Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Reach Turn 7: Forgotten Promise

[Cyber Phoenix]

Finally, after so much delay, surgery, procrastination, second surgery, school work, and so on, I have finally…FINALLY completed the long awaited Turn 7 of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s Reach! I can’t even begin to explain how much of a relief it is to have finally gotten this episode out, so I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did finishing it!

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s Reach
Turn 7: Forgotten Promise

Cal, Finch, Richter, and Oz all left the empty building and rejoined with Swimmer, who was eyeing the street around him with caution and anxiousness.

“We’re ready to go now,” Cal stated with disappointment. The detective sighed with relief and quickly followed the group as they continued their trek away from the building and further into the Genex district.

“Where do you guys want to go next?” Oz asked with a big grin on his face, swinging his body around to face the others pacing behind him.

“You said you know a card artist? Maybe you can take us to him?” Cal requested.

“Well, I can take you to his old studio, but I’m not sure he’ll be there anymore. I haven’t seen him in years!” Oz muttered thoughtfully, rubbing his chin as he recalled past experiences.

“Hold it right there!” a voice interrupted from behind them. The group turned and noticed a new person gaining on their position. “I’ve finally found you!”

As the person came into view, they realized that it was a teenage girl around the same age as Cal and Finch. She had long blue hair the curved smoothly down to her feet, almost resembling a narrow dolphin’s tail. Her face was sharp and stern looking, her cheekbones slightly jutting out as her mouth formed a razor thin slit. Her eyes were cold and grey, seemingly piercing into the very souls of the dumbfounded group that stood before her. The girl wore a loose black t-shirt with a white pattern along the side depicting a great white shark. The lower half of her body was covered by a tattered grey dress that reached down to her blue-shoed feet. Attached to her arm was a pale blue and white duel disk with a deck already inserted into the card slot.

“I’ve finally found you Nicolas!” the girl shrieked, pointing angrily at Cal. Everyone stared confusedly at Cal, who was just as surprised by this statement as everyone else.

“Who is this Cal, an ex-girlfriend or something?” Finch asked, nudging his friend slyly in the ribs.

“Of course not!” he stuttered, scratching his head anxiously. “Hey, who exactly are you?”

“Don’t lie to me! You know who I am!” the girl said through grinding teeth. She paced towards Cal very quickly and grabbed him by the collar, forcefully lifting him about five inches above the ground, her muscles flexing powerfully.

“Damn!” Richter yelped, watching as this mysterious girl held his friend menacingly in the air.

“I’m not lying!” Cal spluttered, grabbing at the arm of the unexpectedly strong teen. “I don’t know who you are! I’ve never met you before!” Their eyes met and locked onto each other briefly before she sighed and released her grip on him. He tumbled to the ground and stared up at the menacing girl that quickly looked away from him.

“So, are you going to tell us your name or not?” Finch asked, helping Cal back to his feet.

“How about I give you a reminder instead?” she growled, activating her duel disk.

“What the hell is going on?” Richter questioned, throwing his arms up in frustration. “Just tell us your name and why you’ve got it out for Cal!”

“Swimmer! Get back here!” Oz yelled loudly. Everyone’s attentions quickly turned to the short duelist, who was pointing to Swimmer running as fast as possible away from everyone. Within seconds, he was more than a hundred feet away and soon turned a corner, disappearing from sight. “Where the hell is he going?”

Cal looked back at the mysterious girl, who still had her duel disk raised challengingly, her face still full of rage. The young man sighed and activated his own duel disk, taking his deck out of its container and placing in the deck slot. Richter grunted with annoyance as Finch placed a hand on Cal’s duel disk, looking at him with concern.

“Cal, we’ve got no time to waste here. We still need to find Ed and now Swimmer too!” Cal knocked his hand away and started taking cards from the top of his deck, placing them in his right hand.

“You guys go after Swimmer. I doubt this girl here is going to let me out of her sights if I try to run.” The blue-haired duelist hissed in confirmation of this statement. “See what I mean?”

“Tch, get this over with fast and make sure you don’t get lost without us,” Richter jeered, waving a hand before walking after the detective.

“Cal, the address we’re heading to is 159 Industrial Lane. It should be on the outskirts of the Genex district in the general are that we just saw Swimmer run,” Oz said. “You’ll know when you’ve come to the right place once you see where this guy lives.” With that, Oz also waved and hurried to catch up with Richter.

“Don’t get caught up in another problem Cal,” Finch whispered, patting his pal on the back. “We’ll need our leader if we want to get our friend back.” Finch also left quickly to chase down the fleeing detective, now leaving Cal alone with the nameless girl.

“Let’s hurry up then Nicolas. I’ve been waiting to find you for a long time, and I’m not about to let you get away scot-free.”

“Listen, I don’t know what problem you’ve got with me, but I’ll still accept your duel. And stop calling me Nicolas! My name is Cal! Calvin Arc!” He was getting somewhat frustrated with the stubborn girl. Refusing to listen, she also began drawing cards from her deck and placing them in her right hand. ‘Well, I suppose you could get the letters of my name from Nicolas, but that seems to be pushing things a little bit.’

‘Time to fess up and tell me the truth you dirty liar,’ she thought to herself as their life point meters activated.

(Cal: 4000) (Mystery Girl: 4000)

“Let’s make some kind of bet at least! How about if I win, you tell me why you’re trying to hunt me or this Nicolas guy down! And if you win…” Cal trailed off as he noticed the cold glare in her eyes. “We’ll figure something out when we’re done.”

“I’m starting things off!” the girl roared, ripping the sixth card from the top of her deck. “I’ll use Water Hazard, a continuous spell that allows me to special summon a level 4 or lower WATER monster from my hand if I control no other monsters. I’ll special summon my Depth Hunter in defense mode!”

The monster pulled itself out of the ground as though coming up out of a swimming pool. It had muscular grey arms that ended in webbed gloves with sharps claws. The lower half of its body looked like a dolphin’s while the upper half of its body was protected by sharp blue and white armor. Protecting its head was a dark blue helmet with long orange hair sticking out from a small hole near the back of the headgear. Glinting orange eyes gazed out from behind a tinted white visor. (1300/500)

“Next, I’m summoning my Deep Sea Diva to the field in attack mode!” she declared, slamming the card into one of the adjacent monster zones.

Small droplets of water began to fall to the ground as the monster began to materialize to the field. Soon enough, there was a slender woman wearing a white-pink tank top with ridged, purple sleeves that covered only her forearms. Her face was peachy and smooth and her eyes were blue as the ocean while her hair seemed to consist of a long, pinkish webbed fin that reached down past her waist. The lower half of her body resembled that of a large, pink scale fish with four white fins and a strong tail. She opened her mouth and emitted a soothing, melodious noise that almost resembled singing. (200/400)

“When Deep Sea Diva is normal summoned, I’m allowed to special summon a level 3 or lower Sea Serpent-type monster from my deck to the field!” A card popped out of her deck and she grabbed it, placing it in a monster zone adjacent to her first monster. “I’ll special summon my level 3 Spined Gillman in attack mode!”

