Yu-Gi-Oh! DM Dot CA - Blog Post 1.01: Touring the Grat White North

Forrenz · 09-12-2009, 04:44 AM

Hello, fellow Duelists! After reading so many of the FanFics on here, the spark I once had has become unbearable, so I thought I'd give it a shot myself. Oh, and that should say "Great", not "Grat", but my "e" key is very uncooperative.
This is kind of a "re-hashing" of a FanFic a guy friend of mine wrote years ago (he named it "DuelMonsters.CA"), so I thought I'd change it up a bit by writing each chapter (called a Blog Post, for fun) in third-person omniscient, changing out when necessary.

Main Plot:
The story revolves around a boy named Kaero Forrenz (has nothing to do with me, I swear), from Whitehorse, Yukon, who decides to live up to his late mother's dream of being the best Duelist in Canada, if not the world. It all takes place one year and a half after Yugi and Atem's final duel (supposedly around June 2001), a few months after Kaiba's second annual KC Grand Championship, and 3 months before the second Battle City tournament that will take place in New York City (NYCBC).
In the beginning, he tours every major city from Vancouver to Moncton with a family friend, Michael Clearwater, to qualify for the Canadian Nationals, which many of the Duelists he battled along the way have also qualified (naturally LOL). It's kind of like 5D's that way, I guess, because the real story picks up after the tournament is over...
DUN dun dunnn....

Major Characters:

Kaero Forrenz
Age: 16; Hair: pale blue; Skin: slightly tan; Eyes: mixed blue, green, and brown; Height: 5'9", Average body type.
Kaero, is the son of Jennifer Florence (a rich heiress and former pro Duelist) and Lowell "Chuck" Forrenz (another former pro that once worked with Pegasus to help spread Duel Monsters around the Americas back in the beginning of the game). Since his mom died when he was nine years old, he has lived with his dad, who retired from his charity work to raise Kaero in Whiteorse, where his mom always wanted to settle down. They live on Main Street just across from the Bonanza Inn, in a card shop named Azure Aurora Games.
Kaero could never understand what was so great about Duel Monsters until his dad showed him all the recorded matches of the first Battle City and both KC Grand Championships, and... well, you'll see in a minute.
He has also been finished grade schooling since he was 13, so he has been taking college courses online, as well as doing the paperwork for the shop and some work for the city.
With the knowledge of his father, the deck of his mother, and his surprising aptitude for the game, he hopes to attend the NYCBC and at least make a name for himself.
With his always-analytical mind, he also helps those he gets to know improve, evolving to much better players - he's a "catalyst" of sorts

Michael Clearwater
Age: 42; Hair: black; Skin: deep tan; Eyes: Green; Height: 6'8"; quite muscular build.
Michael is a Native of the Tlingit-Haida, and great friend of the Forrenz family for many years (though Jennifer and Lowell never actually let themselves setle down enough to get married). He has some dueling skill, but is mainly a card designer along with Chuck. Not much more to say, because you'll see a lot of him as well, and will get to know him much better

He's quite stern most of the time, but tries his best to be softer, as his wife wants them to have kids soon. Hopefully, after travelling with Kaero for a couple of months, he'll be ready.

Randall "Randy" Buchanan
Age: 17; Hair: light brown; Skin; quite tan; Eyes: steely Blue; Height: 6'0"; average build.
Randy is one of the best in southern British Columbia, along with Jake Smith; these guys have been nemeses for a while, and are unofficially the best duelists of the region.
Randy works hard at his parent's market in Burnaby, while also working at the main game shop on weekends and judging at tournaments. Once school was out, like most other duelists, he hopes to win enough at the official Regionals to have enough points to earn an invite to Nationals, and has saved up as much as he can to get there, as well as buy the most powerful cards available as soon as they arrive in the store.
He originally begins with an "Ogre Grotto" deck, which consists of Rock and Machine-type monsters.

Jake Smith
Age: 17; Hair: dirty blonde; Skin: pale; Eyes: bright green; Height: 6'0"; fairly skinny.
Jake and his family just moved to Vancouver a couple of years previous from London, England, because his father got the job of running the transit system. The first friend he made was Randy, and they quickly became rivals as well, but never really took it seriously. Like the Warriors he uses, he is always protective of others, and stand up for his beliefs against all odds. He considers himself Katsuya Jonouchi's (Joey Wheeler, but I'm going to do my best not to use the 4Kids names, though I will list their dub names the first time they pop up) #1 fan.

Destiny Wainwright
Age: 1; Hair: dark green; Skin: fairly tan; Eyes: Red; Height: 5'6"; average build.
Only Kaero knows why she had an extremely caustic attitude when Kaero first met her. With her brutal way of playing, she is undoubtably the best in Edmonton. She's also the first person to defeat him in Duel Monsters.
After meeting Kaero, and her secrets become unveiled, she joined him and Michael in their travels to attend Regionals across the country. Kaero was the first person who ever tried to understand her, and for that she has great yearning to be near him. She tries to show him affection, but he always acts oblivious, or blurts out somewhat relevant facts.
(Based on me!! XD)

Casen Diotte
Age: 19; Hair: light blonde; Skin: farmer's tan; Eyes: brown; Height: 6'2"; muscular build.
Casen is a farm boy from Olds, and has had to quit school just after Grade 11 to help run the family ranch with his mom and little sister Annika, after his dad ran off to the southern US with Casen's girlfriend. He's still able to attend DM tournaments in Calgary, and brings his sister along so she can help judge and sell cards.
Becase of his father, he always makes sure to be respectful to his opponents, to be sure he never turns out the same way.
He was originally a minor character named Casey, so I kinda gave him a boost (I made up that stuff above), and runs Beasts with other support.

...Some other characters I'll add later, because they'll still be minor...
And...

Samemaru "Rain" Noburame
Age: 23; Hair: Black (dyed red though); Skin: quite tan; Eyes: pale blue (contacts); Height: 5'10"; average build.
Born in Domino City, Rain moved to Toronto with his family, where his father, Kozuno Noburame, became Mayor; now he is the Premier, and vying for leadership of the NDP.
He's almost the cliche` rival to Kaero, but after the first encounter, his own skill vastly improves, and is grateful to be forced to surpass what he thought was his limit (though he's still a stuck-up jerk).
Rain has been playing since 1994, 3 years before Duelist Kingdom, and due to this, he has seen many different cards and play styles, and as such can se the trends used and counter them without much effort.
He has used FIRE cards for as long as he has been playing (hence the red hair), but changes his play for a harsh control deck.

Pegasus J. Crawford
Age: Late 30s?; Hair: white/silver: Skin: really pale; Eyes: ??; Height: 5'10"?; slightly less-than-average build.
You know who he is (Though some know him as Maximillian Pegasus, but again, I'm using the original name) - Creator of Duel Monsters and CEO/Founder of the gaming company Industrial Illusions Inc.
We may not see him, but he's important to the entire story (which I do promise is shorter than Swmystery's and Shadow Blade's FanFics LOL). Uses a happy Toon deck, which has gone through an "un-Broke-ification" after Battle City, if you've seen the Movie.
Although he and Lowell fell apart once Pegasus started becoming fairly power-hungry, he tried to mend the bridge between himself and Lowell after his Sennen Eye was removed.
He needs help of the best Duelists in the country to deal with an urgent matter being kept under wraps, because if word got out, Seto Kaiba could very well attempt to buy out I.I.I. and succeed. Though he asked help from Lowell and Michael, Lowell insisted he get his son to take his place...

Blog Post 1.01: Touring the Great White North

I see it so vividly now...
I'm standing there in the bright sun beside my dad, wearing a small tuxedo, because I was only seven years old at the time, and the black suit custom-fitted for me was making me unbearably hot. Thinking of it now, everyone must have felt the same; everybody was wearing all black clothing in the heat, which I found out was 35*C a few years ago from curiosity. The French countryside was in a slight drought at the time.
There I go, using information and knowledge to cover up my feelings...
My Nana was weeping uncontrollably into my Grampy's chest after throwing her veil to the ground. My Auntie Deb had such a look of hatred on her face, as she stared down the six-foot pit, while my Uncles Daren and Dwayne lowered the delicate vase containing my mother's ashes into it. The priest of the church we attended a half-hour beforehand read aloud verses I couldn't comprehend.
Once he finished, he asked us to take some dirt from the pile near my mom's gorgeous tombstone and place it down atop the vase. My dad took me to grab some and, after lingering for a few seconds, let it fall, and I mimicked him as I always did back then. He likely worried that by doing so, it would cement the fact she was gone.
We took a few steps back to make room for he other twenty-something other people in attendance, and I just barely caught Auntie Deb (who had been friends with my mom since they met, as well as introduced my parents) mutter to my dad:
"Killed herself, my ass. That rich little b***ard is behind it, I just know it..."

"Excuse me, Mr. Forrenz...?" I heard a young woman's voice pipe up.

I snapped out of my daydream once I recognized Chantelle's voice. I was a bit angry at myself for that brief moment, but that was the first time I thought about my mother at all in a few years now..."Oh, sorry Chantelle," I began, flustered. "What would you like?"
I was sitting in the little desk outside our Mayor's office, in the City Hall building just out of the valley that is Whitehorse, capitol city of the Yukon Territory. Chantelle, the main filing person for the city's contracts, had leaned her head in through the door to our wing of the building, where several other people also worked, but I was the only one left after everyone else had taken off for the day. It turns out it was two hours later - I get too caught up in my work too often. Chantelle is a bit "anal", as it were, because she couldn't leave until everything is nice and tidy, and since I stayed late (and am nowhere near "tidy") she stayed late as well, and also drove me home.
It's always nice when she's around... She's the only person in the building besides the Mayor and Secretary of City Finance who is comfortable working with a 16-year-old... And though she aways referred to me as "Mr. Forrenz", she never allowed me to call her "Ms. Simpson"...

"I'm all done on my end," she gleamed (at least, that's what I call it when she smiles like that). "How's it going for you?"

"Oh, yeah, I actually finished at around 4, so I thought I might draft a new layout for the school's playground," I bluffed, while pointing towards Takhini Elementary School just down the road through the window.

"That's very thoughtful of you. I didn't think you spent any time there anymore. You only spent a year there though, didn't you?"

"That's right," I resonded, as I finished putting my files away. "That was when everything started to become so easy to me, so I just flew through Grades 4 to 6..."

"Well, that's still very kind of you. When you finish, you can just hand it to me and I'll see what I can do," she offered.

I just smiled in response as I grabbed my coat and backpack.

---------------------------

I waved to Chantelle as she drove off, then turned to the entrance of my house, which was also my dad's gaming store, named Azure Aurora Games.

I walked in to find a fairly large croud, and my dad rose above them all, obviously standing on something. Each person was inconceivably ecstatic.
My dad then turned once he heard the ringing of the chimes above the entrance, and rushed through the croud as gently as possible to get to me.

"Kaero! You have GOT to see this! It finally arrived, and I just had it installed this afternoon!
Hey, everyone," he announced, turning back towards the crowd, "back up a bit, would ya?"

The crowd, which actually held a wide variety of people instead of the usual young boys, moved off to the side, which wasn't hard to do, because the main floor was very large. As they did so, they revealed an odd platform that took up about a fifth of the floor's space, and had two consoles on opposing sides, one red and one blue...

"I finally got my Duel Ring!" he practically screamed while throwing his arms into the air.
These kinds of gaming things held no fascination to me, so I obviously had no clue what the big deal was. In fact, I only thought How much is this going to set him back?
"That's great... So, what's it for?"

My dad slumped over.
"It's for playing Duel Monsters! I got rid of a few tables to make room for this baby. Now, most of these guys (gesturing to the crowd) who can't afford a Duel Disk and want to step up from just playing on tables can now play with the Solid Vision hologram tech on this!"

"Dad..." I began. My daydream - my memory - led to a lot of thinking on the drive over here.
"Can we talk privately for a bit?"

The smile on his face waned a little.[/color]
"Alright, alright, you guys. Now that school's out, you'll have plenty of time tomorrow to give this puppy a test drive. Come on back tomorrow at 10..."
The group collectively groaned as they gradually flooded out.

