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Legend of the White Dragon; Maya, a brilliant but impetuous and maladjusted punk, joins with up with Jeffrey, Jolene, and Yukio to form Team Dark Duelist
Topic Started: Oct 3 2012, 01:54 AM (370 Views)
Mewthree1989
Member Avatar
Queen of the Damned
The Next King of Games

Blackness. Dark gray clouds streaked the sky in thin tapers, yawning fingers stretching out to smother all of New York City in its grip, blotting out the sun so completely it was indistinguishable from night. Rain was usually beautiful, mystifying, bringing joy and sadness to whomever it visited, but now it was a thick smattering dirty hailstorm.

Maya scampered as frantically as a frightened hare, bolting past the sluggish people, hopping past sidewalks, and almost killing herself sidestepping speeding cars. She didn’t even bother to put her backpack over her head, leaving her completely unshielded to the cold, heavy storm. She was a fast, but it wouldn’t save her from being late to the Academy.

The Academy of New York City was one of many Duel Academies around the country and the world, prodigious schools that trained unassuming duelists into renowned champions. But just to enter, applicants had to pass two difficult tests. Maya already passed the written exam mailed to her with an average score. Now she had to arrive in person to pass the practical exam.

What was a duelist? A duelist was a strange human being: a warrior and an artist, a star athlete and a fantasy gaming nerd, a clown and a philosopher. And what tied all those idiosyncrasies together was the nature of their art; a mass-produced trading card game of magic and fantastic creatures known as Duel Monsters. It was a game given such weight by the public an expert reaped as much wealth and fame as a Super Bowl star.

But the best thing of all was to be a true duelist, a champion player who embodied the best qualities of the game. And the greatest True Duelist that ever lived was the King of Games himself, Yugi Motou. No duelist could ever hope to be him. The best a duelist could do was climb near to him as possible.

The academy was right ahead! In her carelessness Maya tripped and fell, plummeting to the mud and grit below. Her backpack ruptured open scattering everything in it. She doubled in agony, bitten by pain in her scraped palms, arms, and chest. After a few red, searing moments she scrambled on the sidewalk for her things. She quickly recovered a dozen cards from her Structure Deck, and a strange contraption for playing the game (or “dueling” as it was called) called a Duel Disk.

But the rest of her deck was completely missing, lost somewhere in the mud, streaming away to a gutter somewhere… Just as she was about to give up, she heard a haggard voice croak, “Aren’t these yours?”
She looked up. It was a bum, a small, dirty, dark old man with haggard hair and beard, crumpled in his hideous clothes like a brown paper bag. He huddled against a towering wall where a cornice of the Academy building gave him small protection from the bitter elements. With a wrinkled, sinewy hand, he offered her missing card.

Maya quickly snatched her cards.

The bum held up a small plastic cup and shook it, shackling a small jingle of pennies. “How about some spare change.”

She lurched back as if licked by a slimy ghoul, and dashed off.

Maya burst through the front door, wheezing and panting, her face blue and her arms limp from exhaustion. But that dizzying, simple happiness vanished only after a few seconds and was replaced by the usual mists of anxiety. She was very late.

She staggered to the stadium inside. There was a large arena surrounded by an amphitheater. Within the arena were a dozen sprayed tennis courts where applicants dueled proctors for their Practical Exams. The amphitheater was a ghost town. Hardly any spectators remained. Even the last applicants were wrapping up their duels and leaving.

She tugged the coat of someone who looked like an administrator, an aloof and neatly dressed man with suave sunglasses, an elegant, neatly trimmed goatee, and adorned academy uniform. “Can I please take my exam?”

The administrator glanced back at the dirty girl, a small glean of contempt in his eyes. “No! I’m sorry but all the tests are over.”

“Please, let me take it! I came all this way in the rain!”

“You’ll try again next year. Have faith. Everything happens for a reason.”

She showed her scraped arms and palms. “Like me slamming myself on the sidewalk?”

“Well, yes. I’m sure it was either a test of your character or a way of telling you to try again next year.” He waved her off dismissively. “You’re too late. Come again next year.”

“No, let her try out.”