The harmonious melody that Deep Sea Diva spouted soon turned high pitched and eerie as a monster pulled itself out of the puddle of water beneath her. This new monster had a muscular build covered in blue scales except for its stomach, which was covered by purple scales. Its head resembled a fish with large red lips and yellow eyes with a sour expression on its face. Large spines jutted from the back of its head all the way down to its wriggling tail. In one of its hands it grasped a trident with each pointed tip ending in red coral shards. It flexed a little to show off to Deep Sea Diva before giving a screechy roar to try and intimidate Cal with little effect. (1300/0)

“While Spined Gillman is on the field, any Fish, Sea Serpent, or Aqua-type monsters I control gain 400 attack points! Both he, Deep Sea Diva and Depth Hunter are Sea Serpents, so they’ll be getting a small power boost!” she explained. The scales the covered both of her monsters bodies seemed to extend slightly and grow sharper. (Deep Sea Diva: 200/400 > 600/400) (Depth Hunter: 1300/500 > 1700/500) (Spined Gillman: 1300/0 > 1700/0)

‘Swarming the field this much on just her first turn? What is she planning?’ Cal thought, gripping his own cards tightly.

“And to finish things off, I’ll set just one face-down card and end my turn. Take your move scumbag.”

“I resent being called a scumbag or any other form of vile substance,” Cal scoffed, drawing a card from his deck. ‘I’ve faced Sea Serpent decks before in the past, and I know for a fact that Deep Sea Diva is a Tuner monster,’ Cal hummed, analyzing his opponent’s field. ‘Why didn’t she tune it with her other monster? It must be her face-down card. There’s only one way to find out then!’ “I summon my Ancient Holy Crane in attack position!”

There was a strong burst of light, revealing a majestic white crane with two large flapping wings filled to the brim with golden feather. Its long white neck extended up to a golden head and shining black beak and inquisitive black eyes. Its legs were scrawny and yellow, each foot ending in gleaming talons while its tail feathers were long and rainbow colored. It gave a gentle squawk as it surveyed its surroundings and its master. (1600/400)

The mystery girl gasped as Cal’s monster flapped its wings gently. ‘This card…’ She soon trailed off into memory as Cal started to play his next card.

**********

A compact green car sped around the corner of a cliff-side road, zooming to reach its destination as quickly as possible. Inside the car, a woman with long, curly brown hair sat at the wheel, her grey eyes watching the road vigilantly as the car zipped around each and every turn along the road. In the back seat sat a young girl with curly brown hair and observant grey eyes just like her mothers. The only difference between the mother and daughter was that the little girl wore had a tiny ponytail dyed blue near the back of her head.

The young girl was amazed by the ocean waves that splashed against the cliff walls next to the winding road. Each wave seemed to become fiercer and taller with each splash, almost reaching the road as if to snatch the girl from the car. However, before any wave could get to big, they would die down and then slowly build up again, repeating the process again and again. The sky overhead was filled with maliciously dark clouds that boomed and crackled with thunder and lightning. It soon began to rain lightly and swiftly came down in sheets to the point where the windshield wipers on the car seemed to do absolutely nothing.

The car eventually reached the point where the cliff ended and reached a long bridge reaching far across the ocean to a small speck in the distance that appeared to be an island. The girl was just as amazed by this massive bridge as she was with the ocean and the sky. She could see that the waves could no longer reach up as high as they could along the cliff walls. Somewhere along one of the support beams holding the bridge up out of the water was a small patch of sand that was completely safe from both the rain and the raging waves.

“Can we go down there Mommy?” the girl chirped, watching as the car whizzed along the bridge over the sandy spot she had noticed.

“Not right now, honey,” the mother said inattentively, trying to keep her focus on the road through the heavy downpour. “We really need to reach Mommy’s friends house before it gets too late! You remember Mr. Lawrence, right? Anyways, this isn’t the best weather to go onto the water.”

The young girl pouted and crossed her arms angrily. “But I want to go! I don’t like Mr. Lawrence’s house! It smells funny and he has all those weird things in jars! They’re really icky!”

“Mr. Lawrence is a scientist, so of course he’s going to have some weird stuff lying around the house. That thing is practically his whole laboratory!” she laughed. The girl was not amused. “Well, we’ll at least be done driving soon. Once we get to his house, I’m sure he’ll let you run around with his daughter and have some fun. So just sit tight dear.”

The girl sighed, “Okay Mommy. But let’s at least get some ice cream on the way back!”

“Of course, of course,” the mother grinned.

As they continued along the bridge, the girl noticed a small figure on one of the guardrails that prevented cars from flying off the side of the road and into the ocean. As the car kept travelling, the figure came into closer view, taking on the more definitive shape of a man. As they got closer and closer, his features became much more distinct. His black pants and white button up shirt were drenched from the rain, and a red tie was whipping around his neck due to the intense wind blowing. His shoes lay haphazardly on the ground below him as if thrown off in a hurry. However, the young girl could not make out the features of his face too well and squinted in vain to try and make them out.

“Mommy, why is that main standing on the edge of the bridge?” the girl asked, confused by the situation.

“What is he doing? Is he trying to kill himself?!” the mother gasped, taking her attention off the road to stare at the man as the car rushed by.

But within that brief second of looking away, he tires began to skid and hydroplane, causing the car to soon lose control and spin towards the guardrail. The mother’s efforts were futile as she tried to regain control of the vehicle while the girl screamed in the backseat. The car made slammed into the guardrail, but instead of stopping it, the impact caused the car to flip and careen over the side of the bridge, smashing into the tumultuous ocean. The impact had killed the mother instantly, breaking her neck as she jerked forward into the windshield. The impact of her body and the ocean against the glass caused it to shatter, flooding the car quickly with water. The girl, physically unharmed by the accident, frantically undid her seatbelt and tried to wake her lifeless mother.

“Mommy! Mommy! MOMMY!” the girl wailed in terror, furiously shaking at her mother’s limp shoulder. Most of the car had now become submerged, and it would only be a matter of time until the water flowing in from the broken windshield would fill the death car.

However, the man standing on the guardrail had noticed the accident and dive into the water immediately, swimming as fast as possible to the sinking car. He dove under the water as he approached, noticing that it would be difficult to try and open the doors when the car had been submerged this much. However, the opening in the windshield seemed to be big enough to allow the man to squeeze himself inside. He quickened his swim and finally reached the vehicle, noticing the panicking girl in the passenger seat while the woman in the front remained motionless. He knew immediately that there was no hope for the woman. He quickly pulled himself through the opening in the windshield and resurfaced in the small air bubble in the back where the girl was no crying.

“Come with me! You need to get out of here now!” he wheezed, catching his breath as fast as possible within the diminishing gap or air.

“But my Mommy! We need to help her! We need to help her!” the girl shrieked, pounding at the man as he grabbed her around the waist and prepared to exit the deathtrap.

“Hold your breath!” the man demanded, ignoring the girl’s pleas for her mother. The man took a deep breath and quickly scrambled out of the car’s opening, keeping the girl close to his chest as he did so. When the two had escaped from the sinking machine, he rushed to the surface, both beings popping up into the stormy waves, both gasping for breath.

“Mommy! Mommy!” the girl continued to shrill, tears and rain streaming down her face as she watched the car disappear into the dark depths.

The man pushed strongly through the fierce water, allowing the girl to cling to his back as he did so. He eventually arrived at the small patch of sand protected from the weather beneath the bridge. He collapsed on the sand, breathing quickly as the girl attempted to go back out into the water after her mother.

“Stay here! Do you want to get killed?” the man yelped, grabbing the girl by the collar of her shirt.

“But how will we get Mommy?” the girl screamed. The man sighed with sadness and looked at the girl with discomfort.

“We can’t.”

