Yu-gi-oh: Rise of Arcadia

Chapter 18: Hot Ride Part 2

"Duel!"

Haru: 4000LP : 0 SC

Stranger: 4000LP : 0 SC

"I'll be making the first move! Draw!" I called as I reached from my deck, taking a single card and placing it into the holster. With the wind in my face and my concentration set to maximum, I examined my hand.

"Not a bad hand."

"I'll start things off by summoning my Card Slasher in attack mode! (400ATK/500DEF)" I called forth. A bright blue portal opened beside my duel runner as I slammed the card onto the disk interface in front of me. Out of this portal came a monster that resembled a cutlass sword with two oval-like eyes protruding from both sides of the sword. Two curly arms and two legs extended from the sword's light brown, wooden handle. As the stranger monster emerged, he drew his own sword that was nearly a replica of the one he was made out of and held the handle of it it with both hands.

"Yep, having more than 10 monsters in a deck of 40 cards does indeed pays off."

"It appears your arsenal of monsters hasn't improved since the last time we met." the stranger mocked as he examined my monster from his screen. My Card Slasher started to glided with my duel runner seeming unaffected by the speed we were going at.

"Looks can be deceiving hothead. I'll end my turn with three face downs." I growled back, slotting in my cards into the interface.

"My move then!"

Haru: 1 SC

Stranger: 1 SC

As the stranger drew, I couldn't help but think that this might be harder than last time to beat him. I had little experience with turbo dueling despite my now appropriate deck for it, but it seemed like this guy was confident enough to keep a straight face during this duel. Which was definitely more than I could say for me due to the velocity we were going at. Needless to say it was nerve-racking.

"I'll start my turn off by summoning Dark Flame Tricky to my field! (1000ATK/1000DEF)" the stranger called forth. He lifted his arm and slammed it onto his duel disk, carrying a card with him in his hand which he slotted onto the duel disk. A bright blue portal opened beside the stranger's flaming duel runner and out of this emerged the same humanoid-like monster with a blazing orange fire for a body, and those coal-black eyes seeming to float atop it's head. The monster emerged onto the left of the stranger's duel runner closest to mine. I slightly closed my eyes at the heat the monster was emitting. This feeling was all too familiar from my previous duel with the stranger. For an unexplainable reason...the monsters seemed more real that usual. "Next, I'll have Dark Flame Tricky attack Card Slasher! Burning Cascade!" the stranger ordered. He took one of his hands off the steering of his runner and held it out towards me. His fiery monster letting out a distorted roar as it turned over towards me, reaching one of it's arms out to attack Card Slasher. Card Slasher didn't seem phased though, it was like he knew what I was planning.

"Reveal face down card! Crossing Paths!" I countered, reaching for the interface to flip my trap. As I did so, a large, flat hologram of a purple trap card revealed itself on the side of my runner. This card donned a picture of an autumn wood with two separate dirt roads parallel to each other and crossing in the far horizon. "This trap card can only be activated when a monster on my field is about to be destroyed through a card effect or through battle. With it, I can special summon a monster of the same level from my hand and onto the field!" I explained, quickly reaching for my hand and taking one of the two remaining cards from the holster. "I special summon... Card Cover! (100ATK/700DEF)" I announced, slamming the new monster onto my duel runner's interface. A bright blue portal opened beside me to cast out this new beast. From this portal, a small monster came out that resembled a bright green shield with a plus sign in the middle of it. Two eyes perched themselves on the left and right side of this plus sign and four limbs extended from the corners of this square shield. As the monster made it's appearance, it landed to the ground on one knee and arms crossed across it's shield body, signaling that I had placed it in defense position.

"Regardless of your new monster, Dark Flame Tricky will still destroy your Card Slasher!" the stranger implied continuing his onslaught.

"I don't think so hothead!"

"What?"

"I activate Card Cover's special ability! Whenever Card Cover is in defense mode on my field, monsters that are his level and below can't be destroyed by battle... and it just so happens that both Card Cover and Card Slasher are level one!" I explained as my shield-like monster jumped into action. Dark Flame Tricky was about to crash it's flaming fist into Card Slasher before Card Cover suddenly slid itself in front of the two. Dark Flame Tricky collided with Card Cover's hard shield body, and Card Slasher was safe. However, this didn't stop me from taking battle damage.

