Poisoned Hero in Havana (2) (Draft)
I wake up on the hotel bed. Yesterday’s duel took a heavy toll on my body and mind. My body still aches, and my brain is no better. I forgot how I got back to the hotel, but oddly enough, I can still remember that my opponent said I would pay for defeating him.
There is no time for me to worry about revenge at this moment, for I have to face off Prince this morning. Honestly, if it were not for Gishki, I wouldn’t know my opponent today would be Prince. The identity of the opponent is kept a secret until the beginning of the duel.
I take a hot-water shower to wash off the dried blood on my skin and hair and then put on a clean outfit. I grab my duel gear and deck and go down the stairs. I could have taken the lift, but I didn’t want to run the risk of letting other hotel guests see the embarrassing wounds on my face and body.
After asking for some French toast from the kitchen, I hit on the road. Some Xiao Long Bao would have been nice for breakfast, but this is not the time to be nitpicking.
The breeze is cozy and comforting. I can’t help but think about yesterday evening’s duel—if you can still call it a duel. The opponent, an Ouroboros enforcer, whose name was alleged to be Gishki, built a nearly unbreakable board, something I have never been taught in Duel Academy.
Also, the opponent used toxic gas to cloud my mind. I reasoned that this mind-altering gas was phosphine, but I learned from the AI in the hotel, when waiting for the French toast, that phosphine is colorless. Furthermore, phosphine is heavier than the air, but I still felt dizzy and numb after climbing onto the roof.
Could this gas be natural gas instead? From an economic aspect, this hypothesis is quite reasonable. It would not be cost-efficient to deploy a different pipeline system nationwide to deliver the toxic gas. Reusing the same pipeline sounds like a reasonable idea. Moreover, natural gas is lighter than the air.
However, natural gas still contradicts other facts. First, natural gas is colorless. Second, the gas company usually adds some awful odor to detect a potential gas leak. Yesterday, I didn’t smell any awful odor. If anything, there might be a sweet scent. Third, can natural gas cause the said syndrome?
While I am spacing out, a motorcycle stops in front of me and obstructs my way. It is a snow-white D-Runner with a big vertical closed ring in the center surrounding the motorcyclist. The motorcyclist is dressed in white as well and wears a helmet covering his face.
Could he be another Ouroboros enforcer, and is he the vengeance Gishki bragged about?
“Take these!”
Some things from his white glove fly toward me.
Shuriken?
I instinctively raise my hand and grab the projectiles.
These projectiles are lighter than I thought. They are actually two Yu-Gi-Oh cards, one of them having a white frame, just like the color of the motorcycle and motorcyclist.
“They will help you counter today’s opponent.” After throwing out these words, the motorcyclist drives away.
He talks about my opponent today. Could he also already know who my opponent today is?
I look at these two cards. The white one is a synchro monster and can be put in the Extra Deck, so I don’t need to worry about it being a dead draw. The other one is called Clock Resonator, which, once per turn, cannot be destroyed by battle or effect.
It is not a bad card. It doesn’t look like that this motorcyclist wants to do me any harm.
Contrary to national tournaments, where duelists must submit their main deck and side deck before the whole event, in international tournaments, duelists do not need to submit anything in advance and can alter their decks freely along the course.
The reason is not that hard to understand. National tournaments are frequent, whereas international tournaments are rare. The frequent national matches help the formation of a stable meta in each country. Duelist can expect what they are to encounter and can thus prepare the side deck accordingly before the tournament.
Yet, each country’s meta can be largely different due to the fragmentation of the world. A usual duelist does not have much way to learn about other country’s meta. You can understand it better through my awkward ordering milk yesterday in the bar, but I digress. Anyway, it is reasonable to allow duelists to alter their deck during the tournament with their progressively better understanding of the other duelists along the way.