---------------------------

"Dad... What is it about this game that you and Mom like so much?"
We sat down on the stools he kept behind the main counter near the entrance.

My dad's eyes lit up in a way I had never seen before.
"Well, the biggest thing about it is that the deck of cards you gather... well, it kinda represents yourself; it's a manifestation of who you are, and your way of thinking... And it's not just that; it's also that the game is always evolving with each new card that's made...Y'know?"
I just stared at him quizzically.

"Hmmm... It may be better if I just showed you..."
He got up from his stool and walked the few steps to the cash register, then pulled out a couple of VHS tapes from the space underneath.
He turned around to the TV above the register, then put the first of his tapes, labelled "Last 3 Rounds of Battle City" into the VCR just below it.
We watched as the first match between a white-haired guy named either "Malik" or "Marik" (it was in Japanese, so I couldn't understand much of it all aside from the names of cards that were actually English) from Egypt and a blonde boy named Jonouchi from Domino City in Japan. I watched as Jonouchi put his all into the duel, as though his life was actually on the line, and Marik, who was extremely cocky through the whole match, faltered as Jonouchi just barely defeated him. Or he would have, but he collapsed from exhaustion just before he could launch the final attack he needed to win, so in my book, he really was the true victor.
The second was between the two considered the best in the world today: Seto Kaiba, the brown-haired CEO of the Kaiba Corporation and only 17 years old at the time, and Yugi Mutou, a boy very short for his age (also 17 at the time) with a very bizarre hair style.
As I watched, something sparked inside me. The brilliance of how well both of their decks functioned... excited me. Watching such mastery was truly inspiring. And my dad took noticed as I watched Yugi deliver his final blow with his [Dark Paladin]. That last play Yugi used had obviously been made knowing what his opponent had in mind...
The final match was also great to watch, as Marik's cards became increasingly more powerful, Yugi was able to continue holding his own, and was able to defeat a Monster card incredible powers (although it seemed something else was going on behind the scenes...).
"So, now this Yugi guy has all three of these 'Egyptian God' cards?" I couldn't help knowing if this one boy was in possession of the three most powerful cards in existence...

"No, Yugi gave the cards to Pegasus, the games' creator, to be retired from the game."

"Well, what do you think, Kaero?" came a deep voice from behind us.
We both turned to greet Michael Clearwater, a man my father has known for as long as we've lived in Whitehorse and also worked in the store. He had just finished organizing the back room, and had grabbed his coat when he caught us watching the tape, so he stuck around to see my reaction, I suppose.
"It's definitely piqued my interest. I think I understand the mechanics, but some of it is still.. iffy."

"I think it ay be time I taught you the tricks of the trade," my dad winked at me.
He put the tapes back, then slid open the backs of the display cases, pulling out a few deck boxes.

"Alright. You can look through all three of these decks, and if you can see how they work together, you can pick one to use against me, as well as exchange up to five cards for any 5 cards in this case beside the till. Here's an instruction booklet as well. And then you'll face me and my best deck."

---------------------------
10 minutes later...

I walked up to the blue console of the Duel Ring, as my dad awaited across from me in the red one.

"Okay!" Michael boomed (he was appointed as the referee). "Please place your decks on the appropriate space, please!"

I tried to ignore the fact he both began and ended that last sentence with "please" as my dad and I placed our decks on the bottem right-most space on the field, which had 7 spaces in each of the two rows.

"Now please draw the opening five cards for your hand." We both followed the instruction.
"Alright. Both players have 4000 Life Points to begin.
Kaero, you may make the first move."

I drew my first card, as you're supposed to at the beginning of each turn. Knowing I can't attack on the first turn, I made my move.

"I'll play this monster in Defence Mode: [Two-Tone Slither]."[/color] (LV4; WIND; Reptile-Type; ATK/1200; DEF/2000) A two-armed, multi-tonal (pale green with pinkish blotches all over) serpent flashed into existence in the ring, facing my father.
"Then I'll lay two Traps face-down and end my turn."

My dad then chuckled to himself.
"Kaero, you don't have to announce the type of card you play if you Set them."

I feigned a grimmace as he drew his first card.
"I summon [Traffic Patrol] in Attack Mode!" [/color](LV3; EARTH; Machine-Type; ATK/1100; DEF/900; Effect: Once per turn, you may roll 1 die, and this card gains the appropriate effect:; 1 or 4: You may perform an additional Normal Summon this turn; 2 or 5: Both players can only activate 1 Spell OR Trap this turn and the following turn; 3 or 6: Your opponent cannot attack until your next turn.) A little robot in police uniform as well as traffic lights atop its head popped onto the field, facing me.
"Next, I activate [Fissure], which destroys the monster on your side of the field with the lowest ATK!"
An image of a crack opened below my serpent, and the image of it shattered, with the shards falling down the pit.
"Now I'll activate my [Traffic Patrol]'s effect! Its lights wil start randomly flashing, and depending on the light it ends up on, it'll gain a new effect! Go, Traffic Control!"
The lights began flashing in rapid sucession, until ending on...
"Green! My monster now lets me perform an extra Normal Summon! So I sacrifice it (the robot became engulfed in white) so I can Summon [Jinzo] (ATK/2400)!"
From the white form emerged a large cyborg with a freakishly long neck and respirator-like mask.
"My [Jinzo], also known as the "Psycho Shocker", has the ability to cancel the effects of all Trap Cards!
And now I'll attack you with my monster! Cyber Energy Shock!"

A sphere of charged dark energy formed between the creature's raised hands, then it tossed the sphere towards me! But as it did...

"I activate my face-down card, [Enemy Controller]." I announced. My card's holographic form appeared on the field, and from its art emerged a mors solid-looking duplicate of the depicted gaming controller (yeah, I don't play video games much). After a few buttons simulated being pressed, his monster was switched to a defensive stance (DEF/1500).

My dad was shocked, as was Michael.
"So, you played me, did you?" my father smirked.

"Of course," I replied. "I ncard games, half of gameplay is always how you play."

"Not bad, Kae. I'll set two cards and end my turn."

I drew.
"I summon [The Creator Incarnate] in Attack Mode (ATK/1600)." A warrior with golden armour appeared, with a red tuft on top of its helmet, a red cape, and a short red sheath holding a curved blade.
"Now my monster attacks yours." I declare.

My warrior dashes the two metre distance to my dad's cyborg, and it removed its blade to slice the mechanoid across its chest, which made it shatter.
My dad raised his arms to shield himself as the pieces of his former monster blew towards him.

"Um, it's only a hologram, dad..."

My dad just laughed again.
"Ah, but another part of the game is to become involved enough in the battle that you suspend that little bit of info, and put your heart into it!"
As I grimmaced yet again, I caught my dad flipping one of his face-down cards.
"Reverse card, open! [Call of the Living Dead (Haunted)]! This will let me revive a monster in my Grave, and I select my [Jinzo]!"

"So, it's effect only counts while it's on the field?" I queried.
"That's right; Unless a card says otherwise, it's effect only works when it's on the field. And since my [Jinzo] isn't back yet, and the timing is still right, I activate my second card, [Michizure]! So now that my monster has been taken down, I'll bring yours down with him!"

"No way..." I stumbled as another fissure appeared, but this time a hand shot out and dragged my warrior down its depths. I then placed its card in the space above my Deck, on top of my [Enemy Controller].
"So, you played two Traps face-down, even though you played [Jinzo] before then... You already figured I had a monster that could defeat your [Jinzo] once I changed it to Defence Mode, and prepared to undo the advantage I would have gained..."

My dad's eyes lit up again. Thoughts of my mom flashed through my mind in that first brief instant... She flashed a blue card at me... from my crib...?
"I knew if anyone could play one of my decks at my level, you could, Kae."

"Y-your decks...? You mean, each of those decks were yours?"

"Yep, although they're a touch outdated. And judging by the fact you have [The Creator Incarnate], you chose my "Grand Revival" deck, and I already know that at least one card you changed out was that [Two-Tone Slither], so the only surprises I can expect from your deck are any of the other 4 you may have subbed out."

I grimmaced yet again, as [Jinzo] returned in Attack Mode to his field. My dad set me up, but gave me a fair chance by giving me decks he put together himself. However, I had a few good surprises remaining...
"Alright, I'll set two more cards and end my turn..."

"Don't be discouraged," Michael cheered on. "Lowell isn't unbeatable. Your mother never lost once to him, and since you share her multi-coloured eyes and pale hair, I'm sure that part was passed on to you."

"No way, 'cause that would be cheating! And if you call me anything, call me 'Chuck', remember?" my dad jested as he drew his next card.
"I activate [Graceful Charity], which allows me to draw three cards, then discard any two from my hand.
Next I play [Reload], which lets me shuffle the 3 cards left in my hand back into my deck, then draw a new three cards."
Watching how fast my dad did all this was astonishing. It showed how much time he put into this game, like how Chantelle could find any file, and organize things at a boggling pace...
"My next card is [Premature Burial], which lets me equip this to a Monster in my Graveyard and bring it back to my field in Attack Mode by paying 800 Life Points (Lowe - er, Chuck: 3200 LP). So come on out, [Barrel Dragon] (ATK/2600)!"
"I really wish you'd change up what you said each time instead of '...which lets me...' each time," I muttered to myself.
A large mechanical dragon arose from the floor; it had a revolver pistol in place of arms and a head (but it still had a lower jaw).
"Now my monsters attack! Go, [Jinzo]!"
It launched another dark blast at me, this time connecting with me.
Seeing this attack rocket at me, in a moment of panic, I threw my arms up to brace myself, and it was only when I saw smoke that I remembered it was a hologram. I peeked through the holographic smoke to catch the huge smiles on my dad and Michael's faces. I felt my cheeks grow hot as my dad pointed towards me. (My LP: 1600)

"I'm glad you're starting to get into this now, but the duel may well be over! [Barrel Dragon], attack!" my dad roared.
The dragon aimed its three revolvers towards me, and as I heard the chambers spin, I flipped over one of my face-down cards.
"Reverse card, open. [Shrink]! Now I cut the ATK of your dragon in half!" (ATK:1300)
The giant mechanical beast was reduced to the size of a large dog, just as its chambers locked in place to fire! (My LP: 300)

"I Set one card, and that's it for my turn, son," my dad finished. "Let's see how well you do in this situation."
I knew this was a desperate condition I was in. That's when the mathematics kicked into gear within my head.

I have 34 cards left in my deck. In this particular situation, there are six cards I can draw that can turn this situation into my favour, but one of them is a Trap, so it's really only five cards. There are also five cards which can give me the ability to draw or select more cards from my deck, giving me more chances to grab one of those first five or latter five...

"I draw!" I exclaimed as I swiped the top card of my Deck into my right hand, then I checked the rest of my Hand in my left... hand.

"I activate [Pot of Greed], which allows me to draw two cards," I narrated.
"Next, I play [Cyclone] (Mystical Space Typhoon), so I can destroy your [Premature Burial]!"
From my holographic copy of my [Cyclone] card, a flurry of wind, leaves, and electricity burst forth and collided with his Equip Spell, shattering both it and his [Barrel Dragon]. My dad braced himself yet again.
"I'm not through yet! I activate [Trade-In], which, by discarding a Level Eight Monster from my hand, gives me two more cards!
I'm still not through, because now I use my own [Graceful Charity] to draw another three cards and discard any two!
Next up, I use my Spell [The Warrior Returning Alive] to get [The Creator Incarnate] back from my Graveyard and into my Hand!
Then I play this: [Giant Trunade], to return all Spell and Trap cards from the entire Field back into our Hands!"

My latest Spell also appeared on my Field, then with its blustering might, all the face-down cards on the Field were cast in yellow light, then simulated returning to our hands, as did my dad's [Call of the Living Dead], but I knew [Jinzo] prevented itself from being destroyed by that card's removal. We both picked up all those cards and added them to our hands.
It was then I noticed an odd look on my dad's face.

