Episode 97. - Eyes Of A Stranger Upon You

"Wow! This is incredible! I'm gonna get to see champions dueling!" Remil exclaimed, scrambling out of the chair to make room for Rusty. Rusty sat, looking at Yodaz calmly, waiting for the 'official' acceptance of his challenge. Yodaz's eye momentarily glowed with blue lines, and Rusty responded with an icy shimmer in his own eyes. The duel was set.

The shields of both duelists were deployed, and Yodaz, from his minor recollections of the North American Champion's deck, proceeded to charge his first mana card. Corile. Instantly, their Kaijudo locked into a powerful matrix, attracting the attention of over half the other duelists in the room. Many looked up, others looked around, confused, and a few of the more perceptive ones locked in directly on the event that had caused their Kaijudo sense to blip.

Rusty's first mana card was an Aqua Surfer, and instantly the minds of anyone attuned enough could feel the hydrostatic pressure. The world did not make sense yet, but it was beginning to. Yodaz charged a Natural Snare...

The seaweed surged through the ocean, creating what almost seemed like land one could stand on. Harriet's senses perked up immediately. The same feeling as before. A strange 'void' in the room. This one was much closer, opposite the table from her. A man with what looked like a large camera bag. Suspicious. She had seen such a person leaving, the last time she had felt this. Now she observed them carefully, and made a movement towards Amera to alert her as well, but she had already zeroed in on the individual. Trox was silently watching.

Rusty's next mana was Nature. A Torcon. Another Torcon broke the surface of the water now. Treading water. Remil made a sound of excited awe at the visualization now in his mind. He had never seen a duelist whose creatures were not water, yet would 'swim' in this way. Yodaz drew his card, placed his Locomotiver into his mana zone, darkening the abyss beneath the seaweed-filled seas, and cast his first spell.

"Energy Stream..."
The current strengthened for a moment, forcing the Torcon to make an effort to not be swept away, but the Beast Folk's powerful swimming strokes allowed it to easily achieve this. Rusty drew a card, and placed another Torcon into his mana zone, making a strange face.

"Bronze-Arm Tribe." The creature's head broke the surface not long after he spoke its name, and another Bronze-Arm card entered his mana zone. Harriet momentarily paid attention to this as well, but her attention quickly shifted back to the man with the camera bag, who was now clearly the source of the odd Kaijudo disturbance.

"Torcon, ikei." The underwater shield shattered without trigger, even submerged, the Torcon had enough strength to break it. He returned to the surface a few moments later, as Rusty ended his turn. Duelists from all around were beginning to crowd now, trying to get close enough to actually see the action, in some cases, but mostly content to get within range of the radiating psychic energy.

"Velyrika Dragon, to mana. Cast Volcano Charger."
The water quivered with the seismic vibration, and the Bronze-Arm and Torcon immediately took off swimming in opposite directions. No matter how set the effects of the cards themselves were, the battle in the minds of the duelists would play out like a true tactical confrontation. The water beneath the Bronze-Arm Tribe exploded with violent volcanic power soon after, and the heat spread out through the ocean as the corpse of the creature sank beneath the waves.

"Crystal Lancer to mana. Cast Energy Stream."
Now, with no creatures to be concerned about the shift in current, Yodaz simply exhaled and waited. Surely enough, a new creature popped up. First, a hat surfaced, then a Beast Folk and his pig. Quixotic Hero, Swine Snout. Torcon dove beneath the waves again, and shattered another of Yodaz's shields.

"That person is up to something, and I don't like it..." Trox now told Bombersaur. Remil seemed to 'overhear' the mental communication between the Demon Command and his cousin's Rock Beast form, and Kooc Pollon chirped in agreement, after figuring out just what 'person' Trox had been referring to.

"King Ripped-Hide to mana. Cast Crimson Hammer on Quixotic, and Spiral Gate on Torcon."
Somewhere in the midst of the seaweed, an automated attack cannon fired a shell into the sky, and the crushing hammer zeroed in perfectly on the Beast Folk. No hat would be enough protection from that... Meanwhile, Torcon was dragged beneath the waves yet again...

Rusty's next mana was water, and a new Quixotic Hero popped up a moment later, followed by the Torcon finally resurfacing. This was met with a cheer from his partner, and the two Beast Folk again turned their attention to the interweaving strands of seaweed that hid Yodaz's underwater base. One of the small sand banks in the distance now seemed to swell up and start to rise out of the water...

"Illusionary Merfolk to mana. Summon Rumbling Terahorn."
It was no swelling sand bank, but the surfacing of the colossal Horned Beast that often set Yodaz's deck in motion. Today, that is just what it did. With it, came an Emeral, and this Emeral immediately went to work, setting off toward the shields. A quick reprogramming of one, and Yodaz was ready.

