Yu-Gi-Oh! DFR: Book One, the Neo Duel Force. Chapters Six and Seven is Up!

[legendhiro]

I've written a few Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfics now. They all began with the Duel Force, and my second and third fics have focused on Duel Force characters. I got tired of that, so I decided to write a fanfic that, while still existing in the world of the Duel Force, and therefore the original Yu-Gi-Oh! as well, it didn't actually deal with any of the old characters. It would tie back to the Duel Force, but only to their legacy. This fanfic takes place many years after my others, in the era of Synchro monsters, but before the era of 5D's. For those of you who haven't read my stuff before, you should check it out. You just might like it...For those of you who have read my stuff, sit back and get ready, because you just stepped into the world of...

Yu-Gi-Oh! DFR

Duel Force Reborn

Introduction:
Join a laid-back girl named Kira. Her life seems simple until she discovers that she is destined to bring together six Duelists, following in the footsteps of the once-famous, almost-forgotten Duel Force, and prevent the rise of a diabolical young man with the desire, and the power, to conquer the entire world!

This story is a distant spinoff of my first series Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Force (DF). You can read this without reading the other, but reading the other is recommended. They are not, however, the same series.

As many chapters as possible will be posted here:

 

 
 
[spoiler=Turn One]

Kira, the Laid-Back Duelist

I stared intently at the table in front of me, at the placement of mine and my opponent’s cards. I was playing the Duel Monsters TCG against a tall, spindly Goth kid named Mark. We were in school, so we weren’t using our Duel Disks (obviously). Also, because we were at lunch and we were short on time, we were playing a short game with only four thousand starting Life Points. Most other parts of the world only play with four thousand starting Life Points. That’s how we are in the U.S. We’re stubborn. It’s the same thing with the Standard System vs. the Metric System.

Anyway, I was staring at the impromptu board (which was just a lunch table). I was completely overwhelmed. My ‘Amazoness Paladin’ (ATK: 1800) was facing off against my opponent’s two ‘Red-Eyes Black Dragon’ cards (ATK: 2400 (each)) with only a single face-down card to aid her (Me: 2100/Mark: 3000).

“I place a card face-down and pass,” I said casually. Anyone watching would think I was being a cocky b**** (which I am ;) ), but truth is I wasn’t really paying much attention to the game.

“You’re still doing fine, Kira,” said my tall, white-haired, gray-eyed best friend Jack from his place at my right. Out of the two dozen or so spectators, he was the only one (openly) routing for me. Everyone else was tired of seeing me win.

“I had a feeling that you couldn’t stand up to my rare dragons,” said Mark. “I didn’t want to take my title as school’s best back from you, but I got tired of everyone bugging me to. Of course now, once I beat you, I’ll have people challenging me every day.”

He sighed heavily, “Oh well. I play the Field card ‘Zombie World’, turning every monster in play and in each Grave into a Zombie. I tribute one of the two black dragons to summon ‘Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon’ with twenty-four hundred Attack points, equipped with the Spell card 'Violet Crystal' (ATK: 2400+300=2700). I also play ‘Book of Life’ to remove the ‘Twilight Rose Knight’ in your Graveyard from play and revive the tributed ‘Red-Eyes Black Dragon’.”

“Damn,” I said unconvincingly.

“My ‘Zombie Dragon’ attacks first,” Mark announced.

“Then I reveal ‘Amazoness Archers’,” I countered, flipping over the Trap card bearing an illustration of a group bow-and-arrow-wielding warrior women. “This Trap lowers the Attack of all of your monsters by five hundred (ATK: 2400-500=1900/ATK: 2700-500=2200).

“It also forces all of my monsters to attack you one after another,” my opponent remarked. “If I had wanted to show you mercy, I can’t now.”

I couldn’t help a confident smile, though it disappeared quickly and became the half-smirk that I’m known for, “But I also reveal ‘Mirror Wall’, halving the Attack of those attacking monsters (ATK: 1900/2=950/ATK: 2200/2=1050).

“Oh come on!” I heard grumbled among members of the crowd (along with various similar useless remarks).

“Yes, Kira!” remarked Jack, always my biggest fan.

“Your monsters run into mine and get destroyed,” I explained, “and you lose all but five fifty of your Life.”

Mark sighed again, “at least I won’t have kids buggin’ me all the time now.”

I drew a card and declared, “‘Cuz I can, I play ‘Dimension Fusion’ (2100-2000=100) to re-summon the ‘Twilight Rose Knight’ that you removed from play.”

I heard the disappointed whispers of the crowd cease, and I felt all eyes, even Jack’s, back on the game. Even Mark (who had moments before been in even less interested in the duel than I was) showed renewed interest.

See, unlike many Duelists nowadays, I don’t ever summon Synchro monsters. There are a couple reasons for this, but only one matters. Everyone knows that my mom is a production manager for Industrial Illusion (I2), the company that makes Duel Monsters. When I was younger I used to buy booster packs all the time, and I’d get gifts of rare cards from my mom. Now, naturally, people didn’t think this was fair. So to shut them up and to prove my abilities, I threw out all of my old cards and started over with cards given to me by, or won from, people I know. I eventually built myself a respectable deck once again, but no one with one of the illusive and illustrious Synchro monsters wanted to part with them (they’ve only been around a few years after all). Everyone knew my situation, and they just assumed that I didn’t have any Synchro monsters.

Then three years back, in the sixth grade, some douche bag started forcing kids to ante their cards against his after school. He was stacking his deck, but I couldn’t prove it, so being the upstanding human being that I am, I made him promise in front of a whole crowd of people that he’d give back all the cards he won, if I could beat him in a duel. To win I’d had to use my secret weapon, a Synchro monster given to me by my mom. It was one of the last two cards I still had that she’d given me. Its supposed to be one of the last copies of one of the earlier Synchros, a second prototype copy of a card that was supposed to be one of a kind. I’d summoned it in the duel with that kid, while everyone watched me, using these same two monsters in fact. But even before the hologram of my monster had fully appeared, it disappeared again, taking a field full of my opponent’s powerful monsters with it. No one had seen it. All they knew was that it was a Level Seven monster, and it was very powerful.

Every one of the school’s Duelist’s were curious. They wanted to see card that was powerful enough to so completely devastate the forces of a strong Duelist who was also cheating. I thought about summoning it, just to settle things once and for all and get everyone off my back, but I didn’t. I’d made a promise to myself. I couldn’t use that monster in such a simple match, or that would be the first step to becoming the spoiled gamer that I used to be. No, that card was for emergency use only.

So instead of tuning my monsters, I simply announced, “I attack for the win and retain my title.”

The disappointed crowd scattered, and Mark and I went to work cleaning up our cards. Mark finished first and headed off without a word.

“Awesome match once again, Kira the Great,” said Jack, plopping down in the seat beside me.

“Don’t call me that, Jack,” I said, but I was far from serious. No matter how many times I told Jack to abandon his little pet name for me, he never would, so I lived with it. “It was a stupid match. I thought someone like Goth Mark would come up with a better deck than that. No Synchros and the strategy was really straightforward. It was too standard to be a real challenge. And everyone wonders why I’m so laid-back about this game.”

“Mark beat you once, last time he got the title.”

“That was a fluke,” I insisted. “Every gamer gets a bad hand from time to time.”

“Hey,” said Jack, raising his hands defensively, “whatever you say.” But he wasn’t done prodding me, “There’s also He Who Must Not Be Named.”

Damien Johnson. That emo jerk, I thought. He treated me like crap. I’ve never been happier than the day he moved away, as sucky as the circumstances were.

“He always beat you,” said Jack in jest. I pushed him out of his chair just as the bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch period. I got up from my seat and started toward my first afternoon class. Jack hastily picked himself up from the floor and followed. “Oh come on,” he said, “I was only kidding.”

“Kid about something else,” I fumed.

We walked quietly after that, and it wasn’t long before Jack had to break off and head to his class upstairs. I was on my way to the basement floor, where science classes were held. But first I ducked into the first floor restroom, as I usually did, to steal a few seconds with my friends Samantha and Jenny, who refused to duel in the cafeteria during lunch like all of the normal Duelists, worried that they'd have to start battling challengers like I did.

Jenny was leaning against the counter. Sam was perched on the counter on the opposite end, facing her. There was a game still going on between them.

“Bell, ladies,” I said.

“Five more minutes, Mom,” Sam mocked, running a hand through her messy, short blond hair.

“Nuh uh,” I said, picking up their respective cards and handing them to their owners.

“Awww!” Sam whined.

“Kira!” Jenny sang cheerfully, putting her long, curly, light brown hair up into a ponytail. “Did you win today’s game?”

“Do you need to ask?” Sam asked, jumping down from the counter with a showy flourish of her hands. “Who was it this time?” she asked.

“Mark,” I answered.

“Goth Mark?” Sam asked, turning toward the exit, Jenny and I following.

“Yeah,” I answered. “He used another Zombie variation. This one was almost less creative than the Zombie Swarm deck he usually uses.”

“Sounds like the idea of fighting you really got to him,” said Jenny. “You know, Mark is kinda cute.”

“Ugh!”

“Oh, come on,” said Jenny, dancing up ahead of me and beginning to walk backwards so she could look right at me, “you gotta start dating. You gotta learn the ways of life and love before your youth passes you by!”

“Thank you Love Guru,” I replied, “but I’m perfectly fine with my current relationship status.”

“Leave her alone,” said Sam, coming to my defense. “Just ‘cuz you’ve gotten real into reading fortune cookies lately doesn’t mean we wanna hear what you read.”

Jenny began to mock-pout, “How rude!”

I branched off from my only two female friends, a smile on my face, and slipped into my biology class just ahead of the bell. My teacher, the erratic Mr. Winton, was busy scribbling the period’s notes onto the white board. Based on his level of completion we had a good ten minutes before the lecture would actually start.

I looked casually around the windowless room cluttered with diagrams and models of the human body and basic anatomy, and so on, before finally making my way to the back of the room to sit in my usual spot next to a bored-looking boy with long red hair.

“Hey, Thay,” I said to the boy, Thaylaan. Of course Thaylaan isn’t his real name (and if you thought it was then I have some bad news; you might be an idiot). This overly-serious member of my little group was the weirdest of all. He was a genius who refused to be moved up to classes at the college level. Don’t ask me why. All his refusal did was serve to alienate Thay from his classmates, far more than changing classes would, and more than his typical behavior tended to do anyway.

Thay is a game master, a puzzle master, he has an eidetic memory, and he’s a self-taught expert at dead languages. In fact he made national headlines a couple years back when he discovered a unique, underlying syntax that was similar between the written languages of various ancient civilizations, including Egypt and the Mayans, that he claimed proved the existence of Atlantis. He even worked out a basic word bank of words from what could be the Atlantean language. His work succeeded in convincing several experts that the ancient super civilization did actually exist.

According to Thay, the word “thaylaan” is the phonetical translation of the Atlantean word from “spiritual one” or “spiritualist”. Thaylaan claims that he uses a nickname because he believes, like many ancient civilizations, that if people know your real name, it gives them power over you.

On most days, if you asked me if I considered Thay a good friend, I might say no. After all, he only really started hanging out with me and my friends because of his (not so) secret crush on Sam. But if I actually took the time to think about it, I’d remember how, even though Thay’s a little arrogant, and he sometimes doesn’t know when to keep his opinions to himself, I’ve known him since before he started using a nickname. Before his parents moved overseas and left him to live alone, living on bi-monthly bank deposits. I’d remember that ever since I’ve known him, Thay’s been nothing but a genuinely good and altogether reliable person, always willing to stand up for people in need.

“Did you beat Mark?” Thay asked without even looking up from his notebook.

“How do you always know who I fought when you have an earlier lunch period than I do?” I asked, not for the first time, and not for the first time Thay ignored me.

“How are Sam, Jenny, and your fan boy, Jack?” He asked.

“Sam and Jenny are fine,” I answered. “I know you don’t actually care how Jack is.”

Jack and Thay had a huge rivalry. One that Jack never seemed to be able to get a leg up on. And Thay delighted in reminding him of that fact.

