Rex Raptor and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Island Tournament (A Yu-Gi-Oh! Quest)

[X] Plan: Rex Raptor Beatdown
- Use Adhesion Trap Hole on Kaiser Dragon, reducing it to 1150 ATK
- Destiny Draw King Rex
- Summon King Rex with 2300 ATK
- Attack the 1150 ATK Kaiser Dragon, dealing (2300-1150)*2 = 2300 LP damage.

You inspect the battlefield as the turn order changes over to you, thinking hard about your options. You potentially could have used the graveyard effect of Survival's End at the end of last turn, destroying Upstart King Rex with it to destroy one of his cards, but you can handle both of his monsters anyway, and Yugi hasn't so much as looked at the facedown card he set back on his first turn, so you're pretty sure it's either a bluff or a situational card he simply set because there was no benefit to keeping it in his hand.

No, your instinct here is that you'd better keep your at-will destruction effect saved up in your back pocket for now. You don't know anything about what sort of tricks Yugi might have up his sleeve, so best to be prepared.

[Destiny Draw activated! 200 DP spent!]

You draw for your turn, and you can't help but grin at the sight of King Rex in your hand. Your best monster has shown up at an ideal time!

"Hah, check this out Yugi! I summon King Rex in Attack Position," you crow excitedly as you place your card on the table. In front of you, the image of your imposing tyrannosaurus rex appears on the battlefield, roaring loudly to announce its presence.

King Rex (2300 ATK)

"Oh man, that dino looks like it packs a punch!" exclaims Honda from the sidelines, and you see Yugi nodding in agreement. His eyes look a bit unsure, but he's not panicking yet, and you're not surprised. He doesn't know about the effect of your King Rex so he expects to take a decent chunk of damage if you attack either his dragon or his black-armored knight, but the reality is very different, you think to yourself confidently.

You point aggressively at the golden serpentine dragon coiled up on Yugi's side of the field, still struggling with the adhesive gunk clinging to it, making it a nightmare for the imperial dragon to move at all.

"I'm going to attack your Kaiser Dragon, Yugi! And this attack will finish it, because King Rex deals double damage whenever it battles," you announce in your biggest, brashest stage voice. It's not often you get to attack the (ex?) world champion for game, and you want to really savour it.

Yugi's eyes spring wide open in alarm, and his friends make a variety of shocked noises at your revelation!

"Oh man, is that really enough to take the game?" asks Honda nervously, the brown-haired girl beside him visibly agitated at Yugi's situation here.

"Um… I think it'll be… 2300 damage," the white-haired boy with the group frets, doing the maths in his head.

"Oh no! That's a ton of damage!" Jonouchi exclaims, looking horrified at his friend's impending loss.

"Haha, do it King Rex! Stomp that Kaiser Dragon into the ground!" you order, and your dinosaur charges, roaring furiously as it does so.

"Hold on Ryuzaki, I still have my face-down spell card!" Yugi exclaims, as he flips over his card. Instantly, the holograms of his two monsters turn into hazy fog, before trailing back towards Yugi and vanishing.

Your King Rex charges through the last wisps of fog, shaking its head in confusion at the loss of its attack target. Looking around in vain, the king of the dinosaurs roars once more in frustration, before returning to your side of the field.

"Huh? What just happened?!" you cry out, frustration filling you as you miss your shot at winning the duel. You were so sure that the facedown wasn't going to factor into this fight!

"I activated my Monster Recovery card, returning both of my monsters to my hand," explains Yugi, and you're instantly thrown off by his response. It's not that he's saying anything unusual, but his intonation is strong and confident, very different from the sense of false confidence he'd been giving up until now.

Is he the sort of person who functions best under high pressure, and this last-minute escape from defeat has just gotten him fired up?

Yugi straightens up in his chair, as he reaches for his cards on the table, picking up his Dragon Knight, as well as both of the fusion materials for his Kaiser Dragon, still on the field. He calmly adds them back to his hand, and then places all four cards from his hand on the top of his deck, picking it up and shuffling it as he does so.

