The die is cast? Jaden repeated Adrian Gecko’s words in his head as he considered how exactly to deal with the outcome of Gecko’s first turn. On the opposite side of the field, the boy in question stared back at Jaden with a calculating gleam in his eyes, his body half-hidden behind the fat, pale-yellow form of Cloudian – Altus and the greenish mushroom shape of Cloudian – Acid Cloud. Jaden had already figured out that the latter monster wasn’t particularly a threat at the moment, but Gecko’s Altus had managed to use its effect to make Jaden discard a card before his own turn had even started by removing Fog Counters from itself and Acid Cloud, forcing Jaden try and think of a more… novel solution with the five cards he had available.

“Oke-doke, Adrian, here goes! Your monsters may be indestructible by battle, but there’s nothing like the feeling of taking a big ol’ hammer to a problem like this! I activate the spell card Fusion Sage, which allows me to add one Polymerization from my deck to my hand. Then, I summon Elemental Hero Avian (1000/1000) in attack position!”

Opposing Gecko’s cloudlike monstrosities, a heroic man wearing all green flashed onto Jaden’s side of the field, his wings spread in a majestic pose as the hero made a perfect three-point landing.

“Sadly my buddy Avian isn’t quite the hero that I need right now, so I think I’ll go ahead and change that. I activate the spell card, Hero Mask, which lets me send one Elemental Hero monster from my deck to the graveyard in order to change the name of one monster I control to that Hero’s name! Elemental Hero Avian, assume the identity of your fellow hero, Elemental Hero Heat! And now that I have a pretend Elemental Hero Heat on the field, I activate Polymerization! Fusing Elemental Hero Heat on the field with Elemental Hero Lady Heat in my hand, I fusion summon the molten hero, Elemental Hero Inferno (2300/1600)!”

The air all around the arena became warmer and warmer by the second as Avian, who was wearing an incredibly cheap mask that was colored in with what appeared to be red crayons, stepped off the field and into nonexistence with a small bow as a second hero, this one much larger and redder, confidently strolled onto the field with gouts of fire spurting from his shoulders with every step.

“Now, you may be wondering, why Inferno?” Jaden teasingly questioned Gecko. “Well, Mr. Inferno has a super cool effect. When he battles a water monster, he gains 1000 attack during the damage step. Pretty sweet, right? Now! Elemental Hero Inferno, give Adrian a demonstration and attack Cloudian – Acid Cloud!”

Gecko’s eyes narrowed as a ginormous blazing fist smashed into the green mushroom-shaped cloud, failing to destroy it but also failing to completely stop his life points from dropping from 4000 to 1200 in one brutal strike.

“Like I said, pretty sweet. Anyways, I throw down a face down card and end my turn!” Jaden confidently shouted.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Phil hardly even bothered to hide his smirk as he watched Elemental Hero Inferno’s brutal haymaker punch. “Hell yeah. Looks like Bastion owes me a fiver.”

“You two had a bet?” Chazz questioned from where he sat on the bench next to Phil.

Phil nodded. “Yeah, we were wondering which approach Jaden would try first if he was matched against Gecko. Bastion was thinking that Jaden would try and get them off the field with a card effect, while I figured Jaden would go for ol’ reliable and brute force it. Either way works, I guess. One more hit like that and Gecko’s out of the game.”

Chazz raised his eyebrow at that statement. “Gecko won’t take that laying down though. He still has that Summon Cloud continuous spell that lets him summon more Cloudians if his board is empty, and that’s not to mention that face down card he has.”

“Fair, fair.” Phil acknowledged with a shrug. “But this way Jaden threw a whole bunch of pressure on the guy. He literally can’t let any of Jaden’s fusion monsters get another clean hit in. Do you know how many random-ass fusion monsters that dude has? If one doesn’t work, Jaden will just throw another out until something sticks. There’s a reason I let him go out first. The sheer insane adaptability he has boggles the mind.”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Gecko’s eyes narrowed as he started his turn. “Well played.” He commented to Jaden with a calm voice. “I admit, having weak attack and not being able to switch into defense are two of the biggest weaknesses of my Cloudians. However!” Gecko’s voice suddenly sharpened as he revealed the card he had placed face-down on his first turn. “I know their weaknesses, and how to get around them! I activate my spell card, Cloudian Aerosol! By discarding one Cloudian monster, that being my Cloudian – Nimbusman, I target one monster on the field and place a number of Fog Counters on that target equal to its level. Cloudian – Acid Cloud, I choose you to gain five additional Fog Counters! Now, since Acid Cloud has five counters on it, five from this turn and two from its initial summon, I remove two counters from it to destroy your face down card, Jaden.”

Jaden’s face paled as his face down trap card, Hero Counterattack, was obliterated with a wave of Acid Cloud’s puffy fingers before it could even be activated.

