Episode 81. - Wielder Of The Blue Flame Aura

"This is the mall where she hangs out," Taimi had told him. She had given him a relatively good description of the girl, as well as a vague explanation of why he would have to learn about Kaijudo from a thirteen year old instead of being taught by her.

The problem with Taimi's description is that a remarkably large number of young ladies seemed to fit it. He had mostly just watched, but there were one or two that he had needed to actually ask, if they were, indeed, Karaia Silvis. Taimi had also told him "when she shows up you'll feel her, if you don't, there's no point in even trying".

Remni did not know what Taimi had meant by 'feel her', until Karaia and her group of followers finally did enter the comic store. Then, it was unmistakable. He had not felt power of that level since the World Championship finalists had dueled. She did not seem too interested in hiding it either. Somehow, she reminded him of Arielle Dumas, in that way. Her Kaijudo aura seemed to exude blue flames all around her, and he did not hesitate in rising from his seat and approaching her to make his request.

He was immediately accosted by one of the other teenagers with her, a dark-haired boy at least a foot shorter than he was.
"You can't just walk up to her and challenge like that, even if you are in the older division. Kara was Junior champion right up until last year, you know!"

Remni apologized, a bit confused, and admitted that he in fact did not know what the boy was talking about. Another girl gladly clarified for him.
"Karaia never lost to that Dumas kid. She just outgrew the junior league. So now she has to put up with all you older guys if she wants to be considered great again. But that doesn't matter, we all know she's the best."

Another boy, behind Remni, let out a mocking laugh at this.
"Sure... she's the 'best'. Yeah right! She's just a lucky kid. You all need to stop clinging to her like she's some sorta genius and get with it. She's barely average."

A heated argument quickly ensued, giving the curly haired young blonde the chance to speak to Remni directly while they feuded. The closer she got, the more Remni could feel those blue flames. The energy made him tremble slightly, wondering if this girl could do the same sorts of things to him that Juravis could, despite being half his enemy's age.

"I accept your challenge... it's best if we talk while we play, right?"
She sat at a table, and Remni sat opposite her. They both deployed their shields. The squabbling youngsters now seemed to notice that the object of their conflict was engaged in another activity, and they quickly crowded around, causing Remni slight distress.

"Pay no attention to them..." Karaia said softly to him, "They're not important right now."

Remni noted, with some surprise, that none of the members of what seemed to be her 'fan club' took any offense at this statement, even though they were surely close enough to hear. Something in him, at that moment, had the rather strange thought that they were simply close to Karaia in order to feel that radiant warmth from the blue flames.

"You can go first..." she said. Remni nodded, and charged mana. Nature mana. Specifically, a Mana Nexus. He ended his turn.

"So... you want... my help?" Karaia now asked, drawing her card and playing it to mana immediately. Photocide, Lord of the Wastes. Instantly Remni found himself standing on a wasteland, where jets of blue flame sometimes shot out of cracked earth, and a blackened sky seemed to indicate that the land was either poisoned, or of a very strange geology. Despite this, and despite the crowd, Karaia spoke to him in soft words, not using the strange form of telepathy he had been encountering from people like her recently.

"It's a weird request. I'm just a kid..."

"But I really need to learn about Kaijudo. Someone told me that you know the roots behind it, or something like that. Spiral Gate to mana. End turn."

"It's weird. I thought everyone did. It's that crampy feeling in your head that makes you a perfect duelist. Volcano Charger to mana. End turn."

Remni drew his card, and placed his Magmadragon Jagalzor into his mana zone, summoning his Gonta, the Warrior Savage. Gonta appeared, looking rather out of place in the strange wasteland, his weapon at the ready.

"It's that thing that always makes you know what to do..." she said, placing Corile as Water mana and casting an Energy Stream. For her, the spell took the form of a geyser bursting forth from one of the cracks in the ground.

"Yes, I want to learn that," Remni confirmed, drawing his card. The 'air' became heated more, and the blue flame aura surrounding Karaia seemed to increase in its potency.

"Hmm... never thought of it as something you learn before... When you duel, can't you feel your creature? Mine tells me what to do... he's in my hand now..."
This brought snickers from the boys standing around Remni. She paid no attention to them.