That said, two measures are imposed to prevent the abuse of this right. The first is the forbidden list. Pot of Greed, the card Gishki used yesterday, is an obvious guest on the list. Besides that, some not-so-obvious cards, such as System Down (against Machine) and Cipher Soldier (against Warrior), are also on the list because they are effective only against specific decks.
To further prevent the duelists from making a new deck for each duel, the second measure is that the identity of the opponent is hidden until the beginning of the duel. If it were not for Gishki, I wouldn’t have known that my opponent today would be Prince. Prince, being a child of the tournament sponsor, on the other hand, would of course have known that his opponent today would be me. Nonetheless, he could not side Cipher Soldier against me without being called out by the audience. As for the audience, the hiding of the identities is not an issue, for they buy day tickets rather than on a per-duel basis.
Dang~ Dang~ The toll of the Clock Tower brings me back to reality.
I must hurry. I put both cards in my deck and extra deck, respectively.
The tournament takes place in a large stadium, where yesterday I won my first day’s duel. Like yesterday, the stadium is full of audience, zealous about this most popular sport in the 31st century.
Anchorman: Now let’s start today’s second duel. Let’s welcome the first duelist, who’s this year’s top graduate of the Duel Academy of Far East.
I walk into the field, with a weary look.
Crowd: Shame~ shame~
Anchorwoman: And the second duelist is Prince, the only child of the founder of TAGA Group.
TAGA Group is the largest corporation in Apollonis, that is, this island, and the third largest in the world. It has been the primary sponsor of this annual championship since ten years ago.
Prince slowly walks into the field, with shiny clothing similar to Gold Saints, as in the Saint Seiya franchise. He waves to the audience and time to time blows a kiss.
Crowd: Hear~ hear~
Girl A and Girl B: (Holding hands together, with pink hearts in their eyes.) He is so handsome~
Girl C: (Flashing her big boobs, with “I :heart: Prince” written on them.) Prince, I love you~
Anchorman: To win the entrance ticket to the championship, Prince has defeated 40 peer duelists in Apollonis and ranks No. 1 on the leaderboard currently among young duelists!
Anchorwoman: Most remarkably, he didn’t take any life point damage during those 40 duels!
Crowd: Hear~ hear~
Girls’ screams can be heard.
“So, you are the Prince?” I talk through the portable microphone on my collar.
To ensure the duelists hear each other during the duel while they are running across the stadium to grab Action Cards, portable microphones and earbuds are given to the duelists.
These microphones have three channels.
- Direct: Talk directly to the opponent. No other ones can hear you.
- Staff: Talk to the staff. This is to communicate accidents.
- Public: Everyone can hear. This constitutes the foundation of the dueltaining style.
Prince to me: I am Ouroboros’s Enforcer No. 5: Prince. I will crush you and become the champion!
Gishki asked me to deliberately lose to him, but obviously, I will not abide.
Staff to us: Are you two ready?
Prince and me: Ready.
Staff to Anchors: The duelists are ready. The duel can start.
There is no handshaking before the duel because the two duelists spawn at the opposite ends of the stadium. The post-duel handshaking, on the other hand, is optional.
Anchorman: Both duelists are ready.
Anchorwoman: Solid vision, activate. Action field: Pride of Apollonis.
The stadium’s terrain starts to transform.
Anchors: Let’s roll.
Me vs. Prince
Both duelists draw 5 cards. What I drew are:
- Elemental HERO Heat
- Elemental HERO Sparkman
- Destiny HERO Dark Angel
- Phantom Magician
- A Hero Emerges
Turn 1
| Me | Prince | |
|---|---|---|
| LP | 4000 | 4000 |
| Hand | 5 | 5 |
| Field | — | — |
| Graveyard | — | — |
Prince to all: I summon Terror Feminist (ATK: 1500) in attack position. I equip it with equip spell Women-Are-Always-Right Wand. I end my turn.
Anchorwoman: Yes! We are always right!
Girls: How adorable!