His usual questions asked and answered, Thay quieted down and said nothing else. He simply rested his head on his hand and began scribbling symbols in his notebook, like he did every class. Whenever I asked Thay about the symbols he answered that he was close to another breakthrough, like the last one, but I think he was just trying to sound serious about something he does for fun. That’s how serious guys are.

So, anyway, my life was pretty good then. It was simple. I had great friends, and my mom was always around, which almost made up for my dad being off being a pro Duelist and never being home. I was content to drift through school and play games. I never really thought about my future. It just seemed so far off. I wish I’d known then how quickly my future would find me. Maybe if I’d known I had a destiny, I’d have been ready for it.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Turn Two]

The Keeper of Mysteries


Classes were pretty easy, but they usually are. You'd think that with Thay as my friend, I'd never has to do homework, but even though he'd probably do it for me if I bugged him enough, I've never needed him to. Plus, as smart as Thay is, his talents lie in languages and strategy. In most other subjects, he's not too far above average. Still, he writes fast and he has a great memory, so he usually gets his homework done practically as it's assigned. I finish mine in my last period study hall, and Sam and Jenny have time enough to finish their homework in their first period study hall the following day. So, in other words, the only one of us who ever has any homework to do is Jack. As I made the way out of the building, I found Sam and Jack waiting as they usually are, as their lockers are closer to the door. Jenny was right behind me, bounding cheerily over to BFF Sam's side.

"Whose house we going to today?" Jenny asked.

"I nominate Kira's place," said Jack, not looking up from his hastily-scribbled math homework.

"I second it," I said. "I just picked up a certain new shooting game from Wilson's Games. You know the one."

"Sweet!" Sam replied.

"No way," said Jenny. "Guns are violent."

"No s***," Jack replied (un)helpfully.

"Since when don't you like first person shooters?" I asked Jenny.

"Since forever. Just cuz I'm good at 'em doesn't mean I like 'em."

"Whatever," I replied, already over the conversation. I love Jenny. She's like my sister. And I respect her right to reinvent herself. But I just can't take her new attitude seriously.

"Aaaand done!" Jack called triumphantly, filling in his last, math answer.

"Wow," said Sam, teasing, "a new record. Any bets on how low a score he's gonna get?"

"Ha ha," Jack answered her sarcastically.

"My money's on zero, as usual," said Thaylaan as he stepped out the front door of the school and joined us.

"Watch it, Symbol Boy," Jack snapped, already at work on his biology.

I chuckled a bit, "Hey, Thay. New shooting game at my house sound good?"

"That's fine. I probably won't play anyway."

"And you won't play Duel Monsters with us," said Jack, not looking up from his papers, "or any card games, board games, or video games unless doing so gives you the opportunity to humiliate me."

"You humiliate yourself just fine," Thay replied. "I just enjoy being part of the experience."

"Behave, boys," I cut in.

"Yeah," said Jenny. "Peace is always the right answer. Take the high road!"

Everyone stared at her. "What," she asked, defensively, "it's true!"

"Come on, guys," I said, smiling, "let's go."

I started walking, followed by Jenny and Sam, and Thaylaan. Jack scribbled out the last of his bio homework, shoved his stuff in his bag hastily, and ran to catch up with me. We walked around the school and ended up at the edge of the thin, sparse woods behind it, stepping immediately onto a path that we all knew well. The school and the surrounding suburbs, called the urbs by my generation, had been pretty thoroughly absorbed into the urban environment of the nearby city of Cincinnati. The whole thing is called Checker City nowadays, after the old area name, Checker Township. Most people are fine with the urban lifestyle, but some prefer something simpler. Those who do, and are also fairly well-to-do, can afford to live in the one remaining section of suburban environment left within forty miles. They enjoy their separation from so-called civilization, even if that separation is only a five minutes' walk worth of the aforementioned woods.

My mom, a high level member of the card development and production staff at one of the biggest companies on earth might not have been able to afford such a house on her own, but my absentee dad contributes more than enough to make up the difference. Jenny lives in the area, too, even though her house is roughly a thirty minute bus ride away. Her mom's a government official, and her dad's a police detective, so they get the place for a steal. While we're on the topic, Jack and Sam both live in two families in the heart of Checker City's residential district. Thay lives in a plush penthouse apartment downtown, paid for by his rich corporate parents, the lucky jerk.

We emerged from the woods onto a quiet street. Only two houses were visible from where we were. Both were relatively large complex structures of modern design, similar in appearance, but not identical. The nearest of them was mine. My friends and I sauntered up the building's facade at a leisurely pace, passing the automatic garbage/recycling sorter hub at the curb and walking between two rows of high bushes lining the sides of the slightly curved path to the door. As we reached the end of the path, we found my mom waiting on the porch, sitting on the rail, reading Agatha Christie. Probably Cat Among the Pidgeons, her favorite.

"Don't think you're gonna hold up in your room with your friends all night playing Modern Warfare Seven without finishing your chores," Mom told me, smiling up at me without taking her eyes off of her e-book screen.

"How do you always know when I get a new game?" I demanded, frustrated as usual.

"I'm your mother, it's my job to know." she answered, her shoulder length chocolate brown hair blowing delicately in the light breeze, framing her shining, dark eyes. My hair is the same color, but I can never get it to lay the same way. Mom says I got her color, but my hair itself is my dad's. Too bad. Besides, my eyes are a flatter brown than Mom's, so they don't compliment my hair the same way.

"Chores," mom concluded, "then MW7. And watch out. There's a sniper on a hidden
ledge about a third of the way through mission five. Bastard killed me twice."

I stomped into the house, frowning a bit, my friends at my heels, leaving my mom alone with her book. She was wearing her trademark smug face, something that I inherited from her. We walked past the larger living room and the stairs, through the kitchen, and into the smaller living room to the left where we placed our bags on the fold-out couch. From there, I led my friends back into the kitchen and then stepped through into the adjoining dining room, where we have the chore board hanging on the wall.

My mom and I do this totally nerdy thing where each morning right after I wake up and just before she leaves (our morning schedules barely overlap) we each draw two chores from a hat. I can usually get mine done in the morning before school, but today I'd had to run down the street to pick up Modern Warfare at this little shop nearby, Wilson's Games. Wilson's is totally my crib. It's run by a nice couple about my parents' age, a white guy and his Asian wife. The Stones. They let me and my friends use the place as a hang out whenever it's closed (which includes every Sunday), or they're overseas in Japan. I have a key to the back door and everything (don't tell Mom).

Anyway, I checked the board to make sure. My chores were listed as garbage and dishwasher.

garbage to the curb, I thought, and dishwasher emptied. Thought so. I'm not really feelin' these. That's when I heard my friends in the next room, and I got an idea. Okay, so it's a little mean, and totally manipulative, but it's not like I do it a lot, and it is pretty clever.

Anyway, I collected myself and stepped back into the kitchen where I found my friends leaning against the counters mooching my soda.

"Your mom is cool," said Jenny.

"No she's not," I insisted.

"Well yeah," Jack admitted, "maybe not cool cool, but at least cooler than our parents. None of our parents are hardcore gamers."

"Whatever," I said, putting the conversation out of mind. "Man, I gotta take the trash down and empty the dishwasher."

"I'll help," Jack offered.

"No way," I said, "that's too much to ask, right Thay?"

"Oh yeah," Thay answered, "even carrying some trash down to the curb would be too much for Jackie's fragile intellect."

"No way," Jack exclaimed, getting right up in Thay's face. "I bet I can get the trash to the curb and get back before you can get the dishes unloaded and put away."

"You're on," Thay responded, and they set to work, neither of them even realizing that they'd never actually bet anything.

"Oh yeah," Jack muttered, "dude doesn't even know where all of the dishes go."

He pulled the garbage bag from its compartment in the counter, a fresh one dropping into its place, and made for the door, "This is gonna be a snap!"

He threw open the door and took off past my mom, ran full speed for the curb where he tossed the bag into the trash hub, spun, and took off back for the house, all in one fluid motion. He ran back through the door, pulling it closed behind him, charged into the kitchen, and skidded to a stop, full of pride. I swear, if he were a cartoon, his jaw would have hit the floor. Before him, Thay was leaning against freshly cleaned counter tops, open cabinets full of clear dishes displayed proudly behind him.

"Aw, come on!" Jack complained, and the rest of us had a lighthearted laugh at his expense, Jenny immediately began to apologize, and we all had a lighthearted laugh at Jenny's expense. Then we finally headed upstairs to my room to switch on the PS8 and play a little Modern Warfare. I won, at least as far as I'm concerned, but we didn't really pay attention to our scores.

It was getting pretty late when my mom made her second unscheduled appearance. "Alright, kids, dinner," she announced, "I ordered pizza. Come on downstairs."

"Can't you bring it up," I asked, eyes on the holoscreen upon which Jack was struggling valiantly against Sam.

"No," she answered, turning and starting down the hall, calling back, "downstairs or no pizza."

"Well then, I'm out," said Jack, handing his controller off to me.

"You'd leave us for pizza?" I asked as I succumbed to a barrage of machine gun fire.

"Yes," Jack answered frankly, and he was out the door.

"We're goin' too," said Sam, referring to herself and Jenny.

"I hope the pizza's vegetarian," said Jenny.

"You're not a vegetarian," Sam replied in a flat tone, and they were gone as well.

I tracked down Sam's game avatar and shot him just for the hell of it, and then stood up and switched of the game system, asking, "You stayin' for pizza, Thay?"

"No," he answered. I heard papers rustling from the direction of Thay's usual spot at the desk in the corner, "I'm gonna head home."

He got up and headed for the door. "Alright," I said, watching him go, "safe trip. I'll see you tomorrow."

By the time I reached the kitchen, a third of the pepperoni pizza and two thirds of the sausage remained. My mom was around the corner in the dining room doing something work related on her palm comp. She goes into an actual office each morning and oversees some of the card designs, and has a few face-to-face meetings, but then she's usually able to take the rest of the day to work from home. There are, however, some exceptions. My friends were discussing in hushed whispers whether or not my mom was a Duelist.

"If you guys wanna know so bad," I told them, grabbing a slice of sausage and hopping up to sit on the counter, "just ask her."

"Oh no," said Jenny, "we shouldn't bother her."

I rolled my eyes, "Hey, mom, Jenny was wondering if you're a Duelist."

"Oh wow," my mom replied, leaning back in her chair thoughtfully, "that's a good question."

She angled herself in her chair so that she could look into the kitchen and see us, "I guess you could say I was a Duelist once, but I probably haven't touched my deck in ten years."

"Do you still have it?" Jack asked. "It might be fun to see what kinds of cards were used when we were five."

"They're somewhere," Mom replied. "They weren't anything special, and I promise you, any cards that were really popular when you kids were five are still used today. In fact, the game hasn't really changed that much. New cards are released, but the strategies and deck types stay the same. In fact, the biggest change that we've seen in the game recently has been the reboot of the Synchro project a couple years ago.

"In fact," my mom continued, “the technology that’s used to play the game has evolved far further than the game itself. Did you know that all the card data used to have to be stored in a central Kaiba Corp. database. A player’s Duel Disk only had the storage capacity to call up about twenty cards at a time, so it’d have to call up additional data from the closest Kaiba Corp. facility and store it in its temp memory. Duel Disks now can scan everything about a card on the spot, as long as it has the holographic stamp in the bottom corner. They have even less card data memory than their predecessors, because they don’t need it. As long as the card is on the Duel Disk, the Duel Disk can interpret it and display an appropriate visual effect. The only time that they ever communicate with Kaiba Corp. computers is when there’s a software update.”

“That’s actually pretty cool mom,” I said genuinely. “Congratulations. You’ve actually gone an hour without embarrassing me.”

“I’m savin’ up kiddo.”

“Alright ladies and gentleman,” I said, addressing my friends, “it is officially eight-thirty in the PM. Go home.”

