Once again a Junk appeared next to the guardians Recycler Analyst, an identical 0/0/1/1 fighter, before the robot drew the Cardian it had just placed at the top of its deck.
A glow from its eyeholes again marked its processing.
“Tribute Recycler Analyst to summon Cardian - Spades 9,” it declared, the analyst shattering into shards of light that quickly reformed into a muscular man hefting an oversized digging tool over one shoulder.
Cardian - Spades 9
Atk: 22 Def: 8 Life: 8 Level: 4
On play: reveal the top ‘Cardian’ in your deck and add it to your hand. You cannot play it this turn
Once again the card flashed up too quickly for Aurora to identify more than the name: ‘Cardian - Clubs 3’, before it settled in the guardians hand, giving her an eight cards to seven hand advantage against the 100 Life to 96 lead Aurora held.
“Attack.”
The digging tool was swung down upon the box, shattering it and activating the fighters effect, adding two cards to Auroras hand.
Just the cards she needed.
“Turn end.”
“And draw," Aurora continued immediately, ignoring her Dimension Lock wearing off. “I activate Dimension Shifter, and use its effect on my Dimensional Scout! By returning it to my deck, I can summon a different fighter with the same name from my deck, and I target my level 4 Dimensional Scout!”
The machine that appeared from her initial card looked plain weird, covered in various parts that presumably served to help it transmit objects between dimensions.
At least going by the way they shifted and glowed before a beam shot out at her scout, switching them out for a different model.
This Scout wore a different colour of camouflage, bore no helmet and wielded a long gun in place of a knife.
Dimensional Scout
Atk: 17 Def: 0 Life: 20 Level: 4
Condition: this card reduces an opponents fighter to 0 Life
Conditional effect: deal the remainder of this fighters Atk as damage to your opponent
“And thanks to my earlier Scouts effect,” Aurora continued, “I get to add two more cards to my hand.”
Bringing her hand up to eleven to the guardians eight.
“Now, Dimensional Scout, attack the Cardian!”
The shot the scout fired penetrated straight through the Cardians head to strike the guardian, dropping her Life to 95 as the fighter collapsed.
Aurora quickly considered the other cards in her hand.
She'd already run through most of her low level fighters, and she couldn't tribute a fighter who had already attacked (even aside from how useful the scouts effect looked to be in this match), leaving her with…
“I activate Dimension Shifter and summon Dimensional Nurse. Thanks to my new Dimension Shifter, the first of my Dimension fighters to be destroyed each turn returns to my deck instead.”
The machine looked similar to her first Dimension Shifter, the parts merely arranged differently, while the Nurse wore unnaturally white clothes in a style she had never seen anywhere else.
Dimensional Nurse
Atk: 0 Def: 0 Life: 8 Level: 1
Condition: this card is returned to the deck
Conditional effect: return 1 ‘Dimension’ card from your hand or discard to the deck, other than ‘Dimensional Nurse’
“Turn end.”
“Draw,” the guardian declared as her newest Junk appeared, her hand again matching Auroras at nine apiece. “Tribute both Junk to summon Recycler Assembler.”
The fighter was a weird looking machine, clearly stationary but with arms to feed objects into its maw and an output feed for whatever it was intended to produce.
Recycler Assembler
Atk: 15 Def: 15 Life: 8 Level: 4
Activation cost: return a number of fighters from your discard to your deck up to the total level of fighters you control
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Activated effect: at the end of your turn, put into play a fighter from your discard with level equal to that of the cards returned to your deck
“I activate its effect by returning four Junk to my deck,” the guardian declared, images of the cards appearing in the Assemblers hands to be inserted into its feeder. “Now attack Dimensional Nurse.”
Faster than Aurora could respond, one of the arms shot out to grab the nurse, depositing her into the same feeder as the Junk.
Only for her Dimension Shifter to glow, the Nurse fading before she could be destroyed.
“My Dimension Shifter rescues my Dimensional Nurse from destruction, and activating her effect in the process! As she returns to my deck, she takes with her the Dimensional Box from my discard!”
A fortuitous outcome, given it was her lowest level Dimensional Box and the higher level Boxes weren't too worth the extra level expenditure.
“Turn end. And as it does, my assembler finishes its work, producing my Cardian - Spades 9 once more.”
The digging tool was the first part of the fighter to emerge from the Assembler, soon followed by the rest of the fighter climbing out.
“Draw,” Aurora declared, quickly checking for the best use of the three levels she could spend this turn.
There was another of her Dimensional Scouts in her hand she could use, one of the few cards any of them had been able to find with a destruction effect (which had earned her some good natured complaints about having already made too much progress in collecting the archetype for one of them to take it up), but right now she wouldn't be able to make use of the effect.
And the scout she currently controlled was the only one with enough Atk to be useful.
