Ceridwen versus Strawberi and Warwick FINALE Art by Silly Zealot 2023/12/17(Sun)17:25 No. 1079410 ID: fb32ab
File 170286270814.png - (408.16KB , 628x1000 , Veisar_Engineer_s.png )

“First things first, I will place a card on my spell/trap zone, and then also cast Nope!, which negates any non-continuous effect, be it from a spell, trap, or character, and I will use it to bring back my Mischievous Ratboy”

“Oh, yeah, no more messing with my head, missy. I’m my own rat!” Eugene says, already back in Strawberi’s field and making a mocking gesture at Pesi.

“And will tribute him to summon Veigar, the Engineer in defense mode.”

“Why, you sleazy, two-faced-” the viridian vermin starts, before Veigar’s card falls on top of his, unceremoniously replacing him with the equally green gard.

Gard is what these aliens are called, by the way.

[Veisar, the Engineer, 6 stars, Type: Alien, 1600 ATK, 1300 DEF]

“Veigar’s special ability is that, once per turn, he can bring back one equipment card back from the graveyard to my hand, which I’ll use to reclaim my luxurious and Tantalizing Outfit.”

“Is that ability also mandatory every turn? Ceridwen asks.

“No, but I will have something ready should you try to steal one of my characters again, you ruffian. And speaking of other people’s characters, I will now use the last of the cards I just drew, Starter Gear, on your Mai Terrorscale, banishing it from the game in exchange for sending your dragon back to your hand!”

With a surprised roar, the terrifying figure of Mai Terrorscale shrinks and fades and her card flies into Ceridwen’s palm.

“Wow, alright, I can’t get mad at that. That was kind of an impressive turnaround,” Ceridwen says, arching her brows in bewilderment.

“I take your boorish compliment graciously, my lady,” Strawberi bows her head, palm on her chest and coy smile on her lips, “ and now, I will equip Tantalizing Outfit on your Pesi sorceress to-”

“Erhm, Miss Strawberi, a moment if I may?” Warwick asks, then leans to whisper into what might be Strawberi’s ear.
She whispers in kind and, after a few seconds of back and forth, she nods and turns back to Ceridwen.

“Very well, I’ll withdraw that last move. I’ll save Tantalizing Outfit for later,” she says. Someone in the audience boos.

“So I guess that’ll make it my turn again?”

“Astute deduction, Lady Ceridwen!” Strawberi says with feigned mirth. Ceridwen stiffles a groan as she draws a card.

“Hmm,” Ceridwen looks at her card quizzically, before placing it on the table, “I will put this card face down in the spell/trap zone and use Pesi’s Ritual of Fertility to produce three eggs.”

“Huh?” Strawberi tilts her neck, confused, “Excuse me if I’m wrong, but didn’t the card say that ritual could only happen if there was another character that could lay…. What in.. the…?” she trails off, eyes big as plates.

On Ceridwen’s side of the field, three cheerfully painted Easter eggs stand in line, beside Pesi and Dusty.

“Don’t look at me!” the flustered rabbit spirit says, desperately trying to cover her face with her skirt.

“Sorry about that,” Ceridwen says to the embarrassed creature, “I need those eggs for my next move, which is to tribute them to summon Mai Terrorscale ba-”

“W- woah, wait, wait. Hold on a moment!” says Strawberi, snapping out of the trance witnessing the Rite of Fertility left her in, “You.. you just activated my trap card! I activate Noble’s Kidnap, which lets me permanently take control of a character with 4 stars or less, and cast on one of your eggs!”

“Uhm, alright, then. I only need two to bring back Mai.”

“Ah! But what was your Egg Caretaker’s special effect again?” Strawberi leans forward with a toothy grin.

“...Oh..” Ceridwen says after a moment’s pause, a dumbfounded expression on her face, then begins laughing, “Oh, man. Ha ha, that’s a good twist. Hee hee. Oh, I’m really not having a good day, am I?”

She puts one hand over her snout to cover her giggling, while shuffling Dusty’s card to her opponent’s side of the field with the other.

“Brilliant move, Miss Strawberi! Using Dusty effect-deflecting against her was a splendid strategy!” Warwick quips enthusiastically.

“Why, indeed! It was only a matter of time before I drew the right card to take advantage of such a double-edged ability!” she answers pleasedly.

“Hee hee, yeah, I guess I should have seen it coming, ha ha,” Ceridwen chuckles again. Then the chuckles stop, replaced by an icy glare, “but it’s still my turn and if that’s how you are gonna play after calling me a thief…” she says in a dead serious tone.
An instant later, the glare fades. Her face shifts into a determined smile. The dimmed lights return to normal.

“I’ll still tribute two eggs to bring back my One Dragon Army, and I will bring it bearing down on your engineer Veisar!”

The two eggs banish and Mai’s crimson-scaled form looms once more over the field, Veisar’s four eyes all turn upwards to face his doom. He gulps and lifts his drill to shield himself from the ensuing flames, to no avail. A pile of ash lingers for a moment before it too fades into nothing.

“That will be the end of my turn. I’m still keeping the last egg, instead sacrificing it for life points. I might need to tribute it in case you want to send one of my characters away again, you never know.” Ceridwen says, crossing her arms and squinting at her two little adversaries.

Ceridwen versus Strawberi and Warwick FINALE Art By Himitsu 2023/12/17(Sun)17:27 No. 1079412 ID: fb32ab
File 170286286554.png - (199.98KB , 628x1000 , Biggering_s.png )

“Hmph! You’ll see I won’t be needing such subterfuge again to deal with the likes of you!” Strawberi harrumphs as she reaches for her deck. Laying eyes on the new card in her hand, her frown turns into a wide smile as she lets out a self-congratulatory laugh, “Ah hah hah hah hah hah! It seems our duel has finally come to an end, my persistent rival. You’ve proved a fiendish foe, but every fiend is ultimately defeated by a… work of…” She starts trailing off.

“A noble cause?” Warwick offers.

“That’s right! A noble cause, and a noble’s ability to call her troops at..” she says as she plays the spell card in her hand, “... Atten-shun! This spell card makes all characters on either side of the field to shift all together into the same position, so I will now turn your remaining egg token into attack position to match your Terrorscale Dragon AND use Tantalizing Outfit on it!”

As Strawberi places the card on the egg, the Tantalizing Outfit manifests loosely yet ever dashingly over it. An audience member boos again. Another cheers wildly.
“And now that your humble little egg is the center of attention, I can attack it and do away with your remaining life points! And how fitting that your own character, the Egg Protector, should be the one to do it,” Strawberi’s smile shifts from coy to cruel as she looks down at the field, where impotent tears began forming on Dusty’s eyes. Raising an arm, the pink princess gives the command “Dusty, finish this!”

“No,” says Ceridwen calmly, resting her head on her hand.

“Huh? Why not?” replies Strawberi indignantly.

“Because Nope!” replies Ceridwen, revealing the card on her spell and trap zone…

A copy of the Nope! trap card.

“What?!” say Warwick and Strawberi in unison.

“Yeah, I had a couple of these in my deck,” says Ceridwen nonchalantly.

“Liar!” Strawberi exclaims, “you must have seen mine and decided to copy me, somehow!”

“What are you talking about? It is a very handy card, why would I not have one with me?”

“It’s still a totally copycat move!”

Ceridwen rolls her eyes, irritated, “Well, whatever! I’m using it to break your Noble’s Kidnap trap and get Dusty back!”

“That card can counter continuous effects!”

“Continuous spells stay on the field. That was a one time effect, and the card used is now in the graveyard. It’s a valid move.”

“It’s true, taking control of an opponent’s character with a single-use card, even if indefinitely, does not count as a continuous effect,” Tianna says, perched above the players.

“No!” Strawberi protests futilely.

“And now that you have no more cards on your field, or hand, I believe your turn is over,” Ceridwen continues, as impavid as before.

“Y- you- you toyed with me!” Strawberi cries, standing up in her seat.

“It’s a card game, it’s only natural to adopt a poker face sometimes,” Ceridwen replies with a shrug.

“Y- you- you can’t do this to me! You are a blackguard! A cheater! A- a- AN ASSHOLE!”

“Wow, uhm.. Ouch?” Ceridwen says furrowing her brow, before shrugging again, “Anyway, I’ll draw a card now….Huh, I guess I can use this one,” she says before playing the card, “I cast Biggering: a spell card that makes one of my characters occupy 2 slots on my character zone, but doubling their ATK and DEF points for turn, or indefinitely in exchange for occupying 3.”

“N-now you are just being petty!” Strawberry says.

“Look who’s talking,” replies Ceridwen, before turning her gaze downwards, “Dusty, do the honors.”

Ceridwen versus Strawberi and Warwick FINALE Art By Donut 2023/12/17(Sun)18:16 No. 1079416 ID: fb32ab
File 170286581758.png - (17.77KB , 500x500 , Strawick v Ceri Finale.png )

Everyone present came to know something new that day:

The audience knew what it was to see a bunny woman in a french maid uniform growing several times her size, so big as to make the table beneath her creak with strain, before lunging forward with a bestial roar.

Strawberi knew what it was like to be punched in the face, hard enough as to send her seat tumbling backwards to the floor.

And Warwick knew what it was like to feel shocked enough to drop all his lady’s luggage to the floor completely dumbfounded.

“Miss Strawberi! MISS STRAWBERI! OH, HEAVENS ABOVE, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!” He screams, rushing to his charge’s side in a split second. Amidst the exclamations, cheering, and cackling from the crowd, two other figures rush to their side.

“Ow, ow ow! That hurt! That actually hurt! I’ve struck! I’ve been wounded! Someone please, fetch a physician!” Strawberi mewls and hollers.

“Uhm, Lady Strawberi...” Genevieve says once she reaches the pair, “The game’s apparitions can’t cause actual harm, only a brief sensation of it.”

“It still hurt!” the little noblegirl says, then points a finger towards Ceridwen, “she is a dangerous criminal. She struck a member of nobility! Someone arrest her!”

“Wow, wow, relax gi- err, lady,” says Conway, raising his arms in an appeasing fashion, “I don't think we are in a country or, um, jurisdiction where that is considered worthy of jail time. And besides, like Gevieve says, no real harm was done!” He shrugs, smiling confidently.

“Ow, ow, my pride!” Strawberi moans.

Still sitting at the table, Ceridwen takes in all this without a word, calmness still etched on her face.

Then a smile briefly breaks the edge of her mouth with a twitch. A moment later, it twitches again, and again, until a wide grin is etched on her face from ear to ear.
Suddenly, she stands up, raising her fists and knocking the table and all it carries to the floor.

“I won! I WON! I can’t believe it! Ican’tbelieveit!” She exclaims, spinning and jumping around the chairs and littered cardboard pieces, “Iwassonervous IthoughtIwouldnotbeabletokeepthewholestoicthing togetherandshewouldseewhaIwasdoing andshewouldcounteritagainandsteal morecardsbecauseImusuallysoclumsy atlyingandkeepingastraightfacebutshe couldnttellIwaspretendingsoshewentalong andIbeatherandIactuallywonanotherduel andImgoingtothe quarterfinalseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEH!”

“What is she even rating about?” Strawberi asks, finally standing up as Warwick offers her his hand.

“I think she is just really happy she won,” says Genevieve, not knowing whether to feel amused or annoyed at the absurdity of it all.

“Hmph! There truly is no justice when a vile bigrand like her gets to celebrate over such travesty!”

“I’m just glad you are unharmed, Miss Strawberi,” says Warwick, patting her comfortingly, not quite daring to hug her, despite his relieved expression. “To be honest, we got pretty close to winning! And there was no way to tell whether she would pull something out to counteract your brilliant combo.”

“Yeah, that was an amazing last few moves you guys pulled,” says Conway with an encouraging fingergun, “you kept throwing all kinds of effects and countereffects, I could barely even keep up! Kind of a shame that lady pulled one of her own at the last second, really.”

“Yes. All things considered, it was a very good duel and there was no shame in how it came to end,” Genevieve adds reassuringly.

“Hrmph…I’m still not happy about it, but…thanks, I… appreciate your plebian assurances.”

“Yes, don’t mention it,” says Genevieve with a mildly amused expression.

“I also appreciate your advice from earlier, “Strawberi says hesitantly, “Futile though it was, it did help us stay in the game a while longer.”

“You are welcome,” replies Genevieve, now showing a genuine smile, “It was a pleasure watching you play, honestly.”

“Hey, this was a fun game overall, right?” Conway says, “Speaking of fun games, what say we go play a bit at the penny arcade the dimensional portal over? Or, wait! It’s almost time for lunch, right? We can hang out in the food courtyard outside the main atrium and order something. My treat.”

“Thank you, Mr. Conway,” says Genevieve, “But I wouldn’t want to take advantage of someone I’ve just met. I’ve plenty of money to pay for my own meal.”

“Please, I insist. I have enough money to spare and you guys look like you could use some cheering up,” Conway replies, with gestures as wild as his ever-present smile, “and just Conway is fine.”

“Well, in that case, thank you kindly, Conway.”

“Anytime!”

“Hey, uh…” Ceridwen waves her hand towards the quartet, her expression turning apologetic, “I, uh, couldn’t help but hear what you were saying… Sorry for playing coy at the last moment, but I needed to do it if I wanted to stand a chance at beating you. Can I come have lunch with you as well? You don’t have to pay for it or anything, I just want to hang out with you a bit, you seem like nice guys,“ she gives a shy smile, then frowns slightly, “Well, most of you at least.”

As Ceridwen finishes making her request, all eyes silently turn to look at Strawberi.

“...I suppose I can be magnanimous and forgive your earlier slight, given your present groveling. Mind you, I still think you are miscreant, but never be said that Lady Strawberi Sugarplum is not gracious in defeat!” she proclaims.

“Good enough for me!” Conway shrug merrily, “ let’s go get some grub.”

“Yeah, I’m starving!” Says Ceridwen.

“Very well, then,” says Strawberi, “Onward to the luncheon courtyard!”

“Ooh, could I have some scones for dessert, my lady?” Warwick asks.

“No. Also, pick up my things.”

“Aw.”

[Ceridwen Wins!]

Serah 2024/01/01(Mon)16:28 No. 1080180 ID: fb32ab
File 170415528488.png - (24.58KB , 610x717 , SvR1.png )

Serah examines her sideboard smugly. Her character cards are fantastic, and she's fairly certain she's figured out how to best utilize all her fairies with the Link mechanic. Extra decks are so useful!

Serah is confident that her opponent, Princess Reefa, will continue to use clothing-based Equip spells. Serah's Taranis, Clothing Thief card as well as his accompanying Raelynn, Elven Exile will be her aces in the hole. Of course, Dotti and Landi will return.

Who else does she bring in for this match?

Nominate one character from Donut's quests to cameo in a card. No card design necessary; just pick a character.

We need a good fighter.
How about...

NACHA!

Oh wait, that means I can say... Tineola!

Go with Petra! Dotti will fight harder to protect her

As much as I wanna say Ginerva, we are STARVING for Elaine content.

Card for Elaine:

Elaine, Mendicant Druidia
****
800 ATK
1200 DEF
When played, Elaine is given a Mendicant counter, which prevents her from obtaining any equipment or stat boosts directly from an effect on her side of the field, but increases her ATK and DEF by 50%.
However, when an equipment item or stat boost is redirected from the opposing side to any character on her side, the Mendicant counter is removed. If this would remove all Mendicant counters, then Elaine, Mendicant Druidia can take the equipment or stat boost for quadruple the effect for one turn. When the turn ends, remove all equipment and stat boosts on Elaine, Mendicant Druidia and give her X+1 Mendicant counters, where X was her previous maximum number of counters, with an appropriate boost to ATK and DEF.

The gnome mage that helped Dotti fix her issues! He needs more love!

Serah v. Reefa Pt. 1 Art by Buckwheat 2024/01/14(Sun)19:08 No. 1081036 ID: 75b262
File 170528813320.png - (385.04KB , 500x500 , Reefa.png )

This duel allows NSFW cards.

Serah spies a masked fighter bunny on a spell card, Change of Heart with the effect Target 1 monster your opponent controls; take control of it until the End Phase. She saves it for later, as well as a character card with a robed minotaur-gazelle girl. Petra, Devoted Mother is in her deck too, and its effects synergize with Starving Fox and Dotti, Trash Fox. Targeting Petra with any card effect or battle phase is a bad idea when Dotti’s on the field.

Satisfied with her cards, Serah heads to the arena in front of the bleachers slowly filling with defeated duelists. Her opponent resembles a dragon, with the bearing of royalty and the garb to match. Serah introduces herself first, as is only proper.

“I am Lady Serah Kensington, Heir Countess of Kensington,” she says, giving a low curtsy.

“I am Reefa Multero, Princess of Terroth,” she says, not curtsying in return, but instead giving a warm smile, befitting her station. A princess will only defer to the King or Queen. Anything more would be unflattering to the nation’s dignity. “It does your House credit to advance in these games. Nobility such as ourselves must rise to the occasion, to inspire our people.”

“Quite right, your Highness,” Serah nods. “I strive to be a beacon of pride in my adventures, and I hope our duel here will be a sporting affair.”

“Splendid.” Reefa smiles even wider. “I’m something of an adventurer myself, you know.”

“Truly?”

“I go on many adventures with my entourage. Allow me to introduce you!”

Reefa raises her card and draws the character card Sir Garrin. Serah counters with Jekster Terrorscale, Half-Dragon Jester, whose ATK is less than Garrin’s.

“I go first,” Princess Reefa says. “As is my right.”

“Indeed.”

There’s the sound of a kangaroo gagging in the bleachers.

Serah v. Reefa Pt. 1 Art by Lonelyworld 2024/01/14(Sun)19:10 No. 1081037 ID: 75b262
File 170528821859.png - (646.82KB , 628x1000 , Tawny_Lanix_s.png )

Princess Reefa begins the duel by primly normal summoning Tawny Lanix.

[ Tawny Lanix, Beast-Cleric-Type, Level 4, ATK 1000, DEF: 1000 ]

“Sister Tawny, it is good to see you again,” Reefa says. “I should so love to hear your teachings this day.”

“What is a lesson without a congregation?” Tawny says. “On your next turn, we will be joined with my flock. Patience is a virtue, my dear.”

“If Sister Tawny is equipped, her effect triggers that once per turn during my Standby Phase, I may Special Summon from my deck any character that is equal to or less than Sister Tawny’s level.”

“A tutor card,” Serah says. “I expect you’ll be equipping her, then?”

“How ever did you know?” Reefa gives a Cheshire grin and plays Ballroom Best.

Serah v. Reefa Pt. 1 Art by Lonelyworld 2024/01/14(Sun)19:11 No. 1081038 ID: 75b262
File 170528826196.png - (514.62KB , 628x1000 , Ballroom_Best_s.png )

Ballroom Best: Equip Spell. The equipped character gains 1 level. Once per turn, the equipped character cannot be destroyed by battle or by card effects. If this face-up card on the field is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard: You can target 1 character you control; equip this card to that target. You can only use this effect once per turn.

Ballroom Best on Sister Tawny is a huge problem if not addressed right away. If not removed, that fabulously fashionable outfit will allow Reefa to special summon a level 5 or lower monster from her deck, every one of Reefa’s turns! She can set up any combo she wants!

Not only that, but even if Serah destroys Ballroom Best, it comes right back once per turn. She has to remove it twice!

Finally, Reefa places a card face-down in the spell/trap zone and ends her turn.