His actions are swift, sure and nimble, adding to your troubled reassessment of Yugi's nature as a duelist. These are the movements of someone highly skilled in their techniques, someone utterly sure of themselves and their ability to play this game. As he shuffles, Yugi continues to speak to you, and although his voice hasn't really changed in any sense of pitch or physical expression, you can't help but shiver a little as he explains. This is the patient, thorough voice of someone who knows they are good at what they do, with no need to prove themselves through bluster and big claims.

"Once my monsters return to my hand, I must then shuffle it back into my deck, and draw five new cards," he states as he proceeds to refresh his hand with new card draws. "Losing field presence in such a way is regrettable, but you've proven yourself to be a far more capable opponent than I'd anticipated, Ryuzaki."

You shiver at the compliment. You're not so sure that being seen as a serious threat is a good thing in this case.

"Now that I've avoided your attack and renewed my hand, it's time we reset this battlefield. This time, Ryuzaki, I don't intend to underestimate you. I have family I need to save, and friends I plan to keep fighting alongside. I hope you understand." he adds.

Okay, this fits the mental images you had of Yugi as a player much better. Serious, respectful, but still eager to enjoy the game with a skilled opponent, someone who thrives in situations that force him to grow and think outside the box.

"I'll draw for my turn, and then I'll play the Swords of Revealing Light, preventing you from attacking for three turns," Yugi announces, as a number of shimmering blades of pure white light take shape on the field, creating a barrier between your side of the field and Yugi's.

"When the swords appear on the field, their light shines on everything, exposing your facedown monster for all to see!" he notes, as the hologram of your Gale Lizard appears on the castle walls, wings bent protectively in front of itself.

Gale Lizard (700 DEF)

You grumble as you turn Gale Lizard's card face up, its ability to return a monster to Yugi's hand going to waste as you do so. He's setting up barriers and eliminating unknown threats, so you suspect that Yugi is moving into a new stage of re-establishing his battlefield presence. You're certain he must have some powerful monsters in his deck, but evidently nothing in his hand right now can compete against the strength of your King Rex, which is a relief to know.

"Now I summon my Mystical Elf in Defense Position, and end my turn," Yugi announces, as on the field in front of him a blue-skinned elf in pristine robes appears, kneeling in a supplication of prayer.

Mystical Elf (2000 DEF)

You draw, glancing at the card as you ponder your options. Meteor Dragon. Not super relevant right now, you think. The big question you have to ask yourself now is whether to use Survival's End now to destroy the Swords of Revealing Light and prevent Yugi from building up his field presence, or not?

It's likely that he now has at least a couple of monsters in his hand, so if you remove the swords preventing your attacks, he'll respond to your destroying his monsters by just playing more of them in Defense Position, one at a time, until he draws something that will overpower your King Rex. It's possible that won't happen, but if he has built any sort of decent deck, and every indication so far is that his deck is definitely tournament-worthy, you don't rate your chances highly. Keeping up constant pressure on Yugi is unlikely to work, you've seen firsthand that he flourishes under pressure.

The other option is to wait for him to summon one of his larger threats, let him declare his attack, and then chain Survival's End to destroy whatever monster is summoned, deal a large chunk of destruction damage and then immediately counterattack on your turn after that.

Yeah, this is the smarter play, you think. Yugi has countered both of your big swings at him, overturning them in an instant, and you intend to match him, pull the same trick on him.

That being said, you still need to prepare to use Survival's End, which means you need to consider the destruction damage you'll take from destroying one of your dinosaurs as part of the requirement of using it. In this situation, the Black Stego in your hand is ideal, as it has lower attack points so you won't take too much damage, but has enough defensive points that you think it'll be able to stay on the field until you need to trigger Survival's End.

"I'll summon my Black Stego in Defense Position, and since I can't attack with my King Rex, I guess I'll just end my turn," you tell Yugi, as your green-skinned stegosaurus appears on the field, its tail curled defensively around itself.