Both looked up in surprise. A young man in a top-ranking student’s uniform, a long white and blue blazer, stood on the top tier of the amphitheater. He was a short and portly but handsome young man, with a tumble of thick black hair and warm but brilliant and piercing brown eyes. He carried an air of nobility but also what would have been a rustic’s charm if it weren’t for his uniform and the rank it suggested.

“I don’t think you can do that, Matthew.” The administrator protested. “All the tests are finished and all the proctors are gone. It’s a violation of academy rules and is simply aggravating to make an exception.”

“I am one of the top students here.” Matthew sharply rebuked. “I choose to duel her because every duelist should have a chance. I choose to challenge her as a proctor.”

The administrator tried to object, but gave up midway. “Whatever.” He sighed. He shook his head. “Duelists are crazy.”

He turned to dirty and obnoxious girl before him. If it weren’t for her he would have been at home by now to watch a James Bond marathon on TNT. “What’s your name?”

“Marina Božović, but you can call me Maya.”

“Uh huh.” He scribbled her name nonchalantly on a pad he was carrying. “Interesting.” He pointed to one of the exit doors. “The duel will being in ten minutes. You may want to clean yourself up beforehand. The bathroom is over there.”

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

Maya winced as she scrubbed off her wounds and tried her best to get the grime off her clothes without soaking herself. She checked herself with the small, cracked bathroom mirror. A small, dark, insignificant girl of seventeen years old stared back contemptuously. Her face, smattered by a handful of red blemishes she was dumb enough to keep touching was made worse by her swarthy skin and her mess of unruly short hair she herself had cut and dyed with disastrous results.

Pathetic.

She saw Matthew in his majestic, platinum regalia, his tussle of “rebellious but charming” hair and healthy tan standing somewhere high above wherever she stood. A hard but not stern stare, merciless but always forgiving, the embodiment of power but also of kindness… He was Yugi himself, a mighty yet humble king.
And Maya…

The grime was hardly off. Her purple jacket was tarred from her fall. Her tight wrist chains – she noticed they looked sinisterly like handcuffs – chain necklaces and black skirt were all smeared with grime. It was bad as her technicolor mess of toothpaste purple and puke green highlights. Her gashes were now a sickly dark red. She looked like as if Yugi was beaten up at school and left crouching and moaning on the floor.

A small but powerfully hot flame burned in her skull and traveled down her spine, spreading throughout her body in waves of simmering boiling water. With a heavy sigh she stumbled away.

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

The futuristic elevator below effortlessly pushed Maya upward through the floor to make her debut. Matthew stood opposite her, already ready for combat. Maya strapped the Duel Disk around her wrist. It spun into place; its two “wings” snapping together to form a portable gaming platform. She quickly slipped her deck into a large slot above her wrist.

Maya: 4000 || Matthew: 4000

“You get to go first.” Matthew said. “Good luck.”

“Thanks…” Maya drew her first card. She didn’t have a bad opening hand. She had a powerful combo she could use… “Alright. Here goes. I summon Mermaid Knight in attack mode.” She slapped her card on one of five slots on the arm blade. And behold! A dazzling holographic display of lights and energetic, technological sounds! A shape suddenly appeared on the stage! A monster was summoned! Maya’s monster was an amazonian mermaid with 1500 ATK, with sea green skin and wearing purple armor, brandishing a short and shield.

“I set two cards face down.” She slid her two spell or traps cards into two narrow slits beneath her monster slots. Two huge holographic face down cards materialized behind her warrior mermaid. “Turn end.”

“My turn!” Matthew announced. “I draw!” He barely glanced at his hand. “I summon Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV4!” The holographic lights formed into a small, sleek, silver hawk with 1600 ATK on Matthew’s side of the field. It looked more mechanical than organic with its jointed limbs and armored metal body. “I set two of my own face-down cards.” Two oversized cards appeared behind his “dragon”. “You’re move.”

Now was the time! “I activate A Legendary Ocean!” Maya slid her card in a special sixth compartment on the side of her arm blade. . The space around them began to twirl into a glowing, holographic rainbow. The whole arena itself changed into the bottom of a sunken city. The bright yellow of the sun high above danced with the aquamarine, mossy buildings and the ocean blue fishes in an evocative ballet.