"I see, Kae. You are actually using my LIGHT-Attribute deck, and subbed in the 'Creator' cards from my revival deck, because they were technically in the same display case at first. I'm guessing you added [Two-Tone Slither] to counter any specific threat, or in my case, the fact that most of my monsters share the same Type and Attribute."

Michael couldn't help but laugh to himself.
"You truly are Jennifer's son! She also used LIGHT Monsters mixed with tech cards like that."

I couldn't help feeling... proud? Is that this feeling? Excitement, mixed with something else...
"Now, to finish this." I bragged.

Folding up a finger for each move I made:
"One: I Summon [The Creator Incarnate] back to the Field."
My warrior reappeared, hand on it's blade's hilt in preparation.

"Two: I activate its special ability, so by sacrificing it, I summon [The Creator] to my Field in Attack Mode."
In an incredible flash of light, my warrior was replaced by an enormous being encased in shining orange armour, with a grand loop with wings attached to it, locked onto its back. (ATK/2300)

"Three: Thanks to [The Creator]'s effect, I can send a card in my Hand to the Grave, then bring a monster from there back to life! And I choose..."
[The Creator] reached its left arm at the Monster Zone beside it, and a loop like the one on its back appeared in that space. The loop began to spin rapidly, and a portal of light was created inside it...
"...[Freed the Brave Wanderer]!"
A young man with shoulder-length blonde hair and greenish armour on his body and arms emerged from the loop, which dessipated once he fully emerged from the light. (ATK/1700)

"Four: I use Freed's ability, so that I can remove two LIGHT Monsters from my Graveyard from play in order to destroy a monster whose ATK is higher than his own. So by removing [The Creator Incarnate] and [Guardian of Order] to destroy [Jinzo]!"
Freed raised his sword, aiming it at [Jinzo]. A burst of light shot from his blade and the cyborg through its head, causing it to explode again.

"Five: My two Monsters cleave away the rest of your Life Points!"
[The Creator] charged up a sphere of light, much like [Jinzo] had, and shot it forth at my dad (Chuck's LP: 900). To finish it off, Freed took to the air, bringing his sword down hard on him. (Chuck's LP: 0).

"So.. How was it, Kaero?" wondered Michael.

"I feel... Exhuberant!"

"I think that means 'fun', right?" my dad winked once more. I've seriously got to think of something else to substitute for "my dad", don't I?

"Well, to be honest, I could have won on the turn before," I admitted, looking off to the side as I revealed my hand: [Monster Reborn], [Call of the Living Dead], [Magic Jammer] and [Lightning Vortex], then revealed the [Splendid Venus] in my Graveyard, which if I had summoned earlier, could have prevented [Jinzo] from having any effect at all.

My dad (ugh, I did it again) just smiled back, then revealed his hand: [Blowback Dragon], [Polymerization], [Call of the Living Dead] and [Heavy Storm].
"It looks like we were both being kind to each other there."

"Well... It would be nice to build my own deck by myself, and see how I do..."

"Well, in that case, you should read through this," Michael pat my back as he gave me a sheet of paper.
It read: "Forbidden/Limited List".
"Study up on this first. If a card is 'Forbidden', you can't use any copies of it; 'Limited' means only one copy can be used; and 'Semi-Limited' means only two copies can be used. Everything else is only able to have three copies at most.
Now go on to bed. You can do your deck-building tomorrow. I've got to get home before Ellie kills me."

"Hey," my dad (sigh...) added. "I thought I was the father here!"

-------------------------

Later that night...

The phone blared downstairs, and Chuck stumbled down to grab it.
I've gotta put a phone upstairs...

"Hello...?"

"Hello, Chuckie-boy."

"Pegasus?! What could you be calling here so late for, sir?"

"Oh, I just got the fax you sent over with this month's card designs, and I must say, they do look familiar..."

"Oh, um, the art was designed by... Jenny..."

"Yes... I couldn't help noticing how well they would have worked in that deck of hers... Which is remotely why I called...
I have had a bit of a problem arise, and a Duelist of your calibur would be of great help to me..."

- A minute or so later...

"Wow, that does sound a bit serious, sir."

"Do you think you can help me, in this little pickle, Chuckie-boy?"

After a moment of consideration...
"Actually, I think my son Kaero would be better suited for this. He just played his first Duel last night, and... Well, he could've defeated me on his second turn, if he truly wanted to, but he actually gave me a fighting chance, then crushed me the turn after that."

"Interesting indeed... Well, I may need more than just you for this, so... perhaps we should test your son, to see if he's actually ready for this. The Regional Qualifying Season has just begun, so if you can get him to score enough points to get the invite to the Canadian National Championships, we may be able to use him, or perhaps any others that do well enough there..."

"I'll see if I can arrange something in the morning, sir."

"Alright, then! Good night there, Chuckie-boy!"

---------------------------

"National Championships? Really?" Kaero responded in disbelief.

"You've definitely got what it takes, Kae," Chuck assured him.
"You can use these to help build your own deck."
He passed his son an express-delivery parcel that had arrived just an hour earlier, at 8 AM.
"Do you feel like giving it a shot? It'd really be like a family tradition."

"...Maybe once I finish making my own deck first..." Kaero replied, taking the 15 cards out of the parcel and thumbing through them.

"And Michael would gladly drive you around in our kick-ass camper, right honey?" suggested Ellie.

Flustered, Michael reluctantly agreed. "I suppose so..."

"Well.. Is it okay if I just have some time by myself here for a second, and see if I can put something together?"

"Alright, son. I've gotta go to the back and grab some new stuff to display in the window."

"And I've gotta go back to the Bonanza Inn here," added Ellie. "I see another tour bus coming up now. I'll see you guys at lunch."

After those two had gone on, Michael sat next to Kaero.
"You've been having thoughts about your mother lately, have you?"

"Yeah... I don't know why, but I can't keep those thoughts out since yesterday...
Why does nobody talk about... what happened to her, to me, anyways?"

"I tell you what - If you come do this, I'll tell you what we think really happened. Okay?"

"... Alright, but I've still gotta do this," Kaero reminded him, holding up his two hands full of cards.

And Kaero sat there, sorting through the thousands of cards there, through the rush of people that came to watch the Duel Ring in action, up to lunch time, where he officially agreed:
"With these cards, and my trust in myself, I'm certain I'll be the best in Canada, and try to go on from there!"

But within his heart, he knew - the better he can play, the more he may learn about his mother...

Forrenz · 09-12-2009, 10:04 PM

"Well," Ellie began, "it looks like the next, closest Regional Qualifier is in Vancouver on Monday. That's almost a two-day drive anyways, so it kinda works out."
She was checking the main website for tournament listings on the computer we had set up in the corner to the right of the entrance. Since she had come from the Inn, which was becoming quite busy with tourist season kicking into gear, so she was wearing her burgundy manager's suit, and her beautiful black hair in a ponytail that reached halfway down her back.

"Yeah, but you're not the one driving - I am," mumbled Michael (which was actually very audible, because of his booming voice).

"Well, you could use the experience!" Ellie griped. "It'd be great if you got some experience with kids, so you can be ready for us to have a few too!"

"So that explains him trying to take over my job last night," Chuck chuckled.

As they were talking, Kaero was upstairs in his room, putting together all the things he would need: a week's worth of clothes, the hundred-or-so extra cards his father insisted he bring in case he needed to tweak the new deck he built, and because he was too young to officially move out and attend university, some course-required reading materials for the college course he was taking online.
Well, he had actually done that a while earlier, just as the store opened and was again flooded with people that couldn't wait to see the Duel Ring in action.
He had spent the last half hour looking through the deck he had made, which actually utilized all fifteen cards that had arrived this morning. Actually, he felt it was necessary. He had taken them and added them to cards he had been given that his mother once used...

---------------------------

"These cards' art were done by your mom, kiddo," Chuck explained. "Since we're card designers (he pointed to himself and Michael), we just make up everything about a card except for the art, but I added your mom's paintings to the cards I last sent in, and asked to be the one to test them out.
And they should work best with these."
He handed Kaero a lustrous blue deck box. Kaero opened it, flipped it upside-down, and caught the deck that fell out.
As he thumbed through them, he noticed most of the monsters were very high-levelled.

"How did mom win with these? Most of these monsters need sacrifices to bring out, but there aren't enough low-level monsters to use..."

"Oh, that's from back before the new rules made up during Battle City. Back then, Monsters didn't need sacrifices, and your beginning Life Points were at 2000, and monsters could only do damage battling other monsters, and couldn't attack directly."

Kaero flinched as heard that third "and" his father used. Run-on sentences from a 37-year-old was inexcusable...
So he sifted through the deck, removing the cards he considered would work well with the other cards he had seen...

-------------------------

Kaero had called into City Hall early that morning to let everyone know he was going for a trip for about two months. It was just coincidence that Chantelle was the one to answer the call.

"Hello, city financial services..."

"Chantelle?"

"Oh, Kaero! Where are you? Do you need to be picked up this morning?"

"Actually, I'm going to be taking a trip, and won't be back for two months..."

Suddenly, the phone was disconnected. Puzzled, Kaero just hung the phone up and started packing.

-------------------------

At 2 PM that day, everything had been sorted out, and Michael awaited outside in his and Ellie's awesome, huge camper.

Certain he had thoroughly packed, Kaero hauled his two suitcases down the stairs and headed for the door.
He smiled at his father, who was assisting a couple of kids using the Duel Ring, and continued for the door.

"Hey Kae!" Chuck made sure to call as Kaero reached the end of the counter, two metres from the door.
"Make sure you take those with you. And don't forget to have fun!"

Kaero turned to see what his father had been pointing towards: on the counter sat a diamond-shaped, dark-gray Duel Disk, and the three VHS tapes Chuck kept under the cash register.
He smiled back as he opened his brown suitcase and placed the tapes and Duel Disk inside, zipped it back up, and pushed open the doors to leave.

After the astonishment of seeing the giant blue-and-silver camper, he caught sight of the familiar red car parked behind it, and its driver door opening...

"Chantelle?"

"Hi, Kaero..." she greeted him, walking up to him slowly.
He had never seen her dressed so... casual before... Her light-brown hair let down, wearing a bright blue T-shirt and blue jeans, with nice violet shoes on as well.
"I wanted to make sure I saw you off, so I held off taking my lunch break until now. You technically aren't employed by the city, so I did expect you to head on to university or something soon..."

"Well, it isn't as though I'm not coming back..."

As soon as she was close enough, embraced him with all her might. With her heels, she was just as tall as he was.
Kaero wasn't certain what to do just then - his hands were still occupied by his suitcases, and couldn't decide on whether he should drop them to return the favour... It was short, so he didn't get the chance to decide.

She pulled back a bit, and just stared into his eyes. She realized she never truly looked at them before, and couldn't say what colour they were - now she could see that they had was an interesting blend of blue, green and brown. Then his somewhat-long white hair became the focus of her attention, as she pulled a toothpaste-like tube from her purse.
"Here, I thought this would help keep the hair out of your eyes, so you can play better. It's blue-tinting hair gel, and I thought it would add something to your hair, to make you look even more special... Would you mind if I..."

"Um, no... Go ahead..." Kaero conceded, still unsure about what to do with his bag.
As she squeezed a small amount out and began rubbing it in with his bangs, Michael crossed the street with his own bags, mostly food to finish stocking the camper's fridge.
She pulled Kaero's hair out towards her, then up, then waved the three "spikes" she had made towards the side of his forehead by bending them at the middle.
"There, that looks great. But you can do it however you want, of course..." she "gleamed" at him once more.

"C'mon, kid," Michael called down from the driver's window (the door to get inside was facing the street, so Michael avoided interupting the two). "We gotta go now to get to Vancouver in time."

"So... I'll see you back in the office in two months, right?" Chantelle requested.

"I'll just have to see how well this turns out, but I'll be back for sure once I'm done," he told her, trying not to say whether he would return to City Hall for certain.

He tried to smile at her as he turned to walk away, but once he had turned away from her, she couldn't help but hug him again from behind.
"Just as long as you promise to come back."