I ushered my friends out the door and went back into the kitchen to clean up, scarfing down another slice in the process. By the time I was done, my mom had migrated into the living room and was back to reading her book, so I headed up to my room, plopped down onto the small sofa against the back wall, where Sam and Jenny had been sitting earlier, clicked on my TV, and began scrolling through my list of downloaded DVD’s. I was about to turn on a really violent, bloody action movie when, on a whim, I changed my mind and turned on one of my old favorites. I clicked off the volume as the footage began to play. I didn’t need sound. I knew the Battle City finals by heart. I hadn’t watched the video in a couple of years, and yet I could still hear the words of the voiceover announcer in my head as I changed from my jeans, long sleeve T and fleece vest into a night shirt and sat down on my bed, just in time to see Yugi Muto summon his Egyptian God monster before Seto Kaiba could summon his, against all odds, and then Seto Kaiba, against all odds, survive Yugi’s God long enough to summon his own. The two immensely powerful monsters fought, destroying each other after a long struggle. Kaiba went on to fight the best way he knows how. He summoned his ‘Blue-Eyes White Dragons’ and combined them into the ‘Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon’, but Yugi still managed to come back from the brink of defeat and win. The next duel began. Katsuya Jonouchi vs. Marik Ishtar. It was a duel that had always bothered me. There was obviously something else going on. Marik played like he was trying to inflict pain on Jonouchi’s monsters, and Jonouchi acted like he could feel that pain along with them. Then, suddenly, Jonouchi passed out on the verge of victory. Some undiagnosed illness that was cured some time later, according to doctors, but I never believed that. I always believed that something had happened during the duel.

Finally the last duel of the finals began. Yugi vs. Marik. Another weird duel, but still one of the best I’d ever seen. I always liked Yugi’s duel best out of all the tournament duels I ever watched. Yugi’s my hero. I know, I know, there are tons of great Duelists out there. Judai Yuki. Mai Kujaku. Katsuya Jonouchi. Manjyome. Sho Marufuji. They’re all great. And I know it’s really stereotypical for a Duelist to think of Yugi as her hero, but he’s not my hero because he’s so strong. He’s my hero because he always fights his duels like his life depends on it. He's a little cocky. He a little arrogant. But that's okay, because he’s serious. Like my dad is when he duels (based on the three duels of his that I’ve actually seen). Serious, like I want to be.

I mentioned earlier that I’m a cocky b*tch. I’ll let you in on a little secret. I only act cocky because I don’t want people to see just how little I care about Duel Monsters these days. I want them to think that I'm serious. If I could just become as serious as Yugi, then maybe things would be better.

I rested my head on the pillow, just as the duel between Yugi and Marik hit about the halfway mark, and I was asleep before I knew it. Then, suddenly I found myself standing in a stone chamber lit by torches mounted in each corner, Egyptian writing on the walls. The back of the room was dark, unnaturally so. The light should have reached it. It was clearly a dream, but it was the strangest dream I’ve ever had. I don’t know how to explain it, but I’m gonna try. You know how, after you wake up from a dream, you know it was a dream because you realize that, in the dream, you weren’t aware of what was real and what wasn’t? Well, this dream was different. I was completely aware. I knew I was dreaming, and I knew, I knew, that it was real.

I looked around, finally calling out, “Hello? Is anyone there?”

“Kira,” came a mysterious voice from the darkness, “the Laid-back Girl. The serious Duelist who can’t feel serious about the game, who has the power to bring strong hearts together.”

A figure emerged from the darkness, an elderly man in the simple garbs of an Egyptian peasant, standing hunched over with his hands behind his back. He stood across from me, a mischievous smile playing on his face. He had an air of strength and knowledge about him.

“Welcome, Kira,” the man said, “to the Burial of the Soul. I am the Millennium Keeper, and I’m here to tell you about your destiny.”[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Turn Three]

The Story of the Duel Force


“What’s going on,” I asked the man who called himself Millennium Keeper, “am I dreaming?”

“Please,” the man answered mischievously, “only one question at a time. Otherwise I can’t know which question to answer!”

“Fine,” I snapped, “is this a dream?”

“Of course,” the Millennium Keeper answered whimsically, “but you already knew that.”

I took a deep breath and looked around the dank, dark, sandstone room, “So this isn’t really happening?”

“You know the answer to that as well,” the Keeper replied. “After all, just because something is a dream, it doesn’t mean it isn’t real.”

I suppressed the anxiety (which is just a nice word for “anger”) that was building within me, and I turned seriously toward the elderly man, “Alright then, answer my first question; what exactly is going on here?”

“I told you already,” the man responded, just as seriously, “I’m going to tell you about your destiny.”

He began pacing his end of the long, rectangular room, “Twenty-four years ago, a boy about your age won a contest. His prize was the chance to form his own four-man Team Duel team to compete against a team led by a famous Duelist. When his team, the Duel Force, won their match against all odds, they caught the eye of genius game designer and mythology expert Maxamillion Pegasus, the creator of what you modern people call Duel Monsters. Pegasus recognized the four Duelists from a prophecy that he had discovered on the wall of an old tomb in my homeland of Egypt. He brought the boy and his friends to his island, the Duelist Kingdom, and told them of their destiny, to unseal twelve powerful elemental crystals, the Duelist’s Souls. They each gained possession of one of those artifacts, and used their power to bring together the bearers of the other eight. Once they had, the twelve Soul Bearers, the new Duel Force, led by the boy, fought off villains long enough for the ancient forgotten spirit, the ghost of the first Soul Bearer, to rest.”

“First of all,” I snapped, “the people you’re talking about aren’t the Duel Force. I know of the Duel Force. They were led by a girl, not a boy, and they never met Pegasus. There are rumors of another team called the Duel Force, that came before them, but they’re just rumors.

“Second,” I continued, “are you saying that you want me to believe that twelve kids my age-.”

“Some younger,” Keeper interjected.

“My age and younger used to run around using magic crystals to fight evil like some kind of superheroes, all so that some old Egyptian ghost could find inner peace?”

“That is exactly what I expect you to believe,” the Keeper answered in a matter-of-fact tone. “And as for the Duel Force, maybe you shouldn’t discount every single rumor that you hear, eh.”

“Well then, chatty,” I asked, “why don’t we get a heads up on this whole thing and you tell me how to wake up from this stupid dream?”

“You are obviously too strong-minded a person to believe words alone,” Keeper stated, and suddenly we were somewhere else. I jumped, startled, when I saw that my feet were no longer on the ground. In fact, the ground was at least fifty feet below us. We were floating above the sand dunes of an Egyptian dessert. Ahead of us, in the distance, was an old Egyptian building partially covered with sand. I could see two figures standing upon the roof of the building. One of them was wearing a strange Duel Disk that was colored black and looked like a blade. The other wore the decades-old first production model Duel Disk. Duel Monsters stood at their sides.

I found myself captivated by these two figures. They felt powerful. I could almost feel their energies pushing on each other as they struggled to overcome each others’ powers. “Who are they?” I asked Keeper.

“You know them,” he answered, “or at least know of them, one more so than the other. Look closely.”

I did, and I was surprised to learn that Keeper was right, “The one on the left, the one wearing the old K.C. Duel Disk, he’s Marik Ishtar! Where is this happening? When is this happening? What’s going on?”

“The thing that you know as Marik Ishtar,” Keeper explained, “is a malevolent entity that was born in the heart of the real Marik. It may seem fantastic, but this Dark Marik tried to destroy this world with the power of ‘The Winged Dragon of Ra’. It was the interference of the greatest Duelist the world has ever known, during the Battle City Tournament finals, that prevented his success. Dark Marik was defeated in a shadow game, a magical competition capable of transforming a game into a dangerous competition of hearts, minds, and intentions. When Dark Marik lost, he became subject to his own Penalty Game and was banished to another dimension. Dark Marik, however, was only delayed. A few years later he returned and raised an army of Duelists to seek out the Souls, for he desired their power, and when his army failed him, he fought the leader of the Duel Force himself with the Souls on the line. This is that battle.”

“And this is a Shadow Game too?” I asked, looking on.

“Yes,” Keeper replied, and just like I knew that this dream was somehow real, I knew that he was telling the truth, “and like the Shadow Game that ended Dark Marik’s plans the first time, it had high stakes, and the odds were against the boy from the beginning.”

I was about to ask him how, but before I could, I got my answer. Marik had summoned three monsters, and as I watched, he sacrificed those monsters. I felt an undeniable, incomprehensible pressure wash over me. Keeper smiled, “This part’s pretty good, but mt favorite part comes later. You'll see."

As I watched, shocked, there was a burst of red light, and a massive creature appeared behind him. It was several hundred yards long, red, with broad wings and two mouths, one above the other. I recognized the enormous dragon immediately.

“That’s ‘Osiris’,” I exclaimed, “an Egyptian God monster!”

I stood there, the God’s sheer power washing over me, and I realized something.

“It’s not a hologram,” I asked, “is it?”

“No,” Keeper answered, “it’s not. One of the powers of the Shadow Games is to make a Duelist’s creatures come to life. They become living monsters with real powers. Not only that, but many of the monsters depicted on Duel Monsters cards are real creatures that dwell in another realm. These same creatures have been summoned to do the bidding of sorcerers and Duelists on and off for ten thousand years.”

“How can this guy win?” I asked, my interest still held by the duel before us. “He’s up against a God!”

“I learned once,” Keeper replied, “never to underestimate this particular young man. Watch, and you will see what I mean, and you will be amazed. And pay attention, because your destiny is very similar to his.”

“Who is he?” I finally asked. “I feel like I know him, but I can’t place him.”

Keeper shook his head, “That I can’t tell you. Discovering your connection to this young man will be an important part of your journey.”

I turned to face Keeper, about to protest, when I heard a sound like crumbling stone. I looked back at the building just in time to see the roof below the mysterious young man collapse out from underneath him. I gasped. I was sure he was dead, when suddenly a massive, brown-skinned demonic creature emerged from the collapsed half of the building and stood to face the ‘Sky Dragon’, the young man standing on its shoulder. I watched, truly amazed, as the God monster breathed his Summon Lightning Shot down on the demon, and the demon simply brushed it off. I felt a power rolling off of the demon, a power to rival the God’s. The demon waved its hand and released a wave of dark energy that shredded the dragon in an instant.

I kept watching as Marik and the young man exchanged dialogue, and then finally, in the life-giving light of ‘Monster Reborn’, ‘Sky Dragon of Osiris’ reappeared on the young man’s side. In mere moments, Marik was engulfed in the combined power of the God and the demon, and he was gone. Then I was gone. Gone from the site of the two-decade-old battle and back in the Burial of the Soul. Keeper and I were back where we’d been before he’d whisked us away.

“Have I convinced you yet?” the elderly man asked. I said nothing, hesitant to reveal just how deeply the vision of the past had affected me, but the old man was perceptive. He smiled a wide, confident smile, “Ah, I can see from your expression that I indeed have. You are a bit fearful, as you rightfully should be. You have learned much in a short time, and what I have told you will change your life forever.”

I took offense to Keeper’s statement, “I am not fearful.”

“Of course you are,” Keeper replied in a matter-of-fact tone much like the one my mom uses when she will accept no argument. “If you were not, then I would doubt your sanity.”

He paused, “Now, if I’m not mistaken, you have another question for me.”

“What is my destiny” I demanded.

“To answer that,” Keeper answered, “I must begin by answering your next question.”

I took a deep breath, and then I asked a question that I’d been trying to avoid asking, as it would mean accepting once and for all that I believed the Keeper’s story, “What exactly are the Souls? You said that they were originally held by a powerful man. Based on my surroundings, I can guess that he was Egyptian.”

“You’re right,” Keeper replied, “but he was much more than that. This man, known today only as the Forgotten Duelist, was a powerful sorcerer, born with a magic so strong that to control it he had to separate it from his own personal Ba, his own personal Life Energy, and place it into a vessel, a diamond-like sphere that he wore around his neck. Because he was a Sorcerer Duelist, one of the most powerful to ever aid the great Nameless Pharaoh, the Forgotten Duelist called the vessel the Duelist’s Soul.

