2nd Turn
“Policeman” || “Werner”
7000 || 8000
in hand: 3 || in hand: 4
on field: 1 || on field: 3
“Draw.
Enter battle phase. Evolsaur Cerato, attack Wattcobra.”
But Cerato isn't approaching...? Could it be waiting for my response? Of course, if I wanted to activate a card now would be the time. But I don't really need to save Wattcobra, I have a replacement and I won't waste a card on that play. But isn't there something else I'm forgetting?
Hmm...
…
You're in the way Shit!
I see Cerato get ready and I finally realize I'm standing between the two of them! I try to dive to the side and I end up again clumsily falling there. Hearing the sound of claws hitting the floor I look up to see Cerato jump over me and attack Wattcobra. It bites off the center of its upper half and turns around now suddenly uninterested in its prey, leaving its corpse to crumble... Its job is done and it will return to its master-
It's not over yet No, it doesn't seem to intend to. It's staring at me again. But that didn't last for a second, from the moment it attacked Wattcobra it didn't stop moving, it is merely redirecting its aggression. Its attack isn't over yet.
It once again lunges at me. Looking at it I put strength in my legs and put myself as further back as possible, hitting the invisible wall. Seeing as I can't move further back I instinctively raise my hands in front of my head in defense. That won't save my life of course. Covering the distance I created is an easy feat and biting through my hands to get to my head must be several times easier than biting through the wooden bed. I'm scared. If I hadn't already pissed my pants I probably would now again. But I don't feel death coming at me. I'm afraid of the pain.
It's here-
!
“Gaarghdammit!”It hurts!
I'm still alive but it hurts! Even though it's not a big wound in comparison to what could have happened, it fucking hurts!
Evolsaur Cerato doesn't cover the entire distance and it only claims the skin of my arms covering my head as its meal this time. Its attack now done it is expected to return to its master, but it doesn't. I don't have a monster to threaten it out of this area now, so it stays to threaten me.
But it won't attack me yet. That attack is over. It makes perfect sense. Evolsaur Cerato attacked with 1900. It took 1000 to take Wattcobra down, so the one who should take the remaining 900 here is me...
8000->7100
“I set one monster and I end my turn.”
…
It hurts and it burns. I feel like crying and really I might do just that. The backs of both my forearms are bleeding. It's not life-threatening, even if left alone I won't bleed out. Probably. Baring infections I should be fine. That's a baseless assumption to begin with though. Even though I mentioned crying the pain isn't that bad, but I am nonetheless a wimp, don't expect me to take an appointment to the dentist without whimpering all the way.
Still, the warning signals haven't ceased. I should continue, it's no time to whine and this amount of pain does not justify whining. I should avoid looking at my forearms though, their current state is something I'd rather I didn't get into...
I get up and ever cautious of the dinosaur in the room I fearfully turn my back halfway on it to check through the peephole. I feel like I have to confirm what happened. True to his words he now has the 3 cards in his hand, the Cerato in face-up attack position and a face down card turned sideways next to it, suggesting it is a monster card.
Having still very vivid memories of what happens when this state of non-aggression between me and the prehistoric carnivore breaks, I rush to where I left my deck, lest I am judged idle by the Cerato that doesn't take its eyes off of me. But my judge happens to be standing between me and my deck now, and of course I don't expect it to kindly move aside for it. I circle around it on a fast pace, still fearing the monster that follows me with its glare and thus keeping my distance in the process. In the end it can't be helped, the overgrown lizard decided to stay 20 centimeters away from my deck, so I gather my courage to sit at a range where it can bite my head off without even moving its feet...
Despite all that I keep a faint smile. It's not the happy kind or the good kind, it's the petty type, because there is a good chance that the creature that rudely glares at me now will finally meet its end shortly.
“I draw...”
Heh, doesn't change much I guess...
“I normal summon Fathunder.”
Out of habit I wait for my opponent's response, but with the threat of being devoured looming over my head I may have given less than a second to my opponent to respond. But that threat is disappearing. As Fathunder is forming out of lightning, Evolsaur Cerato once again relinquishes this area to its new rival.
“With Fathunder's effect I normal summon Sisthunder.
…
I activate Sisthunder's effect and banish the Wattcobra in my graveyard.”
Heh... hehe, it all went through, I'll enjoy this one... Soooooo, sorry Cerato, your time will come up before mine... heh...
“I-I now xyz summon Number 39, U-Utopia using both my Fa-Fa-fuck, using both my monsters!”
It's here! Both monsters are drawn to each other and Utopia quickly forms! It's different, it's definitely different from both Wattcobra and Evolsaur Cerato. The pressure I feel is on a different level, that's the difference between those regular level 4s and a 2500 beater!
I can't wait anymore, I get close to utopia ready to jump to the peephole to see the spectacle and declare
“I enter the battle phase. Utopia, attack Evolsaur Cerato!”
Utopia rushes and I run behind it. Like a ghost it passes through the hole and I crush on the invisible wall, but I keep my balance and find the peephole. Cerato gives out a cry and tries to attack the larger foe but Utopia just slashes it from the side. It lets another cry as its blood gushes out before it crumbles to dust!
“Ha! Haha! Ta-Take that you fucking lizard! Your stupid ti-tiny wings didn't help you, d-did they! Fuck you! That's what it's like to be hunted!”
I celebrate the victory of man over beast and get further away from the peephole in the process. As a result I didn't see the hit Utopia should have scored on the fake police guy.
7000->6400
Utopia doesn't return. With his other monster face down and unrevealed, Utopia stays on the other side, probably to threaten my opponent like Cerato did.
I try and calm myself down, the game isn't over yet and that's most likely a Westlo face down. There's a good chance I am getting hurt again next turn... If I thought the 900 damage from Cerato hurt, if he manages to get a Volcasaurus through next turn due to me leaving the Westlo alone I'll be getting to feel a 2500 damage explosion. I don't wanna... As much as I want to get out of it I'm still in the game...
