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Aarikku · Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 2:43 am Post subject: Chapter 4: The Perfect Balance

Shmod
Chapter Four

“Seriously,” Tyson said to Luke. “What do you want for Tetra Dragon?”

“Sigma Dragon?” Luke replied eagerly.

“I’ll give you a Barren Desert!” Tahoma flipped through his binder. Bigger than Luke’s though it was, nothing he could find would be an acceptable trade for the dragon he sought.

“Do you have a Skeletal Chimera?”

“No.”

“Shadow Necromancy?”

“If I did, I would burn it.” Tyson shook his head, recalling how annoying it had been in the game. “Bah. I’ll find something to trade you. Eh, Kyle!”

“Yeah?”

“You’re the only one of us who hasn’t had the first round yet. You pumped?”

“Not really. The only one I want to play here is Kevin.”

“Well, if this tournament follows the general structure of stories for some reason, your honour will be reclaimed!” Linlan consoled.

“Oh, yeah, that’s really likely.” Kyle replied sarcastically. “Meh well. At least this will be an easy tournament. With the exception of you guys, of course.” He added quickly.

“You know, if this tournament did follow the general structure of stories, us talking about Kyle’s first game would make it happen really soon.” Tyson noted. He ran his eyes left and right, as if waiting. “Nope.”

“While we’re waiting, do you guys know what the prize card is?” Linlan asked.

“Isn’t it Sun Deity – Sola?” Tyson wondered.

“Nah, that was last year.” Said Kyle. “And it’s Divine God of the Sun – Sola. The best cards have really long names. I haven’t heard anything about the card either. I do know that there’s some tour of the Shmod factory included.”

“Is Willy Wonka there?” Tyson asked.

“No.” Linlan replied, not amused. “Eh, did Luke wander off again?”

“Forget it. I am not finding that kid again.” Tyson sighed.

==

“Hey, Kevin?” Luke asked, finding Kevin trading with a rather decorated African girl.

“Er… Tyson’s brother, right?” Kevin tried to force the name out of his memory. “Luke, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. I was wondering… how many booster packs did it take you to build your frog deck?”

“I didn’t use booster packs.”

“Eh?”

“I trained in an ancient dojo on top of the mountains with a wise sage who could speak the language of the frogs.” Kevin explained, with an amazingly straight face. “He taught me all he knew about how to use a frog deck, and I became his star pupil. Eventually, I learned more than he, surpassed him, and left the dojo.”

“If you’re not gonna be serious about this, I’ll just go see if Cassandra knows how I could build a fire deck.” And Luke left.

“I was being serious.” Kevin said quietly, and turned to the girl. “So, Barren Desert for Tetra Dragon, you said?”

==

“Geez, who’s playing this game? A sloth and a snail?” Tyson moaned.

“Nope. Goth girl versus little kid.” Linlan replied, looking over the crowd by standing on a chair.

“Another goth? Man, they have to wreck everything, don’t they?”

“Would you stop ironically whining about emos?” Kyle demanded. “I’m trying to win at card games over here!”

“Well, you’re succeeding.” Tyson observed.

“Hold on now, laddy! I activate Luck o’ the Irish!” Bill O’Reilly said, playing a card depicting a golden five-leafed clover. “It makes us both discard ah hands, an’ draw seven cahds.”

“Fair enough.” Said Kyle.

“But it’s betteh for me! Since I discarded a Golden Leprechaun, I get to play it straight to the fiel’.” Bill looked through the cards he had just discarded, and to Kyle’s shock, played three of them.

“What the bugger?”

“Did I forget to mention? I discarded three Golden Leprechauns, I did. An’ they gain 1000 ATK for each other one. So that’s three 2500-ATK monsters yer against. I attack!”

“Gagh!” Kyle said, his life now at 1. “Time to turn this card game around. I’ll play Re-Fusion, and fuse all four Elements in my Graveyard, Fire and Air discarded by you, to play Tetra Element!”

“Auhg!”

“I’ll attack one of your Leprechauns, reducing your Life to 3!”

“Is it me turn yet?”

“Not quite. Now, I play Elemental Fissure. Say good-bye to Tetra Element, and hello to the four original Elements. Since your Leprechauns are only at 1500 ATK now, I can take you out! Game.”

“Rotten luck, lad. Play ye ‘gain soon.” And Bill left.

“So… was he, like, Scottish or what?” The ever-blunt Tyson wondered.

==

“…and then he said stuff about training in the mountains to learn how to play card games!” Luke finished retelling his tale of woe to Cassandra.

“With perfect honesty, he may have.” Cassandra shrugged.

“What?”

