Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction / Hamtaro Fan Fiction ❯ Return of the Duel Hams ❯ card review and deck adjustments ( Chapter 9 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

The next day, the hams had hit the house up with new cards from the new series. "So did you get anything good?" asked Boss.
"I got nothing." Oxnard answered.
"I got ripped off." said Stan.
"What's wrong with you, didn't get foils from your boosters?" asked Hamtaro.
"That's not what I mean, I mean that I got cheated."
Pashmina and Penelope walk into the clubhouse and take their seats. "Hey you guys, what's up?" Pashmina asked.
"The usual, but we got cards." answered Boss.
"Penelope you rat, you cheated in our last duel!" Stan yelled.
"Are you still mad that you got spanked?" Penelope asked coyly.
"I don't mind getting spanked, but you misread your card! I just pulled Dark City and your weak Destiny Heroes only get the 1000 point boost when they're attacking, not getting attacked!"
Penelope checked her card. "Oh, you're right, my mistake."
"I want my rematch and I want it NOW!"
"Will you calm down, you're getting too loud."
"Stop making excuses and let's duel."
 
Jam walks out of his room. "Geez Stan, I can understand being mad, but you didn't have to wake me up." he said.
"I got cheated out of a duel and I demand justice. Re-match... you got that Penelope? Re-match." Stan was still irate.
"Fine, we'll have our rematch after lunch." said Penelope.
"It can't wait. Rematch now!"
"All in favor of Stan's rematch with Penelope now instead of after lunch..." Jam gave a motion.
"Nay." the hams voted.
"You're outvoted my man, sorry."
"Ppfft, fine. I'll wait." said a defeated Stan as he took his seat.
Jam sat at the table. "Moving on, I would like to say some other things about the cards."
Before Jam could continue, Sparkle came in and took her seat. "This is an outrage, Chrysalis Dolphin is a weeny common card." she said.
"No way." said Penelope.
"Look at this thing."
Penelope saw the card... "Man, it's not too strong either."
"Also, Cosmic Horror Gangi'el and Cyber Summon Blaster are rare cards." Jam added.
"That's a letdown." said Howdy.
"Not unless you get the Ultimate Rare versions, then it's no letdown." said Dexter.
"How'd your box go anyway, Jam?" asked Stan.
"I only got seven foils." Jam answered.
"Average." said Sandy.
"I even pulled Elemental Hero Flare Neos."
"What's he do?" asked Penelope.
"I'll say it like this: unless you have the Neo Space field spell, it's only out for one turn, then it returns to the fusion deck."
"Lame."
"That's what I said."
 
"At least some of the spells and traps are worthwhile, so it's not a total waste." said Oxnard.
"So what about completing the set?" asked Hamtaro.
"I'm five cards away from completing it. The cards I need are Neo Spacian Dark Panther, Destiny Hero-Double Dude, Elemental Hero Aqua Neos, Ultimate Tyranno and Chimeratech Overdragon."
"Not bad." said Stan.
"Well, now that we have new cards, let's take the time now to do more deck construction. So let's build up on our decks and have fun." said Boss.
*
The hams built on their decks, some in different ways than others, Jam was looking at the assortment of spells and traps that he could use in his deck from the new box. "Man, what a bummer..." he said in low tones.
"What's the matter, Jam?" Pashmina asked as she sat next to him.
"There really isn't much for me to work with as far as the cards go in this set for my dragon deck."
"Why do you say that?"
"Well, I knew what was coming out of this set, so I figured that I could use some of the spells and traps to put into my deck. I'm a bit bummed that this isn't really the case."
"You and your dragons, you're worse than Stan."
"Yeah, I suppose.... aside from the varying stuff from types that really needed more monsters, I only found these three cards that might be of use to me should I place them into my deck."
Pashmina looked at the cards. "Mausoleum of the Emperor, The Paths of Destiny and Spell Calling. That isn't much... you feel like you wasted your time on this box?"
"Never. Eventually, I'll understand which of these cards to use. The only other duelists that can benefit from this series are Panda, Penelope and maybe Sparkle and Stan, but not much for me."
"So why do you get the box of cards anyway?"
 