“But like most powerful men, the Duelist had a darkness in his heart. And like most magical men with such a darkness, that darkness took on a life of its own, calling itself Blackheart. One day, the Duelist decided that he wanted to better himself, so he left the Pharaoh's court. During his travels, the Duelist fought Blackheart back into the depths of his heart many times, Blackheart growing stronger with each defeat, until finally Blackheart emerged once more, more powerful than ever. The Duelist fought well, but his power faltered at the worst possible moment. Realizing that he would lose the world to the monstrously powerful villain, the Duelist made a choice. He cast a spell that would seal Blackheart away for millennia, paying its cost with his entire Life, and the energy of his great legacy, cursing himself to be forgotten until the day that he would be needed again to defeat Blackheart once and for all. To preserve his power until that day, the Duelist enchanted the Soul. It split into twelve fragments, twelve individual Duelist’s Souls, which were then sealed here, in the Burial of the Soul, destined to be unleashed one day to find those Duelists who were ideal to keep them safe.

“Despite his careful planning, though, the Duelist’s plan would have failed except for the diligence of one man, who knew the Duelist well. The man gave ever last bit of himself to remembering the Duelist, despite the curse, long enough to record the Duelist’s story for the ages. The strain of doing so killed him, but his sacrifice protected his recording from the curse. It was that recording that Pegasus later deciphered, setting events into motion.”

I listened to Keeper speak, and I realized in that moment that he was the man, that his spirit had been following the Duelist’s legend itself for thousands of years, because he'd giving his very life to record it. I suddenly felt sorry for him. I couldn’t imagine the loneliness of such an existence. I should have said something to him about it, but I couldn’t bring myself to, so instead I asked, “Fair enough, but answer my earlier question; what does all of this have to do with me?”

Keeper paused, as if he were trying to decide how to continue. Then, finally, he said, “I am called Millennium Keeper for a reason. I have existed for thousands of years, and I see much of what goes on in the world from my place here, on the spiritual plain around my ancestral homeland of Egypt. Almost since my current existence began, I have watched the Duelist’s Souls. I watched them in the aftermath of the fracturing of the original Soul, as their individual powers formed. I also watched as smaller fragments of the original Soul broke away from the rest. While the twelve main fragments took form and then emerged onto the plane of the living to await their rightful holders, these pieces remained on the spirit plain. They accumulated magical energies over time, and eventually they formed six more Souls. I’ve watched these Second Souls with great interest for some time, wondering if they were merely an accident, or if fate had a plan for them as well. Now I have my answer.”

He looked me in the eye and said, “Kira, a powerful force is reawakening. One of the old enemies of the original Duel Force, the Duelist’s of the Order of the Divine Cards, have been revived under the mantle of the New Order, under a man wielding a magic so great that not even I can see the details of his identity. I foresee, Kira, that these six Second Souls will be the instruments with which this villainous young man will be opposed.

“Kira, the Laid-back Duelist, with the secret, serious heart,” Keeper explained, “you bring together hearts that would normally never come together on their own. Strong hearts. Unity. That is your power, and it is the greatest power there is, and the power of the first Second Soul!”

As the Keeper spoke, a bright shimmering light formed in the air before me, setting against my chest, forming a glittering, silvery crystal hanging from my neck by a thin leather cord. I knew instantly that it was a Duelist’s Soul. My Duelist’s Soul.

“So this is my destiny,” I asked, “to stop the New Order?”

“Yours,” Keeper explained, “and that of five others, Duelist’s with ties to the powers of Personal Growth, Loyalty, Precision of Thought and Action, Complexity of Thought, and the greatest in terms of individual power, the power of Force. They are all formidable on their own, but when they resonate with your power of Unity, they become a power great enough to oppose the immense threat to come.

“Kira,” Keeper concluded, “you must go tomorrow to a place that you know too well and meet your destiny!”

And with those, the Keeper’s final words, I woke up, feeling more confused than I could remember ever feeling before in my life.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Turn Four]

The Neo Duel Force


At first when I hobbled out of bed and into the bathroom to splash water on my face, I was convinced that, despite everything, my dream had been nothing more than an incredibly realistic and emotionally investing dream. Then I looked into the mirror and saw the spherical crystal charm that was hanging around my neck. I couldn't believe it. If the Soul was real, then it made sense that what the old man in the dream had told me was true. Of course I'd seen enough movies to know that it didn't really matter. As long as there was the chance, I didn't hace any choice but to play the hero.

I scowled at myself in the mirror, fully aware that I was basing my choice on various movie plots (which weren't always very good), but it didn't change my decision. I was some kind of super hero, and my hero complex wouldn't let me forget it.

I continued to stare at my reflection for awhile. Finally my mom heard the water running. She appeared suddenly in the bathroom doorway and found me in the darkened room, "Honey, are you okay?"

Without thinking, I tucked the Soul of Unity behind my shirt too quick for her to see, and turned to face my mother.

I put on my best sick face (being a gamer I'm good at bluffing), and replied, "I'm not really feeling too good."

"What's wrong?" she asked, concerned.

Oh nothing much, I just found out that the entire world rests on my shoulders, and my most pronounced character defect won't let me do the sensible thing and forget about it.

Of course I didn't say that. Instead I gave Mom a miserable-looking half smile and said, "Stomach. Threw up a little. Kept me up all night."

She placed her hand on my head, "You don't feel warm, but you are pale, and a little clammy. Could be that bug that's been going around."

She took a step back, smiling compassionately, "Maybe you should stay home today. I have a late day today, so I won't be home until six or seven. I'll call you in to school and check in on you before work. Go back to bed. I'll call and wake you up around noon and see how you're doing."

"Thanks, Mom," I replied, keeping up the sickness ruse, but making sure not to lay it on too thick.

"You're welcome, kiddo," Mom answered. "Now bed. Go."

I did as I was told, lying awake until I heard Mom in my doorway, looking in on me, followed a few minutes later by the opening and closing of the front door. Once I was sure I'd given her time enough to pull her car out of sight, I jumped out of bed and threw on some clothes. Of course even though I was in a rush I still made sure I looked good, choosing a really cool shirt with graffiti decales and skulls, a pink denim vest, black jeans, which I'd only worn once or twice, and my high-topped brown sneaker-boots. Then I washed my face and combed some cleanser through my hair (which didn't really do much), grabbed my cards, and ran out the door.

Keeper told me, I thought, that I'd find my new allies at 'a place I know too well'. There's only one public place in the world that fits that description.

I reached the end of the doorway and made a beeline for the woods across the street, The Stones told me that they'd be out of town for a few days, starting today, so the shop should be empty.

I jogged through the woods for several minutes until finally I emerged from the treeline onto a steep hill behind two buildings. One was bigger, newer, more run-down, and quite abandoned. The other, the smaller, nicer-looking one was Wilson's Games. It was still named for the old owner, who'd died. I scaled the small grassy incline and hopped down the short brick wall to the asphalt of the store's back alley. I turned to the back door, my prefered method of entry, my key in hand, and I was startled to find that the door was cracked open.

They're already here, I realized. Taking a deep breath, I pushed the door open and stepped into the back room. I paused when I heard subdued voices in the main store, but only for a moment before I composed myself and stepped cautiously through the inner door.

I don't know what I expected to find, but it wasn't what I found. Or maybe, on some level, it was. I looked around at the four figures who shared the room with me.

The first to speak was a charismatic boy, several inches taller than me, with white hair and wearing a black, sleeveless shirt. His bare, well-toned arms led down to hands tucked in faded, worn skaters' jeans, and he wore a triumphant smile, "I told you it would be her. I called it!"

I looked at him, Jack, always sticking up for your friends, even when they don't need you to.

"I never said it wouldn't be her," replied a girl my height, dressed tomboyishly in similar jeans and a graphic tee, playing with her short, sandy hair, "I just said we shouldn't make assumptions."

Sam, I thought, your mind's always working, crunching ideas.

"I knew it would be you, too, Kira," said a shorter girl, well dressed in a stylish blouse, jacket, and knee-length skirt, all colorful, but subdued and perfect stylistic match for her expertly tended long curly light brown hair (which frames her face adorably, I might add), "my heart told me it would be."

Jenny, I thought, you've come a long way, but you still have so much room to grow.

"Regardless of all that," came a final voice, belonging to a tall, athletic boy with bright red hair stepping out of the dark back corner, his arms crossed over a sharp, pressed button-up shirt, his face both stern and thoughtful, "we have a much more pressing question. This group makes sense, so who is number six?"

My smile widened, The unusual Thaylaan, always thinking a step ahead of everyone around him.

The new Duel Force was made up of my friends. Nothing made more sense than that, and, in fact, it felt right.

Still...

"Thay raises an interesting point," I said, choosing to jump right into the discussion. "If you all had the same experience I did, and the fact that you're all here means you did, then you all know that Keeper said there'd be six of here. So where's number six, and who are they?"

"Hold on," Jenny replied, showing a bit of her old attitude, "don't tell me you're with them on this. I was sure you'd see, like me, that this whole thing is just a weird shared dream or something."

"Don't you mean 'everyone has a right to their opinion'?" I asked, but she wasn't backing down. "Sorry," I said, "you're right, there could be some other explanation for this, but I don't buy it."

"Yeah," Jack agreed. "How do we explain that we all had virtually the same dream, or the fact that we're all wearing Duelist's Souls?"

He gestured to the crystal charms that we were all wearing.

"As much as it pains me," Thay added, "I agree with Wonder Boy. Shared hallucinations are incredibly rare, and are unheard of amongst groups who are separated from each other at the time of the vision."

"Exactly," Jack agreed. Then Thay's insult sunk in, "Hey!"

Jack, Jenny and Thay started bickering. Sam closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Oh calm down," I said, feeling a frustration headache coming on. "There's something more important going on here. Whether we agree that our dreams were quote-unquote real or not, we have to agree that we're facing something unique. We're facing the possibility of destiny. In the case of possible real life destiny, I don't think we have any choice but to give Keeper the benefit of the doubt. Lives could be at stake."

I watched the impact of my words on the others. I could tell that Jack and Thay immediately agreed with me, and that Sam was at least willing to consider it. Even Jenny seemed to begrudgingly accept that my point was valid.

"I don't know exactly what's going on," I continued, "but we've gotta do our best to figure it out, in case something bad really is about to happen, and in case there really is something that we can do to stop it."

Everyone looked at Jenny, and finally she nodded.

"Alright," Jack said, "what's the plan, Kira the Great?"

But before I could answer, a new voice wrang out from the door to the back room, "Why are you asking her?" Despite the fact that the deep, harsh voice came from an unknown source, I recognized it in an instant, and I felt like I really was gonna throw up.

I spun around to face the door, just as a tall, muscular boy stepped out of the shadow of the doorway, his step full of swagger, his handsome face permeated by a grin that dripped false sincerity, his slim dark jeans and black tee decorated with a dragon detail across the right side offering little contrast to his wavy brown hair and dark, confident eyes. He, like all of us, wore a Duel Disk on his arm and a Soul around his neck. I was speechless. I don't handle surprises well.

Luckily Jack does.

"Damien Johnson," Jack said, almost like an insult, as he jumped up from his seat at one of the game tables and moved to stand aggressively at my side. Thay watched the two of them warily, but his muscles tensed, ready to act.

Jack, Thay and I all have some bad history with Damien. It's mostly just drama, but it ain't pretty.

Sam and Jenny, however, had never met Damien before. Sam picked up on the tension, but Jenny didn't quite get it. "Who's the cute guy?" she asked, a bit dreamily.

"You said Damien Johnson," Sam said. "I assume you mean the former regional champion who gave you guys so much trouble before we met."

"The very same," I told her, finally regaining my composure. I got righ up in Damien's face (not for the first time) and demanded, "What are you doing here. You moved away. Best day of my life I might add."

"Well, that's the thing about people moving away," Damien replied snarkily, "they can move back. My aunt changed jobs again. This time she just so happened to get a job in town. We just got in two days ago."

"That doesn't exactly answer the question," Jack countered. "Why are you here?"

"Well, you see," Damien replied as he sauntered into the room, full of swagger, "I had this dream."

Oh no...

"This old Egyptian guy, the Millennium Keeper, told me all about my destiny, to join up with five other people and fight an evil secret order. I have to say, I'm a little disappointed that you guys are them."

