[X] You're just so moved! This transcends a card game, this is true Duelist Spirit! Change the wager, you'll go five against one chip, on one condition. Next time you and Jou cross paths again, you'll duel him again for the Red-Eyes Black Dragon, and you'll see who's progressed further as a skilled player and a real, honourable duelist!
Oh man, your heart hurts!
For Jonouchi to just up and offer that card back to you, simply because he wants to help his friend out of a bad situation, that's way too nice a gesture.
This is... you're not sure what it is, but it's definitely above and beyond what you expected to see happening at a simple card game tournament. Giving that card back to you now, right before the finals of this competition, is almost certainly the final nail in the coffin for Jou's chances at the top spot, and you're pretty sure he knows it too.
Taking it back now to use against Yugi would simultaneously strengthen your chances of victory right now, and also basically nullify the threat of one of your opponents in the finals, and yet...
Is that a victory you'd be proud of?
"Keep the card Jonouchi, I don't need it," you state, giving yourself the answer you didn't even know you had within you.
Jonouchi's response is immediate, a look of confusion that quickly turns to anger as his stance takes on a combative tone.
"Whaddya mean, you don't need it? I try to offer you something of equal value so you don't feel like we're ripping you off here, and you say no? What, you think you're better than me?!"
Oh no, he's mad.
Why is he mad?
"H-hey! Hold on! I don't think I'm better than you," you snap back. T
he moment you say it though, you know it's not entirely true. This whole time you've been grousing to yourself about Jonouchi's beginners luck, how he didn't even know how to use a card as powerful as the Time Wizard, and just happened to fall into his victory. He's a rookie, a total amateur.
"I mean... I think I'm-" you're not totally sure how to say it, and you have to muse to yourself for a moment before the way of wording it comes to your mind.
"I think I'm a better duelist than you, Jonouchi, but... I think you're a better person," you finish lamely.
He looks a little shocked at your statement, his previous anger shot through now with hesitation, so you push on, looking for the right words to say.
"You're willing to give up this treasure just to help a friend, and I guess that just surprised me to see someone be so... supportive of a friend that they'd give up the things they earned themselves. So yeah, I guess what I'm saying is that I think- no, I know. I know I'm a better duelist than you, but
Magic & Wizards is... it's a trading card game. You collect your treasures by trading and sharing with friends. You get better at the game by playing it with as many people as you can, and it's a global phenomenon now."
You chuckle a bit at how ridiculous you sound, but Jou and his friends seem to be listening keenly, nodding solemnly as you explain.
"Maybe I'm better at the game, but I think you understand the spirit of the game way more than almost anyone else I've met, Jonouchi. So I can't just take that card back from you, it wouldn't be in the spirit of it all, you get it?"
Jou scratches his scruffy blonde hair for a moment, deep in thought. He looks a little troubled, still.
"So you're not gonna take it, Ryuzaki? That means we don't have a deal? You won't duel Yugi here?"
Oh right, duh, of course he's still bothered, that was the whole point of his offer. You think about it for a moment, looking out into the distance from the castle. Nobody else in sight across the grasslands, and only four places available in the finals, first come first served. Two of those slots already taken by the guy standing in front of you, and your friend still lingering silently behind you, watching the whole situation unfold with interest.
You sigh theatrically. There's really not a lot of options, in the end.
"Okay, new deal. I can tell you and Yugi both have something you're fighting hard for, and that at least I can respect. I need to get into that castle as well, and I don't really like my chances if I have to go wandering off to find someone else to duel and then come all the way back here, so I will duel Yugi. Five chips wagered."
Jou's face lights up, and he looks like he's about to cheer.
"On one condition. Next time we meet, whether it's in the finals here, or after we get off this damn island and back home, you and I are gonna duel again. You're gonna prove to me that it wasn't just a fluke that you won last time, some bullshit beginner's luck. Beat me again, and I'll believe it, the Red-Eyes belongs with you. But if I win, then you hand it back over to me, fair?"
Jou steps closer to you, his face serious once more.
"Thank you Ryuzaki, for accepting Yugi's challenge here. I think maybe you understand the spirit of this game more than you say you do, so yeah. A duel to prove I'm good enough to keep my treasure. It's a deal," he replies, stretching his hand out towards you.
"And when I beat your ass again, you can stop patronizing me and admit I'm better than you," he snarks.
"Not gonna happen!" you snap back at him as you shake his hand to seal the deal.