I didn't exactly summon Utopia to celebrate killing the Cerato though. True, I could have gotten the next damage with Wattcobra instead and then gone into something to block the next attack or picked a different strategy like summoning Kachi Kochi, but the reason I went into Utopia is because of Evolzars. At this moment, in addition to my backrows, threatening them with higher attack as well is the best way to go in my opinion. And I needed to kill that Cerato. Regardless of what's face down any normal summon would have given him a rank 4. Yes now Westlo can use Vulcano but if it does it can't use Diplo, which means that I would get to keep both my backrows. I want to give him the pressure of using the effect of Westlo outside of the damage step as well if he does have a monster he can normal summon next to a special summoned Diplo to go for a rank 4. Now I feel I can handle most of his moves with my settup unless he tops a Heavy Storm. There is nothing more I want to do this turn.
“I end my turn.”
I add the banished Wattcobra to my hand as my last action.
3rd Turn
“Policeman” || “Werner”
6400 || 7100
in hand: 3 || in hand: 4
on field: 1 || on field: 3
“Draw.
…
I flip summon Evoltile Westlo and activate its effect.”
I should end the waiting...
“Th-That's fine...”
Hearing my response he continues.
With a monster now appearing on his field, Utopia returns to my apartment.
“I special summon Evolsaur Vulcano in attack position and activate its effect targeting Evolsaur Cerato.
…
I special summon Evolsaur Cerato in attack position.”
So it's Vulcano after all, not Diplo... And I've been thinking about it for a while, with his composure and the way he doesn't just mention only what is absolutely necessary but also has knowledge of what that is, despite his mistakes, this guy...
must be pretty good...
But if that's the case what are those mistakes I see... The different images I get from my opponent are contradicting, and it's not like I have that much information to begin with...
Back to the game though, I can't let this chance go. The fact he had to do this now means it's time for my response.
“I respond to the summon of Evolsaur Cerato with Bottomless Trap Hole.”
I rush past Utopia and hurry to the peephole to confirm the result of my action. Just then I see him pick up his monster and move it to a location away from the field. Bottomless Trap Hole went through. I stay there to keep watching his actions, I don't have another card which can be used in the main phase so there is not much point to returning already.
“I activate Evo-Diversity.
I add 1 Evoltile Najasho to my hand.
I set one monster.
I activate Evo-Force tributing my face down Evoltile Najasho. I special summon Evolsaur Vulcano with Evo-Force.
I activate the effect of Evoltile Najasho and special summon Evolsaur Darwino from my deck.”
Vulcano? Why would he-
Could it be that because we are playing by TCG rules he would miss timing? No, all he had to do in that case was summon Darwino using the Evo-Force instead of the Najasho.
…
Ooooooh... hehe, that sounds nice. what can you do man, your luck screwed you over, it won't be only me all the time of course. That guy, he has at least 1 Evolsaur Diplo in his hand. Sorry dude, crap hands happen, what can you do. Although in your case it may cost you your life, hehe.
But I shouldn't celebrate yet. Without Bottomless Trap Hole and after the Evo-Force play things could turn bad in the blink of an eye... That's a rank 5 and a rank 4 on the field...
“I activate the effect of Evolsaur Darwino and target Evoltile Westlo.
I increase Evoltile Westlo's level by 2.
…
I overlay Evolsaur Vulcano and Evolsaur Vulcano xyz summoning Evolzar Laggia in attack position.
I overlay Evolsaur Darwino and Evoltile Westlo xyz summoning Number 19 Freezerdon in attack position.”
?! Why? What does he have to get over Utopia? Dammit, I'll soon be left with nothing I guess...
“I activate Book of Moon targeting Number 39 Utopia.”
Dammit, there it is...
Wait, that's my cue, I have to go back to my field and turn it face down. After my first encounter I'm too scared to see what happens when I don't play properly.
I rush past Utopia again, kneel down and turn its card in face-down defense position. Since he only has 1 card left in hand I don't go back to the peephole. It's time he attacked. I brace for the impact...
But... is he making a mistake? I don't get it, I got a different feel from this guy... He now has 3 full negations at his disposal and some high attack monsters to back it up, he has every right to remain cautious at this point until he can kill me off for sure, so why did he summon Freezerdon in attack?
It works for me, but that means I may be taking 2000 soon... My arms are still bleeding, I don't want to know what's that like...
“I enter the battle phase.”
It's here...
“Evolzar Laggia attack the face down monster.”
Don't think about itI unconsciously reach for my other face down card... Maybe he'll forget... I know it's a small chance, but maybe he won't negate if I use it now... Maybe I won't have to take the next attack...
It won't save youI know it's a small chance, but I may be able to escape it and if I do I will win! Yes, it's counting on my opponent to be stupid, but come on! That's 2000 damage on the next attack! That thing might kill me! And if it doesn't who knows if I'll be able to keep playing, anything can happen!
…
…
Of course not... Even if I unconsciously reach out to it, even if I get wimpy, I seriously can't touch the card even if I want to... From the start of the game I was playing to survive and I can't stop... I may succumb but my body punishes me whenever I stray from the path that is most likely to keep me alive... A selfish, petty body for a selfish, petty man; heh, sounds about right...
Laggia is done waiting for my response and jumps through the door. The image of the Laggia I saw a few hours ago take that man's life flashes in my head and I imagine it biting my own head off. I jump back, as far behind the face down Utopia as the invisible wall will let me.
Nothing's there At that instant I realize, nothing stands between me and Evolzar Laggia! That Utopia card is supposed to be flipped for the battle to happen, but if it doesn't then Laggia will just keep going and come at me instead!
After jumping in Laggia doesn't waste any time. As it lands it bends its knees to launch itself forward. In that small opening I dive forward to reach my Utopia card. Naturally faster than me the dragon is already off the ground seeking its prey. I frantically take my Utopia and flip it face up to give it that prey.
The Utopia that disappeared after Book of Moon, appears again in a defensive stance. Laggia ending up too close to it after its launch, bounces off of it and takes one step back. Then it repeats its attack, this time with a clear target. Utopia stands its ground while Laggia grabs it with its arms. The dragon opens its jaws with a screech and brings its head down, closing those jaws over Utopia's neck from the side. With a violent movement it bites the neck off and drops Utopia to the ground. The knight bleeds before it too crumbles to dust... Laggia doesn't move from the spot, once again I have no monster so Laggia too will now stay here to threaten me... I was face down on the floor after diving forward, so I sit up, and even though I know that will be the signal for what I want to avoid, I move Utopia and its materials to the graveyard with a shacking hand.