Black Stego (2000 DEF)
Swords of Revealing Light: 2 turns remaining

Yugi draws his card, and chuckles as he looks at it.

"It appears we're both playing the waiting game now, Ryuzaki. We'll see who's established the better army by the time the swords have faded, I suppose. For now, Catapult Turtle in defense position," he states, as next to his elf appears a large mechanical-looking turtle, with an aggressive-looking railgun catapult system mounted onto its shell.

Catapult Turtle (2000 DEF)

You know of Catapult Turtle, and its ability to fling monsters at enemy cards to destroy them. It has the potential to be a real danger, but there's not much you can do right now aside from hoping that he doesn't draw a monster that is strong enough to use as ammunition against your King Rex. If worst comes to worst, you can use Survival's End, but you hope that won't be necessary.

Yugi proceeds to set two cards facedown in his Spell/Trap zones, and ends his turn.

You draw your card, Dust Tornado, and set it on the field immediately, following it up with the Meteor Dragon you drew last turn, as another defensive wall, should you need it. With your hand now emptied out, the game has changed dramatically now, with four monsters on the field with 2000 defense.

Meteor Dragon: 2000 DEF
Swords of Revealing Light: 1 turn remaining

"Only one more turn with those swords protecting you Yugi, and then my King Rex can start chowing down on all these defensive monsters you've been summoning. Starting to sweat yet?" you goad as you pass your turn back to Yugi.

He chuckles again, mildly amused by your obvious taunt, and picks a card out of his hand to place on the field.

"You're quite right, Ryuzaki, my monsters will be protected for only one more turn. I suppose I'd better do something about that, hadn't I?"

On the field in front of him, an elven warrior clad in leather armor appears in the meadows, brandishing a sword threateningly.

"My Celtic Guardian will suit my purposes quite nicely I think, as he gains a field power bonus from fighting in the meadows!"

Celtic Guardian (1400 ATK > 1820 ATK)

You frown a little at Yugi's elven swordsman, and he quirks his eyebrow, assessing your face.

"Oh, you're confused because even with the field power bonus my elf doesn't have enough attack power to face down your King Rex? Well, perhaps my Mystical Elf can assist him in the battle, as she has been chanting a prayer of empowerment ever since I summoned her. Her holy magic allows me to transfer her 800 attack points to my Celtic Guardian!" Yugi reveals, as a divine blue aura appears around his elf priestess, before flowing over to the swordsman standing beside her.

Mystical Elf (800 ATK > 0 ATK)
Celtic Guardian (1820 ATK > 2620 ATK)

Oh no, that's not good! A good thing you saved your Survival's End, you think, steeling yourself to keep your face as impassive as possible.

Yugi narrows his eyes, looking thoughtfully at your four reptilian creatures arranged imposingly upon the top of the castle walls.

"I see," he muses. "You're not great at keeping a straight face, Ryuzaki. You're hoping I'll attack your King Rex, and why would that be? I've figured it out, and I won't fall for it, Ryuzaki."

Huh? What does he mean? Does he have a way to stop Survival's End from activating?

"If my Celtic Guardian charges in to try to fight your dinosaur, while it stands safely atop that defensive parapet, your superior battlefield positioning will cancel out my field power bonus, reducing my monster's attack to only 2200, causing it to destroy itself in the battle, correct?"

Wait, what is he on about now? Field power bonuses being cancelled out?

So he's not onto your secret counterplay lurking in your graveyard. He figured out something you weren't aware of at all, thinking that you'd known it all along and was baiting him into attacking.

You sigh, unclenching the fist you'd subconsciously clenched together when you thought Yugi was about to shoot down your secret weapon.

"Your lack of response tells me everything I needed to know about my suspicions. In that case, Celtic Guardian, cut down his Meteor Dragon instead!" Yugi declares, and the elf swordsman immediately charges at your stony dragon with a battle cry. It seems that the elf does indeed have some issues scaling the castle wall, but even as its ATK temporarily drops to 2200, that's still more than enough for the leather-clad warrior to spear your dragon through the abdomen, causing it to writhe in pain before the hologram shatters, and the elf returns to its side of the field, regaining the field power bonus it had sacrificed in its attack.