Chantelle wavered before letting go and returning to her car.
Kaero didn't know how to feel just then, because normally had no physical contact with anyone for days at a time...
He just shrugged it off for the time being, and entered the camper, setting down his suitcases finally, then lay down on the bed at the far back.

"Alright, we're off now," Michael announced, as he turned the camper on and took off.

WarpKnight · 09-13-2009, 08:43 PM

There, now I signed up on here. Happy?
:P
I'm not so sure it translates too well when it's not in first person (which you copied word for word, I see LOL)
And the little bits you added don't work quite so well... Not quite enough is being said in some spots, and others don't quite click so well with the parts around them...
It's a bit... clanky, you know?
And no, I'm not going to finish it for you, lazy bones. You committed to doing this, and there's quite a ways until the finale yet...
I thought you were just going to skip to the Nationals and added the preceding parts as flashbacks? It would be a hell of a lot shorter for you.

P.S. - Why don't you have an image? I used my YouTube one, so you may as well use yours too.

Forrenz · 09-16-2009, 05:30 PM

Blog Post 1.16 - The Nationals' First Round, Part 1

"Now where the heck did he go??" Dad wondered (very) aloud. Michael had been acting weird since that "Nexus" guy dueled me yesterday with those "shadow-dweller" monsters, and he disappeared before my father (who surprised me by knocking on our hotel room this morning after catching an early flight to Toronto, but Destiny in turn surprised him) got here. Since the Nationals tournament was a three-day event, a KaibaLand only offers up to a three-day pass to the park, Dad and Michael would have had to buy their passes today, while Destiny and I had our official passes, which were good for the whole event.

KaibaLand Canada is built across the bay from the CN Tower, where the Kaiba Corporation bought off land occupied by out-of-use warehouses and built their enormous park, complete with rides throughout, but also divided into 15 different areas with a special dueling stage in each, and all surround the Red-Eyes Colliseum (Red-Eyes may be weaker than Blue-Eyes, but our arena looks much cooler than KaibaLand America's arena).

"Well, if he decided to bail, then too bad for him if he misses out on the action," Destiny smirked at me before getting back into "don't even think to stare at me - mode" and pushed on through the crowd to get to the VIP entrance, although her small black tank top and short red shorts, as well as a red hair band to keep her green hair from her face, made it nearly impossible to stare - er, other people to stare.
Oh, and I was just wearing black jeans and a blue T-shirt with a big black stripe across the chest and sleeves.

She and I flashed our passes to the security men at the VIP gate and walked into the entrance area where all the shops and restaurants were, just like the other KaibaLand. In the center of the area was an incredible fountain depicting [Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End] and [Chaos Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning] back-to-back in fighting stances as amazing arcs of water shot around them. Nearby was a kiosk attended by two girls dressed as [Witch of the Black Forest] and [Magician of Faith], where the flyers/maps of the park were handed out along with a giant board showing the general layout. Not that we needed a map, since we just had to head toward the Red-Eyes Colliseum by 11AM, which was just fifteen minutes away, so we had to hurry over to the VIP entrance there as well.

Once we entered the arena, we were led to the guest area by a couple of men dressed in black with "VIP Host" badges through the "Employees Only" hallways until we got to the large stairway leading up to the VIP Lounge, a grande room with beautifully-designed double-doors.
Once Destiny and I entered the room, which had plenty of nice furniture and tables aimed for looking out through enormous windows to the incredible dueling arena below surrounded by several thousand people, as well as a large fridge, we met with all fourteen of the other participants, and a couple I had met before immediately sprinted towards me from one of the plush couches...

"Hey! 'Blue Bloke'!" Jake Smith greeted me, dressed in a green [Red-Eyes Black Dragon] t-shirt and brown dress pants, as he and Randy Buchanan rushed to greet me. Most of the others only looked for a second before returning to their seats, but a few others kept their eyes towards us near the door (most likely focused on Destiny, though she wasn't the only girl there).

"How did you guys make it here?" I felt obligated to ask them, as the real only way to have gotten enough points to make it there would have been to travel across the country to attend as many Regional Qualifiers as possible. With 9 cities across the nation holding an RQ either on the Wednesday or Saturday each week for the last eight weeks, totalling 16 possible RQs to attend and a possible 128 (16 x 8) points, at the very most they would've received 64 points...

"Well, for the last couple weeks, our parents went with us to a few RQs in Edmonton and Calgary, so we got a few bonus points," explained Randy, dressed in a similar green t-shirt with [Black Magician Girl] and blue jeans.
"Oh, and three guys in the top 16 couldn't make it, so we got bumped up with that guy," he explained, as he then pointed to Casen Diotte by the fridge, dressed his usual white cowboy hat, plaid shirt (this one was red, white, and green-mixed) with blue jeans and white cowboy boots (instead of brown - I suppose they're new and to look kind of fancy, with the silver trim on it; wait... how do I know what "trim" means?), nodding towards us as we looked his way. I couldn't help noticing Rain in the far right corner looking out the window, dressed in a red T-shirt with black lightning-bolts, grayish cargo shorts, sandals, and his hair tinted red a bit, this time in a star shape. There was also a boy in green that looked very familiar...

It was when our focus came back from Casen, Randy and Jake only just then noticed Destiny, and immediately their eyes widened and jaws slightly dropped as they looked her up and down, which made her blush, but the expression on her face read "rage".

As they recovered from the double-slap Destiny delivered to them, there was a knocking on the door, so we moved over towards the seats so whoever was behind the doors could come in.

After a few seconds, the door opened, and a caucasian man with long black hair, a slight moustache and beard, a deep purple suit with a blue dress shirt and dark-blue tie, and black dress shoes stepped in.

"Welcome, participants!" he greeted us with open arms. "I'm glad you were all able to make it! I'm Markus Finch, director of this fine park! Now, if you would please follow me as we head for the arena!"
He turned to head back down the stairs, as he beckoned us to follow by twirling his left index finger in the air, but he immediately turned right as soon as he left the room, so we had to follow quickly as he left our view. Within a minute, we entered the wide open arena, as the ceiling retracted to let the sun in, and the full stadium began to roar with cheering. We followed Mr. Finch as head led each of us to stand in a circle around a podium, as cameramen filmed us from four different directions, and the three giant screens showed a different camera's view every few seconds, so most of us tried to smile, as Mr. Finch then stood up to the podium.

"Greetings, everyone! How are we feeling today?!"
The cheering of the audience was nearly deafening.

"Welcome, each and every one of you, to the Canadian National Championships!
Now, I'm no fan of long, drawn-out speeches, so I'd like to introduce you all to our incredible competitors, from lowest to highest rank!"
Again, a deafening roar erupts around us. It's such an odd experience, but I can see the allure...

"First up, the cowboy that has mastered the greatest Duel Monsters beasts! From Olds, Alberta: Casen Diotte! (He grinned at the camera, then tilted his hat; you could hear most of the girls in the audience cheered very loudly for him)
"Next, our earthen warrior! Originally from England, now living in Burnaby, B.C.: Jacob Smith! (He held his left arm in front of him in the regular dueling pose, holding it until Mr. Finch announced the next contender)
"To his left, the crafter of rock and metal ore! Also from Burnaby: Randall Buchanan! (He made some odd gesture with both of his hands as he stuck out his tongue towards the camera; his parents would have flipped if they saw him act that way, so that may be testament to his parents becoming more lenient, or they just weren't there in the audience)
"Opposite him, the ocean master from P.E.I.: Kevin McDonell! (A rather tall, buff guy in a Hawaiian shirt and swim trunks)
"Just north of him, the keen-eyed boy able to pick apart his opponent's hand and deck, the crippling Duelist from Halifax, Nova Scotia: Dave Clement! (A very young boy in baggy clothes with some kind of ninja headband)
"With only two points more, a young man who has successfully collected every super hero promo card released via White Stag comics, from just outside Regina, Saskatchewan: Brent Yarbo!(Another tall guy, in his low-twenties, rather lanky, dressed quite sharp with glasses, and obviously feeling the same as I was)
"Now into our top ten! The self-proclaimed 'Junk Card King,' from Minnedosa, Manitoba: Kyle Parrott!" (A guy around my age that had fairly long blonde hair and casual clothes, with his hands in his pockets and a very confident look on his face)
"Ranked number nine, the master of the winds from the shores of Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba: Sara Nguyen! (the only other girl besides Destiny, she was very tan, wearing some kind of pale-green cloth robe, had long black hair in a ponytail starting near the top of her head, and a very disarming smile)
"Number eight, the beatdown Duelist from Thunder Bay, Ontario: Terrence Johnson! (A slightly older guy of African descent with very thick hair, wearing a multi-pocket camouflage vest over a forest-green t-shirt and camouflage pants, with heavy brown hiking boots, and a stern face, just as Michael usually had... It was then that I had remembered him and Dad, but trying to look for him in this crowd would be almost pointless at the moment...)
"With a very large leap in points, we have the prodigal son of two former champions, who literally just began playing the game, and has ranked in at seventh place! Hailing from Whitehorse of the Yukon Territory with his frost-blue hair: Kaero Forrenz! (Actually hearing the roar of the audience fall quite noticeably, I grew incredibly shy, looking off to the side and feling my cheeks start to burn again)
"Now here's a boy many of you may well know! The Canadian champ from two-to-four years ago, who also made it to the semi-finals of the first KC Grand Championship! From Montreal, Quebec, the debonaire Spellcaster: Beaufrey Ginger! (That's where I remember him from! I remember seeing his three duels on my dad's second tape! I can't imagine how much better he's become over the last year and a half...)
"Heading up the top five, dressed perfectly to suit her dueling style, from Edmonton, Alberta: the brash brawler, Destiny Wainwright! (She did a very good job of doing a full "yeah, whatever" look, which I couldn't help but chuckle to myself at)
"Fourth place belongs to the 'Iron Fortress' from Hamilton, Ontario: James Lee! (a guy that obviously didn't mind his appearance, with scraggly, bushy black hair that hung down his head, covering it near-completely, as he wore a very baggy white tank top with the image of Duel Monsters cards flying all over the place on it, with dark-gray sweat pants, and completely black sneakers with an odd white "check"-mark on them)
"Our third-ranked contender comes from Fort McMurray, Alberta, known for drilling away at his opponents: Cory Monaghan! (Also putting on a show of confidence, but was dressed nearly identical to James Lee, except he had short brown hair, was standing straight instead of hunched over, and wore a green shirt that fit him well and matched his green sweatpants)
"Here we are, at number two, the Diabolical Eradicator, and was also third place for the last two years! From our nation's Capitol, Paris Knight! (Another guy dressed all in dark clothes, just like that "Nexus" guy from yesterday, also wearing sunglasses and black cap on backwards; if he's been around in public so long, it's doubtful he and "Nexus" are connected...)
"And finally, at the top of our charts, with a perfect 128 Points, the reigning champion from here in Toronto, as well as our Mayor's son: Rain!" (the entire crowd exploded with excitement, most chanting "Rain!" as he just looked up and away from the camera nearest him)

"Now, onto the first round!" Mr. Finch called into the microphone attached to the podium, trying to top the crowd's noise level.
"Each round, our competitors will be randomly paired, and only between each round can our players exchange cards with their main Decks and their Side Decks to prepare for whomever they may face next. Each round will also have two pairs duel each other at a location also chosen at random somewhere in here in KaibaLand! So without further ado, let's see our first two pairings!"

On each screen above, a tournament layout appeared, with 16 spots along the bottom, all leading up in a pyramid to the top where the final champion will appear. Each of the spots along the bottom read as black squares with white question maks in them, until images of all our faces (the pictures we had taken of us yesterday that was also printed on our official passes) began very quickly and randomly rolling in the first four spots. After a moment the faces froze, revealing...

"Alright, folks! It looks like our first match will be Paris Knight VS Dave Clement at 'The Docks', as well as Jacob Smith VS Terrence Johnson in 'Pixel World'! If our competitors would please exit through these doors and board their karts so they may be driven to their locations! Also, we recommend those here in the Colliseum please remain here so that we do not crowd our competitors, as we will display both duels on our screens here as well as throughout the park, though our other competitors can choose to return to the VIP Lounge or they may also attend other players' matches! Now... Let's Duel!"