[X] Go with the flow of fortune, and prepare for Three Spheres Imperial Lord. Set Gale Lizard and both traps. That way you can use your Threatening Roar to prevent Yugi from attacking your lizard next turn, then you can bring out your Emperor next turn, and if you really need to you can flip your Gale Lizard to bounce a troublesome monster back to Yugi's hand.
You draw, and glance at the card.
Tail Swipe, totally useless right now. Not quite the tempo-maker you were hoping for, but its not an issue. It'll take at least two turns for you to get the materials out that you need for your Imperial Lord, and you have everything you need to ensure you still have all your Fusion Materials when you do draw your Polymerization.
Hopefully soon though, you think.
"Not bad Yugi, I know Dragon Knight of Darkness, it can get pretty strong pretty quickly! I guess I should have pegged a champion duelist as a dragon user," you add as you array three cards onto your field. Just in case, you decide to stick your
Gale Lizard up on top of one of the castle parapets. Maybe his Knight won't be able to reach it up there?
"I don't have anything strong enough to deal with your Dragon Knight right now, so I'll play a monster face down, and add two support cards face down as well," you finish, setting
Adhesion Trap Hole and
Threatening Roar to finish your turn.
Gale Lizard (700 DEF)
Yugi draws for his turn, still seeming a little distracted. He picks another card out of his hand, and on his open grassy field appears a deep purple dragon, complete with batlike wings, a frill of purple spines surrounding the head, and wicked yellow eyes that glare angrily at you as the dragon takes an agressive stance upon the tabletop field.
"I'll summon my
Koumori Dragon in Attack position, which powers up my Dragon Knight by 400 points, raising it to 2000 Attack!" Yugi exclaims as a miasma of dark energy flares around his black-clad winged knight.
Koumori Dragon (1500 ATK)
Dragon Knight of Darkness (1600 ATK > 2000 ATK)
"Yeah! Go Yugi, now your knight can take out his Megazowler and his other dinos with ease, even if he does manage to bring them out!" cheers Jou from the sidelines, looking elated by his friend's (honestly pretty basic) combo.
You smirk and flip one of the cards set in your backrow, causing a rumbling shockwave to sweep across the field, a mighty roar from an unseen beast.
"Too bad you're not gonna be able to do anything with it, Yugi. I'll activate my
Threatening Roar trap card, preventing you from declaring any attacks for this turn, so my monster is safe!" you exclaim, and Yugi nods as he purses his lips in thought.
"Okay Ryuzaki, that's fair. I guess either you have a really bad hand and just need to keep this monster alive so you don't automatically lose," he wonders out loud, not even really looking at your face to judge your reaction, "or you need it for some bigger combo you're working on. You're not quite as straightforward and simple as you seemed when you dueled against Jonouchi, huh?"
He sets one card face down as you do your best to keep your face impassive, making sure you give nothing away, even though it really seems like he's just mulling thoughts over to himself rather than trying to trick you into revealing anything.
"Tch, nobody who plays
Magic & Wizards competitively would just rely on the most basic of beatdown strategies," you shoot back as you draw for your next turn.
Admittedly, you'd always played it pretty straight and simple against most duelists, but that was a simple matter of your dinosaurs and dragons being big and strong enough to afford such tactics against the amateurs and rookies of the dueling scene. Against others who had really invested proper time, money and thought into their deckbuilding, straightforward beatdown was a luxury rarely afforded to you.
Damn, the next card isn't a Fusion card either. You could have gone into
Three Spheres Imperial Lord on this turn if you'd had it in your hand. Is the tempo of this game ebbing away from you now? Did you fail to strike while the iron was hot?
Still,
Survival's End is not what you'd call a bad card. It might come in handy later on, if Yugi keeps building up his board presence. For now though...
Bouncing back either monster to Yugi's hand with Gale Lizard would be a waste, since he can just play them next turn. You're just going to have to try to make sure his Dragon Knight doesn't keep getting stronger, by eliminating whatever dragons he ends up putting into play on the battlefield.
"Okay Yugi, let's see how you handle this! A castle is a fitting field for an emperor, right? I summon my
Emperor of the Land and Sea in Attack position!" you say, placing it onto another castle battlement tile.
The large, pale green lizard that manifests on the castle wall hisses, staring down at Yugi's monsters as if they are invaders daring to set foot in its territory.
Emperor of the Land and Sea (1800 ATK)
"Now, fry that Koumori Dragon with a fireball, Emperor!"