Haru: 3400LP : 1 SC

Stranger: 4000LP : 1 SC

"I'm not sure why you're trying to save that monster of yours, but it's no matter. This will end the same either way. I'll place two cards face down and end my turn." the stranger finished as my life points just got finished decreasing. Thankfully Card Cover absorbed the blow from Dark Flame Tricky. This way I didn't take too much of the damage and only got as much heat as a hot breeze. This made me feel a little more comfortable and more focused. I reached for my deck in response to the stranger's last move.

"It's my move then!" I shouted, drawing from my deck.

Haru: 2 SC

Stranger: 2 SC

"Yes! This is definitely something I can use."

"I'll start this turn off by summoning to the field, the tuner monster, Engineer Minnie! (400ATK/200DEF)"

As I said this, I impacted the card with the duel interface to call forth another blue portal. Out of it, another small monster popped out of it. This monster resembled a miniature, cartoonish, pink-haired girl in dirty and greasy cloths. She carried a large wrench at least three or four times her size. This monster pulled up a pair of goggles that were propped on her face as she entered the field, and gave a wink as she was officially summoned.

"A tuner monster?" the stranger questioned, looking over to me as I rode along side him. "You couldn't possibly..."

"That's right hothead, it's time for a synchro! Before that though, I'm slightly short on levels, so I'm going to activate Card Slasher's special ability!" I responded. Card Slasher began to glow a bright blue, and extended it's hands to it's sides staring straight ahead with determination. "Card Slasher's effect allows me to discard one card from my hand once per turn. In return, Card Slasher gains an extra level and 500 attack points for every card I discard this way."

With this explanation, I threw out the only card I had in my hand. It was a monster card that I was planning on using later... but I had to do this first. As I did so, Card Slasher's effect activated, and another cutlass sword began to fall from the sky. As it did so, Card Slasher immediately grabbed it in mid air and used it as a duel-wield weapon. I was guessing the extra sword symbolized Card Slasher's extra level and his increase in attack points. "Now that he's up to date. It's time for a synchro! I'm tuning my level two Card Slasher with level one Card Cover with level one Engineer Minnie!"

"Two plus one plus one. A level four synchro. Watch yourself hothead, here I come!"

Engineer Minnie immediately responded to this and lifted her gigantic wrench up high into the air, causing her to glow and shatter leaving behind a single white orb. This orb zoomed across the field over towards Card Slasher and Card Cover, who were now huddled back to back ready for a tune-up. As the orb began to revolve around these two monsters, they themselves started to glow a similar bright white, and this light quickly turned blinding. I wasn't worried though, this duel runner was on auto-pilot and I had no fear of crashing due to lack of clear vision.

"A level four synchro monster?" I heard the stranger surprisingly asking behind this blanket of light. This was rather surprising to me too, because this was probably the first time I've heard the stranger lose his cool.

"Get ready hothead, because I synchro summon...True Tempest! (1500ATK/1000DEF)"

The light began to clear itself from the field, leaving behind it's brightness and revealed the new monster on my field. This was one of the synchro monsters I had recently obtained. Modding my deck around these little guys was paying off so far. On my field was now what looked like a miniature tornado with bright green eyes zooming across the field, using the skinny tip of it's lower-half as a means of propulsion as it zoomed along the road beside me. Outstretched from this tornado were two gray limbs which looked quite similar to arms. Claws outstretched from these arms, however, they didn't look all to threatening. This was mostly because these arms were about as small as a Tyrannosaur's. As I gazed at this majestic new monster, I turned my attention back to the track and began to speak. "Normally I can only synchro summon True Tempest with True Guard as the tuner monster. However, due to Engineer Minnie's special ability, she can substitute herself as just about any monster when she's being used as synchro material. The only condition is that I can't adjust her level by any means." I explained. The stranger didn't look all to impressed at my new card despite his surprise when it was being summoned. He simply chuckled as I spoke. "In other words, she can act as True Guard, a regular tuner, heck, she can act as a non-tuner if I want her to."