“Freezerdon, attack directly”
So he went for it after all, he really is being careless here...
This isn't the time to brace my self yet, that's not it, my sentence has yet to come, there is one more thing to do before that, a last chance for both of us to cut our losses...
I flip the last face down card in my backrow.
“I respond with Dimensional Prison.”
I drop the dimensional prison in the graveyard prematurely and stand up to prepare myself.
Now what... do you cut your losses here and let Freezerdon die, or do you risk losing the game?
No... that's wishful thinking, chances are he was probably thinking from the beginning to push through, but there is a small chance. Perhaps he thought this face down was a bluff that couldn't be used or something like a Mystical Space Typhoon and now that he saw it he may stop, but he would lose 2 negations in the process. So... will you push through or will you retreat mister policeman?
“I activate the effect of Evolzar Laggia to negate the activation of Dimensional Prison, by removing an Xyz material from Freezerdon instead.”
So it's all or nothing, huh... I close my eyes, cross my hands over my chest and bend my knees to make myself small as I fall backwards on the invisible wall for support.
Don't hide No... obviously if I close my eyes I won't be able to defend. If I move with my back against the wall I won't have any freedom of movement... I step forward, throw a scared glance back at Laggia's glare and get ready for the next attack.
I hear a hollow roar and see a huge mass of blue flesh pass through my door. The horned blue giant enters my home and prepares to attack after confirming its target. I'm probably about to cry as I feel the drops on my cheeks.
!
There it is. It drops its head forward and rushes at me like a bull on two feet. I wait where I am, it can cover the distance between us in two steps and even if I go as far back as possible there is not enough distance so that it would take an extra step to reach me. Even if there was, there is no point, a step is a simple thing.
The foot hits the floor. That's the first step. That was half the distance between us. I can't escape this hit and I stay where I am. There is only one thing I can do. I want to look away, close my eyes and curl down on the floor, but I pay close attention to it even with my now watery sight.
The other foot touches the floor. That was the second step, all that's left is to attack. Less than 20 centimeters away it lunges towards me head first. Now is the time for the only thing I can do. After it started attacking I jump back as far as I can and put my bleeding arms over my chest and head, bending my legs and knees to brace myself. Its attack won't miss, that much is distance its body can cover even in the middle of an attack. I'll still get hurt, the only thing I can do is avoid the brunt of the hit and take as little damage as possible.
I have jumped backwards trying to increase our distance but its not happening, the horned head continues to close in on me. That's not the only issue, I won't stay in the air traveling backwards forever for two reasons. First, I am not athletic, my jump will last for less than a second, after which I will land and stop. Number two is-
dammit... this... I suddenly feel something against my back, I've hit the invisible wall. Having stopped myself the speed at which the blue skull was closing in suddenly multiplies and-
!
“Guuurgbrrgoh!!!!!”Gaaaaaah! Aaargh!
“uuuu-*cough*-uu-*cough**cough*-uu”
I can't even whimper, my whining is constantly interrupted by my coughs. I need to breathe. And because I need to breathe I need to cough to open the way the impact closed. But I don't want to cough. It hurts. My bleeding arms that got hit hurt, my chest and stomach that received the impact through them hurt, my back that got crushed on a stupid non-existent invisible wall hurts. For an instant I felt like my arms were going to break. No, I have yet to move them, I don't know if they are broken or not. They may have actually broken.
“Uuuuuuuu...”
I whimper like a kid... I want to cry... I don't want to do this anymore... It hurts... My arms are still folded over my torso, they've been stuck in place... My body has dropped forward, I am kneeling and my forehead has touched the floor... I don't want to raise my head... Will they still be here when I do?
My curiosity gets the better of me, I bend my body in a weird way and steal a glance upwards...
They are both still here, right next to each other and over me, both the dragon I saw eating a man's head and the dinosaur that crushed my body are both still here, glaring at me... I know they can't do that, I know it's impossible, but why are my eyes seeing a faint smirk on them?
It's over, right? I can rest now, right? I should just rest, I'll take my time and win later, I can't go on now...
It isn't over yet I'm being stupid... What was the whole point of this in the first place?! Still in tears with a face distorted from pain and crying I draw my head back and hit my forehead on the floor with a pathetic look. I let my arms drop from their position and try to use them. Good, they can still move. It hurts like a bitch but they are working. I put them on the floor to raise my body.
That wasn't a good idea, my arms are now screaming in pain and so do my stomach and my back. I lose strength from my arms again and fall on my forehead.
This is the only chance I don't have to stand up. But I have to move. I put strength in my arms again and try to move on all fours. The pain isn't that bad, I was exaggerating things again, the big one was only there in the beginning and I can get over the stinging after a while. I approach the two monsters to reach my deck. I now put strength in my back. Same as my hands, at first I get strong pain from it, but after that's over it hurts much less. Still kneeling on the floor I sit up and reach my hand cards that I left on the floor. After changing my body position I again lose my breath and start coughing. I should still do it now before I run out of time.
7100-> 5100
“In response... to the battle damage received...”
I lose my breath and take a deep breath again
“I activate the effect of...”
The deep breath though brought more coughing, I stop again and cough my necks air-duct open. I glare at the two monsters holding my winning card.
“GORZ, The Emissary of Darkness!”
You risked too much mister policeman, you could have just waited until you had a dolkka out, but no, you thought it was ok to go for the damage with 3 full negations down. Well, obviously it wasn't, and now you'll die for it!
“I special summon Gorz, the Emissary of Darkness in defense position and activate its effect. I special summon one Emissary of Darkness Token in defense position!”
There he is! I see Gorz appear before me with his back turned! Never before have I been so glad to see a dude, my savior! Next to him I see the Emissary of Darkness Token appear. Using random tokens all the time I had almost forgotten how awesome it looked!
There's pressure now... Before I felt pressure from just 1 Utopia on the field, but this is insane... There is one 2400 Laggia, one 2000 Freezerdon, one 2000 Token and one 2700 Gorz, and even though both of my monsters are in defense, having all those 4 titans in my small apartment in a face-off makes me feel the tension weighing down on me. Laggia and Freezerdon have a different kind of glare now as they take steps backwards. It makes sense that it feels different, this is the first time I threatened my opponent's monster out of this area with something actually stronger than them, so they too now feel they must get out of here and be careful. Without taking their eyes off of Gorz they go back through the door to their master, retreating carefully.