He paused, "No, I take that back. I'm really disappointed. You guys don't look like you could save a cat in a tree, let alone the world."

"Ignore this jackass," I said, glaring into Damien's eyes. "He blames me for his failure to live up to the legacy of his missing daddy."

Damien's swagger turned to aggression, "My dad's off limits, Kira. After all, you haven't done any better living up to your Duelist dad."

That's because I can't duel seriously, I thought. Win or lose, my dad's at least good at that. Anything less than that from me will never be enough.

I saw similar emotions playing on Damien's face, and I realized that I was being as big a jerk to him as he was to me.

"Fine," I agreed, "dads are off the table, but I still have plenty of reasons left to be pissed at you. It's not my fault your life got all sucky after...what happened to your dad. And its definitely not my fault that you never knew your mom, especially since I wasn't even born yet when she died. And just so you know, just 'cause your dad's the legendary Christopher Johnson it doesn't mean my dad would have lost their duel."

"But when my dad disappeared," Damien countered, "your dad won by default."

"My dad didn't do anything to your dad!" I cried, and Damien and I about came to blows before Thay stepped in between us, moving so fast that we barely saw him move.

"Drop it, guys."

He looked Damien right in the eyes, calmly, despite the fact that he hated Damien almost as much as I did, "You're smart, and you and Kira used to be friends. You can't possibly believe that Kira's dad would hurt someone just to win a duel."

He looked from Damien to me, and then back again, "Now let's get on with this. What did you mean when you asked why we were asking Kira what to do?"

"No, Thay," I interrupted, managing to keep a state of fragile calm as I addressed Damien. "You turned into an ass after you lost your dad. I tried to be there for you, but all you wanted was someone to blame, so you blamed me. Then you missed your chance with your dad's sponsors, and instead of trying harder, you blamed me some more, and you humiliated Thay on his first day of school. You're a jerk. I don't care what you were told in your dreams, you will never be part of this group, and you will never be welcome in this store. Get out."

I expected Damien to back down, but instead he resumed his calm, confident demeanor, looked at Thay and said, "Still going by Thaylaan I see. Pitty. Before I knew that, you were one of the few people in this room that I actually had hope for."

Thay said nothing.

"Leave," I commanded.

"I don't think so, Kira," Damien replied smugly. "You need me. After all, my Soul of Force is the most powerful."

"Forget it," Jack argued in my defense. "Kira is the one who's supposed to unite this team, so if she doesn't want you here, we don't need you."

Damien smiled triumphantly, and he turned on the charm as he addressed the roon, "That's my points, actually. Kira was supposed to unite us. Our connection to each other is through her. For all we know, her role in all of this is complete, aside from focussing our powers from time to time like a lense. No one ever said a thing about her being in charge here. In fact, the Duelist with the strongest magic should lead us, and that just happens to be me.

"Of course, I can't expect you kiddies to go along with me based on arbitrary claims of my possible future magical exploits."

"Get to the point, Damien," I snapped.

"Alright," he agreed. "I propose a means of deciding who should lead the Duel Force. A tried and true method. I propose a mini Duel Monsters tournament. Two triangle duels to decide the finalists, followed by one last duel to decide the leader once and for all."

"I don't like you," Jenny replied. "You're mean."

Damien didn't know jenny, but I guess he could tell from our reactions that her statement was a big deal, because his smug facade seemed to shatter. Finally he spoke again, "Okay, fine, I'm being an ass. Yes, I'm bitter. But my point is still valid. We need to work as a team, as the team we're intended to be, and we need to do so under the strongest leader possible. Dueling each other will show which of us is the best strategist, which of us is the strongest, and which of us is the most resourceful, all at once."

He looked at each of us in turn, waiting for our response. My friends, I knew, were waiting for my response.

I'm gonna regret this...

"Damien," I said, "you're on."

I know what this is, Damien, I thought. You've gotten stronger, and you want to know where your new powers stack against ours. Well, I've grown, too, and I'm tired of you always beating me. Always showing off. I promise, you will not beat me again![/spoiler]
[spoiler=Turn Five]

The Leadership Tournament; The Power of Damien Johnson!


We found a scrap of paper and an old box in the back of the store. Damien tore it into six roughly equal pieces, and we each wrote our name on one and tossed them in the box. I shook them up and drew names from the box, "Well, it looks like the first round is going to be Jenny vs. Thay vs. Damien."

I looked at Thay, worried that he'd be too nervous to fight Damien right away, but rather than worried, he looked determined. I realized that after what Damien put him through, he might have something to prove.

"Good match-up, Kira," Damien replied approvingly. "I'd rather save our duel for last. After all, you're the only person here who's anywhere near my level, and the only sure fire way to test my new deck is one-on-one."

"This is gonna be fun!" Jenny exclaimed. "I haven't dueled in forever!"

"We dueled yesterday at school," Sam interjected, annoyed. "In the bathroom, to piss off the preppy girls, like we do every day. Ringing any bells?"

Jenny just smiled.

"Whatever. Act dumb if you want."

"You shouldn't expect to win, Damien," I told him, ignoring Sam and Jenny's exchange, as was customary these days. "Since you beat him last, Thay's gotten a lot stronger. He has as good a chance against you as I do. Maybe better."

I was lying, of course. I'd heard stories of Thay's tournament wins, how he'd been doing well for himself, but I hadn't seen him duel in years. I had no idea how powerful he was. But I had faith in him. In his abilities.

Plus, it couldn't hurt to shake Damien up a bit.

Damien, however, wasn't buying it. He smiled confidentiality, "I'm sure he does. Now let's get on with this, shall we? There's plenty of room out back."

He turned and walked back through the door, snubbing the rest of us. We followed, Jack falling in step with me, "I'm starting to remember exactly why we don't talk about this guy."

I smiled despite the situation. Trust Jack to find a way to cheer ya up in the most tense of situations. I really don't know what I'd do without him sometimes.

"Well, Jack," I replied, "you live and learn."

I can't say I didn't at least partially agree with Damien's point of view. Not that I wanted to, mind you. It's the gamer in me. Any strategically sound idea tends to make sense to me, regardless of whoes idea it is.

I guess no one's perfect.

Of course I still wasn't sure about Damien himself. He'd been a good, stable guy before losing his dad and ending up with his aunt, and don't get me wrong, I do feel bad for him, but from that day until the day he left, he was nothing but horrible to everyone, and it didn't look like anything had changed while he was gone. He was missing something from his life. He was missing a family. Even if he was supposed to be here with us, could I really trust him to lead me and my friends into battle?

The short answer was no, and I was going to make sure I didn't have to.

We walked through the back room and emerged into the back alley. I'd noticed on several occations that it would make a good duel arena. Jack and I hung back, leaning against the back wall and watching carefully. As much as we disliked Damien, we were curious about his power.

"Okay, Jenn," Sam said, looking into her best friend's eyes and speaking to her like she was a child, "can you be serious for me? You remember serious, right?"

As Jenny assured Sam that she would be fine, Thay and Damien took up positions. Jenny noticed a moment later and scrambled to find her position as well, so that the three of them stood at different points of a triangle.

"We'll make this a quick game," Damien decided. "Four thousand Life apiece."

"Fine by me," Thay replied. "The lower your Life, the faster I'll beat you."

"Hurray!" Jenny cheered. "This is gonna be fun!"

Sam actually facepalmed. It was almost funny.

"Enough of that," Damien demanded. "It's time to get started."

He seemed about ready to make the first move himself when Jenny beat him to it, "Ooh, ooh, me me!"

She drew a hand of six cards, "I activate 'Seed Cannon' and 'The World Tree', and summon 'Dandylion' in defense mode!"

A tall, lush tree grew up behind Jenny, many flower buds appearing on its branches. Another flower, like a seedless, six-foot-tall sunflower, sprouted at her side. A small flower creature with a body and face like a cat appeared at Jenny's feet. As it appeared, several seeds grew in the sunflower.

"That's actually not bad," Sam blurted, astomished. "As long as she has a plan for those cards, she might actually make it through this duel without getting her ass kicked too hard."

I was moments from assuring her that Jenny obviously had a plan, when Jenny clapped her hands excitedly, I love pretty flowers!"

This time I almost facepalmed too.

Damien and Thay, however, seemed to be ignoring her (which was probably for the best).

"I'm next," Thay insisted. He drew six cards as well, "No offense to Jenny, but I'm going to make sure that my play does more than look pretty."

He chose a card and placed it on his Duel Disk, "I summon 'Soul Tiger' in defense mode."

A ghostly blue tiger appeared at Thay's side. The back half of its body was a ghostly tail, like mist (DEF: 2100).

"I place two cards face-down," he concluded, "and end my turn as well."

"Then finally," Damien said arrogantly, "now that the small-frye are through, it's time for this big fish to make the first move that really maters."

"Hah," Jack mocked, "he sure knows how to boast."

"No," I disagreed, "I think he's serious. I think he really believes that their moves won't make a difference in the end. Now I wanna know, does he believe it because he's an ass, or because it's true?"

Damien drew his sixth card, "I'll start off simple so everyone can keep up. I summon 'Cyber Dragon Zwei'."

"'Cyber Dragon Zwei'?" Thay asked, as a metalic serpentine creature appeared at Damien's side (ATK: 1500). "Damien Johnson, the great and powerful champion, could you be playing a common Cyber Style deck?"

"Don't treat me like some kind of cheap Sho Marufuji ripoff," Damien responded. "I've studied the disciplines. I've taken the time to learn the teachings of the Cyber Style. I even went one step further. I'm the first duelist ever to balance all three schools of the Cyber Style into one deck. As a result, I've built a deck capable of defeating any other."

He smiled wide, "Allow me to demonstrate."

He chose another card, "I reveal a Spell, my 'Power Bond', to treat 'Zwei' as the Cyber Style key card, 'Cyber Dragon', for the rest of the turn. That means I can play 'Power Bond' to fuse 'Zwei' with the 'Cyber Dragon' in my hand," a larger, sleaker version of 'Zwei' appeared, and the mechanical dragons merged into a two-headed 'Cyber Dragon', the two heads almost identical in appearance, "forming 'Cyber Twin Dragon! And because it was summoned using 'Power Bond', its Attack is doubled, and I take damage equal to its original Attack at the end of the turn."

An aura of energy surrounded the dragon (ATK: 2800 -> 5600).

"Let's trim the fat," Damien declared. "I equip my dragon with 'Fairy Meteor Crush', giving it a piercing effect, and I attack the girl, Evolution Twin Burst!"

"Oh no," Jenny exclaimed, "I can't stand up to that!"

"See, Jenn," Sam told her, "this is what I'm talking about."

One of the dragon's two heads blasted 'Dandylion' with a stream of pure white light (4000 -> 0).

"Oh man," Jenny lamented. "Oh well, I didn't want to be leader anyway."

She joined Sam against the wall on the other side of the back door.

"You done, Captain Awesome?" Thay asked, still just as determined as ever.

"Not even close," Damien answered. "In case you didn't notice, my dragon has two heads."

Thay frowned, "Yeah, I was actually afraid of that."

"Attack again!" Damien commanded, and the dragon blasted away, its attack ripping the 'Soul Tiger apart (4000 -> 500).

"I survived," Thay retorted.

"Not for long," Damien replied. "I activate 'De-Fusion', splitting my dragon into its base components."

'Cyber Twin Dragon' split into 'Cyber Dragon' and 'Cyber Dragon Zwei', both of which roared fiercely (ATK: 2100/1500).

"'Cyber Dragon' finishes you," Damien declared, "with Evolution Burst."

The dragon fired its mouth beam, but before it could hit, two more 'Soul Tigers' appeared, one of them moving to intercept the blast, deflecting it.

"Sorry," Thay told him, smiling proudly, "but when my 'Soul Tiger', with higher Defense than Attack, was destroyed by battle, I activated my face-down 'Broken Blocker', summoning two more from my deck. And because my monsters' Defenses are equal to your strongest monster's Attack, you won't be attacking anyone else this turn."

"Not bad," Damien admitted.

"It gets better," Thay added, "when you take twenty-eight hundred damage at the end of the turn."