**********

“I activate the spell card Opportunerty!” Cal declared, placing the card in his duel disk. The girl snapped out of her memory and waited for her opponent to explain his card. “By discarding 1 card from my hand, I can add a Tuner monster from my deck to my hand! I’ll send Prophecy Stone to the graveyard to add my Ancient Holy Priestess to my hand!” He took a card from his hand and placed it in his graveyard as another card slid out of his deck. He took the card from the deck and then quickly placed it in one of his monster zones, continuing, “When both of our life points are equal, I’m allowed to special summon Ancient Holy Priestess from my hand in face-up defense position.”

Cal’s new monster was a slender young woman with an oversized white robed with brown line draws of ancient symbols decorating the entirety of the garment. She had long white hair braided back that extended down to her feet and floated gently in the breeze. Her face was pale yet pure while her green eyes emanated a holy aura. She clutched in her right hand an old wooden staff engraved with several different runic symbols that glowed as she waved the rod around like a baton. After showing off, she quickly knelt to the ground with the staff at her side as she began to chant an old and incomprehensible prayer. (500/2000)

“Now I’ll tune my level 3 Ancient Holy Priestess to my level 4 Ancient Holy Crane to synchro summon a level 7 monster!” Cal roared.

Ancient Holy Priestess closed her eyes and finished her prayer before fading away into nothingness, only leaving three green hoops that hovered in the air. Ancient Holy Crane flew through the green rings, becoming transparent enough to reveal four glowing stars inside of it. A burst of light shot through the rings, engulfing the bird as a loud roar echoed throughout the area.

“Creature of ancient lore, serpent of the holy skies, defender of the historic lineage! Synchro summon, Ancient Holy Wyvern!”

The creature had an elongated, dragon-like body that twisted and curved as it hovered above the duel. Along the ridge of its back from tail to head were black tattoos and runic markings. Its underbelly was covered in very large, plate-like scales that acted as a protective shield. Two stubby and thick legs with three claws jutting from its feet wiggled about on the lower half of its body while its arms in contrast were long and bony, each ending in three curved white fingers. Attached to both arms were small and leathery flaps that acted as wings which worked furiously to keep the creature in the air. The back of its head looked like a white horseshoe with more of the black tattoos covering it. A long mane of blonde hair hung from beneath this horseshoe structure as well as two strands of the hair hanging down around its face. The creature’s brows formed into long and curved red horns with brilliantly bright blue eyes beneath. Four whisker-like strands of its white skin stood out on the sides of its head and its mouth was pointed and filled with razor sharp teeth. (2100/2000)

“A synchro summon on the first turn?” the mystery girl spoke in awe, staring at the magnificent monster. She stared into its eyes and became entranced, lapsing back into another memory.

**********

A few weeks later, the girl sat dejectedly in the corner of a massive library. Each wall of the room had bookshelves filled with books upon books of different sciences and formulas. There was one section on the wall adjacent to the girl that was cleared for an ornate door with lions carved into the wood. Several lamps hung from the ceiling and dimly illuminated the room, causing the red carpet to look like a sea of crimson blood. Two couches and a coffee table sat in the dead center of the room where several books were stacked on the ground next to the arrangement. The girl refused to look around at the simple yet amazing room and only looked pointlessly down at the ground. There was a light knock on the intricate door, and the golden lion’s head handle turned slightly. The door opened only an inch as an old man peeked his head into the room and looked around before locating the girl.

“How are you doing, sweetie? Are you ready for some dinner yet?” the man asked gently, looking with sadness at the huddled girl.

“No,” she answered in a monotonous tone.

“Very well,” the old man sighed, scratching his head has he grasped for something to say. “Oh, there’s someone who’d like to see you. I’ll let him in if you don’t mind. He’d like to see you.” The girl gave no response and the old man huffed, moving away from the door as a new figure crept into the room.

“Thank you, Mr. Lawrence,” the new person spoke in a light yet masculine tone, closing the door behind him as he entered. “Hello,” he whispered, approaching the girl with caution. “Do you remember me?” The girl looked up briefly and was shocked to see who it was. The man was wearing black pants, a white button up shirt, red tie, and small brown shoes. His hair was dark brown except for a small tuft that stuck out at the front that was colored a peachy orange. His face was sharply defined and his eyes were a warm grey, just like her mothers. “I’m the man who saved you a few weeks ago. My name is Nicolas Laurel, and I thought I should properly introduce myself.”

**********

“Next I’ll activate the spell card Declaration of Sanctity!” Cal’s words once again brought the girl back to the present. “I can allow you to draw a maximum of four cards to increase my life points by 500 for each card draw. So I’ll let you draw 4 cards so I can increase my life points by 2000 in total!” The mysterious duelist drew her cards as a warm light shone around Cal’s duel disk.

(Cal: 6000) (Mystery Girl: 4000)

“And now that my life points are higher than yours, my Ancient Holy Wyvern gains attack points equal to the difference in our life points. That’s a 2000 point bonus!” The ancient creature roared with pleasure as the symbols on its body glowed powerfully. (Ancient Holy Wyvern: 2100/2000 > 4100/2000)

‘Grr, so much power with so little effort. How dare he pull a dirty trick like this!’ the blue-haired duelist fumed quietly.

“Battle phase! Ancient Holy Wyvern, attack her Deep sea Diva for massive damage! Archaic burst!” Cal yelled in unison with his monster.

The wyvern opened its mouth as several runic markings began to float and rotate clockwise in mid-air. The ancient creature unleashed a blast of pure white energy through the ring of symbols, causing it to double in size as it smashed into a massive wave of water. The blast dissipated after a brief struggle, revealing that Deep Sea Diva was unharmed. Some of the water however had become charged by the attack and slammed back into the mystery girl’s duel disk.

“What happened?” Cal demanded, staring at the girl’s field. He noticed her face-down card had revealed itself and was now floating silently behind her monsters.

“I activated my trap card, Aegis of the Ocean Dragon Lord!” she explained as the card disappeared from the field. This prevents the destruction of all my level 3 or lower WATER monsters I control until the end of the turn. However, that doesn’t exactly protect my life points in this case.”

(Cal: 6000) (Mystery Girl: 500)

“I at least got your score down pretty low,” Cal noted as he ended his battle phase. “However, with this my Ancient Holy Wyvern’s attack points will shoot up by 3500 more points!” The wyvern was screeching with ecstasy as its whole body began to shine brightly. (Ancient Holy Wyvern: 4100/2000 > 7600/2000)

‘That shouldn’t be a problem,’ she pondered to herself, glancing down at the cards in her hand.

“I’ll set one card face-down and end my turn,” Cal finished as the card materialized face-down in front of him.

“My move!” the mystery girl stated, taking a card from the top of her deck. “I activate the spell card Moray of Greed!” She revealed the card she had just drawn and placed it in her graveyard. “By returning two WATER monsters from my hand to my deck, I’m allowed to draw three cards!” She held up another copy of Deep Sea Diva and Armed Sea Hunter that were quickly snatched from her hand by a large green eel with red eyes and sinisterly large yellow teeth. The eel retreated into a small green pot and returned with three new cards that it placed in her hand before disappearing.

“And now I’ll activate the spell card Double Summon! This will allow me to perform up to two normal summons per turn! I’ll summon both Kappa Soldier and Atlantean Pikeman in attack position!” she decreed, slamming her cards into the monster zones.