Jake and Randy hurried off together, as both Paris Knight and Terrence Johnson coolly took their time, and Dave Clement kept waving into the audience (there were about twenty people sitting together waving back, so I guess they were family).

"So, what are you going to do?" Destiny asked me, taking my left hand into both of hers.

"Well, I suppose I may as well go watch Jake's match, since he and Randy were two of the first guys I played against, so I'd like to se how far along his deck has come... What about you?"

"I really think we should both check out that Paris guy. He'll definitely be a tough contender if he's the only one to rank in the top four for the last few years."

"You can go on to watch him then; I still think I kind of owe it to them to see them compete."

So Destiny and I split up, after going upstairs to grab maps and something to drink.

Meanwhile, a few men sat in the room above the VIP Lounge, eagerly awaiting how the tournament would unfold...

The Nationals' First Round, Part 2

I headed down to "Pixel World", the area just on the other side of the park from the entrance. Only the players with matches were driven over; the rest of us had to walk over - not that it was far, but we wouldn't get there by the time the match started. Of the competitors, only Randy and I went to watch Jake and Terrence, while Destiny, Casen, Kyle, and Cory went to the Docks near the entrance area to watch watch Paris and Dave.

As we jogged to keep up with Jake's kart, Randy just had to ask the obvious question...

"So, what's up wih you and the green-haired punk chick?"

"I met her in Edmonton, she was the first person to beat me, and because of her skill, I thought she deserved a real shot, so I offered to have her tour the country with Michael and I," I explained, keeping details to the barest minimum.

"Oh yeah? So you guys aren't... like, together then?"

"Um, yes we are. I just said that."

"No, I mean 'together' as in 'going out'...?"

"Oh, that," I replied, trying not to think about it. As much as we get along, I never put effort into thinking about it, but I can't say we haven't grown close in the last six weeks...
"I don't know... we're more like siblings than anything else, really."

"So... Do you think I have a shot with her?"

"Well, with about the huge gap in points between you, she likely won't consider you to be in her league," I laughed.

Randy just turned red and kept his eyes down, though slightly smiling, as we reached "Pixel World", a building the size of a regular department store, inside being all black, but with a luminous green geometric grid along the floor and ceiling while blue on the walls. There were also many small buildings throughought - this was the arcade area of the park, as well as a laser-tag field near the back with plenty of structures to hide behind. Just before that was the Duel Ring where Jake and Terrence were prepared to start, as the men that drove them over were apparently referees.

"Both Duelists ready?" the referees asked. It turned out they had shuffled and cut each other's decks before setting up at their podiums; Jake's podium was neon green while Terrence's was neon blue, and the 5x2 grids on the ring's platform was drawn out in neon red lines.
Also, they had to play "Rock, Paper, Scissors" just before, to determine who went first.

"Ready!" both combatants called out.

"Then let's Duel!" the referees declared, as both of the players drew their opening hand.
(Jake LP: 4000) (Terrence LP: 4000)

"My move! I draw!" announced Jake.
"I summon [Platinum Knight, Horsted] in Defence Mode (LV4; EARTH; Warrior-Type; ATK/1600; DEF/1200; Effect: When this card destroys an opponent's monster in battle, it gains 500 ATK. If this card is destroyed in battle, you can send the bottom 2 cards of your deck to the Graveyard to search your Deck for 1 Warrior-Type monster and add it to your Hand.)!" A fully-armoured knight, whose armour was a colour between gold and silver, arose on the field, falling to one knee and holding his shield in front of him and had his red-hilted blade at the ready; since these were holograms, which are composed of light, they were just as visible as they would be outside.
"I set two cards and end my turn!"

"My move then, Brit boy," mocked Terrence as he drew.
"I summon [Goblin Elite Attack Force] (ATK/2200) in Attack Mode!" A troop of five goblins wearing silver knight's armour appeared, armed with common swords and shields.
"Now, my Goblins attack! Brutal Swarm!"
The goblin knights all surrounded Horsted, as they raised their swords in unison, then brought them down hard on him.
"Now that battle is done, my goblins switch to Defence Mode (DEF/1500)." His troops just sat down in their Monster Zone, each doing something random, out of boredom.

"But before that, my knight's effect activates!" Jake beamed. "By tossing the bottom two cards of my deck to the Cemetary, I can add any Warrior-type monster to my hand from my deck!" After taking the bottom two cards and placing them in the Graveyard slot of his Duel Disk, he took a quick glance through his deck, Jake removed and revealed a card. "I choose my [Marauding Captain]!" He then shuffled his deck.

"Alright, then I'll throw down two face-downs and pass to you." Terrence said with a slight grin.

"Draw!
I summon [Marauding Captain] in Attack Mode (ATK/1200)!" A man in green armour on his body appeared, his blonde hair as a simple bowl-cut, while wielding a differently-designed sword in each hand.
"Now his effect activates! When Normal Summoned, he lets me bring out any Level 4 or lower monster I might have in my hand, and I choose his mate, another [Marauding Captain] in Defence Mode (DEF/ 400)!" Another captain popped up beside his doppleganger, except he knelt down and held his swords in front of him as a barrier.

"Next up, I activate the Continuous Spell [The A. Forces], which gives my Warriors an ATK boost of 200 for each Warrior and Spellcaster I control, so right now, both of my captains gain 400 ATK (ATK/1600)!
Alright, time for battle! My [Marauding Captain] attacks your goblins!"
As his first warrior made a dash for the troops, the face-down card in the zone behind the goblins arose.

"I activate [Final Attack Orders]! This Trap changes all monsters on the field into Attack Mode as long as it's face-up!"
A trumpeting sound seemed to come from the card, as all the goblins, as well as Jake's other warrior, stood up, ready for battle.
Jake could do nothing as his Captain's attack was dodged by the goblins, who then close in and struck him. (Jake's LP: 3400)
That is, until the smoke from the battle covered the scene...

"I activate my Trap, [Kinsmen Samsara] (a card depicting [Indominable Fighter Lei Lei] taking a blow from [Swordstalker] meant for [Panther Warrior]), which lets me send a monster of the same Type and Level as the monster that would have been destroyed from my deck to the Cemetary, to keep my monster on the field! And I send... [The Immortal Bushi]!"

As the smoke cleared, his Captain leapt out and returned to Jake's side of the field, as we watched his samurai be destroyed in his place.

"I set one more card, and end my turn..."

"Great save, Jake!" Randy cheered as he and I watched from the sidelines.

"He's grown quite a bit in the last two months, hasn't he?" I complimented.

"Yep," Randy agreed. "Since we took you on, we could see the way our cards connected to each other, so we could really make our decks click better!"

I noticed most of all the plays Jake made this turn - keeping his two [Marauding Captain]s in play creates a lock that prevents your opponent from attacking any Warrior-type monsers you control.

"It's my move, and you're so going down this turn!" Terrence bragged as he drew again.
"Using the special ability of my [Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast], I can summon it without any sacrifices, but it's stats get cut in half (ATK/2800 -> ATK/1400)." A large red tank rolled into play, with a cannon on each of its sides, a couple of small blasters on the end of its tail, and another small cannon on either side of its head, which was attached to the base by a very long neck.
"But that's gonna change right now! By paying 1000 Life Points, I activate my Trap Card, [Skill Drain], which cancels out the effects of all Monsters on the Field!" (Terrence's LP: 3000)
The Trap card emitted a yellow wave of energy, which gave each Monster on the Field a faint yellow glow, and Fusilier Dragon's ATK points returned to its original 2800.

A frightened look crossed Jake's face as he realized the lock created with his two Captains had just been asbolved. I couldn't help wondering if he'd grown enough to get himself out of this situation, though as it was, he'd only be reduced to 1400 Life Points in battle right now.

"Fusilier Dragon!" beckoned Terrence. "Take a crack at his first Captain! Dual Shockwave!"
His machine let out a grinding roar, as its cannons on its body and head charged up.
"And then, from my hand, I play [Limiter Removal], to double my Dragon'a ATK!"
Its cannons charged up even more (ATK/5600), and let loose, but Jake had a slight saving grace.
"I play [Shrink], to cut your Dragon's original ATK in half!"
Though it activated in time, it only reduced Fusilier Dragon's ATK by 1400 (ATK/4200), as its four cannons fired, incinerating Jake's captain, and enveloping Jake himself as well (Jake's LP: 800). Jake slipped backwards in panic, but Randy and I were able to rush behind him to catch him in time.

"Come on, Jake," I urged him as we helped him back to his podium. "If he hits your powered-down Captain (because with the first Captain gone, the second only had a 200 ATK boost to 1400 with [The A. Forces]) with his elite goblins, you'll be down to exactly zero Life Points, so show me how much better you've become in these last few weeks!"

Jake was then very relieved, as he turned to Terrence.
"So, you gonna keep going, buddy?" Jake taunted.

"You bet, fool! Goblins, finish off his monster and his Life Points!"
His knights stormed towards Jake's Captain, but Jake had his last face-down card to play - a Trap depicting a duelist with streaked-back black hair bracing against an attack with his Battle City-style Duel Disk, while being shielded by blue energy
"Go, ! This reduces the damage I take down to zero, and lets me add a Warrior in my Cemetary with 1500 or less DEF to my hand!"
As the goblins tackled his second Captain, Jake retrieved his first Captain and added it to his hand.

"I throw a card face-down and end my turn..." conceded Terrence, still keeping his cool. Though as he said it, his Fusilier Dragon shattered like glass, due to [Limiter Removal]'s effect.
There's no way just one card can save this loser...

"Let's see if we can turn things around!" called Randy as Jake drew. Jake had a look of worry as he looked at the card he had drawn.
-------------------------

Two months ago...

(Kaero's LP: 3200) (Jake's LP: 2400)

"You may have powered up your monsters, but you've left out any protection for your power-ups," Kaero pointed out as he drew for is turn.

Jake gritted his teeth in frustration.
How can this blue-haired bloke be so bloody cocky?!

It was the end of Jake's turn, as he and Kaero were dueling in the semi-finals of the first RQ in Vancouver of the season. They were on the second floor of the Metroplis at Metrotown mall in southern Burnaby, above the main atrium near the center of the mall. Jake's field consisted of a [Marauding Captain], [The Immortal Bushi], and [Rocket Warrior], each powered up by 600 ATK due to [The A. Forces] and another 200 ATK and DEF by his Field Spell [Sogen] (which hid the floor below with the image of a field of grass). He used up his Normal Summon that turn so he could bring out his Captain and Rocket Warrior after his samurai brought itself back to life, then beat back Kaero's three monsters to take control, though Kaero had a single Set card remaining, so he felt comfortable enough to end his turn there.

"I activate [Giant Trunade], which returns all Spells and Traps from the Field to their owner's hand," Kaero announced. "However, in response, I activate my face-down card, the Trap [Ancient Holy Summon Ring] (Counter Trap; Effect: When this face-down card would be removed from the Field, aside from being destroyed, you can pay 500 Life Points to activate this card. Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower LIGHT monster from your Deck. You cannot Normal Summon during the turn this card is activated.), so now I can Summon my [Valiant Knight] (ATK/2000)!"
A male warrior leapt to the field from Kaero's Duel Disk, covered nearly completely in teal armour decorated with gold markings, aside from his head, so his green hair wavered as he landed, and once he had, he took an aggressive stance as two long, wide blades emerged from his gauntlets. (Kaero's LP: 2700)
"And now, my Trunade resolves."
An enormous flurry of wind began to wildly blow the hair of the monsters and the grass around, before [The A. Forces] and the green field vanished, causing the white glow given to Jake's monsters by his Continuous Spell to vanish, and his monsters' ATK and DEF to drop to normal.