As you declare your attack, Yugi hesitates for just a brief second, before flipping over one of his three set cards. Up on the castle parapet, as your imperial lizard rears back to spit a fireball at its invading rival, a glowing hexagram of light appears, encircling the Emperor completely as a number of runes manifest within the magical circle. Your emperor struggles, writhes and roars, but no matter how hard it tries, only wisps of smoke escape from its snapping jaws.
"Too bad, Ryuzaki! My
Spellbinding Circle traps your monster in a magical snare, reducing its attack power by 700, and preventing it from attacking, or changing its battle position," Yugi explains excitedly.
Emperor of the Land and Sea (1800 ATK > 1100 ATK)
Damn! Not only did you fail to destroy the monster powering up his dragon knight, but now your own monster is left exposed and vulnerable, a skillful play that fits what you'd heard about Yugi!
Maybe you shouldn't underestimate him just because he seems a bit upset and unsure of himself...
"Argh, fine! I guess I'll just throw down these two cards to protect my monster then, and I'll end my turn!"
Setting both Survival's End and Tail Swipe, you glance at your hand, trying to come up with some other strategies. With only
Black Stego left sitting in your hand though, you don't have too many options.
Still...with your Emperor weakened by the magical circle, there's definitely still a viable option for you on Yugi's turn, especially if he summons another normal monster.
Yugi breathes deeply, calming himself, and draws his card, tilting his head in thought as he studies the battlefield in front of him.
"Right, now I'll summon my
Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress #1," Yugi announces calmly, and to the other side of his dragon knight appears a blue dragon, a little less vicious looking than the Koumori Dragon, keeping itself aloft by flapping its wings constantly.
Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress #1 (1400 ATK)
Koumori Dragon (1500 ATK)
Dragon Knight of Darkness (2000 ATK > 2400 ATK)
Your eyes widen as Yugi's army of draconic beings grows stronger.
There's no way your're getting out of this turn without some damage to your Life Points, and you'll be losing out on your chance to fuse into your Three Spheres Imperial Lord, but you've been backed into a corner now that your Emperor is frozen in place and a prime target for Yugi's knight.
Yugi points at your ensnared serpentine lord, and his three monsters shift to more threatening stances.
"Dragon Knight of Darkness, fly up there and kill the Emperor of the Land and Sea!" Yugi orders, and his black knight dutifully leaps up, sword held at the ready to behead your lizard.
Without a moment of thought, you flip your trap card.
"Hold it right there, I'm gonna activate
Survival's End! Thanks for summoning an extra monster there, because this is going to hurt you a lot more than it hurts me!" you announce, as over the tabletop battlefield dark stormclouds gather, crackling with electricity. Below the clouds, frost begins to creep across the ground at an alarming rate, steadily riming over the feet of both of Yugi's dragons, as well as your emperor.
"Oh no! Yugi, what's happening?!" exclaims the brown-haired girl from outside the battle box. Yugi's other friends are making similarly alarmed noises, and you're glad to see even Koyo is leaning in with interest to see what's happening here.
"Explain yourself Ryuzaki!" Yugi asks, the command spoiled somewhat by the hollow ring of false confidence in his voice.
You wave away his demand dismissively, pointing out his two dragons, now halfway covered in the hoarfrost gathering on every surface of the field.
"Yeah, yeah, keep your hair on, Yugi. Survival's End is an extinction-level event, which only the specially-equipped can survive in," you explain, happy to be able to lecture someone else for once.
"All normal monsters on the field will be destroyed. Your dragon knight has an effect and my other monster is facedown so both of them will be fine, but our three dragons? Well they're not going to do so well. I'll lose my Emperor of the Land and Sea, but in exchange both of your dragons will die too. You'll lose the powerup your knight's been receiving, but more importantly, you'll take almost 1500 life points of destruction damage from the loss of your monsters!" you announce gleefully.
A big hit on Yugi's life points like this is absolutely worth the 500 or so damage you'll take from losing your Emperor, that's for sure!
"Oh no! I have to save them!" Yugi cries, as he reaches for one of his own set cards. "I hope this works, here goes nothing!" he adds as he flips his spell card, and both of his dragons are pulled into a vortex of blue and orange energy, whirling away to become something entirely different.
Damn it, not
Polymerization!
As your large green lizard ices over completely and shatters, a new dragon appears from the vortex of whirling fusion energy, a serpentine dragon of gold with long, sticklike legs and a strange, almost machine-like appearance. Yugi grins happily, as his dragon knight flies back down to his side of the field, having missed its opportunity to attack.
"Yes! I summon the
Kaiser Dragon in Attack position!"