Serah v. Reefa Pt. 1 Art by tippler 2024/01/14(Sun)19:11 No. 1081039 ID: 75b262
File 170528829226.png - (109.92KB , 502x800 , Free Art.png )

Serah draws her card and examines her hand. She immediately plays Free Art.

When this card is activated, perform a Link Summon using this card as material. You may treat this card as being up to 2 Link Material for the Link Summon of a character. If this card is sent to the Graveyard for the Link Summon of a character, you may set it to your field face-down. If 3 standby phases have passed since setting this card to the field, you may treat this card as up to 4 Link Material for the Link summon of a character. You may only use each effect of Free Art once per turn.

Basically, Free Art, allows Serah to skip summoning Landi, Party Animal and go straight for her stronger fairies like Ellie the Librarian or even Sunshine, Dungeon Master if she waits a few turns. It also lets her Link Summon a fairy during Reefa’s turn if needed.

Serah can only normal summon one monster, and she has two: Starving Fox and Taranis, Clothing Thief. She doesn’t have any protection or negation in her hand.

She ponders her options.

1. Summon Starving Fox face-down in defense mode and play it safe, knowing that if Reefa attacks, it’ll help summon a trash fox later.
2. Play Taranis, Clothing Thief to use his special effect to try and swipe Ballroom Best from Tawny. However, if Reefa placed something to remove Taranis or protect Tawny from his clothing-stealing attack, Taranis and his paltry 800 Attack will be vulnerable to Tawny’s counterattack, since he has to be in attack mode to use his effect.

Or Serah could play dirty and choose option 3:

3. Choose 1 (safe) or 2 (risky), and then also play the field spell card Clothing Damage Quest. Serah will be dragging this duel into the mud and ruining the dignity of this sporting event, tarnishing her House’s dignity in front of royalty and a crowd of commoners… but it will allow her to stop Tawny’s effect from triggering.

Choosing Option 3 is BAD NEWS. You have been warned.

1 and 3. Honor is for corpses.

1 and 3, we ball. Plus, you put the card in your deck. Whatever it's gonna do, the commitment to doing it was made in deckbuilding already. It's too late to change course and not go with it.

2 and 3

2 and 3! go big or go home!

>>1081039
Only 2. I'll listen when Tippler says 'don't'.

Do not do 3. Firstly, because of this. >>1081047
Secondly, because this kind of stuff is what you should bait your opponent into doing, not do yourself.

2, I've learned my lesson of not listening to advice

Dignity is a foolish thing for people who don't mind losing! Go big or go home!

2 and 3!

Only 2.

>>1081039
2.
&
3.

3, option 2. Go big or go home.

Serah v. Reefa Pt. 2 Art by Himitsu 2024/01/19(Fri)18:03 No. 1081401 ID: 75b262
File 170571618184.png - (374.59KB , 628x1000 , Clothing Damage Quest s.png )

Drafting a card like this is one thing, but playing it is another. Serah gulps, realizing she’s about to play an incredibly lewd card in front of royalty.

“Eyes on the prize,” Serah whispers to herself. “It’ll all be worth it.”

“Are you talking to yourself already?” Princess Reefa asks. “Did you not draw what you wanted? This best-of-one format does have the risk of some quite dull outcomes; I would question the hosts about their tournament setup, but some of their justifications will be, I suspect, for the birds.”

“Aww,” mumbles the blue bird in the rafters. Their flaming companion gives them a pitiful pat on the back.

“I know what I need to do,” Serah says. “I’ll stop your combos before they start, no matter what. I’m going to win, and I beg your forgiveness for what comes next. I’m sorry for what I’m about to put your summoned companions through, but they are my opponents.”

Serah summons Taranis, Clothing Thief.

[Taranis, Clothing Thief: 3 stars, Type: Bird, Attribute:Wind, 1100 ATK, 1000 DEF]

When Taranis, Clothing Thief declares an attack, he may negate that attack and instead choose one target Equip Spell attached to one eligible attack target and equip it to himself.

“Well, that’s awfully convenient,” Reefa sniffs, examining her face-down card. “Very well, are you going to enter the battle phase?”

“Not yet,” Serah says. “I play… uh… this field card first.

Clothing Damage Quest: Field Spell. Players only take battle damage from direct attacks, and characters cannot be destroyed by battle. If a character is the target of an attack, destroy an Equip Spell attached to it of the attacker’s choice. If an attack target has no spells equipped, place 1 Exposure Counter on it instead. While this card is active, change all face-up characters on the field with Exposure Counters to Defense Position. If the only characters your opponent controls have Exposure Counters, you may attack your opponent’s Life Points directly. Whenever you equip a spell to a character, remove any Exposure Counters from that character. All cards on the field are considered NSFW while this card is in effect.

Reefa gasps.

“Oh dear,” Tiny Sister Tawny says.

A blue bird shrieks.

The collection of defeated duelists lets out an excited murmur.

“HAWT!” Charisse gives a wolf whistle.

“They about to do the no pants dance?” Conway asks.

A tiny eyeless fox snickers loudly.

Serah v. Reefa Pt. 2 Art by Donut 2024/01/19(Fri)18:04 No. 1081403 ID: 75b262
File 170571626158.png - (235.35KB , 970x1309 , SevRe2.png )

“FOUL!” Reefa shrieks. She stomps over to Serah’s side of the battlefield. “Why, is this what passes for a civilized duel where your ill-bred lot comes from?!”

“U-uh,” Serah stammers. “The effects are so good as a stall engine, it’s also a hard counter to a good amount of cards in your deck, I couldn’t in good conscience not include it in my sidebo-”

“You dare speak of conscience?! Don’t take me for a fool! I can figure out exactly what happens when one of my characters is placed into ‘defense mode’ after one of these attacks! You just had to turn this duel into a tawdry tale of burlesque and debauchery, is that it? You lowly, lascivious, licentious, lewd Lady! You shame your house!”

Far above in the rafters, Toffles gives Pan a deadpan stare. “Did you know about those cards? They tend to make messes. Hard to purify. Very unclean. Very annoying.”

“As long as Tianna keeps the youths far away, it’ll be fine,” Pan says nervously. “And, ah, no, I didn’t know we’d, um, contaminated the draft pool. Tianna was supposed to filter out those cards.”

“And how much have you been pushing her buttons lately?”

“A lot?”

“So much that she’d do something she knows you’ll freak out about and doesn’t affect the organization of the tournament bracket?”

“Ohhhhhhhhhh.”

Serah v. Reefa Pt. 2 Art by Himitsu 2024/01/19(Fri)18:05 No. 1081404 ID: 75b262
File 170571630350.png - (193.85KB , 628x1000 , Small But Deadly s.png )

Serah clears her throat and tries to look as small as possible, which is unfortunately not that small at all.

“I enter battle phase and use Taranis, Clothing Thief’s effect to steal Sister Tawny’s Ballroom Best and equip it to Taranis instead of attacking, then end my turn,” Serah says hurriedly.

Reefa doesn’t activate her face-down card during Serah’s attack, either because of the sheer audacity of Serah’s strategy or because it doesn’t do anything. She starts her turn and draws a card, bringing her hand size up to three.

“I play Tirzaea, Nervous Noble. She has an effect that creates a Suspicious Vial Equip Spell and automatically attaches it to her. Normally,” Reefa seethes, “The Suspicious Vial would enable any combat damage Tirzaea deals to destroy the target it affects. But since you’ve gone and prevented all combat damage with your Clothing Damage Quest, its only use is to let Tirzaea take a hit without suffering the horrid effects of Clothing Damage. Hmf! Well, you’ve made a critical blunder. I go first, which means so long as I summon at least one more character than you each turn, you will never be able to attack me, since I can just use a single monster to place yours into defense mode, no matter how weak mine is!”

Reefa is correct: since all combat damage is prevented and the card is worded only to benefit attackers, defensive strikes don’t exist anymore. All Reefa has to do is win the war of attrition with sheer numbers: an easy feat with her Royal Guard cards that summon two at a time. Thankfully, Reefa didn’t play any of those, but she still has two characters out (Tirzaea and Tawny) to Serah’s one (Taranis).

“Attack!” Reefa orders both her characters. The first strike destroys Taranis’s Ballgown Best, but the effect gives it a second life. The effect re-summons it equipped to him, and the second strike destroys it without being able to be re-summoned thanks to its effect only being able to trigger once per turn.

Taranis squawks loudly at the destruction of his prized trophy, though he has no Exposure Counter on him thanks to the trophy taking both hits.

“You’ve clearly not thought this through,” Reefa says with a haughty laugh. “You assumed I would rely entirely on my mother, Queen Gorgammar Multero, a strong and mighty defender- but why would I even need to, when I can summon many Small but Deadly characters instead?

Small But Deadly: Spell Card. You may special summon up to three level 3 or lower characters from your deck in Defense Position, but negate their effects.

Quick as a flash, Reefa summons Snowpea, Gerbera and Azzeki as her trusty Royal Guards, ready to defend their Princess from the Lewd Lady Kensington.

Serah v. Reefa Pt. 2 Art by Lonelyworld 2024/01/19(Fri)18:07 No. 1081406 ID: 75b262
File 170571642774.png - (879.25KB , 628x1000 , Petra DM.png )

Serah is faced with a dilemma. Next turn, Reefa’s newly summoned characters will overwhelm her defenses. Right now, she has only Taranis, and the card she just drew is Petra, Devoted Mother. She has Alluring Defense as one of the other cards in her hand, which is a defensive trap, and her trusty Solvent Bomb trap that only really works if she’s going on offense.

Serah plays Starving Fox and sets Alluring Defense face down.

[Starving Fox: 2 stars, Type: Beast, Attribute:Fire, 900 ATK, 700 DEF]

If Starving Fox is sent to the graveyard by any card effect, tribute, or other means after hitting the battlefield, I may special summon Dotti, Trash Fox two turns thereafter.

[Petra, Devoted Mother: 6 stars, Type: Human, Attribute:Earth, 1200 ATK, 1700 DEF]

Petra, Devoted Mother can be special summoned by tributing one Starving Fox. If Petra, Devoted Mother is either (1) targeted by any of your opponent’s card effects or (2) is the target of combat, then if Dotti, Trash Fox is on the field, destroy all your opponent’s characters.

Serah has a moral choice to make. She can summon Petra this turn, then in two turns she can use Petra as bait to use Dotti’s special effect and wipe Reefa’s board, eliminating her advantage. However, if Reefa’s attacks destroy Petra’s clothing before Dotti is summoned, Dotti’s effect won’t have the chance to trigger since Petra won’t be able to block due to the Exposure Counter from Clothing Damage Quest. Serah can activate Alluring Defense to protect Petra when Reefa attacks next turn, but it’s not a perfect solution; what if Reefa negates it somehow?

The safest option is to tribute Starving Fox on Reefa’s turn and use Free Art to summon a powerful Link Character and surprise Reefa with its effects However, if Serah does that, then she’d have to tribute Taranis (a powerful ally) to summon Petra.

1. Go big or go home: Tribute Starving Fox and summon Petra, then protect Petra with Alluring Defense next turn and set up for a board wipe with Dotti if all goes well; or
2. Play it safe and tribute Starving Fox on Reefa’s turn to summon a more powerful Link Character, but leave Reefa’s board in a strong state.

1, Summon out Petra. Leaving Reefa her full board might mean leaving her the resources to play through our defenses and make us pay. We need to start cutting through her forces as soon as we can.

1: Summon Petra immediately! giving Reefa more time will just let her play more defensive cards!

1. Look how profanely she displays that slaughtered bird!

1, if only to reunite Dotti with Petra!

Serah v. Reefa Pt. 3 (1/7) Art by Clockwork Seal 2024/01/28(Sun)19:44 No. 1082047 ID: 75b262
File 170649989814.png - (0.96MB , 1200x1200 , hors.png )

Serah decides to play to her outs. In layman’s terms, she’ll play according to the path that will lead to victory, regardless of how rough a journey it will take to get there. Keeping her board wipe will require Petra to be attacked while Dotti is on the field, and if Petra has an Exposure Counter on her before Dotti shows up, then there’s no reason to attack Petra again. Serah decides to take the risk.

“I Special Summon Petra, Devoted Mother by tributing Starving Fox,” Serah says as the little fox disappears into thin air. “Sorry, Dotti, but you’ll have to wait two turns to be reunited with Petra. It’ll just be a little while.”

“Who’s Dotti?” asks the newly-summoned Petra.

“The fox who saved you,” Serah sighs. “From those awful creatures in the woods?”

“Oh!” Petra says. “You mean Foxie. Such a wonderful, fluffy fox; I miss her dearly. She was so precious, letting me pet her soft little tummy and squeaking her little fox squeaks. My children love to hear stories about Foxie. Why, there was this one time I brought along a boy from my village and she chased him away, would you believe that? So protective and fierce, but she calmed right down whenever I brought food. Her favorites were…”

Serah and Reefa exchange a glance. Neither wants to interrupt a Mom Story, so they whisper to each other as Petra rambles.

“Do you intend to declare an attack?” Reefa asks.

“Um, yes,” Serah whispers back. “Taranis will steal Tirzaea’s Suspicious Vial, and once he’s done that, Petra will attack Tirzaea to put an exposure counter on her.”

Taranis nods in agreement, swooping in toward Tirzaea, but not finding the vial anywhere visible. He decides to do some up-close investigation.

“Aaaahh!” Tirzaea shrieks in a flurry of slicing and dicing talons. Taranis shreds her dress, revealing a racy leather set of underwear where she keeps her deadly implements. He swoops in and promptly swipes the vial from the panicked noble as she tries in vain to re-clasp her buckles.

“Oh, dear,” Petra says, her story trailing off. “Is that hoofer clutching the scandalous hallmarks of an assassin, with all that leather and space for hidden vials? I’ll have none of that in my household. Come on, drop those! No leather for you, and no poisoning at the dinner table!”

Though Taranis was the one to strip her of her equip spell and clothes, Petra is the one who applies the Exposure Counter with two swift, firm slaps to Tirzaea’s trembling hands clutching the scraps of her secret assassin underwear. She drops the garments in shame.

Serah ends her turn, leaving Trizaea to deal with her dressing-down and Reefa’s Royal Guards cowering in justified fear of an irritated mother.

Serah v. Reefa Pt. 3 (2/7) Art by Himitsu 2024/01/28(Sun)19:46 No. 1082049 ID: 75b262
File 170650000337.png - (252.08KB , 628x1000 , Oh_Is_This_Yours_s.png )

“I should summon my own mother to deal with this situation,” Reefa muses, “But I hesitate to put her at risk for a second round of clothing damage this tournament. It just isn’t right what you’re subjecting our minions to, Lady Kensington. Your tactics are crude and uncouth, and you’ve forced me to take drastic measures. I’ll have you know I only drafted this card so no one else would see it.”

Reefa carefully places the card so that its image can only be seen for the briefest of moments before she resolves its effect by taking Tirzaea’s vial spell from Taranis.

Oh, is This Yours? Target one equip spell attached to an opponent's character; equip that spell to a character on your side of the field. If you are the owner of the targeted spell, draw a card.

“Why, yes,” Reefa says, drawing a card. “That is my equip card. Tirzaea, I have returned your equipment spell to you, and as such, you may now attack proudly.”

“But I’m still naked,” Tirzaea whimpers.

“Well, then you shouldn’t have chosen to moonlight as an assassin,” Reefa shoots back. “Don’t you want to be a fille fatale?”

“Not like this,” Tirzaea says, holding her vial gingerly while also trying to cover her chest with her golden mane. “C-can you get me my old dress back?”

“When we win,” Reefa replies. “We still have work to do here. Let’s deal with the biggest threat first.”

“That bird!” Tirzaea says with an angry nicker. “He shred my clothes!”

“I said the biggest threat.”

Serah v. Reefa Pt. 3 (3/7) Art by Himitsu 2024/01/28(Sun)19:47 No. 1082050 ID: 75b262
File 170650004799.png - (413.76KB , 1000x1000 , Petra_Stripped_s.png )

Serah straightens up. She needs to activate her trap card to protect Petra immediately after Taranis is attacked. So long as Reefa attacks Taranis, everything will go according to plan, and-

“Azzeki, attack Petra!”

“What?” Serah gasps. “Wouldn’t you rather go for Taranis? He steals panties, you should attack him! He’s a lewd bird!”

Taranis squawks.

“Do you take me for a court jester?” Reefa says. “I made it to the second round of this tournament, did you honestly think I got here by not reading the card text? I know a board wipe combo when I see one, and I’m defusing that bomb now. Azzeki, continue!”

“Oh, goodness!” Petra squeaks as Azzeki swoops in. “Stop that! Keep your mitts away from that clasp, or I’ll- ahh!”

Serah pulls at her blouse strings nervously. This wasn’t the plan!

“Now for the bird,” Reefa says. “Tirzaea, you may have your revenge and pluck that chicken! Go forth and-”

“Uh… time for plan B!” Serah declares. “I activate my trap card anyway!”

Alluring Defense: Continuous Trap Card. This card’s controller’s attack position characters cannot be targeted for battle while there are face-up defense position characters on the same side of the field.

“What is this?” Reefa examines the card closely. “So… you’re forcing me to only attack defense-position characters, which is Petra… and because of Clothing Damage Quest, all combat damage is prevented… and she already has an exposure counter. What good would giving her an additional exposure counter do?”

“Nothing!” Serah says. “So you now have no way of applying exposure counters to my other characters, and therefore no way to deal damage to my Life Points. You should give up now.”

Serah v. Reefa Pt. 3 (4/7) Art by Himitsu 2024/01/28(Sun)19:48 No. 1082051 ID: 75b262
File 170650010953.png - (226.42KB , 628x1000 , Alluring_Defense_s.png )

“Why would I give up?” Reefa asks.

“Well,” Serah says, “I haven’t actually lost any life points yet, and neither have you. Alluring Defense means you can’t attack anyone but Petra, so your attacking is useless while I work toward my win condition. Don’t you worry about losing LP when Clothing Damage Quest is on the field? What if what happened to Petra happens to you?”

“I presume you mean to intimidate me,” Reefa sniffs. “From such a weak position? I think you are bluffing. Clothing Damage Quest says nothing about what happens to duelists when attacked. Do you intend to call a judge to obtain a ruling and find out?”

Serah pauses. She can’t see any judges nearby other than one particularly goofy-looking bird whose name she remembered as Phail Yurr, and she definitely does not want to have that particularly named judge making the rules for this game. She searches for the friend-shaped blue bird and has no luck spotting it.

“I thought as much,” Reefa says. “So, as you say, there’s no reason to attack Petra again… but there’s also no penalty.”

“Wait, what?” Petra clutches her chest.

“Guards! Give this woman more exposure counters!” Reefa orders, and Gerbera obliges with a quick tug on Petra’s pantaloons.

“Hey! Let go of those!”

Petra Exposure Counters: 2

“Go on, you’ve got three more attacks,” Reefa sighs. “Make an example of this misguided commoner and take her boots.”

Petra Exposure Counters: 3

Tirzaea takes a little too much enjoyment in getting her revenge for Petra’s earlier attack.

“Yiee!” Petra squeals. “Oh, you’re so lucky that Usiel isn’t here right now!”

Petra Exposure Counters: 4

“She’s already naked, Princess Reefa. Should we handcuff her?”

“There has to be a tactical advantage to the extra counters, I’m sure of it,” Reefa says. “That does seem lewd, but by all means, please restrain this criminal who dared to lay hands on a noble.”