“My Ocean increases my monsters’ ATK points by 200. Mermaid Knight’s effect allows it to attack twice when Legendary Ocean is up. My Ocean also downgrades the Level of all of my monsters by 1. Now I can summon a Level 5 monster. I summon Giga Gagagigo.” A bulky reptilian monster, sporting a whooping 2450 ATK with blue-green armor and scales, now 2560 ATK, marshaled next to Maya’s amazon mermaid.

“Go my monsters! Destroy Matthew’s Horus and then his Life Points.” Both monsters instantly threw themselves at Matthew’s dragon with the speed and directness of a javelin.

“Not so fast!” Matthew countered. “I reveal my trap, Negate Attack!”

One of Matthew’s face down cards lifted up. A barrier, transparent but with impossible hardness, effortlessly shoved Maya’s monsters away, forcing them to retreat. “Negate Attack negates all attacks.” Matthew elaborated. “Furthermore, it ends the battle Phase all together.”

Maya cursed. All the air was punched out of her lungs as if she slammed against a wall. She couldn’t even graze him!

“Strange. You’re pretty reckless for a water duelist. That doesn’t really fit in.” Maya noticed a narrow squint in Matthew’s eyes, a small pique in his stare. “You walked right into my trap. Didn’t you ever stop to think why I didn’t attack you?”

Maya bit her lip in frustration. A flame of embarrassment fanned with a flame of resentment.

Matthew drew his next card with an incomparable grace, as if he was practicing the motions for years. “Now I’ll show you how to make a proper attack. First, I activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your Ocean field spell.” A cyclone of whirling lightning and fury whiplashed the whole field into frenzy. The buildings of the ancient city crubled instantly and the entire ocean scene was vaporized. Matthew summoned yet another monster. A boiling, oozing elemental ball of molten earth took to the field, Gaia Soul the Combustible Collective, a monster with a whooping 2000 ATK!

“And that’s not all! I activate Level Up!!! In case you haven’t noticed, my Horus monsters come in Levels; LV4, LV6, and LV8. With Level Up!! I evolve my Horus to the next level!” Matthew’s silver hawk glowed in a soft, green light. Thunder burst from its form as its body grew in size and complexity, morphing it into a greater creature. This was Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6, a larger silver hawk shaped more like a dragon. “Battle! Gaia, destroy Mermaid Kn-“

Maya reacted, flipping one of her cards in defense. “I activate Gravity Bind! Monsters above Level 4 can’t attack!”

“I activate my trap, Royal Decree!” Matthew retorted. “All of your traps are negated!”

Maya’s card cloaked in a red hue and later faded to black.

“Now where was I? Oh yes. Gaia, destroy Mermaid Knight!” the boiling elemental shot a blazing torch of flame from its eye, incinerating the warrior mermaid before it even got a chance to scream. Maya’s Duel Disk made small beeping sounds as it trickled Maya’s Life points down by 500.

“I’m not done yet! Horus, attack her reptilian beast with Blackheart Fire Blast!”

“But Horus is weaker!” Maya protested.

“I activate Shrink from my hand!” The spell card reduced Giga Gagagigo’s ATK from a mighty 2450 to a mediocre 1225. With a loud screech, Matthew’s dragon launched a volcano of flames, bursting Maya’s monster into ashes. Maya winced as she was mercilessly singed from the backburner of the inferno.

And Matthew still wasn’t done yet. His Horus dragon once more began to glow. “If Horus LV6 destroys a monster it evolves at the End Phase into Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8!” Horus expanded, doubling in size, developing every angle of its body until it reached its highest state, one of the mightiest of dragons. There was a fiery aura around Horus, or was it intimidation from its sheer size. Matthew set one final card face down.

Defeat began to set in. – But there was still one more measure.

“I set one monster face-down.” A huge card appeared horizontally, right in front of Horus’s aim, waiting to be obliterated.

Matthew gave Maya a pitying glance. “I activate Nobleman of Crossout. Your monster is banished instead of being sent to the Graveyard.” A blinding flash of light shaped as a sharp blade stabbed through the card, vaporizing it instantaneously. Maya was wide open.

“Horus the Black Flame Dragon, finish her off with Blackheart Fire Blast!” His dragon screeched for one final time before firing a cannon of darkened flamed at its victim. Maya blew up and was consumed by the remorseless fire. The flames sizzled out and died. Smoke rose up, clearing the arena. Maya was conquered, beaten.