Kaiser Dragon (2300 ATK)
Dragon Knight of Darkness (2400 ATK > 2000 ATK)
"Whoo, yeah! You go Yugi! Show Ryuzaki why you're the real champion of this game!" cheers his friends happily.
Do you activate Adhesion Trap Hole to halve Kaiser Dragon's ATK when it is summoned?
[ ] Yes.
[ ] No.
Ryuzaki: 2000 LP > 1450 LP
"Uh, by the way, there's a little orange light flashing by your deck, is everything okay Ryuzaki?" asks Yugi, suddenly concerned.
Huh?
Looking at the indicator, you realise you're not quite done yet.
"Uh, yeah, sorry. I got distracted by your shiny new dragon. If any monsters are destroyed by Survival's End, I have to summon at least one Level 4 or lower dinosaur from my deck to the field, but it gets destroyed at the end of the turn," you finish, a bit annoyed at this added effect kicking in now. It's not going to give you any benefits, since its Yugi's turn, it's just going to cost you some more destruction damage in the end. You think for a moment about what are your weakest dinosaurs, monsters you don't really need, and the choice is pretty clear to you.
"I'll summon my
Upstart King Rex, but if you have nothing else to do on this turn, it'll be destroyed immediately," you add, and Yugi nods in agreement.
A small, orange tyrannosaurus rex appears momentarily, gilded in gaudy jewellry and gauche displays of wealth, before shattering and disappearing into the graveyard.
Ryuzaki: 1450 LP > 1100 LP
"Man, bad luck there Ryuzaki. It was a great play too, I guess I'm lucky I had Polymerization in my opening hand, or else I'd be in a really bad position right now," Yugi offers his condolences demurely, seeming genuinely humble about his brush with disaster.
"Yeah, I know, it kinda sucks huh?" you respond, a little annoyed but okay enough with the results. Forcing him to use his Polymerization on two relatively minor monsters is something you can kind of see as a win, at least. If you squint real hard, maybe.
Still, you still have your Gale Lizard ready to bounce a monster back to a player's hand, what would happen if you tried to bounce back the Kaiser Dragon? As a fusion, there's no physical card, so maybe it might just... disappear?
You're not actually totally sure on that one.
The first flurry of scouting strikes has been made, and in that round Yugi was the clear victor. You can't help but be impressed, he really is good.
Which means you just have to knuckle down and get really serious now.
Accumulated 225 DP to spend on Destiny Draw.
If Destiny Draw is not used, the card you draw this turn will be Monster Reborn.
Your field is currently Gale Lizard in facedown Defense Position (700 DEF) on a castle wall tile, and Tail Swipe (and Adhesion Trap Hole if you didn't activate it) set in the S/T zones.
Your hand consists of Black Stego.
Your graveyard contains (Adhesion Trap Hole if you did activate it), Upstart King Rex, Survival's End, Emperor of the Land and Sea, and Threatening Roar.
Yugi's field is current Dragon Knight of Darkness (2000 ATK) and Kaiser Dragon (2300 ATK) (or 1150 ATK if you activated Adhesion Trap Hole), both in Attack position on meadow tiles, and one card set into the S/T zones. His Kaiser Dragon is composed of Koumori Dragon and Winged Guardian of the Fortress #1.
Yugi has 1 card in his hand.
Yugi's graveyard contains Polymerization and Spellbinding Circle.
Ryuzaki LP: 1100
Yugi LP: 2000
What will you do now?
[ ] Draw Monster Reborn, flip Gale Lizard to attack position and use its effect to return Kaiser Dragon to the hand. Play Monster Reborn to revive your Emperor of the Land and Sea, and attack Yugi's Dragon Knight of Darkness now that it has no dragons powering it up. Summon Black Stego after the Battle Phase as added support.
[ ] That Kaiser Dragon is looking pretty weak now that you've activated Adhesion Trap Hole! Flip Gale Lizard to bounce the Dragon Knight back to Yugi's hand, and attack over the top of the Kaiser Dragon to kill it. Summon Black Stego as backup afterwards, and save your newly drawn card for later by setting it on the field. (Will default to next highest vote if the Adhesion Trap Hole vote is for [No.])
[ ] Wipe that board out, extinction-level event! Summon Black Stego, banish Survival's End from your GY to destroy Stego and Yugi's facedown S/T at the cost of 600 of your Life Points, flip Gale Lizard to bounce one of his monsters, and if need be, play your Monster Reborn to revive Emperor of the Land and Sea to make sure you have a monster strong enough to attack and destroy the other monster, completely clearing his field.
[ ] Write in.