“He’s had the deck since I’ve known him, and I’ve never asked him about it. Some of his cards are pretty rare. However, I’ve never heard of a mountain dojo based on card games.”

“Myth busted?”

“Myth… plausi – yeah, busted. So, what can I do for ya, partner?” Cassandra asked, instantly acquiring a Texan accent.

“So… how can I build an explosion deck?”

“If Tyson’s taught you anything about card games, you’ll have no trouble being one of the great players of this game. You’ve got some nice cards, so building a deck won’t be a problem either. But ask yourself, why do you want an explosion deck?”

“What do you mean? Also, you lost your accent.”

“Crap. Screw it. Luke, card games aren’t just about beating the snot out of your opponents with mythical creatures and occasionally robots or amphibians. Card games are about expressing yourself. Your artistic soul. Your chance to express your originality.”

“So you’re saying…”

“I’m the fire user. Find your own decktype.”

“I thought you were saying something deeper than that.”

“Nope, sorry.”

==

“Luke!” Kyle called, having excused himself from the trio for a short while. “I wanted to talk to you!”

“About what?” Luke wondered. He and Kyle had never really talked. Kyle was more of Tyson’s friend than his own.

“Can I, uh… trade for Tetra Dragon?” Kyle asked.

“Why?”

“Why?! It was invented to combo with Tetra Element! My deck lacks a certain… eh… je ne sais quoi.” Kyle replied, with fluent French.

“Is that French for ‘a monster that can beat Noble Dragon’?” Luke’s eyebrow rose.

“Nah, French for ‘I don’t know what’. So… what are you looking for?”

“Right now? A decktype.”

“Really? Well, let’s see what we can do.”

==

“And the winner is Zywen Lotus!” The shopkeep announced, as Tyson and Linlan had a game.

“Zywen? Weird name.” Linlan commented.

“Poor girl. You’d be surprised how much stuff is decided alphabetically. I’ll have Noble Dragon attack your Happy Panda.”

“Sorry, Panda-Jitsu.”

“You’re kidding me!”

“Nope. I do use four, after all. For my turn, I play Panda Drummer and Hungry Panda, and attack for game.”

“No way! Dragons don’t lose to Pandas! Mythology doesn’t work that way!”

==

“Thanks, Luke!” Kyle said happily, placing his shiny, new Tetra Dragon in a protective sleeve. “I probably should’ve offered more. I feel kinda like I ripped him off.” He noted quietly, as Luke went back to find Tyson. “Ah well. Whatever. Wait, what’s this?” Kyle picked a card off the table he hadn’t before seen. A shadowy demon stared back at him with piercing red eyes. “Right.”

“The next match will be Kyle Hendrix versus Jack Watson!” The shopkeeper announced.

“Excellent!” Kyle smiled.

==

“May the best gamer win,” Kyle shook hands with Jack.

“Of course.” They shuffled and cut each other’s decks, and Kyle won Rock-Paper-Scissors.

“Alright. I’ll charge Living Lunch, and tap it to play Fusion Technique! I’ll fuse Water and Air Elements to create Thunderstorm Element. Your go.”

“This will be an interesting game,” Jack declared. “I charge Wight, and tap it for my own Fusion Technique! I’ll combine Shadow Element and Water Element!”

“Shadow… Element?” Kyle’s eyes widened. Even he, the Element user, had never seen Shadow Element.

“This creates Darkpotion Element!” Said Jack, as the screen showed a purple ghost combine with the Water Element familiar to Kyle to form a glass vial full of purple liquid. “It’s also got 2400 ATK. Your move.”

Every move I make, he’ll be able to counter with equal ATK monsters! Kyle realized. And since he has Shadow Element in his deck, undoubtedly supported by a lot of Tetra Magnets, he’ll have a better assortment of Fusion Monsters to create! Kyle drew his card. I’ll have to summon Tetra Element quickly. This entire game will come down to whoever can summon the strongest Element first. “Hmm… I’ll charge a second Living Lunch, and tap it for Replenish! Draw my two cards… nice. Next, I’ll use the other Mana for Thunderstorm Element’s effect, letting me randomly discard a card from your hand!” Kyle pointed dramatically at the middle card.

“Alas. Elemental Fissure.” Jack sighed.

“I’ll set a card. Your move.”

“Fantastic. I’ll charge a Distraction. Next, I tap one Mana for Darkpotion’s effect, splitting Thunderstorm Element back into Air and Water Elements!”

“No way!” Kyle cried.

“Way. I’ll attack Air Element with Darkpotion!” (Kyle: 9 Life)

“Fine.” I’ve got to overpower him! “I’ll charge Replenish, and tap it for another Fusion Technique! I’ll fuse Fire Element with Water Element to create Steam Element!”

