“Squeak?”

“Hold on, let me ask.”

Ortelanus approached one of the people surrounding a densely packed table. Tapping the first person she saw on the shoulder, a woman with deep bags under her eyes turned around, “Oh hey, you.”

Marty stepped aside letting the ghastly white woman holding the strange animal she saw yesterday into the circle.

“What’s been going on?”

With a shrug, Marty pointed to one of the cameras hanging precariously above the table, “Sarah and your friend are dueling for the semifinals. Sarah just came back, tying up the game. They’re live right now.”

Orty pushed her albino bangs out from her face, “Live? But they’re living right here in front of us?”

“Nah, their game is being streamed onto the internet right now. Pulling in a good audience too, about 300 people.”

Marty appeared to be without the skinny boy hanging on to her during the intermission at the coffee shop. “You’re by yourself today?”

“Yeah, Kyle had to work.” She threw up a hand to the other table with a few people buzzing around it, “I had a match earlier, but lost it to the cowboy kid over there…”

Suddenly, a voice rose from the table, “Dudes, dudette, and the dudes between, we got ourselves quite the rager going on! Two of the hottest chicks in World Game duking it out over semifinals in the first ever locals tournament!

Whether you’re in here or coming in thanks to the power of the internet, you can just feel the tension in the air!” Mikey held a tiny microphone in his hand as he paced around the table.

Both Jesse and Sarah grinned widely as they finished setting up their fields for the next and final round.

“You ready to go?”

Sarah nodded in response.

“Since you won the last round, I’ll go first!” Jesse ripped the top card from her deck and placed down a fish rock. Shuffling her hand lightly, she placed down a card everyone was used to, “I’ll start by summoning Mountainside Hermit. Your turn.”

Doing much of the same, Sarah quickly waved her hand to her opponent, signalling a first turn pass.

“Looks like an explosive start from Jess throwing out a blocker on the first turn! Sarah might not have much right now, but she’ll quickly follow it up with some nasty ramping soon, I bet!” Mikey looked like he was having the time of his life.

Flipping over her now two rocks, the dark haired beauty slid a card onto the field, “Let’s go with Topaz Spellbot, who lets me swap one of my shields for another card in my hand.”

“Wow.” Sarah rolled her eyes, “Could be anything!”

With a quick blush before snapping back to her competitive front, Jesse smiled, “Well, I gotta make sure I bring my best for you!”

As her opponent passed, Sarah slapped down a spell, prompting a quick pained look from the announcer.

“And we’re off to the races, my dudes! Starting out right with a Rapid Growth on curve, she already caught up to her opponent, despite going second!”

Summoning a creature on her turn, Jesse grinned, “For 3 play points, I’ll summon a Faithful Homunculus, which lets me draw a card.” Adding the new card to her hand, she shuffled her grip a couple times before turning her Spellbot sideways, “Let’s break a shield now with Topaz Spellbot.”

Ah, there we fucking go! Sarah nodded as she picked up Carbuncle from her face down shields.

Armed with only 4 play points and now 4 shields, Sarah shuffled through her hand herself. Not the biggest fan of this hand, but at least I’ve got options…

Upon finally choosing one, Sarah flipped three rocks. “I’ll go a bit slow with a Sixth Storm Oracle!”

“The rich keep getting richer, folks! Only on turn 3, Sarah ‘Shortstack’ Weatherford keeps on stacking up resource after resource!”

Her ‘ape brain’ began to kick up dust as she imagined not only the chat gawking at her features, but now repeating the unwelcome nickname. With a deep breath, she shuffled her hand once more to bring her back into the game.

“With my last play point, I’ll summon a Scrapper. Your move.”

An acknowledging nod slipped from Jesse as she weighed her options. Finally placing a card down, she shrugged, “I guess we’ll go with Pristine Pug. But I’ll keep going with Spellbot!”

After the 90 degree turning of the card by her opponent, Sarah picked up a shield and blew a raspberry, “Welp, get owned, you fucking nerd!”

Holding up a sleeved copy of The Bell Tolls, she pointed at the last creature on Jesse’s field, the Faithful Homunculus, prompting for it’s placement into the graveyard.

Catching her opponent’s scowl, Sarah reversed the look and drew her card.

“And the disrespect! ‘Shortstack’ is on the attack!” Mikey paced around the table as the audience laughed. “She might be down in shields, but she ain’t down in spirit!”

Adding her sixth play point on turn 4, she flipped three and added one more, “Let’s bring out my Gemless Carbuncle, gaining me a fresh play point. And then I’ll spend two more to evolve him into Bhuran, Legendary Guide, gaining me another after [Expend]ing Carbuncle!”