Maya: 0 || Matthew: 4000

“Well, that’s it.” Matthew concluded in a matter-of-fact tone. He almost wiped his hands of the matter. “Good game.”

Maya remained silent. Black tar and ash settled in her chest and smothered what little remained of Maya’s fighting flame while only fueling the heat of her flame of resentment. She tore her duel disk and threw it on the floor in disgust.

Matthew sighed. “You really need to work on your game if you want to come here. You didn’t even scratch one Life Point from me. Come back next year.”

Silently nodding, Maya scooped herself up and left the arena to the dark world outside. Home and school were the last places she wanted to go to. They were like tight prison cells or small black houses in a dark, deathly quiet forest… coffins.

But then she saw a few faint rays of sunlight managed to pierce through the black, raining clouds outside. And some of the heavy ashes blew away.
Edited by Mewthree1989, Oct 3 2012, 01:58 AM.
 
Mewthree1989
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Queen of the Damned
I am new around here. This is my first topic here and my first fanfic in a long time. If you have any responses or constructive criticisms I'd very much like to hear it.
 
Mewthree1989
Member Avatar
Queen of the Damned
Duel 2 – Life as Clockwork

Grey: the bricks of the buildings, the cement of the sidewalks outside. A cold fall morning. The bedroom shares this gloom. Our viola squarely set against our chin, we try a few notes, strokes close to the board and then to the bridge. Squawk! Squawk! Magpies. Crows. Starved, skeletal birds perch on a twisted black tree outside. Solitude, remoteness. A little perching space for crows and magpies.

We turn to warm sunlight and blue skies; a green terraced playing field opens. Overgrown bright yellow flowers veer to the sun as radars; playful man-sized bumblebees and fairy-like bluejays zoom from flower to flower. Barring the many levels, deceptive brick walls and stairs. Cunning illusions, appearing as things they’re not, and at other times vanishing upon touch. The simple and complex, virtuosity, the bright sheen, of Mozart cadenzas and serenades.

A few notes in E-flat major, a wistful yearning from the pit of Hell. – An impulse!!! Presto tremolos and scales; rapid-fire shots spitting flames of red and orange! The birds and bees mutate into monstrous dancing inferi!! Thick chord strokes; a lion’s roar, a jet erupts from the red caverns of the earth! HELLFIRE!!! – Two notes held a fifth apart, what the viola could allow – simmering, dying down in sonorous vibrations: hot updraft, and quieting down…

Ghostly whisperings echoed from Maya’s mouth. She let the blurry smoke settle until she could see shades of green and red. She reached into the green dirt and pulled out a sprout. As she planned the possibilities of that section the sprout grew a bit, it’s leaves and curls maturing. She pulled a hot, glowing, orange string from the red. She strung them together until she made a curling line of bright green and flaming red.

A B

She was about to scrawl her ideas on a notebook when father sharply racketed at her door. Her ideas vanished. She bit her lip.

“You know I don’t like it when you lock your door. And I hear you making noises again like you’re a schizophrenic. I’m tired of it. Only abnormal people do this. It’s time to cook breakfast and talk about college. Come on!”

Maya stepped out into their Lower East Side Manhattan apartment, a place so small a few steps took you anywhere. Her mind not with her, she let her arms prepare two shitty omelets. She sat on a small circular table opposite her father to eat.

Father, Aleksandar Bozovic, was a tall, pale, sinewy man with already grey hair and mustache. His face was of a noble’s: a broad forehead and lofty, aquiline nose and cheeks with piercing cold, blue eyes. Between father and daughter was a small, black-framed picture of mother, a woman with dark, earthy skin made even darker with a black shawl draped over her head. Her face was oval-shaped and serene, of well-proportioned but plain features, except her intense, rich green eyes.

“So how will you get into college?” Father asked in Serbian. “You’re doing poorly in school and you haven’t taken your SATs yet and it’s your senior year. What’s going on? Why are you being so careless?”
This was going to be fun. “It’s only September. I’ll figure it out.”

“I hope so. I will absolutely not support you if you don’t get into college. After work you will buy practice books and I will make sure you study every day. Until then, no more music. Period.”