"Engineer Minnie was a personal suggestion by Riles, and it was well worth it."

"All that show for that? It may be slightly stronger than my Dark Flame Tricky, but it certainly won't help you win." the stranger implied, chuckling to himself slightly at what he thought was a joke. Boy would he be in for a surprise.

"I'll end my turn from there." I closed as I settled down slightly and prepared for the stranger's turn.

"Very well then." he replied, drawing from his deck.

Haru: 3 SC

Stranger: 3 SC

"Quick assessment. He's got Dark Flame Tricky out on the field in attack mode, but my True Tempest has 500 more points than him. However, if I remember correctly, when his Dark Flame Tricky is destroyed through battle he can summon two copies of it from his deck. He may purposefully attack just so he can destroy his monster and activate that effect. Two monsters at the cost of 500 life points. Sounds like a fair trade. Luckily though, I have a surprise of my own face down."

"I'll begin my turn by flipping my trap card, Black Burner Cannon!" the stranger claimed as a light-purple card suddenly flipped on his field. The card wore a picture of a pitch-black cannon that was similar to the ones used in the olden days when pirates ruled the seas you know, ones that use cannon balls. It showed this cannon firing off a pitch-black cannon ball and a flame burning behind it. As the card activated, the trap seemed to materialize a cannon similar to the one on the card through itself. You know, as sort of a "portal" animation. As the cannon appeared on the stranger's field, a arched my eyebrow slightly worried as to what that thing could do. I definitely didn't want to find out, but I think I was about to. "My Black Burner Cannon is a trap card that can be activated when I have a 'Dark Flame' monster on my field! With it, I can place one cannonball counter on this card for every 'Dark Flame' monster I control. For every cannonball counter, I have the ability to increase the attack points of my monsters by 500!"

"That doesn't seem too threatening. Even with 500 extra points True Tempest is still an even match for Dark Flame Tricky... unless..."

"Oh no." I gasped, suddenly realizing what this guy's strategy was. I turned over to my monster who seemed to be staring at Dark Flame Tricky.

"Now my Dark Flame Tricky will now attack True Tempest!" the stranger commanded. Dark Flame Tricky immediately responded with a distorted roar and an anger in it's body language. It crouched down and reached over for True Tempest, attempting to launch a punch at it.

"Even if Dark Flame Tricky attacks and both are destroyed, he'll just summon two more of them with it's effect! Not only that, but with Black Burner Cannon on the field, they'll get 500 extra points for every one of them on the field. 1000 plus 500 plus 500 more... that's 2000! Heck, even if I counter and destroy his Tricky I'm still doomed! After all, the battle phase won't end just because his Dark Flame Tricky's are special summoned."

"If this attack goes through, I'm in for 4000 points of damage. I gotta think of something." I muttered to myself, examining the field, looking for a loophole.

"One of my face-downs is the 'Will of the Underdog' trap card, but that only works if the monster that's attacking has a higher level than mine! Dark Flame Tricky is level two, and my True Tempest is level four! The other face down that I have left won't help me in a situation like this though, and there's nothing in my hand at all!"

If I didn't do something fast I was in for a lot of trouble. Not only would Tempest be destroyed, but his other monster would as well, which would trigger the effect that would take me down. There was nothing that I had that could stop him either... unless.

"Maybe it's not what I have... it's what I DON'T have!"

"That's it!" I fathomed, suddenly realizing a counter-strategy to my opponent who was quickly trying to finish me off. With the wind blowing in my face, I looked over towards the stranger and extended my hand towards him. "Hang on hothead, from my graveyard, I trigger the effect of Apprentice Gardna!"

"From your... graveyard?" the stranger questioned, looking slightly confused by this move I was attempting to make. I could feel a smug smile on my face, and as I glared at the stranger with fierce determination and new-found confidence, I continued explaining.

"I can only activate the effect of Apprentice Gardna from my graveyard when my opponent launches an attack. With it, I can special summon him in face up attack position from my graveyard, afterwards, I have to remove him from the game at the end of the turn."