Turn 2
| Me | Prince | |
|---|---|---|
| LP | 4000 | 4000 |
| Hand | 5 | 3 |
| Field | — | Feminist (Wand) |
| Graveyard | — | — |
Me to Prince: (Slowly raise the wounded left arm.) It’s my turn. I draw. (The card is Elemental HERO Wildheart.) I summon Elemental HERO Heat (ATK: 1800) in attack position. Attack!
Prince to all: Women-Are-Always-Right Wand’s effect activates. Once per turn, the equipped monster cannot be destroyed by battle. Meanwhile, due to Terror Feminist’s effect, you take all the battle damage I would have taken from battles involving this card.
(My LP: 4000->3700)
Anchorman: Due to the equip card, Prince’s monster is not destroyed. Perfect defense. Prince has a good start.
Me to Prince: So this is how you managed to win 40 duels without taking any damage? I set a card, and I end my turn.
Turn 3
| Me | Prince | |
|---|---|---|
| LP | 3700 | 4000 |
| Hand | 4 | 3 |
| Field | Heat, Emerges | Feminist (Wand) |
| Graveyard | — | — |
Prince to all: It’s my turn. I draw. I summon Nepotism Prince (ATK: 1200) in attack position. When Nepotism Prince is summoned, I can add a “Nepotism” spell/trap card from my deck. I add the trap card Nepotism Collective Bullying.
(A solid vision of Nepotism Prince appears, which looks quite similar to Prince himself.)
Anchorwoman: Here we go. Prince summoned his iconic monster.
Crowd: Prince! Prince!
Prince to all: Terror Feminist, attack.
Me: (Terror Feminist’s ATK is lower than Elemental HERO Heat’s by 300, so he cannot destroy my monster. The only thing he can do is to have me lose another 300 life points. Next turn, I will summon Elemental HERO Sparkman and have both monsters attack Terror Feminist together since Women-Are-Always-Right Wand’s effect is once per turn.)
(My LP: 3700->3400)
Prince to all: Women-Are-Always-Right Wand’s effect activates.
(Elemental HERO Heat is destroyed.)
Me: (What?)
Anchorwoman: “We”-Are-Always-Right Wand has a second effect. After damage calculation, if the equipped monster attacked a monster: destroy the attacked monster. That’s what you straight men get when you mess with us women!
Prince to all: To all women, I am your protector!
Women: How handsome~
Girls: You are my god~
Me: (This situation is not good for me. I cannot destroy his monster, but his monster can destroy any of my monsters. In addition, I take all the battle damage. That’s unfair. Also unfair is the one-sided audience. Overwhelming and unbearable.)
Prince to all: Now, Nepotism Prince, attack. When Nepotism Prince attacks, I can special summon a “Nepotism” monster from my hand in defense position. I summon Nepotism DEI Hire (DEF: 1300).
Me to all: At this moment, I activate the trap card A Hero Emerges. You choose a random card from my hand, if it is a monster that can be special summoned, special summon it. Otherwise, send it to the graveyard.
Prince to all: I pick the rightmost card in your hand.
Me to all: I special summon Phantom Magician (DEF: 700) in defense position.
Prince to all: Nepotism Prince, attack Phantom Magician.
(Phantom Magician is destroyed.)
Me to all: Phantom Magician’s effect activates. When it is destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, I can special summon a “HERO” monster with 1000 or less ATK from my deck in defense position. I summon Elemental Clayman (ATK: 800, DEF: 2000).
Anchorwoman: Why are all of your monsters male? Women cannot be a hero?
Crowd: Hear~ Hear~
Me: (Facepalm. Come on. Clayman is silicon; it doesn’t have a gender to begin with.)
Prince to all: I set a card and end my turn.
Anchorman: Another flawless turn. Prince has the upper hand.
Turn 4
| Me | Prince | |
|---|---|---|
| LP | 3400 | 4000 |
| Hand | 3 | 2 |
| Field | Clayman | Feminist (Wand), Prince, DEI, backrow |
| Graveyard | Heat, Emerges, Phantom | — |
Me: (I need to summon two monsters with more than 1500 ATK to defeat Terror Feminist, but I will still take all the battle damage. Or, there is an easier way.)
