Episode 41. - No Reflection In A Mirror

The semifinals of a minor dueling tournament. The place, deep in the city, in the country of Hong Kong. The reason? For the sake of dueling. The KirriCorp tournament rules, though not enforced directly here, were still affecting the way decks were being built and changed. This tournament was easy proof of that.

One of the decks that had received some changes as a result of the appearance of the eighth set, and the new adjustments suggested by KirriCorp, was that of Hong Kong's reigning Duel Masters champion, Shinji Nykahrii. Whether or not those changes to his deck were turning out to be a generally good thing, remained to be seen. Today, he had at least reached the semifinals of the tournament he was in, and now faced a dark eyed, dark haired duelist with a Kaijudo so pervasive and vampiric that most would instantly assume that he wielded a heavy Darkness deck.

Such was not the case, with Gaurav Tamba. The game was already on its second turn, with both duelists having placed at least one Nature mana into their manazone. Shinji's second mana had been water. Gaurav now placed a Hopeless Vortex in his, and summoned an Essence Elf. The appearance of the Tree Folk made Shinji's Kaijudo perk up. That certainly was not what he had been expecting from a duelist like Tamba.

"End turn."
The wisping darkness in his Kaijudo made Shinji wonder what he would be facing. Ghosts? Living Dead? An army of Dark Lords or Demon Commands? He decided the best thing to do would be to build an immediate defensive line. To aim for much else in the face of a lone Elf was silly, as he knew from experience. He charged Light mana and summoned a Senatine Jade Tree, ending his turn.

"Defenses?"
Gau nodded appropriately to his avatar, as he placed one copy of its card into his mana zone, and summoned the other. The little Cyber Lord was already scheming. Gau exchanged one of his shields, as per the Emeral's usual effect, and ended his turn. Shinji grew even more wary.

Drawing his next card, his energy quickly rose to meet that of Gau. He too, was now in contact with his avatar, by virtue of drawing it.
"Feels oddly like facing the dark version of myself..." he noted mentally.

"The little one in charge over there is no less cunning or manipulative than any other of its kind. Be very careful. Emeral is their master of misdirection. You may be fooled many times."

Shinji noted this advice to himself. He was normally very hard to fool in a duel, and one of his opponents had made the comment that one of his main skills was being able to predict the path of nearly any duel, whether or not he could actually do anything about it. He placed the Aqua Sniper in the mana zone, and ended his turn. He would have to wait for Gau to make a move before he knew what to do.

Gau was the quintessential duelist of his type, however. Moving was not something he rushed to do. He simply charged a Crimson Hammer to his mana zone, and ended his turn. The four colors were now there, and Emeral was on the field. This alone seemed to cause the vampiric Kaijudo to spike, forcing Shinji to try to erect a mental defense. The spectators suddenly seemed to become uneasy. Gau looked around at one girl and smiled reassuringly. She seemed to calm down, off the path to mild panic she had been on. Gau's Kaijudo itself seemed scary, but Gau himself was not.

Shinji seemed less concerned now. The Crimson Hammer was gone. His situation was a bit safer. Perhaps safe enough to summon what he had just drawn.
"Spiral Gate to mana. Summon Elf-X."

Gau nodded, drawing his card, sending a Terror Pit to his mana zone.
"Death Smoke. The Elf."

"Yep..." Shinji sighed. As soon as the Elf had materialized on his side of the battle zone, he had been able to tell that would have been its fate. To be swallowed up in darkness by one of Gau's spells. Perhaps his mild precognitive gift would be of some use against this wisping darkness after all. He drew his card and sent it straight to mana. A Holy Awe.
"End turn."

Gau calmly drew his card. The spectators seemed to be drawn closer to the table by his radiating presence as he sent a Thrash Crawler to his mana zone, to make the sixth mana, and did what most duelists would not be able to do until one turn later.
"Lost Soul."

Shinji could almost swear he heard Emeral chuckle, in his mind, as he discarded the two Spiral Gate cards. It was a loss, but not too much of one. Using the Gates on either of the two little creatures present would have been of no real use.