"Pashy, when you get the list of the new cards andtheir names, you think about what they look like and what they do. Then when you open the few packs that you get, you learn that some of these cards of the set can help or hinder you. Now when you get a box of cards from the new set, open the packs, take out the holo cards that are worth a lot of value, take all of that away and as you looks at the cards in your box, you begin to understand how this set can work with a deck... More importantly, you can tell what these series' are set up for. Pretty much, this set can be summed in a few things."
"And they are:"
"1) The set is geared for fusion play; 2)the cards in here can eith work against you or for both players; 3) the set is geared for specific types of decks. Last set had lots of fairies and Bijou had a field day with it, it was the perfect series to work her deck since Ancient Sanctuary... well that set works for fairy and zombie users. This will greatly benefit Penelope and Panda, as their forté of duel monsters are abundant in this set."
"Well, do you think you can use any of the monsters?"
"If I was Dinosaur Ryuzaa maybe. The only other monster that I could consider using is Bitelon."
"I see. I wonder if someone will run a deck of just these Aliens..."
"It's possible. But at least I know what else is in this deck."
"Yeah."
"Well, I'm gonna go get some air, I'll be back. Maybe there's something I missed in this series...."
 
Jam closed his bax and took it with him outside. Pashmina looked at the cards from her booster packs. Jam doesn't realize that this series has a lot more potential than he thinks it has. Pashmina thought. Dinosaurs aren't really that bad of cards, I mean even Stan uses them. I mean if you look at some them really well, they really aren't so bad. Like Stan's Black Tyranno for example (2600/1800), that's probably one of the most powerful dinosaurs cards in the game. It's the strongest one I've seen so far. Pashmina soon found one of her packs. That's odd, I thought I opened all of my packs... she counted her cards... nope, thirty-six are present. Well, I guess I'll open my last one.
Pashmina opened her last pack and found some interesting cards. Then she came across her rare card... Whoa, that's a strong one. I'll add this to my deck. I'm sure Seiyaryu wouldn't mind sharing the spotlight with this monster... Oh yeah, I think I'm about to show Jam that not all the cards in this set are a bummer like you think they are.
*
 
Lunchtime came around and the hams were outside eating. "Well, I was able to redo my deck with the cards that I obtained." said Panda.
"Wonderful. I put some new things in my deck as well." said Bijou.
"This set doesn't do me much good, so I'll skip on getting cards from it." said Boss. "There isn't much to add to my deck from here anyway."
"Same here." said Dexter. "Except that Mausoleom of the Emperor. that'll be the only thing I'll play into my deck... a side deck at that."
"My battery cards can't build on these so I might as well just backtrack." said Howdy.
"At least the rare cards are worthwhile." said Maxwell.
"Some of them anyway." said Sandy.
"I can't believe that Neos is a common card." said Hamtaro. "There has to be a rarer version of this guy out there somewhere..."
"I sure hope I can get more rare cards for my collection." said Oxnard.
"You need to start building up cards for a deck to play with." said Stan.
"Sorry, I'll leave the dueling to all of you guys."
"Good, you need to. You probably suck at dueling anyway, so you've wised up and not even tried." said Sparkle.
"Whatever hamma."
"This sure beats sunflower seeds though, I was getting tired of eating them." said Pashmina.
 
Meanwhile, Sparkle and Cappy are having a duel. "Give it up, runt. You aren't getting outta this beatdown like you did in the four-way." said Sparkle.
"I'm beat only when I have no life points left." said Cappy as he drew his card. "I place this card and a monster face down and I'll end my turn."
"Too bad for you." Sparkle drew her card. "Now I'll start things off with Harpies' Hunting Ground..." Sparkle's field spell was shown on her side of the field. "Now, Elegant Egotist on my Harpie, to bring out my Sisters (1950/2100)." Sparkle's Harpies then destroy Cappy face down card. "And before I finish you off, Nobleman of Crossout on your monster."
Cappy was helpless to see his monster destroyed and removed from the field. "Man, that's mean Sparkle."
"Stop whining and get over it. I gave you a choice to give up before your move started and you didn't take it, so too damn bad."
"But still...."
"But nothing. You think every duelist you battle against is gonna go easy on you because you're still learning? Yeah right. Harpie's Pet Dragon, give Cappy a taste of your Giga Saint Fire!"
 