"Well, Ryuzaki, it appears we are at a stalemate once more. I can't attack your King Rex, but if it descends from the castle walls to attack my Celtic Guardian in the plains, then you'll lose that fight. So what will you do now?" Yugi asks sagely, and you shake your head.

"Don't count me out just yet Yugi, I have moves of my own. Even if I can't attack this turn, I can still power up my King Rex with this card I just drew, the Wasteland spell card!" you declare, the top of the castle walls crumbling and becoming a ruined surface, providing a useful field power bonus for the dinosaur.

King Rex (2300 ATK > 2990 ATK)

"Just you wait, Yugi. Those swords vanish when I end my turn, and on the next turn, I'm taking your Celtic Guardian down!" you claim, feeling a great sense of pride at the overwhelming strength of your monster. Indeed, as you make your claim, the swords begin to wink out of existence, one by one, looking like twinkling stars as they flicker and fade.

And now the battlefield is free of obstacles once more, the restraints on your monsters lifted.

Yugi starts his turn, looking solemnly at your powerful dinosaur as he does so. He flips a card in his backrow, and an armored warrior appears on the field with an enormous sword. You instinctively brace for a strong monster from the appearance alone, but instead, the warrior charges towards your side of the field, targeting your face-down Dust Tornado with its sword.

"There will be no interruptions on this turn, Ryuzaki! My Nobleman of Extermination will destroy the facedown card you set most recently."

You respond quickly to Yugi's spell card, flipping your targeted card over to activate it in turn.

"Not so fast Yugi, if it's gonna be destroyed anyway then I might as well use this now! Dust Tornado, destroy Yugi's face down card!" you announce, and a dustcloud of gravel pelts both the armored nobleman and Yugi's own set support card.

Yugi grimaces as he sends his card to the graveyard, revealing it to be Mirror Force, a deadly trap card that you're glad to have avoided.

"Hmm, losing my trap card is unfortunate, but I am glad to have removed it from the field. Your other card, I suspect, is nothing but a bluff, a card that has done nothing since the start of this duel," Yugi announces, as he activates a spell from his hand, the sky darkening ominously as two flaming pots appear in front of his Celtic Guardian.

"You've forced my hand Ryuzaki, such a strong monster as your King Rex means I can only respond with the strongest monster my deck has to offer. I activate the spell card, Black Luster Ritual! Using my warrior, the Celtic Guardian, as the ritual's medium, I now sacrifice my remaining two monsters to bring forth the mighty Black Luster Soldier!"

Yugi's statement is as final and as commanding as a royal order, an absolute that cannot be circumvented. His monsters become energy that spirals into the pots of flame, causing the flames to flare up wildly, their bright flickering light casting the battlefield in an orange hue. Between the pots, a whirling pool of chaos energy opens up, and the Celtic Guardian raises his sword as he leaps into the vortex.

A ripple of power flickers across the surface of the vortex, and then a new figure steps from the pool of energy, a deadly, vicious form that takes your breath away. Jagged navy blue amour, as deep and dark as the abyss, edged in gold and with an array of painful spikes flaring off the extremities. A ponytail of waving red hair, whipping around behind the warrior with a cracking noise. A shield of tremendous beauty and fine craftsmanship, and in the opposite hand a wicked curving shamshir sword.

The power of chaos poured into steel and honed to a killer edge, a legendary soldier made manifest once more, the Black Luster Soldier!

Black Luster Soldier (3000 ATK > 3900 ATK)

"Whoa, amazing!"

"Check it out, Yugi's ultimate soldier!"

"So this is the power of ritual magic, huh?"

"Nice work!"

"Yeah, awright! Attaboy, Yugi!"