Me to all: It’s my turn. I draw. (The card is Vision HERO Vyon.) I summon Vision HERO Vyon (ATK: 1000) in attack position. When it is summoned, I can send a “HERO” from my deck to the graveyard. I send Destiny HERO Celestial. Now, I activate Vision HERO Vyon’s second effect…
Crowd: Cheater~
Me: (Come on. Not long ago, Women-Are-Always-Right Wand had its second effect activated.)
Me to all: Once per turn, I can banish a “HERO” monster from my graveyard and add a Polymerization from my deck to my hand. I banish Elemental HERO Heat.
Me to all: I activate Polymerization and fusion summon Elemental HERO Thunder Giant (ATK: 2400).
(Elemental HERO Sparkman in my hand and Elemental HERO Clayman on my field are sent to the graveyard. Elemental HERO Thunder Giant is summoned onto the field from my extra deck.)
Me to all: I activate Elemental HERO Thunder Giant’s effect. I discard Destiny HERO Dark Angel and destroy Terror Feminist.
(Terror Feminist is destroyed, and Women-Are-Always-Right Wand is also sent to the graveyard.)
Crowd: Shame~ shame~
Anchorwoman: How dare you? Men from a barbaric country do not know how to treat a woman.
Me: (Come on. How am I supposed to win, otherwise?)
Me to all: Thunder Giant, attack Nepotism Prince.
Prince to all: When Nepotism DEI Hire is on the field, you can’t target my other “Nepotism” monsters for attack.
Me to all: Thunder Giant, attack Nepotism DEI Hire.
Prince to all: At this moment, I activate the continuous trap card Nepotism Collective Bullying. After damage calculation, if my “Nepotism” monster battled an opponent’s monster, I can banish that opponent’s monster.
(Elemental HERO Thunder Giant is banished, and Nepotism DEI Hire is destroyed and sent to the graveyard.)
Me: (Damn it.)
Anchorman: Flawless defense! Good job, Prince!
Anchorwoman: That’s how you get canceled after disrespecting women.
Me: I end my turn.
Turn 5
| Me | Prince | |
|---|---|---|
| LP | 3400 | 4000 |
| Hand | 1 | 2 |
| Field | Vyon | Prince, Bullying |
| Graveyard | Emerges, Phantom, Poly, Sparkman, Clayman, Angel, Celestial | Feminist, Wand, DEI |
| Banish | Heat, Thunder | — |
Prince to all: It’s my turn. I draw. I summon another Nepotism DEI Hire (ATK: 1500) in attack position. Battle phase. Nepotism DEI Hire, attack Vision HERO Vyon.
(Vision HERO Vyon is banished due to Nepotism Collective Bullying’s effect.)
Me: (Damn it. If all my monsters are banished like that, I won’t be able to use Fifth Hope’s effect.)
Anchorwoman: Another straight man is canceled.
Me to Prince: Nepotism DEI Hire’s ATK is higher than Vision HERO Vyon’s by 500. Why didn’t I take any battle damage?
Prince to me: Neither player takes any battle damage involving Nepotism DEI Hire.
Me (So it is a pretty useless card if it were not for Nepotism Collective Bullying.)
Prince to all: Nepotism Prince, attack directly!
Normally, I should have started to run at the end phase of last turn and searched for an Action Card, but I am too wounded to move.
Prince to all: At this moment, I activate Nepotism Prince’s effect and special summon Nepotism Queen (ATK: 1800, DEF: 2400) in defense position from my hand.
(My LP: 3400->2200)
Anchorman: Prince significantly reduced the opponent’s life point. The opponent has zero monsters on the field, whereas Prince has three! Prince has a significant advantage.
Crowd: Prince~ Prince~
Girl C: Marry me!