Damien smiled, "Well that's not gonna happen. At the end of the turn, when I would take the damage, I play the Instant Spell 'Damage Erase', reducing the damage to zero and drawing one card."

Thay scowled, "I draw."

He examined his new hand, and his smile returned, "Time for my counterattack. I summon 'Susa Soldier', a Spirit monster."

A tough-looking man carrying a lightning sword appeared from a ghostly mist at Thay's side (ATK: 2000).

"My monster attacks 'Zwei'," Thay declared, and the Spirit sliced the dragon's head clean off with one slice.

"Lucky for you," Thay explained, "my monster only deals Battle Damage equal to half the difference in their Attack values (4000 -> 3750), but unlucky for you, in my second Main Phase, I activate 'Creature Swap'. We exchange our monsters, giving me control of the 'Cyber Dragon'."

Damien scowled angrily as the two monsters switched places.

"Next," Thay continued, "I reveal 'Spirit of Yata-Garasu', allowing me to draw two cards.

"Damien Johnson," said Thay, "you've always been a great Duelist. Even before I met you, I followed your duels. You're most likely a better Duelist that I'll ever be. But today I'm going to show you that you aren't as great as you think you are. I'm going to prove it!

"I play 'Spring of Rebirth'. While I control this card, if a monster returns to my hand, I recover five hundred Life. And I end my turn, and the Spirit monster you control returns to my hand."

'Susa Soldier' disappeared in a cloud of mist (500 -> 1000).

"You know," Damien admitted, "you did better than I expected. You survived my killing attack, and you even managed to take control of my 'Cyber Dragon'. I'm truly impressed."

"That's what I live for," Thay replied sarcastically, "impressing you."

"But, you know," Damien continued, ignoring Thay's jibe, "I just can't let you keep my monster."

He drew his card, "I activate 'Future Fusion', sending the monsters needed for a Fusion Summon from my deck two turns into the future, where they combine together."

He chose six cards from his deck and sent them to the Graveyard, shuffled his deck, and replaced it.

"I won't let you summon that monster," Thay asserted.

"Who says I want to summon my Fusion monster?" Damien asked smugly. "I just wanted to get a second 'Cyber Dragon' out of my deck and into the Graveyard, so that I can play 'Monster Reborn', reviving the discarded dragon."

A glowing red ankh appeared, blossoming into the serpentine mechanical dragon (ATK: 2100).

"I attack your 'Cyber Dragon'," Damien declared, "with mine!"

Thay looked on, stunned, as the two dragons fired their attacks as one, vaporizing each other.

"What?" Thay asked. "But why?"

"I told you," Damien replied fiercely, "I won't let you keep my monster."

Damien softened his fierce gaze, "I end my turn."

"Then you've made your last mistake," Thay told him. "By leaving yourself open, you've left yourself vulnerable to my dragon.

"I draw," Thay began, "and tribute my two 'Soul Tigers' for 'Yamata Dragon'!"

The two spirit beasts gave way to a massive draconic serpent, so large that its many tails wrapped the card shop behind it. It had eight heads, eight tails, and eyes that glowed a bright cherry red (ATK: 2600).

"'Yamata Dragon'," Thay commanded, "attack with eight-headed flame!"

The dragon's many heads breathed fire down on Damien all at once (3750 -> 1150).

"When my dragon deals you damage," Thay explained, "I draw until I hold five cards during the End Phase of the turn."

"But you failed to defeat me," Damien countered, "and when your turn ends, your 'Yamata Dragon' will return to your hand and you'll be the one exposed."

"Not likely," Thaylaan countered with a confident smirk."I equip 'Mirror of Yata' to 'Yamata Dragon'. He no longer returns to my hand at the end of the turn."

"Very impressive!" Damien exclaimed, sounding somewhere between sincere and mocking. "I was hoping not to have to use any of my really strong monsters until my duel with Kira, but you've proven more difficult than I imagined. Kudos, really. But your little comeback ends here."

Damien drew a card to begin his turn, "I remove the eight Light, Machine-type monsters in my Graveyard from play to summon the Dragon Star, the mighty 'Cyber Eltanin'! Behold, the rise of one of the most powerful monsters in my entire deck!"

A sphere of light appeared in the sky above Damien. From the sphere of light emerged the heads of seven 'Cyber Dragons'. At first they seemed to be separate monsters, but then the light faded, revealing that the seven serpentine heads were connected by a massive eighth dragon head that acted as a core.

"'Eltanin' has a powerful Special Ability," Damien explained. "When it's successfully summoned via its own effect, it gains Attack points for every monster removed from play to summon it (ATK: 0 -> 4000), and then it erases every other monster from the field!"

'Cyber Eltanin' was surrounded by a powerful aura, which dispersed outward, taking the 'Yamata Dragon' with it.

"I finish it," Damien declared. "'Eltanin', attack with Draconic Ascension!"

The dragon aimed its eight heads at Thay. Light built in the machine's many mouths. The light erupted out, pouring over Damien's defenseless opponent. His Life Points plummeted to zero.

Damien walked past Thay, moving to stand off to the side in preparation the watch the next duel, but as he passed, Damien said something truly unexpected. He looked right at Thay, and in a sincere tone of voice, he said, "You know, maybe this team isn't as hopeless as I thought. Maybe when this so-called 'New Order' attacks, we'll actually stand a chance."

Huh, I thought. Damien, maybe there's hope for you yet.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Turn Six]

The Leadership Tournament; The Attack of the Female Warriors!


As the duel broke up, I watched as a defeated yet still-thoughtful Thaylaan got up the courage to speak. He looked over at Damien and said, "Maybe I didn't beat you, but Kira will. She might not do it today, but one day she'll beat you and you'll learn that you're just human, just like the rest of us. After all Kira is the most resilient Duelist of anyone that I know."

"We'll see about the future," Damien said, truly arrogant where I only pretend to be for effect, leaning casually against the back wall of the building, "but right here, right now, we have a tournament to finish, and that I am going to win. Now hurry up and duel so we can finish this. You guys are boring."

I was still reeling a bit from Thay's compliment when Jack said, "No way, Damien. I don't like you, but Kira's got more beef with you than anyone. I'm not gonna stand in the way of her facing you. I'm outta this duel."

"Me too," Sam agreed. "I never win against Kira anyway. Might as well step aside."

But I shook my head, "No, no way. If I'm good enough to win this tournament and lead the Duel Force, then I've gotta be good enough to make it to the finals of this thing on my own merits. If you really think I'd make a good leader (and honestly I don't know why you would), then you'll duel me. You'll let me prove it."

"Okay, Kira," Jack said, "if that's what you want."

Sam sighed, "I guess it's a chance to try out my newest combos if nothing else."

We stepped out into the open and stood in a triangle, our Duel Disks ready. "You really sure about this duel, Kira?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," I replied, "I am."

"Good," Sam said, a smug look on her face, "just making sure. I didn't want to you backing out after you saw this."

She drew, "I play 'Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands'."

A vaguely humanoid creature with literally ten thousand arms of various sizes sprouting from its sides all down its longer than usual torso appeared at Sam's side (ATK: 1400).

"When 'Manju' is summoned," Sam explained, "I can add any Ritual Monster or Ritual Spell from my deck to my hand."

Sam fanned out her deck and picked her card. I was interested to see what Sam would do.

"Now," Sam continued, "I play 'Ascending Soul', a Continuous Spell, and activate 'Ritual of Grace', offering 'Manju' on the field and 'Djinn Precogster of Rituals' in my hand to Ritual Summon," Light rose up in a pillar, engulfing 'Manju', and from the light emerged a beautiful woman wearing a dark dress and a long white veil, a head dress, and carrying a staff topped with a stylized image of the sun, "the 'Divine Grace - Northwemko' (ATK: 2700)! 'Ascending Soul' kicks in, returning the tributed 'Manju' to my hand, and the effect of 'Northwemko' herself activates. I choose a card, like my 'Ascending Soul', and while I control it 'Northwemko' can't be destroyed by effects. I also equip 'Northwemko' with 'Mist Body', making her invincible in battle as well.

"Kira, Jack," Sam explained, "you've never seen me fight seriously with this deck, so I'll give you a second to take all of this in. This is my perfect combo!"

"Then let's see how perfect it really is," Jack replied, smiling smugly. He drew his opening hand, looking visibly disappointed.

"I was hoping for something better," he said, "but this'll do. I set one monster and one card and one card and pass."

"Making it my turn," I began, drawing my opening hand. "I begin with 'Amazoness Blowpiper' in defense mode."

My monster, a fit, scantily clad dark-skinned woman carrying a flute capped with the skull of a small animal, appeared at my side (DEF: 1500).

"I place two cards face-down," I concluded, "and I pass as well."

"You guys always take too long to set up your combos," Sam said as she drew her card, proud that she'd already put both of her opponents on the defensive. "I re-summon 'Manju', searching my deck again, choosing another card, and I attack Jack's monster with 'Manju''s Ten Thousand Rays attack."

'Manju' fired beams of light from all ten thousand of his arms, blasting Jack's hidden monster, two nearly identical demons, the 'Gemini Fiends', vaporizing them instantly.

"Now 'Northwemko' attacks with Ray of the Sun against 'Amazoness Blowpiper'," Sam declared, and 'Northwemko' raised her staff, light raining down from the topper.

"No way," I countered. "Reveal 'Mirror Wall', reflecting the image of your monster in the path of her attack, causing her to attack herself through her reflection, cutting her attack in half."

'Northwemko' hit her reflection in the wall of reflective crystals which grew up between 'Northwemko' and my monster (ATK: 2700 -> 1350), and Sam lost Life (4000 -> 3850).

"Maybe it's not that our strategies move too slowly," I taunted, "maybe it's that yours moves too fast."

"Draw," declared Jack. He smiled in the really wicked way that he does when he draws exactly what he needs at just the right time. The boy has a bad habit of setting up combos before he's drawn all the cards to complete them.

"I reveal my face-down Spell card 'Fiend Sanctuary'," Jack continued, a small creature made of reflective metal spheres appearing at his side, "to summon one 'Metal Fiend Token', and I summon 'The Portrait's Secret'."

A picture of a Victorian gentleman appeared, floating in the air at Jack's side. A ghostly image of the portrait's subject emerged from the face of the painting, bound to the image itself (ATK: 1200).

"Of course these monsters can't do a thing against 'Northwemko'," Jack admitted, "even in her weakened state, so I activate the Spell card 'Spirit Elimination'. For the rest of the turn, my side of the field becomes part of the Graveyard," a ghostly fog engulfed Jack's portion of the field, "which means I can remove 'Fiend Token' and 'Portrait's Secret' on my field and 'Gemini Fiends' in my Graveyard from play to Special Summon 'Dark Necrofear'!"

A ghoulish woman appeared, hunched over and limp. The souls of Jack's monsters poured into her body and she straightened up, an evil aura burning around her (ATK: 2200).

"I equip 'Necrofear' with 'Dark Energy'," Jack declared, energy crackling across his monster's body (ATK: 2200 -> 2500), "and I attack 'Northwemko' with Spirit Eye Murder."

'Necrofear' summoned up an orb of dark energy and blasted 'Northwemko'. She turned to mist, her body instantly reforming (3850 -> 2700).

"Guess you forgot about 'Mist Body'," Sam commented.

"Did not," Jack replied. "I just thought I'd take the opportunity to deal you some damage. It's not like there's any risk in summoning my monster either. Your 'Northwemko' will stay weak as long as Kira has her 'Mirror Wall'."

"Yeah," I agreed, my wall shattering (1350 -> 2700), "but I don't need 'Mirror Wall' anymore, because it's my turn, and in my Standby Phase, my 'Amazoness Blowpiper' can decrease the Attack by any opposing monster by five hundred."

'Blowpiper' blew hard into her pipe, expelling a single dart that caught 'Northwemko' in the neck. She flinched and stumbled back (2700 -> 2200).