“Next, I remove my weakness, Jaden! By tributing Acid Cloud and Altus, I call forth the great storm of ages! Cloudian – Eye of the Typhoon, show yourself!”

Both Cloudian monsters that were floating harmlessly on Gecko’s field disappeared with a ‘pop’ and ‘crackle’ of lightning, the clouds from their bodies dispersing into the air as the arena began to rumble. Bit by bit a blue cloud began to form from the cast-off remains of the smaller Cloudians, swirling into a perpetually moving funnel shape. Then, groaning like a terrible monster that had been imprisoned for eons, two mighty arms made of clouds burst through the walls of the funnel, followed shortly by a singular giant eye that looked down upon the Elemental Hero monster on Jaden’s side of the field with complete disdain.

“Sorry, Jaden, but I’m afraid your strategy ends here. See, while my other Cloudians are indeed all water monsters, Typhoon is a wind! Cloudian – Eye of the Typhoon, bring forth your primal fury upon that cowering hero!”

Just like that, Jaden’s fusion monster was erased from existence with one flick of Typhoon’s fingers, and even though its effect switched Elemental Hero Inferno to defense position when it attacked, Jaden was left without even a single card in his hand and on his field.

Jaden grimaced as his turn began. He had certainly seen better days. Yet, he reminded himself, I’ve seen worse, too. In my duels against Crowler and Chazz, they both had me dead to rights just like this. I pulled through last time, right? Right! So, I still have more life points since his Eye of the Typhoon’s effect switches the battle positions of my monsters whenever it attacks, which ended up putting my Inferno into blessed defense position. Jaden glanced at his hand. Really, the main issue right now was how many dang cards it took sometimes to fusion summon. It was something that he always seemed to grapple with in his deck, though Jaden wouldn’t trade it out for the world. His heroes were just too cool, after all! Yes! Heroes always pull out a victory in the end, anyways!

“Alright, Adrian! You may have destroyed my Elemental Hero Inferno, but thanks to that, and the Elemental Hero Clayman that you sent from my hand to the graveyard with the effect of your Altus, that means I have five heroes in my grave. I activate my spell card, Fifth Hope! By shuffling in five Elemental Hero cards into my deck from my grave, that being Clayman, Heat, Lady Heat, Avian, and Inferno, I get to draw two cards. Except! Since you were nice enough to completely clear my field, and I have no other cards in my hand, I get to draw three cards instead!”

Jaden’s face brightened as a massive grin flashed across his face. “Perfect! I summon Elemental Hero Blazeman (1200/1800)!”

On Jaden’s side of the field, yet another flame-covered hero confidently walked forward, flexing his muscles towards the crowd in a display of pure ego.

“Now, the thing about Blazeman, is that he really likes imitating other heroes in his path to be strong. I activate his effect, which allows me to send one Elemental Hero monster from my deck to my graveyard in return for allowing Blazeman to copy its attack, defense, and attribute until the end of the turn. I choose to send Elemental Hero Bladedge.”

Gecko frowned. “2600 attack points? I fail to see how that will destroy my Typhoon.”

“Yup! 2600 attack isn’t enough.” Jaden agreed with a happy little laugh. “But that doesn’t matter. I activate the effect of King of the Swamp in my hand! Even though I can’t use him as a substitute for a fusion material, by discarding the king I can add another Polymerization from my deck to my hand! Now, you’ve defeated one of my fusion heroes, but can you stop a second? I activate the spell card, Polymerization, fusing Blazeman, who is now an earth attribute monster thanks to his effect, with Elemental Hero Burstinatrix from my hand, in order to form a new hero! Crush the mountains! Level the sky! I fusion summon Elemental Hero Gaia (2200/2600)! Now, activate your effect on summon! By targeting your Cloudian – Eye of the Typhoon, I halve your card’s attack and add it to Gaia’s until the end of the turn!”

“But that means…” Gecko’s eyes widened as he watched Elemental Hero Gaia’s attack shoot up all the way to 3700.

“Yup! Gaia, show that weird cyclops cloud how much it hurts to be punched by the earth!”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Phil let out a whoop of joy as Elemental Hero Gaia’s attack destroyed the massive Cloudian monster, punching right through its torso with enough damage left over to reduce Gecko’s life points to zero. “Damn the heart of the cards is a hell of a drug! Jaden’s top-decking bullshit just doesn’t give a hoot about getting a card ripped out of his hand, getting his backrow blown up, or even having a 3k cloudy beatstick shoved in his face.” Phil shook his head in wonder while Chazz held back slight chuckles of his own. “Man, I don’t know about you, Chazz, but I’d pay a whole lot of money to get the kind of stupid luck my man Jaden has.”

“You know…” Chazz began once he regained his composure. “I hate to admit it, but I agree with you on that, Phil. I think at this point I’m not even surprised when something like this happens.”