“Ah, there he is…” Jesse crossed her arms, pensively staring towards the glittering ACE card that was sent to the graveyard. “That’s such a good card.”

“Ain’t he?” Sarah turned the newly evolved creature sideways, pointing towards the creature that broke one of her defences on the prior turn, “And now he’s gonna attack your Topaz Spellbot!”

Easily losing 1 attack point versus Bhuran’s 4, Jesse picked up the card and placed it in the graveyard.

“And let’s follow that up with Scrapper attacking a shield!”

“Yeah, no.” Jesse turned her Mountainside Hermit sideways, blocking the single attack point creature with her own that had double the strength. “We can’t have you breaking everything just yet!”

“And there you have it, like I said!” Mikey jumped around, easily demonstrating twice the energy everyone had in the room combined, “While she didn’t get any shields, she kept down Jesse’s field to only her blocker and the Pristine Pug! A good move from Sarah who now has the greater field presence!”

Off to the side, Orty scowled, still holding her fellow Ul’Danian, “Wow. Seems to me the caster is just a bit biased, huh?”

“Squeak!”

“My draw!” Jesse ripped another top card off of her deck and placed down her fifth play point. “Let’s just keep it light with another Topaz Spellbot, letting me swap another shield.”

Placing a card from her hand after picking up one of her shields, she held her thumb to her mouth, “I just need to keep you off that Leilah card so you don’t negate all my [Shield Skill]s… For now, I’ll pass, letting Pristine Pug gain me another play point since I’m floating 3.”

“There’s a solid float from Jess! Since she ended her turn with three play points remaining, which matches Pristine Pug’s description, she’s now catching up in ramp!”

Slapping down her ninth play point, Sarah shuffled her hand even faster. Looking at her three shields versus her opponent’s four, a play came to mind. But it sucks because Judgement’s good at closing down games… If I clear her field, I’ll lose my play point advantage.

Her hand hovered around the ‘playable’ side of things, with a few options available but none to clear the game, especially with her foe’s perfect shield total. It’d be great if I could find Leilah, or even Storm Silver Compass to fish for her.

“Fuck. I really hate this…” Flipping all nine of her points, Sarah placed the exceptionally glittery card from behind her shields onto the field, “I’ll call forward High Prosecutor, Judgement. Since I’ve got less shields, he gains [Sonic Strike], and I’ll destroy two of my own play points to destroy your Pug and Spellbot.”

Turning the Strike Leader sideways, she pointed towards one of Jesse’s shields, ready for the immediate retaliation, “And I’ll have him break a shield.”

I left her blocker on the field because she’s obviously gonna let this go through. Especially when-

“[Shield Skill], Slime Cza-”

“Okay. Yup. Fuck.” Sarah placed her Strike Leader back behind her three remaining shields, having been returned there by the now summoned Slime Czar’s effect. While she still had creatures on the field, Sarah decided to pass it back to her opponent.

“Not too shabby, but you’re gonna have to do better than that!” With now 7 play points, the same as her opponent, Jesse weighed her choices carefully. With only her Mountainside Hermit she had since the first turn and her Slime Czar, proper time and consideration could mean the difference between finishing in the semis or going onto the finals. “I’ll summon up another Pristine Pug, and take out another shield with Czar.”

Having spent only 3 of her 7 play points, Pristine Pug’s [Float] effect kicked in, gaining her another free play point.

Scratching her forehead, Sarah added her eighth play point back.

“Oof! Looks like Jesse’s got Sarah locked down while chipping her down! With the blocker on the field and four shields guaranteed to be armed and dangerous, it looks like our favorite little blonde’s in a heap of trouble!”

As the live chat became a churning sea of marriage proposals and racial slurs, Sarah shuffled her hand once again. Shit. Yet again, I’m finding myself in a spot I don’t like… Counting the attack total of all the creatures on Jess’s field yet again, Sarah groaned as she slid down a spell from her hand, “I’ll cast Revolution Guillotine, destroying any number of creatures whose attack total is less than 10.”

Double checking the attack totals of the Slime Czar, Pristine Pug, and Mountainside Hermit only equaled a flaccid 5 points, Jesse picked up the cards and placed them in the ever growing graveyard, leaving her side of the field empty.

Placing down her 9th play point on what was now the seventh turn, Jesse bit the side of her forefinger. “I already set up enough, so I might as well do this…” Spending all of her resources, she threw down a glittering card Sarah had never seen used, “Yeah. I’ll summon Illusion of Serenity.”