The first monsters appeared to be a hunched-over amphibious man with green scales acting as skin. Both his hands and feet were webbed and slimy and his arms and legs were long and sinewy. In one of these webbed hands was a small curved dagger that gleamed with bloodlust. While his stomach was covered in a yellow film, his back was protected by a checkered brown shell with spikes protruding from the sides. His head was egg shaped, and his mouth resembled a large yellow beak with two beady black eyes peering around from either side. (Kappa Soldier: 1600/200)

The second monster was a squat man that appeared to be a hybrid between frog and fish. It wore shining gold armor over its green-skinned abdomen as well as its shoulders, forearms, and legs. As with the previous monster, this creature had webbed hands and feet as well. Clutched in its hands was a long, ornate spear that ended with a hooked blade. The creature’s face had puffy pink lips and resembled that of a fish gasping for air. Its large yellow eyes spun in their sockets, looking for different targets to pierce with its weapon. The hybrid belched a loud croak as it settled its gaze on Cal, who showed no fear whatsoever of this monster. (Atlantean Pikeman: 1400/0)

“Normally, all of my Sea Serpent monsters would gain an attack point boost from Spined Gillman’s effect, but he won’t be sticking around for too long,” said the girl as her monsters began to fidget anxiously. “I’m tuning my level 2 Deep Sea Diva to my level 3 Spined Gillman!”

Deep Sea Diva once again sang another horrible tune as she dissipated, forming two green hoops that hovered ominously in the air. Spined Gillman hissed at Cal before leaping through the hoops, becoming transparent enough to reveal three glowing stars inside. The typical burst of white light shot through the hoops to complete the summoning requirements.

“The frozen guardian of the sea, jailer of watery miscreants, the surge of icy wind! Synchro summon, Sea Dragon Lord Gishilnodon!”

There was a sudden blast of cold air as an elongated dragon made entirely from ice lowered itself to the field. Its long wings cracked and rattled with each flap as chunks of ice dropped and melted from its body. Thick and powerful legs sc***** at the ground along with two arms that ended in icy talons. A massive tail gleamed and swung pointlessly behind it, causing the draft of cold air to persistently blow in Cal’s direction. It had a spiky, pointed head with two shining yellow eyes and a mouth filled with jagged and frozen teeth. The ice dragon opened its mouth to release another blast of cold air, chilling anything within its path. (2300/1800)

‘Nice summon, but why did she do a synchro summon this turn? Her monster doesn’t stand a chance against my Ancient Holy Wyvern,’ Cal wondered, analyzing the field. ‘Even if she does manage to topple my monster, I’ve at least got a back-up measure,’ he glanced quickly at his face-down card as the girl continued with her turn. “Now that your Spined Gillman is gone, your Depth Hunter’s attack should return to normal.” (Depth Hunter: 1700/500 > 1300/500)

“It doesn’t matter! Now I’ll equip my Kappa Solider with an equip spell card, Saline Scimitar!” A transparent, blue blade with a hooked hand guard formed in front of her monster, which quickly snatched it with its free hand. “This will increase the attack power of an equipped WATER monster by 300 points for every level 3 or lower WATER monster in my graveyard. That’ll give Kappa Soldier 600 more attack points thanks to Deep Sea Diva and Spined Gillman in my graveyard.” (Kappa Soldier: 1600/200 > 2200/200)

“Okay, you’ve got some pretty decent field advantage right now, but it still can’t compete with Ancient Holy Wyvern’s attack power!” Cal stated, wondering why she was continuing to swarm with her weak monsters.

Ignoring Cal’s comment, the girl shouted, “Battle phase! Depth Hunter, attack his Ancient Holy Wyvern!”

“But that’s suicide!” Cal gasped, watching with confusion as the dolphin hybrid began to jet towards his monster. “It must have some kind of effect then!”

“Nice deduction genius,” the girl snorted. “While I control another level 3 or lower WATER monster, any monster that I attack with Depth Hunter is destroyed and the battle step is skipped!”

Cal groaned with annoyance as her tiny sea creature slashed furiously at Ancient Holy Wyvern before being flicked back to the girl’s field with a slap of the dragon’s tail. However, the holy dragon suddenly roared in discomfort and shattered, leaving only behind a cloud of shining dust, which soon began to swirl and separate into two different clouds.

“Luckily I anticipated something like this!” Cal grinned, revealing his face-down card. “Reverse card, open! Refraction! This trap card can only be activated when a level 7 or higher LIGHT monster I control is destroyed by a card effect controlled by my opponent and sent to the graveyard!” explained the eager duelist. “I’m allowed to special summon up to four LIGHT monsters whose total combined levels equal that of the destroyed monster. Ancient Holy Wyvern was level 7, so I’ll special summon my level 4 Ancient Holy Knight in attack mode and my level 3 Ancient Holy Guardian in defense mode.”

A shiny, silver-armored knight stepped onto the field, its armor gleaming from the rays of the morning sun. It was literally covered from head to foot in a silver helmet, breast plate, leg plates, shoes, and gauntlets. Its helmet had two points that stuck out at both sides of the head that almost resembled horns. Also on the front of the helmet was a small black slip that hid the knight’s eyes and facials features. It held a long silver lance that was the same length of the knight’s body. Engraved into the armor and the lance were several yellow runic markings that glowed brightly as the monster clanked with life. (Ancient Holy Knight: 2000/0)

The second monster was a large totem pole carved from white marble, each section depicting a different ancient animal. Carved between each section were glowing runic symbols that shone with the intensity of a sun. Halos of light also wrapped around the totem pole, forming an almost protective barrier as it jutted out of the ground. Near the base of the totem pole were two massive rock fists the size of boulders, each covered in ribbons that contained different ancient symbols and phrases. The hands levitated and began to circle around the totem pole, serving as an additional defense to the glowing halos of lights. (Ancient Holy Guardian: 0/1000)

“While my life points are higher than yours, any monster that battles with Ancient Holy Knight will be destroyed immediately! Also, Ancient Holy Guardian will get a defense boost equal to the difference in our life points! So now I’ll have another wall to keep you from attacking!” Cal declared. The runic symbols on the totem pole shone eve brighter as if receiving a blessing from an angel. (0/1000 > 0/6500)

“It will make no difference! Your monsters will fall just as your dragon did! But for now, I can now make use of the effect of my Kappa Soldier! While I control at least one other WATER monster, he can attack my opponent’s life points directly!” The slimy green soldier leapt past Cal’s monsters, swinging its blue blade down on his duel disk.

(Cal: 3800) (Mystery Girl: 500)

“The difference in our life points is now lower, meaning Ancient Holy Guardian’s defense will drop, but it’ll still be enough to keep you at bay!” Cal grunted, brushing off the attack. (Ancient Holy Guardian: 0/6500 > 0/4300)

“Kappa Soldier has a second effect as well,” the girl smirked. “While I control at least three or more WATER monsters other than Kappa Soldier, he’s allowed a second attack!” Once again, the amphibious man rushed by Cal’s monsters and swung at his duel disk a second time.

(Cal: 1600) (Mystery Girl: 500)

“Ancient Holy Guardian’s defense drops even further,” Cal grumbled as the intense shining of his monster seemed to dim. (Ancient Holy Guardian: 0/4300 > 0/2100)

“Your monster will crumble by the might of my Sea Dragon Lord Gishilnodon! Arctic blaze!” the girl roared.

The icy dragon grinded its teeth for a few seconds before emitting a blast of icy cold air mixed with shards of frozen water, both colliding with the fists and halos of the totem pole. Ancient Holy Guardian struggled briefly before its defense we eventually breached, causing it to freeze almost instantly. Gishilnodon flapped its wings strongly and the follow-up blast of cold wind shattered the totem pole with ease.