"It sounds like skill that can be taught or learned. I feel something from my creatures too..."

"He is telling me that you are going to attack quickly, but I have to counter in the opposite way to what I would normally do. Very strange."

Remni placed an Emeral into his mana zone and summoned a Bronze-Arm Tribe.
"Gonta, ikei!"

The Warrior Savage dodged and weaved through flamespouts. Near misses did not bother a fire creature of his strength. His weapon shattered the first of her shields easily, without trigger, bringing an end to his turn. Karaia drew her next card, as always.

"Oh. I get it now. I'm not supposed to kill them yet..." she noted, "Normally I'd try to kill them fast. Not sure why I shouldn't. Bazagazeal Dragon to mana. Summon Locomotiver."

The dark train seemed to fit right in, its billowing smoke cloud engulfing Remni as it arrived, making him feel as if he desperately needed to cough. A Spiral Gate was discarded from his hand. She ended her turn, with nothing on the field other than the train.

Remni drew his card, and placed it into mana. A Crystal Paladin. Gonta charged in for another attack, followed closely by the Bronze-Arm Tribe, who Gonta safely led through the fire and flames. Neither of the two shields triggered, causing more chuckles from the boys behind Remni. Clearly they expected this to be a walkover.

"Weird. So he was right. You didn't have something to summon. Energy Stream to mana. Summon Corile, on your Warrior Savage."
Something was different about this summon, to Remni. Little did he know that most of Karaia's time as Junior Champion had been before the errata that had weakened the card. Her own power in the moment of summoning it on something such as Gonta, had not weakened along with it.

He found himself struggling for breath for a few seconds, as the Locomotiver ran down his Bronze-Arm Tribe also, and Karaia ended her turn, remarking to herself...
"This looks really off compared to my normal duels..."

Remni simply drew his card and summoned an Aqua Hulcus, then Gonta again.
"I feel at peace though... like I'm playing perfectly..."

"They tell me I have that effect on people..." she noted, placing her Cranium Clamp into her mana zone, "Crimson Hammer, on your Aqua Hulcus, and summon Thrash Crawler."

How exactly the Earth Eater was surviving in the scorched badlands that seemed to make up Karaia's mindspace, was unclear. She retrieved the Volcano Charger she had placed into mana previously, and ended her turn.

"Maybe I'm learning something..." Remni noted, drawing his card, "Normally I'm very tense..."

"They always know what to do... the creatures... but we're the ones who get 'lost'..."
Remni summoned another Aqua Hulcus as she continued.

"And we do the wrong things then..."
He summoned a Bronze-Arm Tribe as well, and it placed another Aqua Hulcus into his mana zone. Still, his own play did not seem to affect the wasteland other to introduce creatures into it. She drew her card.

"Photocide to mana. Cast Volcano Charger... and summon Bloody Squito..."
The flameburst beneath his Hulcus evaporated it instantly, causing Remni to cringe slightly. Finally, Karaia's lips stopped moving to speak, and he found himself hearing the same voice in his mind, where the young girl's form, engulfed in blue flame, now appeared.

"That is why it is so quiet here, in the mind... whether you win or lose they always know what to do... Losing isn't so bad then... when you don't mess up their plan."

Remni drew his card, and gave an affirmative, agreeing, thought response.

"The Kaijudo you are talking about... is learning how to not mess up that plan. Then... things start to happen in your head, and you can do strange things..."

He summoned an Emeral, swapping a shield, then used the heat of her own mindspace to cast a Phantom Dragon's Flame, incinerating her Corile.

"You're fast though... it's a bit scary..." she noted, drawing her card, making no attempt to hide her trepidation. Already she had been reduced to just blockers, and his field had grown.

"Speed is my specialty," Remni replied confidently, finding it strange that in the moment of mentally communicating this to her, he felt a surge of something indescribable, within.

Karaia did not hesitate to put the Aqua Hulcus she had drawn into her mana zone, and a mighty roar echoed over her badlands. The Bazagazeal Dragon arose, and now swooped down on his Warrior Savage, without even flinching as its blade cleaved through Gonta. She ended her turn, and Bazagazeal returned whence he had come.