Petra Exposure Counters: 5

“You, Reefa!” Petra shouts after the deed is done. “I’ll make sure you go to bed without dinner! You’re so skinny, your tummy will hurt all night!”

Reefa ignores the toothless promise from the apprehended criminal.

Serah ducks her head and begins her turn, trying to ignore the sight. She draws a card; and then, right on time, the triggered effect of Starving Fox two turns ago summons Dotti, Trash Fox. The pink-bedazzled Dotti pops onto the field with an excited sniff of the air: Petra is here! At last, her journey is complete and she can live happily with the best, most generous, most loving woman ever, and… and… she’s been stripped and bound! Humans are NEVER supposed to be naked in public, especially not the best mom ever!

“NOOOOOOOOOOO!” Dotti wails with magic and a full-throated animal scream. She tries to jump out of her card frame and cover Petra up, but her card’s border locks her in like a cage. “Petra, I’m so sorry! I couldn’t find you in time to save you from everyone seeing your saggy boobs!”

“It’s not your fault, but, ah…” Petra huddles low to the ground. “You didn’t need to say that so loudly, Foxie.”

“Noooooooooo,” Dotti says very quietly.

Serah v. Reefa Pt. 3 (5/7) Art by Himitsu 2024/01/28(Sun)19:52 No. 1082052 ID: 75b262
File 170650033534.png - (290.58KB , 628x1000 , Consumable_Combustion_s.png )

Serah sets a trap card, hoping to catch Reefa off-guard later:

Consumable Combustion: Trap Card. Any effects in the current chain that would make your opponent gain Life Points makes them lose Life Points instead.

Unfortunately, it does nothing to clear Reefa’s board so that she can strike at Reefa’s LP directly, and nothing else in her hand can summon out enough characters to put Exposure Counters on all of Reefa’s army. Reefa has also played around Dotti’s board wipe effect by putting Exposure Counters on Petra. Even if she's the only attack target now, due to Alluring Defense, there's no guarantee Serah's trap will remain by the next battle phase.

There’s no point waiting any longer to activate Free Art. Serah activates the trap to provide a whopping four Link Material to Link Summon Zinnia, Guardian of Melodies.

[ Zinnia, Guardian of Melodies, Link 4, Type:Fairy, Attribute:Earth, ATK: 1300. ]

Must be Link Summoned. Your opponent cannot activate cards or effects in response to the Special Summon of this character. Unaffected by your opponent's card effects. When an opposing character declares an attack (Quick Effect): You can send this card to the GY. If you do, banish cards from your opponent's field up to the number of materials used for this card’s Link Summon. During your standby phase, you can draw 1 card. You may banish this card from your GY to use it as two Link Material for the Link Summon of a Link Character.

Serah v. Reefa Pt. 3 (6/7) Art by Lonelyworld 2024/01/28(Sun)19:53 No. 1082054 ID: 75b262
File 170650041839.png - (624.49KB , 628x1000 , SolventBombTrap_s.png )

“And now,” Serah says with a grand gesture, “Prepare for my all-out assault! You may have the numbers, Princess, but I have one advantage you sorely lack: fairies! Go, Zinnia!”

“Hey!” Zinnia objects. “Don’t say that so loud, you jerk! My public name is Clover. Do you really want my in-box to be full of spam now that everyone knows my true name? There’s gonna be auto-contractors flooding my summoning line now!”

“Oh. Uh, sorry. I’m just reading what’s on the card. Could you please attack Tirzaea anyway?”

“Hmf!” Zinnia zips over to Tirzaea and gives her a tiny kick, shattering the suspicious vial and spilling it all over the nude blonde hoofer.

“No! My vial!” Tirzaea gasps. “That could have been poison!”

“But it wasn’t,” Zinnia says, as if it was obvious. “Oh yeah, I gotta ask! Do you wanna join my bard companion’s band? He could use a backup dancer with huge boobs. We’re a little short on cash, so we’ll pay you in exposure.”

“I have enough of that now!”

Serah, meanwhile, decides the time is right to set Solvent Bomb now that Reefa’s board is vulnerable to another all-out attack. Next turn, Serah will be able to spring the trap and attack Reefa directly by AOE-ing three of Reefa’s remaining clothed characters with Exposure Counters with Solvent Bomb:

Solvent Bomb: Put Exposure Counters on one character as well as any adjacent characters.

With that and just one more attack from Taranis or Dotti Serah can deal direct damage to Reefa’s LP. Unfortunately, Petra is adjacent to the target AOE, so she’ll be caught in the splash, destroying the very last shreds of her outfit she’s managed to scrape together despite the handcuffs- and Dotti will have a front-row seat to the horror.

Serah tries to remind herself that Dotti, Trash Fox isn’t really Dotti, and that Petra, Devoted Mother isn’t really Petra… but Dotti’s whining and failed attempts to leave her card to go cover Petra up are doing a fantastic job of pretending.

Serah v. Reefa Pt. 3 (7/7) Art by Donut 2024/01/28(Sun)19:54 No. 1082055 ID: 75b262
File 170650045830.png - (158.13KB , 630x1003 , Pride Goeth.png )

Reefa, for her part, has reached the bottom of her well of patience with Serah’s lewdity.

“I have had enough of this clothing damage debauchery!” Reefa declares. “Lady Kensington, you have combined your cards to essentially prevent me from ever dealing damage to you directly via battle. Well, if you shall build an impenetrable wall around your life points, then I shall simply fire my troops right over it!”

Reefa tributes Tawny Lanix to summon:

Lord Lung, Invader of Beta-Earatone: 5 stars, Type: Aqua, Attribute:Water, 1000 ATK, 2000 DEF

You can Tribute 1 character to inflict damage to your opponent equal to half of its ATK.

“Oh, dear,” Serah says upon reading the card’s effect. “But you can only use that effect once per turn, right?”

Reefa smiles.

“...Right?”

“I tribute all four of my loyal guards!” Reefa announces. “Lord Lung, launch Tirzaea (1500 ATK), Azzeki (1700 ATK), Snowpea (1800 ATK) and Gerbera (1600 ATK) straight at this lewd Lady’s life points!”

“Wait, wait, wait! Please don’t shoot, I still need to get a favorable rules interpretation from a-”

Lord Lung flings Tirzaea at Serah, who tears off Serah’s belt and pouch. Serah shrieks, realizing what’s next as Azzeki goes for her corset. Gerbera flies in and seizes her blouse, and Snowpea shreds Serah’s skirt with a skillful strike, leaving her standing in naught but her boots, garter belt, stockings and a pair of woefully undersized panties.

With 3,300 LP of clothes gone, Serah is at 2,700 LP. Less than half her LP remain, and a bare fraction of her dignity.

“No!” Serah wails, covering herself up as best she can. “This wasn’t supposed to happen! Judge! Judge! I need a judge! Clothing Damage Quest card says nothing about stripping the duelists! Oh, where are those birds when you NEED them?!”

“No judge can save you from the consequences of your actions,” Reefa sniffs. “You played the lewd cards, now suffer the lewd consequences. I play Render Unto Chinzebeth and end my turn.”

Render Unto Chinzebeth What is Chinzebeth’s: Each time your opponent Special Summons a character, you gain 500 life points. If that character is Special Summoned from the Extra Deck, you instead gain 1000 life points.

“W-w-well, then…” Serah stammers. “Y-you’ve left yourself open to an attack! I still have Taranis and Dotti, and can summon another character. You’ll take clothing damage too when I attack, with only Lord Lung out on your field.”

“No, I won’t,” Reefa smiles. “As soon as your turn began, I activated Pride Goeth, which prevents you from declaring an attack this turn. I’ll have plenty of time to build up my board again, and remain fully clothed while doing so, thank you. And while I’m at it, why shouldn’t I build my clothing defenses up even more? Need I remind you of the continuous spell card I placed last turn: Render Unto Chinzebeth. Now, if you try any special summon shenanigans, you’ll only be buying me more fancy accessories to wear!”

Serah v. Audience Pt. 1 (1/1) Art by Lonelyworld 2024/01/28(Sun)19:56 No. 1082057 ID: 75b262
File 170650061214.png - (1.48MB , 1256x1335 , Serah_Audience.png )

Sweat slides down Serah’s brow. She’s standing here in a quite compromising position, and things are only about to get worse if Reefa has her way. She has to focus on victory, not her lack of clothes. She takes a deep breath and tries to calm her mind…

“WHOO!” calls a kangaroo from the audience. “Take it off, girl!”

“I thought I would be the only duelist getting stripped today,” Momo adds with an enthusiastic double thumbs-up. “What a delightful surprise.”

“Please don’t look!” Serah says, shocked.

“What’s happening?” Warwick asks. “Miss Strawberi, may I look?”

“NO,” Strawberi says firmly. “Didn’t you hear what the Lady said?”

“Why, Serah, I’m ashamed of both myself and you.” Petra gives Serah a disapproving glare as only a mother can. “Thank you oh so much for giving them yet another denuded blonde to gawk at. You’re not helping prove any stereotypes wrong today.”

“It’s not my fault!” Serah whines, trying to cover herself while drawing a card and coming up short.

If Reefa draws another two-for-one Royal Guard or summons more cheap minions, Serah will be in danger of losing the duel to burn damage from Lord Lung. She prays for a card that will help turn the tables. What kind of card does she draw?

1. Serah draws removal that will get rid of Lord Lung, but it will also damage Serah’s LP- and her clothes, too. This is a terrible option for Serah’s dignity.
2. Serah draws a very strong fairy-themed card that will draw her a lot of cards, but will give her fairy allies a chance to embarrass her further. Can she trust them?

And finally…

Does Serah have the heart to activate Solvent Bomb, even if it will cause Petra to get yet another Exposure Counter right in front of Dotti?

1. We need to get rid of Lord Lung asap. drawback is the loss of all our clothes, but it's a sacrifice we need to make at this point

and go ahead and activate the solvent bomb. don't worry, these aren't real petra and dotti.

>>1082050
I did not expect the quest to use this level of sexual liability.

Oh well.

>>1082057
Screw it, we've already entered "By the Book" territory.

2 and yes.

Option 2, but hold the solvent bomb back.

>>1082057
2. You have a trap card that will spell doom for your opponent if you can summon a bunch of characters, even if you have to sacrifice those characters to summon more.

And yes, if solvent bomb needs to be played, then it gets played. You can talk to the cards beforehand to tell "Dotti" it's not as bad as she thinks.

1: gotta get rid of Lung

with him gone you'll go back to being invincible.

also use solvent bomb! Petra and Dotti can take it

2. We can trust fairies that aren’t Landi, right?

Throw the solvent bomb. In for a penny, in for a pound.

2, We haven't gotten to see Serah dig into the Extra Deck much yet. I want to see fairies, certainly, but I also just wanna see her start Link climbing a bit. Show off some of what her deck is capable of!

Serah v. Reefa FINALE (1/7) Art by Himitsu 2024/02/20(Tue)20:00 No. 1083870 ID: 75b262
File 170848805888.png - (370.09KB , 628x1000 , Material_Cannibalism_s.png )

Serah is in a precarious position. Her board is stronger than Reefa’s since she has Taranis, Dotti, Petra and Zinnia, compared to Reefa’s only monster of Lord Lung. However, Reefa has the potential to deal direct damage to Serah’s LP if she has even the slightest chance to summon more characters.

Serah’s reputation and outfit is already in tatters- she has to end this as soon as possible. If that means putting poor Petra through some friendly fire, then she’ll have to suffer through it. These simulacra aren’t really her friends and compatriots, they’re just elaborate replicas, no matter how lifelike they look. Once they’re gone, they’re gone- unlike Serah herself, who has to live with the consequences of losing more LP. They’ll understand. Right?

Serah draws Summoning Salt, a Ritual Spell that, uh, summons Salt, a great Djinn with 3500 ATK and immunity to Reefa’s card effects. Summoning Salt needs Salt herself in Serah’s hand, plus Moonshine, Responsible Adult on Serah’s field- meaning Serah will have to find a way to get all the way up to a Link-6 fairy. It’s very, very powerful- but it’s very hard to pull off, and prone to interruptions. Thankfully, Free Art and Zinnia both make getting up to Link 6 a lot easier, but if Reefa somehow gets rid of Zinnia, Serah’s work could be undone. Serah decides to keep Free Art set face-down and not activate it this turn- that way, in case Reefa gets rid of Zinnia and Serah’s other characters, she will still be able to get up to Link 6 quickly with Free Art’s 4 free link material.

“Time to climb the link ladder,” Serah says to herself, then clears her throat and summons all her courage to speak up in her current state of affairs. “I send Taranis, Clothing Thief[/i] to the graveyard in order to summon Rocio, Workout Trainer, a Link-1 fairy from my Extra Deck! Rocio’s effect special summons her boyfriend, Mr. Armstrong, from the deck to the zone her link arrow points to.”

“Thank you for the 1500 LP,” Reefa smiles at the activation of Render Unto Chinzebeth. “I think I’ll invest it into a nice necklace.”

“Not so fast,” Serah says. “I activate my trap card, Consumable Combustion! Your 1500 LP gain is 1500 loss instead.”

Reefa’s bracers and her overcoat are blown away from her LP going down to 4500. She grimaces, but knows Serah will be summoning more fairies to gain her life back.

“Now,” Serah says, “I send both Rocio and Armstrong to the graveyard to Link Summon Genice, Ice Djinn, a Link-2 Djinn with 1500 ATK. In addition to preventing you from attacking with any characters her arrows are pointing to, her effect allows me to add Salt to my hand, a Ritual Character who requires the spell Summoning Salt in order to be summoned. And then, I place a card face-down in my final open spell zone.”

“Thank you kindly for the additional extra 1000 LP from your Link Summon,” Reefa says, going back up to 5500 LP. “You’ve so rudely destroyed my overcoat and bracers, but I have plenty of adornments I can put back on. As for that card you just placed… you could be placing the ritual card, Summoning Salt... or you could be trying to convince me it’s a ritual, and instead placing a deadly trap card. Either way, my best strategy is to not play around that potential trap, since you already have another face-down card that could also be a trap. Are you trying to look smart? Because you certainly aren’t smartly dressed. You’re making a fool of yourself, Lady Kensington. Please, surrender now. Spare yourself and your characters further embarrassment.”

“Yeah!” Dotti growls. “Serah, you have to let Petra go! Please, please, please stop using her as a shield!”

“I’m sorry, Dotti,” Serah says. “I would, but… Alluring Defense is a very good combo with-”

“You’re being mean!” Dotti growls. “Really mean! I knew humans were all mean except Petra! Serah, you should be the one tied up and naked! Petra doesn’t deserve it, but you do!”

“Dotti, be quiet!” Serah huffs. “Just attack Lord Lung to put an exposure counter on him right now!”

Dotti is forced to shut up and attack Lord Lung- and Reefa laughs a high, noble laugh. “You silly Lady!” Reefa says, smiling broadly. “You didn’t have to use Dotti to do that. You could have used Clover instead and done an extra 1200 damage directly to me.”

“Ooh, Serah’s tilted for sure!” Charisse calls out. “Get your head in the game, girl! C’mon, put on a better show!”

Serah flushes. “Sh-shut up! It’s hard to focus like this! I… I command Zinnia to-

“Hey! Rude!”

“Ahem. I command Clover and Genice to attack Reefa directly, since she has no other characters on the field to put exposure counters on. Then I end my turn. Ugh!”

Reefa takes 1300 damage from Zinnia and 1500 damage from Genice, bringing her down to 2700 LP, which knocks off the extra adornments Reefa just put on from earlier as well as the remainder of her overcoats, leaving her in a simple purple dress and crown but still decent. Serah wonders if she’s just lost the match with her incredible unforced error, and missed the chance to expose Reefa’s undergarments- she’d lose her concentration for sure.

Reefa begins her turn and smiles at her draw. “Oh, Lady Kensington. You’re not the only one who can play with summoning shenanigans. I’ve just drawn the spell The Termination Orders were Terminated: "Special Summon two level 4 or lower monsters from your GY, but negate their effects.”

“S-so?”

“So I can now play it to Special Summon Tirzaea and Azzeki, who are both Level 4, to use them to Xyz summon Ulric Ikenhart, Nurturing Groundskeeper with 1500 ATK and 2100 DEF. He allows me to draw a card when my hand is empty, and also draw a card when he leaves the battlefield.”

Reefa draws a fresh card and laughs again. “What luck! I’ve drawn Material Cannibalism: “Target one Xyz character on the field. Send all material attached to that card to the graveyard. Then, draw one card for every material sent to the Graveyard by this effect. If this is the only card in your hand, then you may play this card directly from hand (without needing to set and then activate it).”

Serah v. Reefa FINALE (2/7) Art by Lonelyworld 2024/02/20(Tue)20:02 No. 1083872 ID: 75b262
File 170848815563.png - (2.36MB , 1256x1335 , YuGiOhPetra2.png )

With this, Reefa has two cards in hand, and two characters on the field: Ulric and Lord Lung, the latter having an exposure counter. Critically, the counter does not prevent him from activating his card effect; meaning Serah is still in danger of being dealt damage, even through Alluring Defense and Petra, Devoted Mother acting as a shield (with a board wipe from Dotti) and Zinnia, Guardian of Melodies threatening a second board wipe if Reefa declares an attack.

“I will normal summon Noovin Sett,” Reefa says.

[ Noovin Sett: Warrior-Type, Level 4, ATK: 800 DEF: 1000 ]

“Normally, I would Xyz summon my mother, Queen Gorgammar Multero, but in this case with Clothing Damage Quest, having multiple level 4 characters is superior to having one single, stronger character. Once your board wipes are gone, you’re mine to attack with these characters, no matter how weak they are. And with both my remaining cards in my hand, I can-”

“No! No, no, no! No, you don’t!” Serah interrupts. “I activate my trap card, Solvent Bomb: Put Exposure Counters on one character as well as any adjacent characters. No attacks for you, no matter what your last card is! I’ll finish you next turn, and you can’t defend!”

“What?” Petra says, noticing that she’s in the blast zone. “Serah, you don’t have to- Ahh!”

Dotti watches, horrified, as Serah rushes to activate her trap to put exposure counters on Noovin and Ulric… and catches Petra in the blast, melting the final scraps of her barely-there clothing.

Petra Exposure Counters: 6

“Oh, not again!” both Petra and Noovin cry out.

Serah v. Reefa FINALE (3/7) Art by Donut 2024/02/20(Tue)20:03 No. 1083873 ID: 75b262
File 170848820436.png - (307.60KB , 628x1000 , Change of Heart.png )

Dotti lets out an enraged yowl at Serah’s utter disdain for the dignity of her own cards. She curses Serah, stomping her feet, threatening fire and fury, and her undying hatred of someone who would do such horrible things to the best mom in the whole world.

“You… you… horrible human! I hate you!” Dotti says after she’s done yammering, gekkering and yapping. “I wish I was on Reefa’s team. Then I’d show you, Serah! I wish Reefa was the one who drafted Change of Heart, not you, so I could be the one to burn your clothes to ashes!”

“Dotti, shush! I command you to shush!”

“Interesting,” Reefa says. “Dotti, are you certain Serah has Change of Heart in her deck right now?”

“Yeah!” Dotti nods.

“Then I will play one of the two remaining cards in my hand: Lure of Laterna,” Reefa says proudly. “With this spell card, I can name a specific card, and if it’s in my opponent’s deck, I can add it to my hand. I choose Change of Heart!”