All around you, you can hear shocked statements from Yugi's friends. You're pretty sure even Koyo piped up with a comment somewhere in there.

You can't help but be amazed at the sight yourself. Boosted by the meadows it stands upon, Yugi's warrior is truly a sight to behold!

"Wow, Yugi, that's pretty impressive!" you admit, smiling wryly at his skill in setting up a difficult ritual play.

"Thank you, Ryuzaki. As I said before, it's your strength as a duelist that has pushed me to summon my legendary soldier. And now, I'll take down your King Rex!" Yugi announces, pointing at your dinosaur. "Black Luster Soldier, Chaos Blade Slash!"

Silently, the lithe warrior charges forward, and you know that now is the moment you've kept Survival's End ready for, Yugi's expended all of his resources into securing a clear path for this one mighty monster, and is certain there's no obstacles left to overcome.

"Wait just a minute Yugi, I'm going to activate a Trap card!" you call out, and Yugi looks momentarily shocked.

"Oh no, that face down card wasn't a dead card after all?!"

"Nah, you were right, that card is totally useless to me right now. Your mistake was in thinking it was the only card I could activate. I have a trap that can activate from the graveyard, the Survival's End I played earlier in the duel!"

At this, Yugi's composure breaks a little, as he looks taken aback by this fact.

"A trap card with a second effect that can activate in the graveyard? Such cards are exceptionally rare!"

You nod, removing the Survival's End from your graveyard, eliminating it from the game entirely.

"Yeah, it is a rare card, and hard to use, but an invisible trap nobody can see coming is worth it! By destroying one dinosaur I control, I can destroy one card you control as well, so say goodbye to that Black Luster Soldier," you declare triumphantly.

Ice encases both your Black Stego and the Black Luster Soldier, and they shatter. Your dinosaur is obliterated, as your life points drop by 600 points, while the broken armor of the chaos warrior falls away in chunks, revealing the form of the Celtic Guardian within it.

Celtic Guardian (1400 ATK > 1820 ATK)
Ryuzaki LP: 1100 > 500

"You know as well as I do that destroying a Ritual monster doesn't cause backlash from destruction damage," you state, pleased enough with yourself despite that fact. "But in exchange, your Celtic Guardian is stuck in attack position, since it already declared an attack this turn as the Black Luster Soldier," you add, and Yugi grimaces.

"Which leaves it vulnerable to being attacked by your powered up King Rex next turn," Yugi acknowledges, his voice heavy and regretful. "I have no support cards I can set to protect my Celtic Guardian from the attacks. I end my turn," he states, leaning back slightly in his chair.

You exhale with relief, letting out the breath you were holding in, expecting him to have been one step ahead of you by setting a final trap card on his turn. Instead, you're greeted with a welcome sight, one lone elven swordsman defiantly brandishing its sword against your dangerous dinosaur, with nothing backing it up at all. A clear path to victory.

You draw your card, dismissing the Coevolutionary Miracle spell card as irrelevant.

Your smile stretches across your face as your King Rex looms over the swordsman menacingly.

"Crush him, King Rex"

And with a stomp and a crunch of jaws, Yugi's swordsman is vanquished.

You can't help yourself, you jump up out of your seat with a yell, pumping your fist in the air triumphantly.

"Yes! I did it! I won!" you cheer.

"You're not the only person in the world who can set an invisible trap," Yugi chides gently, and your face drops.

"Wha-?"

It's not an eloquent question, hardly even a word at all honestly. It's the best you can manage, as Yugi reveals a card in his hand.

"Kuriboh. Considered by many to be weak and useless, but I find the ability to discard it in order to reduce all damage from an attack to zero to be well worth the trade-off," Yugi declares, as he moves the card from his hand to his graveyard.

Oh, come the fuck on.

"God damn it! You lucky bastard, Yugi! You can't keep this up forever!"

Yugi simply shrugs at your statement.

"Perhaps. But the duel is not over Ryuzaki, so please take a seat."

