Arc-V: Clash for the Stolen Deck

Dennis looked out the window to the Friendship Cup estate. His curiosity had gotten the better of him, but he needed a way to slip out undetected. He opened the window and looked down. Even with his acrobatic talents, it would still be a very steep fall. Probably too far for him to make it without breaking a bone or two, which would certainly clue tournament officials and the council guard to his escape.

Dennis mumbled, “From what I can tell, Ryuichi is supposed to meet some sexy lady for a duel tonight to win back Tetsu-san’s deck.”

He began pacing around nervously before remembering something he heard before. Whenever the local TV station gets word of a riding duel, they go to cover it. Yuya’s exhibition duel ended already, so there would be a chance it would get on the air once they started. He reached for the TV remote, before pausing.

“It’s just not the same as really being there to see her in person.”

-=-=-

Ryuichi’s D-Wheel approached a magnificently designed bridge The shape of the bridge appeared to have a branching point in the middle, that led in three different directions, fitting for the three-headed ice dragon it was named after.

Hotaru laughed, “I wonder just how many bridges you had to check before you got here. I wondered if he would get the name right, especially since he’s never heard of the dragons of the Ice Barrier.”

Ryuichi said, “You brought the deck with you, right?”

Hotaru laughed, “Not exactly. I locked it up in a box back at our hideout, but I have the only key with me.”

Hotaru held up a small key, showing it off proudly to Ryuichi. Ryuichi could only reach with surprise as Hotaru then unzipped her riding suit slightly.

Ryuichi said, “You’re not really gonna”

Before he could even finished saying it, Hotaru dropped the key down the front of her riding suit and zipped it right back up.

Ryuichi said, “I really should have expected you to try that one again.”

Hotaru grinned and winked, “You know you’d like to reach in and take the key.”

Ryuichi thought to himself, “Don’t let her get to you! She used those tricks to sneak away last time.”

Hotaru asked, “Flustered already? You’ve already seen so much more of me, Ryuichi.”

Ryuichi said, “Let’s just get this duel started, already.”

Hotaru rushed to her D-Wheel and said, “Just try to catch me.”

Both then rode off, making their way to the duel route.

“RIDING DUEL! ACCELERATION!”

A helicopter soon was spotted hovering over the duel, and on board, Melissa Clare shouted, “After the amazing display of power put on by Jack Atlas, we have received word of a riding duel in development. Is that? I can’t believe it! The cowboy of Security himself rides again! And his opponent appears to be none other than the legendary queen of the Tarantulas, Hotaru Kasumori!”

-=-=-

Dennis, sitting in his room, looked at the close-up shown on his TV, whistling, “She’s quite the bombshell!” Seemingly failing to notice a line of red running down from his nose.

Meanwhile, in the next room over, Gongenzaka overhears this and becomes interested in watching the duel. As he sees the two racing for the right to take the first turn, he falls back with a nosebleed of his own.

Dennis shouted, “Gon-chan, you watching too?”

Gongenzaka could only mumble, “I see why he got distracted.”

-=-=-

Ryuichi and Hotaru raced to the first turn, each vying for the right to the first move. Hotaru then slipped around the corner before Ryuichi could.

Hotaru declared, “My turn! I play Ominous Buzzing to give you two Scarab Tokens. Then, I set a face-down monster and a face-down card. Turn end!”

Ryuichi started, “My turn! DRAW!”

Hotaru responded, “Before you even try anything, I activate Ojama Trio!”

Ryuichi was now surrounded by monsters, none of which he placed on the field. The two Scarab Tokens were front and center, but the three Ojama Tokens made it so he didn’t have any room for his own monsters. He could only look at his hand, not seeing Barbarian of the Dragonstone, and declare, “Turn end!”

Melissa shouted, “AAHHH! Things are looking down. Even among Commons, the Tarantulas have a bad reputation. I’m sure the city will unite to cheer for Security this time!”

Hotaru declared, “First, I activate Bookworm Infestation. I can block off one open spell and trap zone for each token on your side of the field. In this case, all five. This is how I keep Fusion from standing a chance against me. Now, I flip summon Dandylion. Next, I summon Token-Eating Antlion. I’ll destroy two Ojama tokens to raise my Token-Eating Antlion’s level to three!”

As two of the Ojama Tokens were dragged into a sand trap, the lingering effect of Ojama Trio dropped Ryuichi’s life points to 7400 while Hotaru’s tuner increased its own level to three.

Hotaru continued, “I tune my level three Dandylion with my level three Token-Eating Antlion! SYNCHRO SUMMON! Level Six! Shadow Scorpion!”

A shadowy monster emerges and stares at Ryuichi.

Hotaru added, “Dandylion’s effect, I get two fluff tokens for myself. And my Shadow Scorpion can attack directly if all of your monsters are tokens!”

Shadow Scorpion readied its tail, and struck at Ryuichi, completely ignoring the tokens. As Ryuichi took the hit, his life points fell to 5300.

Hotaru declared, “Turn end!”