As I spoke this, the graveyard slot in my duel runner began to whirr and buzz as though a machine inside was working it's magic. After only a moment a monster card popped out of this slot. As I took this card I noticed it was Apprentice Gardna, the card I was speaking of moments ago. I quickly placed it onto the interface of the duel runner which summoned another blue portal to my side. Out of it, came a larger monster than my previous few. It was a rather bulky human being with two small shields at his wrist that barely covered them. He donned dark-brown leather armor and a viking helmet with a long, brown beard. As this happened, he charged through the portal and onto the field, eventually coming to a gliding stance beside my runner. (150ATK/2050DEF)

"I discarded Apprentice Gardna when I activated Card Slasher's ability a few turns ago. I was planning on using him for defense, but this will do too."

"That pathetic excuse for a monster is your defense? What a pity, I thought you were going to counter my attack." the stranger chuckled to himself, I could only laugh too, because this guy knew nothing of what I was doing.

"I am going to counter your attack...with this!" I started, going for a button on the runner's interface to spring my trap. "Reveal face down card! Will of the Underdog!"

As I sprung this trap card, a large, flat hologram revealed itself beside my duel runner in a flash of white light. On it, was a picture of a large pile of roman gladiators. All appearing to be either injured or dead. Atop this pile was a smaller, skinnier, less muscular man with nothing but brown clothing, a cutlass sword, and a small, round, wooden shield. "My Will of the Underdog is a trap card that can target a monster on my field. With it, only that monster can be attacked by my opponent, and once per turn, when the monster this trap is targeting is being attacked by another monster with a higher level, I can destroy the attacking monster along with this trap card!"

"What?" the stranger gasped, he didn't expect this type of move from me, and it didn't appear he could do anything about it. That is, so I thought. "Very well then, I reveal my trap card! Go, Incineration!"

"Huh?"

"Incineration is a trap card I can trigger when my monster is about to be destroyed through an effect. With it, I can destroy the card that's about to destroy my Dark Flame Tricky, and you take damage equal to Dark Flame Tricky's level multiplied by 200!"

As the stranger did so, a trap card revealed itself onto his field. A photo of a black silhouette burning alive inside a large, blue, flame was placed on it. As the trap activated, it released a large burst of flame directed at the trap I just triggered. As the burst of fire collided with this trap, it created an explosion that caused my face to feel like it was blistering. I immediately shut my eyes at such heat, and groaned as my skin was irritated. The sheer explosion of the card forced my duel runner slightly to the side. At least I was using auto-pilot, because I couldn't help but think I would have crashed.

Haru: 3000 LP

Stranger: 4000 LP

"Now that your trivial little trap is destroyed, Dark Flame Tricky continues it's attack on True Tempest!" the stranger reminded as he commanded his monster to continue his onslaught. Dark Flame Tricky continued to attack with it's flame-comprised body and it's 1500 points to back it up. With another distorted roar, it unleashed another powerful punch our way.

"I didn't want to use this right now... but..."

"I activate True Tempest's special ability! Once per turn, during the battle phase, True Tempest has the ability to half the attack and defense points of a monster that's currently battling!" I announced, gesturing towards the miniature tornado that was trudging along beside me on the road. True Tempest looked over towards me with it's bright green eyes and then over towards Dark Flame Tricky. With it's effect, it leaped into the air using it's cone-shaped body as a spring. Then, with what looked like a large inhale made by True Tempest, he unleashed a gust from his metaphorical and perhaps non-existent mouth. He continued to keep this up as Dark Flame Tricky made it's way towards him. "Dark Flame Tricky's attack points are 1500, which means he's reduced to 750 points as he attacks True Tempest." I explained, not really smiling like I always do when I outsmart someone in a duel. "In other words, True Tempest survives and Dark Flame Tricky is destroyed."

As I muttered this, True Tempest's gust blew away Dark Flame Tricky and slammed him into the pavement with his mighty gale. This caused Dark Flame Tricky's body to rupture and give off a tiny explosion as he was destroyed.