The duelists around were now buzzing with excitement. The power the two gave off was not massive, but the intensity of it was amazing. Rusty did not charge any more mana. He merely changed the 'current' yet again. Energy Stream. Out of this changed current rose an Aqua Hulcus, and it sent out a signal to yet another of his forces, somewhere. The two Beast Folk surged through the water on Rusty's command, each shattering a shield. The first, was dealt with by the Hero, and no trigger came forth to check the advance of Torcon.

Torcon, on the other hand, had been sent directly for the shield Emeral had booby-trapped. The howl of darkness echoed even through the water. The dread of even the normally calm Aqua Hulcus could be felt. Yodaz was sending the effect of the spell straight for it...

Black tendrils formed 'hands', then latched onto the Liquid one and dragged it into the depths, so deep into the abyss that not even a creature of Water would be able to properly survive... not with its life force sucked away...

Then, it was Yodaz's turn to move. Dark energy crept along the ocean floor, then began to make the entire ocean itself opaque. Nothing would be left when this was over. Lost Soul.

Rusty grimaced, the strain on his Kaijudo threatening to make his mind descend into unconsciousness. From his hand, his third Quixotic Hero, his Dimension Gate, an Aqua Guard, and the Fighter Dual Fang. The Terahorn reared up, and charged forward with a huge splash, instantly defeating the Quixotic Hero that was in the water. Emeral engaged in combat with Torcon, technological manipulation facing spiritually augmented physical strength, neither giving quarter, neither winning...

Rusty drew his card, and placed it into mana. Another of his Crystal Lancer. Despite her focus on the suspicious observer, Amera-Lynn still had enough of her mind on the duel to feel sad at this. She knew that trying to hold onto the card was a risk, but she could not help but think that managing to get that Lancer into play, could rejuvenate Rusty's power.

"He's come back from worse. Just wait..." Trox reassured, as Yodaz drew his card. An Aqua Hulcus appeared, and a moment later, another nearby sand bank was graced by the arrival of yet another Rumbling Terahorn. The card Yodaz placed into his hand, his Velyrika Dragon.

Rusty drew his card, his Kaijudo dipping, then seeming to strengthen again for a moment. He did nothing more. Yodaz charged another Corile to his mana zone. An earsplitting roar filled the minds of the onlookers, and the Velyrika Dragon appeared in the air above the seaweed matrix. The reinforcements this time... Bazagazeal. Rusty drew a card and took no action.

A Locomotiver's effect was what he faced next. Of the two cards in his hand, he lost another Crystal Lancer. Yodaz's ocean became calmer. The threats were probably all gone. Rusty drew his card, and a green light shone beneath the waves... a creature broke the surface with a shriek. The Earth Ripper, Talon of Rage.

Rusty had evolved a Bronze-Arm Tribe into Earth Ripper even before it broke the surface of the water. All but one of his mana cards had all been returned to his hand. Earth Ripper stood poised to strike, but Rusty moved as if to simply place his seven cards atop his deck.

"You sure?" Yodaz interrupted. The area was almost completely 'his' at the moment. Rusty hesitated, then waved his hand to signal the end of his turn instead.

"Finish it if ya want..." he said.

"Might as well attack then, right?" Yodaz pointed out, but even as he said this, he realized that the Talon of Rage had reached his shield zone, just as the feeling of Rusty truly 'ending turn' swept over him. Yodaz drew his next card, and Earth Ripper vanished into a Terror Pit. An Aqua Hulcus popped up amongst the seaweed as well.

Rusty drew his card, put one Torcon into mana, and let the other surface, yet again. There was nothing more to be done. Another explosion of volcanic power destroyed Torcon, and an Illusionary Merfolk popped up next to the Aqua Hulcus. Yodaz began to draw cards...

"Wait... where's your Cyber Lord?" Rusty pointed out, his Kaijudo rising slightly.

"Hmm... hey, you're right. I don't think it really matters in this case, though? I drew Soulswap and another Terror Pit."
He revealed his cards now, showing Bazagazeal, a Spiral Gate, and an Apocalypse Vise.

"Just show your shields and we call it a day?" Yodaz asked. Rusty nodded, and began to flip them over. One Fighter Dual Fang, two Aqua Hulcus, and two Aqua Surfer. The world in their minds simply faded away now, with no actual final attack.

"Maybe if I had another Surfer," Rusty smirked. Yodaz laughed slightly at this as well.

"Heh, maybe. Depends on how long I would hold you off."

Rusty began to gather up his cards, "Probably a long time."