-=-=-

At a bar in commons, several people are watching the screen.

“YEAH! Show that Security what Commons is made of!”

“In this particular case, I might actually cheer for the Security. My deck was stolen by the Tarantulas and I haven’t been able to put together a new one yet.”

“What! Cheering for a duel chaser? Are you out of your mind?”

-=-=-

Ryuichi laughed, “I think you gave me more breathing room than you wanted. My turn! Draw!” He looked at Barbarian of the Dragonstone, realizing the card would have to fulfill a different now that he finally had it. “I place Barbarian of the Dragonstone and Healer of the Dragonstone in the scales! Now, PENDULUM SUMMON! Rogue of the Dragonstone! Archer of the Dragonstone! I tune my level three Archer of the Dragonstone with my level three Rogue of the Dragonstone! SYNCHRO SUMMON! Level Six! Templar of the Dragonstone! Now! Templar! Attack Shadow Scorpion!”

Templar of the Dragonstone rushed in and cut at Shadow Scorpion, reducing Hotaru’s life points to 7300.

Ryuichi continued, “When Templar of the Dragonstone inflicts battle damage, you can draw. And, that draw triggers both Pendulum Effects! Barbarian’s effect destroys Bookworm Infestation and Healer lets me draw two!”

Hotaru said, “So, it’s true that you picked up some of those Pendulum cards, and it looks like they help to cover your glaring weakness.”

Ryuichi said, “That’s right. Turn end!”

Melissa shouted into her microphone, “And there you have it! He may shrug off protocol every so often, but he just took a huge advantage over the queen of the Tarantulas by making use of the sweeping new ability known as Pendulum Summon!”

Hotaru looked at her hand. Even though she had Shadow Scythe Mantis in hand, summoning it would be a mistake and at best could give her another Shadow Scorpion, not exactly in a position to attack directly. She declared, “I play Cricket Chorus! Summoning three Chirping Cricket Tokens to my side! Turn end!”

Ryuichi shouted, “Fine! I summon Swordsman of the Dragonstone! Now! TEMPLAR! SWORDSMAN! Attack those Cricket Tokens! Turn end!”

Hotaru said, “You might have been able to stop this by not attacking. My turn! Draw! I summon Shadow Scythe Mantis! I tune both Fluff Tokens and my last remaining Chirping Cricket Token with my level four Shadow Scythe Mantis! SYNCHRO SUMMON! Level eight! Queen of the Desert Swarm! Now, attack Swordsman of the Dragonstone!”

Queen of the Desert Swarm struck down Swordsman of the Dragonstone brilliantly, leaving behind one Larva Token in Swordsman’s place and taking Ryuichi’s life points down to 4050.

Melissa announced, “With both Synchro monsters tied in terms of attack power, this duel is really getting tense.”

Hotaru declared, “Turn end!”

Ryuichi said, “I play Onset of the Chosen Heroes, adding Squire of the Dragonstone to my hand! Turn end!”

Hotaru laughed, “During your end phase, I activate Lethal Stinger to give myself two Wasp Tokens. My turn! Draw! I activate Tuning Antennae. With this, I can treat two tokens I control as Tuners. This is where I take back control of this duel! I tune my level eight Queen of the Desert Swarm with both level two Wasp Tokens. DOUBLE TUNING! From the depths of a great magma pit, the queen takes on her strongest form! SYNCHRO SUMMON! Level Twelve! Queen of the Volcano Swarm! With her power increase, she strikes down on those who oppose her! ATTACK! Templar of the Dragonstone!”

Queen of the Volcano Swarm launched a fearsome strike against Templar of the Dragonstone. However, Templar’s 2800 ATK wasn’t near enough to contend with Queen of the Volcanic Swarm’s 5800 ATK. The attack destroyed Templar instantly, placing an Igneous Larva Token in its place and reducing Ryuichi’s life points to 1050. To add to the fire, Queen of the Volcanic Swarm increased her own ATK to 6300.

Hotaru said, “Turn end!”

Melissa shouted, “A devastatingly powerful monster appears, set to keep this duel under her complete control. The hapless cowboy can’t help but watch as his field is once again buried in tokens!”

Ryuichi shouted, “My turn! DRAW! I place one face-down card and end my turn!”

Hotaru declared, “I used Battle Mania to stop your friend in his tracks. This time, I drew a card that will give me the chance at finishing this without waiting until your turn, although I’ll have to destroy the very source of my monster’s immense power.”

This could be it. Ryuichi realized that with five tokens occupying his side of the field and Queen of the Volcano Swarm looming over him to make sure other monsters can’t prove a threat, this could very well be the end of the duel.

Hotaru declared, “I play Token Thanksgiving! Destroying all five tokens and increasing my own life points by 4000. Since you still have one Ojama Token, you’ll have to take 300 damage!”

In a bright flash, the five tokens standing between Ryuichi and Queen of the Volcano Swarm vanished, increasing Hotaru’s life points to 11300 while Ryuichi’s life points dropped to 750 and Queen of the Volcano Swarm’s attack power dropped to its original 3800.