"Damn! I didn't want to use that effect because I didn't want to destroy Dark Flame Tricky through battle. However, I need True Tempest for his ability for later. Mostly because I know this guy is going to bring out some stronger cards."

"At this time, the effect of Dark Flame Tricky activates. Whenever he's destroyed through battle, I'm allowed to summon two more copies of Dark Flame Tricky from my deck." the stranger repeated. I already knew this effect, but for some reason the stranger felt the need to repeat it. As he uttered this, two new blue portals appeared on the pavement we were racing across. With a boom as though a firework had been launched, the portals released two bursts of flame which took humanoid shapes as they lowered themselves to the field. Two coal-black eyes opened themselves up and a gruesome hollow mouth followed for each one the them. "Next, the effect of my Black Burner Cannon activates! For each 'dark flame' monster I control, they gain 500 attack points!" (2000ATK/1000DEF)

"Double damn! This is why I wanted to avoid it's destruction through battle! I knew Black Burner Cannon would power those things up the moment I realized Dark Flame Tricky's effect. If only I could figure out how to get rid of them both... or at least destroy Black Burner Cannon."

"I'll end my turn from there." the stranger closed.

"My move then! At this time, the effect of Apprentice Gardna activates and he's removed from the game." I started. As the large, viking monster did so, a large, black hole appeared below him, and forced him into it with a sort of vacuum-like method. As Apprentice Gardna fell to who-knows-where, I continued my move.

"Sorry Apprentice Gardna, you were for nothing."

Haru: 4 SC

Stranger: 4 SC

I immediately drew from my deck hoping for a ray of hope. I needed a good card in my hand as my current hand was completely empty.

"Yes!"

"I activate the Speed Spell – Angel Baton!" I announced, playing a green spell card with the picture of a solemn angel gesturing a small green crystal towards us. Partial sadness and partial relief covered this angel's face. "This speed spell can only be activated when I have two or more speed counters. With it, I can draw two cards from my deck as long as I discard one card from my hand afterwards." I explained, using this opportunity to draw. The card shuffler already extended the top two cards of my deck for me to grab easily. I took these cards and separated them slightly to see what I had.

"Oh THIS is good..."

I only had two cards by this point, so I had to discard one of them that I just drew. That was ok though, one of these cards belonged in the graveyard. As I discarded one of these cards to the graveyard slot of my duel disk, I positioned the other card I drew into the holster.

"If you think any number of cards will help you at this point, I'm afraid you're terribly mistaken." the stranger mocked. He was so sure of himself by this point, and this was new to me. The stranger I dueled before was so calm and collected. Now he was just hotheaded. No wonder I call him that.

"At this time, the effect of Card Trasher activates from my graveyard!" I smiled, ignoring that remark the stranger said only moments before my move.

"Card Trasher?"

"That's right. The card I discarded to the graveyard just now was Card Trasher, and thanks to his special ability, whenever he's sent to the graveyard through a card effect, I can special summon him to my field!" I explained as the graveyard slot of my duel disk ejected the card I just fed it. I gladly took it back into my hand and laid it down on the interface. "I special summon... Card Trasher! (200ATK/500DEF)"

A bright blue portal opened on the pavement beside me, and out of it came the monster I just got back. Card Trasher had the appearance of a large, gray, trash can with two eyes mounted on the side of it's body. Four limbs extended from the sides and bottom of this can and extended outward as Card Trasher made it's appearance.

"That pathetic excuse for a monster won't help you much. It doesn't nearly have enough strength to take on my monster!" the stranger implied as he turned back to see my new monster. Card Trasher held a solid fighting stance as it glided along my duel runner, it's eyes slightly squinted and focused on something in front if it, whatever it was I'm not sure.

"This pathetic excuse for a monster is going to give me a little boost, because at this time, the secondary effect of Card Trasher kicks in!"

"What?"