Taking a total of 9 play points to summon, the Miracle card had a fairly respectable 6 attack points, but the effect was exceptionally gnarly. Similar to the now twice played Pristine Pug, Illusion has a [Float] effect. But instead of needing a set amount, like 3, for each play point left unused at the end of a turn a shield was destroyed. And I need to get rid of that quickly.

Eyeing her two remaining shields all the more close, Sarah added her own 9th play point opening her up to calling her Strike Leader again. As she drew her card, however, she loosed a deep sigh of relief.

Mikey riled the audience up once more, speaking into his microphone, “Looks like this game might be getting close to an end! While she might be behind, Sarah’s held her own and might swing a complete comeback! If not, then it’s gonna be Jesse walking her way up to the winner’s circle!”

“I’ve been saving this card for this moment!” Slapping down a Noble card, Sarah’s blonde curled pigtails shook, causing a surge of comments on chat, “For 4 play points, I’m gonna summon Kellja, Night’s Wing. She lets me negate a card’s effect on the field, and I choose your Illusion.

Then, I’m spending another 3 points to evolve her into Leilah, Night’s Wing Leader who negates all [Shield Skill] effects!”

“Dang…” Jesse sat back in her chair, sighing deeply. “I gotta get rid of that.”

“Well for now, you’re gonna live with it!” Twisting the Bhuran, Legendary Guide and Sixth Storm Oracle she held onto for so many turns now, both creatures broke two shields.

“What did I say?! What did I freaking say, bruh?” Mikey jumped up and down, “The ‘Siren of St. Louis’ herself taking the game back with no freaking effort!”

Finally turning to the high schooler, Sarah threw out a quick jab, “The what now?”

“I said, ‘The Respectable Woman of St. Louis’...” He grumbled, rubbing his arm.

“That’s what I fucking thought…” Sliding one more card before ending her turn, Sarah flipped her last two remaining play points, “I’ll end my turn by casting Death is But a Fiction, returning my Gemless Carbuncle back to my hand.”

Now it was Jesse’s turn to look distressed. With a few fake outs, she finally settled on a card to lay upon the table, “I’ll hard cast Victorious Claim, turning all your creatures Strikeless…”

Shit. I didn’t attack with Leilah to make sure she wasn’t left open for an attack, especially from that massive 6 attack point creature still sitting on the field…

As she waited for her opponent to turn her remaining monster, she slid two more creatures of her own onto the field, “I’ll throw down another Mountainside Hermit and a Nix, Firmament’s Blade for defence.

Now, I’ll attack your Leilah with my Illusion of Serenity!”

“Shit, there goes my hard counter…” Thankfully, I’ve still got one more in the deck, but it could either be in my last two shields or buried anywhere in my twenty-some-odd remaining cards.

With the 9 play point creature left toothless after Kellja’s effect, Jesse had little to do but pass the turn back.

Now that both players had 10 play points, the full potential of their decks could come out. And with the end of the match somewhere in sight, they had to let loose soon.

Drawing the top card of her deck, Sarah offered a tiny prayer before immediately dropping it out of disappointment. “Your deck fucking sucks, you know that, right?”

Jesse reflexively shot red before swallowing it down, “That’s how I know it’s working, Miss ‘Siren of St. Louis’!”

“Alright,” Sarah cleared her throat, “I felt bad about doing this before, but now you’ve fucking earned it. I’ll cast The Bell Tolls and kill your Illusion of Serenity.”

Calling up Judgement would be so fucking sucky here since we have the same amount of shields. Sure, I can pop her creatures but I think I can get away with this...

With only 4 play points left, she looked over her limited lines of play before settling further this turn, “I’ll summon my Gemless Carbuncle, not gain any play points..”

Jesse’s eyes lit up as she knew what the summoning of Carbuncle meant. “You must’ve drawn your other Leilah.” she concluded.

After a smug shrug, Sarah twisted her evolved creature and begrudgingly pointed at a shield, “I’ll break a shield with Bhuran, your choice.”

“Well, I might as well take advantage of that and pick…” Flipping over a glittering Alcademia card, Jesse delicately slid it onto the field, “[Shield Skill], Ortelanus, Star of the Sea. When she’s summoned, I can put a card from the field to the top of your deck.”

Looking over her own blockers and the two wimpy creatures on her opponent’s side, she chose the only remaining creature that could attack, “Let’s bounce your Sixth Storm Oracle. Not like you can gain any more play points unless you bring back your Strike Leader.”

“At least mine’s fucking useful!”