“I end my turn”
I hear the voice from the other side of the wall signaling it's my chance to take the game.
“Draw.”
…
I calm myself down and think about my situation.
I have 2 “cards” on my field at the moment. Those are a Gorz and a coin I picked from the floor serving as a token with 2000 ATK and DEF. In my hand after drawing I have 4 cards. Two of them are Wattcobras, one that I added to my hand with the effect of the first Wattcobra and the other with the effect of Sisthunder from my graveyard, so it's safe to assume my opponent knows about those. The others are the Thunder Seahorse I drew last turn and a Pot of Duality I just drew. Obviously this turn won't include anything like a special summon.
“I activate Pot of Duality, revealing from the top of my deck:
Forbidden Lance, Book of Moon and Mothunder.”
Wait... I said this sentence surprisingly well... I guess the tension has put aside my verbal tension...
Now, as for my options... Let's first think, what is the worst case scenario...
In this turn I will kill both of his monsters the way things are looking. That means he will be left with the one card he has in hand plus the one he will draw next turn. Let's see... it includes some assumptions but more or less I have an image of what his deck should look like. With what I have at the moment there is no single card in his deck that can give him control of the game. He will need a combination of 2 cards. And not just any 2 cards. If I am imagining his deck correctly the only combinations of cards he can use to take back this game are:
Dark Hole or another monster destruction card such as Smashing Ground or Soul Taker plus Monster Reborn. Like that he can take my Gorz to pressure me while as I use a rank 4 deck I have very little outs to such a beater. That being said unfortunately for him Gorz's attack is matched by Ptolemys's attack which I can easily summon, so it's not a worst case scenario.
The worst case scenario instead is the following. Najasho or Evo-Diversity plus Evo-Force. If my only monster on the field by the time he enters his turn is Gorz, I'll take 2700 from Volcasaurus and 2600 from Gaia, losing the game. If we add a Wattcobra on the field to compensate, I can still lose because Vulcano can sumon an extra Evol to use as an xyz material with Darwino's effect instead, and use said Vulcano to clear my cobra before gaia again attacks for game. Keeping the token produces the exact same result, since Gaia will clear it while giving piercing damage and the Freezerdon I will have left alive by holding onto my token will do the rest.
If that is the case and I pick Lance, I'll still lose if my only monster is Gorz, because of the extra Vulcano summon. If I keep a Wattcobra I can barely avoid lethal damage, but I will have lost plenty of card presence with only a tiny amount of LP left. Alternativelly, he could go for Cerato instead of Vulcano to start building presence of his own by taking out cobra with it, although I can still deal with that baring any weird tops, so it's an ok scenario. I can keep my token, since seemingly I can at least maintain a footing with an ok amount of LP, although I will have lost my field, even in the worst case scenario and then try to come back with Ptolemys if I do, but the risk is high. Chances are he is running Evolsaur Diplo in that deck, and if his hand is indeed Evo-Force plus Najasho next turn, that means Diplo is not in his hand and is in his deck, so if he just misplayed before and has a Diplo in deck, while also having the OOPArts rank 5 xyz in the extra, it can give 2000 damage because of my token's atk and jump to 4400 itself, Freezerdon can promote to Gaia and that would be 4300 damage in total, since lance will have to be used on a monster that is not on the field anymore. In that case, the pressure of 4400 atk plus the 800 lp left will cause me to lose without a great top for me and an average one for him, since my only way to deal with the OOPArts xyz is to kill it with Maestroke, but if I do Gaia will clear my last 800 LP, and I can't choose to save my Lance in hand either for that scenario because that brings us to the previous plays which all result in me losing, the same is true for using Lance on my own token to lessen the damage from OOPArts. Adding a cobra to the equation doesn't make a difference. In atk it's 3400 damage from OOPArts for game, in defense it's 2100 damage from gaia, for game when you add the OOPArts vs Gorz battle, while even the best possible play on my part leaves me with either 500 LP or a big field disadvantage, or even just flat out losing in the case he runs 2 Gaias.
The above means, Lance is not my best pick in the worst case scenario. In fact, there's a good chance I'll lose if I go that way.
Mothunder is unnecessary. I cannot go for special summons this turn to utilize it instantly and I don't need it for the rest of the game. The gamestate is simplified enough, so I have enough xyz plays to spare right now.
Book of Moon will not do too much in a Dark Hole plus Monster Reborn situation, however it will flip the Gorz back down to both avoid the damage and avoid suiciding my Ptolemys next turn. Which is all I really need. The worst case scenario of najasho on the other hand will be averted entirely, at best he can do a rank 4 xyz, which cannot hinder me much, given the Gorz.
Now to be honest I believe the highest chance is his 1 in hand card is Evolsaur Diplo, however the chance has significantly dropped after his last play. Either he is going easy on me or he is just bad, but in either case that makes my earlier assumption weaker. And to make it worse, it makes perfect sense to not use either Monster Reborn or Dark Hole at this point, he never had a chance for Monster Reborn while Dark Hole would be better used on the next turn. At the same time depending on his draws he could be left with a Najasho or Evo-Force in hand. What is unlikely instead is him having something like spell and trap hate or a trap card, he would have used either by now. So that leaves either bad luck or good cards...
To be honest after realizing how the Najasho play can go I never considered anything else, I will naturally pick the coward's slow way of certain victory and nothing else. Even if the chance is so small, I don't want to let it happen when I can avoid it.
"I add Book of Moon to my hand."
Now is the time for another decision. I could use Thunder Seahorse for two copies of Mothunder to give me as much as 2 Xyz with the 2 Wattcobras in my hand in the next 2 turns. Or I could get 2 copies of Sisthunder, normal summon one next turn to get Fathunder back, and then do a mini-loop over the turns with them. The result should be one monster more, not that much stability. But it is favourable in my opinion in a normal situation. However at this time I have 2 cobras in my hand that I can use, with the current gamestate they should be enough for the rest of the game...
“I activate the effect of Thunder Seahorse from my hand, discard it and add two copies of Mothunder from my deck to my hand.
“I switch Gorz and the Token to attack position.
I enter the battle phase.
Gorz, attack Evolzar Laggia.”