Sure enough, a card flies out of Serah’s deck and straight over to Reefa’s hand.

Change of Heart: Target 1 monster your opponent controls; take control of it until the End Phase.

“Dotti, why? Why would you tell her about my deck?!” Serah wails.

“Because Petra’s a better mom than you! You treat me and her and all your cards like we don’t matter. Well, right now you don’t matter! How’s that feel?!”

“Now, to choose which of your characters would suit me best,” Reefa ponders.

“Pick me! Pick me!” Dotti says.

“Are you sure?” Reefa asks Dotti. “You would need to attack your beloved Petra.”

“Oh,” Dotti pauses. “Um… but I have 2500 ATK, and you could throw me and Ulric at Serah using Lord Lung to win!”

“Even if I use Lord Lung’s effect to launch himself at Serah’s LP, that would only do 2,500 damage. She would have 200 LP left.”

“But she’d be naked!” Dotti points out.

“Yes!” a foxy member of the audience agrees. “She’ll be knocked even more off her game. Easy pickings.”

“As much as I would like to take you up on your offer, brave Trash Fox,” Reefa says sadly, “Zinnia is the card that gives me the most trouble at the moment. Her board wipe triggers any time I take an attack, and I can’t remove her with any of my own cards.”

“You can’t remove her at all,” Serah says.

“Oh, I think I may,” Reefa says, and plays Change of Heart targeting Zinnia.

Serah v. Reefa FINALE (4/7) Art by Sarcopholacooda 2024/02/20(Tue)20:04 No. 1083875 ID: 75b262
File 170848829749.png - (594.55KB , 600x810 , serah-small.png )

“Judge!” Serah shrieks. “I need a judge right now!”

A particularly goofy-looking bird flaps down from the rafters. He’s wearing a lanyard around his neck reading Judge Yurr. “Whut seems to be the problem?”

“Princess Reefa just played Change of Heart targeting Zinnia, and Zinnia’s card states: ’Unaffected by your opponent's card effects.’ Zinnia can’t be affected by Change of Heart.”

“Oh, I see,” says Judge Yurr. “Who drafted Change of Heart?”

“Um…” Serah pauses. “Me.”

“Then it’s not your opponent’s card. It’s yours. Zinnia’s not being affected by Reefa’s card.”

“But… but… that can’t be how it works! Come on, really?!”

Not a single member of the audience steps in to defend Serah’s position.

“The ruling stands!” Judge Yurr declares. “Princess Reefa, Zinnia is your royal subject now.”

“Excellent,” Reefa smirks. “Zinnia, would you like to be returned to Lady Kensington’s side of the field?”

“Yeep!”

Lord Lung grabs Zinnia and launches her straight at Serah, causing 650 damage directly to her LP. She also launches Ulric for 750 LP damage, leaving Serah with a mere 1300 LP and just her stockings and boots remaining. If Reefa finds a way to deal just 800 more damage, she can use Lord Lung’s effect on himself to finish the duel and bring Serah to 0 HP.

“And now, I set the final card in my hand face-down in my spell zone,” Reefa says. “I only have Lord Lung on my side of the field, and he cannot defend me since he has an exposure counter. Surely you want to attack me with all your characters, yes? Oh, I hope you do.”

Serah v. Reefa FINALE (5/7) Art by Donut and Himitsu 2024/02/20(Tue)20:06 No. 1083876 ID: 75b262
File 170848836122.png - (38.04KB , 750x518 , CoverupSerah.png )

“Whoo! Go Reefa!” Conway cheers.

“Very nice, Princess,” Selma says appreciatively.

“Justice for the best mom!” Dotti declares.

“Serah’s posterior is modest, compared to her bosom,” Basmati observes. “I did not expect this disparity. Very curious.”

The audience is rooting against her- Serah finds it even harder to acknowledge them now. She’s living a waking nightmare of nudity, and this time it’s not Landi’s fault: it’s hers!

Their disapproval and stares weigh heavy on Serah. Is this how it feels to be a bad card mom? Is there even such a thing? No, that doesn’t matter!

Or does it?

If Serah had treated Petra better, kept Dotti happy, would things have gone better? Would Serah have messed up twice in a row with attack order, and with unnecessarily Solvent Bombing too early, and Dotti’s betrayal leading to Zinnia being launched out of a cannon?

Serah prays for some way to negate Lord Lung’s effect. At this point, all Reefa has to do is summon a character with 1600 or more ATK, and Serah can do absolutely nothing to stop it. It’s all up to the luck of the draw, now. She begins her turn and looks at her card:

Serah v. Reefa FINALE (6/7) Art by Himitsu 2024/02/20(Tue)20:06 No. 1083877 ID: 75b262
File 170848840268.png - (185.45KB , 628x1000 , Ass Day_s.png )

Ass Day: Quick-play spell. Target 1 face-up monster on the field; change that target to face-down Defense Position.

“This card is useless,” she mutters. She has no way to play around Reefa’s face-down card, and if she did nothing, she’d probably lose anyway.

“Don’t worry, Petra,” Dotti reassures the bound woman next to her. “Serah’s gonna lose soon, and you won’t have to be naked any more.”

“Finally,” Petra says. “I’ve spent enough time in handcuffs in my youth; I didn’t expect to have to deal with this again.”

Serah considers using Petra to summon a more powerful Link fairy, but she doesn’t need to, now that Free Art has recharged and is ready to go with 4 free link material. If Petra disappeared, then she would be at risk of getting exposure counters on Dotti. Serah needs all the ATK she can get to chew through Reefa’s healing from Render unto Chinzebeth.

“I send Genice to the graveyard and activate Free Art again to summon Moonshine, Responsible Adult!”

[ Moonshine, Responsible Adult, Link 6, Type:Fairy, Attribute:Wind, ATK: 2500 ]

This Link Summon cannot be negated. You may choose to have this card not be affected by any effect that affects more than one card. If any card effect or declared attack would target Moonshine or any other character that this card’s link arrows point at, you may instead choose a character pointed at by any link arrow to be the target of that declared attack or card effect. You may move counters from one character whose link arrows this card points at to any other character whose link arrows this card points at, or Moonshine herself. Once per turn, you may place a Summoning Salt Ritual Spell from your graveyard to your hand.

“What?” Dotti blinks. “That doesn’t make any sense. Landi’s never gonna be responsible.”

“It’s a lot of work,” Moonshine says. “Dunno if it’s worth it. Way easier to be a lazy fairy.”

Serah’s summoning activates Render Unto Chinzebeth once more, bringing Reefa up to 3200 LP.

“And now,” Serah says, “I activate the ritual card Summoning Salt I placed earlier! It requires me to have Moonshine, Responsible Adult on the field and not Special Summon any more characters this turn, but there’s no way you’ll survive this attack now, Reefa! Even with the 500 LP gain you get from Chinzebeth, you’re done for!”

[ Salt the Greater Djinn, Djinn-Type, Level 8, ATK: 3500 DEF: 2800 ]

Special Summon only. Cannot be affected by your opponent’s card effects. If this card is sent to the graveyard by battle damage, send all characters your opponent controls to the graveyard.

Salt can’t be affected by your cards, just like Zinnia. Um, I mean, Clover. That reminds me… do you have a Change of Heart? I don’t want that judge coming back.”

“Not this time,” Reefa says. “I suppose you win…. Or do you?”

“Stop messing with me!” Serah shoots back. “If I really win, then just surrender!”

“You were the one who played that clothing damage card. Not me. If this round goes on forever, then it’s only fitting that you’ll have to suffer the consequences. If you’re truly committed to ending this, Lady Kensington, then attack!”

“Ugh!” Serah hisses. She’s been misplaying so many times this game, but she won’t be baited again. “You want me to attack with my most powerful card, Salt? No, I won’t fall for that. Dotti, attack Reefa directly.”

Dotti gekkers at Serah, and a cold, icy hand closes over Serah’s heart. Dotti raises her paws to summon fire at Reefa, but then...

“And here it is!” Reefa declares. “The final showdown, but not the one you were expecting. I activate Kalez’s Cunning Misdirection!”

Kalez’s Cunning Misdirection: When an opponent's character declares an attack while they control 2 or more face-up monsters and you control a character: Target 1 face-up character your opponent controls, except the attacking character; change the attack target to it and perform damage calculation, with your opponent taking the resulting damage.

Dotti cackles in glee and lets loose her attack at not Reefa, but Salt! Dotti’s difference in ATK is a full 1000, meaning that if the attack goes through, Reefa will be able to tribute Lung to end the duel!

“Dotti, no!”

“Dotti, yes!”

Serah v. Reefa FINALE (7/7) Art by Sarcopholacooda 2024/02/20(Tue)20:08 No. 1083879 ID: 75b262
File 170848853935.png - (636.78KB , 600x810 , reefa-small.png )

“You shouldn’t be able to target Salt with a card effect!” Serah hisses.

“Attacking isn’t a card effect.”

“Damn!” In the moment before Dotti fires at Salt, Serah makes the only move she has left: “I quick-play Ass Day on Dotti!”

Dotti is flipped face-down ass-up and placed into Defense Mode, canceling her attack and shoving her into a foxhole, with only her tails popping out. There’s the sound of rabid gekkering from inside.

“Oh,” Reefa blinks. “The attack doesn’t go through, then. And… you’re free to attack with Salt and Moonshine, for…”

“6000 damage,” Serah says, raising her arm to blast away Reefa’s remaining LP- and outfit. “Salt, Moonshine! End this!”

Reefa looks at her extra deck for options, her cards fluttering in the wind as the attack hits. There’s no options left, and the attack wipes out both her LP and her outfit.

The light settles after the attack. Both duelists have vanished.

“Oh, my,” Momo motions to Judge Yurr. “Did they both disappear?”

“Gak! They did!” the bird squawks. “They’ve vanished into thin air! This is horrible! Pan will be so upset… Oh! I know! Can you pretend to be a busty blonde to fill in for Serah?”

“Oh, I would be delighted to,” Momo says gleefully.

---—---

Meanwhile, the two indecent hide under the bleachers, huddled under a scrounged blanket.

“I don’t think anyone saw us sneak under here,” Reefa whispers. “Thank goodness for small favors. Did you really have to play that field spell?”

“The combo was too good. But, um, the price was a bit high,” Serah agrees. “Princess, you could have activated Lord Lung at the last moment and stripped me even more,” Serah says, grateful for even the smallest shred of dignity. “Thank you for not doing that.”

“Royalty should always show mercy to the lesser nobility and the commoners. That is the essence of noblesse oblige.”

“I… didn’t really deserve the win, did I? I misplayed. I treated my commoners, um, cards horribly. The audience was even rooting for you by the end.”

“Sometimes one does one’s best and still loses,” Reefa says. “That is, sometimes, also a princess’s duty. To see things through to the end. Perhaps you can seek forgiveness from your commoners the next duel.”

“Oh.” Serah grimaces. “I don’t think I can go out there again.”

“We don’t have to leave just yet,” Reefa nods. “At least, not before we find something to wear…”

[SERAH WINS!]

Enid & Franklin Vs. Charisse START Art By Himitsu 2024/03/31(Sun)17:19 No. 1087558 ID: 056492
File 171193074641.png - (280.67KB , 500x500 , Angy.png )

“Please understand… I’m not trying to discriminate against you for your age. I was actually the biggest advocate for not placing an age requirement on the tournament.” Companionship says. “Although, it was partly required, just due to the different lifespans of all these different species… You two are considered to be adolescents by human standards though, and your culture finds this content explicit.”

The explanation did little to lessen the affronted glares being pointed his way. Companionship withers under their gazes.

“I wanted to keep watching.” Enid says. “I wanted to see what the pretty dragon lady and Ms. Serah would play.”

“I understand…”

“I also wanted to see how other people play, so that I could figure out how I should be playing.” Franklin says. “And watching the holograms was a lot of fun.”

“Y-Yes, I can see how you might be disadvantaged by this…”

“What about their decks?” Enid asks. “We might have to play against whoever wins, right? Won’t it be unfair that they’ll get to see our decks when we duel, but we don’t get to see theirs?”

“W-Well–”

“Actually, that’s if we get to play against them. If we aren’t allowed to look at their ‘adult cards’, then we won’t really be able to duel them at all, will we?”

Companionship shrinks into the floor. “I’m sure we can fix any issues with that beforehand.”

“...If you could have fixed it before, then couldn’t you have also fixed it before this duel? Then we would have been able to keep watching, right?” Franklin says.

“Good point, Franklin. He also messed up during our duel last round with those cards Bonnie had. Gee, it sounds like the ‘biggest advocate’ for children to play in the tournament is actually the one most responsible for us kids not being able to enjoy it, huh?”

“Yeah, I think you’re right about that.”

Companionship is about ready to cry, as Tianna comes out of the arena with a similarly displeased Bonnie. Ever the weakling at heart, Pan immediately seizes the opportunity to take the heat off themself. “Tianna! Wasn’t it your job to filter out the inappropriate cards? What happened?”

Tianna levels them a flat look. “Sorry, was I supposed to do that before the draft, when you kept changing the rules and had me adding and removing cards from all the tables; or during the first round, when I was busy arranging for a replacement duelist after you let the kids play together?”

And suddenly, Pan is right back in the hot seat. The small bird nearly faints under pressure.

In a moment of mercy, Tianna speaks up. “Alright alright, let’s give the dummy some space. Making sure all the cards were age-appropriate was my job, not his. How about this? Between rounds, we’ll put on a tastefully edited projection of the last duel for everyone present, that way nobody misses anything. Would that satisfy everyone?”

The children confer for a moment, before collectively approving her idea.

“Tianna! Thank you!” Pan wraps their wings around her in relief.

“Yeah yeah, you can thank me by getting all that set up.” She brushes him off. Pan dutifully flies off to do just that.

“This isn’t gonna happen next game too, will it?” Enid asks. “You’re going to check their decks this time, right?”

Tianna considers how much of a hassle it would be to censor all cards that have NSFW materials on them. Combing through everyone’s draft pools would take long enough, actually censoring the cards would add a bit too, but none of that even accounted for putting up with any of the adult duelists who had complaints about the change. The whole process just screamed “too much hassle”.

“...Ehhh, we’ll figure something out. Y’know what, why don’t we bump Selma and the masked guy to the end, just to give us a bit more time to prep for that?”

“That would be fine…” Enid pauses, realizing that the change would mean her and Franklin going next. A small pulse of anxiety goes through her, which she brushes off. It’ll be fine. They worked hard on their deck, and now it’s better than it was before. They don’t have anything to worry about.

Enid & Franklin Vs. Charisse Art By Poltergeist Ethanoic Acid 2024/03/31(Sun)17:23 No. 1087561 ID: 056492
File 171193098072.png - (116.56KB , 1280x720 , CCG is now Streaming.png )

…

“You seem worried.” Franklin says.

Enid looks up at him, puzzled. Where did that come from? She was just going over their deck for the fourth time, and asking very reasonable questions such as “What if we don’t draw cards we can play, and lose instantly?” It’s a very real concern, she doesn’t understand why Franklin is looking at her like she’s… freaking out about……

“...Oh. Yeah, I guess I am.” She puts the cards down, handing the deck over to Franklin. “Sorry, the waiting is getting to me. We already registered our deck for the round, so it’s too late to make any real changes… It’s like there’s nothing to do but worry.”

He pats her on the head, as one would to calm down a pet. It calms her down a little.

Eventually, people begin entering the room, filing into the audience stands. Among the wave stands one purple-furred kangaroo, who splits from the mob to join the kids on stage. Her attention is focused squarely on her phone, as she talks to her followers.

“Welcome to the show! For those just joining in, we made it to round 2 of this Multidimensional Duelist Invitational Tournament! Not sure how, considering how bad our original deck SUCKED, but we pulled it off somehow. As fun as it would be to make you suffer through that again though, I’d actually prefer to win and stay in the tournament, soooo we’re taking some advice from chat. But that does mean that if I lose this round, it’s on YOU!”

Franklin and Enid stare at her in bewilderment, unable to make sense of what she’s doing.

“Anywho, you all voted that I should stick with the PLANTIMALs, but you had some very helpful recommendations on how to amp it up! Turns out these guys have had a ton of support over the years, and the newer cards change things up in some fun and powerful ways. A lot of you also recommended adding cards from the Fandom archetype to the deck, as they play pretty well together. Apparently, in the lore–”

“Um… Excuse me?” Enid calls out, catching Charisse’s attention. “Who are you talking to?”

“Huh? Oh, it’s just my stream chat. Gotta keep ‘em up to date, y’know?” She replies, pausing to squint at Enid. “Wait, does ONLYFAUNUS have rules against kids in safe-for-work streams?” She scrolls around on her phone, searching around for any mentions in the terms of service agreement.

“...Franklin, did any of that make sense to you?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

Charisse nods. “Alright, looks like we’re clear, since I put a split in after that last match and re-labeled the stream as SFW for now.” She pockets the phone and extends a hand towards the kids. “I’m Charisse. It looks like we’ll be playing against one another this time. You excited?”

“Yes?” Enid hesitantly responds, shaking Charisse’s hand. Franklin just nods, awkwardly gripping Charisse’s thumb while Enid is still mid-shake, moving his hand up and down with the motion. “I’m Enid, and this is my friend Franklin. We’re playing together.”

“...Aren’t we all playing together?” Franklin asks. “Since you’d say you were playing together, even if you were playing something like Monopoly, where everyone’s on their own team, so it’s more like playing against each other…” His thoughts trail off into mumbles, before he goes completely silent with contemplation.

Charisse chuckles. “He has a point, but I get what you mean. My first round ended quickly, so I was able to catch the tail-end of the other duo versus the dragon gal. Seeing that really made me feel like I was playing a totally different game. Those three really knew how to play!”

Enid giggles. “I know what you mean. This game is really complicated, so it’s hard to know what’s good or not.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty much relying on stream chat to make sure my deck isn’t garbage this round.” She looks off in a seemingly random direction. “Although, for everyone saying it was dogwater, don’t forget that I’m still here in round 2! So you know, it wasn’t completely worthless.”

“Um, I didn’t say it was bad.”

“I know, just talking to chat again. Look, the birds set up a nice 360° camera over there for my stream setup. It’s pretty neat stuff.”

Enid observes the box Charisse points to, feeling slightly closer to understanding, but still quite a ways off. “That’s a camera? So, you’re recording everything?”

“Well, it will end up in my vods when this is over, but it’s setup for livestreaming right now.” Charisse explains.

“What’s livestreaming?”

Charisse lets out a low whistle. “That’s a first. Your parents don’t let you go online much, do they?”

Enid’s face scrunches up. “If your explanation includes other words I don’t understand, then it isn’t helping.”

“Sorry, you got me there. Livestreaming is basically what it sounds like. People at home get to watch what’s being recorded with almost no delay. It’s like… the news?”

Charisse wasn’t sure how much better she could explain it, but Enid seemed to get it with that. Mostly. “So, you’re talking to a bunch of people at home, but how can they talk back?”

At that, Charisse flips her phone around to show off the waves of chat messages being sent in. She couldn’t help but be stunned by the amount, and then quickly overwhelmed by how quickly they went by. “How can anybody read them before they go away?”

“Practice. That, and letting people donate to highlight their messages. I’ll show you more after this duel if you’re interested.”

“I’d like that! Come on Franklin.” Enid pulls on his tail, dragging him back into the moment.

“Oh, are we starting?”