Melissa shouted, “This could be it! Queen of the Volcano Swarm is open for a direct attack. IT’S ALL OVER!!!”

Hotaru declared, “Queen of the Volcano Swarm! ATTACK DIRECTLY!”

Ryuichi declares, “I activate Scrap-Iron Scarecrow!”

Hotaru shouted, “But how?”

Ryuichi said, “Don’t underestimate me. You’ve just made your last fatal mistake by clearing my field.”

Melissa said, “Even though he managed to save his life points from this attack, can he manage a turnaround at this point, even with that devastating level 12 Synchro monster looming over him.”

Hotaru looked at the last card in her hand and declared, “I set one card face-down and end my turn. But I have to warn you. That barbarian won’t help you get rid of my monster. She’s immune to destruction by card effects!”

Ryuichi said, “I know. I have something else in mind for her. My turn! DRAW! PENDULUM SUMMON! Archer of the Dragonstone from my extra deck, along with Dancer of the Dragonstone and Sorcerer of the Dragonstone from my hand. Because my Sorcerer and Dancer were special summoned, I can special summon Rogue of the Dragonstone from my graveyard, you can draw now!”

Hotaru drew a card, then watched as her face-down Mirror Force was destroyed before her eyes and Ryuichi drew two more cards. All the while, Rogue of the Dragonstone began tightly hugging Sorcerer of the Dragonstone.

Ryuichi declared, “I tune my level three Sorcerer of the Dragonstone with my level three Rogue of the Dragonstone! Synchro Summon! Wizard of the Dragonstone! Now, I summon  Squire of the Dragonstone! With Squire’s effect, I revive Swordsman of the Dragonstone. I tune my level three Dancer of the Dragonstone with my level one Squire of the Dragonstone! SYNCHRO SUMMON! Princess of the Dragonstone! With her effect, Princess of the Dragonstone revives Templar of the Dragonstone with his attack and defense reduced to 0 and his effect negated. You can draw! Now! CLEAR MIND!”

Melissa Claire shouted, “Clear Mind? You viewers at home know exactly what that means!”

-=-=-

Gongenzaka looked at the TV in front of him, realizing that what he was about to see was no ordinary synchro summon. And on the other side of the wall, Dennis suddenly took on a serious face, as if trying to take notes as to exactly what was happening.

-=-=-

Hotaru knew exactly which monster would be showing up now, and it also made sense why Ryuichi didn’t simply use Wizard’s effect right away to force Queen of the Volcano Swarm back to her extra deck.

Ryuichi continued, “I tune my level six Templar of the Dragonstone with my level four Princess of the Dragonstone. Unite the souls of the many to awaken a hero! ACCEL SYNCHRO SUMMON! AWAKENED DRAGON HERO!”

The bright light from Awakened Dragon Hero emerging with 3400 ATK seemed small at first compared to Queen of the Volcano Swarm’s 3800 ATK, but Awakened Dragon Hero had allies present who could help.

Ryuichi declared, “Now! Wizard of the Dragonstone’s effect! I return Queen of the Volcano Swarm to your extra deck. Then you can draw. Awakened Dragon Hero powers up! Swordsman of the Dragonstone’s effect! I special summon another copy of Sorcerer of the Dragonstone from my deck and give you another draw. Awakened Dragon Hero obtains power once again! Now, ALL TOGETHER! DIRECT ATTACK!!!

The combined ATK of the five monsters at this point was 11650, only 350 points higher than Hotaru’s life points. Hotaru had lost.

Hotaru said, “Well played. As promised, I’ll hand over the deck we took.”

The two then rode off to the warehouse districts, leaving everyone in the helicopter confused.

Melissa Claire asked, “Isn’t he going to arrest her this time?”

The co-pilot said, “I just got a signal. It looks like they’re retrieving stolen goods first.”

Melissa said, “What?”

-=-=-

Jean Michel Roger sat in his office, wondering about the whole situation. He looked behind him and said, “The Tarantulas are certainly a huge threat to the full invasion, having prior experience against us and refusing to play along with our cover-up. Thieves they may be, but even they would be eager to fend off a full-scale invasion.”

The mysterious figure standing behind him nodded.

Jean continued, “However, the right purchase could destabilize them enough to make them a non-threat and perhaps even inspire a change in leadership.”

-=-=-

Hotaru stepped into the warehouse and said, “He won. As agreed, he gets his lookalike’s deck.”

One of the members of the Tarantulas said, “About that deck. Someone approached us with a lot of money. We need the key back to complete the sale.”

Hotaru said, “I told you guys we weren’t selling that deck unless I won.”

The one member said, “Your affections for that one Security guy are clouding your judgments. This deck could be our big payoff and you’re ruining the opportunity of a lifetime trying to get Matsuhara to hold you in his arms once more.”

Hotaru protested, “It’s not like that! One thing led to another and it was just a meaningless one-time... thing. Now who made the offer, Sal?”

Sal declared, “We never rat out customers. That’s the first rule of the Tarantulas.”