Gorz dashes off to the other side of the door. As much as I want to see what happens I choose to do what my opponent does and stay here behind my deck. I can't stand up now and I don't want to stand up, I'm still in pain. So I'll wait.
From the other side of the door I hear Laggia's last cry and the sound of metal tearing through flesh.
6400->6100
Now as for the last one, I could wait for one turn and do that with Gorz instead, but I can't tell at this point how much of a threat Freezerdon will be. And at the same time I will be giving the choice to my opponent to follow the best course of action for him, attack or defend, if I leave it alone. So I chose to switch the token to attack position as well, to crush it into the Freezerdon.
“Emissary of Darkness Token, attack Freezerdon.”
I'm sure an equal battle will have a different feel than a one-sided one, I hear roars and cries, sword cutting flesh and claws crushing bones. I am sure that soon both monsters are dead.
No monster returns. This time he is without monsters and it is my turn to threaten him. I am again alone in my room and it helps me calm down.
I set one card and I end my turn.”
4th Turn
“Policeman” || “Werner”
6100 || 5100
in hand: 1 || in hand: 4
on field: 0 || on field: 3
“Draw.”
I'm leading by a lot, but my cards are all known and not very threatening... This might all end on this turn for him, or we might end up continuing the game...
“I activate Dark Hole.”
So he has it... No, that's still fine, I can probably still come back from this...
I hear a crushing noise similar to what I heard with heavy storm but I see nothing. Probably because there is no monster here, everything happens on the other side of the door. I move my Gorz to the graveyard and put the coin in my pocket.
“I normal summon Evolsaur Diplo.”
So I was right, he was stuck with Evolsaur Diplo in his hand. Now if he was only running one that whole play would make perfect sense.
But wait, I forgot something...
I don't have any monsters anymore after Dark Hole, that means what's coming to me is a direct attack.
No... well, I do have something, but... this is what secures my victory... At the moment he could force a comeback with his own Gorz coupled with a Monster Reborn, something that I would not be able to overcome before losing. So long as this chance exists, rationally speaking as a player, I should take this hit. And because I know that, I can't touch the card. Nausea overcomes me when my hand gets close to that face down Book of Moon... I really am messed up...
“I enter the battle phase.”
Hearing my opponent's declaration I try to stand up and get ready for the 1600 attack. My body still hurts, but this small rest allows me to do that much. No, actually, I am probably whining again, if needed I could probably run or whatever. I can only hope I will take this more kindly than the Freezerdon hit, but thinking about it, this one is just 400 points weaker. I gulp in fear, I don't want more pain...
“Evolsaur Diplo, attack directly.”
I'll deal with this the same way I dealt with Freezerdon. I take one step forward and carefully watch the door waiting for the next dinosaur. With no response from my side I can now hear its footsteps. It's walking slow... I first see its head through the door. Right, I almost forgot, Evolsaur Diplo is something like a Brachiosaurus. Who knows, maybe it's a herbivore. Although, Freezerdon didn't exactly make any attempt to eat me either so who cares...
I can now see its body coming in. Slowly the whole thing save from its tail comes in. Then its tail swings in to the side so that all of it will be in my apartment. I'm not alone anymore...
From where it is if it tries to assault me with its body though it should take about 3-4 steps the way it's walking, so I still have time. I should observe carefully and-
No! It isn't walking forward. Instead it pulls its neck backwards and stares at me from an awkward position.
Why would it-
Shit! It lunges at me with its neck alone! Taken by surprise I try to jump backwards but-
“Gaaaah! Fuuuck! Not again!”No! It's not the same! The pain isn't worse than before, in fact in comparison to Freezerdon I can take this, but this is seriously bad!
I tried to jump back but it went for my right leg that left last and bit deep in my calf. This is definitely not a herbivore! It certainly eats meat! And that's a bad chunk it took. It's not exactly that big or life threatening, but I have trouble using my right leg now, it hit something it shouldn't have. It hurts, of course it hurts, I don't need to state that it hurts, because it fucking hurts, but the warning signals tell me that for a coward like me, a hit to his escape potential is many times worse than the pain.
5100->3500
I can't sit back down... I put strength in my left leg to regain my balance and stand up properly. If I let my right leg relax I probably won't be able to stand up again for a while, so I have to stay up now...
I look at Diplo.
It has taken its head back away from me and it's... chewing while staring at me... Well, good for you, I hope you choke on my meat you fucking overgrown lizard!
I bear the pain and put strength on my right leg, I can't do otherwise... I want to cry again... I shouldn't take this shit so why dammit...
I wipe my tears with my shirt and kneel on my left leg to reach my deck on the floor, watching the dinosaur that claims me for its meal... Well too bad, you'll be the meal next turn dipshit...
“I end my turn.”
Finally
“Draw.”
Cardcar D... well, that will be useful as hell now...
No, it's ok, I am still winning here. His Dark Hole is out so my choice is obvious. No single card will be able to take control of the game after this turn. Dark Hole is out so an obvious choice would be Ptolemys. Not even Gorz can run over it. Another option would be to topdeck Honest with Lavalval Chain. That would give me the upper hand next turn even in the case of Gorz...
No, it's unnecessary, if he hints Gorz next turn then I will just make Lavalval then, send the Honest and pick it up. Even if Gorz drops from a Lavalval attack, Book of Moon will still be enough to let me win without any damage, and the same applies to the case he tops Monster Reborn in the previous turn to get said Gorz. And besides, no matter what monster he puts on the field, Ptolemys can bounce it back if I use it. I can see no scenario where he can come back, even after making a godly double topdeck after a Pot of Avarice.
“I normal summon Mothunder. I use her effect and normal summon Wattcobra. I Xyz summon Constellar Omega with them. I Xyz summon Constellar Ptolemys Messier 7 with Omega.”
In quick succession Mothunder, Wattcobra and Constellar Omega all appear before me only to disappear and all be replaced with Ptolemys. From the first summon Diplo turned around and slowly retreated to its master. Ptolemys, perhaps the most massive creature in this duel, is the only other one in this house with me.
“I enter the battle phase.
Ptolemys, attack Evolsaur Diplo.”
It dashes off to the other side of the door with noises of metal against metal coming from his body. On the other side I only hear the sound of flesh being torn.
6100->5000
Ptolemys won't return, it stays to threaten my opponent. There is nothing else to do.