"Ah. A bad move on my part..." Gau noted, realizing what Shinji had been holding onto. He shrugged it off, realizing that he had no way of knowing that beforehand anyway, and ended his turn.

What he did not realize was that the effect on Shinji had actually been quite profound. Gau was, plainly, a scary being. Not even one as experienced as Shinji Nykahrii could simply ignore the dark emanations. Yet, it was difficult to place. The fear one felt was not of Gau, nor his intent. The heavyset young man was quite calm and seemed friendly. Shinji still shivered. What exactly was it?

He drew his card, and charged it directly to mana. His Sword of Benevolent Life. Then ended his turn. Gau moved similarly, drawing and sending an Apocalypse Vise to mana, not even bothering to cast it on the blocker creature in his way.

"Something about this person..." Shinji noted, drawing and summoning his own Essence Elf, "So calm... so..."

Gau drew his card, and sent a Mana Nexus to his mana zone. With barely a blink, and with hardly any explosive effect, a Bazagazeal Dragon appeared on the battlefield, and surged forward as if to swallow up Shinji's Essence Elf. Shinji seemed almost paralyzed. He did not block, but that was indeed a choice. The Tree could at least stop the little ones from overrunning his shields on this particular turn. Gau's turn ended, the Bazagazeal returning from whence it came.

Shinji drew and summoned another Senatine Jade Tree. All he could do. He could feel the Kaijudo of his opponent surrounding him, yet it did not converge. It did not crush, nor seem as if it would devour him. Indeed, it did not even seem to be waiting for an opportunity to do that. It simply was vampiric and large by nature, nothing more. Shinji pondered this for a bit. It made sense. Surely someone in the world would have to be this way without actually being a bad person...

Gau drew his card and cast a Mana Nexus, placing the other into his shield zone, then merely ended his turn. Yet again unmoving. By now his Kaijudo was pervading the entire room. Shinji wondered for a moment if perhaps it was drawing on the excess Kaijudo of others. Perhaps even his own, but he did not feel drained. He drew and summoned an Elf-X.

"Do you end?" Gau asked, rather rhetorically, a few moments later. Shinji nodded. His mind had been too preoccupied to remember that he needed to officially make some indication of this, even though he lacked attacking creatures and any other cards in hand.

Gau smiled, and summoned an Aqua Surfer.
"Elf."

That, Shinji had not quite expected. The Bazagazeal threat was still there, but Gau seemed content to remove his attacker. He drew his card. An Enchanted Soil. The imagery when he cast the spell was peaceful, vines and light spreading across the manazone, from the places where his two previous Elves had 'fallen'. Now, he summoned the Elf-X from his hand again, and ended his turn.

Gau drew his card, and effortlessly sent an Apocalypse Vise forward.
"The two Jade Trees," he declared, but the mental vision had already played out, much to the 'surprise' of the crowd. Gau ended his turn.

"Oh, that was brilliant," Shinji smiled. Many looked at him carefully, trying to figure out if the silver haired duelist was being sarcastic, but he made no indication of such, and he had a specific reason why. Gau would be able to slice straight through him now almost effortlessly unless he could bring some serious power to bear, very quickly. There was little chance of it. Gau grinned.

Shinji drew and summoned a Stained Glass, ending his turn. He smiled at Gau in response to the grin, as Gau drew his card.
"Well, I have enough mana now. Time to play."

"Hmmm..." Gau responded, "Call me dumb, but... I summon Bolmeteus Steel Dragon."

The mechadragon's appearance on the field was indeed, with a roar. The crowd seemed more confused than ever. Not only would the Stained Glass negate the summon in a single attack, but the Bazagazeal would have dealt with the Glass easily. Gau seemed to have a plan. Yet, so did Shinji.

"Hehehe... yep... here goes nothing," he remarked, drawing his card and summoning it, "Miele, Vizier of Lightning, to tap your Essence Elf!"

"Oh boy..." Gau remarked.

"Stained Glass, ikei!" Shinji declared, in what seemed to be one of his most confusing moves yet. The Cyber Virus vanished into the enemy lines, and soon, not only had the Essence Elf been defeated, but a strange molecular portal had caused Gau's Bolmeteus Steel Dragon to vanish. The crowd buzzed, not understanding the former champion's last move at all.

