Michelle took out her deck and placed it face up, sweeping her hand to the side to spread it across the table. After a few moments of thinking, Michelle selected a few cards to take out and replaced them with the cards she had just bought. Gathering her cards back together, Michelle finally asked, "Ok, wanna start with a Duel? We can maybe see what you need from there."
"A duel? I'm okay with having a duel, if you're fine with having me as an opponent." Amelia said, bringing out her deck.
"My move then. I draw." Amelia said before looking at her hand. "I'm going to set a monster face-down and set another card face-down. That'll be the end of my turn."
"My turn," Michelle said, drawing a card. "First I'll Gemini Summon my Crusader of Endymion, and then attack your face-down monster," Michelle continued, pointing at Amelia's set monster.
Amelia flipped the card face-up. "Kamui, Hope of Gusto. A Flip Effect monster." She said. "When he's turned face-up, I can special summon one Gusto Tuner monster from my deck to the field. Using that effect, I'll summon Gusto Gulldo in defence position."
Gusto Gulldo: DEF:500
Michelle placed her hand on her chin as she examined the new Gusto monster on the field. It would be a bothersome fight if she could not get past the defense that Gustos provided. "Turn End," Michelle declared.
Amelia nodded and drew her card and weighed her options. "I activate my Face-down Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your trap on the right." She said, flipping her spell face-up.
Michelle nodded as she picked up her now-destroyed trap, revealing it to be Pitch-Black Power Stone, and placed it in the Graveyard.
"Next, I'll summon Winda, Priestess of Gusto. The I'll tune her with Gulldo to Synchro Summon Daigusto Gulldos." Amelia said, moving the two cards to the grave and placing a card that had a picture of Winda riding a much bigger Gulldo on it.
Daigusto Gulldos: ATK: 2200
"Next, I'll use his effect to shuffle Winda and Gulldo back into the deck to destroy your Crusader." Amelia declared.
Michelle frowned as she sent her Crusader to the Graveyard. Now there were no monsters protecting her Life Points.
"Now, I'll attack you directly with Gulldos." Amelia said, waiting to see if Michelle's face-down would counter her attack.
Michelle took the 2200 damage. She had to step up her game, otherwise she wouldn't even be able to put up a fight.
"I set two cards face-down and end my turn." Amelia said.
"My turn, draw!" Michelle said, drawing her next card. "I activate the Spell card: Terraforming. This lets me add a Field Spell from my deck to my hand." Michelle then picked up her deck and searched through it, taking out her card of choice. "I add Magical Citadel of Endymion, which I also play on the field," Michelle declared.
"Next I activate another Spell card: Spell Power Grasp. I can add a Spell Counter to a card on the field, and I pick Magical Citadel of Endymion," Michelle continued. "The Citadel gains another Counter from its own effect, and the second effect of Spell Power Grasp allows me to add another Spell Power Grasp from my deck to my hand."
"I now place a monster face-down, and end my turn," Michelle said.
"My move, I draw." Amelia said, looking at what she had just drawn. Nothing she could use right now but it might be useful later. "I'll attack your face-down monster with Gulldos."
"The monster you attacked was Apprentice Magician, and his effect activates," Michelle said, placing the destroyed Apprentice Magician in the Graveyard. "When he's destroyed by battle, I can Special Summon one Level 2 or lower Spellcaster-type monster from my deck in face-down Defense position."
"My turn," Michelle said, drawing her next card. "I Summon Magical Something in Attack position."
Magical Something: Level 4, 1800 ATK
"Next I activate Spell Power Grasp, adding 2 more Spell Counters to Magical Citadel of Endymion. Magical Something also gains a Spell Counter from her own effect, and gains a Level for every Spell Counter she has," Michelle explained.
Magical Something: Level 4 -> 5
"I also Flip Summon my face-down monster, Arcane Apprentice," Michelle added.
Arcane Apprentice: Level 2, ATK 1000
"With this, I Synchro Summon Arcanite Magician," Michelle said, taking a card from her Extra Deck and placing it on the field. "Arcanite Magician gains 2 Spell Counters when she is Synchro Summoned, and 1000 ATK for each Spell Counter on her."
Arcanite Magician: Level 7, ATK 400 -> 2400
"In addition, Arcane Apprentice's effect allows me to add one 'Assault Mode Activate' from my deck to my hand," Michelle said, taking the card from her deck. "Now I activate the effect of Arcanite Magician. I remove one Spell Counter from Magical Citadel of Endymion, and destroy Daigusto Gulldos," Michelle declared.
Amelia frowned as she moved her monster to the graveyard.
"Arcanite Magician attacks you directly, and I activate my face-down card: Magician's Circle. When a Spellcaster-type monster declares an attack, both of us Special Summon a Spellcaster-type monster with 2000 or less ATK from our Decks in Attack Position. I choose Defender, the Magical Knight," Michelle said.