Jesse crossed her arms, “Magnus is good, but not when you lock me out of my deck’s main gimmick!”

“And there it is folks!” Mikey interjected once again, hamming it up for the online audience debating the difference between ketchup and marinara sauce. “The ‘Black Haired Beauty’ throwing down her signature misprinted card! Who would’ve thought throwing a [Shield Skill] effect would change entirely how a card plays!?”

Blood dyed the face of the woman once again as Sarah snickered to herself. Looks like someone doesn’t like the attention either!

Shaking off her now ‘waifu status’ as deemed by the chat, Jesse picked up her card on what was now the ninth turn of the third round of the semifinals. With a distended deliberation, the ‘Black Haired Beauty’ slid a Miracle creature onto the field, “Let’s bring out a Prominence Vine. It lets me add a card from my hand to my shields, bringing me up to two.

And speaking of two, I’ll bring out another Nix, Firmament’s Blade to shore up my defences.” Turning her ACE card, Jesse pointed towards Sarah’s penultimate shield, “Orty will break this one.”

Picking up the card changed everything.

Holy fucking shit, finally!

Sarah could hardly hold the grin on her face, leading to Jesse nesting her forehead into the palm of her hand, “Good game, dude. Follow on through with it…”

Drawing her last card stretched Sarah’s grin even wider. “I’ll summon an Ankleslicer, negating all keywords on your side of the field, including [Blocker]...”

“Yup, there it is… Now evolve your Carbuncle...”

“But I think I’ll have a little fun and evolve Ankleslicer into Leilah!”

Jesse sat upright as Mike screamed loudly, “HOLY CRAP, THE BM! Bruh! This girl is an absolute freaking savage!!”

“Next, I’ll cast not one, not two, but THREE Beltran Street Specials, removing the effects of your three blockers!”

Mikey had turned into an incoherent maelstrom of shrieks and sputters. The chat flew faster than ever with mostly their own reactions and the occasional sprinkle of the word ‘booba’. Groans and calls emanated from the crowd around them. In the distance, a tear ran down Mr. Montgomery’s beaming face.

“Do you know how long I held onto those?” Sarah asked over the shrieking all around them. “Anyways, let’s fucking go: Leilah, Bhuran to break your shields, and my boy, Gemless Carbuncle will finish you off!”

“Holy shit, Bitch Girl! Don’t you have even a shred of empathy for my girl?” Ortelanus passed her wielder a sandwich given to her by one of her orbiters.

Jesse unwrapped the restaurant-made sandwich and picked off the olives, keeping up the pout mostly just to play along.

Sitting across, Sarah petted the ACE in her lap, glad the hype finally dissipated out of the room after twenty minutes, “Oh, come on! Fish Bitch, you’d 100% do the exact same thing! Besides, Jesse’s gotta admit, it was pretty fuckin’ sweet.”

The black haired girl nodded somberly, wishing there was some way for her to take off the mayonnaise that was slathered onto the bread of the sandwich.

“You’re right.” Orty shrugged as she also looked across the room, “Regardless, it looks like that cowboy kid won his round, meaning he’s your last opponent.

There’s something…” The pale white Sea Sage tilted her head a few times as she examined the twelve year old in the distance, “There’s something off about him though. If I had my Spellbot, I could do something alchemical to find out what, but…”

As if he heard, the boy turned around and looked at his soon-to-be opponent as well. He looked her up and down before finally tipping his hat upwards and smiling wildly.

“Ugh… That kid’s gonna grow up to be a fucking creep. Glad to see he’s already got a strong start on that career path…” Sarah shivered as she felt the probing gaze that felt even weirder than the ones she usually got on her day-to-day.

“Yeah. He probs watches ‘Brokebutt Mountain’ and writes his classmates into the scenario, changing them out each day!” Ortelanus nearly fell out of her chair, laughing at her own joke.

“Shut up! Shut up!” Sarah whisper-yelled, “He’s fucking walking over here!”

Sauntering up to the three girls and rabbit-like creature, he held onto his belt, showing off the large buckle adorned with glittering jewels. Standing just a bit below Sarah, the hat added a few much needed inches of height to help him not appear like a total child.

“So,” He spit off to the side, drawing a grimace from Sarah, “Yer the one I’m duellin’?”

“Y-yeah… “

He eyed her up and down once more, leading Sarah to reflexively cover herself. “I don’ git the big deal wit’cha. But I keep hearin’ ya good, or sumthin’.”

With another spit, he leaned in, “I like that rabbit ya got there… Is he one of them there ACE critters?”