“That just leaves your Knight for next turn. I’ll set two cards and end,” she stated, placing two cards face-down. ‘Just like I used to whoop you in dueling.’

**********

“Sea Dragon Lord Gishilnodon, direct attack! Arctic blaze!” the young girl chirped with glee, looking at the card on the table.

(Laurel: 0) (Girl: 1300)

“Oh shoot, got me again!” Nicolas laughed, grabbing his own cards from the table. He shuffled them back into his deck and then placed it his back pocket before grinning at the girl. “You’re pretty good at this!”

“You taught me how to do all the best combos!” she replied, though her face still shone with delight from her win.

“True. I’m glad you’ve managed to cheer up within the past few weeks,” he said heartily. “I was worried that you’d never talk to anyone again!”

The girl’s expression went cold and stony as the memory of her mother’s death flashed through her mind. “I’m still sad,” she sighed in a depressed tone. Nicolas placed his hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him.

“It’s only natural for you to feel this way. I myself have lost someone important in my life recently, which is why I needed to talk to you today.”

“I thought you only wanted to duel today!” the girl whined.

“Yes, I wanted to do something with you before I needed to leave,” he said calmly, removing his hand from her shoulder.

“You’re…leaving?” she whimpered. Tears began welling in her eyes as he tried to comfort her.

“Don’t worry! It’ll only be for a little while! I just have…business to attend to. I promise I’ll come back as soon as everything is sorted out! I promised that I’d take care of you like you were my own daughter, and I won’t go back on my word!” He puffed out his chest in a mock-heroic fashion and the girl’s sobs turned to laughs. She wiped away the tears and walked around the table to hug him.

“Don’t be gone for too long. I don’t want to lose someone else. I have no one else,” she cried as the tears began to flow again.

“Don’t be silly. You have Mr. Lawrence and Lynette and everyone else! They’re as much a family to you as I am,” Nicolas said comfortingly.

“But they don’t feel like family to me. You were the one who saved me. You were the one who took care of me. You were the one who made sure I could return to a normal life. You’re like a Daddy to me!” She hugged him again and he hugged back, rubbing her head lightly as he did so.

“I’ll bring you back something nice,” he whispered, pulling his arms away as he stood up. He grabbed a beige trench coat and fedora from a coat rack hanging in the corner and stepped out of the door, waving one last time before disappearing.

**********

[Cyber Phoenix]

“I’m going to activate the effect of my Prophecy Stone in the graveyard!” Cal declared after drawing his card. “While my life points are lower than 2000, I can remove this card in my graveyard from play to special summon a level 4 or lower LIGHT monster from my deck!” Cal took the card from his graveyard and put it in his pocket as another card shot out from his deck. He caught it and placed it in a monster zone adjacent to Ancient Holy Knight. “I’ll special summon my Honest!”

A man with rainbow-feathered wings fluttered down in front of Cal and began to shine brightly. He wore a dark blue tunic with a golden trim as well as black shorts, golden arm bands, and sandals. His arms and legs were muscular and well toned with white feathers jutting out from around his wrists and ankles. His face was calm and analytical, examining his surroundings with deep blue eyes. A wreath was wrapped around his forehead and long orange hair hung down around his neck. (1100/1900)

“I’ll activate Honest’s effect! During my main phase, I’m allowed to return him from the field to my hand!” The angelic man was gone in an intense flash of light as Cal added the card back to his hand. “Next I’ll summon my Ancient Holy Shaman in defense mode!”

A tall, dark-skinned man wearing nothing but a tunic and shorts made from animal fur stepped to the field. He wore a massive ram skull with two large curved horns from either side of the skull of his head, covering all facial features and hair. Wrapped around his ankles were numerous necklaces of multi-colored beads that rattled with each movement he made. In his hands he held a long wooden medicine staff with different herbs and leaves tied around one end while the other end had a single red ruby embedded into it. He spun the staff around and grunted, slamming the staff into the ground as glowing runic symbols started to appear and glow along his arms and legs. (1400/300)

“When I summon Ancient Holy Shaman while my life points are higher than yours, I’m allowed to increase my life points by the attack power of one monster on the field. I think I’ll add your Gishilnodon’s power to my life points!” Cal stated.

“Not a chance! I activate the effect of my trap card Slime Scale!” the girl snapped, revealing one of her face-down cards. “By tributing a face-up level 3 or lower WATER monster I control, I can negate the effect of a monster you control and then increase my life points by the attack of the tribute monster! Your Shaman’s effect won’t go off and I’ll get 1400 life points thanks to the monster I’m tributing, Atlantean Pikeman!”

The fish-frog hybrid’s skin began to ooze a green slime as it slowly waddled towards Cal monsters. It gave the shamanic man an awkward hug and then exploded, coating him in the green slime. Some of the slime also splattered the girls duel disk as her life point meter began ticking loudly.

(Cal: 1600) (Mystery Girl: 1900)

“Plus, now that there’s another level 3 or lower WATER monster in my graveyard, Kappa Soldier will gain 300 more attack points thanks to Saline Scimitar!” The sword gripped in Kappa Soldier’s hand seemed to become much bluer, yet retained its transparency as it received the power boost. (Kappa Soldier: 2200/200 > 2500/200)

“Fine, but I still have another move up my sleeve! Ancient Holy Shaman is a level 2 Tuner monster! So I’ll tune him to my level 4 Ancient Holy Knight!” Cal smirked slightly as his monsters began to perform the summon.

Ancient Holy Shaman began chanting furiously in an unknown language and was suddenly enveloped by a blinding light, transforming him into two green hoops that floated in the air. Ancient Holy Knight raised his sword and was pulled up through the hoops, becoming transparent enough to reveal four glowing stars within him. A beam of light burst through the hoops as a vicious growl could be heard all around the area.

“The divine hunter, the holy shredder, the sacred prowler of lore! Synchro summon, Ancient Holy Beast!”

Cal’s new monster was a towering tiger with pure white fur and golden, lightning-bolt shaped stripes along its back. It had thick and muscular arms and legs, each ending in paws with claws the size of tires. Its golden tail whipped around angrily, the tip ending in a curved silver blade. It had golden armor protecting its shoulders as well as silver bangles on its forearms. Its head was covered with scruffy white fur that had streaks of yellow radiating from its sharp orange eyes. Two long and curved fangs jutted out of its mouth and hung down past its jaw. The beast growled even more-so as it looked at the girl, but seemed to purr when looking at Cal. (2400/1200)

“I’ll set one card face-down, and then move into my battle phase!” Cal started, placing the card in his duel disk.

“Hold it! I’ll activate my other face-down card, Spiritual Water Art – Aoi!” the girl shouted, revealing her last face-down card. “This trap card allows me to look at your hand and force you to discard a card for just a mere tribute of one WATER monster I control. I’ll tribute my Depth Hunter and destroy the only card left in your hand, Honest!”

‘Dang it! I really needed that card!’ Cal fumed calmly, not showing his annoyance of the situation. Depth Hunter was suddenly dragged into the ground by an arm of water, leaving only a puddle where it had been. The same arm soon jumped out of the puddle and grabbed Honest from Cal’s hand, jamming it in his graveyard before retreating into the puddle of water.