“What… 2700 ATK? Why?”

“Each of the four Elements has its own unique properties. Fire is destructive. Water controls life. Earth is steady. Air is reckless. By combining two Elements, the resulting creature gains the abilities of whatever you fuse. For example, my Thunderstorm Element protects me by recklessly destroying your resources. But combine two opposite Elements, and you gain the advantages of both, creating a perfect balance. Any Element user should know that. Now!” Kyle pointed dramatically. “I attack your Darkpotion Element!” (Jack: 9 Life)

“Not bad. Not bad at all. I’ll charge my Crystal Sage! During the turn that it’s charged, it counts as 2 Mana when used for a Spell. So, I tap it in order to play Halve Life!”

“What’s it do?”

“…It halves our life. (Jack/Kyle: 4 Life) And now, I tap my other Mana for another Fusion Technique. I’ll combine, from my hand, Light Element with Earth Element to form Crystal Element! When it’s fused, it creates 2 Light Mana Tokens. I tap one for the Continuous Spell – Elemental Tactics!”

“No way! You have Light Element too? And Elemental Tactics?”

“Any Element Player should. First off, it costs a Life to play. (Jack: 3 Life) However, once per turn I can fuse or de-fuse an Element. I’ll use my last Mana for Tetra Magnet, reviving Shadow Element.”

“You must have something planned. Two monsters in attack mode, neither strong enough to beat Steam Element.”

“True. I do. I use my Elemental Fissure, cost 0, to de-fuse Crystal Element, and Elemental Tactics to combine Light Element with Shadow Element to form the legendary Yin-Yang Element!”

“Stop having better cards than me!”

“No. I attack Steam Element with Yin-Yang Element!” Both monsters were vanquished, a blast of blazing steam hitting the floating orb and a burst of shining darkness striking Kyle’s monster. “Yin-Yang Element lets me draw one card. Also, I attack you with Earth Element.” (Kyle: 3 Life)

“It all comes down to this.” Kyle drew. “Epic. I charge my Earth Element, and tap all three for Revival Stone! This lets me revive any deceased monster.”

“What, you’re going to bring back Steam Element? It’ll destroy my Earth Element, but it won’t help you after that.”

“Nope. I’m taking your Yin-Yang Element! And I attack your Earth Element!” (Jack: 2 Life)

“Fine. I’ll just destroy it on my turn – ”

“Which it isn’t. Yin-Yang Element lets me draw one card. I told you earlier how Elemental Fusions based on opposing forces work. Are you curious why Yin-Yang lets you draw a card? It’s fate. The drawn card has an equal chance of helping me or harming me. A perfect balance of Light and Dark. Unfortunately for you, it’s the former. I activate Elemental Fissure! Splitting your Yin-Yang Element into Light and Shadow. And I attack for game.”

“The winner, by a startling victory, is Kyle Hendrix!” The shopkeeper announced, above the roar of the crowd.

Card of the Chapter is Elemental Tactics

[1] Elemental Tactics (Spell/Continuous)
You must pay 1 Life to activate this card. Once per turn, you can send two or more Component monsters to the Graveyard to play the corresponding Combination monster or send 1 Combination monster to the Fusion deck and have its owner play the corresponding Component monsters.

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Naardaas · Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 8:15 pm Post subject:

What the f**k? Are you stoned or what? "Ironically whining about emos" was a good touch, but if you hate the Irish enough to make that a representation of them, then you my friend are either racist or you've been to the Molson brewery in Vancouver or wherever. BTW, what's with the Mythbusters reference and the reference to Ryo Marufuji in GX?
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The seal on my existence is broken. My great dragon has arrived as pinnacle strength. And I have the last thing I need to exact revenge on those who banished me. I have the power over chaos, over life and death. The power of Drahondes.

Aarikku · Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 9:32 pm Post subject:

You're right. I'm being racist. I should have all my characters as Caucasian North Americans with pure North American accents. That'll prove that I'm not racist. [/sarcasm]

There IS no Zane reference.
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Naardaas · Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 3:18 pm Post subject:

I appologize. I blew up there after a bad St. Patrick's Day experience. I didn't mean to call you a racist, it just ended up that way.

As for the reference, perhaps you forgot the Japanese version when it was said he was taught at a secret mountain dojo. If you did then it wasn't a reference, if it was merely an oversight it was.
_________________
The seal on my existence is broken. My great dragon has arrived as pinnacle strength. And I have the last thing I need to exact revenge on those who banished me. I have the power over chaos, over life and death. The power of Drahondes.

Aarikku · Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 3:21 pm Post subject:

Ah. Say no more.

Forgot about the mountain dojo.

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