Both parties take their positions at opposite ends of the arena. They shuffle their decks, and both reveal cards until a character comes up.

Charisse: [ Holly-Headsplitter: Beast-Type, Level 7, ATK: 2600, DEF: 2000 ]
Enid: [ Xolotl’rainaxl Shterot, Level 4, ATK 1000, DEF: 1900 ]

Enid & Franklin Vs. Charisse Art By Nalthar 2024/03/31(Sun)17:28 No. 1087565 ID: 056492
File 171193132767.png - (687.78KB , 628x1000 , PLANTIMALS Theme Song s.png )

“Great! I was hoping I’d get to start us off.” Charisse says, shuffling her cards one last time, before drawing an opening hand of five. In her hand is:

Durian-Skunk (Level 2 Character Card, 500 ATK 300 DEF)
Who’s That PLANTIMAL? (Spell Card)
Corn-Quasidragon (Level 4 Character Card, 1500 ATK 1000 DEF)
PLANTIMALS Theme Song (Continuous Spell)
Unceremonious Offscreen Death (Trap Card)

“I can work with this!”

Enid and Franklin draw their cards, sharing their opponent’s sentiments. “I think we can set up a really good board with this.”

Jhonen, The Freak (E) (Level 3 Character Card, 800 ATK 400 DEF)
Piter (Level 3 Character Card, 700 ATK 500 DEF)
GOTCHA! (Trap Card)
Anti-Individuality Classroom (Spell Card)
Perrine (Level 3 Character Card, 200 ATK 200 DEF)

[Charisse: 6000 LP - 5 Cards in hand]

“Can’t think of any better way to start things off than by activating PLANTIMALS Theme Song!” Charisse declares, as a television appears on the field. “Hit the music! (And sorry to those watching at home, but I gotta mute this because it’s copyrighted.)”

Jump back, what’s that sound?
Here it comes, thorns up, roots down
Hot sun, beats you down and makes them tough
Weed invaders, young crusaders: CAN YOU WHACK IT HARD ENOUGH?

Plantimals, Plantimah-als
Plantimals, Plantimah-ah-uh-ah-ah-als

“That’s catchy,” Franklin admits, “but what does it do? I wouldn’t mind if it just played nice music, but…”

“Nah, it’s got a real effect too. Check it: If I don’t control any characters at the start of my Main Phase 1, I get an extra normal summon to use on a PLANTIMAL. It’s a Continuous Spell too, so I can do it again later if you wipe out all my guys.”

“I bet that would be really good if you have Tribute Characters in your deck, huh?” Enid says. “You could get a level 5 or 6 character onto the field in just one turn.”

“You’re not wrong, but that’s not my plan for this turn. I’ll keep it simple, and just stick with two guys. Back to back, I’ll normal summon Durian-Skunk and Corn-Quasidragon!

[ Durian-Skunk, Plant-Type, Level 2, ATK: 500, DEF:300 ]
[ Corn-Quasidragon, Plant-Type, Level 4, ATK: 1500, DEF:1000 ]

A small and spiny skunk appears on the field, looking friendly despite its exterior. Beside it, a dragon-like creature just barely taller than Franklin roars onto the field. Unlike Bonnie’s characters (or Charisse herself for that matter), these seemed far more like actual animals to the two kids standing across from them.

Enid & Franklin Vs. Charisse Art By Himitsu 2024/03/31(Sun)17:29 No. 1087566 ID: 056492
File 171193136551.png - (1.12MB , 1000x1000 , PLANTIMALS Explained.png )

“Do they have any effects?” Enid asks. “We’re supposed to know what they are, right?”

“Don’t worry, I’m not planning on hiding them.” She steps forward, petting her projected creatures. “Durian Skunk applies a debuff to any character who battles it, dropping their attack and defense by 500 until they get off the field. You wouldn’t fight a poor innocent creature like him though, would you?”

“We made fake representations of our friends and selves fight to the death in our last duel,” Enid bluntly responds.

“Oh, well he’s probably dead then.” Charisse moves on, scratching her other beast below the chin. “Corn-Quasidragon digs for treasure whenever he attacks you directly, letting me draw a card.”

“That’s not so bad,” Enid says.

“Well hang on, that’s just their individual effects. There are some effects shared by pretty much all my PLANTIMALS.”

“Shared effects?” Franklin asks.

“It’s like how most of our characters that are tuners can be treated as non-tuners when we use them to summon aged-up versions of them from the extra deck,” Enid explains. He nods in understanding.

“First off,” Charisse starts, “even though their listed type is plant, PLANTIMALS are also treated as Beast-Type characters at all times. Hand, deck, field, etc.”

“Okay…”

“Second, when these guys are destroyed, they go right back to the hand instead of the Graveyard.”

“What?” Enid exclaims. “What does that have to do with being animals that are also plants?”

“I don’t know, I never watched the show. My friend Jackie wanted me to play them, so I can probably ask them…” She types a quick question into her phone, getting a near-immediate response. “Ooh, they must be watching. Hey Jackie!” She waves to the camera.

“Umm…”

“Oh right. Uhh… Whenever a PLANTIMAL gets defeated, they leave behind a seed so that you can regrow them to fight another day. So it’s like that basically.”

“Ohh, that makes sense then.” Enid nods approvingly. “Is that all?”

“One more actually: When a PLANTIMAL is in combat, unless it’s a direct attack, neither of us will take any battle damage from it.”

“I– Huh? What’s the reason for that one?”

“Jackie– Didn’t even have to ask. Thanks bud!” Charisse blows a kiss to the camera. “It’s a game reference. The Kudzu and other PLANTIMALS only attack the PLANTIMAL you have out, so you can’t take any damage until you’ve used them all up and got nothing left but seeds. Except in the most recent game where– Okay, more information than I need right now Jackie, but love the enthusiasm.”

Enid blinks, not completely making sense of the explanation, but deciding to accept it without argument.

“Now, I’m gonna set one card face-down, and we’ll call it there for that turn.” Charisse sets her card, before pointing forward dramatically. “Your turn to show off what your cards can do!”

“R-Right. I’ll do my best!”

Enid & Franklin Vs. Charisse Art By Himitsu 2024/03/31(Sun)17:30 No. 1087567 ID: 056492
File 171193140567.png - (658.05KB , 628x1000 , Jhonen The Investigator (A) s.png )

Enid draws, smiling at the card she’d picked up.

[Enid: 6000 LP - 6 Cards in hand]

“...So, what do we need to do about the monsters on her field” Franklin asks.

“Wait, is it monster or character, because I feel like I’ve heard both used today.” Enid says. Franklin scratches his head, not being sure.

“I mean… I don’t want to call our friends monsters, so… Characters then?”

“I could have sworn most of our cards said monster before…”

Pan begins whistling with complete innocence from the rafters, as the other judges shoot them accusing looks.

“Anyways, I think our goal should be to get at least three characters on the field. That would give us enough to destroy all of her Plantimals, while also dealing some damage.”

“...Won’t this card give us that for free?” He asks, holding up one of their spells. She shakes her head.

“Not exactly, but it’d be a pretty good start.” She nods. “Let’s play it.”

“We activate the Spell Card Anti-Individuality Classroom.” Franklin says, placing their card. “It lets us summon three level three characters with different names and less than 1500 ATK from our deck.”

“For free?” Charisse whistles. “Hey Chat, why aren’t we using that?”

“The summon is free, but there are conditions.” Enid says, while looking through the deck. “The characters we summon will have their effects negated, and they’ll be banished from the field at the end of the turn.”

She shows three cards to Franklin, who nods in approval. “We’ll be summoning Franklin, The Alien (E); Clive, The Antisocialite (E); and Lemmy, The Class Clown (E).”

The three boys in question appear on the field, looking around at the current state of things. “Aw crud, I’m just here to be used as material, aren’t I?” Lemmy asks.

“That is exactly why you’re here.” Enid confirms.

“Am I at least important enough that you’re gonna put my stats in the text?”

“Read ahead and find out. Now, because Franklin is on the field, I can use the effect of Jhonen, the Freak (E) in my hand to special summon him to the field.”

[ Jhonen, The Freak (E), Rapscallion-Type, Level 3, ATK: 800, DEF: 400 ]

“BUSTED!” Jhonen shouts, appearing beside the projected Franklin. “I’d always theorized that if we cut off your tail, your split parts would both regrow. What other explanation could there be for there to be two Franklins in this room?”

Franklin takes a cautious step away from the projections, holding his tail.

“When Jhonen is summoned, his effect lets me see a random card in your hand.” She points to Charisse’s sole card in hand. “You only have that one left. What is it?”

Charisse doesn’t get a chance to respond, as the projected Jhonen bounds over right beside her, and peeks over her shoulder. “The card is ‘Who’s That PLANTIMAL?’! It’s a Spell Card that lets her name a PLANTIMAL character, and reveal the top five cards of her deck. If the card she named is there, then she gets to special summon it to the field.”

“Good to know.” Enid says, while pulling a card out of their extra deck. “Now, while treating Jhonen as a non-tuner, I’ll sync him and Franklin off to special summon Jhonen, The Obsessive (M).”

[ Jhonen, The Obsessive (M), Rapscallion-Type, Level 6, ATK: 1000, DEF: 1800 ]

“Should we use his effect on her face-down?” Franklin asks. The middle-school Jhonen would be able to destroy a face-down spell or trap on the field. Not an unhelpful ability, but Charisse only had the one.

“Hmm… I don’t think we should. She could activate it in response, depending on what it is. She’s probably holding it for when it’ll hit our board the worst.”

“Ohhh, so are you going to–”

“Yep. Now, using Jhonen as a non-tuner again, we’re gonna combine him and Lemmy this time to bump him up all the way to adulthood. Franklin?”

He pulls out the card in question. “Jhonen, The Investigator (A).”

[ Jhonen, The Investigator (A), Warrior-Type, Level 9, ATK: 1800, DEF: 2600 ]

Enid & Franklin Vs. Charisse Art By Donut 2024/03/31(Sun)17:30 No. 1087568 ID: 056492
File 171193143731.png - (64.07KB , 500x650 , Trap Tricked.png )

As Jhonen and Lemmy vanish, an adult takes their place. An aura of confidence surrounds them, as they look across at Charisse’s field. “Hmm, I sense danger on the horizon.”

“I was waiting for you to make something big like that!” Charisse says. “My Trap Card–”

“Won’t activate.” Franklin completes. As he says it, the adult Jhonen stomps his foot down on the card in question, keeping it from flipping open.

“Huh?”

“Jhonen’s effect lets him choose between destroying all face-down cards on your side of the field, or destroying just one. If we choose to only destroy one, then you aren’t allowed to activate the card we target in response.”

The card breaks beneath Jhonen’s shoe, revealing it to have been Unceremonious Offscreen Death, a trap that would have let Charisse destroy one of her opponents’ characters, in exchange for banishing the top three cards of her deck face-down.

“Man, you saw right through me. You kids have got game!”

Feeling more confident, Enid pushes through with the rest of her plays. “I activate the effect of Glum Plum in my hand. Once a turn, she can special summon herself to the field by returning one level 3 monster back to the hand. I choose Clive.”

[ Glum Plum, Rapscallion-Type, Level 3, ATK: 1200, DEF: 1000 ]

A plush doll standing at about Enid’s height appears on-field in place of Clive. She looks around with slight confusion, before shrugging and letting things play out.

“We still haven’t used our normal summon. I’ll use it to summon Piter.”

[ Piter, Rapscallion-Type, Level 3, ATK: 700, DEF: 500 ]

A young energetic boy with silver hair appears, as Enid explains, “whenever Piter declares an attack, he gains 300 ATK points before the damage step. Speaking of which: we’re switching to the battle phase.”

“Piter should attack the skunk, and… I guess Jhonen has to attack the corn one, leaving Plum to attack directly?” Franklin says.

“I completely agree,” she says. “Piter, you go first. Attack Durian-Skunk!”

The sporty boy kicks a soccer ball into the skunk, knocking it off the field. His celebration session gets interrupted by a spray of stench from where the skunk landed, souring his mood quickly. As a result of the battle effects, he’s left at 500 ATK and 0 DEF.

“Then Jhonen.” Franklin commands. Jhonen approaches the Quasidragon with a pair of cuffs, managing to slap them around the corn-beast’s legs and dragging him away.

“And finally, Plum for direct damage!” Enid calls out, spurring Plum to rush forward. The plush girl throws her whole bodyweight into Charisse, winding the roo slightly.

“Geez, I know it’s just a hologram, but still. Ouch.”

[ Charisse LP: 4800 ]

“Finally, we’ll set a card face-down, ending our turn.”

Enid & Franklin Vs. Charisse Art By Nalthar 2024/03/31(Sun)17:31 No. 1087569 ID: 056492
File 171193146892.png - (794.81KB , 628x1000 , Who's That PLANTIMAL s.png )

Charisse brushes herself off. “That was a pretty nice turn. Gonna need a good draw if I wanna do you one better.”

In one swift motion, she draws the top card of her deck and examines it. Her face lights up. “Talk about perfect timing!”

[Charisse: 4800 LP - 4 Cards in hand]

“Let’s start it off with a Sneak Preview!” She says, while activating her Spell Card. “We get to have a nice look at what the top three cards of both our decks are. Flip ‘em up!”

From the audience, Selma clicks her tongue. “That’s pretty lucky. She can’t be running too many cards like that, unless she’s trying to brick.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?” Bonnie asks, sitting beside the rodent.

“Well, knowing the top of your deck isn’t very useful most of the time. Especially since any time you search it for specific cards, you reshuffle it afterwards. It only really matters in specific circumstances, like if you have a card that relies on you knowing what is there.”

“Oh!” Warwick exclaims, catching on quickly. “The card Jhonen revealed before.”

Satisfied with what she saw, Charisse does exactly as the audience had predicted. “Let’s follow that up with ‘Who’s That PLANTIMAL?’! And I know for a fact that Kiwi-Molebeast will be one of the top five cards on my deck.”

Once more, cards from the top of Charisse’s deck begin to reveal themselves. The cards are, from top to bottom:

Fan Backlash (Trap Card)
Author’s Original Ending Plans (Trap Card)
Kiwi-Molebeast (Level 5 Character Card)
Fertilizer Ray (Equip Spell Card)
Banana-Lyluk (Level 1 Character Card, 100 ATK 100 DEF)

“Since I called it right, Kiwi-Molebeast gets Special Summoned straight to the field!” Charisse announces. On cue, a massive beast burrows its way up from the floor onto the field.

[ Kiwi-Molebeast, Plant-Type, Level 5, ATK: 1800, DEF: 1400 ]

“I’ve never seen a mole before. Are they normally that big?” Enid asks. Franklin shrugs.

“I’ve got two effects to trigger now. When my Molebeast is summoned, I can equip any lower-leveled PLANTIMAL monster from my hand to it as an Equip Spell, adding that monster’s attack to it. I also get to chain one of the cards I just sent to the Graveyard though, Author’s Original Ending Plans. When it gets sent there without me having activated it, I can add a PLANTIMAL from my Graveyard to my hand.”

“The ones we destroyed last turn went to your hand though.” Franklin points out.

“True, but my Spell tossed one in there. I’ll add Banana-Lyluk to my hand, and Normal Summon it to the field!”

[ Banana-Lyluk, Plant-Type, Level 1, ATK: 100, DEF: 100 ]

“...Does it do anything?” He asks.

“Nope, it’s just just shitty!”

“Bad language!” Franklin calls out.

The projected Banana-Lyluk falls over pathetically.

“As for my Molebeast, I’m going to equip Durian-Skunk to it, bumping it up to 2300 Attack Points.”

“That’s going to be a problem.” Jhonen mutters, glancing at his own listed attack points.

“Since I didn’t have any characters when my turn started, I get my extra normal summon from PLANTIMALS Theme Song. I’ll use it to bring back Corn-Quasidragon.

Enid & Franklin Vs. Charisse Art By Edmango 2024/03/31(Sun)17:31 No. 1087570 ID: 056492
File 171193149966.png - (878.16KB , 1000x1000 , Perp Podcast.png )

Despite having cleared her field in the previous turn, Franklin and Enid are stunned to see that Charisse hadn’t just set her field back up, but improved it. The strength of her PLANTIMALS’ resource loop starts to set in, revealing the true difficulty of the battle ahead.

Charisse calls out attacks on Jhonen and Piter, using Kiwi-Molebeast and Corn-Quasidragon respectively. Only Glum Plum and a face-down trap remain, as the battle phase comes to an end and Charisse’s turn follows.

“O-Okay, this doesn’t look good, but we still have plays we can make.” Enid says. “This isn’t over yet.”

“Pause!” Charisse calls out, strolling across the field to the children. “Before you start your next turn, can I ask a favor?”

Enid blinks. “Um… Yes?”

“Rad! I was wondering if one or both of you wanted to talk to Stream Chat while playing out your turn? I’m fully ignoring the fact that you’re kids right now, and all the weird legal and social issues that would spring up around that. I just think it’d be neat to get your commentary in the mix, make it more of a collab, y’know? Especially since there are two of you, so hopefully it won’t be too distracting.”

Enid and Franklin share a look. The request doesn’t sound completely unreasonable, but neither of them have ever been in this kind of situation. What would be the best way to handle it?

How should Franklin and Enid handle stream commentary?
1: Enid duels, while Franklin chats
2: Franklin duels, while Enid chats
3: Enid and Franklin duel and chat together

ALSO! Suggest potential stream viewers that Enid, Franklin, or Charisse might talk to next turn.

3. Iraphena calls in!

1. Enid is the best at focusing so she should play. And I am really interested in seeing what sorts of weird conversations Franklin can have with others.


Who is chatting? Grace from DO NOT FILE. She's watching the stream when she is supposed to be working

1) Konda from A Most Holy Quest is in the chat. She's watching the stream on her orb when she should be doing sorcerer things.

2, and it's time for ANGRY DEER WIFE from ANGRY DEER WIFE to show up in chat!

`1

3! 3! and for the third time, 3!

And Raine from Return to Sender joins the chat. She suggest all kinds of ways to sleight-of-hand and cheat under the kangaroo's long, long nose.

Definitely 3, as this enables them to swap roles as needed, if they’d like. As for who’s watching… I second the motion of Iraphena!

Enid & Franklin Vs. Charisse Pt. 2 Art By Himitsu, Arhra, Giant Hat, Magpie, and Sarcopholacooda 2024/04/28(Sun)20:11 No. 1089954 ID: aa9ce9
File 171436031818.png - (1.27MB , 1500x1000 , Stream Chat.png )

Franklin & Enid’s Field:
Glum Plum [1200/1000]
1 Face Down S/T

Charisse’s Field:
PLANTIMALS Theme Song
Corn-Quasidragon [1500/1000]
Kiwi-Molebeast [2300*/1400] (Originally [1800/1400])
Banana-Lyluk [100/100]
Durian-Skunk (Currently an Equip Spell, equipped to Kiwi-Molebeast)

“What do you think?” Enid asks. Franklin pauses, taking a moment to consider.

“I kind of want to understand what ‘stream chat’ is. I could look at her small TV thing–”

“This is a phone!” Charisse cuts in to clarify. The children pause to stare at her like she’d grown a second head.

He shakes his head. “...Well, I’d like to look at whatever it is. Do you think I could duel while you do that?”

“Um, did you mean the opposite of that?”

He pauses, reviewing his sentence in his head with several gestures. “...Yes.”