“I end my turn.”
Now let's see...
5th Turn
“Policeman” || “Werner”
5000 || 3500
in hand: 0 || in hand: 3
on field: 0 || on field: 2
“Draw.
I set one spell or trap card and end my turn.”
Yeah, to be honest there was one card I did not account for. Torrential Tribute. But I should still be able to work around every scenario.
“Draw.”
This one...
Works... yeah, it will work regardless of the outcome of this turn. In fact it gives me enough freedom to choose my course of action. It's Recycling Batteries. Now no matter what I won't run out of cards. Now I'd use the effect of Ptolemys this turn to take out the only threat, Gorz, from my graveyard to null Monster reborn, but chances are that if I fail to take full control again this turn, that probably means Ptolemys died, and he could just reborn that instead. So I'll do this
“I activate the effect of Ptolemys and detach Mothunder to target the Sisthunder in my graveyard and add it to my hand.”
I should push, even in the worst case scenario of Torrential + Reborn I'll still be able to win if I push now since I have Book of Moon as backup. The game won't turn, there are not any cards in his deck to accomplish that.
“I normal summon Mothunder.
…”
I give my opponent time to use Torrential Tribute considering this is the best time to use it and get rid of my last Xyz play in his knowledge.
“I use Mothunder's effect to normal summon Sisthunder.
…
I use Sisthunder's effect to banish the Mothunder in the graveyard.”
No response? That means no Torrential! I've got this! Only thing that can save him now is random Call of the Haunted or something!
“I Xyz Constellar Omega with Mothunder and Sisthunder.
I enter the battle phase.
I attack with Constellar Omega.”
“I activate Mirror Force”
I win! Sorry pal, you die now...
“I chain the effect of Constellar Omega by detaching Mothunder.”
The newly formed Omega flies through the door to join the Ptolemys that never came back and attacks directly without issues.
5000->2600
This is it... This is definitely it! Heh...
Serves you right fucker! You wanted to come to my home and kill me for something as stupid as seeing your face, so you won't mind if I kill you instead, right?! Because of you fuckface I am limping, my stomach hurts, my back hurts, my arms are a mess, so I want you to get messed up far worse than that! I'll be having my giant shiny machines slaughter you, nice death huh, you freak?!
I can't think straight... I don't care if a man dies here, I don't care if I'm responsible, I don't care if first thing in the morning they find a corpse FUBAR'd right out of my door, I'm way past the point of giving a fuck. I see my own blood staining my own floor and all I want is to see him rot. It hurts and it sucks, being bit and smashed by fucking dinosaurs hurts, curling in a corner peeing your pants and crawling on all fours in fear sucks, so I just want to see him dead. That's fine, isn't it? That's perfectly fine!
“Cooooonstellar Ptolemys, kill him!”
I can hear the sound of metal crushing down...
2600>0
“Heh... Ha-Haha-kh-*cough**cough* HAHAHA! Ho-How about that, hu-huh?! I beat you! I ki-”
I stop myself, that's enough talking smack. I have no idea how no one in the building heard us by now, but if by some bad luck they hear a confession right out of my mouth I'll be in deep shit.
Out of habit, I pick up my deck and put it in my pocket. After I realize I wasted time on something pointless unconsciously I try to lift myself up with my arms. My right leg, stepping firmly on the ground all along, still hurts like a bitch, and it makes me forget about the pain of my arms. With the aid of my 3 damaged limbs I manage to have my kneeling left leg, my only relatively undamaged limb, stand properly on the ground as well. I stand up feeling the pain throughout my body, but I have to get up for this. I must see what happened on the other side of the door. I impatiently head for the peephole. Standing in front of the door I try to use my hands to lean on it but I am stopped by the invisible wall a couple of centimeter's away reminding me of its existence. I lean on that instead and like I've done before I align my eye with the peephole's lens. Let's see what he looks li-
Fuck! Shit! Why?!
...
No, it's not a question of why... Of course... It's natural if you think about it... There is no need for an explanation for something so simple...
On the other side of the door there is no monster, they have all disappeared as the duel ended. On the other side of the door there is only one person. The same police officer that visited my home at 2.30 am. The same man in the exact same state as he was when he started playing...
There is no wound on his body, there is not as much as a wrinkle on his shirt...
But of course, there is nothing strange about that, that needs no explanation. If you think about it, all we did was play yugioh, why would he be injured by something like that? It's just a card game so it's perfectly natural. That was a completely wrong assumption on my part, to begin with did I ever see him get hurt by a monster in this duel?
No, not even once.
Yep, perfectly na-
THEN WHY THE FUCK AM I BLEEDING OUT OF 3 LIMBS?!
WHY THE HELL DOES MY STOMACH AND BACK FEEL LIKE I WAS HIT BY A CAR TWICE?!
Is that even fair you damn freak, huh?! But I guess I'm the freak here, right?! It's all good on your side, you played a nice game of yugioh like you were supposed to but I got too into it apparently and hurt myself so I am the freak. Is that it?! Huh?! Had a fun little game, didn't you?!
Oh, that's right, just calmly put your little deck together! What, can you do, you can't win them all, right?! But it's ok, because you always have another chance, right?! YOU have another chance because if I lost I'd be dinosaur food you prick! Or is it dragon food, because on top of everything else your cards don't even know what type they are! They have that little identity crisis thing going on like you, you fucking fake policeman!
Interrupting my inner raging I seem to lose my support and fall on the door...
Wait, my support? What was I-
That's right, that stupid invisible wall! Does that mean it's gone now? No, it definitely is!
At the same time I have my little accident, he who shall not be named without a censored word splits his deck in two. Well, isn't he taking it ea-
It won't end The warning signals ring throughout my body again. But wh-
Wait... He is obviously going to shuffle, but why would he...
No, I guess I get why. I did that before, right? Back under the bed, I couldn't play until the deck was shuffled...
…
'Couldn't play'?
Run Shit! Why the hell was I feeling safe here?! Why did I think there was anything stopping him from starting another duel?! I have to go, I have to run away or it will be the same thing all over again! No, it might not even be the same, that's just in case I win. If I lose this time I will certainly die! Dammit, of course, no wonder he took risks and was fine with making mistakes! He had nothing to lose, so he could just go for the moves that would kill me faster and if he failed he could just try again!