An awkward pause. “Dad I need to write music to get into Julliard.”
“No you don’t.” Father rebuked. “You won’t be getting into any arts college on my watch. I don’t want anything more to do with your amusements.”

“It’s not amusement!” Maya protested. Was she some stupid child? “I compose for college. I have a huge portfolio. I can write any classical and jazz piece. I’m good enough to audition for Julliard. I don’t need these worthless SATs. I don’t need to go get a worthless job, working only to please some asshole with a suit and botox injections, living a miserable life like you.”

“Yes you do, Maya. Music is like professional sports. Only a few make it. The rest starve or become piano teachers. Do I need to take you by the hand and force you to do it or will you do it yourself? You already work at two jobs, one as piano teacher, and the other at Gamestop. Ever since the war my career has been reduced to nothing. We immigrated here for us but I have been reduced to working in factories. Do you understand?”

Maya let her face fall on her hand.

Father held her hands tightly and gazed firmly at her. “I only want you to be independent, strong, and happy and live without worry.” She could see in his eyes that he was honest. “Look at us? Our talents are nothing. We can only work with the dirty mob.”

School was a prison, a garrison of small, tightly crowded cells linked together by narrow, packed hallways. Thick metal doors shut in the classrooms, rusty steel beams barred the windows opening to the world outside, supposedly to prevent students from falling out. An indefinite miasma of faded gray shades on all the bricks and metal and the smell of dirt sat frozen at every corner.

Professor Feynman scribbled the classical mechanics of macroscopic objects on the chalkboard, bibling every detail he wrote in a very brusque, hushed tone. “To get the force of attraction between the earth and the moon you need to take the mass of the earth, which is 5.97 × 1024 kilograms, multiply that by the mass of the moon, which is 7.35 × 1022 kilograms, multiply that by the gravitational constant, which is 3.5764465860583028fhgkiuymbucsefirhoiypjoekqwmqmznxhvjt…” He didn’t even make sense anymore.

Maya was not one for words. Most of the time they didn’t mean anything, a waste of aural space. Maya turned to her notebook and curled inwards, pen on her left hand and paper on the other. She kept reaching into the bottomless well of forgetfulness but after scraping until her hands were raw she could find only a few broken pieces.
Feynman stood above her, his shadow looming over her, a tall ugly being, not unlike the academy administrator from last weekend. With a deft hand he swiped away her sparse series of notes. Grumbling, Maya collapsed on her desk.

A small, compact note ungracefully hit her head. She opened it up:
It probably sucked didn’t it, you talentless hack? lol degree in music. Have fun at McDonalds.

Maya craned her head. Jolene Summers, a petit, cat-like girl with bright blond hair skimmed with bright red highlights sat distractedly in feigned innocence. Her hands and feet were small and nimble and her sharp, bright green eyes peeped behind her horn–rimmed glasses. Maya quickly scribbled her response and handed it back to her.
You must have a bright future ahead of you. How’s that office job working for you? A real change of scenery.

So how was the entrance exam? Was the proctor hard cher?

A total success. After all, I’m still here. I lost in three rounds to the top student there to some prick named Matthew. They all are. I wish I could be a true duelist but at the same time I hate it. No matter what I do I’ll never be one. I’ll always be ugly, short, miserable, stupid. I’ll never be good enough. I don’t know even if I want to. They’re so –

Maya handed it over. She couldn’t describe it but could understand it, a water surface of empty virtues, poisoned holiness, and meanings as small as they made her feel.

At Duel Prep School they told me to ‘be yourself and never give up!’ But everyone used a Monarch Deck and told me how much I sucked for not using one. I refused to change so I dropped out. That’s just the way Duel Monsters is.

“JC, write the answer for question twenty one.” Feynman dragged JC from the back row a wisp away from where Maya sat in front of the class. JC, or Jeffrey Cade, was large, fat, dark boy who could only be described as a yeti or Bigfoot. Thick tufts of curly black hair sprawled all over his head and face and his small, mole-like eyes peeped out of his thick, black glasses.

Feynman snatched and crumpled up the Maya’s note. “Both of you have detention.” He briskly handed JC the chalk. “Write.”

