to normal.”
Tungsten Dragon merely growled in response as its ATK was lowered.
ATK: 3200 -> 2700
“I see!” Marcus shouted. “Not only did he use his monster’s effect to increase its own ATK, but he also decreased Walt’s monster’s ATK.”
“And now Tungsten Dragon’s ATK is lower than Allicorn of Typhoons,” concluded Twilight.
Walt, despite the situation, found himself smiling and laughing loudly, much to the confusion of Twilight and Walt, but not to Alice, Kieran, and Yurik.
“Nice try there,” complimented Walt with a tinge of sarcasm, “but as you should know, my Tungsten Dragon cannot be destroyed by battle or a card effect once per turn, so even with your monster’s increase in strength, my monster will still survive by next turn.”
“You know,” Yurik said with an equally cocky grin, “that would be true… if it wasn’t.”
“Wait,” Twilight queried, “what?”
Walt, realizing more was yet to come, widened his eyes and pursed his lips.
“I activate the continuous spell card Pony Power!” Yurik cried out, revealing his spell card and throwing it into his duel disk’s front slot.
Phasing just above the ground was a face-up spell card with the infinity marker below the card name featuring art of a galloping horse, a galloping unicorn, and an alicorn flying alongside a pegasus, each one glowing with energy.
“With this card,” Yurik went one, “as long as I have a Unioncorn, Pegassist, Pony, or Allicorn monster on my side of the field, all monsters I control gain 200 ATK for each monster I control.”
“That’s three monsters,” observed Alice.
“That means each monster gains an extra 600 ATK,” responded Twilight. “But that means…”
All three of Yurik’s monsters glowed with a similar energy surrounding them, each one staying silent as their ATKs were raised.
Twilight Alicorn
ATK: 2500 -> 3100
Pegassist of Typhoons
ATK: 2800 -> 3400
Unioncorn of Light
ATK: 1900 -> 2500
“…they’re now stronger than Tungsten Dragon!” Twilight finished.
“Now’s the time to shine!” Yurik declared. “Go! Allicorn of Typhoons! Attack Tungsten Dragon! Horrorcane!”
With a glowing of its horn and a reeling back of its wings, the monster flapped hard, causing a massive wall of water come crashing right towards the direction of Walt and his monster. Tungsten Dragon instinctively threw its wings out to the wave, deflecting it as it protected Walt from its force, wincing as it endured the hit for him.
“Your monster isn’t destroyed,” spoke Yurik, “but you still take damage.”
Water escaped from under Walt’s dragon’s wings as a small sheet washed over Walt, knocking him down to the ground on his back, the water submerging him.
Walt’s Life Points: 4000 -> 3300
The water finally receded away, leaving a visibly weakened and tired Tungsten Dragon before Walt.
“And now that it survived its first attack,” said Yurik, “battle! Twilight Alicorn, attack Tungsten Dragon! Bright Burst Magic!”
Yurik’s last attack position monster charged its horn and with a hop in its front legs, it shot out its magenta beam as the landed back on the ground, the beam shooting straight at Walt’s monster. The beam hit its target, producing a fiery, smoking blast that covered both Tungsten Dragon and Walt.
Walt’s shouts of anguish could be heard as the hot cloud enveloped him, but both Twilight and Marcus were too impressed with the strategy.
“He…” muttered Twilight, “…did it. He actually did it.”
Kieran and Alice however, looked to the cloud, feeling something odd coming soon. After a few moments of silence, a pair of gold-and-white wings pierced through the smoke and flung their way out, fanning the smoke away and revealing Tungsten Dragon and Walt, standing relatively unharmed from the attack.
Walt’s Life Points: 3300 -> 2900
Marcus and Twilight gasped in surprise.
“Tungsten Dragon’s alive?” she questioned.
“What?” Yurik cried out. “How is that possible?”
“You’re not the only one who can do tricks,” Walt told him, pointing at a trap card featuring art of a thin, transparent sheet covering what appeared to be Tungsten Paladin. “I activated my trap, Tungsten Coat.”
Yurik groaned, knowing just how much more difficult defeating Walt’s monster would now become.
“I can equip this card to a Tungsten monster I control,” Walt explained, “and once per turn, the equipped monster can’t be destroyed by battle. So now, it will take three hits to take my monster down.”
“No…” Yurik muttered. “No way…”
“So looks like that ends that. So come on, Yurik. My monster wants to have another go!”
Grimacing hard, Yurik took out the final card in his hand, knowing that there really was nothing left for him to do.
“I place one card face down,” he said, sliding his final card inside the front slot of his duel disk. “During the end phase, my Allicorn of Typhoons’s ATK returns to normal.”
ATK: 3400 -> 2900
“I end my turn,” Yurik finally concluded.
Status: Hand: 0 Life: 2400 Monsters: 3 Pendulum Zones: 0 Pendulum Scale: - Spell/Traps: 2
“Man,” chided Walt, “tough break. And to think, you really almost had me there!”
Yurik felt angered with his failure, feeling like he would come to breaking his promise very soon. Kieran could tell that Yurik was breaking, feeling a sense of disrespect for him.
It seems that every time Yurik plans a counter, Kieran devised, Walt already has another counter at the ready. Walt is in a very strong position at the moment, and the only thing Yurik could use at this point is his one face down card. Could it possible that Walt is even stronger than Yurik?
Yurik clenched his empty fists, ready to take on whatever Walt was prepared to dish out. Twilight, Alice, and Marcus both looked on between Yurik and Walt, waiting to see which resilient duelist would hold out the longest.
“Alright, Yurik,” Walt shouted out, placing his fingers on his deck, “here comes the thunder! My turn! Draw!!”
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Sweet duel so far.
Dang! This duel is intense so far. Walt and Yurik aren't letting up in the slightest. Also, would you mind putting that snippet flashback in italics? I almost thought that it was a part of the current duel.
Ya know, considering how many Spell/Trap removal effects have something to do with wind, magic in the Yugioh universe must be allergic to air or something.