Prince to me: I activate the field spell Urban Havana, whose effect you already know very well (smirk). I end my turn.
(My LP: 2200->1800)
What??? The opponent is going to release toxic gas in the stadium?
I look around but see no trace of violet smoke.
No matter how much Ouroboros wants to kill me, they are not going to do it in front of so many people. I try to comfort myself.
Turn 6
| Me | Prince | |
|---|---|---|
| LP | 1800 | 4000 |
| Hand | 1 | 0 |
| Field | — | Prince, DEI, Queen, Bullying, Havana |
| Graveyard | Emerges, Phantom, Poly, Sparkman, Clayman, Angel, Celestial | Feminist, Wand, DEI |
| Banish | Heat, Thunder, Vyon | — |
Me to all: It’s my turn. I draw. (The card is H - Heated Heart.) I summon Elemental HERO Wildheart (ATK: 1500) in attack position, and I activate the spell card H - Heated Heart to increase Wildheart’s ATK by 500.
(Elemental HERO Wildheart’s ATK: 1500->2000)
Suddenly, I feel a bit dizzy. My brain starts to hurt.
I look around again but still see no trace of violet gas.
Is it my hallucination? Yesterday’s duel must have left PTSD in my brain. Am I suggesting that I became Pavlov’s dog?
Me to all: Since now I have no cards in my hand, I can banish Destiny HERO Celestial and Destiny HERO Dark Angel in my graveyard and draw two cards.
Me to all: Battle phase. Wildheart, attack Nepotism DEI Hire. Elemental HERO Wildheart is not affected by trap cards and thus cannot be banished by Nepotism DEI Hire.
(Yet Nepotism DEI Hire is not destroyed.)
Prince to all: When Nepotism Queen is on the field in defense position, “Nepotism” monsters cannot be destroyed by battle.
Anchorman: Again flawless defense. The opponent has lost more than half his life point, whereas Prince has yet to lose a single point.
Me: (That’s unfair. I cannot destroy his monsters by battle and cannot deal battle damage to him either. Upon battles, my monsters get banished. Eventually, I will lose all my cards. This is a world where only I get hurt.)
Me to all: I set a card and end my turn.
(Elemental HERO Wildheart’s ATK returns to normal.)
(Urban Havana’s effect activates. My LP: 1800->1400)
Me: (I need to get rid of Nepotism Queen.)
My brain hurts. The solid vision of Elemental HERO Wildheart is a bit blurred. I rub my eyes.
Turn 7
| Me | Prince | |
|---|---|---|
| LP | 1400 | 4000 |
| Hand | 1 | 0 |
| Field | Wildheart, backrow | Prince, DEI, Queen, Bullying, Havana |
| Graveyard | Emerges, Phantom, Poly, Sparkman, Clayman, Heart | Feminist, Wand, DEI |
| Banish | Heat, Thunder, Vyon, Angel, Celestial | — |
Prince to me: How does Urban Havana feel?
Me: (What? There is no violet smoke here, but my brain still hurts. How come? Wait, can it be… that the violet smoke is merely the solid vision’s animation? And the toxic gas itself is actually colorless?)
Me: (It can’t be. Ouroboros doesn’t dare to release toxic gas in front of so many people. Besides, Prince does not wear a mask himself. It seems that he is just trying to intimidate me.)
Prince to all: It’s my turn. I draw. I activate the spell card Graisser La Main. Both players draw two cards.
Prince to all: Nepotism DEI Hire, attack Elemental HERO Wildheart!
Me to all: (Although Wildheart is not affected by trap, it will be destroyed by Nepotism DEI Hire since they have equal ATK.) I activate the trap card Hero Barrier and negate this attack.
Prince to all: I set a card and end my turn.
(Urban Havana’s effect kicks in. My LP: 1400->1000)
Anchorman: It seems that the opponent managed to survive this turn, but now he has only 1000 LP, and he has only three turns to save himself.