Enid nods. “Okay, I don’t mind. I kind of had an idea of what I wanted to do this turn anyways, so just leave it to me!”

Franklin accepts the device from Charisse, and after some brief hardware explanations (“Where are the buttons?” “It’s a touch screen.” “They make screens just for touching?”) he’s able to pull up the stream chat and read through messages.

He flashes Enid the thumb’s up, signaling her to start their turn. She draws a card.

[Enid: 6000 LP - 3 Cards in hand]

{ Bored@work says: What happened to the kangaroo girl? }
{ Puffb@ll says: aww just realized this was a SFW stream ;( }
{ LongLongTaillll says: The kids stole her stream, very relatable. One of my boys steals everything that isn’t nailed down. }
{ jackieLantern says: Sh3 pass3d th3 str3am ov3r to th3 mostly-human boy }
{ xXx_DUNG30N_DW3LL3R_xXx says: is that a Housetrapped typing quirk? }
{ jackieLantern says: ~^v^~ Ar3 you a fan too!?!? }
{ xXx_DUNG30N_DW3LL3R_xXx says: O_O yeeeeeeeeees }

Franklin has immediately lost track of chat. Waves of text blow by him without a single word actually finding purchase within his brain.

Meanwhile, Enid is looking between her cards and making a tough decision, She sees a couple different lines she could take, and has to weigh the odds between them. One would get a character on-board that could counter most of what she’s seen from Charisse so far, but if Charisse does have an out then the punishment will be brutal. Still, the alternatives aren’t that much better, and if she doesn’t go for it now then she might not get the chance later.

“I’ll start my turn by activating Anti-Individuality Classroom in the Graveyard!”

“It can activate, even in the grave?” Charisse reacts.

“Well, its Graveyard effect is a bit different, and I also have to banish it and three level characters from our Graveyard to do it. That isn’t hard though, since I can recycle my Synchro material from last turn. I choose Franklin, Lemmy, and Jhonen.”

“Huh, that’s interesting…” Franklin mumbles, while Enid banishes four cards. He notices chat latching onto his comment, and finds an opening to talk to them. “We talked about that effect earlier. It’s great for setting things up, but it has some downsides too.”

Three generic children begin generating on the field, as he continues his explanation. “Instead of summoning from the deck, the Graveyard effect creates three tokens on your field. They’re all Level 3 and Rapscallion-Type. That’s pretty good for our deck, but there’s a catch. Um, three actually. The first is the same as the other effect, the tokens go away if they’re still on the field at the end of the turn.”

{ WifeDeerAngry says: What’s the point then? }
{ dampfeline says: probly to make biggr guys like last turn }
{ Bored@work says: Isn’t that overpowered? It’s a starter that you get two free uses out of. }
{ jackieLantern says: This card was actually 3rrata’d to hav3 that 3ff3ct, to match how it function3d in the anim3. }
{ jackieLantern says: It’s not bad, but th3 only comp3titiv3ly viabl3 d3cks to 3v3r us3 it w3r3 Saf3ty Scouts and My T3ngu Acad3mia. }
{ GloriousWaterWitch says: What were the other two “catches”? }

The last comment snaps Franklin back to attention. “Um, right… The second is that you can only use that effect if you have no characters on the field, or the only ones you do have are Rapscallions. We play a lot of them, but not every character we use is like that.”

{ DefinitelyPascoe says: Does anyone even check card types? Why not just say all your cards are Rapscallions? }

“...Because that’s cheating. There’s one last problem too. For the rest of the turn…”

“...you can only summon Rapscallion-Type characters” Enid finishes. That was the real downside, as it put a hard limit on how far Enid could push their combo. She wouldn’t be able to summon out an (A) character, since their characters all change types when they reach adulthood. “That limits how far my combo can go this turn.”

“Those tokens must be a pretty big boon for your deck, if you’re willing to go through that much to summon them.” Charisse says. “So what are you gonna do with them?”

“I’m going to summon the card I just drew, Lillian, The Athlete (E).”

[ Lillian, The Athlete (E), Rapscallion-Type, Level 3, ATK: 1000, DEF: 1000 ]

{ Bored@work says: is this the one that summons the identical kid? }

“No, that’s what Phillip does. Lillian only has an effect in the hand that you can use during combat, but she isn’t great at starting combos. That’s probably why Enid had to use that spell first.”

{ jackieLantern says: Just want3d to say that you’r3 doing great at this ~^v^~ }
{ Bored@work says: Yeah, good explanations. }

“Oh. Thank you, that’s very nice.” The nice words definitely made him feel like he was doing this right, although a sour one popped up moments later that confused him.

{ EyeSeeAll says: She’s gonna choke. }

“...On what? She isn’t–”

{ EyeSeeAll says: To be clear, I don’t mean she’s going to start choking. I mean she’s going to make a mistake. }

Oh, that made more sense. Franklin knew exactly how he felt about that: Bad.

A few of the other chat members respond to them, but Franklin isn’t sure what to say. He doesn’t want to deny that Enid would ever make a mistake, that would put a lot of pressure on her. He also wants to tell her she’s wrong and dumb though, because Enid is playing totally fine so far.

In the end, he chooses to leave it be, turning his attention back to Enid’s turn. She finishes flipping through the extra deck, seeming to lock in on a series of actions.

Enid & Franklin Vs. Charisse Pt. 2 Art By Himitsu 2024/04/28(Sun)20:12 No. 1089955 ID: aa9ce9
File 171436035186.png - (334.82KB , 628x1000 , Study Buddies s.png )

“I’m going to sync Lillian and one token off to make Lillian, The Amazonian (M)!” Enid says.

[ Lillian, The Amazonian (M), Rapscallion-Type, Level 6, ATK: 2000, DEF: 2000 ]

“What effects does she have?” Charisse asks. “Need to know if I should respond to this or not.”

“Nothing super proactive. As long as she was Synchro Summoned to the field normally though, she can’t be affected by card effects that don’t specifically target her.”

Charisse nods, waving Enid on to continue. “Now, I’d like to go into her next level, but I’m still locked into Rapscallions by my Spell Card. So instead, I’m going to Link off my two remaining Rapscallion Tokens.”

“Link? They have Link Characters in their extra deck?” Warwick exclaims from the audience stands.

“That’s a surprise.” Xerin agrees. “They can only have fifteen cards in their extra deck, and I would have sworn their Synchro Characters were taking up all of that room. Each one effectively takes up two spaces after all, one for the Middle variant and one for the Adult. Even just 7 lines would take up 14 spaces already.”

“It does leave one opening though.” Selma adds, pushing up her glasses. “There are a few good generic Link Characters for the Rapscallion typing, a few of which might compliment their deck.”

“I already know what it is!” Bonnie announces proudly.

The two tokens vanish, and a pair of children sitting at a table with a book between them take their place. “Using my tokens as Link Material, I special summon the Link-2 Character: Study Buddies!”

[ Study Buddies, Rapscallion-Type, LINK-2, ATK: 800 ]

“I activate their on-summon effect! In exchange for sending them to the Graveyard, I can add one Normal Spell or Normal Trap card to my hand. I won’t be allowed to activate that card or any with the same name for the rest of the turn though.” She fans out her deck, starting to search through it.

{ xXx_DUNG30N_DW3LL3R_xXx says: ANY spell or trap??? that sounds really strong! can a card that good be legal? }
{ jackieLantern says: It’s actually on th3 limit3d list at one right now, so it’s fin3 as long as this is the only copy she has. }
{ DefinitelyPascoe says: She should stack the top of her deck for the next turn when she’s finished searching }
{ ~Official_Tsuki@OWO~ says: Remember: Cheating is cool when you do it right, because it means you win! Everybody likes a winner >wO }
{ dampfeline says: nooooo cheating’s bad }
{ DefinitelyPascoe says: It’s not cheating if you don’t get caught }
{ xXx_DUNG30N_DW3LL3R_xXx says: um, i don’t think that’s true }

Franklin looks up, spotting Pan in the rafters. He calls out to the bird. “Hey, is it cheating if you don’t get caught?”

“Yes!”

“Okay, thank you.” Franklin turns back to the phone. “I hope that clears things up.”

Enid pulls out a Trap Card from her deck. “I’ve decided on adding Growth Spurt to my hand.”

“Sounds like a combat trick.” Charisse says.

“You’ll see what it does soon, but not before I deal with some of your field.”

She checks her characters again, putting special attention on Glum Plum. Her eyes then drift to the Kiwi-Molebeast, who Lillian wouldn’t be over to get over this turn. Did she really want to leave Plum in Attack Position when she only had 1200 points? Switching her to Defense would mean Banana-Lyluk stayed on the field, which would be lame if Charisse got another PLANTIMAL character to summon, but even if she didn’t her continuous spell would always let her summon twice anyways.

Nodding to herself, she commits to her thoughts. “I’m going to switch Glum Plum to Defense Position, and then go to combat.”

“Huh?” Franklin blinks.

“You what?” Charisse says.

“Tch.” Selma clicks her tongue. “That was a misplay.”

“Huh?” Enid seems to pick up the confusion her play had caused. “D-did I do something wrong?”

“Eh, nothing too bad,” Charisse assures, “but I think you might have forgotten one of the core rules of PLANTIMALS. When a PLANTIMAL is involved in combat…”

“...Neither player takes battle damage– Ah!” Her head whips towards the field, staring at Plum sitting in Defense.

They were right. Enid thought she was being cautious, but really she’d just lost track of the board state. She wasn’t protecting her Life Points, she was just preventing herself from taking out two PLANTIMALS this turn instead of one! Her Continuous Spell wasn’t even a factor, since it needs her to control no characters to activate, and Enid would be leaving Kiwi-Molebeast up.

There wasn’t any way around it: She messed up.

{ EyeSeeAll says: Told you. }

“...I guess you did.” Franklin admits.

Another message pops up from the same user, but he doesn’t read it. Instead, he pockets the phone, ignoring it to pat Enid on the shoulder. “It’s okay. Just keep going.”

“I… I go to battle, and have Lillian attack Corn-Quasidragon.”

The PLANTIMAL goes down easily, returning to Charisse’s hand. There’s nothing Enid can do about the other two though.

“I end my battle phase and set one card face-down. End of turn.”

Franklin hands Charisse her phone back, before returning to Enid’s side. The turn had ended on a sour note, but the game wasn’t over yet. Like it or not, their only choice was to play through their own mistakes.

Enid & Franklin Vs. Charisse Pt. 2 Art By Himitsu 2024/04/28(Sun)20:13 No. 1089956 ID: aa9ce9
File 171436038457.png - (272.86KB , 628x1000 , Growth Spurt s.png )

“Welcome back, chat! You’re just in time to see my draw.” She takes the top card of her deck and adds it to her hand.

[Charisse: 4800 LP - 2 Cards in hand]

Her hand is… two character cards, neither of which being super impactful at the moment.

“Nevermind, guess you weren’t missing much with a draw like that. I’ll just summon Corn-Quasidragon back to the field, and go to the battle phase.”

“Oh, he’s back.” Franklin mumbles. “Is that bad for us?”

“...It isn’t great, but we won’t lose this turn.”

“We’ll see about that!” Charisse calls out. “Kiwi-Molebeast is gonna target Lillian!”

The massive creature charges forward, carrying the Durian-Skunk equipped to it on its back. Enid whispers something to Franklin, who nods.

“We activate Growth Spurt.” He says, flipping up their face-down.

“Called it!” Charisse pumps her fist. “So what’s it do? Give your girl more Attack?”

“Sometimes? It… Well, it isn’t doing that now, because it’s Lillian, so…” Franklin scratches his head, trying to remember why this is supposed to work. Enid pats him on the arm, and takes over the explanation.

“Growth Spurt has two different effects. Normally, it’ll just give a character card 600 Attack and Defense Points for the rest of the turn. When we use it on a card with (E) or (M) in its name however, we can level them up to their next growth stage for free.”

On the field, Lillian’s body glows brightly, as her silhouette morphs into a taller figure than what stood previously.

“Since this Lillian was already an (M), we get to replace her with Lillian, The Olympian (A),” Franklin finishes.

[ Lillian, The Olympian (A), Warrior-Type, Level 9, ATK: 3000, DEF: 3000 ]

“Heck yeah!” Lillian’s glow recedes, revealing her adult form. “...Wait a minute, I’m not a kid anymore. I can swear for real! HELL YEAH!”

Charisse blinks. “...You kids consider ‘hell’ a swear?”

The roo considers her face-down, which seems to catch Enid’s attention. “Before you respond, you should know what Lillian’s one effect is.”

“What’s that?”

“She’s unaffected by card effects,” she explains, causing Charisse’s eyebrows to rise in shock. “The only way you’ll be able to get rid of her will be through battle.”

“Speaking of battle… does her Molebeast still run into Lillian?” Franklin asks. “Since she declared an attack, but it was against the other Lillian, but we summoned this one in her place, and… Um, all of those reasons.”

Enid shrugs, turning up to the judges for a ruling. Toffles speaks up.

“Since the original Lillian Kiwi-Molebeast was targeting has left the field, it triggers a Replay. Charisse can either choose a new attack target, or cancel the attack altogether.”

“Okay. I remembered them saying something about that, but there were so many rules to learn already…” Enid sighs.

Charisse examines the field for a minute, before shrugging. “I’ll take out Glum Plum with my Molebeast then. Charge!”

The beast, having stopped in place, turns towards the doll and throws its body weight into it. Plum goes down in an instant.”

“Unfortunately, that’s gonna have to be it from me this turn.” She says, passing back to Enid and Franklin. They draw.

[Enid: 6000 LP - 3 Cards in hand]

She grimaces, seeing one of the more gimmicky Trap Cards that Franklin had pushed for. While it wasn’t useless, and could very well be helpful in this duel, it wasn’t much of a combo starter.

“So… should we play Perrine?” Franklin asks, pointing to the card in question. “She’ll let us special summon another level three character from our deck, right?”

“Yes…”

“Alright, then why don’t we do it?”

A perfectly reasonable question. They’d had the card in their hand since the first turn, as Enid had been saving it for the right moment. If they played her now, they could potentially clear Charisse’s field.

However…

“I’m worried about that card she drew.” She points out the solitary card in Charisse’s hand. “I know Lillian can’t be affected by cards, but that doesn’t mean we’re invulnerable. All it would take is Charisse getting a character with more than 3000 Attack on the field. She may have needed to play Corn-Quasidragon first, so that she’d have enough tribute material for next turn.
“Okay…” he nods along.

“If we play our only other starter and get punished for it, we’ll need to draw well to have a chance for a comeback.”

“Ahh, okay, I get it,” he nods, understandingly. “So, should we just take out her Kiwi-Molebeast then? She won’t be able to just summon it back out, since it’s a Level five, right?”

Her face twists with yet more hesitance. “No, we can’t do that either! What if she gets a stronger character to equip to it the next time she summons it out? She could take out Lillian then, and we wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.”

“Oh… Then, what do we do?”

Attacking Kiwi-Molebeast was right out, obviously, so that just left Corn-Quasidragon again and Banana-Lyluk. After a few moments to think about it, she shares her conclusion.

“If she can put her Molebeast back into her hand, then she’d have the stronger Quasidragon to equip to it when she summoned it back out. That would be enough to go over Lillian.”

At Franklin’s nod of approval, she points to the weaker creature. “We enter the battle phase, and Lillian will attack Banana-Lyluk.”

Lillian spins around for a few seconds, before launching a shot put ball that splatters the poor Lyluk beneath it. The pathetic creature returns to Charisse’s hand.

“And… We’ll set down one card before ending our turn.” Enid finishes.

Enid & Franklin Vs. Charisse Pt. 2 Art By Buckwheat 2024/04/28(Sun)20:14 No. 1089957 ID: aa9ce9
File 171436045140.png - (6.96KB , 600x400 , Live Audience Reaction.png )

The audience loses some of its energy from the slower less impactful turns both duelists put up. “Is it just me, or have things slowed down a bit?” Ceridwen asks.

“It’s only natural. Despite her earlier mistake, the girl is making sensible plays.” Xerin responds. “It’s the kangaroo’s deck that’s keeping things to a slower pace.”

“Ehhhh, I don’t know about that.” Conway says. “The kid clearly has plays she can make. Maybe she has a reason to wait, but I was getting the vibe that she’s just scared to mess up.”

“It’s a mistake that will cost them.”

The spectators turn to The Masked Duelist, surprised to hear him share his thoughts.

“What do you mean?” Ceri asks.

“I think he means that Charisse will eventually draw an out, as long as one exists in her deck.” Selma points out. “They’re stalling, but against a deck like Charisse’s they can’t afford that. Every turn her hand will get more and more powerful, as new cards funnel out of her deck and into it, and with each bit of support it’ll be that much harder to break through.”

“Charisse holds the advantage in a drawn out match, so it is imperative that the children do not let it become such,” Basmati summarizes.

“It’s not like she can always refresh her field fully.” Warwick points out. “Even with her PLANTIMALS Theme Song still up, she had to rely on several other cards to get more than just her Skunk and Quasidragon back into play.”

While the surrounding spectators converse, The Masked Duelist silently stares down at the younger duelists. His thoughts are unreadable.

Charisse pulls the top card from her deck, smiling as she sees what it is. It seems the current stalemate wouldn’t last much longer.

What has Charisse drawn?
A: The strongest PLANTIMAL in her deck
B: A Field Spell that will make it even easier for Charisse to load up her field
C: A Spell that will let Charisse take out Franklin and Enid’s backrow
D: A Draw Spell that lets Charisse draw into two of the above

Additionally, which of these cards should Franklin and Enid draw on their next turn?
1: Big Angry Dog (gifted to the pair by Bonnie)
2: What Did You Do to Marcie!? (A Quick-Play Spell Card that sets a character’s ATK/DEF to their original values)
3: Everyone’s Favorite Mechanic (A luck-based Spell Card Franklin insisted on keeping in)

A draw spell, everyone's favorite mechanic!

I’m gonna go with A and 2, as much as I would love another Crate of Greed appearance

A, 1

D2!

The D stands for Draw

D 2
Still Rooting for Franklin and Enid, but they also Have to earn their victory

>Another message pops up from the same user, but he doesn’t read it. Instead, he pockets the phone, ignoring it to pat Enid on the shoulder.

Franklin might want to read that btw. could give them a pretty big hint on how to win.

Enid & Franklin Vs. Charisse Pt. 3 Art By Himitsu 2024/05/17(Fri)21:08 No. 1091188 ID: c6ae21
File 171600530261.png - (586.36KB , 628x1000 , Cute Characters are Merchandisable s.png )

Franklin & Enid’s Field:
Lillian, The Olympian (A) [3000/3000]
2 Face Down S/T

Charisse’s Field:
PLANTIMALS Theme Song
Corn-Quasidragon [1500/1000]
Kiwi-Molebeast [2300*/1400] (Originally [1800/1400])
Durian-Skunk (Currently an Equip Spell, equipped to Kiwi-Molebeast)

Charisse wastes no time dropping her latest draw on the field. “I activate the spell card Cute Characters are Merchandisable! In exchange for sending a level 2 or lower character from my hand to the Graveyard, I can draw 2 new cards.”

“...Isn’t that just a worse version of Crate of Greed?” Franklin asks. “Why not play that?”

“Hey, if I saw a card that just said ‘draw 2’, I would have taken it, really. There was only one copy at our table though, and Basmati beat me to it.” She jabs a thumb towards the gray girl sitting in the bleachers. “Them’s the breaks of a draft format.”