Gau's turn consisted of nothing more than resummoning his Bolmeteus. Still, the Emeral did not move. In this case, neither did the Aqua Surfer. Shinji's turn returned to him. He drew his card, and cast the Logic Cube spell, to retrieve a Dimension Gate, which he then, of course, cast also, to retrieve a Senatine Jade Tree, which he also summoned, via a wave of energy from the Elf-X.

Gau sent another Mana Nexus to his mana zone, securing his defenses completely, and summoned his Bazagazeal Dragon to destroy the Jade Tree.

"Nice," Shinji noted, drawing another grin from Gau. Bolmeteus now swooped in to obliterate two of Shinji's shields, and Gau ended his turn. Shinji drew his new card.

"I cast Crystal Memory."

"I am guessing that what is coming is going to hurt..." Gau noted. Shinji summoned the card he got now. A Phal Eega, Dawn Guardian. It regenerated his Spiral Gate spell, but without enough mana to play it, Shinji could now only watch as Gau charged more darkness mana, summoned Bazagazeal, and again sent Bolmeteus to obliterate two more shields.

"Heehehehehehe..." Emeral now laughed, hacking into Shinji's final shield, leaving him defenseless against what came next.
"Bazagazeal Dragon, todomeda!"

The explosive dark power of Gaurav Tamba finally made itself known, blasting Shinji back, and finishing the duel that Gau had dominated all along. Shinji burst out laughing, taking their audience by surprise, then congratulated Gau on his victory.

"How did you know?" Gau finally asked.

"I have a sense for these things..." Shinji noted, "Besides, certain people were a little too happy, if you know what I mean..."

He referred to Emeral now. Shinji had practically lost the duel before it began, as Gau now demonstrated by flipping over his six shields. Every single one was a trigger. There had been little Shinji could have done. Few knew what had stopped Shinji from attempting to break any even with the Stained Glass. In fact, even Shinji himself did not quite know what had stopped him. In the end, there had only been one outcome.

"It was fate for me to lose this day," Shinji laughed, "Sadly, it means you have not been able to see my deck perform as it should. Still, of course, the duel goes to you. I will see you again. It is a truly awesome deck. Don't lose."

"Thanks. I hope your deck gets its full potential next time."

"It will..."
Shinji rose from his seat now, giving it up to the winner of the other semifinal match. This was going to be the big one. Eugene Pradian slid into the seat, nodding to Gaurav, and watched as his opponent shuffled his deck. Gau gestured that Pradian should go first. He did so, charging water mana. A Thrash Crawler.

Gau did the same, exactly. Pradian continued with a Death Smoke for Darkness mana, and ended his turn. Gau, again, charged the same energy, but with his, the air filled with the buzzing sound of Bloody Squito.

"Well now..." Pradian noted, sending his Corile to mana, and summoning an Aqua Hulcus. Aside from the very last mana charged in his duel with Shinji, Gau had not shown that he had any of the Squito at all, yet one was in mana, and one on field. Gau now mirrored Pradian again, though he charged fire mana to do it. Summoning an Aqua Hulcus. Pradian looked a bit wary at this point. Something about this opponent unnerved him even more now that he was the one actually dueling. He had finished his own semifinal duel early and had got the mild advantage of being able to watch the end of theirs.

Pradian now charged mana. Emeral. The move seemed to confuse Gau, as if he could not understand why someone with the chance to summon an Emeral would not do so. Pradian played a Eureka Charger, calling down energy from above him, and letting it crystallize into a card in his hand, as well as letting the energy of the spell flood through his mana zone. Gau, as usual, completed the quartet of his mana energy on his next turn, with a Natural Snare, and summoned a Locomotiver. Another thing that seemed to have been hiding in his deck. Another Shield Trigger associate of the sneaky Emeral.

Eugene Pradian winced as the Energy Stream card vanished from his influence. Gau ended his turn, his Kaijudo beginning the same shadowy spread through the room, yet again. Pradian drew his card, sent another Corile to his mana zone, and now, he was the one to 'mimic' Gau.
"Locomotiver."