Remni drew his card and summoned it. Pyrofighter Magnus.

"It's scary because... the plan... They tell me to stick to it anyway..." she told him. He could now sense that she was worried about the 'Kaijudo' being incorrect, and losing the duel due to her own miscalculation. Yet, he could also sense a force reassuring her. She had said that her 'creature' was in her hand...

"Maybe it's all about trusting your creatures," he thought to her, before he actually verbally made his next declaration, "Bronze-Arm, ikei!"

She allowed the attack from the Bronze-Arm Tribe to get through, and the Terror Pit opened up beneath the newly summoned Pyrofighter. Even with his speed, there was no escape.
"It's more than that... see? You can feel where the cards are... how the world shaped..."

She drew an Aqua Surfer and played it to mana, then cast a Volcano Charger on the Emeral, the flameburst searing it out of existence. The new heat and power allowed a Terror Pit to open beneath the Bronze-Arm Tribe directly after that, and she ended her turn.

"But you absolutely have to not mess up the plan."
Now, her aura was calm again, the heat pulsing naturally. Remni took the chance to summon his Magmadragon Jagalzor. Karaia looked at him oddly, wondering why, but did not question it. A turn later, Bazagazeal struck down the lesser dragon.

Remni did not summon a creature this time, simply placing his Quixotic Hero into his mana zone. Unable to stop Bazagazeal, there was little he could do to break her defenses at this point other than to wait her out. She drew her card, and Remni could feel a strange shift of energy within her. Something was 'talking' to her. That something, was also coming.

"Bolmeteus White Dragon."
Her announcement was calm. She called the card by the old name. The name used by the Japanese. The creature's blue eyes shimmered as it took in the 'scenery'.

"He said it was time. I'm still not sure it was."

Remni wasted no time in summoning an Aqua Surfer. The huge wave of energy swept the great Armored Dragon back whence it had come, and he summoned another Gonta alongside it, for good measure. Bazagazeal would only be able to stop one.

"Bloody Squito, and Apocalypse Vise."
The ground around Remni's two creatures became a chasm of doom for them both. Her spell took a strange form as the earth crushed in on Gonta and the Surfer, destroying them both. She ended her turn.

"Hm." Remni seemed concerned now. The boys behind him had stopped laughing altogether. His hand was empty of cards. She had a Bazagazeal ready, three blockers, and more than enough time to keep going forward.

"But he's right again... he's always right," she said, as Remni drew his card and held onto it, ending his turn, "That's how it works. You listen even if it seems wrong or crazy. Because they always know... Summon Locomotiver..."

The billowing smoke now stripped away the card Remni had held. Another Warrior Savage. Now, the boys behind her were muttering. She seemed to have control again. Her energy swept through the room when she also summoned the Bolmeteus Steel Dragon again.

Now they all buzzed. Remni would need to remove the great Steel Dragon immediately or this was over. The chances of him being able to do it were...

"Soulswap, on your Bolmeteus Steel Dragon."
Now the entire crowd gasped, and Karaia's Kaijudo took a serious dip, as her great avatar dropped through a dimensional portal, only to be replaced by a Corile. Her advantage was significantly lessened now.

"I wonder if that was supposed to happen too... Probably not. This is a duel, after all. We don't really know what is on your side. Fine. Bazagazeal Dragon, go! Ikei!"
The first shield she broke was the one he had set with Emeral. An Aqua Surfer to sweep away her Thrash Crawler. The second did not trigger. She ended her turn, and her Dragon returned to her.

Remni drew his card and summoned the Bronze-Arm Tribe, which, by its effect, placed Bombazar into his mana zone. He cast a Comet Missile a moment later, and the powerful spell crashed down on her Bloody Squito. Karaia drew her card. A Lost Soul. No help to her then, but she did not need much 'help'.

"Cast Searing Wave... and... for some reason, I'll sacrifice my mana card Bolmeteus White Dragon... how odd. I'd have thought he would want to be the card that I retrieved when I did this... Thrash Crawler, pick up Terror Pit."