"Next, I activate the Spell [Light of Ascension], which allows me to Special Summon a LIGHT Monster in my hand by removing monsters from my Grave whose combined Levels are equal to the monster in my hand, and I choose my [Valiant Warmaster Dragoon]!" Kaero called over, revealing the Monster Card he chose from his hand.
"So, by removing my Level 4 [Evil-Eyes Gigols] and Level 4 [Kappa Night Archfiend], I Summon my Level 8 Dragoon!"The images of his two Fiends appeared before quickly merging into a beam of light, from which emerged a green, red and blue-armoured knight, with two cannon-like gauntlets on his arms. (ATK/2600)

"Now," Kaero began, with a look of complete confidence, "I activate my Dragoon's special ability. By removing a LIGHT Warrior-type monster I control from play, it can attack all of your monsters once each! Go - Valiant Barrage!" The green lines on the Dragoon's blue gauntlets slowly lit up as Kaero's [Valiant Knight] vanished into shining dust, which travelled into the gauntlets' barrels. Once the lines were fully lit, the Dragoon braced itself as it launched a flurry of green spheres at Jake's three warriors (Jake's LP: 0)

As the holographic smoke cleared, Jake collapsed to the ground in disbelief, as Kaero circled around to him.
"You really do know what you're doing," Kaero explained as he approached Jake, "but the support you give your monsters is only in one sense. You give your monsters enough power to fight, so they protect and fight for you, but you're not supporting them back for it. Your monsters aren't just your weapons... They count on you just as much as you count on them, and until you do so, this is as far as you'll ever go."
Kaero then walked on to the food court as Jake sat, taking in those words...

----------------------------

"I've learned a lot, and let's show you just how much!" Jake charged with a grin.

"I activate [Graceful Charity], which allows me to draw three cards, then discard any two.
Next, I activate the effect of my [Tai Chi Grandmaster] that was sent to the Cemetary by Horsted to remove himself and Horsted from play, giving me back 1600 Life Points, then return your [Skill Drain] to the top of your deck!" (Jake's LP: 2400)

"Pfft," Terrence scoffed.
I knew it. This game is done. He can't surrender until the tenth turn, so he's just trying to go down strong...

"Now I'm ace to play this: [Warroir's Requiem] (Normal Spell Card; Effect: This card can only be activated if you control no cards on the field, and haven't Normal Summoned or Set a monster this turn. Select 1 Level 5 or higher Warrior-Type Monster in your Graveyard, then, by removing the appropriate number of other Warrior-Type Monsters in your Graveyard from play, you can Tribute Summon the selected monster. (This counts as the Normal Summon for the turn.))!"
A Spell card appeared on the field, with art depicting a depressed [Gagagigo] holding a severely-beaten [Marauding Captain]'s limp body in his arms.
"With this, I remove from play my two Marauding Captains and my Immortal Bushi in order to Summon my [Gilford the Lightning]!"
His two Captains and samurai reappear for a moment, then, in a flash, a warrior wearing silver armour appeared, wielding a sword charged with electricity in both of his hands.
"Now Gilford's effect can activate! Because I used three monsters as sacrifices, Gilford can destroy all of your monsters!"

"Yeah, but I'm gonna take him down too. I play my face-down card, [Bottomless Trap Hole], to destroy Gilford and remove him from play." Terrence declared, disappointedly folding his arms.

"Oh, no you won't!" Jake grinned. "I activate [My Body as a Shield], which cancels your Trap and destroys it by coughing up 1500 of my Life Points!"

Terrence un-crossed his arms, and nearly dropped the cards in his hand in surprise.
"No... No way... Such a risky card... That means..." he stuttered.

Jake became imbued in blue light, then a blue copy of himself launched from the podium and rammed into Terrence's Trap card. (Jake's LP: 900)
Next, with a massive horizontal swing of his blade, electricity burst forth and blew apart Terrence's goblins.

"Now that that's all said and done, thanks to my Spell Card [The A. Forces], Gilford's ATK rise by 200, to a nice grand total of 3000!
Now, wipe this guy out, Gilford! Lightning Strike!"

Gilford leapt at Terrence, who remained completely speechless, as Gilford aimed his blade towards him as lightning burst forth at him (Terrence's LP: 0).

Terrence stood there, quivering, without any thought of his next action, as Jake excitedly hopped down and shared a secret handshake with Randy.

I left Jake and Rany to celebrate over at the nearby concession stand whose walls were black with a yellow grid, to hurry on to the Docks, which were pretty much on the opposite side of the park from there, to see how the other duel went.
As I left the structure, flinching as I once again made contact with sunlight, I caught a fairly large crowd watching the match on a monitor between Pixel World and the Colliseum. It turned out that their match was just ending, as a black dragon vanished from view. I could also just catch Destiny's hair in the bottom-right corner of the screen, as she began to then walk away.
Seconds later, Mr. Finch appeared on every monitor in the park.

"Those were some fine matches, weren't they, folks?! The speed in which those duels were over goes to show how incredibly skilled our players are! While it was no surprise to see Paris Knight become the victor against Dave Clement, we did see an upset as Jake Smith, ranked 15, took down Terrence Johnson in from seemingly nowhere!"

It wasn't "nowhere", he took a bit of my suggestion to heart, and it worked out. Well, assuming those weren't the only changes he made.

"We'll have a nice twenty minute break, then assign our next two matches, so everyone feel free to grab some snacks and tour the attractions!"

I decided to just head straight back to the VIP room, but I met up with Destiny just as we got to the stairway leading there.

"So, did you catch this Paris guy's match at all?" She wondered.
"No, I just caught the very end, as that black dragon faded away. How was it?"
"It was pretty brutal. That Dave kid didn't have a chance."
"Well, what was his play like?"
"I didn't see much, but he seems to have a good ratio of Monsters, Spells, and Traps, and they work very well together. It's no wonder he's ranked up there with Rain."

We both made faces to show each other we were nervous, but I could tell she was actually as excited as I was. We both totally remodeled our decks, so we didn't even know what to expect from each other, and we might very well face each other this round...
We continued up the stairs to grab some snacks before they were all gone, as we trembled in excitement...

WarpKnight · 09-19-2009, 10:57 AM

Wow, 80 views and not a single other person has commented. Granted, it seems that there's really only 10 people who frequent the entire section of the forums, but I know I'm only responsible for 3 views at the most.
Well, I think it does look a bit better to have the duels be a few turns shorter, so it's more real that way, and 4000 instead of 8000 LP will make it less of a shock later on, so I don't have any real complaints, aside from a couple of missing letters here and there.
Maybe you should just do your own story, if it takes so much of your time to do rewrites on mine, but that's up to you.

Forrenz · 09-25-2009, 05:22 AM

*** I'm glad you're cool with the changes, and I'm spending so much time reading everyone else's fics (speaking of, it turns out that Brian Davis wrote Battle Zone, and the main character's name is Brian Davis... therefore, ShadowBlade is our God! LOL). Yeah, catching those is tough, I'm really kinda writing on the fly, but dang it, I'm going on to the end, even if it's just you and me who care, sweetie

***

Yu-Gi-Oh! DM dot CA - Blog Post 1.17 The Nationals, Part 3

"Welcome back, ladies and gents!" Finch called into his mic, as his face popped onto the monitors throughout KaibaLand. Now that we've all filled up, without further ado, let's get on to our next two pairings!"

We all met up just off the stage in the center of the arena, waiting for Finch there, who changed from a purple suit with a pale blue shirt underneath to a blue suit with a pale green shirt underneath, to announce which four of us would be duking it out next.

The monitors then showed the tournament tiers again, with the first four spots showing Paris and Jake' faces with green circles around them, Dave and Terrence's faces shaded with red X's over them, and the next four spots flipping through the rest of our faces for ten seconds before landing on...

"Oh, and it looks like we have three newcomers battling it out along with our former champ for these matches! We have Destiny Wainwright versus Brent Yarbo in the Oasis Ladies' Spa, while Casen Diotte taking on Beaufrey Ginger at, coincidentally enough for Mr. Diotte here, the Western Ranch and Petting Zoo!"

We stepped up onto the stage and greeted the audience before being led to the back entrance where the karts waited for us.
I took my time though, so I could have a quick chat with Kaero before we headed off.

"So, are you gonna watch my match, or the cowboy's?" I asked him, hoping he would prefer to watch mine, but I knew him better than that.

"I think I'd like to watch Casen instead, just to see how much better he's become as well," he reasoned, which I new wasn't completely true. First, the last time they met, Casen nearly took Kaero's head off due to Casen's daddy issues. Also, I knew that Kaero didn't want to see any of my deck until we met in this competition (or one of us is bumbed off).
Down the hall I went, quickly waving "goodbye" to him as I hopped into the last kart and he headed off in the other direction.

On the drive over, I started thinking about that last duel... That Paris guy was pretty hardcore, and his strategy would definitely be a problem for mine and Kaero's older decks...
My new one should be able to handle it.
I really started to wish Kaero had been able to watch that duel...

I snapped out of it once I noticed the nice neon "Oasis" sign. It turned out that the spa was in a large dome, likely just to keep the "tropical climate" inside intact. There were no customers inside though, because they had been asked to take off until the duel was over (which wouldn't be long, I told myself ;3).

As I was about to leave the kart, the driver guy pulled a Duel Disk from the back compartment and handed it to me.

"There's no Duel Ring here, so you'll have to use this," he explained as I took it from him. Wow, I so did not expect such a deep voice from a skinny blonde guy. "Also, don't insert your deck until the referee says to."

Then I headed inside, through some nicely decorated sliding doors (with images of the [Harpie Lady] sisters), and man, it must've been a good 30* in there! And it was all steamy too, but it was clear where this guy and I were going. What? "Don't start a sentence with 'and'!"? Too bad! I'm writing this part, so I'll say what I want, how I want. :P
We headed into the center, where there was a large hot tub surrounded by (fake) palm trees and nice (fake) grass around the edges.
I've got to visit here later, I thought to myself, hoping to remember (and I did).

"Now, if you would both please hand your deck to your opponent so they may shuffle and cut it, then return it to its owner so they may insert it into their Duel Disk," the guy who drove the nerdy kid over instructed us.

So, I handed mine over to Brent, who obviously was uncomfortable in his dress clothes (I guessed his parents, or at least his mom, told him to dress nice for the event). As I took his deck, it was obvious he was looking... below my face. I would normally smack someone for doing so, but this kid didn't look like the kind that communicates with girls much (you'll see why in a sec).

"Aren't you a little stuffy in that?" I asked him in a flirty voice as we gave our decks back.

"A bit..." he responded softly, looking off towards the hot tub "oasis" as his cheeks turned red.

"Well, then, at least take that outer shirt off. I don't want you to pass out or something; We should be having fun, not going to church, right?" I winked.

He just smiled as he inserted his deck into his Disk, then set it down so he could take the brown shirt he wore off, then rolled up his left sleeve so he could fit his Disk on it. I followed, attaching my Disk.

"Now, if you would remove your footwear and place them on the mat beside me, then stand on opposite sides of the pool where there is non-slip gripping, and the person who wins a game of 'Paper, Scissors, Rock' will determine who will go first."

I just kicked off my shoes by stepping on the heels and headed to my spot, while Brent had to untie his fancy black shoes and roll down his embarassing knee-high black socks.

Okay, so we finally stood on opposite ends of the tub, ready to get our game on, drew our first five cards, and we threw out our hands: I played Scissors and he played Paper, but I decided to let him go first. My deck works better that way.

"My draw!" he called out. It was kinda funny to see the way he did it - kinda like those Japanese guys on Kaero's dad's tapes.

"I summon one of my favourites! The righteous lord of the dead, who had come to the world of the living to stop the many innocent deaths and bring down the ones who deserve it! Ascend now! [Zombire] (Zombyra theDark)!"
A very buff guy with a bone-like mask and violet spandex leapt onto the Field (ATK/2100).
"Next, I'll set two cards and end my turn!"

"My move, then. I draw."
One of my best opening hands possible for this deck.
"I play a monster in face-down Defence, then I'll set two cards too. Your move."
Sorry if I'm not too descriptive, but I'm obviously not so good at writing. This is Kaero's website anyways.

