Jake was panicking.
He'd burned three cards just to take down a single one of Ethan's summons. Sure, it looked like Ethan had used three too — the Spirit Crystal, the scrap yard, and Big Big Wolf — but Jake had read the wolf's card description just yesterday.
Big Big Wolf came back after five minutes. That "kill" didn't count for anything.
Jake had no idea what Ethan had been doing during his week off to produce something this broken.
And the worst part? That fireball he'd used to take down the wolf had cost him his last round of energy. He was sitting at 100 Psionic right now.
Ethan had 300.
"Wolfie got sniped by a fireball," Ethan murmured, shaking his head. "What a waste. I really thought he could solo the whole thing."
But honestly? It tracked. Big Big Wolf was brilliant, but he was also a showboat. If the wolf had been watching the battlefield instead of posturing over the Wolf Demon's corpse, he probably could've dodged that fireball.
But then he wouldn't be Big Big Wolf, would he?
The guy had lost count of how many sheep he'd missed out on because he couldn't resist monologuing.
Ethan drew his next card.
"I choose you, Pikachu."
( IMAGE HERE )
[Card Name]: Pikachu
[Quality]: Purple (Epic)
[Rank]: Tier 2
[Type]: Summoning Card
[Story System]: Pokémon
[Cost]: 300 Psionic Energy
[Effect]: Summons a Pikachu.
[Trait]:Static — Chance to paralyze opponent upon physical contact.
[Evaluation]:"Pika Pika~"
The card flared purple as Pikachu materialized — though the glow wasn't as deep as Big Big Wolf's. By this world's standards, Pikachu sat at the lower end of the Epic tier, while Big Big Wolf was peak Epic.
Still, this Pikachu's combat power was nothing to sneeze at. The version Ethan had in mind should have been Tier 3 — but this wasn't Ash Ketchum's Pikachu. This was a wild one, from a Pikachu family in the forest. Naturally weaker, and limited further by the Tier 2 card base he'd used.
It was enough.
Ethan summoned Pikachu to the center of the field and immediately gave the order: push the enemy crystal.
Up in the spectator seats, the surprises hadn't stopped.
"W-What is that?" Lily's eyes went wide.
This one match had produced more jaw-drop moments than the entire previous semester combined.
"It's... a squirrel?" Lily's expression shifted from shock to something softer. Much softer. "Oh my god, it's adorable."
The little yellow creature bounded across the field on all fours, red cheeks sparking, ears twitching. It was, objectively, the cutest thing that had ever appeared in a Card Master battle.
"It probably isn't that strong, right?" Lily said, though her voice had lost all analytical edge. "Is it a Tier 1 card?"
"Do you think..." She turned to Sophie. "Do you think we could ask Ethan to get us one later?"
Sophie considered this. She also found the creature fascinating — she'd never seen anything like it. "We could offer to buy it, maybe."
While they were having this conversation, Pikachu had already covered a huge chunk of the field. It had used Agility three times during the sprint — no four-move limit here, no restrictions — and was moving so fast it was practically a yellow streak.
Jake didn't summon a counter until Pikachu crossed the halfway line.
A Monastery Guardian materialized in Pikachu's path. Blue card. Unarmed fighter. Solid defensive stats, but without a weapon, it often struggled to keep up in a straight fight.
That was exactly why Jake had led with the knight in round one instead — better matchups. Of course, that plan had been to test Ethan's deck, not get slaughtered by a wolf in a lab coat.
"Pikachu — Iron Tail!"
"Pika!"
Pikachu hurtled toward the Monastery Guardian, leaped, and whipped its body around in midair. Its tail glowed with metallic energy and cracked against the Guardian's shin.
Maybe it was because Pikachu looked so harmless — barely two feet tall, round cheeks, adorable little face — but Jake didn't bother ordering a dodge. He went for a direct counterattack instead.
Bad call.
The Iron Tail connected with the Guardian's leg. Pikachu bounced off and landed neatly, while the Guardian was sent flying backward, spinning twice before crashing down.
It didn't die from the hit. But it wasn't getting up anytime soon, either.
"Thunderbolt."
"Pikaaaaa—CHUUUUU!"
A bolt of lightning arced from Pikachu's body and struck the downed Guardian dead-on. The monk's body seized, flickered — and dissolved into starlight.
Jake was out of Psionic Energy. He had nothing left to stop Pikachu's advance.
The little yellow mouse sprinted to the blue crystal tower and went to work. Ten hits. Each one strong enough to crack the crystal's defensive barrier. On the tenth strike, the tower shattered in a burst of blue light.
In Junior-tier matches, crystals could only withstand ten attacks — but each hit had to break a minimum damage threshold. A light tap wouldn't register. You had to actually punch through the defenses.
Pikachu had no trouble with that.
[Match Over — Ethan Cole Wins]
They exited the Battle Space.
Jake was staring at Ethan with the most speechless expression he'd ever worn.
"Dude. Your deck is disgusting."
Ethan grinned. Was it really that bad?
This was actually tame compared to what was possible. This world's psionic energy system imposed natural pacing — both sides got time to set up, trade resources, adapt. If it were like Yu-Gi-Oh, where you could combo off on turn one before your opponent even got to play...
A single hand of Tearlaments could wipe the floor with everyone on this planet.
Unfortunately, he couldn't think of a way to translate that level of degeneracy into this System. Not yet, anyway.
"You think this is cheap?" Ethan said casually. "I haven't even shown you Still Water yet."
Jake blinked. "What's Still Water?"
"A deck concept I'm working on. Haven't made the cards for it yet." Ethan waved it off.
"...I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that."
The two girls walked over from the spectator area.
"Can I see that squirrel card?" Lily asked immediately. She hadn't even sat down yet. The yellow creature had been living rent-free in her head since the moment it appeared.
Ethan pulled out the Pikachu card and handed it over.
"So it's called Pikachu." Sophie leaned in, reading the stats. She let out a low whistle. "This is on the Tier 2 leaderboard. It's ranked right below my Flower Fairy."
Lily studied the card for a long moment, her fingers tracing the purple border. Then she handed it back, and Ethan caught the faint flicker of disappointment in her eyes.
If Pikachu had been a Blue card, they could theoretically commission one. Blue cards could be copied infinitely as long as someone had the skill and resources. But Purple cards were unique. One-of-a-kind. There could only be one identical Purple card in the entire world at any given time. If it was destroyed, someone could theoretically make another — but otherwise, it was irreplaceable.
That was why most people carried Blue decks. Owning even a single Purple card was considered a luxury. Like that Sir Galahad card from the tournament a few days ago — the thing had been passed through who knew how many owners over the years.
"You really like it, huh?" Ethan noticed Lily's expression.
"...Yeah." She nodded quietly. That little yellow face had genuinely stolen her heart.
"Tell you what — after training, I'll summon it so you can hang out with it for a bit."
Lily's head snapped up. Sophie looked interested too.
Then they both seemed to remember they were supposed to be in the middle of a training session.
"Your strength is more than proven," Sophie said, shifting back into captain mode. "Since we've seen what your deck can do, Lily and I will spar next. You two watch and evaluate."
Fair enough. If they were going to be teammates, Ethan needed to see what they could do too.
"Sounds good." He was already heading for the spectator seats.
"Ethan." Jake fell into step beside him.
"Yeah?"
"You've gotten seriously good, man." Jake's voice had lost its usual joking edge. "I'm counting on you for this tournament."
Ethan shrugged. "No big deal."
Pika Pika Pi - ( Translation ) - Plz Throw Powerstones