JC seemed to feel as hopelessly cramped as Maya did. He shattered the chalk against the board and glared at Feynman. He was the only kid big enough to meet him at eye level. “You know what you are old man? You’re just a prop! You’re just a failed man who had his dreams crushed and decided to be a miserable drone to the corporate government system instead! All you do is feed bright impressionable young minds to the ruthless prison industrial complex that is our education system!”

Maya and Jolene did a facepalm. They had years of experience with this bullshit. They knew full well where this was going. “You want to be a smartass? You have ten detentions!” Feynman cursed. “I am not in the mood for another one of your pretentious rants!”

But that didn’t faze JC. A gifted orator, he gestured to the whole classroom. “You know what all you guys are? You’re nothing but props too! You’re nothing more than slaves with slave morality, processed meat! You’re nothing more than fodder for greedy, fatcat suits with a vampire’s bloodlust for the innocent! You’re constrained by social norms and I’m not! You’re nothing more than the feeble little insects in the backwaters of the microcosm of my imaginary world!”

Now the whole class groaned, but a few “brave” souls egged him on. “You tell ‘em JC!” Yukio Dowie, a half-Japanese, half-British punk with spiky black hair and a soul patch, hollered from the back of the class.
“Shut up Yukio!” Jolene threw her hiss over Maya’s head to smack her target. “Thanks for getting yourself in trouble idiot!”

Feynman lost it. “ENOUGH! DETENTION FOR THE WHOLE CLASS! THE FOUR OF YOU TO THE OFFICE!” The whole class shook in an uproar, a din in the facility, and Feynman promptly threw out the four insurgents.

Maya, Jolene, JC, and Yukio were left twiddling their thumbs in apprehension in the office waiting room. Jolene and Yukio were bickering with each other in sharp little stings. It wasn’t even about the incident anymore but completely random and stupid things. This relationship thing was almost like a game... Maya still didn’t get it. Now she had a sudden urge to punch JC in the face. She was in no mood to lie to her father.

JC seemed not to care, his hands locking together in front of his face, his thick eyebrows sternly compressed together, deep in thought… – He hit Maya with the back of his hand. “Any of you guys duel? Are you warriors or are you part of the motley crowd?”

“We don’t duel professionally. Go away.”

“I don’t want jaded professionals. I don’t want facility Gestapo, poisoned by the stench of money and hemmed in by the box of rules. I want teenagers. I want zen stupidity; selfish, enlightened, entitled assholishness that fucks authority in the face. I want vision.”

“JC, even if I could understand you I wouldn’t. The street corner and tinfoil hat are over there.”

“No, hear me out. You, me, Jolene, Yukio, we are broken cogs of the machine. That is why we were thrown out by those teacher-bots. We are forced to live this giant, fake life, this big illusion. We get up. We go to school. We do stupid shit other people force us to do. We sleep. We get up. Who we are is what our parents tell us and who our parents are is what their boss tells them.”

“And your point is…”

“Life is a circle draining to a dead end. I used to care about school, but then I realized it didn’t really matter what I did. I kept trying to be something other people wanted but then I realized it was like chasing the moon. It wasn’t really worth it anyway. Even if I got money I would just lose it anyway. It’s like taping sandwiches on you so you never go hungry again. So, do you guys want to be duelists or not?”

JC and his three new followers descended down the antique outdoor steps of a dilapidated apartment building not too far from their school. He took a while to prize open the complex of locks and opened the thick door, leading them to the large cave that was the basement below.

It was a complete mess, filled with a random jumble of different furniture everywhere. Old taped political posters and scribbled acid trip graffiti decorated the red brick and white plaster walls; the largest one was a poster of Emma Goldman with a famous quote, “I want freedom, the right to self-expression, everyone’s right to beautiful, radiant things.” Scores of old moldy pamphlets of stark black and white pictures and books were littered everywhere. – Maya picked the largest pamphlet. It showed a picture of a full moon shining brightly, illuminating a field overgrowing the ruins of what used to be mighty skyscrapers. It’s title: Disintegration. – The only technology present was an old TV with a few Nintendo 64 games and an old Windows with ludicrously large amplifiers. A huge black flag hung over, emblazoned with fiery red words:

JC’s Dungeon

“So welcome to my humble abode. What do you think? Isn’t it magnificent!”

