Chapter Text
“Then I’ll play this card!”
“March, you can’t activate that card yet.”
“What do you mean by that, Dan Heng?” March said as she made a pouting face.
Dan Heng and March 7th, along with their two friends, Caelus and his sister, Stelle were hanging out at a game shop called The Astral Express. The two owners of the shop, Himeko and Welt know the four friends very well and trust them a lot. Dan Heng was trying to teach March how to play this extremely popular trading card game called “Duel Monsters”.
“The conditions have not been met yet, so your Ultimate Slayer will have to stay in your hand for now.”
“Fine. I set one card face down and end my turn…”
Final Turn:
“I draw. I play Night Beam to destroy your face-down card.” Dan Heng bypassed March’s bluff and destroyed her face-down Ultimate Slayer, and with that, March was defenseless. “I will go to the battle phase and have my monster attack you directly.”
March 7th’s Life Points: 0
Winner: Dan Heng
“Ugh, this is so confusing! How are you actually supposed to duel?”
“Caelus, can you please come over here?”
Caelus had just won his duel against Stelle at another table. After grabbing his stuff, he went over to Dan Heng’s table. “You called?”
“March wants to know what a real duel looks like. Wanna show her?”
“Hell yeah! In fact, let’s do it in one of the Duel Space rooms,” said Caelus as he brought out his Duel Disk.
“Duel Space room? What’s that?” March wondered.
“While the Duel Disks can only bring out vague holograms, a Duel Space room is a simulated universe and can help said Disks make the monster holograms become more life-sized and emit 4D effects!” Caelus explained.
“Sounds fascinating! Lemme get my camera.”
After the three entered the Duel Space, Dan Heng brought out his green, white, and black-colored Duel Disk named Cloud-Piercer and his cards were in sleeves that had a Yin-Yang symbol on them, while Caelus brought out his black, gray, and gold-colored Duel Disk named The Raccoon and his cards were in sleeves that had a picture of a trashcan on them. Both players drew their five cards and said, “DUEL!”
Music Cue: Yusei duel theme, Jaden/Jesse duel theme, or Bastion/Standard Duelist (DM & GX) duel theme from Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links
Caelus’s Life Points: 8000
Dan Heng’s Life Points: 8000
Turn 1:
It was Caelus’s turn. “First, I will play the Spell Card, E-Emergency Hero…” Caelus placed the card onto his Duel Disk, “...and add Elemental Hero Shadow Mist from my deck to my hand. I Normal Summon Elemental HERO Solid Soldier and use its effect to Special Summon Elemental HERO Shadow Mist!” Two warrior monsters appeared on the field as holograms after he put the two Monster cards on his Duel Disk.
“Next, I will use Mask Change and send Shadow Mist to Special Summon Masked HERO Dark Law from my Extra Deck!”
Caelus was just getting started. “If Shadow Mist is sent to the Graveyard, I can search my deck for a different E Hero Monster like Elemental HERO Liquid Soldier and add it to my hand!”
Dan Heng was observing carefully while March took some pictures.
“I will use my Spell card, Mask Charge and put Shadow Mist and Mask Change from the Graveyard to my hand! Now I will use Mask Change again, but this time, I will send Solid Soldier to the Graveyard to Special Summon Masked HERO Dian from my Extra Deck!”
March was amazed by what was happening and thought to herself, ‘Wow! This looks really cool! I wonder if I can duel like this someday, but I don't even have a Duel Disk…’
“I set a card face down in my Spell & Trap Zone and end my turn.”
Turn 2:
It was Dan Heng’s turn. “My Turn. Draw! First I will play the Quick-Play Spell Card, Forbidden Chalice to negate your Dark Law’s effects! Next, I will play Cosmic Cyclone to Banish your set card by paying 1000 Life Points.” Caelus’s Storming Mirror Force was sent to Banishment*.
*Interestingly, Caelus sometimes refers the Banishment area as the “Shadow Realm”.