Immediately as Rusty attempted to rise from his seat, Amera-Lynn placed her hands on his shoulders and leaned down to whisper to him. She did not actually do so, but Trox made a statement to the minds of Rusty, Harriet, and Yodaz.

"The target we are observing shows interest only when you are dueling. I need more time to analyze them. You need to keep dueling."

"What target? What are you talking about?" Corile wondered now. Amera performed a complex Kaijudo spike, bouncing her own psychic energy off Yodaz' in such a way that it reflected in the direction of the observer, but, as the duel was over, Corile did not get the impression that she had.

"Rusty? Before you get up... kettou da?" Harriet offered now. Her wish for a rematch with the champion would finally be realized, and for a 'good cause', too. Yodaz showed no further interest in dueling at this point. He and Corile had become far more focused on trying to figure out what Trox had meant.

Rusty nodded, accepting, and Yodaz got up out of his chair, the group of duelists moving a bit to accommodate where he appeared to want to stand. He stood backing the man with the large bag. He would not need to see the person in order to analyze the situation.

"You go first," Rusty told Harriet. Quickly, she tried to remember why he would allow this. She had no discard, but many strong creatures and triggers. Letting her go first probably meant that he would attack more slowly and keep her hand low... or something.

"It's nothing like that," the Lancer corrected now, having picked up on her thoughts, "I won our last encounter. So you go first."

"Tornado Flame to mana. End turn."
The mountain seemed less defined than Rusty remembered, but it occurred to him that the last time he had dueled Harriet, her deck had been larger than this. He charged his own first mana, and spiked the energy. Crystal Lancer.

Instantly, the monitoring system that Amera had been tracking, activated again. Yodaz sensed it immediately, and almost spun in surprise at how exactly it seemed to be working. He had sensed this sort of thing only once before. A long time before, and it had been nowhere near as refined. That day he had observed the duel at KirriCorp with Gene...

"Lightning Charger to mana. End turn." Harriet's mountain seemed a bit more like Rusty remembered now, and he placed his Roar of the Earth card into his own mana. For the first time, someone other than Amera-Lynn had the honor of seeing Rusty's mindspace in its unaltered form, when he was not adapting to anyone else's world as he so often did.

"Summon Quixotic Hero..." he said now. The wintry forest of evergreen trees was silent save for the sound of swine's hooves crunching on snow as the creature emerged. The Beast Folk tipped his hat up slightly and looked up the mountainside. Vaguely familiar...

"Mana Crisis to mana. Summon Cragsaur."
The giant cuboid Rock Beast lumbered around the mountain now, towering over the Quixotic Hero. Yodaz noted that the imagery was more vibrant than usual, but that could not be attributed to anything but Harriet's particular resonance of Kaijudo. The odd 'vacuum' behind him was his current main focus. Corile began to calculate. Trox merely kept watching.

"Bronze-Arm Tribe to mana. Summon Bronze-Arm Tribe."
The creature also trudged out of the evergreen forest, joining the Quixotic Hero. The first Beast Folk celebrated, but did not attack. Harriet smirked.

"... well, it isn't like the 'not attacking' was a bad idea..." the Lancer admitted.

Harriet laughed, then made her next move; "Flametropus to mana. Summon Flametropus."

Rusty raised an eyebrow, trying to remember if he had seen the creature at all the last time they played. The Flametropus, unlike the Cragsaur, climbed out of one of the lava vents in the mountain that hinted at it being a volcano after all. Cragsaur did not move either.

The next mana Rusty played was his Earth Ripper, Talon of Rage. Some of the snow on the branches of one tree began to melt, rather quickly, and revealed itself to actually be an Aqua Hulcus. Rusty drew another card, causing his Kaijudo to spread out more, but made no move.

Yodaz was almost interested enough in their tactics, at this point, to divert a bit of his attention from the phenomenon. Neither had much removal or counters to situations. Harriet's next move was to use some of the little removal she had.

"Kulus, Soulshine Enforcer, to mana. Summon Meteosaur!"
The blast of lava from the creature's body scorched the Quixotic Hero Swine Snout, with the excess hissing powerfully as it struck the snow, causing steam to rise up and shroud the Beast Folk's fiery death. The other two Rock Beasts would now have no opposition powerful enough to defeat them directly in battle, were they to attack, and so, this is exactly what they did. The Flametropus charged first, and as the shield shattered a Torcon instantly appeared. Shield Trigger. Cragsaur's attack had no such effect.

Rusty drew his card and placed his Torcon into mana. His next move was one Amera-Lynn has been anticipating, and hoping for. The Aqua Hulcus turned to a puddle in the snow, and bright bluish light shone up from that pool. It intensified to a blinding flash, and then, the sound of hooves charging forward...