“Now two things happen because of this! First off, my Kappa Soldier will gain an additional 300 attack points due to Depth Hunter being in the graveyard!” Once again, the sword seemed to turn an even darker shade of blue all while retaining its transparency. (Kappa Soldier: 2500/200 > 2800/200)

“And next, my Sea Dragon Lord Gishilnodon’s attack power becomes 3000 because the level 3 Depth Hunter was sent to the graveyard this turn!” the girl continued explaining as her monsters powered up. Gishilnodon let out a burst of cold air, which seemed to thicken its own icy body. (Gishilnodon: 2300/1800 > 3000/1800)

‘She just royally screwed over my entire strategy with that one card!’ “I end my turn,” Cal sighed disappointedly, looking sadly from his Ancient Holy Beast and then to his face-down card.

‘Hmph, at this rate, I’ll have him beaten in no time and finally be able to get some answers out of him,’ she huffed quietly. “At the end of the turn, Gishilondon’s attack returns to normal.” The coat of extra ice melted from the dragon as it flapped its wings in discomfort. “But now it’s my turn! Draw!” She added her next card to her hand and looked at it briefly before placing it on her duel disk. “I’ll summon my Trickster Eel!”

A long white eel with red ridges slithered out from the ground and wiggled ominously in the air. Its sides were dotted with red circles, and its toothy mouth and small black eyes flitted around viciously. On the tip of its tail seemed to be a rubber red ball that squeaked quietly with each wriggling move it made. (1000/0)

“I can next activate the effect of Trickster Eel! I can tribute him to special summon one level 3 or lower WATER monster from my graveyard in face-up attack position! I’ll bring back my Depth Hunter!” (1300/500)

The rubber ball at the tip of the eel’s tail expanded, causing the eel itself to expand as well. It soon shook violently until it couldn’t handle the pressure any further and exploded, revealing Depth Hunter in the wake of its destruction. The revived creature flashed its claws menacingly and did a back flip before settling in front of the mystery duelist.

“So you’re just trying to swarm again?” Cal taunted lightly, amused by the antics of the exploding eel.

“Don’t make assumptions about my strategies!” the girl pouted, stomping her foot on the ground in annoyance. She took a quick glimpse at her hand and then looked up at her monsters, shouting, “Battle phase! Depth Hunter, destroy his Ancient Holy Beast!”

“You’re not pulling the same trick on me twice!” Cal interrupted, activating his face-down card. “I’m using my trap card, Radiant Mirror Force! When you attack me while you control three or more monsters in face-up attack position, I can destroy all of your attacking monsters!”

A lustrous silver barrier erupted around Cal, deflecting Depth Hunter back towards the girl. It crashed into Gishilnodon, causing the ice dragon to roar before shattering into a thousand shards of ice, which pierced through both Depth Hunter and Kappa Soldier, tearing them both to shreds. The girl grunted angrily as she covered her face from the sudden destruction of her monsters.

“Well that was more effective than I thought it would be!” Cal chuckled.

“Laugh while you can Nicolas! I’ll have you explaining yourself soon enough!” the girl barked. “I place one card face-down! Turn end!”

“I keep telling you, I’m NOT Nicolas!” Cal said, drawing his card. ‘Tch, not a card I was looking for,’ he groaned, placing it in an empty spell and trap slot. “I’ll place a card face-down and enter my battle phase! Ancient Holy Beast, direct attack! Judgment’s maw!” As the massive tiger bound forward, there was a loud chorus of trumpeting noises as the girl’s face-down card revealed itself.

“I’ll use my trap card, Oceanic War Cry! By removing five different WATER monsters in my graveyard from play, I can special summon one of three certain monsters from my deck!” she proclaimed as she pulled five cards from her graveyard and placed them in her pocket. “I’ll remove my Trickster Eel, Atlantean Pikeman, Kappa Soldier, Spined Gillman, and Sea Dragon Lord Gishilnodon. Then, I’ll bring out my Bounty Queen in attack mode!”

Bounty Queen was a gorgeous woman in the opinion the girl as well as all the male cards of her deck. The woman was tall and slender with her stomach and arms showing from beneath a thin blue cloth. She wore large blue shoulder pads, each equipped with a large transparent fin that fluttered softly. The lower half of her body was like that of a swordfish while her upper half was covered by a blue-scaled breast plate. A domed blue helmet with fins jutting from the top covered the top half of her face while the lower half of her face was covered by billowy silver hair that reached down to her waist. She held a golden trident in her blue-scale gloved hands, twirling it about in a playful fashion. (2700/1850)

“Once again I’m blocked from victory,” Cal sighed ending his turn, scratching his head with impatience.

“Don’t worry, I’ll end this quickly,” the girl hissed, drawing her card. “I activate the spell card, Salvage! I can add two level 4 or lower WATER monsters from my graveyard to my hand! I’ll take back my Deep Sea Diva and Depth Hunter!” she declared, taking the cards from her graveyard. “She’s back to play again! I summon my Deep Sea Diva (200/400) in attack mode! And with her effect, I’ll special summon my Thick Scale Hunter in defense mode!”

Her underwater diva returned to the field, bringing with it a new monster Cal had not seen before. The new creature looked like an extremely elongated red eel covered from head to tail in thick crimson scales, each tipped with a small silver blade. Its head was covered by a pointed red helmet with two small slots for the monster’s yellow eyes. (100/1900)

“Now I’ll use the effect of Thick Scale Hunter! Once per turn, I’m allowed to increase his level by one for every face-up WATER monster I control. I currently have three WATER monsters on the field, so his level will go from 3 to 6!” Three extra layers of scales grew over the eel, causing the creature to become even thicker and bulkier. “Then I’ll tune my level 2 Deep Sea Diva to the now level 6 Thick Scale Hunter!”

Deep Sea Diva emitted the same horrible song before becoming two green hoops once again. The hoops barely wrapped around the thickly armored eel and only caused it to become transparent enough to faintly see six glowing stars underneath the armor. The burst of bright light engulfed the hoops and stars as a jet of holographic water burst from the ground at the same time.

“Deep Sea Warlord, Bounty King, Bounty Queen! All must answer to the call of this ancient and wondrous ruler of the seas! Synchro summon, Ultimate Ocean Lord – King Daedalus!”

The girls latest monster was enormous, easily twice the size of Cal’s enormous Ancient Holy Beast and Ancient Holy Wyvern combined. Its whole body was coiled and covered in massive blue-plating armor along the back of the body while the front was covered in white plating. Giant red fins waved in the breeze at different segments along the back, reaching all the way down to its thrashing tail, which split into three different red fins this size of minivans. Out of the coils rose a thick body that had four large muscular arms with hands ending in red talons. The massive being had three long necks each ending in a different head. The first head was white and rounded with a green jewel in the center between its two gleaming yellow eyes and above its very toothy mouth. The head on the other side was pointed and covered by a helmet of the blue-plate armor, only revealing two red eyes and a mouth filed with razor-sharp teeth. The final and middle head was a mix of the two with two sets of eyes, one red and one yellow. The blue-plated armor came over the white rounded head with a gaping mouth filled to the brim with sword shaped teeth. All three heads cried and unison, causing both Cal and his Ancient Holy Beast to cringe with surprise. (2900/2600)

“This is my most powerful monster, and there’s a reason why! I’ll activate his effect, which causes me to pay 1000 life points and tribute a face-up WATER monster I control other than him. I’ll tribute Bounty Queen in this case,” the girl shrieked over the loud grumblings of the three-headed behemoth.