"Now all that's left," I said smugly, "is to shatter your Spell combo and make your monster vulnerable again, and I have just the card to do it. I tribute 'Amazoness Blowpiper' to summon 'Cyber Prima'!"

my 'Blowpiper' was replaced by a tall, slender woman in a gray jumpsuit and a tutu, golden rings draped around her arms (ATK: 2300).

"When my monster is summoned," I explained, "every Spell card face-up on the field is destroyed," my monster twirled and kicked, releasing an energy wave that shattered 'Ascending Soul' and 'Mist Body'.

"I equip my monster," I declared, a thin, elegant blade with a hilt shaped like golden wings appearing in her hand (2300 -> 2600), "'Divine Sword Phoenix Blade'. And I attack!"

My monster leaped acrobatically into the air and slashed 'Northwemko' across the chest. Then she threw her weight and flip kicked the helpless 'Northwemko'. She shattered into pixals (2700 -> 2300).

Sam shook her head, disappointed, "Typical, I set up a combo and Kira has just the card to break it."

"I set a card," I finally concluded, "and pass."

"When then," Sam countered, "it's my turn again, and I might as well regain control of this duel. I summon my 'Sanju of the Thousand Hands'."

A (slightly) more proportionate version of 'Manju' appeared alongside its odd counterpart (ATK: 1400).

"'Sanju' is a more limited monster," Sam explained, "but I can still use its effect to search my deck for any Ritual Monster."

She fanned out her deck again and picked another card. I was impressed by the number of rare cards that she had. I'd been collecting cards for my deck for years and I didn't have nearly so many, Sam must've been working on this deck for a long time. I'm proud of her. After all I haven't seen her so proud of her cards since she started playing and she came to me to learn the basics.

"I tribute," Sam declared, "'Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands' on the field and I remove from play 'Djinn Precogster of Rituals' in my Graveyard to activate 'Ritual of Destruction'.

"I Ritual Summon," 'Manju' was engulfed in black fire, and from that fire emerged demonic, armored figure with curved horns growing from his hips and shoulders and curved shoulders growing from his forearms and thighs, his face like a bony mask, gold chains draped across his chest, "'Garlandolf, King of Destruction'! When my monster is Ritual Summoned, he destroys every monster with Defense equal to or lower than his Attack and gains one hundred Attack for every monster he destroys."

The flames around 'Garlandolf' spread out, burning up my 'Prima' and Sam's own 'Sanju of the Thousand Hands', and 'Garlandolf''s power rose (ATK: 2500 -> 2700).

"And the power of my monster isn't finished rising," Sam explained as her monster doubled in size, towering over the entire field. "I equip him with 'Megamorph', and because my Life points are lowest, the original Attack of my monster doubles (2700 -> 5200). I also equip him with 'Demotion', lowering his Level to five, low enough to equip him with 'Ritual Weapon'."

The armor on 'Garlandolf''s right arm reformed into a sort of energy cannon crackling with black and red energy (5200 -> 6700).

"Awesome," I told her, "you were waiting to break this combo out, right?"

Sam shrugged, beaming with pride, "Yeah, well, I was hoping to get you guys with 'Northwemko', but I figured I needed a backup plan too."

Sam looked fiercely at Jack who frowned, "Awe, man, I knew this was coming."

"'Garlandolf'," Sam commanded, "destroy 'Necrofear' and Jack all at once before he can pull off him monster's effect and possess you."

'Garlandolf' aimed his 'Ritual Weapon' at 'Necrofear' and she exploded in a burst of black and red static, taking Jack's Life Points with her. Jack hung his head disappointedly and made his way over to stand with Jenny.

"Looks like it's just you and me," I told Sam.

Sam smiled, "I guess so. I end my turn."

I drew my next card and I smiled, "Would you look at that! I drew 'Card of Sanctity', a card which lets us each draw until we hold six cards."

Sam and I drew again, and my smile got even wider (if that's possible), "Next up I summon my 'Amazoness Trainee'."

A dark-skinned teenage girl carrying a chain weapon appeared at my side wearing a shirt and skirt made of tiger fur stained blue (ATK: 1500).

"I equip my monster with 'Amazoness Heirloom'," I continued, a wooden totem embedded with a crystal sphere appearing around her neck on a leather cord. The crystal glowed green, and 'Trainee' was surrounded by a green aura.

"I play 'Soul Absorption'," I declared, "I activate its effect by removing 'Prima' and 'Blowpiper' in my Graveyard from play to return 'Divine Sword Phoenix Blade' to my hand, increasing my Life Points (4000 -> 5000). I equip the 'Sword' to my new monster."

The gold-hilted sword appeared again in my monster's free hand (1500 -> 1800).

"And," I said as smugly as I could muster, "I attack."

"What?!" Sam asked, shocked.

"You'll see," I answered, my trademark smirk playing across my face. 'Trainee' leaped at the giant 'Garlandolf', spinning her chain above her head, and slashed 'Garlandolf' across the chest, leaving behind a long gash in the demon's armor but doing no other damage. 'Garlandolf' blasted 'Trainee' out of the air with his arm weapon and she crashed into the ground like a meteorite, my Life Points plummeting like Wile E. Coyote (5000 -> 100). Dust billowed out from the place where my 'Trainee' fell, and when it cleared she was still standing, scorched and bruised and breathing hard, but otherwise okay.

"Not too smart," Sam told me, though I'm not sure she believed her own words. She didn't know 'Heirloom''s effect, but she was still worried because she knew how tenacious my deck could be.

"You'd be surprised," I replied, and the green aura around my Amazon flared. The gash in 'Garlandolf''s chest flashed green and it spread, becoming a series of cracks that covered 'Garlandolf''s entire body. In mere moments he shattered into 'Garlandolf' chunks and disappeared.

"Not bad," said Sam, visibly shaken.

"And that's not the half of it," I continued. "I reveal the Spell card 'Quick Summon'. I tribute 'Trainee' to Tribute Summon the greatest Amazon, my 'Amazoness Queen' (ATK: 2400)!"

A strong-looking woman appeared, wearing a top and skirt of animal skin, a spiked breastplate, a long red cape, and a metal eye patch that covered her right eye. She drew a thick, heavy blade from her belt (ATK: 2400).

"My monster," I commanded, "finishes the duel, Blade of the Royal Savage!"

'Amazoness Queen' charged, her sword raised.

"Well," said Sam, disappointed, "so much for that."

My monster swung her sword, and Sam's Life Points fell to zero. By now I was fired up. I turned and my eyes met Damien's. I saw a fire there that shook me to my core, but behind that fire I saw something that gave me hope despite the bad odd, something that surprised me.

I saw just the slightest glint of fear.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Turn Seven]

The Leadership Tournament; Damien's Secret Power


To begin the final round of what had come to be a relatively interesting tournament, all things considered, my old rival and I stepped up to face each other.

"You saw what I can do," Damien said smugly, "so why not give up?"

"I was going to say the same thing to you," I told him. I wasn't really going to say that to him, but it seemed like a clever response. "And you should know," I added, "that until now I've been holding back."

Damien smiled, "We really do think alike, don't we?"

I won't lie, I was intimidated, but I knew that Damien was too, on some level, and that gave me the courage to go ahead with the duel, "I'll start."

I shuffled my cards from the last duel, replaced them in my duel disk and drew my opening hand, "I summon 'Amazoness Blowpiper' in defense mode!"

The pipe-wielding Amazon appeared at my side (DEF: 1500).

"I also set three cards," I concluded, "and end my turn (LP: 8000).

"Quaint," said Damien, taking smug and a**hole-ish to entirely new levels, "but my move won't be anything so simple. Even if you were holding back last duel, there is no way that you have the same reserves of power that I do. Besides, I got the jist of your strategy earlier. You use you cute little combos to survive your opponent's attacks until you can counterattack, rather than using cards that are more straightforward and effective. Like I said, it's cute, but it's nothing that I have to worry about, especially once I succeed in summoning a Cyber Style monster so strong that it can't be survived. I begin with 'Proto-Cyber Dragon'."

Damien's monster, a smaller, considerably stripped down version of 'Cyber Dragon', appeared at his side. It was even less advanced camparatively than 'Cyber Dragon Zwei' (ATK: 1100).

Oh, and speaking of 'Zwei'...

"Next," Damien continued, "I play 'Double Summon', letting me summon 'Cyber Dragon Zwei' to the field as well."

A second robotic dragon appeared. This time it was the one that I was more familiar with, even if only slightly (ATK: 1500).

"While 'Proto-Cyber Dragon' is on the field," Damien explained, "its name is treated as 'Cyber Dragon', and as you know I only have to show you a Spell card to give 'Zwei' the same treatment."

"So," I said, "you're planning to summon your juiced up 'Cyber Twin Dragon' again. Not very original of you, is it?"

"You are so wrong," Damien told me. "Allow me to show you by how much. I reveal 'Power Bond', acitvating the effect of 'Zwei', and then I activate 'Power Bond', fusing the two 'Cyber Dragons' on my side of the field with the one in my hand!"

Oh no, I thought, he has one of those?!

A regular 'Cyber Dragon' appeared and merged into one legless, winged cyber dragon with three heads, each head slightly different from the last.

"Kira," Damien announed pridefully, "say hello to my 'Cyber End Dragon', which of course benefits from 'Power Bond'."

The dragon's three heads roared in unison, and an aura burned around it (ATK: 4000 -> 8000).

Eight thousand Attack, I marveled. What do I have that can stand up to that?

"'Cyber End Dragon'," Damien commanded, "attack with Evolution End Burst!"

What do I do?! I thought desperately as light began to build in his monster's mouths, 'Cyber End Dragon' has peircing. It will rip right through my monster and take my Life down to only fifteen hundred! I can't just destroy it. I don't use cards that just destroy monsters. I don't even own 'Mirror Force'.

I sighed, I can do this...

The dragon fired its beams, which converged together into one huge, blinding attack. I had my set cards. They wouldn't stop the dragon, but I realized that they would give me a fighting chance.

"Reveal," I declared, "the Trap card 'Mirror Wall', causing your monster to attack its magical reflection, halving its strength!"

The wall of crystal rose, the attack of 'Cyber End Dragon' tearing right through it, leaving only a small amount of crystal, ready to regrow if I needed it again. The dragon crackled and his attack fell (8000 -> 4000), but the weakened attack still hit my monster, the explosion kicking up holographic smoke and dust so thick that I had the instinct to cough.

"Maybe you weakened my dragon," Damien taunted, "but in case you missed it, I destroyed your monster."

"Really," I replied, "because I remember things a bit differently."

The smoke around me began to clear, and I watched Damien's face form a shocked expression as my field came into view, revealing that there was a monster standing beside me. A monster, but not 'Amazoness Blowpiper'. Instead I was joined by 'Amazoness Queen', her blade resting on her shoulder and her smug expression a mirror of mine. My Life Points still fell (8000 -> 6400), but thanks to her effect, my monster had survived.

"'Dramatic Rescue'?" Damien asked, musing over what card I had used to summon my rarest Amazon.

"No," I replied, "I used 'Quick Summon' to tribute 'Blowpiper' for 'Queen'. Its your fault, really, for attacking when I had so many set cards."

Damien's smug-ass smile returned, "Interresting move, but even in his weakened state my monster still outclasses yours, and to keep his attack down, you have to pay two thousand Life Points each turn, to maintain 'Mirror Wall' (6400 -> 4400)."

"True," I agreed, "but you lose four thousand Life because you played 'Power Bond' on a monster with four thousand Attack points (8000 -> 4000), and during my Standby Phase I reveal 'Amazoness Willpower', reviving my defeated 'Blowpiper' in Attack mode with the understanding that her willpower will compell her to attack each turn."

The pipe-weilding monster reappeared alongside her queen (ATK: 800).

"Now," I continued, "I activate 'Blowpiper''s effect, weakening your dragon further."

'Blowpiper' blew a dart from her pipe, shattering the one of the dragon's eyes, causing the machine monster to spark and sputter (4000 -> 3500).

"And," I said, "finally, I equip 'Amazoness Queen' with 'Divine Sword Phoenix Blade'," the Amazon drew a second weapon from her belt (ATK: 2400 -> 2700), "and I play 'Union Attack', allowing my monsters to attack your monster together with an Attack value equal to their combined Attack points, which just happens to be thirty-five hundred! Oh, and thanks to 'Queen''s effect, my monsters can't be destroyed by battle while your dragon can!"