"Crystal Lancer, attack Flametropus! Ikei!"
The great lance impaled the Rock Beast almost effortlessly, and the Crystal Lancer's frigid energy surged into its body, freezing it from the inside out before the magma flowing through its veins could melt the weapon. Finally, the Lancer withdrew its weapon, and pushed the Flametropus' dead body over with its front hooves, then spun and raced off back towards the forest where Rusty's other creature waited.

"Good," Harriet smiled, "That's exactly what I wanted you to do."

Her words made Corile instantly pay attention after all. Someone wanted their opponent to summon, of all things, a Crystal Lancer? Someone who played Fire, Light, and Nature?

"Payback time, I guess?" the Lancer sighed, knowing what would happen next.

"Yep." This was all that the Bombersaur communicated. The huge spike in Rusty's Kaijudo had clearly grabbed the attention of the observer, and they had even been drawn into moving closer for some reason at that point. Now, an equal, if not greater surge, from Harriet, filled the minds of those receptive to it, as she charged her Fire mana.

"Meteosaur, evolve into Valkrowzer, Ultra Rock Beast! Attack Crystal Lancer, ikei!"

A flash of red light, an unearthly roar, and a towering presence. This was the mightiest of all Rock Beasts, and truly one of the most awe-inspiring creatures in the game of Duel Masters. Valkrowzer was nearly as big as the mountain itself, and attacked the Crystal Lancer with bursts of flame and lava.

Rusty's avatar could dodge and weave well, but not perfectly. As the battle played out in their minds, slowly, the Crystal Lancer was worn down, and eventually, had nowhere left to run that did not involve dashing into a pool of heated lava. One final misstep and it stumbled and fell, Valkrowzer taking that opportunity to finish it off.

The Cragsaur attacked another shield, Harriet fearing no trigger right now. There was none. Rusty responded by summoning another Aqua Hulcus, and a Quixotic Hero. There was nothing more he could do at this point but wait and see if his shields contained an Aqua Surfer.

"Summon Kulus, Soulshine Enforcer. Valkrowzer, double break, ikei!"
Surely enough, the surge of cold energy, frigid air, this time, drove back the Cragsaur, as the Aqua Surfer appeared on Rusty's side. The other shield did not trigger. Another Surfer was still Rusty's only apparent way to stop Valkrowzer, and even that was likely to only be temporary, since it was also necessary to stop Kulus. Harriet ended her turn, her Kaijudo unable to hide her satisfied emotion.

Rusty drew his card, and smirked himself. His psychic energy immediately surged against hers again, sending a chilling wind up her mountain.
"Looks like it's not over yet. Time for my Swine Snout to truly be a hero. Energy Stream to mana. Summon Aqua Guard..." --the Beast Folk let out a whoop of celebration-- "Aqua Guard..." --another sound, and a feeling of dread now filled Harriet-- "Quixotic Hero..." --the first now had a power of ten thousand-- "and another Quixotic Hero."

He paused here, letting it sink in, letting his own Kaijudo compact hers into a small defensive ball around her, before declaring the strike that would flip the whole duel around.
"Quixotic Hero, attack Valkrowzer! Ikei!"

Something about the appearance of so many allies had made the Beast Folk nearly invincible. The Swine Snout charged, its rider literally smashing in the rocky plates of the Ultra Rock Beast's body with its bare hands, tirelessly striking, over and over, as they ran over the mountainous body of Valkrowzer, sure of footing, swiftly leaping, until finally, it reached Valkrowzer's head and delivered a mighty double-fisted smash, between the 'eyes'.

With a final roar, Valkrowzer thudded to the ground, the magma slowly oozing out of the cracks in its body. Rusty finally stopped pushing his Kaijudo forward, and ended his turn.
"All I have to say now is... Please no Burst Shot."

He had spoken the words just as Harriet had drawn her card, and she now made her 'sad face', even as her mountain began to rumble powerfully. The Soulshine Enforcer flipped itself and soared higher into the sky.
"You had to say it. I'm gonna feel all guilty now. But I guess we both had good luck, right? And good luck makes for good duels... Burst Shot!"

The volcano now erupted, sending showers of magma droplets down into the band of creatures of Rusty Kouizo. The hail of heated pellets obliterated the entire group, all nine creatures destroyed in Harriet Torren's rain of fire.

"Kulus, Soulshine Enforcer! Todomeda!" Harriet's Kaijudo erupted through the room, and Amera-Lynn grabbed the strap of the bag the man was carrying. He pulled away, startled, and tried to make a break for it. A wave of psychic energy burst from her as he yanked out of her grip, but the device in the bag immediately reacted, apparently shielding him from her effect. He took off running, knocking over tables, but she did not pursue him. One could only get away with a certain amount of force when restraining suspicious civilians...