Grumbling, your moment of triumph stolen away from you, you settle back into your chair, the adrenaline rush from your anticipated victory causing you to tremble slightly as you do so.

"You are right about luck not lasting forever, Ryuzaki, so don't be disheartened. Right now I only have one monster in my hand, and it can't stand up to your King Rex. Now, it's simply a race to see whether I can draw an out to your dinosaur king before I fail to draw a monster and open myself up to a fatal direct attack."

He gazes at you with piercing eyes, and you feel rooted in place by his probing gaze.

"Do you have faith that your deck will outlast mine? When it comes down to the wire like this, Ryuzaki, duels are more a battle of wills and faith than they are of skill. I hope you can place all of your faith into your deck, because if there is even the tiniest sliver of doubt in you about your cards and their ability to grant you victory, then you will not win."

Yugi draws his card, but before he looks at it, he shoots one more look at you.

"My faith in my cards is absolute. Can you say the same?"

He looks at the card he drew, calmly setting it on the field, alongside the monster he had remaining in his hand.

"Blackland Fire Dragon in defense position, and one card facedown. End turn."

Blackland Fire Dragon (800 DEF)

You snort as you reach out to draw your next card. Of course you have faith in your deck, your King Rex is on the field and is powered up to the point where Yugi has already admitted to having fielded his strongest monster against it. He has nothing that can compete against it, it's just a matter of time before he runs out of monsters to summon.

It's just that simple, isn't it?

"Argh, damn it," you mutter, looking at the Flame Viper you've just drawn. Two cards in your hand and both totally useless in this situation.

Yugi looks knowingly at you, as you command your dinosaur to devour the green european dragon curled up in the meadows.

He reaches out for his deck, and you feel a heavy weight settle around your shoulders.

He has no monsters that can best your King Rex. You know this to be undeniably true.

So why are you still shaking?

"I'm fighting for more than just pride or money, Ryuzaki. I have to face Pegasus, falling to you here is not an option for me. I hope you understand."

Yugi draws his card, and places it onto the field immediately, causing a brain to appear on the field, stretching out ethereal hands towards your King Rex. The hands grab the majestic dinosaur monarch, and after a moment of struggle, with a final roar of defeat it loses to the hypnosis, stomping over to Yugi's side of the field.

"Brain Control takes control of one monster you've summoned, for one turn only. But one turn is all I need, Ryuzaki. Because now, I activate my set card, Monster Reborn! Return to me, my Catapult Turtle!"

The mechanical turtle from earlier in the duel reappears, bolts of energy crackling upon its electromagnetic catapult weapon.

Well, shit.

"King Rex! Board the catapult! Turtle, take aim at the Gale Lizard!" Yugi commands authoritatively, and both of the monsters respond to his orders precisely, lining up a shot directly at your tyrant dinosaur.

I guess at least I can brag that King Rex won a duel for the national champion, you think as you brace yourself. You're not going to close your eyes, you're going to see this through to the end.

"Now, fire!" Yugi roars, and electricity surges along the catapult, launching your dinosaur as a missile, careening towards the frail winged lizard and slamming into it with a direct hit.

The resulting impact is instantaneous, and spectacular.

Instant destruction occurs, meat and bones literally liquifying and vaporising from the force of impact.

As the dust from the impact settles, it is clear that nothing remains of either monster.

And then the destruction damage backlash kicks in, all 1850 points of it.

Ryuzaki: -1150 Life Points

Winner: Yugi Muto

Spent 200 DP for Destiny Draw: King Rex
Received 50 DP for losing.
Received 50 DP for Grudging Sportsman trait.

[DP Total: 909 > 709 > 759 > 809]

---

How do you plan to get into the castle? Choose two.

[ ] Try to bargain your way in as Koyo's +1.
[ ] Try to slip by when Jonouchi and Honda beat up the security guards.
[ ] Try to sneak in unnoticed by finding a way past that's not the main gate.
[ ] Try to appeal to the integrity of this tournament as a competitive event.
[ ] Try to make amends with a former ally.