An Experimental Nightmare

"Setting one card face-down. Turn end." The machine finished.

Duel Robot: 7700
Jessica: 7500

"What a waste. I activate Mystical Space Typhoon." Jessica said, dully, before the robot finished his turn, destroying the face-down as quickly as it played it, as she drew. "A storm is brewing. That only means one thing for you. Trouble. I'm now going to summon my Mist Valley Thunderbird!" She continued, as a bird with a charge on its body flew on the field. (1100/700) The bird and the soldier both looked at Jessica, who nodded as they both flew high in the air, as the storm strengthened. "One should know you should never mess around in a thunderstorm. Me? I like it. Especially with this guy backing me up! I now synchro summon my Thunder Lord of Mist Valley!" She declared, as a larger bird-warrior with the remains of Ally of Justice Calastor in its hand after a successful tussle with the Allies of Justice. (2600/2400) "This storm is about to get worse for you. My Thunder Lord, SHORT CIRCUIT HIS PIECE OF SCRAP!" Jessica ordered, as the warrior raised his hands, and like the thunder god, Raiden, summoned massive thunderbolts from his hands that fried the Fortress to burnt scrap. "I'll play my Card Trader again, and that will do." Jessica said, as the card she played earlier reappeared on the field.

It's Life Points dropped to 7600 with the hit.
"Machina Frontline effect activates. Special Summoning Machina Soldier (1600 ATK)." A second Machina Soldier appeared readying it's blades.

"You must be planning something big. But by Special Summoning, you shorten your deck and limit your options. But I'll see that you don't succeed." Jessica said, as Thunder Lord sparked.

The machine drew.
"Activating Normal Spell Card, Pot of Greed. Effects to draw two cards." It drew twice more.
"Setting monster in face-down Defense Position. Switching Machina Soldier to Defense Position (1500 DEF). One card face-down. Turn end." Duel Robot finished.

~What are you planning?~ Jessica pondered, as she drew. "I'll play Card of Sanctity to allow us to draw until we have 6 cards in our hand." She said, as she drew until she had six, and so did the duel robot. She then smirked. "Now we're going to have some fun. I'm using Double Summon again to summon Dancing Elf and Copy Plant. But their true purpose? Easy. I'm gonna tune them with my Thunder Lord!" Jessica said, as the two monsters disappeared with the Thunder Lord, as the storms died down in an instant, as what looked like a meteor at first glance fell to the ground, shaking the ground when it landed. And it wasn't a meteor at all. It was a giant worm. "Meet my good friend, Mist Wurm. He and I have been through the thick and thin, and now he will help me out against you. Starting with his effect! I select your defense monster, Frontline and your face-down." She continued, as the wurm let out a massive blast of wind to blow the three cards back to the robot's hand. (2700/1500) "And since you are defenseless, SIT BOY!" Jessica yelled, as the wurm jumped up and Mario Bros.-style butt dropped right on the soldier, crushing it.

The Soldier was destroyed underneath the giant worm.

Jessica smirked when she saw the broken piece of scrap that was the Machina Soldier. "One face down, and that will do." She said, as she ended her turn.

The machine drew again.
"Activating Continuous Spell Card, Mechina Frontline." It stated placing the card back onto the field.

"Setting monster in Defense Position." It stated setting the monster again.
"Two cards face-down. Turn end." It continued to play defensively.

"Now you're starting to play smarter!" Jessica said, as she drew. "Perfect. I play De-Synchro, and bring back the monsters I used to tune for Mist Wurm. Then I'll sacrifice my Copy Plant and my Dancing Elf to bring in my Mist Valley Bird of Prey!" Jessica continued as the Thunder Lord reappeared, bringing back the storm, as a gigantic bird came flying onto the field, ready to attack. (2700/2000) "Then I'll activate Call of the Haunted to bring back my Falcon of Mist Valley! Now, Thunder Lord, fry his monster!" She ordered, as the Thunder Lord charged up a bunch of charges and released it to the monster. ~It won't matter if it counters. My Bird of Prey will see to that.~ Jessica thought, smirking.

The defense monster was revealed to be Machina Defender (1800 DEF) before it was destroyed.
"Machina Defender's Flip Effect. Adds Commander Covington from Deck to Hand." It stated as it searched out it's Deck for the monster.