Defender, the Magical Knight: Level 4, ATK 1600
Amelia didn't bother looking at her deck, as is mostly consisted of Winged-Beasts and Psychics. But she did have some options. "I activate Whirlwind of Gusto. With this, I return two Gusto's from my graveyard to the deck to special summon a Gusto with 1000 or less defense. I'll return Kamui and Daigusto Gulldos to the deck and extra deck to summon Gusto Gulldos."
Amelia moved her monsters where they were needed before placing a familiar card on the board.
Gusto Gulldo: DEF: 500
"In that case, Arcanite Magician attacks Gusto Gulldo," Michelle said.
"He's gone but Winda takes his place." Amelia said, pulling Winda out from the her deck while Gulldo his the grave.
Winda, Priestess of Gusto: DEF: 400
"The Battle Phase ends. I use Arcanite Magician's effect again, removing another Spell Counter from the Citadel to destroy Winda," Michelle said.
Amelia moved her monster to the grave, unable to summon anything else out.
"I place one card face-down and end my turn," Michelle said.
"My turn," Michelle said. "Using Arcanite Magician's effect, I use a Spell Counter from Citadel to destroy the face-down card in the center."
Amelia moved the card to her graveyard, realizing there was nothing she could really do at this moment.
"Arcanite Magician's effect activates again, destroying your last face-down card," Michelle continued.
Amelia picked up the card and played it face-up. Another Whirlwind of Gusto. "I move Gulldo and Winda to the deck and Special summon Gulldo." She said, moving the cards as needed.
Michelle considered attacking Gulldo, but decided it wasn't worth the risk and hassle this turn. "I place one card face-down and end my turn," Michelle said.
Amelia drew her next card and smiled to herself. Hopefully everything would work out. "I summon Winda, Priestess of Gusto." She said, putting the monster on her field. "Then, I'll use her and Gulldo to bring back Daigusto Gulldos."
Daigutso Gulldos: ATK: 2200
"I'll use his effect to send his materials back to the deck to destroy Arcanite Magician." Amelia declared, hoping everything was going to go smoothly.
"I activate a face-down card: Assault Mode Activate," Michelle countered. "I send Arcanite Magician to the Graveyard, and Special Summon Arcanite Magician/Assault Mode from my deck."
Arcanite Magician/Assault Mode: Level 9, ATK 900
"Like Arcanite Magician, her Assault Mode counterpart gains 2 Spell Counters when she's Special Summoned, and 1000 ATK for each Counter."
"My turn," Michelle said, drawing her next card. It wasn't much use now, but could be useful later. "I attack Daigusto Gulldos with Arcanite Magician, and Defender attacks directly," Michelle declared.
Amelia moved her monster to the graveyard, wishing she could do more.
"Hmm...." Michelle thought out loud as she drew her next card. "Amelia, I've been thinking.... Gustos have a powerful defense, but what would you say is your best win condition for your deck?"
"Getting Sphreez out to turn my opponent's power against them. I have a copy of Pilica in the deck, but only one, so I can't reliably bring her out to get Sphreez." Amelia said.
Michelle nodded, then asked, "Any other plans for when that fails?"
"Not really, other then try to stall out my opponent until I can." Amelia said.
Michelle was silent for a while as she thought about it. With the way Gustos searched themselves out like that, it would indeed be only a matter of time until she drew the card she needed. Problem was, no matter how powerful the card, it was still only one card. There would always be ways around such power. "Any ways to prevent Sphreez from being destroyed?" Michelle inquired further.
"Not by card effect. I don't need to worry about battle though." Amelia said.
"Then maybe we should start there," Michelle said. "Firstly, have reliable ways to summon Sphreez. Having more Pilicas would help, but even Pilica won't always be around for you. Do you have other methods for summoning Sphreez?"
Amelia shook her head. "She's a synchro monster so unless I have the right Tuner and another monster, it'll never work out." She said.
"So without Pilica, you have nothing?" Michelle asked to confirm her suspicions.
"I do have other monsters and a lot of tuners but I'm not entirely sure I have the right levels for it. Also, I do have two other Synchros, like Gulldos, and an XYZ monster, though I find it hard to bring him out." Amelia said.
Michelle thought about this problem some more. Eventually, though, she sighed, unable to come up with further answers. "Well, I'll concede this Duel," Michelle said. "There's not much else we can learn by continuing, anyway. Amelia, you should probably get more Pilica cards, and find other ways to get Sphreez out. Your defense will keep your Life Points safe for a while, but it won't last forever, and people will find ways around it like I did."
"Shouldn't I be the one conceding though?" Amelia asked before looking down at the field. She was the one that was losing. Either way, she knew Michelle was right and that she would indeed need more Pilicas. "But what about more Sphreezes as well? I'll need more of her in case something happens to my only copy. I can return her with Whirlwind, I know, but having more copies might make things easier on me."