I push my hands against the door to force my body backwards, I turn around and break into a run. First step, second step, third step. Here, this is where I would bump against that wall before. It's not here anymore. The duel ended and everything is back to normal. I run faster and head for the window over the desk. In a hurry I jump on my desk, grab the handle of the window, break the handle and fling the window open. Without stopping I jump through the window on the platform of the fire escape outside, I'm out of the apartment. I take a glimpse at my surroundings. The stairs are broken, no one ever bothered to fix those. The only way out is either jumping down from the second floor or jump onto the extendable ladder to my left-
“I challenge you to a duel.”
FUCK! Of course he'd be done shuffling by now! I didn't make it-
Wait, that's strange. Last time the invisible wall was about 2 meters away from where I'm standing now. Could it be I'm out of his range...?-
I hear blunt noises coming from the door. He is trying to break it open. I'm definitely out of his range but that will change if I stay here, he'll be in any second, why would a door stop him now anyways?!
I jump down on the ladder, grab the rail and hope it extends properly.
!
It's working! My weight and the impact made it ope-
Crap! I spoke too soon! Of course, no one ever used this! The extending ladder gets stuck and comes to an abrupt stop. The force is making me lose my grip, I can't hold on!
My fingers no longer support my weight and I am let free. Shit! I'm falling from the first floor! I turn around trying to soften the fall with my limbs-
“Gaaaah! Fuck! Why...”
I put most strength on my arms and it feels like my elbows got hit with a baseball bat. The pain from the wounds on my forearms returns. But more importantly my right leg is trying its hardest to remind me I shouldn't be using it, and it's making a damn good point. With that pain I'm not sure if it's still there or if it was torn off. But it should have been worse, someone like me cannot take a fall from the first floor this well, and yes, in comparison to what would have happened this is 'well'. I landed on a minivan below and rolled off falling to the ground.
“What the heck-!
It's you kid?! Are you insane?! What the heck, you are ruining my car you brat!”
You don't have a car, you have a van, you moron. Is that-
Yeah, that's old man Carducci from the 1st floor. He's next to his van, did he come back just now-
Don't stop I hear a loud thud from above, my door was flung open, he will be here any second now! Sorry old man, I always avoid you, I hate you and I don't want to talk to you so I'll ignore you and run away.
I've lost count of how many times I've pushed my limbs to push me up when they shouldn't, and I do it again, stand up and falling forward I run.
“Wait up! You can't run away from this kid, I know where you live! You'll be paying me back for this! What the heck were you doing in the first place?!”
I ignore the old man and keep trying to put distance between between me and my pursuer. I don't stop, I feel like I have to go as far away as possible. I don't know why, so long as I am out of his range I should be ok and I am not exactly in top condition to run, so really I should have paced myself.
But the question I made to myself is answered. It's a noise I haven't heard yet tonight, the sound of a hammer coming down on an anvil, followed by a metal object grazing my cheek and landing on the ground, damaging the asphalt and leaving a small trace of smoke. That was a gunshot. His range isn't the limits of the invisible wall. So long as he can see me his range is much larger. I won't stop running and I won't slow down.
“What are you-!
You're police?! What are you doing, catch him, he-!”
I hear the same sudden noise again and the old man's voice suddenly cuts out. Sorry Carducci, but if you take a shot that means I won't. I'm kinda glad you took one instead of me. I am nearing the corner. Thanks to old man Carducci's 'noble sacrifice' I might be able to make it. Another gunshot reminds me I'm not even close to safe yet, the sound of the bullet colliding with the asphalt tells me I was its target. I don't get to realize where the first bullet landed before another one is fired. The sound of it hitting the street again. Again it missed and I get to live. I arrived at the corner and turn.
I run across the street to the other side in a very narrow angle. I don't want to be exposed until he reaches the corner and I don't want to run the entire distance of the block for another turn, I don't trust my athletic abilities at all. So I look for alleys on the other side of the street to take earlier turns and hopefully make use of this early start to lose him. This is more or less my only chance now.
But losing him is easier said than done. The night is quiet, I can hear his feet hitting the asphalt even with this distance, he's already on the street and running after me. More importantly however, if I can hear him from this distance that only means he can hear my footsteps too, and I can't yet tell how far away they can be heard. With that I know, merely taking two turns in succession will not be enough to lose him.
I found a narrow path between buildings. I take a split second to check if it's a dead end, break my step and after confirming there is an exit I run in. This is all too familiar, there is nothing scary about a dark alley. I can handle the rotten stench of trash and the scattered pieces of glass on the ground. I run ahead dodging the trashcans, shopping carts and whatever other large object they decided to throw in here. That's not a problem. The problem is my right leg screaming in pain. To be honest I know I am not athletic at all and I think my legs would still be in a pretty bad state by now even if a herbivore-imposter did not bite off a chunk of meat from one of them.
I'm already out. I'm in luck, this was a narrow block and the street here is smaller too. I turn, run across the street in a half corner to stay out of sight from inside the alley. I can hear his footsteps and they are now closer. I quickly make it to the other side of the street and enter the alley in front of me without second thought. This one is far more complex than the other but I remember this. A few days after first arriving in this city I remember getting lost here. But because of that I think I can find the way out. Soon after I go in, I squeeze in an opening to the right. Passing through as fast as I can I quickly slip in a path to the left, run in and take another left soon after. Almost there, running into the end of the path, I take a right and I can now see the street in front of me. I exit the alley and run across the street aiming for the alley directly across me. The footsteps aren't as loud anymore, I am gaining distance.
Still in the middle of the street I can see people in the alley. Probably hobos. I don't care enough to pay more attention, I reach the entrance and start running across the alley.
“Why the hurry kid?”
One of the hobos, a middle aged man at the far end of the alley, is talking. Probably to me. I still don't care enough to pay any attention.
“Pfft, suit yourself...”
Disinterested he returns to whatever he was doing.
Dammit! I seem to be losing my lead already, his footsteps are getting faster, he's finding his way out of that alley, I need to pick up the pace.
I dash out of the alley and take a left. I'm close to the corner of the block here, I'll keep going left and head for the next block. Once I find the corner close to me I run in an angle again. I cross the street and find another opening. Breaking my step again to check I see all the way through, it's a straight path but it will have to do.