"Alright, then! It's my move! Ha!" I can't get why so many guys say "Ha!" when they draw, but whatever.

"Now, I'll play my rarest card! After his home world was destroyed when a super-powered alien named Gol'Gar destroyed the sun of their solar system, turning it into a black hole that sucked in all five planets, and this was the only being to survive! I Tribute [Zombire] to summon [J- HERO - Supreman] (LV6; LIGHT; Warrior-Type; ATK/2450; DEF;2600; Effect: When Summoning this card, you must first Tribute 1 Warrior-type monster. While this is the only Monster card you control, this card cannot be removed from the field by card effects or be Tributed, and destroy any Monster this card battles with at the end of Damage Calculation. When this face-up card is destroyed, you can Special Summon 1 Warrior-type monster from your Graveyard (except "Supreman"), and gain 2500 Life Points.)!"
Another buff hero appeared, but this guy had light-green skin, no ears, a strong jaw, slicked-back black hair (kinda like how Brent's was), a blue outfit with a silver 'S', silver boots, silver gloves and shoulder pads, with a cape that was silver on the outside and orange on the inside. Oh, and his name is a combo of 'supreme' and 'man'. (soo-PREE-man)

"Now I'm safe from anything you've got face-down! Supreman, attack with your Supreme Knuckle!"
His hero's right fist glowed yellow, then, in a flash, he thrust his fist through my monster's card, which revealed my [Kiseitai], a many-segmented parasite that then wrapped itself around Supreman.

"Sorry, but when my [Kiseitai] parasite is attacked while face-down, it equips itself to the monster that attacked it, and during your Standby Phase, half of that monster's Attack points is added to my Life Points," I laughed triumphantly, pointing at his hero as the hand at the end of my parasite's body latched onto his head, then wrapped itself around his body in a non-disabling way.

"Pretty good way to start. I'll end my turn there."

"My draw. Now, I'll summon [Armageddon Knight] in Defence Mode (DEF/1200)."
My warrior appeared, then knelt before me, blocking with his scrap-metal shield. That's not saying much - he had scrap strips of metal on most of the outer areas of his arms and legs, pretty rusty, and his sword was a self-made rapier. The rest of his outfit was brown leather sewn together, a red cloth around his face with the extra material hanging down his back, and a pair of goggles, while his long black hair was all messed around.

"Next, his special ability activates. I'm allowed to choose any DARK-Attribute Monster from my Deck to the Graveyard, and..." - I remove my deck from my Disk and search through it - "...I choose my [Imprisoned Queen Daemon].
Also, I activate the effect of my [Daemon General] by discarding him from my hand. This lets me add a copy of the Field Spell [Pandemonium] from my deck to my hand.
I think I'll activate it right away!"
An extra panel opened at the furthest end of my Duel Disk, where I placed my Field Spell.
As the panel retreated back into my Disk, the "oasis" was replaced by cruel bone-like structures and statues, the sky became red like it does at sunset, and a pit with green flames erupting from it formed in the very center between us.
"Ahh..." I sighed of relief. I couldn't stand the tropical scenery any more anyways.
"Isn't that better? Now, I end my turn."

"So, it's going to be Heroes versus Daemons, huh?" Brent smiled. It was kinda funny for it to turn out that way; "good versus evil" in a way.

"It's my move, so I draw! Ha!"

"Now my long little leecher's effect activates, so half of your hero's ATK is added to my LP (My LP: 5225)!

"No big deal! First, I activate [Pot of Greed], which allows me to draw two cards! Ha!
And how fitting! I activate my Spell [Supreme Radiance], which can destroy two cards on the Field if I only control [J-HERO - Supreman], by preventing him from attacking this turn. So I choose to destroy your monster and your parasite!"
His hero became fully lit up with yellow energy, burning away the parasite wrapped around him, then shot all the energy out through his left palm, incinerating my Knight.

"Now that that's done, my 'Radiance' Spell's bonus effect activates! Since I destroyed your monsters, half of their DEF comes out of your Life Points!"

I was wondering why the energy is still being blasted at me after my Knight was blown away... (My LP: 4225)

"Now, after vanquishing your evil creatures, I end my turn! Nothing can stand up to my Ultra Rare, impossible-to-get Heroes!"

"Let's just see! My move. I draw, then activate my Trap, [Daemon's Roar] by paying 500 Life Points (My LP: 3725). Now come on back, my General!"
I threw my right hand in Brent's direction as my card's projection revealed itself, then I pulled my [Daemon General] out from under my Knight and [Kiseitai] and slapped it down on my monster panel second from the left, so he burst from the green flames of the pit in the center of the field (ATK/2100).
"And because I now control a 'Daemon' monster during my Standby Phase, the effect of my Imprisoned Queen in my Grave activates, boosting my General's ATK by another 1000!"
The flames turned violet and shot out in an arc to light up my General (ATK/3100).
"Next, I can Summon my [InfernalQueen Daemon] in Attack Mode!"
My freaky banshee appeared in a flashed of red flames (ATK/900).
"Now I'm set to show you how bad this girl is, sweetie," I kissed at him, trying to get him flustered.
"Attack, General! Crimson Cleaver!"

My bright-orange General launched himself into the air, and brought his (at least) four-foot-long sword down on Supreman, who burst in a huge blast of yellow light (Brent's LP: 3350).
As my General leapt back to his spot, I noticed that Brent's [Zombire] had taken Supreman's place, and his Life Points were given a huge boost to 5850.

"Well, since my Queen can't take on your lord of the dead, I'll just set another card and end my turn, and due to my [Daemon's Roar] Trap, my General is destroyed."
My General burst into green flames, which then flew into the central pit.
"And thanks to [Pandemonium], when a 'Daemon' monster I control is destroyed aside from battle, I can add a Daemon of a lower Level from my deck to my hand, and I choose my Level 3 [DeathRook Daemon]. Your move."

"My Heroes will not falter! Ha!" Brent cried. I could tell he was really getting upset now... Oh, right, my InfernalQueen's effect!

"Now, during your Standby Phase, I can activate my [InfernalQueen Daemon]'s effect, which lets me increase the ATK of a 'Daemon' monster by 1000, and since I only have one monster, I obviously choose my Queen (ATK/1900).

"That's nothing compared to what I've got this turn. First, I activate my face-down Spell Card, [Magical Mallet], which can swap out any cards in my hand I want back into my deck, then draw the same number of cards, so I shuffle 2 of my 4 cards back into my deck... shuffle... and draw two new cards!
Next, I summon the princess of Neptune, who washes away villain in the dead of night! Come forth, [J-Hero - Persephone]!"
A thin, busty girl with pink skin and long purple hair, wearing a tiara made of coral and a two-piece blue outfit, appeared in a splash of water, which was red due to my Field Spell.

"With her out, I can activate my Spell [Tag-In], which allows me to Special Summon a 'HERO' monster from my hand whose ATK is equal to the ATK of a 'HERO' on my Field. Since Persephone has 1500 ATK, I can Summon this monster in Defence mode! A huntress from South America that has come to the urban jungle to stop those that wish to harm nature! Roar, [J-HERO - Shadow Pantera] (DEF/1800)!"
A very tan, slender woman with a ninja-like outfit pounced onto the Field, with her left hand on the handle of her blade, which was in a sheath attached to her mid-back.

"Now it's time to strike back! Zombire, take down her Queen! Lash of Innocents!"
Zombire took off into the sky, then came down to smash my Queen to bits with a drop-kick (My LP: 3525).
"As in the comics, Zombire loses his strength every time he battles, so my [Zombire] loses 200 ATK each time he destroys a monster in battle (ATK/1900).
And now you're wide open for Persephone to wash you away! Tide of Justice!"
A huge wave of water erupted from behind Brent and headed straight for me, but I was prepared.

"I activate my Trap Card, [Daemon's Erupting Summon]!"
As my Trap revealed itself on the Field (with art showing [Daemon Skull Dragon] emerging in purple flames from a defeated [Black Daemon's Dragon]), and the surge of red water was slowed way down.
"To activate this Trap, I have to select one 'Daemon' in my Graveyard, then pay Life Points equal to its Attack strength, so I choose my [InfernalQueen Daemon], and pay 900 Life Points (My LP: 2625). Do you have anything to activate?"
Brent shook his head "no".
"So now I destroy all monster I control, which I don't have, and I can Special Summon a 'Daemon' from my Deck with the same Level as the Monster from my Grave, so I can Special Summon my Level 4 [Daemon Soldier] in Attack Mode (ATK/1900)!"
My Soldier leapt from the flames in the center and readied to intercept and counter Persephone's attack.

"I... I cancel my attack..." Brent conceded, as the wave evaporated. "I'll just set a card and end my turn..."

"It's time I took your heroes down a peg!" I called over as I drew. I knew I had this combo, and it really only works best when playing at a table instead, but it'll serve my goal just as well here.

"Now, during my Standby Phase, my Imprisoned Queen charges up my Soldier by 1000 ATK, bringing him up to 2900!"
Purple flames shot out in an arc and enveloped my Soldier.
"And now on to my Main Phase, where I activate my Continuous Spell [Convulsion of Nature], which makes us turn our decks upside-down, and we now draw from the new top."
We both removed our decks, flipped them around, and inserted them back into our Duel Disks. And I was very happy to see the new "top" card of my Deck.
"With that out, I think I'll activate my other Continuous Spell, [Daemon's Oath], which lets me pay 500 Life Points to guess the name of the top card of my deck, and if I'm right, I can add it to my hand, but if I'm wrong, it gets dumped to my Graveyard."
Brent flinched once he heard me explain the obvious strategy of those two cards.
"So I'll cough up 500 LP, and guess that my top card is... (pause for dramatic effect, even making my face screw up in deep thought)... [J-HERO - Supreman]!" (My LP: 2125)
The look of shock on Brent's face was priceless. His glasses were prety close to falling off there. I took the top card from my deck and showed it to him.
"Oopsie, I was way off! It's my [Skull Daemon of Lightning]! Well, off to the Grave he goes!"
Yep, that threw him off pretty good.
"I'm all set now to topple your heroes! By removing from play my [InfernalQueen Daemon], [Daemon General], and [Skull Daemon of Lightning], I can Special Summon my [Trans-Dimensional Mosaic Daemon]!"
A rip in space appeared (you know, like on the cards [Dimensional Fissure] and [Chain Summon]), and from it emerged a green-scaled Daemon with a big lower jaw and three slightly curved horns on his head. He also had two arms per shoulder, and was wearing tight black armour on his arms and body, while his lower arms and legs had good metal plating to cover up his bandaged, webbed hands and feet. (ATK/2800)
"Time for a showdown! My Soldier attacks your Persephone!"

"Sorry," Brent interrupted, "but Persephone can't be chosen as an attack target while I control any other 'HERO' Monster."

"Fine, then my Soldier will take out your Shadow Pantera!"
My flaming Soldier began to make a run for his stalker girl, but his Persephone then raised her arms in the air and began to glow yellow, like his Supreman did earlier. Suddenly, a ghostly yellow Supreman appeared, who then rammed into my Soldier!
"What the hell was that?"

"While Persephone is on the Field, and a Warrior-type monster is chosen as an attack target, I can choose a 'HERO' monster in my Graveyard, and half of its ATK comes out of the attacking monster's ATK!"
So now my Soldier's ATK was bumped down from 2900 to 1775, just 25 shy of it being a stalemate. My Soldier continued its attack, since I had no way of stopping it now. My Soldier swung its blade at Shadow Pantera, but she unsheathed her rusty machete from behind her to block him, and with a spinning kick, she knocked him back to my side of the Field. (My LP: 2100)

"Now that she's hit you with Battle Damage, Shadow Pantera's effect activates! I can now remove a 'HERO' monster from my deck so I can add one of my removed-from-play cards during my next Standby Phase!"