"When Card Trasher is brought back from the graveyard by his own effect, he can special summon an additional monster from my grave that has the same level he has! Come on back, Engineer Minnie! (200ATK/400DEF)"

As Card Trasher's effect activate, it took one of it's sketchy limbs and used one of them to open up the lid of it's trash-can body. Out of it, came the monster I was attempting to summon climbing out of the can and touching down on the ground. Engineer Minnie managed to climb herself out of my odd-looking monster, but after she did, it appeared she realized she forgot something and went digging through Card Trasher's body once more. After this, she managed to pull out her gigantic wrench which she didn't climb out with before. As the effect managed to resolve, Engineer Minnie gave a wink and glided herself over to the other side of my duel runner, carrying her wrench with both arms wrapped around it.

"Engineer Minnie is a tuner monster, and thankfully, Card Trasher is a level one dark-attributed card. This will be great!"

"At this time, I'll tune my level one Card Trasher with my level one Engineer Minnie!" I announced, raising my hand into the air and pointed my index finger towards the sky. Maybe I was trying to be dramatic, I didn't care, all I knew is that I was about to bring out something I knew would work against Mr. hothead here.

Engineer Minnie immediately responded to my words, and zoomed in front of my duel-runner to lift her huge wrench straight up into the air with a large, cheerful smile on her face. She began to glow a bright white, and shattered to leave behind a single white orb. This orb whipped over to Card Trasher who glided himself over towards the orb, and as this spherical bright light began to revolve around him in a sort of ring motion, he began to glow a similar shade as the orb. With a blinding light, I couldn't help but don a devilishly clever smile. "I synchro summon... True Horn! (0ATK/0DEF)"

The light that blinded the two of us quickly faded, and beside my duel runner ran a magnificent and majestic new monster. It depicted a large, majestic, albino rhinoceros with pupil-less, soulless, unforgiving and furious eyes. Shining silver braces covered most of it's legs as it ran across the pavement along side me, and as I saw it, I couldn't help but smile. "True Horn can usually only be synchro summoned when I have True Guard as the tuner monster and a dark-attributed monster as the other material. Luckily, Engineer Minnie's ability allows her to act as True Guard and Card Trasher is naturally dark-attributed."

"I've been waiting to bust this particular one out. He's got a special ability to knock hothead's socks off."

"Reveal face down card! Molten Chain!"

"Wait... what?"

I heard this sudden move abruptly as the stranger flipped a trap. It was a purple trap card with a photo of one of those ball-and-chains you know, the ones that you normally stick around a person's ankle when they're in prison. The ball-and-chain in this picture was red hot, like it was just in a furnace or pored down with molten rock. "My Molten Chain trap can only be activated when my opponent summons a monster in attack position. With it, that monster's attack points are reduced to zero and it cannot attack or change it's battle position." the stranger explained. The trap card began to glow a red similar to the chains on it's picture. Large iron chains abruptly shot out from the card directly at my monster which was charging forward slightly ahead of my duel runner. As it did so, True Horn struggled against these chains which inevitably managed to tie him down. It didn't impair his ability to run, but the chains were tangled and scattered around his body which only slightly restricted his movements.

"I don't understand. True Horn doesn't even have any attack points to begin with. Why would hothead tie him up when there's nothing to tie down? Unless..."

"He knows about his special ability." I answered to my thoughts aloud, but just quiet enough so the stranger couldn't hear.

"How is that possible though. I mean it's obvious True Horn has some kind of ability with his attack points so low, but how exactly did he know how to cripple him."

I didn't know and I didn't care. All I knew was that albino rhino on my field was the only thing I had to take down those two monsters of the strangers which were now at 2000 points. But now... now he was tied up in chains and basically useless. It couldn't attack, it couldn't change to defense mode, it couldn't do anything but sit there and wait to get destroyed. It was true I still had True Tempest on my field, but that wouldn't help me much. His special ability is to half the attack points of a monster once per turn. That wouldn't stop me or True Horn from taking damage. With only a miniature tornado and a tied-up rhino to protect me, I had to think of something.

"My last face down."

I had forgotten about it up until this point. I had only used two of the three face downs I threw down during this entire duel, and I saved that last one for an emergency. Maybe it could get me out of this jam. Maybe, just maybe, it could help me win. I would stop at nothing to be sure hothead was caught by the cops, and I would pull every trick I had.

"Reveal face down card!"