Gau seemed nonchalant about the vanishing of his Bazagazeal Dragon. Pradian became wary. Normally this would at least cause a blip in someone's Kaijudo. Gau merely drew his card and cast it. An Energy Stream. He followed this with a Crimson Hammer, sizzling Pradian's Aqua Hulcus out of existence, and ending his turn.

"Why do I have the bad feeling..."
Pradian drew his card, and charged Darkness mana. A Cranium Clamp. He was about to cast the other, when he remembered. The Squito...
"I summon... Thrash Crawler."

He retrieved a Death Smoke from his manazone, and ended his turn, his mind calculating, trying to figure out how to defeat an opponent who seemed to truly need to do nothing. It was very strange. Even with the adjustments, Gau seemed to have no trouble facing whatever came at him with almost nerve-jarring calm.

This unnerved Pradian still further when Gau simply charged a Thrash Crawler to his own mana zone, and did nothing else on his turn.

"What is up with this guy? He doesn't move... yet I feel like he's one step ahead of me all the time..."
Pradian now drew his card and sent another Emeral to his mana zone. Gau did not give him the same confused look this time. What seemed to confuse everyone else, was that Pradian did nothing more, not even casting the Death Smoke.

Gau's Kaijudo spread still further when he drew his next card. Another Emeral. He did not summon it. He merely mimicked Pradian, charging it to mana and doing nothing more. Eugene found his heart racing, and he did not know why. Gau smiled at him quite kindly when he drew his card and cast his Energy Stream, followed by a Eureka Charger, and ended his turn.

Gau's 'crowd' now seemed to buzz with excitement. Gau had drawn a Hopeless Vortex. They were all surprised when he simply nonchalantly dropped it into his mana zone and summoned yet another Bazagazeal Dragon, simply to obliterate the Thrash Crawler... and nothing more.

"He has such patience..." one noted, "I would be too worried about what was coming, to do this..."

Eugene grinned. He was about to demonstrate that Gau should have been at least a little worried about what was coming. He charged Darkness mana, in the form of one of his Terror Pit cards.
"Death Smoke on your Bloody Squito, and Cranium Clamp! Locomotiver, ikei!"

The audience gasped. The attack robbed Gaurav of not only his Bazagazeal Dragon, but its counterpart Bolmeteus as well.
"Ouch... that hurt..." Gau noted, picking up the broken shield. Now it was his turn again, and he drew his card. His 'fans' now expected swift retribution against the offending Locomotiver, if only to prevent another Clamping, but Gau again did the unexpected. Realizing that he had drawn his avatar card, he summoned it, and, oddly, put the Crimson Hammer that had been his broken shield, back as one.

"Roulette, roulette, let's see what we get..." Emeral laughed. What Gau got, was a replacement Bolmeteus, causing his onlookers to stifle their reactions, so as not to give anything away to Pradian.

Eugene did not know of his opponent's 'bluff', nor that a new Dragon had been restored to him. He played a Corpse Charger, regained his Thrash Crawler, then summoned it, to regain the very same card that had revived it. It could become a very long cycle...

Gau drew his card.
"I summon.... Bolmeteus Steel Dragon. End turn."

"Ugh..." Pradian shivered. The calmness was beginning to seriously unnerve him. Yet another dragon, and yet Gau seemed in no way averse to simply letting it enter a battlefield almost unprotected. Pradian now had no choice really but to deal with it, and this, he did.
"Crystal Lancer to mana. Summon Thrash Crawler to regain Terror Pit... cast Terror Pit on your Bolmeteus... I can hardly believe I got to ten mana..."

Gau calmly sent his Dragon to the grave, and drew and summoned a Locomotiver, robbing Pradian of a Eureka Charger, again doing nothing further.

"What... is he?" Pradian muttered to himself, Corpse Charging back his Aqua Hulcus and summoning it. As long as Gau did not move, he would not move much either, though in this case it was more a lack of ways in which to do so.

"Apocalypse Vise," Gau responded, obliterating all but a single Thrash Crawler, and ending his turn there. Pradian played an Aqua Surfer, to return that single Thrash Crawler to his hand, and then summoned it to regain the Corpse Charger yet again.