(Cal: 1600) (Mystery Girl: 900)

Bounty Queen offered herself to the looming monster, which grabbed her with one of its hands and raised it to eye level. All three heads tore into the woman at once, ripping her to shreds until there was nothing left. The was immediately a loud rumbling as each unleashed a red torrent of water, which burst onto the field, obliterating both of Cal’s cards in an instant.

“Once I’ve filled the requirements, King Daedalus destroys all cards on both your side of the field and in your hand,” the girl finished as the three heads of her enormous monster burped with pleasure.

“I’m not giving up! I activate the effect of Ancient Holy Beast!” Cal grimaced, taking the card from his graveyard and placing it back in a monster zone. “When Ancient Holy Beast is destroyed by a card effect and sent to the graveyard, I can pay 1000 life points to special summon him back to my field in face-up attack position!” The tiger growled and shook the red water from it furs before glaring up at the behemoth of a sea serpent. (2400/1200)

“You just can’t make this easy for me, can you?” the girl said through clenched teeth. “I’ll just attack your monster and wipe him out!”

The three heads unleashed another triple blast of red water, but the holy tiger roared even louder as it was drenched by the flood. The golden stripes on the tiger’s back glowed and emitted runic symbols which immediately erased the water, revealing the monster to be alive and well.

(Cal: 100) (Mystery Girl: 900)

“Once per turn, a LIGHT monster I control cannot be destroyed by battle thanks to the effect of Ancient Holy Beast, but I still end up taking battle damage,” Cal coughed, relieved that his monster was still okay.

‘There’s nothing else I can do to finish him off this turn! I only have monsters in my hand!’ she thought angrily, glaring at her useless cards. “I end my turn.”

‘It all comes down to this!’ Cal breathed calmly, drawing his card. ‘Excellent.’ “I’ll use my spell card, Revelation of Historical Relics! I can send up to ten cards from the top of my deck to the graveyard and increase my life points by 100 for each card sent. I think I will end up sending ten cards so I can increase my life points by 1000!”

Ancient Holy beast began pawing at the ground until a small golden fragment could be seen. The tiger grabbed the tip with its mouth and pulled the artifact from the ground, revealing it to be a golden urn with shining white runes decorating the sides. The top of the urn opened and suctioned ten cards away from the top of Cal’s deck while releasing a gold dust into the air at the same time.

(Cal: 1100) (Mystery Girl: 900)

“Then I get to use its other effect! If one of the cards sent to the graveyard by this effect was a level 4 or lower Ancient monster, I can special summon it to my side of the field in exchange for increasing your life points by 1000.” One of the cards that the urn had stolen shot back to Cal, who caught it and placed it on his duel disk. “I’ll summon my Ancient Holy Flora in attack mode!”

A thick white stalk pushed itself out of the ground, several roots reaching out from the opening into the surrounding ground as well. The head was a flower with its petals a magnificent sky blue, each one taking the form of a butterfly. Several runic markings and symbols began to hover around the plant as if protecting it from evil and pollutant forces. It wiggled itself around and flapped its petals as though trying to make itself comfortable in the unfamiliar ground. (1100/1300)

“Now that I’ve summoned an Ancient monster with Revelation of Historical Relics, you gain 1000 life points,” Cal noted as the golden dust floated towards the mystery girl.

(Cal: 1100) (Mystery Girl: 1900)

“All you’ve done is given me more life points to finish you off next turn,” the girl scoffed.

“Not quite. I’ve actually made it so I’ll have an exact win!” Cal grinned. “You see, because my life points are lower than yours, I’m allowed to decrease the attack power of a face-up monster you control by the attack of a LIGHT monster I control. I’ll decrease your King Daedalus’ attack by the attack of my Ancient Holy Beast’s! Its attack power will now drop by 2400!”

The flower’s roots shot up out of the ground and pierced through the armor of the behemoth sea serpent. The roots began to drain the massive creature of its energy and caused it to lean forward from the weight of its own body. Ancient Holy Beast soon growled with delight as it saw King Daedalus droop wearily closer towards it. (King Daedalus: 2900/2600 > 500/2600)

“Ancient Holy Tiger, attack her King Daedalus! Judgment’s maw!” Cal declared victoriously.

The tiger roared in compliance and lunged at the weakened powerhouse, biting into each of the three head before causing the towering creature to topple completely, disappearing in a blast of red water.

(Cal: 1100) (Mystery Girl: 0)

“No! No! No! No! NO! NO! NOOOOOOO!” the girl shrieked with agony as the holograms disappeared. She slumped to the grown and shook her head as Cal ran over to her, deactivating his duel disk in the process.

“Now it’s time to get some answers!” he demanded, crouching down. He placed his hand on her shoulder and gripped it firmly in a comforting manner. She stared up at his face and saw that he stared back with warm grey eyes. “What’s your name?”

**********

The girl waited eagerly at the front door. Today was the day Nicolas would be returning. Mr. Lawrence had been out of the house, and Lynette and everyone else had some form of errand to do. The house was the girl’s today, and she had set it to the way Nicolas had remembered the day he left. All she had to do now was hope he’d be at the front door any second. Hours passed. No Nicolas. It was getting dark out. More hours passed and different members of the household had returned, each muttering as they entered and disappeared through different doors. Further the girl waited, yet no Nicolas arrived at the door. It was already dawn when the girl had been awoken by a slight nudge on the shoulder. She jumped and looked around hopefully, only to see a female face.

‘Hello Lynette,’ the girl sighed. Lynette was a thin young woman with waist-length brown hair and hazel nut eyes. Her skin was light and creamy, blending with her simple white dress and tan high heel shoes. She wore a large white sun hat with a red bow tied around the top. Around her shoulder was a small yellow purse filled to the brim with unknown objects.

‘He’s still not back?’ Lynette asked in a frail yet sweet voice.

‘Not yet, but he’ll be here! I’m sure of it! He’s just busy or it’s taking him a little longer than usual, but he’ll be here! I know it! I just know!’ the girl said frantically, opening the door to see if anyone was coming. The street was devoid of all humans, and only the dark grey clouds seemed to roll by like traffic.

‘Just let me know if you need anything then,’ Lynette whispered, walking away from the hopeful girl.

Days passed. Weeks passed. Months passed. It was an endless cycle of waiting hopefully by the door with no results. Soon, it had become years, and whether it had been snowing, hailing, raining, gusting, or any other form of bad weather, the girl would wait for Nicolas to return. But then it had been so many years since his departure and the girl was now a teenager, Nicolas had still not returned, and her hope was growing faint. Lynette had disappeared from the house. Mr. Lawrence was ragged and older looking with each visit he had made. Everyone was growing older. Time was passing to quickly for the teenager. She had spent her whole life waiting dedicatedly for her savior to return to her, to return and be her family, her father once more. Yet had had not returned. He would not return. It was now just a forgotten promise.

The teenager began to cry as she sat on the steps to the massive house. Every so often a lone person would walk by and stare at her with disgust before continuing their trek along the road. The teen was now so desperate that she would latch onto any male figure that walked by, hoping beyond reason that this was Nicolas. No luck. She would be shoved aside and called a filthy woman. But she was not filthy. She just wanted Nicolas. She wanted a father. She wanted a family. The people that took care of her were not her family as she had stated on the day Nicolas had left her. Abandoned her. She saw now warmth in the lined face of Mr. Lawrence. She saw no motherly smile in the now missing Lynette. It was only in the warm grey eyes of Nicolas that she felt comfort and at home. But that feeling was now long gone, and she was only a shell, waiting for a man that would never return.