The two warriors charged the massive foe. The dragon attacked them, but they shouldered the attack for its duration and then jumped up toward the dragon's heads. 'Blowpiper' released a quick barrage of darts that struck the dragon's joints, staggering it and allowing 'Queen' to get close enough to slash with her two weapons, cleaving off all three heads with one blow. She and 'Blowpiper' kicked off of the dying machine and landed once again by my side just as the dragon exploded, ending its reign over the field.

"I won't go down that easily," said a clearly frustrated Damien. "I draw."

He looked over his hand for a second and continued, "I play 'Pot of Greed' to draw two cards, and then I summon 'Cyber Valley' in Attack mode."

A metal serpetine dragon much like 'Cyber Dragon' except that it had red lenses and spines up and down the legth of its body appeared between me and my opponent (ATK: 0)

"I end my turn," Damien concluded.

I know what you're doing, Damien, I thought. You're trying to stall until 'Mirror Wall' become so costly that I can't keep it around because you haven't drawn a card that can destroy it. Lucky for you 'Mirror Wall' has already served its purpose.

"I draw," I declared, "and I allow 'Mirror Wall' to be destroyed."

The crystal wall shattered, and I continued, "Next up I attack 'Valley' with 'Amazoness Blowpiper'."

"Then I activate 'Valley''s effect," Damien countered. "I tribute 'Valley' to project a barrier around myself, which ends the Battle Phase, and to draw one card."

'Cyber Valley' became a form of light that stretched out into the form of an energy barrier, blocking my Amazon's sonic attack, and Damien drew again.

"I set two cards," I said, "to replace some of the ones that you used up, and I pass."

“You act like that’ll help you win this,” Damien replied, still absolutely smug. He drew, looking visibly disappointed by his draw. “You know,” he said, “I was really hoping to defeat you before I drew this card. After all, this is only the first of many battles that will take place between us, Kira, and I didn’t want to show my entire hand too early.”

Damien sighed, “Oh well. Kira, my oldest rival, behold my secret power! I Special Summon my ‘Cyber Dragon’. And because I haven’t performed my Normal Summon this turn, I can still summon my ‘Delta Flyer’.”

“Delta what?” I asked as the mighty robotic serpentine dragon appeared alongside a fierce-looking green dragon which hovered in the air at Damien’s side (ATK: 1500).

“That’s not a Cyber Style card,” Jack stated the obvious from his place by the back wall.

“No,” Damien agreed, “it’s not. It’s a Tuner monster.”

“What?” I asked. “You have a Synchro monster?”

“Damien didn’t answer, “‘Cyber Dragon’ gives up his attack for the turn so that I can activate ‘Evolution Burst’, destroying one monster on the field. That includes your otherwise invincible ‘Amazoness Queen’.”

‘Cyber Dragon’ fired his Spell-enhanced attack at my monster vaporizing her in a wave of light.

“Now,” Damien declared, gesturing at his monsters, “I tune my Level three ‘Delta Flyer’ with my Level five ‘Cyber Dragon’.”

Not only a Synchro monster, I thought, but a Level eight Synchro monster!

‘Delta Flyer’ became a form of light that erupted into three glowing green rings, forming a tunnel through the air. ‘Cyber Dragon’ became a form of light that passed through that tunnel, becoming five shining points of light. The lights and the rings of the tunnel flashed brightly.

“From my brightest aura of light, whiter than white,” Damien chanted, “a force of ultimate good is born unto this world. Behold in its ever-present radiance, Synchro Summon,” from the light emerged a serpentine white dragon with broad feathered wings and golden adornments, “‘Light End Dragon (ATK: 2600)!”

I stared in awe at the angelic dragon. It had more Attack than any monster in my deck, and if that wasn’t bad enough I didn’t have any idea what it could do!

“Get ready, Kira,” Damien continued, “because I’m not done. I’m going to defeat you this turn. I reveal ‘Call of the Haunted’ to revive a monster discarded earlier for the effect of ‘Graceful Charity’, my ‘Chaos-End Master’!”

An angelic warrior similar in appearance to Damien’s dragon appeared on the field as well.

“‘Chaos-End Master’ destroys your ‘Amazoness Blowpiper’,” Damien commanded.”

“No way,” I countered, three blue-robed priests appearing between Damien’s monsters and mine, chanting a protective spell, “reveal ‘Waboku’.”

“Counter Trap,” Damien countered, “‘Trap Jammer’.”

Oh no!

‘Chaos-End Master’ summoned light into his hands and moved to strike my monster (ATK: 1500).

Time for a desperation play, I thought, “Reveal ‘Amazoness Archers’, lowering the Attack of all of your monsters by five hundred.”

A group of female archers appeared firing multiple arrows from their bows, hitting the angel and the dragon (ATK: 1500 -> 1000/2600-> 2100). It wasn’t much, but it might give me enough left over Life to keep fighting, so it was worth it. ‘Chaos-End Master’ blasted by monster (4400 -> 4200).

“When ‘Chaos-End Master’ destroys a monster,” Damien explained, “I can summon another monster from my deck.”

A card slid from his deck loader and her placed it onto his duel disk, and it emerged, a black metal sphere with golden detailing and a lens in the front, “‘Sphere of Chaos’, appear (ATK: 1600)!

“My ‘Sphere’ and my ‘Dragon’ attack,” Damien commanded, and I understood why he thought he’d be able to beat me this turn, “with Light and Darkness!”

‘Light-End Dragon’ and ‘Sphere of Chaos’ fired a white beam and a black beam respectively side by side. I raised my arms needlessly in a reflexive attempt to defend myself from the holographic attack. My Life Points plummeted (4200 -> 500).

“Congrats, Kira,” said Damien pridefully, “you survived the turn. Now allow me to remove all semblances of hope from your mind. I accounted for the possibility that you would be this resilient, and I was prepared with my next monster. You see, there are two sides to everything, and I’m no exception. Kira, allow me to introduce you to the other side of my soul.”

He gestured at ‘Chaos-End Master’ and ‘Sphere of Chaos’, “Tune, my Level three ‘Chaos-End Master’ and my Level five ‘Sphere of Chaos’!”

No, I thought, one step above denial, no way he has another one.

His Tuner formed the Synchro Gate, and from it blossomed another flash of light like the one before, and I felt a sinister aura wash over me.

‘From my darkest darkness,” Damien recited, “blacker than black, a force of evil arises. Behold the wings of death,” an evil-looking black dragon with an arrow-shaped head emerged from the flashing light, a demonic face with horns on its chest, spikes on its head, needle-like claws, and a final spike on the tip of its tail, “my darkness, ‘Dark-End Dragon’!”

The demon dragon roared, its voice sharp and piercing (ATK: 2600). The two powerful dragons stood side by side, facing me like angry avengers.

“Well,” I said with a sigh, “telling you that I’m impressed would be an understatement. I’m literally shaking over here!”

I looked down at my hand, which was shaking sure enough.

“When you said that you were holding back,” I continued, looking back up at Damien, “you weren’t kidding. But lucky for me, I’ve been holding back too. You called those dragons your secret power. Well Damien, let’s see how your secret power does against my sacred fire!”

I pointed defiantly at my opponent and smiled my trademark smile, forcing my uncertainty to melt away, flowing back to its place in the back of my mind, “Damien Johnson, my counterattack begins now!”[/spoiler]
 
 

*Further Chapters can be found on Post #55 and onward*

[Brinolovania]

Totally awesome...so far, maybe even better than the original. Just one problem: Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon only has 2400 ATK. Just FYI.

[legendhiro]

[quote name='-Pacman-' timestamp='1284667811' post='4632136']
Totally awesome...so far, maybe even better than the original. Just one problem: Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon only has 2400 ATK. Just FYI.
[/quote]

seriously? wow, how did i mess that up O_o ?

i'll fix it. thanks for the heads up (is totally embarrassed).

[b]FIXED!!! (-ish) [/b]also, i've finally given myself an excuse to write one of my favorite cards, 'Violet Crystal', into one of my stories.

Love your avatar btw. made me lol.



anyway...


So here is the preview of this book that I've been talking about in my other topics. This book should be considered on hiatus for now, at least until I finish DF Special #3, and probably one of my other books as well.




[spoiler=Card of the Day (Chapter One)]
[img]http://i55.tinypic.com/2s10thh.jpg[/img]
'Cuz she hawt.[/spoiler]





[b]Next Chapter[/b] The Keeper of Mysteries

[jiggly98]

GASP!!!
---Utterly in Love---

[senron]

So far, I love it. I like how these people actually go to school, (unike the original Duel Force). Thay seems like he's going to be MY favorite character (dead languages are AWESOME). Though, it seems you've revealed who five of the duelists Kira has to bring together. I wonder who else there is.

[legendhiro]

ah, senron, surely you have better insight than that! I am a lover of mysteries, so you can be sure that there is a clue to the sixth character's identity somewhere. Think. Was anyone mentioned who might create interesting character conflicts?

[senron]

Ah, I get it now. I think I see who you're talking about. I don't want to spoil it for anyone else though so I'll put it in a spoiler. Hopefully I'm not going to be the only one to figure it out (if I did figure it out, but I'm almost certain I did.)
[spoiler=Spoiler]
It's Damien Johnson, isn't it.
[/spoiler]

[legendhiro]

senron, if you keep winning my hypothetical cookies, i'm eventually going to run out!

[Stigma_Horrizone]

lemme guess kira's mom is Karen(just guessin')

[legendhiro]

maybe. maybe not. read the book

[legendhiro]

even this is on hiatus, it's new, so i wanna BUMP!!!!

[Cthonian]

Another great fanfic in the making. Can't wait for more.

[legendhiro]

good ta see ya Cthonian!

[legendhiro]

the hiatus is still going on this one, but wanted to bump anyway.

[Cthonian]

Still can't wait to read it. For some reason (not that it's a bad one ) I seem to love all your fan-fics!

[legendhiro]

good to know

i'm hoping to get the next chapter in Yu-Gi-Oh! DA up in the next day or so, so be sure to check in.

[Cthonian]

Well, I loved them when me and my friend Master52394 and me read them then and I still love them now.... Keep them going! XD

[legendhiro]

bump, and an announcement. with my current fanfics Yu-Gi-Oh! DE and Yu-Gi-Oh! DA nearing completion, the next chapter of this fic should be expected mid February at the latest!

[Stigma_Horrizone]

which means no book 2 for DA and DE?

[legendhiro]

no. DA and DE should be considered one-shots. their only real purpose was to further flesh out my original main character, john, and my favorite underdeveloped character, rocky. both also give clues to one of the plot points in this series. one that i'm sure i won't be able to conceal from my readers for long.

[legendhiro]

so, i was thinking (thanks to user richie123), and i had an idea. i will soon be opening a short story thread in the fanfiction section of this site where my characters, the characters from the cannon, and even characters from other fanfics will face off in one-shot duels outside of continuity. readers will vote each week at the beginning of the week between several pairings, and i will post a duel between the winners at the end of the week.

also, this topic is obviously way behind what i planned. i have decided to pull an all-nighter and (hopefully) finish or nearly finish DA tonight so that i can move on to this fic. this fic uses all that i have learned writing for so many years, and i think it shows.

oh, and bump.

[senron]

This seems like a cool idea Legend. Do you think you could include different versions of characters like, John with the Egyptian Gods vs. how he is now? I think seeing stuff like that might be interesting. Yay, new chapters, again!!!(Hopefully). I agree, this does look really good, can't wait for more!

[legendhiro]

definitely. a spoiler: one of the first ideas i had was Jaden from season 1 vs. Jaden from season 4, or maybe Jaden from season 4 vs. Jaden from the current Manga. any character is subject to this type of pairing.

i got held up unexpectedly on those new chapters, but at least one new chapter will be up on DA tonight.

[Stigma_Horrizone]

nice concept

[legendhiro]

thanks. i think i'm gonna wait 'til i finish DA to start in up, though.