Sparkle's dragon roasts Cappy and the rest of his life points. "Well now that those two are done with their duel, let's get ours on." said Stan.
"Not now." Penelope said. "I want the effects of the Duel House when we duel."
"Makes sense."
"Fine by me." said Panda.
*
When the hams returned to the clubhouse, Stan and Penelope had their duel. "Okay you two, this one's for the full 8000 life." Jam said. "Let's keep it sweet and interesting, let the duel begin."
"Since I lost first, I'll start things off." said Stan.
"Fine by me." said Penelope.
Stan drew his card. "I'll set one card face down and summon Divine Dragon Ragnarok." Stan's monster appeared in the field (1500/1000). "My turn's over."
"My turn." Penelope draws her card. "I'll set two cards and summon Elemental Hero Wildheart (1500/1600). No attacks this turn, I'll wait."
Stan draws his card. "Sweet. Attack my dragon." Stan's dragon launches its attack.
"I'll activate my Hero Barrier trap." Penelope's trap appears in front of Wildheart and spins around frantically.
"Huh, not bad. I'll summon the Lord of Dragons now and he's not coming by himself (1200/1100). I'll reveal my face down Polymerization..."
Just great.....
"I'll fuse my Lord and Ragnarok and bring out my King Dragun."
 
"This is interesting, Stan's rarely called this out." said Jam.
"Never heard of this guy, let's see what he's about." said Boss.
 
King Dragun (yes, that's how it's spelled) Appears on Stan's side of the field (2400/1100). Stan continues his turn. "Now I'll use his ability to bring fourth my Rare Metal Dragon and end my turn." Stan's new dragon hits the field (2400/1200).
Penelope drew her card. "I'll reveal my Special Hurricane." Penelope discards a card from her hand. After that, lightning bolts drop from the sky, followed by a spiraling wind that covers the whole field and the effects were felt by the hams who watched in addition to the duelists. Man, I gotta get used to this. thought Jam.
"Man, these effects are realistic!" yelled Hamtaro.
"Too realistic if you ask me!" yelled Oxnard.
"That's our Panda!" shouts Sandy in admiration. "No complaints about second-rate effects here!"
 
Snoozer simply turned on his side. "Panda's technical skills are impeccable." he mumbled in his sleep, unfazed by the effects of Special Hurricane.
 
Back to the duel. As the spell's effects die down, three monsters remain on the field. "You're lucky that King Dragun take the dragon lord's traits." Penelope said. "I'll set a card and activate Cyclone Boomerang." With the activated spell, Wildheart grabs his new weapon (2000 ATK). "You're up."
Stan takes his card. "I can use this later. I'll play Dark Core." he says as he discards a card from his hand. A worm hole appears above Penelope's side of the screen, sucking in her E-Hero. "Since Wildheart was removed from play, the effects of Cyclone Boomerang don't work. You taking notes, Cappy?"
"Noted, Stan." Cappy answers.
Penelope removes her monster from her duel disk. "Now let's do some damage, attack my Rare Metal Dragon."
 
It took a couple of turns, but now we have some damage (5600). "Not so tough now are you Penelope? Let's see how you'll deal with me this turn."
Penelope drew her card. "One monster on the defense and I'll end my turn." she said.
Stan took his card. "Im gonna go for it. Attack again, Rare Metal."
Penelope flips up her face down card. "I'd knew you would mess up. Say hello to my Elemental Hero Clayman." she said (800/2000).
"So what, he's not strong enough to withstand my attack?"
"He doesn't have to, especially since my Clay Charge can make up for that."
"What the...."
The attack connects and both monsters are destroyed. "E-Hero Clayman is a lot stronger than he appears. And thanks to his trap, you lose 800 points."
"Man, what a cheap shot." (7200)
"Does that mean your turn is over?"
"One monster on the defense, now my turn is over."
Penelope takes her card. "Time for a little Graceful Charity, we all know how it works..." Penelope handles card business. "Now I'll play Miracle Fusion."
"How's that work?"
"I acctually have to explain this card to you?"
"No, explain it to Cappy and Pashmina."
 
"I already know how that card works, Stan." said Pashmina.
"Me too." said Cappy.
"Well I don't, so start 'splainin." said Sparkle.
 
Penelope rolls her eyes. "Miracle Fusion allows me to fuse my Elemental Heroes, whether they be on my side of the field, or what I'm about to do it, from my graveyard. You've heard of Dragon's Mirror, right Sparkle?"
"Yeah, I know about that."
"Same deal, only instead of dragons, it works on Elemental Heroes."
"So lemme guess, you plan on summoning Thunder Giant or Wildedge?" asked Stan.
"Neither. I'll call the the field, Elemental Hero Rampart Blaster." As Penelope removed Clayman and Burstinatrix from her graveyard, Rampart blaster hit the field (2000/2500). "Let's see how you like some missiles." Rampart Blaster fired her missiles and they hit their mark (6200). Penelope motions over to Stan, who takes his card.
"I'll give up my face down card..."
That was stupid.
"And replace him with Armed Dragon LV5." Stan's new dragon hit the field (2400/1700).
O-kay, that might be a problem....
"I'll set this face down and end my turn."
 