“I think Mr. Fish took the one copy at our table.” Enid says.

“Anyways, I’m gonna make Banana-Lyluk pay the activation cost this time.” She sends the useless potassium-ridden berry off to the grave, and adds a pair of cards to her hand.

[Charisse: 4800 LP - 3 Cards in hand]

Her grin grows wider. “Two big winners! But which to play first…?”

Enid gulps. She knew Charisse would have to find plays to make sooner or later, but she hoped they would have more time.

“Probably better to throw out the unknowns before the big play. I’ll activate the Spell Card Weed Whackers! For each PLANTIMAL character I control, I can take out a Spell or Trap on your side of the field.”

With Franklin and Enid having two backrow, and Charisse having two characters, that would mean a complete wipe of their face-downs, leaving them no way of responding to whatever play Charisse is cooking.

Enid & Franklin Vs. Charisse Pt. 3 Art By Himitsu and Magpie 2024/05/17(Fri)21:09 No. 1091189 ID: c6ae21
File 171600538284.png - (734.70KB , 1713x1024 , Trap Cards Activate.png )

The kids share a look. “We should activate this now, right?” Franklin asks.

“Probably? It could just give her a card to use against us next turn though, and it sounds like she already has a play she can make, but maybe this would stop her from…” Enid mutters. Her thoughts devolve into mumbling too quiet for Franklin to follow.

“Um… Enid?” He probes. She flinches.

“Er– What do you think?” She asks.

“Well… I think if we don’t use it now, we won’t get to do it later. So, we should. That makes sense, right?”

It was good enough for Enid. “Okay. We use the Trap Card ‘No Peeking…’ in response. We both take two cards from the top of our deck face down, and set them in empty spots on our field. And since we activated the card, we get to pick the spots your cards go in as well.”

“Wait, if you put your cards in your Spell/Trap Zones, can I choose to destroy them when my card resolves?” Charisse asks.

“It’s a little complicated… These wouldn’t be considered Spell or Trap cards, ‘cuz we don’t know what they are. They could be though, so they’re potential targets. That means you can aim effects at them, but we’d have to flip the cards face-up to check if the effect would actually apply or not.”

“Okay…”

“And then afterwards, ‘No Peeking…’ says that any cards still on our field that were flipped up by effects have their effects negated and are removed from play.”

“...Okay?”

“Um, you’re supposed to reveal them during your Standby Phase by guessing the type of one of your face-downs. Then you flip it up, and if it’s right, it gets added to your hand. If you call it wrong though, it stays on the field, where it negates and then banishes itself.”

“Uh-huh uh-huh. Yup. Definitely catching all of this.”

“Let’s see… Oh! And you can’t target them for attacks if we set them in the monster zones, but that’s fine because they can’t guard your Life Points either, and–”

Enid pauses, finally noticing that Charisse was looking at her with an expression that just screamed a lack of understanding.

In the stands, a few audience members had slowly shifted their gaze from the duel to Selma. Soon more of them followed. The pressure of their stares eventually makes her give in.. “They put two random cards face-down on the field. Once a turn, they can try and guess if one of their face-downs is a Spell, Trap, or Character. If they’re right, it goes in their hand, if not, it’s banished. If they get flipped up for any other reason, they get banished. Does that make sense?”

“Sure does! Thanks!” Charisse shouts from the field.

“Hmph. What an unnecessarily complicated card. Such a pitiful effect too.” Strawberi complains. “It doesn’t even benefit them exclusively. If they guess wrong, and the kangaroo guesses right, it could even hurt them.”

“You’re not wrong, but there is a benefit to it.” Selma mentions.

“You’re talking about the fact that it blocks whatever zones the cards end up in, right?” Warwick guesses. Selma nods.

“A worthwhile benefit against a deck that generates advantage as well as their opponent’s.” Xerin adds.

Enid chooses two Monster Zones for both side’s face downs, finally resolving ‘No Peeking…’ and letting Weed Whackers’ effect go through. Franklin and Enid’s last face down is flipped up and destroyed.

Unfortunately for Charisse, that was exactly what they wanted. “We activate the destruction effect of our Trap Card, ‘GOTCHA!’!” Enid declares, revealing the card in-question.

“A destruction effect on a trap card?” Charisse is very thrown by the reveal.

“It’s the only effect this trap has. When this card gets destroyed by an opponent’s effect, it deals 1000 points of damage to your Life Points, and forces you to go straight to the End Phase of your turn.”

From the holographic card on the field, Lemmy pokes his head out and flings a cream pie straight into Charisse’s face, hitting its mark with a satisfying SPLAT!

[Charisse: 3800 LP]

As Charisse wipes off the cream, she looks closer at the card. “...Wait, that’s me on the card art. …Did the birds know this was going to be used against me?”

“I don’t think they’re smart enough for that.” Franklin says. “It was probably just a coincidence… I think.”

“Maybe… Oh well, it wouldn’t be the first time I took a cream pie to the face on-stream.”

“Really? It doesn’t seem like something that would happen often.” He says.

Charisse tactically chooses to change the subject. “Since I don’t have a choice, I end my turn. You’d better give it your best shot here, ‘cuz I’m coming for you next turn!”

Enid winces, definitely fearing exactly that. Still, she draws for turn.

Enid & Franklin Vs. Charisse Pt. 3 Art By JiggyDino 2024/05/17(Fri)21:11 No. 1091190 ID: c6ae21
File 171600551869.png - (292.40KB , 628x1000 , What Did You Do to Marcie s.png )

[Enid: 6000 LP - 3 Cards in hand]

“This could be good,” she mutters. Their draw was the Quick-play Spell ‘What Did You Do to Marcie!?’, which forces a character’s Attack and Defense stats back to their original values.

“We enter the stand-by phase, and we’ll be guessing one of our face-downs.” Enid points at one of them, before huddling close with Franklin to discuss it.

“We’ve already removed a good chunk of characters from the deck.”
“But we also have more characters than anything else.”
“A good spell would be helpful…”
“Maybe…”

They break apart their huddle, staring down the mystery card for another second before answering. “We’re going to guess Spell!”

The card flips up to reveal… a Spell Card! “Yes!”

The spell Early Graduation gets added to their hand, putting them at four cards. That still left the question of what to do with their Main Phase though, something that quickly drains the excitement from Enid.

“So… Should we play now, or wait until after her next turn?” Franklin asks. She looks between their hand and their field, worry evident in her expression.

“...If we wait, we’ll at least know what we’re up against… Right?”

“Um… Maybe? I guess if she doesn’t set any cards face-down, and if she plays all the cards in her hand, then yes.”

“I just don’t want to mess up again.” She admits, rubbing her hands together anxiously. “I don’t know what would be best. Do you think waiting’s a good idea?”

He doesn’t answer immediately, tapping his chin idly as he considers it. “I think… the best that can happen if we wait, is that we don’t lose.”

“That’s good, isn’t it?”

“Yeah… But, I don’t think waiting helps us win. Because… we’d just keep going back and forth. Destroying her cards doesn’t get us closer to winning, because we won’t be dealing damage, right?”

She slowly nods. “I guess not…”

“The worst that can happen either way is that we lose, but I don’t think we’ll be able to actually win without playing.”

“...Okay. Um, can you?” She holds out their hand to him. He nods, picking them up and reading them over again.

He holds one up to show her, getting a nod in return. “We start by normal summoning Perrine from our hand.”

A small gray-haired girl appears on the field, seemingly looking around for something. “When she’s summoned, we get to special summon another Level 3 Rapscallion from our deck.” He picks up their deck and looks through it, before pulling one out. “We pick Guillermo.”

[ Guillermo, Rapscallion-Type, Level 3, ATK: 700, DEF: 300 ]

A chubby boy with a camera for a head appears, satisfying Perrine’s search for a friend. “Guillermo has an effect kind of like Glum Plum’s, but reversed. He can put himself back in the hand, to let me special summon a character from my hand.”

“I wanna be a director, not an actor,” Guillermo declares.

“We’re going to use his effect to special summon Clive, The Antisocialite (E).”

[ Clive, The Antisocialite (E), Rapscallion-Type, Level 3, ATK: 1400, DEF: 200 ]

Perrine seems very put-off by her friend being substituted with the antithesis of companionship. Clive just seems angry at the world in general.

“Any effects I should know?” Charisse asks. “I got jack to respond with, just curious.”

“Not really. He can special summon himself to the field when we don’t control any characters, and we get to draw two cards if we do that when he’s the last card in our hand.”

“None of which applies here.”

“Right.” He nods. “Now let me think… I can sync him with Perrine, and then… but when do we get…”

Enid taps his arm, pointing at a card in his hand. He reads it, before his eyes light up. “Oh! Right, that’s why we did this… Okay, we’re going to activate Early Graduation, targeting Clive.”

A shadow appears below Clive, swallowing him whole. A moment later, it spits back out a taller figure.

“Another card to cheat out the older versions?” Charisse guesses.

“Mm-hm. We can age Clive up into Clive, The Caretaker (M), in exchange for permanently negating his effects.”

[ Clive, The Caretaker (M), Rapscallion-Type, Level 6, ATK: 1000, DEF: 2000 ]

“It’s nice to know he gets nicer when he’s older.” Enid remarks. “...Although, I wish he wouldn’t glare so much still.”

“Sooo, he doesn’t do anything?”

“He can’t use his effects, but he is still a Tuner. So… we can sync him and Perrine off now to summon Clive, The Counselor (A).”

[ Clive, The Counselor (A), Psychic-Type, Level 9, ATK: 2000, DEF: 3000 ]

“And I’m guessing this one’s effects aren’t negated?” Charisse says.

“That’s right.”

“Alright, so what’s he do?”

“Umm…” He picks up the card to read it again. “Cards on our field can’t be destroyed, except for him. Also, when he gets sent to the Graveyard, we can equip him to another character we control to protect them from being destroyed one more time.”

Enid nudges his arm. “Do you think we should have put him in Defense?” Franklin had summoned Clive in Attack Position, in spite of him having more Defense Points.

“Um… I think it’s fine, but we’ll see next turn?” He shrugs.

Enid is not reassured.

“I think we’re going to the Battle Phase now.” Both of their fields had two characters, so there was unfortunately no chance of dealing damage to Charisse’s Life Points.

Franklin nudges her this time, whispering a question. “Do you think it’s fine to destroy the Molebeast now?”

She thinks for a moment, before nodding. He smiles. “Lillian will attack Kiwi-Molebeast, and Clive will attack Corn-Quasidragon.”

As Lillian suplexes the molebeast over her back, Clive manages to sneak up behind the quasidragon and drag it back into a shadow that appeared behind them. He walks out a few seconds later, alone. Both character’s seeds fly back into Charisse’s hand, whereas the Durian-Skunk previously equipped to the molebeast gets destroyed, as its target had left the field.

In one turn, they’d managed to empty her field. Sure, it would turn her Theme Song back on, but hopefully it would be enough to slow down whatever Charisse is cooking up.

“We set a card face-down, and end our turn.” Franklin says.

Charisse smiles, ready to give them hell.

Does Charisse correctly guess one of her face-down cards from the effect of ‘No Peeking…’?
A: Yes
B: No

Additionally, what would you most like to see get art next update? (Pick 2)
1: Charisse
2: Franklin and Enid
3: Live Audience Reaction
4: Characters on the field (Outside of just Card Art)

B, 3, 4.

A.
3
4

>>1091190
Oh god we fucked Coxwette up

A34

A14

B23!

A23 is fine too, I just personally want the kiddos to win.

Enid & Franklin Vs. Charisse Pt. 4 Art By Himitsu and Poltergeist Ethanoic Acid 2024/06/09(Sun)01:02 No. 1092706 ID: c6ae21
File 171792016092.png - (174.53KB , 1500x1000 , cantkeepup.png )

Franklin & Enid’s Field:
Lillian, The Olympian (A) [3000/3000]
Clive, The Counselor (A) [2000/3000]
1 Face Down S/T
1 Face Down Unknown (Placed by the effects of ‘No Peeking…’)

Charisse’s Field:
PLANTIMALS Theme Song
2 Face Down Unknowns (Placed by the effects of ‘No Peeking…’)

Charisse stares down at her field, eyeing the face-downs. She needs to make a guess, and the quality of her turn will depend heavily on choosing correctly. She’d drawn another character for her draw step, putting her at 5 in hand. She needs a good Spell or Trap to make any big plays soon.

“What are we thinking, chat? We’re good on characters, so it’s between Spell or Trap right now. Can one of the mods set up a poll for this?”

{ ~Official_Tsuki@OWO~ says: Set a trap for them! Catch ‘em off guard next turn. }
{ xXx_DUNG30N_DW3LL3R_xXx says: Traps are usually good… }
{ EyeSeeAll says: It’s a spell. }
{ __~Volek~__God_of_Fertility says: Personally, I’d like it to be a character }
{ jackieLantern says: Pick sp3ll! If you’r3 right, it’ll giv3 you som3thing you can us3 this turn. }
{ ChEsTeR says: trap! }
{ KoboldCelyn says: maybe spell? }
{ dampfeline says: spell wood b bst }
{ Blueprint says: Spell would be the best guess, assuming you’re correct. What is the remaining ratio of your deck, given cards you’ve drawn or sent to the grave? }
{ Guest (Conway) says: Spell! }

“What are you doing?” Bonnie asks Conway, who’d pulled out his phone.

“Responding. She asked her stream chat for suggestions. See?” He explains, showing his phone to her and several of the other audience members. Given that he’s one of the few to actually own a phone, they decide to voice their opinions a bit more directly.

“Pick trap! You haven’t gotten to play any cool ones yet!” Bonnie shouts.

“Don’t do that, you wouldn’t be able to use it this turn. Pick spell,” Selma hollers.

“I want to see your deck’s traps!” Strawberi bellows.

“What Ms. Strawberi said!” Warwick cries.

“...” The Masked Duelists silenced.

“I already put my opinion in chat, but spell!” Conway yells.

“A spell would be optimal,” Basmati says in a neutral tone.

“...” Anet and Jaina clamored, but were far too quiet for anyone to actually hear them.

“Is it wrong to feel jealous that nobody gave suggestions when we were revealing our own card?” Enid asks. Franklin doesn’t hear her.

“Character! I bet it’s a character!” he calls out.

Charisse finally raises a hand, silencing the crowd. There’s a pause, as she glances at her phone one more time. She smiles. “It was close, but it looks like we’re going with Spell!” Her announcement is met with cheers of support from the stands.

She points at a card, causing it to slowly lift upwards. Everyone holds their breath, as the card is revealed to be… Wiki Access, a Spell!

“Boo-yeah! Come to mama!” The revealed card joins her draw, making for two new cards in hand.

Enid & Franklin Vs. Charisse Pt. 4 Art By Tippler 2024/06/09(Sun)01:04 No. 1092708 ID: c6ae21
File 171792024081.png - (108.13KB , 502x800 , Wiki Access.png )

[Charisse: 3800 LP - 6 Cards in hand]

Enid sweats a bit, glancing back and forth between their empty hand and Charisse’s. Everything they had was on the field at this point, so if that couldn’t keep them in the game… the outcome would be out of their control.

“At the start of my Main Phase, I have zero characters on the field. That means my Continuous Spell, PLANTIMALS Theme Song, is giving me an extra Normal Summon this turn.”

“We really need more Spell and Trap removal…” Enid mutters. Franklin nods in agreement.

“Hmm, do I still have a path to the big guy?” Charisse asks herself, reading her last two draws. “Only two Normal Summons, but I need two characters to tribute…”

{ dampfeline says: thats ruff i wantd 2 C them in action }
{ GloriousWaterWitch says: Tribute monsters have always been too slow. This one is a newer release though, isn’t it? I’m surprised it wasn’t a Link or Fusion. }
{ jackieLantern says: PLANTIMALS has always b33n a slow3r strat3gy. Giving it an 3xtra d3ck boss would just mak3 it play lik3 3v3ry oth3r m3ta d3ck. }
{ xXx_DUNG30N_DW3LL3R_xXx says: did she add Nutrient-Rich Field to her final deck? I know some people suggested it, and Wiki Access is a searcher…}

“Hey! Good catch Dungeon Dweller! Totally forgot I added that. Careful about the backseating though, else the judges may revoke my right to talk to you guys.”

{ xXx_DUNG30N_DW3LL3R_xXx says: ~OnO~ srry! }

“No worries. Let’s start this off by activating that neat card ‘No Peeking…’ gave us, Wiki Access!”

“Wiki?” Franklin repeats.

“Y’know, like fan sites.”

“...Um, I have a fan on my bedroom’s ceiling, but that doesn’t sound like what you mean.”

“Kid, you’re literally breaking my heart right now. Does your dimension not have internet, or are you just really sheltered?”

“I dunno. Maybe the first one, but I might just be too much of the second to know about it.”

“Um, not to interrupt,” Enid interrupts, “but what does your Spell do?”

“Oh right. First thing’s first: I gotta send a character from my hand to the Graveyard. I’ll go with my Blueberry-Tapir.” She flings a card over to her GY. “Then, I get to add any spell from my deck to my hand, as long as it names either the character I discarded specifically, or the character type. And since all my PLANTIMALS are dual-typed, that means anything that names Plant-type or Beast-type characters is fair play.”

“That’s gotta be pretty good in any deck with multiple types,” Conway mentions, earning agreement from a few others in the audience. Not all though.

“Actually, most archetypes with multiple types don’t apply it to every member in their ranks.” Selma explains. “So a deck that has Rock, Dragon, and Beast-Warrior characters would still mostly just have single-typed characters. PLANTIMALS is one of just a few decks that assign additional types to its members.”

“Oh. So, is Wiki Access still good in those other decks?” He asks, getting a shrug back.

“Not really, no.”

“It’s doing well in this one at least.” Warwick says. “That’s the nice thing about draft formats, right? They give cards that may not be the best a chance to shine.”

Charisse flips through her deck, before pulling out her target. “I add the Spell Card Nutrient-Rich Field to my hand, and activate it straight away! For the rest of this turn, any Plant monsters I Normal Summon require one less Tribute.”

Enid grimaces. “That’s a problem. She can get her molebeast out and set up something else with it.” Franklin scratches his chin, hoping their defenses are enough to overcome her turn.

“To start, I’ll summon out Kiwi-Molebeast once again. And since you got rid of my skunk, I’ll have Corn-Quasidragon take over as rider instead!”

[ Kiwi-Molebeast - 1800 ATK ] + [Corn-Quasidragon - 1500 ATK ] = [3300 ATK]

“Huh, that looks like a problem.” Lillian says.

“It has more Attack than you.” Clive says.

“Yeeeaaahhh, mind stalling them a turn while I try to fix that?”

“I don’t really have a choice, do I?” He sighs.

Charisse gives her cards one more read, before committing to her next play. “I use the effect of my Lily-Pad Kabot to treat it as tribute material in the hand. That, plus Nutrient-Rich Field, give me both the tributes I need to summon my ultimate PLANTIMAL!”

Enid & Franklin Vs. Charisse Pt. 4 Art By TheENFman 2024/06/09(Sun)01:05 No. 1092709 ID: c6ae21
File 171792031425.png - (3.41MB , 2160x1620 , The Eggplant-Krakens Wrath.png )

A tremor rocks the field, startling the characters. The ground continues to shake, as a wave of salt water sweeps across it. From Charisse’s side, a figure starts to emerge, bringing even greater quakes as it rises to its full height.

“Introducing my deck’s heaviest hitter, the Eggplant-Kraken!”