But among the other nine cards in her hand…
“I summon Dimensional Soldier,” she declared, “and activate my Dimension Shifter to return him to my deck to summon my level 8 Dimensional Soldier!”
The first Soldier, wearing padded leathers and armed with a spear, barely had time to form before being replaced with a rather different looking fighter, one in gleaming metal armour, a cable running from his backpack to a gun mounted on his arm.
Dimensional Soldier
Atk: 15 Def: 6 Life: 8 Level: 3
On destruction: deal 5 damage to your opponent
Dimensional Soldier
Atk: 40 Def: 15 Life: 25 Level: 8
Passive effect: this card cannot attack directly. No effect can cause this card to deal damage except to the target of its attack
Condition: this card attacks
Conditional effect: at the end of the turn, return this card to your deck. You may summon a different fighter named ‘Dimensional Soldier’ from your deck
“Dimensional Soldier, attack Recycler Assembler and Dimensional Scout, attack the Cardian!”
A beam shot from the Soldiers gun, erasing the machine from the arena even as the scout repeated his actions from the previous turn, reducing the guardian to 94 life.
“Turn end,” she finished, allowing her Dimensional Soldiers to switch once more.
“Draw,” the guardian declared as a Junk once again formed before her, returning them to evenly handed at nine each.
A quick scan of the hand and-
“Turn end.”
“Draw.”
It was the Dimensional Box she had played earlier, and Aurora barely hesitated before summoning it again, before activating her Dimension Shifter.
The box that appeared, the level 4 version, was no longer plain metal, vaguely electronic parts instead visible across its surface.
Dimensional Box
Atk: 0 Def: 20 Life: 24 Level: 4
On destruction: gain 2 levels
“Now, Dimensional Scout attack the Junk, and Dimensional Soldier direct attack!”
A well placed shot struck the Junk before deflecting into the guardian, the Soldier following up with a lunge with his spear, dropping her to 63 life.
“Turn end.”
“Draw,” another Junk appearing and a one card lead in the hand race at ten to nine.
“Summon Recycler Assembler. Effect activate, returning two Junk and Recycler Analyst to the deck. And attack Dimensional Soldier.”
The Soldier was grabbed and drawn in to the feeder, much like the Nurse before or the images of Junk and the Analyst, before the Dimension Shifter rescued him.
This time, however, he hurled his spear at the guardian before vanishing, reducing her to 58 life.
“Turn end, and my Assembler finished reparing my Cardian - Spades 9.”
The fighter again crawled from the mouth of the machine.
“Draw.”
Aurora quickly considered her cards.
“I tribute my Dimensional Box to summon Dimensional Scout and Dimensional Nurse.”
Dimensional Scout
Atk: 6 Def: 4 Life: 28 Level: 3
On play: draw a card
Condition: this card leaves the field without being destroyed or tributed
Conditional effect: destroy 1 fighter your opponent controls with a level lower than the highest level fighter you control
Dimensional Nurse
Atk: 0 Def: 8 Life: 15 Level: 3
On play: return 1 ‘Dimension’ card from the discard to your deck
Condition: this card returns to the deck
Conditional effect: return 1 ‘Dimension’ card from your hand to your deck
This Scout, aside from the camouflage style, looked much like the first, except where that scout had held a knife, this one had a set of binoculars, while the Nurse looked slightly older, more experienced.
“My Nurses effect activates, returning Dimensional Box to my deck,” Aurora stated, not really caring too much.
She had only played the Nurse to use enough levels that she could tribute the Box, that being the only way to summon the Scout.
She could have saved up the levels, but had assumed it would be worth having the extra from bringing out a higher level Box, an easy mistake to make.
“Now my Dimension Shifter activates, returning my level 3 Dimensional Scout to summon my level 5 Dimensional Scout to the arena! And as it does, my Scouts effect activates, destroying your Recycler Assembler!”
The Scout seemed to say something into thin air as he was switched out, explosions devastating the machine as the latest scout appeared, camouflage again different and a small gun strapped to his side.
Dimensional Scout
Atk: 6 Def: 20 Life: 28 Level: 5
On play: add 1 Dimension card from your deck to your hand
Condition: this card leaves the field without being destroyed or tributed
Conditional effect: return 1 Dimension card from your discard to your hand
“Obviously his effect doesn't activate,” Aurora commented, “but my other Scout attacks your Cardian again, while he destroys your Junk.”
Shots were fired, reducing the guardian to 57 life and an arena empty but for the hole.
“Turn end.”
“Draw. Summon two Junk.”
Two more Junk appeared alongside the one that had appeared automatically.
The guardian paused.
“Analysis. Too many Junk cards in hand and arena, no Recyclers available. Life deficit significant. Match status: hopeless. I admit defeat.”
Aurora blinked, the moment long enough for her to find herself standing before the arena for her friends matches.
“Wait, that was an option?”