"Hmmm... I think this'll be a fair risk: I attack her again with my Mosaic Daemon!"
My Daemon raised its rear arms, which then mutated into wings, and soared into the air with just one flap of his wings. As he did, Persephone began to glow again, and Supreman's ghost launched at him.
"Now for my Daemon's absorbed abilities to kick in!"
Six differently coloured balls popped out of the central flames and formed a circle just in front of my Daemon, each numbered from 1-6, and the #1 ball was on fire.
"Thanks to the abilities of my Skull Daemon and InfernalQueen, when my monster is targeted by your card effects, this effect activates! Now if the flame stops on anything but 4, your effect is cancelled, and the card that is responsible for that effect is desroyed! Go, Hell Roulette!"
The flame began rapidly jumping from ball to ball, and landed safely on 2. The balls all then became flaming orbs, and launched straight through both Supreman's ghost and Persephone, causing them both to be destroyed in a burst of yellow light.

"But I can still activate this last face-down card! My Trap, [A Hero Emerges]! This has you choose a card in my hand, and if it's a Monster, I can Summon it! Too bad, though, because I only have one card in my hand: the true leader of the Justice Heroes, [J-HERO - General Justice] (ATK/3000)!"

Bursting forth from his Trap Card came another buff guy, but this guy was caucasian with brown hair, wearing a tight yellow spandex outfit covered over by brownish-red armour. He had a nice haircut (though a bit messy), and his facial hair had grown quite a bit. Well, yeah, it's just a hologram, but you know what I mean.

"I see," I realized. "Now that I would have taken out all but one of your monsters, you wouldn't have been able to Tribute Summon for him, huh? But I'm just gonna take on your Shadow Pantera again!"

I knew that with his General Justice on the Field, my Mosaic Daemon could be taken out, especially when I didn't know his effect, but even then, his Zombire can't attack directly, so I could still survive this next turn. So the best option was still his Shadow Pantera.
My Mosaic Daemon's back arms became wings again, and after taking off into the air, he formed an orb of rainbow-coloured flame between the hands of his front pair of arms, and it became bigger than himself before launching it at, and incinerating, Shadow Pantera.
"I end my turn..."
I just need to last this one turn..., I prayed.

"I've spent too much time and money on these cards to lose now! I DRAW!" Brent roared. I was really surprised - he was on the verge of crying... He must really have put a lot into those "Hero" cards...

"Now that my Standby Phase has come back, my Shadow Pantera's effect goes through, so I can add one removed-from-play card to my hand, and I choose my second [J-HERO - Persephone]!"

"And during each player's Standby Phase, the effect my Mosaic Daemon inherited from my [InfernalQueen Daemon] boosts his ATK by 1000 this turn!" (ATK/3800)

"That doesn't mean anything!! I'll bring my new Persephone to the Field in Defence Mode (DEF/1100), and now I'll activate General Justice's effect while he's in Attack Mode by paying 500 Life Points, so I can remove a 'J-HERO' monster in my Graveyard from play, like my first Persephone, and destroy all face-up Spell and Trap Cards, then you take 300 points of damage for each card destroyed! So by taking out your Field Spell and two Continuous Spells, you lose 900 Life Points!!" (Brent's LP:4725) (My LP: 1200)
Zombire now became charged by yellow energy and exploded, wiping away my [Pandemonium], [Daemon's Oath], and [Convulsion of Nature], "returning" us back to the spa.
I'll now equip my General Justice with [Mist Body], so he can't be destroyed by battle, since I can't change my General's Mode after using his effect, but I will change Zombire to Defence Mode (DEF/500). It's your turn!"

Wow, he's getting pretty scary now...
"I draw. And now, during my Standby Phase, I have to pay the 1000 Life Points my Mosaic Daemon inherited from my Skull and InfernalQueen (My LP: 200), but now the effects of my Imprisoned Queen and the absorbed effect of my InfernalQueen give my Mosaic a combined 2000 ATK boost (ATK/4800)!"
Two jets of violet flame shot out of the hot tub (since my [Pandemonium] was gone) and were absorbed into my Mosaic Daemon's front fists.
"Onto my Main Phase, so I can activate my Spell [Spell Books From the Pot], which lets us both draw three cards!"
I couldn't have been happier with the three cards I drew, but with the smile Brent had, I knew I had to end this duel now!
"I Summon [GenocideKing Daemon] in Attack Mode!"
His Highness arose from blue flames, as he stood calmly in the regal pose he has in his card's art. (ATK/2000)
"It's battle time! I'll have my King attack your Zombire, so Persephone's ability won't have any effect! Go, Sakuretsu Gozu-roppu!"
My GenocideKing let out a roar as his chest opened like a pair of doors, and a flurry of insects burst out and covered Zombire. Within just one second, nothing was left of Zombire.
"Now, Mosaic Daemon attacks General Justice!"
I knew I had to push him to activate his new Persephone's ability, because my Mosaic Daemon had a five-in-six shot at cancelling and destroying her, but my King only had the same odds as my InfernalQueen - one-in-three. If I succeeded, Brent would lose a good 1800 LP, but if it failed, I'd only hit him for 575 LP, and I then wouldn't be able to risk attacking his General with my King to take his LP down to the level I needed it to be with my LP so low.
It's because of Kaero that I've been able to do that kind of thinking. Sigh... I really owe him so much...

"Go, Persephone! Let's bring down her Mosaic Daemon a few notches! Supreman, lend us your power!"
His Persephone raised her hands as before, and the yellow ghost of Supreman erupted from the pool at my Mosaic Daemon, who didn't take to the skies this time, but instead, he turned over his left shoulders to look at me, and give me a thumbs-up with his rear left arm... Too weird...
Once again, the six balls popped up in front of my Mosaic Daemon, this time like little fireworks, and a flame began cycling around them, and it just barely made it, stopping at the second time it hit 3. With all four hands, my Mosaic Daemon caught Supreman, and with a rush of rainbow flames that poured from his mouth, Supreman and Persephone were scorched away!
His arms mutated into wings again, and he made a dash at General Justice, slamming him with his two front fists, still lit up with violet flames. (Brent's LP: 2925)
"Whew..." I sighed, the stress almost getting the best of me. I had to admit, this kid's cards worked great together; so much so that it was like battling Kaero or Rain.
"I set two cards and end my turn."

Brent was all smiles now.
"I draw! Ha!
With this, I'll bring your ace monster down! But first, I know you have to choose a monster to power up with your Mosaic Daemon's effect, but it won't matter, because even if you boost your King, I can clear off your last 200 Life Points by attacking your Mosaic Daemon! So go ahead and choose!"

He was totally right. I had to hope that my two Set cards would be enough, or I'd be finished.
"I choose to power up... My King."
His Wickedness roared as the purple flames wrapped around him.

"Fine, then.
For this turn, I summon the tech genius that builds all the equipment and vehicles used by the Justice Heroes! Front and center, [J-HERO - Lieutenant Gearshift] (ATK/1700)!"
A more slender hero appeared on the Field, mainly wearing a one-piece gray outfit with some cool red designs, as well as some kind of night-vision thing on his right eye, and he had a toolbelt around his waist, but it had some very futuristic-looking gadgets in there (or they could be real tools; how would I know?).

"And Gearshift's ability allows me to add a Spell Card that lists a 'HERO' Monster in its effect text from my deck to my hand once per turn, so I'll grab... (search, shuffle)... my [All-Forces Gauntlet], which I'll equip to Gearshift imediately!"
A big beige-and-blue arm-guard attached itself to Gearshift's left arm. The center of it opened to create a cool green laser axe.
"This Equip Spell powers up the ATK and DEF of a Level 4 or lower 'J-HERO' monster it's equipped to by 500 each, and no card effects can be activated when he equipped monster is attacking or is attacked until the end of the Damage Step! (ATK/2200; DEF/1800)
Now I'm all set to attack! General Justice! Annihilate this girl's Mosaic Daemon and the rest of her Life Points!"

"Too bad, because I activate my Trap, [Hate Buster], which desroys both of our battling monsters, and you take damage equal to your monster's original Attack points!"

"That would be good, but I activate the Quick-Play Spell [My Body as a Shield] by paying 1,500 Life Points to cancel your Trap so I can eliminate your vile demons!"

"It's too bad I was prepared for that, then! I play my other card, the Counter Trap [Dark Bribe], which cancels your Spell and lets you draw one card! Now burn away!!"

That delicious look of horror was carved onto Brent's face as he realized there was nothing left he could do. He drew his obligatory card and watched as the virtual copy of his Spell shattered, then his General Justice and my Mosaic Daemon tackled each other, causing a huge holographic explosion as they collided, and both combatants then "slammed" into Brent, shattering like glass as they "hit" him. (Brent's LP: 0)

That was obviously much, much more intense than I expected, as I calmly went to sit down over by my shows to put them on.

"Winner! Destiny Wainwright!" declared the ref into a microphone he pulled from seemingly nowhere.

As I finished putting my shoes on and taking all my cards from the borrowed Duel Disk, I noticed the ref had gone over to get Brent to stand up. He was just devastated, not even able to get up onto his knees.
I knew I had to walk over and talk to him about whatever it was that was bothering him so much, just as Kaero had taken the chance to help me after we had only just met.

"Come on, Brent. That was a seriously awesome duel! How can you possibly feel so bad?"

"It's... it's just that... I spent so much money on these cards... and took so much time to build just the right deck for them... it was all wasted..." he bawled.
It was then that I caught a look at the three cards left in his Hand: [Reverse Trap], [Solemn Judgment], and [Monster Reincarnation].

"Wow, even if I would've just stalled you from attacking that turn with [Thunder of Ruler] or something, you would've beaten me on either my next turn or your next turn! Even if you just thought it was too risky and just passed to me, you would have toasted me. How can you say that?"

">Sniff< I spent over five thousand dollars to get all the books those cards came from! Supreman alone was over one grand! My whole family put their faith in me so I could be the best, and now I've let them all down!"

"No way. You'd have easily made it into the Top Five if you were able to attend as many tournaments as Rain and that Paris guy. I mean, in the tournaments you did go to, how well did you do?"

"I... I was first place each time... that's why I thought it would've been at least close to the same here...

"See? That's just silly. Every single one of us went through pretty much the same thing to get here. If I had to guess, each of us are probably about on equal grounds. Just look at how our duel went. You've got to admit that was WAY longer than most duels you've had, right?"
Brent just nodded weakly.
"Now cheer up! As long as you put everything you had, your very heart, into this duel, then you can't be sad about doing so well that you made it here, and I'm sure your family would say exactly the same thing.
And think of it this way: Even if you feel your deck needs only a couple of little tweaks, you can make it up to your family by staying the whole weekend and enjoy KaibaLand, and if I'm booted, you and me can have a rematch or five, okay?" I held out my hands to help the ref hoist him up to his feet and walk him over to his shoes.
On the way over, we could see Kaero and Brent's family come through the front doors. Brent's mom, dad, older sister and younger brother gave him a group hug as they all had tears streaming from their eyes. Kaero came up beside me.

"Wow, maybe we shouldn't hang out anymore if you're starting to act like me," Kaero mocked me. I punched him lightly in his right arm with my right fist at that remark.

"So... did you see much?" I wondered as I rubbed the part of his arm I slugged with my left hand.
"Just that last turn. Casen's match ended a while ago, and I tried not to watch any of the screens on the walk over here."
"Oh, so how did he do?"
"He did pretty well. I'll tell you all about after we leave here this evening."
"Speaking of leaving: can we go? It's a little too warm in here for me."
"Sure. I think Mr Finch will be announcing who's up next in a minute or two, so let's head back to the arena."

So off we went, as he helped hold me up by letting me sling my left arm over his shoulders and his right arm around my waist... After such a great duel, and now this, I couldn't be happier...

********If you'd like me to post the duel between Casen and Beaufrey (I'm still not sure if that's really his 4Kids name, but I don't care as long as you know the guy I mean), please let me know!******

SebastiaanZ · 09-26-2009, 02:34 PM

I suggest you get rid of the many colors. If you want people to see who are talking, there are more effective ways of displaying. I am not even starting on the story, since the colors are hurting my eyes.

Forrenz · 09-26-2009, 05:57 PM

Thanks for that! It nice to finally get feedback from somebody!
I hope you let me know what you think of it!