"I was doing this to help you; I don't really need the win," Michelle answered. "Having more Sphreezes would be good, but we can't buy Extra Deck monsters from the shop anymore, remember? I'm doing what I can with just my one copy of Arcanite Magician, too."
"I know we can't. I was wondering if Sphreez and Pilica come in the same set though. Even if they didn't, maybe buying some of the set that Gustos come in would help me get some more of their cards, like the other Synchro Monsters. Or maybe stuff to trade." Amelia said
"That.... that might work, actually," Michelle said thoughtfully. "Either way, getting more Gustos will help." Michelle then began to gather up her cards, putting them back into her deck. "Well, I should get going. Are you going to be alright, Amelia?"
Amelia also gathered up her cards but still looked concerned. "I don't know... my nerves won't go away until after the exams. Maybe I'll talk to Leander or someone else." She said.
Michelle nodded, then said, "Ok then. I'll see you around, Amelia." With that, Michelle began to leave the card shop.
"Bye. And thank you for your help." Amelia said, waving good-bye before looking down at her deck again, pondering which choice was the right one to make.
Amelia was enjoying her conversation with Lorette when she noticed the Ralts coming towards them. She was curious at first but upon seeing that they were coming to give her offerings, she was immediately embarrassed. "Th-there's no need for that!" She said to them gently. "I just wanted a place to relax and dry off. Thank you for the effort though. Please, there's no need to go this far."
Once she was sure the Ralts new she didn't want any special treatment, she turned to and listened to Lorette. "I don't think asking her to step-down would've been a good idea anyway. But you couldn't, maybe, become her apprentice or something along those lines. Study under her and work at her gym maybe. Sure, we have time but we should still pursue our dreams... if we even know what they are at the time. Just the fact that you know what you want to do put you leagues ahead of me.."
Amelia smiled as she was told she could entered the shrine. However, it seemed a payment was in order first. Not minding this in the slightest, she approached the offering box and thought about what to put in it. In the end, she decided to give 200 pokedollars to the offering box, saying a small prayer after doing so. Once that was done and she was allowed inside, she followed the mysterious girl. Once inside, she looked around and frowned at the condition of the shrine. It was nice and clean but if would use some maintenance.
She didn't get much further on this train of thought as her new acquaintance released a pokemon, a giant bug a little over three-and-a-half feet long. The room instantly began warming up and Amelia instinctively moved closer. Her wet cloths were going to make warming up hard but she was sure they would dry rather quickly if she was close to this new pokemon. While warming up, she listened to the girl, who introduced herself as Lorette, the gym-leader of Highhill Town before getting into a bit of a tangent. Amelia listened to it patiently and smiled as Lorette finished. "It's nice of you to continue your mother's legacy but it's a shame you gave up your dream in order to do so. Didn't your mother support your dream?" Amelia asked
I'll get to work on a post after waking up tomorrow. Since Hector said to use her whole team...well, all's fair then. Lets see if Claire can pull a victory out of her cute butt here.
Thank god for confusion. I thought that Lucario was gonna wreck Ledyba and Ralts so hard.
Well, it evolves with Friendship, so it might have been rather low level for all we know.
Fraquar nodded in response to Jamie thanking him for the warning. It was the least he could do, as he didn't want to see any harm come to the girl either. Relaxing again, he listened to Jamie and Sanders speak. When it was his turn, his expression was one of worry. "My guild is only six members strong and we're in a small settlement town. We're attacked often and the attacks are becoming more frequent. While we're exhausting ourselves, the enemy never seems to send the same people twice. In fact, I see more new faces rather then old. And with old and powerful enemies possibly on the loose now, I doubt my guild will last much longer, let alone the town." He said. "As for natural disasters, I have noticed a slight increase but nothing worth troubling over for now. But please, tell us your tale Jamie."
"Thank you sir." Amelia said kindly, moving closer but keeping a respectable distance from the group before sitting cross legged on the floor. She could tell by how tense some of the guards, especially the one who had talked to her, where so she decided it might be best to let them know that while she would be staying, she didn't mean them any harm. As she sat down, she would let her wings come out from under her shirt and stretch out. The skeletal appendages made no sound as they moved and the six crystals on each wing swayed with the movements of said wings. The crystals glowed dimly, even in the present light, save the purple ones which appeared to be absorbing the light around them slightly.
"She was trained to reconnaissance and information gathering, with some combat training. So while she can probably hold her own against most, mages of your power are still beyond her ability to fight without magic. Since she lacks power and glass will do nothing on your jade scales, she used the best course of action she had, which was redirecting your power back at you." Jackie said with a shrug. "She's got decent enough reactions to use her magic with minimal thought but... she still lacks combat experience and you're taking this far to seriously for training."
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