Dan heng’s Life Points: 7000
“Now, I’m going to play the Spell Card, Dragunity Lore and add Dragunity Arma Mystletainn from my deck to my hand! I will Normal Summon Dragunity Phalanx.” A small, masculine-looking dragon appeared on the field.
“Next, I will Special Summon Dragunity Arma Mystletainn from my hand by sending Dragunity Phalanx to the graveyard.” Phalanx disappeared, and a giant yellow dragon with black wings holding a sword took its place.
“When Mystletainn is summoned, I get to equip Dragunity Phalanx to it from the Graveyard, but that’s not all. I will use Phalanx’s effect to Special Summon it from the Spell & Trap Zone.”
‘Oh no. What’s he going to summon this time?’ Caelus thought to himself.
“I will use these two to Synchro Summon Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend!” A giant, red, demon-looking dragon appeared on the field.
“Eeeep!” March was frightened. “That looks scary! Why can’t you summon something cuter?”
Dan Heng continued with his Main Phase 1. “I will use Scarlight’s effect to destroy all other Special Summoned monsters on the field, and you will take 500 damage for each monster destroyed by this effect. Absolute Ruthless Inferno Powerflame!” The Level 8 Synchro monster destroyed both of Caelus’s monsters by giving them a fiery punch, and he took 1000 points of effect damage.
Caelus’s Life Points: 7000
“We will now battle. Attack directly, Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend! Crimson Hell Burning Flare!” Dan Heng’s monster breathed a hellish inferno breath from its mouth to Caelus.
“Ooh! Ooh! Hot! Hot!” Caelus felt that and received 3000 points of damage.
Caelus’s Life Points: 4000
“I set one card and end my turn.”
Turn 3:
“Draw! I set one monster and one card in the Spell & Trap Zone, then I end my turn.”
“That’s it?”
“Mmhmm~,” Caelus replied nonchalantly.
Turn 4:
“Very well then.” After Drew Heng drew his card, he said, “I will have Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend attack you directly!”
“Not so fast, pal. I will activate my Quick-play Spell Card, Super Polymerization.”
After Caelus discarded a card from his hand, his face-down monster and Dan Heng’s Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend fused together to form a Fusion Monster. “Say hello to Ace★Spades Speculation!”
“Heh. Not bad, Caelus. Hello, Spades.”
“Wow! What a power play!” Said March as she took more pictures.
“Because the face-down monster that was used for the Fusion Summon was my good friend, E Hero Shadow Mist, I can use its effect to add Elemental HERO Liquid Soldier from my deck to my hand!”
“Well then. I set one card and end my turn.”
Turn 5:
“I draw. I Normal Summon Elemental Liquid Soldier and will use its effect to Special Summon a HERO from my Graveyard.”
“That’s not gonna work because I will play Infinite Impermanence to negate its effect!” Caelus’s monster was paralyzed…sort of.
“Ugh. Then I’ll play my Spell Card, Miracle Fusion! I’ll banish Solid Soldier and Dark Law from my Graveyard to Fusion Summon Elemental HERO Sunrise.” An awesome, red monster appeared on the field.
“Now, I am going to use Sunrise’s effect to add one Miracle Fusion to my deck!”
“And since you activated its effect, I will discard my Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit to destroy your Sunrise.”
“Well, at least I can use my other Miracle Fusion and banish Liquid Soldier from my Graveyard to Fusion Summon Elemental HERO Absolute Zero.” A cold and powerful monster showed up.
ATTACK: 2500 → 3000
“Let’s battle. My Liquid Soldier will attack you first!”
Dan Heng recieved 1400 damage.
Dan Heng’s Life Points: 5600
“Now attack directly, Ace and Absolute Zero! Use your Speculative Spades and Instant Freeze!”
Dan Heng got hit with virtual cold, sharp blades.
Dan Heng received 5500 damage. “Urrrgh…”
Dan Heng’s Life Points: 100
Music Cue: 1000 LP theme (DM) from Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links.