Odd... Stan didn't use the effect of the Armed Dragon. Jam thought. Maybe he's waiting for it.... or perhaps he can't at this moment....
I smell a lot of pain on the way. thought Dexter.
What a waste. thought Sparkle. That's why I don't like certain dragons, not enough power when you need it. And that's saying something coming from me...
Penelope takes her card. "I play The Warrior Returning Alive." she starts her turn.
"Good card." said Stan.
"The card I took is the card I'm about to summon, Elemental Hero Sparkman." Penelope's new monster stands tall next to Rampart Blaster (1600/1400).
That's not a good sign. thought Stan.
Penelop continues her turn. "I'll put RB in attack mode and whip out the Spark Blaster..." Sparkman take new signature gun. "Sparkman, you know the drill."
 
Sparkman fires his Blaster, switching the Armed Dragon to the defense (1700). "Rampart Blaster, let's have some missiles, shall we?"
Rampart Blaster fies her missiles at the Armed Dragon. When the smoke clears, an odd looking projector is on the field. "What the..."
"Sorry, but my Interdimensional Matter Tranporter just denied your attack." Stan explained.
"Oh well, at least I can now hit you with Sparkman's Shining Surge Flash!"
The lightning bolts hit Stan. "It be like that sometimes." (4600)
"It also be your turn."
"My draw... Now how about a nice welcome back to LV5 everyone." Stan looks at his card. "Now I'll give up my Luster Dragon, the original one mind you and activate my dragon's ability. Now go my dragon, use your ability to rid the field of Rampart Blaster... oh, and destroy Sparkman also." The Armed Dragon whirled its arms around as it charged towards the Elemental Heroes. Its spinning arms take out Rampart Blaster and with a follow-up backhand motion of its left arm, Sparkman was gone. (4800) "My dragon just bitch-slapped your Elemental Zeros to the Graveyard, Penelope." Stan said cockily. "I'll level up my dragon now, take your turn." (2800/1000)
 
"Man, is he talking a lot of shit...." said Boss.
"Well, when you have a monster that's 2800 strong on the field and nothing's stopping it, I'd be throwing verbal trash too." said Dexter.
"Stan's talking a lot of it too." added Howdy. "If I was talking that much trash, the garbage man would have to make two runs to get it all out of here."
"If I was a gargabe collector and you had trash like that, I'd only take half and leave the rest for next week." Penelope shot at Howdy.
"Totally roasted." said Sandy. "Come on Penelope, you can still turn this duel around."
Easier said than done, Sandy. Penelope and Stan thought as Penelope drew her card.
"This is a close duel." said Maxwell.
"Not for long." said Jam.
"I have no choice..... I end my turn." Penelope said with disappointment.
"You should never leave me an open field, Penelope. Especially when my Armed Dragon is at this strength." Stan took his card. "Armed Dragon, attack."
 