Remni drew his card, and ended his turn. She still had Bazagazeal. Things were not necessarily better for him even at this point. She summoned Bazagazeal a moment later, despite having nothing for him to attack.

"Do not let Bazagazeal attack first..." Remni could hear Bolmeteus tell the girl, "Those Dragon Flames can still hurt Corile, and the cards that return things are probably used up..."

She nodded. Calculation indicated that the danger was least if Corile were to attack first. She sent the Cyber Lord in for the single strike. The only thing that could particularly go wrong from there was...

"Shield Trigger! Soulswap, on your Bazagazeal Dragon!"
Karaia's face took on a twisted expression of disbelief as again, a large Dragon vanished through a dimensional gateway and out came the relatively useless Photocide, Lord of the Wastes. Now, she would be back to depending on spells to stop anything he could summon, and she had been denied her subsequent attacks.

"How... can I keep miscalculating this much?" she wondered aloud now.

"Like I said!" one of the boys behind Remni jeered, "A-ver-age!"

Remni summoned his Quixotic Hero, and cast Comet Missile to destroy her Thrash Crawler. Again, the power of the devastating force crashed down upon one of the members of her defense line. Karaia seemed upset now. Her aura flickered unsteadily. Slowly but surely, Remni was regaining ground on her, and she could apparently do very little about it. She drew her next card and summoned it. An Aqua Surfer. She was rid of the Quixotic Hero for one more turn. She was about to end her turn when something in her told her that she needed to attack. Corile struck again. This time, there was no trigger.

"Summon Crow Winger, Quixotic Hero, and cast Mana Nexus!" Remni now declared, his voice resonating with new confidence. The first Mana Nexus caused a second version of the spell to become his new shield. This was bad for her now. To attack would do little. She drew her card, and her aura immediately blazed with new hope and flame. Bolmeteus.

"We only need one turn. I will handle his defenses. Surely at this point we can at least hope that he will not draw something that simply ends this. He has already used much of it, and our last shield may yet defend us."
She nodded happily, mentally, in response, as she summoned her avatar once more. The Bolmeteus stared down Remni with a strange callousness, as if angry at him for something.

Remni exhaled, as she ended her turn. He had no cards in hand, but he only needed something simple. Some way past the blocker, or a Speed Attacker, or even another Jagalzor. His deck contained many cards that could finish this... all he had to do was draw...

"Bombazar, Dragon of Destiny!"
The boys on his side erupted into a cheer as the great Dragon took form on his side, and surged forward, disregarding the Bloody Squito. This was it! The shield shattered, and another cheer went up when they realized that it also did not trigger!

"Quixotic Hero, ikei!"
The Brainjackers did not let this one through so easily, but it did not matter. Swine Snout managed to wipe out the swarm even as they brought him down. It was over.

"Crow Winger, todomeda!"
Within his mind, Remni could feel the powerful surge of confidence, and exuberance at his victory. Karaia's Kaijudo retreated within herself instantly at the point of his final strike, almost seeming to go dead.

The boys behind him now cheered more, and the leader of their little group began to taunt Karaia. She looked down at her cards, particularly at her Bolmeteus, her energy dulled, in a way that made Remni instantly think of Hikari...

"I guess you're not the best after all, eh, Kara!? Haha. He so got you. That was beautiful!"

Remni's heart suddenly began to pound strangely. This was not how it was supposed to go. Something was wrong here... why were they disrespecting her?

Karaia, or perhaps Bolmeteus, seemed to sense his thoughts, and the Armored Dragon responded to them, its anger matched apparently only by Karaia's sadness.
"Did you think that losing is somehow different for others? Did you believe that people retained respect for those you defeated, when so many of those people show no respect to you when you lose?"

Remni immediately shuddered as it became clear to him. His own dreams of being the best had so often been 'crushed' in exactly this way, that it felt like a dagger within. There was a flash of imagery in his mind, of Bombazar bowing respectfully to Bolmeteus, but Karaia did not seem to care. The room was filled with the derisive laughter of those behind him, and exclamations of 'how could you lose like that?' from those who had, a few minutes ago, been apparently fully supportive of her. The only remaining emanation from Karaia herself was a single question... "Just average?". Remni shuddered. This was not what he had wanted...