Shit! I hear his footsteps much closer now. Did he just make it out of the “hobo” alley? I dash in the alley in front of me trying to lose him again. I am soon out of this alley again and I see something different in front of me.
Dammit, this is no street...
But wait, isn't this the river? Yeah... I can see the river barricades. In front of me is the Wagerton river, a small river going through part of the city. Its built around and restrained with a cement construction as a flood countermeasure, but now we are in August. The river is almost running dry. And this is my chance, that means I can go on the first level of the barricades without issue.
I don't waste any time, I run ahead and slide on the tilted cement wall, reaching the first platform. A little below I see what's left of the river. I check around me to find what I'm looking for...
…
There, about 8 meters to the right I can see the door. This is the entrance to the sewage system. It should be open and if I can go through that unnoticed he would have a lot of trouble tracking my footsteps. I run in, carefully open the door to make sure the noise doesn't travel far, enter and close it behind me.
It's dark... Ok, I know I said before I don't mind the stench, but I do mind this stench... This place sucks, that's the only description I can give here... And I can't calm down, I shouldn't stay here for reasons more important than the smell and ambiance. Sooner or later he may find out the reason he can't hear me anymore. If he does and if he does find me in the sewer I am dead, I have no way out from here, it's more or less a straight line, so even if he didn't outspeed me, which he certainly does, he would be able to just shoot me dead. I need a way out and I need it to have just enough distance that I'll be able to lose him while he does not think of checking here. I run to the right taking a south. It may be predictable but my only out at the moment if I don't completely lose him is to reach the police station, and that's where I'm going.
I am not slowing down even if I can't hear my pursuer. If my body cools down I won't run again for at least a few hours, so I have to keep running at the same pace. But I'm running out of breath and this is not the best place to take deep breaths... I make a point out of breathing with my nose while down here, but that's not enough to deal with how I am overexerting my body right now. I inhale a few times with my mouth and regret it every time, the more I breathe in down here the more I am feeling my throat clogging. After covering about 150 meters in that state I decide to take the first ladder out. I find one close and climb up.
Opening a manhole from the inside can be tough. I guess it's tougher from the outside, but this manhole obviously hasn't seen much use, so either way, it's tough. I still need one arm to hold on to the ladder so I only get one arm to push. After failing once I climb as further up as possible and try again. This time it's moving, I push it off to the side and climb out. I kneel on the street and take a deep breath to make up for the lack of it earlier. It's not exactly a breath of fresh air either, this is your average large city, a deep breath come with fumes. But being a resident of this city it's nothing I am not used to. I turn around on my butt and kick the manhole back in to avoid giving clues before standing up again. I notice another narrow path close and run into it.
I can't hear the footsteps anymore. I slow down. Maybe it was a mistake to do so, though it's not like I can keep running forever. Now that I slowed down I take notice of all the complaints of my right leg at the same time. That's not all, my contracting lungs give me multiple stinging pains and my strained back is way past the point of asking for a good night's sleep. I go past a trash can and drop down to its side with my back against the wall. At least with that I shouldn't be visible from one side of the alley, although I don't have enough distance from the other, but it's still quiet enough to be able to tell from the footsteps... I'm safe...
I should wait for morning here... But I can't afford to sleep... It should be about 3-4 am now, so if I wait around for about 3-4 hours I should be ok. 7 am is the goal, at that time he won't be hunting me in the crowds of people going to work. I can tell that he has to finish it at night. To begin with he is after me probably because I saw, so it should go without saying it's not possible for him to do something among other people unless he plans on killing all of them...
And then what... Should I go to the police?
If possible I want to avoid trying out my duel monsters story with the police for now, but I don't have much choice... Although, he may have just been dressing as a cop but you never know what kind of connections he may have... I haven't checked where I am yet but it should be a few blocks from here...
I'll probably need money... Did I bring any with me? I do have the bad habit of forgetting bills in my pocket but in this case-
Run Shit... are those footsteps? And it seems like they are from my open side too... But... that's not him...
I let out a sigh... It's certainly not him, these footsteps are much heavier. I can only imagine an insanely huge guy appearing from there. Not that it's any good news though, I'd rather I was left alone. And this late at night, you never know what kinds of people you might run into... For all I know I might be running into a messed up junkee and get mugged or something... Regardless, that's not my biggest threat and I won't stand up for such a possibility. If it's not him I'll say I'm fine...
Run The giant footsteps are getting closer ever so slowly... Whoever it is, he should pass by that end of the alley in a few secs. The mystery will be solved by then I guess.
Run That being said there is little point. I won't know the guy whoever it is so even if I look all that will happen is that I may attract his attention. Still, I don't look away. There is not much danger so I may as well satisfy my curiosity.
Run The footsteps are about to pass by the alley's entrance. After one more footstep the stranger is here. Once the owner of those footsteps can see the alley, our eyes lock... No, not exactly our eyes. My two eyes and his own left, blue eye...
Run I was wrong... It is a guy I know after all... No, this one has never dressed as a policeman, but I am also positive I never met him before today. Well, I may say he has never dressed as a policeman, but that's understandable, he's never used clothes, that I know...
We got close then, closer than we should in my opinion, not close enough in his. But I have the scars to prove it, that we should never have met...
Run Shit... This isn't fair... I'm in pain, I am hungry, I am sleepy and my body will heavily protest against any of my attempts to move... Why me... I can't go on... I shouldn't have to go on... I don't want to die, and I don't want pain... All I want is to go back to yesterday and go in a loop... I want those pointless days to repeat endlessly until I am a very old man with a very shallow life... That is truly my wish, and it's not much at all... I shouldn't have to pay for such a wish... It should be easy enough to be granted...
Run Of course I recognize that blue eye. I recognize that long jaw and I recognize those tiny little stupid bat wings... The stranger in the corner is not a large man, it's Evolsaur Cerato. It hasn't turned its head at me, with one eye it's staring at me. I am its prey... It can only be me... I know it by now... And I am in its range... I foolishly stayed here on the ground and I am now in its range... That's not my opinion, that's Cerato's opinion, it isn't moving from where it is, it is getting ready to attack instead because it can... Cerato opens its jaws to fit a human head and a half in, leaving strings of saliva between them. It gives out a roar, bends its knees and jumps at me
RUN! 