And then, one day, she gave up. She stopped waiting on the steps. She stopped peering out the door. She stopped caring. She had lost all sense of the world. No family, no friends, nothing but a name. A name that her savior had given to her. She briefly recalled the moment as though it were a failed reminder of her hopefulness.

‘What is your name?’ Nicolas asked the girl, who was huddled in the corner of the enormous library. No answer. ‘Please, I just want to know your name? You know my name already! Nicolas Laurel, remember? Please, it’s a simple question.’

‘I don’t know,’ the girl croaked, not looking at him.

‘You don’t know, or you just down want to tell me?’ Nicolas asked.

‘I…don’t…know…” she croaked again, looking up at him with tear-filled eyes.

‘Okay, I think I understand. You’ve been through a really traumatic experience, so you’re brain might be having trouble focusing on anything but that horrible…eh, incident,’ Laurel tried to explain. ‘Well then, how I about I give you a temporary name?’ The girl nodded slowly as Nicolas sighed, scratching his chin before deciding on a name. ‘For now, I’ll refer to you as Nora. How does that sound to you?’

‘Nora…’ she muttered under her breath. For the first time in weeks, she smiled. She liked the name.

From then on, the girl had decided that she would be Nora, completely erasing any former memory of a previous name. It was like she had just been born again, and her father was giving her a name. This name would now symbolize the link between her and him, making them a family.

And yet, here Nora now sat, depressed and heartbroken, feeling abandoned and useless. It wasn’t until one day that her hope was restored by a single letter left at the doorstep. It was addressed to her. She tore it open and read it ravenously.

“Dear Nora,

I’m sorry I did not return to you like I said I would, but an unexpected problem has arisen. I can’t express to you in words how much I’ve missed you. I’ve missed birthdays, I’ve missed spending time with you, and I’ve missed seeing you grow up. And now, I fear that I may never see you beautiful face again. It’s my own fault for not returning to you, and I understand if you’ll never forgive me. I just wished I could’ve seen you one last time. Now, I can only selfishly ask that you live your life and move on through the good and bad without me. Know that, even though I could not be there for you, I could not be the father figure you wanted, I will always be here in spirit, watching over you until the day you’re married, the day you have kids, the day you truly have a family and can finally be happy again. I’ve little time left to write, so please just forget about me and live. I am but a small bump in your journey to happiness. But someday, maybe we’ll meet in the afterlife, and we can have all the time in the world to be together and make up for what I missed. I love you so very much Nora.

Love,
Your father,
Nicolas”

Tears dripped down onto the letter as she held it to her chest. Nora could not stop crying. She would not stop crying. How comforting it had been to finally hear from him for so long. She now had confirmation that he had not forgotten about her. Nicolas was still somewhere out there in the world. But she could not follow his instructions. She needed to see him again, no matter what the cost. She would find him.

**********

“My name…is Nora,” she cried, placing her head in her hands as she sobbed uncontrollably. “And you are not Nicolas.”

“Hey, stop crying!” Cal stuttered, awkwardly placing his arms around her. She leaned against him and felt the warmth of this body. A comforting warmth like the look in his eyes. It was amazing how he could look so similar to her savior, her father, yet it was not him.

She soon explained her past to Cal. She explained how she had lost her mother in an accident, how Nicolas had saved her life, how he had taught her the ways of dueling, how he had treated her like his daughter, how he had left one day, how he never returned, how she waited for years until she had grown, how she had one day received a later from him, and how she had come to set out on a journey to find him.

“I was just so overwhelmed with emotions when I saw you. You look so similar to him. I didn’t know whether to be sad or furious, but you know what happened next,” she sighed, wrapping her own arms around him in a hug. She looked up at him from their embrace and stared at his warm grey eyes, staring deep down into them as though examining his soul.

“Then let me help you find him,” Cal said determinately, helping her to her feet while still hugging her.

“But, I thought you yourself were on a journey!” she gasped, continuing her examination of him.

“I am on a journey. I need to find a close friend of mine. As a matter of fact, our journeys seem kind of similar when you think about it. We both have a common goal, so we should help each other out,” Cal explained. Nora nodded in compliance as if she had not been listening to a word he had said. “Then it’s settled. You can stick with me until we find your friend Nicolas. I’ll help you in any way possible! That’s a promise I won’t forget!”

Nora smiled, embracing him tighter as she did so. She hadn’t felt a warmth like this well up inside her in years. She hadn’t felt this feeling ever since the day that Nicolas had left her. She knew now how she felt about Cal. It was the same, yet different in the way she had felt about Nicolas. It was a universal comforting feeling that mothers, father, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, families, young lovers, old lovers, all human beings may feel at one point or another in their life.

Love.

To be continued…

[Twisted Fate]

about time you put this up, a good chapter, heh, heh, Pool Detective Cyber Pheonix, and i have deduced something, Swimmer is Nicolas! also, you cant get Nicolas from Calvin Arc no O or S

[Cyber Phoenix]

Originally Posted by deckmaster717

about time you put this up, a good chapter, heh, heh, Pool Detective Cyber Pheonix, and i have deduced something, Swimmer is Nicolas! also, you cant get Nicolas from Calvin Arc no O or S

Cal was making a reference to the letters C, A, and L being in Nicolas, which was why he also stated that this comparison was a bit of a stretch.

And this chapter does require reading of previous ones. There are most certainly interconnections between this chapter and the previous six, so it'll require some backtracking...unless you've been keeping track. I'm trying to make it easy enough to understand how Point A relates to Point B without being too overly complicated.

Either way, I like seeing predictions and thoughts, so thanks for the comment!

[Twisted Fate]

yeah, i have read it, ive been a constant reader, remember my fight about Battle Zone on one of your chapters?

[Cyber Phoenix]

Originally Posted by deckmaster717

yeah, i have read it, ive been a constant reader, remember my fight about Battle Zone on one of your chapters?

That's not what I meant. I was just stating in general that there may be some backtracking required to figure out the different connections. And yes, I remember all too well...

Additional Comment:

I've updated the CAC for Turn 7, so feel free to go look.

[magicbullet]

Nicholas Laurel, eh? I seem to recall a Laurel in the alchemist's log a few chapters back. This is interesting, very interesting.

[Cyber Phoenix]

@Magicbullet- Thanks for reading as usual. I'm glad my readers are keeping tags and connections on different parts of the story so far. We'll just have to see whether everyone's ideas and theories are true or not.

Anyways, here's the preview for the next episode. Hopefully I can get it out soon, but I don't know if I'll be able to keep that promise, so keep your fingers crossed!

Preview:
Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s Reach
Turn 8: Identity Theft
After forming a friendship and a promise, Cal and Nora set out to catch up to Finch, Richter, and Oz, who had chased after the fleeing Swimmer. However, the leader of Team Leap and his new lady friend must now go out of their way to help a young man who’s being hunted down by the mysterious Dark Signer Cole. At the same time, Cal is once again mistaken for someone else, continuing the spiral of confusion. Is there something Cal isn’t revealing, or is this just a serious case of multiple misunderstandings?

[Twisted Fate]

oh a great preview and Cal, poor poor Cal, why oh why!? and yes i did make that connection about possibly Nicolas being the alchemist journaal writer, also Nora/Lynette runs a WATER/Sea Serpent deck makes me think of the card Spiral Serpent, i dont really know why though