[ Eggplant-Kraken, Plant-Type, Level 10, ATK: 3500, DEF: 2500 ]

The many-tentacled being roars to life, standing taller than all others. Suddenly, Lillian was being forced to settle for the bronze medal in Attack points.

“We… We don’t have any characters with that much Attack,” Enid says to Franklin. “What do we do?”

“Hmm… Clive should keep Lillian safe for this turn at least. Next turn, we just have to find a way to buff up Lillian, or get rid of the kraken some other way.” He pauses. “We have other ways, right?”

“Y-Yes, I’m sure we do.”

“Hey, before you start making plans, there’s something you oughta know about this guy!” Charisse calls out. “My kraken here’s effect lets it attack every character you control once a turn.”

“What!?” Enid shouts.

“Unless you’ve got a counter, I’ll be showing that off right now. At the start of my Battle Phase, Eggplant-Kraken is gonna target Clive for battle!”

A singular tentacle lowers beneath the waves. Initially, its movement shows from the movement of the water, before all signs of its location vanish. Clive spins around frantically, desperate to get a read on its location. It’s all in vain however. A shadow appears in the water as he’s turned away, before a giant tentacle shoots out of it. He only has time to turn and face it, as the tentacle slams down on top of him. When it lifts, he’s no longer there.

The spectacle was about as horrific as it felt for the kids playing against it. “W-When Clive’s sent to the Graveyard, his effect activates,” Enid says. “We equip him to Lillian. The next time she would be destroyed, it won’t happen.”

“That won’t last long, ‘cuz she’s up next! Kraken!”

As with Clive, another tentacle charges forwards. Once more, it vanishes, but Lillian is prepared. She keeps her eyes forward, standing her ground, in spite of the inevitable outcome. As it rises from the shallow waves, preparing to strike her down, she’s suddenly pushed aside. She looks back to where she stood, and catches a glimpse of Clive’s ghost looking back. It’s only for a moment, before he’s crushed once again beneath the kraken’s mighty tentacle.

“Even in death, that guy was looking out for me,” Lillian stands, brushing herself off. “Alright, I’ll try not to waste this second chance.”

“Love the drama, but you’ve got one more problem to face before you get to fight back,” Charisse says. “Kiwi-Molebeast! Finish her off!”

The large mammal, saddled by the equally sizable cave dragon, sprints across the field at Lillian. She holds her ground, readying a counter-blow for whatever it would be worth.

“Enid?” Franklin asks. She doesn’t even answer, acting immediately.

“Face-down, open! We activate ‘What Did You Do to Marcie!?’ targeting Kiwi-Molebeast!”

As the Molebeast is about to reach Lillian, its Quasidragon rider vanishes into thin air, almost as if it had never been there to begin with.

“This Spell resets your character’s Attack and Defense to their original values, meaning your molebeast only has 1800 Attack now.”

“...Any chance that triggers a replay, and I can cancel that attack?”

“Nope!” Tianna quickly rules. “A replay only occurs if the number of characters on either field changes, or the attack can’t resolve due to effects. A change in stats is not a reason for a replay to trigger, so the attack will go through.”

Lillian catches the charging molebeast in her arms, grinning wildly. “Huh, isn’t that lucky for me?”

She spins around, keeping a tight hold on it, before flinging it off into the distance like an olympic hammer toss. It and its equipped quasidragon are sent to Charisse’s Graveyard.

“Wow. You totally baited me into playing into that, didn’t you? Not bad at all! That’s it for me, so if you’re gonna topple my guy, now’s your chance.”

Enid and Franklin did want to topple her kraken, but pulling that off would take something a bit more elusive than skill: Luck. They were sitting on zero cards in hand, and just Lillian on the field. She wasn’t gonna cut it on her own, so they needed either their draw or their reveal from ‘No Peeking…’ to cover the rest of their turn.

It all comes down to this. What should Franklin and Enid call for ‘No Peeking…’?

A: Character
B: Spell
C: Trap

C.

A

A

A

B, most of the twins cards seem to be built around getting more cards on the field, and they don’t have any character stronger than the kraken, so the odds a character would have an effect that would save them seems low. A trap wouldn’t be able to be used this turn, so spell seems like the best choice here.

>>1092722
agreed on this

Enid & Franklin Vs. Charisse END Art By Poltergeist Ethanoic Acid 2024/08/25(Sun)18:54 No. 1096479 ID: ab55d7
File 172463724330.png - (518.05KB , 1256x2000 , Team Captain Selections.png )

Charisse’s Field:
Eggplant-Kraken [3000/2500]

Franklin & Enid’s Field:
Lillian, The Olympian (A) [3000/3000]

Enid draws.

She and Franklin stare down at their card. It was a simple Spell, but not one that could get them out of their current predicament alone.

[ Team Captain Selections, Spell-Card: “Declare a level between 1 and 4, and then reveal your deck. Your opponent selects any character of the declared level from it, and special summons them to their side of the field, and if they do, you may do the same.” ]

“Is this good right now?” He asks. Enid doesn’t answer, clearly too deep in thought. Patiently, he awaits her conclusion.

Seconds later, she snaps her fingers. “We need to call Character on ‘No Peeking…’!”

He gives her a thumbs up. “Okay.”

“...Do you understand why, or are you just agreeing with me?”

“I’m just agreeing. You sounded pretty sure.”

“I mean, it’s not a guarantee that we’ll win or anything. If we’re wrong here, then we probably will lose. It’d also be nice if it were a specific card, or else there’s still a chance that Charisse will catch on and stop us…” Her voice lowers to a hushed mumble. “–and actually, maybe this is a bad idea, and we should just call for Spell. I know there are less of those, but at least the ones that would win us the game would do it for sure, and not be up to chance on whether–”

“Oh good, it was a Character card.”

“YOU ALREADY CALLED IT!?” Enid shouts. Then, she pauses, running his statement back. “Wait, what Character was it?”

He hands the card to her.

[ Rodney, The Socialite (E) ]

Enid sputters. “Wh– We got it? We got it! That’s the one! This is who we need.”

“Ohhhh, why do I get the feeling I’m gonna be saying goodbye to my Kraken shortly?” Charisse moans, while pinching her brow. “Hey chat, do we gotta be worried about Rodney? I don’t know that card.”

{ jackieLantern says: …you play3d pr3tty w3ll Chariss3! Don’t worry about th3 outcom3 }

“Oh, so I’m dead dead this turn?”

{ GloriousWaterWitch says: Only if they have some way of cheating out an additional summon. If so, then most definitely. }
{ YesIAmTHATSteve says: I think you’re fine, since PLANTIMALS don’t let you take battle damage and all. }

“Okay, only maybe dead. I can work with that.”

Enid and Franklin break up their huddled chat to face Charisse again. “We activate the spell card Team Captain Selections! And we choose Level 3 Characters.”

A hologram of their deck flies into the air and expands, before flipping around and revealing its remaining cards. All of the Level 3 Character Cards get highlighted and sorted separately for easier viewing.

“You get to choose any of our Level 3 Characters to special summon to your field, and then we get to do the same with whatever you don’t select.” Enid explains.

“And is that an optional choice?” Charisse asks. “Like, if I don’t want any of your characters, can I refuse and then you don’t get one either?”

“It’s mandatory.” One of the birds clarify.

“Rats.” She sighs. “Well, none of these look super helpful, so I’m just gonna take Roger, The Artist (E). His effect says that I get a token if he’s alive at the start of my turn.”

[ Roger, The Artist (E), Rapscallion-Type, Level 3, ATK: 900, DEF: 500 ]

Roger enters the field in Attack-mode, looking around in confusion. “...Am I on the wrong side?”

“Your friends let me borrow you for a bit.” Charisse says. “Mind playing for my team?”

“Um… okay? I’m just gonna start drawing a Sketch Token then.”

“Sounds good!”

He sits himself down and gets to drawing, silently praying he won’t be destroyed before he’s finished.

Enid bites her lip, staring at their summon options. “Franklin, I don’t think there’s any way we can win this turn. Even if we get rid of the threats, there’s still a chance this could go badly.”

Franklin nods, before selecting a card to finish resolving Team Captain Selections’ effect. “We summon Albert, the Genius (E).”

The frail boy appears beside Lillian, eyeing his grown compatriot. “Hm. I don’t suppose anyone still misperceives you as Phillip in your time?”

She chuckles. “Nah, we really started to diverge in looks as we grew. Helps that he rarely ever went to the gym with me.”

Franklin hands Enid a card from their hand, which she plays immediately. “We still have our normal summon, and we’re gonna use it on Rodney, The Socialite (E)!”

[ Rodney, The Socialite (E), Rapscallion-Type, Level 3, ATK: 500, DEF: 500 ]

The small boy pops up next to Albert, his head whipping around to take in the full state of the board. “...Oh! We’re about to be combined, aren’t we?”

“It seems likely. Neither of us can vanquish that leviathan on our own.”

“Uh, guys?” Enid says, getting her cards’ attention. “I’m really trying to focus here. Could you talk a bit less?”

They all offer silent affirmative gestures, earning a sigh of relief from her. “Using Rodney and Albert as material, we Synchro Summon Rodney, The Socialite (M)!”

[ Rodney, The Socialite (M), Rapscallion-Type, Level 6, ATK: 1400, DEF: 1000 ]

Enid & Franklin Vs. Charisse END Art By TheENFman 2024/08/25(Sun)18:55 No. 1096480 ID: ab55d7
File 172463730685.png - (3.53MB , 2400x1200 , The Eggplant-Kraken's Defeat.png )

“I think I see where this is going,” Charisse says. “Next, you’re gonna combine him and Lillian to get his adult version, which is either strong enough to beat my kraken or has an effect to get rid of it. Am I right?”

“No,” Franklin bluntly answers. “...That’s not what we’re doing, right?”

“Middle-school is all we need,” Enid says. “Rodney’s effect lets us boost the attack of another character by 1000 Attack Points! And we’ll be doing that to Lillian!”

“Ah, so that’s how we die,” Charisse mutters. “Hey, isn’t she immune to card effects?”

“Only our opponent’s effects,” Enid clarifies. “Clive was able to equip himself to her, right?

Rodney pats Lillian on the back. “Hey, I believe in you!”

Lillian smirks, flexing as her already toned body seems to increase in muscle mass. “Thanks. I won’t let you down.”

[ Lillian: 4000 ATK 3000 DEF ]

Lillian stares up at the Eggplant-Kraken, her eyes seeming to light up with a blazing energy. The sort of look that a predator would level at prey.

“We enter the battle phase,” Franklin says.

“Lillian, take out Charisse’s Eggplant-Kraken!” Enid commands.

In a flash, Lillian vanishes from sight. The kraken thrashes about in confusion, perhaps sensing the threat she poised and fearing for its life. Before its leafy tentacles can hit anyone in the crossfire however, Lillian reappears.

It was like skipping ahead in time. Lillian had gone from standing on Enid and Franklin’s field to hovering in the air, having just thrown a punch that sent the Eggplant-Kraken flying out of the water. Moments later, the sound of the impact rings out through the room.

The PLANTIMAL crashes against the wall, before rotting away and leaving a large seed, which returns to Charisse’s hand.

She sighs. “So chat, what cards can we draw next turn that’ll get us back in the game? I wanna set the right points for a poll on if we’ll draw well or not.”

“She should really wait for our turn to be over before doing that.” Enid says. She looks back and forth between Roger and Rodney, frowning as she weighs the choice.

“...Enid?” Franklin asks, awaiting her call.

“She still has that Theme Song, so she’ll get two summons, but if we leave Roger up then he’ll give her a token at the start of the turn. That would mean she could summon the Eggplant-Kraken again, and we wouldn’t be able to beat it a second time.”

He nods along, mostly following her explanation. “So… We should get rid of Rodney, because we definitely can’t win if he’s there?”

“Um… Y-Yes. That’s right, I think.”

“Okay.”

Right as Enid is about to second guess her claim, Franklin gives the order. “Rodney, please attack Roger.”

“Huh?” Roger looks up to see Rodney standing in front of him. “...Rats, I was almost done with it too.”

Rodney picks him up bridal style, and gingerly places him outside of the arena.

Enid does some quick math on her fingers. “Since the difference between their Attack Points is 500, that means Charisse’s Life Points are–”

“Hang on a minute,” Charisse butts in. “My characters don’t let me take battle damage, remember?”

“But… Roger isn’t a PLANTIMAL.” Franklin says. “He doesn’t have that effect anywhere written on him.”

“...Oh yeah.” She rubs the back of her neck while chuckling. “Whoops. Probably shouldn’t have put him in Attack then.”

Rodney walks forwards and lightly flicks her on the forehead. There’s no physical sensation to it, yet she still finds herself rubbing the spot he touched.

[Charisse: 3300 LP ]

“We don’t have any other cards to play, so we end our turn.” Enid says.

Enid & Franklin Vs. Charisse END Art By Tippler 2024/08/25(Sun)18:56 No. 1096483 ID: ab55d7
File 172463741618.png - (181.58KB , 500x644 , Charisse Final Draw.png )

The start of Charisse’s turn has everyone sitting on the edge of their seats. Enid and Franklin are especially tense.

Charisse doesn’t draw, instead looking up at her opponents and throwing them a friendly smile. “You’ve got all your cards on the table, so why don’t I do the same?”

“Huh?”

In a shocking move, Charisse flips her hand around, revealing it to everyone.

Eggplant-Kraken (Level 10 Character Card, 3500 ATK 2500 DEF)
Kiwi-Molebeast (Level 5 Character Card, 1800 ATK 1400 DEF)
Holly-Headsplitter: (Level 7 Character Card 2600 ATK 2000 DEF)

“Because I have no Characters on my field, PLANTIMALS Theme Song gives me an extra Normal Summon for this turn. Right now though, I don’t have a play”

“Even with a hand filled with Characters, you don’t have any you can summon without a tribute.” Enid says.

“Bingo.” Charisse winks. “Now, my chat’s been a real pal in keeping track of my deck. According to them, I’ve got six characters left that I can summon freely, one spell that would let me cheat out my Headsplitter, and one trap that would let me trash two cards to summon out my Kraken. Of the six characters I would be able to summon, only one would put me in a position to wipe your field. The spell or trap would also let me do so.”

She pats her deck. “I have 21 cards left here, and one card left to reveal from the effect of ‘No Peeking…’. Between my draw and my reveal, there are Three Cards that’ll let me win this duel, and Five Others that might let me live to run it back another turn.”

“Why are you telling us this?” Enid asks.

“‘Cuz it’s more fun for everyone if we know the stakes, don’t you think?”

“...She’s not wrong.” Franklin says. “What are the cards that will let you win?”

She holds up three fingers. “Onion-Paperling, Rule of Cool, or Compost Bin. Those are my tickets to victory. Any level 4 or lower Character will just keep me alive an extra turn.”

As Charisse places her hand atop her deck, the room goes silent in anticipation. She pulls the card and lifts it up dramatically, not showing its front. As she looks at it, she smiles.

“Before we see what that was, I’m going to call Character on my last face-down from ‘No Peeking…’.”

The last remaining face-down on Charisse’s field is revealed…

Compost Bin, a Trap Card.

Charisse clicks her tongue, as one of her three win conditions gets sent to her Graveyard. “That would have been nice… As for my draw, well…”

She finally flips her hidden card around, revealing the Spell Card PLANTIMALS Trading Card Game.

“Looks like I’m getting one more chance. This card lets me shuffle any number of PLANTIMAL characters back into my deck, shuffle it, and then draw as many cards as I shuffled back.”

She takes Eggplant-Kraken and Kiwi-Molebeast from her hand, and places them back in her deck. “The Spell Card I’m looking for would only work on Holly-Headsplitter, so I have more chances of summoning that out than I do the Kraken. Either of them would let me clear your board, so no point keeping both.”

She shuffles her deck.

Franklin peeks down and notices Enid shaking slightly. He puts a hand on her shoulder to help calm her down.

“This is too much…” She groans.

“It’ll be over soon… Unless she gets another card that lets her draw more, but she can’t have too many of those, I think.”

“Too many words. You said something nice, and then you said more words after it.”

Charisse finishes her shuffle, and with a final peek at her phone to see where her chat’s bets landed, she draws two cards and reveals them to everyone.

The room goes silent.

…

…

…

Saturday-Morning Timeslot (Field Spell)
Eggplant-Kraken (Level 10 Character)

Charisse looks at her cards, and shakes her head. “End of turn. Go ahead and wrap this up.”

Enid finally breathes in, as a wave of calm washes over her. She doesn’t even look at what she draws for turn.

“Battle Phase! Lillian, attack her Life Points directly.”

Lillian pounds a fist into her palm and cracks her neck. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

She then slams the ground with her palms, and blasts forward with inhuman speed. Charisse can do little more than brace herself, as the athlete throws her full bodyweight into her, sending her Life Points into a freefall.

[Charisse: 0 LP ]

“Charisse has no remaining Life Points,” Pan says, from the rafters. “Enid and Franklin are the winners of this duel!”

The crowd applauds, as Enid falls to her knees in sheer relief. “That was way too close…” Franklin pats her on the head, smiling back at her. She can only manage a weary half-smile.

“Yo.”

They both look up, seeing Charisse extending a hand out to each of them. “That was a pretty great match! Sucks that I lost, but I held some darn good viewer numbers throughout it. All the back and forths we had kept things exciting, so thanks for that.”

Enid accepts the handshake, standing back up. “Your deck was really cool. And with how your PLANTIMALS worked, I wasn’t sure you were ever gonna run out of plays.”

“You’re one to talk. My chat recommended PLANTIMALS because they’re simple, but you pulled out some pretty gnarly combo lines to get wherever you needed to be. Pretty neat stuff.”

As she breaks the handshake and switches to Franklin, she pulls two cards out of her deck box. “Here. I asked chat for suggestions on what would fit your deck best, and they felt pretty good about these.”

Both children take one, examining their gifts. Enid had received a Spell:

[ Wiki Access, Spell-Card: “Send a Character from your hand to the Graveyard, and if you do, add a Spell Card from your Deck to your hand that either names the discarded card or mentions its typing.” ]

“Oh! You used this to help get out your Eggplant-Kraken.” Enid remarks.

“Yeah. Most of your Characters were the same type, so it seemed like something you could use.”

Franklin stares down at his for a minute, before saying, “...this is one of the cards you were looking for at the end.”

[ Onion-Paperling, Plant-Type, Level 3, ATK: 1000, DEF: 200 ]
[ “This card is also treated as a Beast-Type character at all times. Neither player takes battle damage from battles involving this card. When this character is destroyed by battle, place two Paperling-Tokens [Level 3, Plant-Type, ATK 300 DEF 300] face-up on your field, and return this card to your hand.” ]

“Yup. If it does you dirty and doesn’t show up when you need it to either, feel free to burn it.”

Charisse pats them both on the shoulder. “Now listen, I’m sure you two will want to go catch the next game, or work on your deck some more for the next round. There’ll be time for that, definitely. But before either of you takes a step out of this room, there’s something we really need to do.”

“...What’s that?” Franklin asks.

She grins and pulls out her phone. “You kids have like zero internet knowledge. This is basically a once in a lifetime chance to show off the wonders of the web to a couple unaware souls.”

Franklin and Enid share a look, before giddily sitting down with Charisse to explore the unknown together. Despite being enemies mere minutes prior, there were no hard feelings over the match. Just like Franklin has assured Enid, it was just a game.