"Uh, uh, uh! I use my Bird of Prey's ability. When the effect of an Spell, Trap or Effect Monster is activated, I can return 1 face-up "Mist Valley" monster I control to its owner's hand and negate the effect of the card and destroy it. So Commander Covington, it ain't happening! Bird of Prey, GO!" Jessica ordered, as the Falcon returned to her hand and the Bird of Prey fried the Defender before it could activate. "That's why I used Call of the Haunted. Now, even though it's pointless, I will return Call of the Haunted to my hand to boost my Thunder Lord's ATK by 500. Now my Bird, standby!" Jessica ordered, as the bird nearly fell over in surprise. "I know you have other obstacles in my way towards your LP, so I'll just set two cards and that will do." She explained, as the bird looked bewildered.

"Discarding level 8 monster-" it discarded Fiendish Engine Ω.
"To special summon Machina Fortress (2500 ATK) from the graveyard." The large machine returned.

"Attacking Mist Valley Bird of Prey with Mechina Fortress." The machine aimed it's cannons at the large bird.

"I know what you're doing. You're attacking dispite your fortress has a lower ATK than my bird, until you activate a spell or trap to raise it's ATK." Jessica said, figuring out what was going on. "You're lucky I didn't play Reverse Trap, otherwise you really would have been foolish." She added, still confused at the tactic.

(Bird of Prey has 2700 ATK.)

The Fortress crashed into the bird only to be destroyed decreasing the Duel Robot's Life Points to 200 to 7500.
"Mechina Frontline's effect activates. Special Summoning Commander Covington (1000 ATK)." A mechanical commander appeared clad in red armor.

"Activating Normal Spell Card, Monster Reborn. Special Summoning Machina Sniper (1800 ATK). Paying 800 Life Points to activate Premature Burial. Special Summoning Machina Defender (1200 ATK). Activating Trap Card Call of the Haunted to Special Summon Machina Soldier (1600 ATK)." The Duel Robot's Life Points now stood at 6700. But it has assembled three monsters.

"Activating Commander Covington's effect. Tributing Machina Sniper, Machina Defender, and Machina Soldier to Special Summon Mechina Force (4600 ATK)." The three monsters assembled themselves into one massive robot.

"Turn end." It stated.

"This may be a dumb move, but I must stop this Gate Guardian wannabe. I'm using my Bird of Prey's ability once more to negate Covington's ability by returning my Thunder Lord to my extra deck. I'll regret this later, but it must be done." Jessica said, as her monster disappeared, and so did the storm, as Covington exploded before his effect activated.

"Trap Card activate, Roll Out!. Equips Union Monster from Graveyard to monster on field. Equipping Machina Gearframe to Commander Covington." Gearframe latched itself onto it's commander and took the blast for him. After which it proceeded to merge it's monsters.

"Setting one card face-down. Turn end."

"Here goes nothin'." Jessica said, as she drew and a spark flew in her eyes. "Perfect. Just perfect! I will use Call of the Haunted to bring in my Dancing Elf again, but then I will tribute both monsters to bring in Simorgh, Bird of Ancestry!" She declared as one bird disappeared, and a larger bird appeared and took it's place. (2900/2000) "Since I tributed WIND monsters and no other attributes, I can return up to two cards back to your hand from your field! So I'll select your face-down trap card and Covington!" Jessica shouted, as Simorgh raised its wings, bringing them forward at amazing speed and blowing the two cards back.

(That is unless there was another facedown I missed. If so, those two will be the selected ones.)

The two cards were returned, leaving Machina Force as the only card left on the field.

(That effect was cancelled thanks to Bird of Prey.)

The Duel Robot placed it's hand over it's Deck indicating surrender, which it was programmed to do once it's chance of victory was low. A feature installed to save time.

"Congratulations." The protractor said walking over.
"Your the second to qualify for the tournament." He stated handing her a badge.
"It'll start tomorrow after school lets out."

"Thank you. There were times I didn't even think I would win." Jessica said, accepting the badge.

Mahad completed his duel and was awarded third place. After receiving his own badge he walked over to Jessica.
"Hey Jess, how did you do?" He asked.

A red haired teenage boy looked to Jessica and Mahad, the other two winners, as he walked by.

"What's wrong with this machine?" A staff member asked walking to another Duel Robot. It was singed with burn marks with smoke coming off of it.

(When you can, post on the yahoo group also.)

Jessica showed him the badge she got as well. "Second one to qualify they said." She told him, smiling away.

(And I did post already. Perhaps you missed it.)