"Lost Soul," Gau countered, effectively ending all of Eugene's plans at once. The Crystal Lancer, Corpse Charger, and Death Smoke all vanished. Pradian twitched. His opponent only made one move per turn, and yet...

He did nothing on his own turn. Gau charged mana, a Mana Nexus, on his own, and summoned a Rumbling Terahorn, retrieving, of all things, an Aqua Hulcus, which he then summoned, and ended his turn. Pradian drew his card, and his Kaijudo finally surged forward again.
"I evolve Aqua Surfer into Crystal Lancer! ... um... end turn..."

Gau nodded, and calmly disposed of the Lancer by summoning the Thrash Crawler he drew, regaining a Hopeless Vortex, and casting the spell.

Pradian drew his card, and summoned it. An Aqua Guard. Gau summoned an Aqua Surfer to return the Thrash Crawler to Pradian's hand, and finally...
"Rumbling Terahorn, ikei."

"Shield Trigger, Terror Pit, to destroy your Hulcus."

"Emeral, ikei."

For some reason, Pradian felt like this was the creature he should block, and the Aqua Guard easily defeated the little Cyber Lord. The three following attacks, from the Hulcus and two Locomotiver, were neither stopped, nor did they trigger any surprises. Pradian now summoned another Aqua Guard, and the Thrash Crawler again, and finally a Corile.
"Locomotiver."

Gau calmly returned to his state of rest, only barely putting enough effort forth to Lost Soul the rest of Pradian's hand away. Pradian responded by summoning his Locomotiver to rob Gau of his Energy Stream, but Gau practically did not seem to notice. He drew his card, and charged it to mana. He did not need to Lost Soul his opponent again. Again, he did not move at all.

Pradian simply added another Aqua Guard to his field. Gau cast a Mana Nexus to set a Terror Pit as shield. Pradian now summoned the Hulcus he drew, revived his Thrash Crawler with the Dark Reversal provided for him by the Hulcus, and summoned the Crawler to give himself a Eureka Charger from his mana zone. Gau simply cast Natural Snare on the Thrash Crawler and did no more.

"Alright..." Pradian noted, "Eureka Charger... hmm... Aqua Hulcus... Energy Stream. End turn."

Gau played an Essence Elf. What he had drawn. Nothing more.

"He has to move sometime..." Eugene Pradian noted to himself, drawing his card. His Kaijudo now surged again at last. His own avatar was here. Now, Gau would have to do something. Right?

"I summon Aeropica! And cast another Energy Stream! ...er... end turn..."

Gau nodded calmly, summoned the Rumbling Terahorn he drew, searched out a Bloody Squito, and summoned that as well.
"Hm... End turn," he smiled.

Pradian's eyes did not veil his surprise. Even in the face of the Aeropica, Gau's vampiric Kaijudo did... absolutely nothing. Pradian accelerated his own power now, Corpse Charging back his Crystal Lancer, but Gau's oddly sleepy energy made him feel as though he should not summon it. Instead, he put another Aeropica on the field, hoping that the doubling of the energy would somehow provoke Gaurav Tamba to at least appear to be paying attention... He tapped his Aeropica.
"Essence Elf."

Gau nodded, drew and summoned his Bolmeteus Steel Dragon, and his Essence Elf, and then... ended his turn.

Pradian almost seemed to twitch. He cast Death Smoke on the Thrash Crawler, Terror Pit on the Bolmeteus, tapped both Aeropica to return the Essence Elf and a Locomotiver, and got absolutely no reaction out of Gau's Kaijudo whatsoever. Not even attacking with Corile, breaking a shield that did not actually trigger... nothing.

Gau looked at the card in his hand. The broken shield. Then at his opponent's army of Liquid People. Then shrugged.
"Apocalypse Vise. All the Guards... and one Hulcus."

Pradian winced. The Aqua Surfer's attack, he blocked with the Thrash Crawler. Gau seemed to calmly be willing to finally move forward.

"Aqua Hulcus. Ikei--" there was no trigger -- "Rumbling Terahorn... todomeda..."