The Armed Dragon lauched its attack, hitting Penelope and sending her to the floor (2000). "Wow, Penelope can't take another one of those." said Oxnard.
"I'll set this number face down and I'll end my turn." said Stan.
Penelope drew her card, I can buy a little time with this. she thought.
"Unless you got a monster to pull out, it's gonna be over on my next attack."
"I'm not done yet." Penelope told Stan. "I'll set this face down and end my turn."
"That's too bad." Stan drew his card. "Time to finish this Armed Dragon, attack now." The Armed Dragon launched its attack.
"I told you, I'm not done yet. Reveal my Scapegoat." Penelope's beast token appeared before her.
"Not a bad play, too bad my Dragon's Rage denies you of your save."
"Aw, crap."
One of the Scapegoats was soon destroyed after it was attacked by the Armed Dragon. "And that trap means that Stan's Armed Dragon still does damage, meaning game over." said Cappy as if he were a commentator.
"Yeah, sweet justice never felt so good. It's like eating a candy coated pumpkin seed." said said in delight.
"So you beat me, are you gonna come off of cloud nine now?" Penelope pouted.
"Now I didn't say that after you were a spoiled winner against me."
"Regardless, it's still a good duel." said Maxwell.
"I'll say, and when that Special Hurricane came out with those sweet effects, I was impressed." down comes Pepper from the slide.
Oxnard ran up and gave her a bear hug. "Pepper, how are you, when did you get here?" he asked withecstatic euphoria.
"Getting... hard... to breathe... Oxnard."
"Oh, sorry."
*
"So Pepper, what brings you to the Duel House today?" asked Boss.
"Duel House, huh? Nice name of the place, but I guess that was only a matter of time." said Pepper.
"It's so good to see you again." said Sandy.
"Well thank you kindly."
"No problem."
"Back to the question at hand, what brings you here?"Boss decided to repeat.
"Well, I brought something you hams might wanna look at." Pepper asnwered.
"Gather around everyone, Pepper has some new cards." said Cappy.
All the hams took a seat and were practically bombarding Pepper over what she had to show. "Now now, it's not new cards, y'all." she explained.
"Oh, well I'm off to my room." said Stan.
"But if you leave, you won't know what's up on the new format."
Stan stopped and returned to his seat. "New format you say?"
"That's right, y'all."
"Well if that's the case, lemme take the old one down." said Maxwell as he removed the list. "Okay Pepper, the floor is yours."
"No the floor is for everyone." said Pepper.
"That was a bad joke." said Howdy.
"And you still keep making 'em."
"Ah, that makes two roasts today, Howdy." said Jam.
Pepper puts the new card list up for all the hams to see. "This list is effective as of September 1st, 2006 partners." she said.
Boss took a look at the list and was furious. "No! Not fair, that's not fair at all, what an outrage!" he yelled and started protesting.
"Hey, don't get mad at me, Boss. If you have any opposing words, take them to Pegasus J. Crawford." said Pepper.
"I can't believe they banned Snatch Steal." said Dexter.
"Now I see why Boss is so upset, two of his seven powerful spellcaster are now banned." said Hamtaro.
"So Thousand-Eyes Restrict is banned, he still has Relinquished." said Howdy. "So he lost one spellcaster and another one was downgraded."
"They banned Tsykuyomi?" questioned Sandy. "They should've banned Otohime."
"What does Otohime do?" asked Cappy.
"Let's see..." Sandy looks into her cards and pulls it out. "Like Tsukuyomi, Otohime is a spirit monster, but instead of changing a monster face down like Tsukuyomi does, Otohime changes the monster's battle position."
 
"That's boo boo, Nobleman of Crossout is down to one card only." said Hamtaro.
"That's fine by me, since I only have one in my deck." said Sparkle. "They put the Magician of Faith back to one only, which is good in my opinion. Two of those things are annoying."
"Hey look at that, the Ring of Destruction is back in play." said Jam.
"That makes sense, since it was bound to happen anyway." said Maxwell.
"Why do you say that, Max?"
"it Gives the Ring of Defense more of a purpose rather than being valuable."
"Oh, they messed up." said Stan.
"Why do you say that, Stan?" asked Howdy.
"Lightning Vortex is a free card now."
"Heke?!"
All the hams turned to see that, and it was true. Cheering soon ensued, and even some high and low fives were exchanged. "Oh yeah, Lightning Vortex is limitless." said Howdy.
"It is on like corned beef and cabbage." said Stan.
"Open season on Lightning Vortex," Snoozer said as her turned onto his belly, "here come the Vortex Rapers."
"Man, people are gonna abuse the free use of Lightning Vortex." said Dexter.
"Hey Boss, you have any spare Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell trap cards?" asked Jam.
"I'm using every last one of them." Boss answered.
"Crud."
"Well we thank you for the lovely updating of our decks, Pepper. We're much obliged for it." said Maxwell.
"Anytime, y'all." said Pepper.
"And where is your deck at?" asked Sparkle.
"Deconstructed. I have to readjust a few things to fit the new deck list, so I just broke it down and decided to rebuild it." Pepper answered.
"Yeah, deck changes are gonna need to be made." said Hamtaro.
"I don't need to change much, but I will make some additions however." said Panda.
====================================================
 
And so ends another chapter. I also have to explain a couple of things:
1) I had Stan and Penelope go through that because I actually picked up a Dark City spell from the box that I bought and I misread it. My badt to all the other duelists out there.
2) Dinosaur Ryuza is the original name to the duelist known in America as "Rex Raptor" just in case anyone was wondering.
3) The real name to Maxamilion Pegasus is "Pegasus J. Crawford", which is what he's referred to in the japanese manga of Yu-gi-oh. Sometimes, the japanese names just sound better IMO.
 
Well, I have some deck changes to make, as deck construction is a never-ending process in the duel world. See you next chapter.
 
~_^