Me: (My brain hurts. Am I the only one affected by Urban Havana? Now is not the time to worry about the toxic gas. My life point is burned down quickly. I have to do something quickly to break my opponent’s board.
Me: (Wait. Why didn’t Prince switch Nepotism Queen to attack position and attack me? If I hadn’t had Hero Barrier, Nepotism Prince’s attack could have been lethal to me. But I can grab an Action Card, such as Evasion, to dodge the attack, in which case, an attacking Nepotism Queen can guarantee my demise.)
Me: (Even though I did have Hero Barrier, he could still use Nepotism Queen to destroy Elemental HERO Wildheart and use Nepotism Prince to finish me off. I would have lost the duel unless I obtained an Action Card.)
Me: (Prince’s move might not be flawless.)
Turn 8
| Me | Prince | |
|---|---|---|
| LP | 1000 | 4000 |
| Hand | 3 | 1 |
| Field | Wildheart | Prince, DEI, Queen, Bullying, Havana, backrow |
| Graveyard | Emerges, Phantom, Poly, Sparkman, Clayman, Heart, Barrier | Feminist, Wand, DEI |
| Banish | Heat, Thunder, Vyon, Angel, Celestial | — |
Me to all: It’s my turn. I draw. (Look at my cards.)
Me to all: (If my opponent is not willing to switch Nepotism Queen to attack position, let me help him.) I activate the spell card O - Oversoul to revive Elemental HERO Sparkman from my graveyard.
Me to all: Then, I equip it with the equip spell Spark Blaster. When Elemental HERO Sparkman is equipped with Spark Blaster, I can target a monster and change the target’s battle position. I target Nepotism Queen.
Anchorman: That’s bad. If Nepotism Queen is switched to attack position, she can no longer protect herself and other “Nepotism” monsters from battle destruction. Nepotism DEI Hire and Nepotism Prince will be destroyed, sequentially, by Elemental HERO Sparkman and Elemental HERO Wildheart.
Prince to all: At this moment, I activate the continuous trap card Drama Queen’s Rescue. When a “Nepotism” monster is targeted, by discarding one card, I can return it to hand and then special summon it. In the rest of this turn, it cannot be targeted again. I discard Small-Boat Refugee.
Me: (Eureka! Prince is not willing to switch Nepotism Queen to attack position because he does not want to take any risk of taking battle damage. If I managed to destroy Nepotism DEI Hire, whose battle does not yield any battle damage, I could start to deal battle damage, and then his “flawlessness” would be ruined. It seems that we have a different definition of flawlessness.)
Me to all: (If that is the case,) I summon Elemental HERO Lady Heat (ATK: 1300) in attack position. I set a card and end my turn.
Prince to all: At the end phase, Small-Boat Refugee’s effect activates: it returns to my hand.
Me to all: At the end phase, Elemental HERO Lady Heat’s effect activates: inflict 200 damage to my opponent for every “Elemental HERO” monster I control.
(Prince LP: 4000->3400)
(Urban Havana’s effect activates: My LP: 1000->600)
Prince to me: How dare you?! You tarnished my perfect track record!
Anchorwoman: This bitch (pointing at Elemental HERO Lady Heat) is such a disgrace. She is the traitor of all women.
Crowd: Shame~
Me: (Facepalm. A while ago, you were complaining that there were no female heroes.)
Turn 9
| Me | Prince | |
|---|---|---|
| LP | 600 | 3400 |
| Hand | 0 | Refugee |
| Field | Wildheart, Lady Heat, Sparkman (Blaster), backrow | Prince, DEI, Queen, Bullying, Havana, Rescue |
| Graveyard | Emerges, Phantom, Poly, Sparkman, Clayman, Heart, Barrier, Oversoul | Feminist, Wand, DEI |
| Banish | Heat, Thunder, Vyon, Angel, Celestial | — |
Prince to me: I will kill you~~
My brain hurts even more. The solid vision of my monsters also blurs more. Wait, can it be radiation?
(To be continued…)