“I end my turn.”
Turn 6:
Before Dan Heng drew his card, March said, “C’mon, Dan Heng! You can beat him.”
“She's right, Caelus. This isn’t over. I still have a chance to beat you. Draw!” After looking at the card he drew, he smirked. “First, I’ll Normal Summon Dragunity Dux. When it is Normal Summoned, I get to equip a Level 3 or lower Dragon ‘Dragunity’ monster from the Graveyard to it.”
Dan Heng equipped Dragunity Phalanx to Dragunity Dux and then Special Summoned Phalanx from the Spell & Trap Zone to the field. “I will use those two monsters to Synchro Summon Dragunity Knight—Vajrayana from my Extra Deck.”
“Similar to Dragunity Dux, I get to equip a Level 3 or lower Dragon ‘Dragunity Monster’ from my Graveyard to Vajrayana when it is Synchro Summoned, and it will be Dragunity Phalanx again. After that I will Special Summon Phalanx from the Spell & Trap Zone to the field…again.”
Caelus looked nervous.
“Now that I got everything set, I can Synchro Summon my Ace Monster. The dragon that can eradicate all obstacles in its path with its raw power. Come on out: Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon!”
“Heh. Looks cool, but because you brought out that beatstick, my Ace★Spades gains attack equal to it.”
Ace★Spades Speculation: Attack 2500 → 5500 Attack
“Battle!”
Caelus asked, “Are you going to risk destroying your own monster? Its attack isn’t higher than either of my monsters.”
“When this card attacks a Level 5 or higher monster, it gains attack equal to the current attack of the opponent’s monster it’s battling during damage calculation! Now go, Crystal Wing. Attack his Absolute Zero!”
Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon: 3000 ATK → 6000 ATK
Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon flew and attacked Elemental Hero Absolute Zero before destroying it.
Caelus received 3000 damage. "Oof!"
Caelus’s Life Points: 1000
“Because my Absolute Zero left the field, all of your monsters are destroyed!”
“Are you sure about that?”
“What do you mean?”
“When another monster's effect is activated, Crystal Wing gets to negate it.”
‘Well, he only has one monster, so it can’t get any worse. Right?’ Caelus thought to himself, and boy was he wrong.
“I activate my Trap Card, Tyrant Wing! I get to choose one Dragon monster on the field and equip this card to it. Not only does it gain 400 Attack, but it can also attack up to two monsters during each battle phase!”
“What?”
“Crystal Wing! Attack his Speculation with your Crystal Cataclysmic Edge of Gale!”
Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon: 3400 ATK → 8900 ATK
Caelus made a loud gulp before his monster got destroyed received 3400 damage. “Aahhh!”
Caelus’s Life Points: 0
Winner: Dan Heng
“Wow! That was so epic! Both of you did great! I made sure to take plenty of pictures!” March said.
“Phew. Good game, Dan Heng.”
“You too, Caelus.”
As the two shook hands, Stelle went over to Caelus and told him, “Wow. You suck, bro.”
“Shut up! I think I did pretty well, all things considered. Also, I beat you when we dueled, like, 30 minutes ago. When did you get here anyway?”
“I arrived around the time you got your ass kicked by Dan Heng’s amazing Synchro Monsters. You should’ve read his cards more carefully. Also, did you already forget to believe in the ‘Heart of the Cards?'”
While the two siblings were busy arguing, Dan Heng asked March, “Anyway, now do you get it?”
“Sort of, but it’s still confusing! Is there some sort of place to learn more about this?”
“Like a Duel Academy? Don’t be ridiculous. Are you also going to ask if there’s a PhD in dueling?”
“Well, nevertheless, I should learn quickly and perhaps the three of you can help me build a decent deck.”
“Ok then. We should also get you a Duel Disk as well.”
Later that day...
*
*Kalbi (갈비) is a Korean BBQ rib dish.