Maya could smell the dirt and rotting wood. Jolene wanted to say something nice but fumbled for words.

“You know why I brought you here? Last week I was kicked out of McDonalds in Manhattan Mall, because they were out of ketchup! McDonalds, famous for its fries you put on ketchup, was out of fucking ketchup! I shouted ‘VIVA LA REVOLUTION!’ I called on the people to fight against McDonalds and to overthrow their corporate masters! And people just stared me, dumbstruck like a bunch of lobotomized cows, like I was crazy! Some big fat guy called VolcanoMan looked at me with glowering eyes. ‘How dare you talk about McDonalds in this fashion!’ And I said, ‘Fuck you fat asshole!’ and I punched him in the face! And that is how I was expelled from McDonalds in its typical, corrupt, corporate, fascist fashion! You know what McDonalds is? McDonalds is the embodiment of conformity and mediocrity, a black hole of nihilism where the will to power is negated to nothing more than a stupefying marching stupor for the next happy meal!”

“What does this have to do with us being duelists?” Maya asked.

“Everything! The entire dueling world is one giant McDonalds! Corporations control every facet of our lives and control Duel Monsters like any other product! They expect you to grovel and eat whatever shitty food and happy meal they give you and not complain! But if you demand any food of real substance like ketchup with your fries the employees or a flunky like VolcanoMan throws beats you and throws you out! What those useful idiots don’t understand is that no matter how much more privilege they get for being sell-outs they will always be pawns of the manager in the office! The reason why they no one realizes this is because the manager sits in the back!”

JC’s voice was horse now, and he was panting from his long-winded rant. Maya, Jolene, Yukio didn’t know what to say. Were they mesmerized or appalled? They didn’t know.

JC regained his strength and spoke again, but no longer in shouts but in horse whispers. He pointed at each member of his audience. “Jolene, this is why you left prep school and will never win the nationals. Yukio, this is why you can never win any tournaments and why your Elemental Hero Deck sucks. Maya, this is why you lost against Matthew, and why you feel like such a loser whose life trapped in such a dead. But that’s over. From now on we are Team Dark Duelists. Every weekend we meet up here, to play Mario Kart and watch Fight Club, but most importantly to cause chaos. This is the beginning of a grand heroic myth. The twilight of the gods is here. VIVA LA REVOLUTION!

His small audience made a tiny applause. Somehow, in spite of his abrasiveness, crudeness, and obscenity, or because of it, he was able to gain the hearts of the three lonely souls in front of him. In this dirty old basement in lower Manhattan, in this tiny microcosm, one of the deepest changes in human history was made. And all four were part of this spark, this tiny yet infinite moment.

Maya headed back up. She had to come up with some good excuse to father now.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Jolene said. “Do you have a Duelist ID?”

“What?”

“Every duelist must register in the Dueling Network to compete.” Jolene explained. “It’s a huge Internet database and forum, kind of like YouTube or Reddit. You make an account, you can make videos, store deck recipes and trading lists in notes, receive feedback, and each time you duel in a major event it will be recorded live and broadcast on your channel. You can even gain followers.”

JC – DistressedDuelist
Yukio – E-Hunter
Jolene – IvyCat
Maya - ?

“Who are you Maya?”

Maya walked to the computer. She didn’t know. She hit a book with her foot. She picked it up. It was an old, dusty edition of Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Judging by its broken spine and crumpled pages it was overused even compared to all the pamphlets everywhere. This was all so new. Anxiousness, but at the same excitement. The inferi whispered in her ears again.

Maya shrugged and cast the die. She registered her new Duelist ID.

Zarathustra
Edited by Mewthree1989, Oct 23 2012, 05:07 AM.
 
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Queen of the Damned
Duel 3 – First Steps

Maya stooped low with her net wipes, carefully massaging the cards and game cartridges inside the display case. Casey, the store manager, couldn’t bear to see his precious collections tainted in any way, even through too much cleanliness. This was Game Stop in Manhattan Mall, Maya’s best odd job. She thought “best” because working in a nice mall sure beat staying in the dirty slum school. It’s disadvantage? No instrument. No portfolio.

But it was a beautiful place here, a vibrant, fun atmosphere. Two boys were duking it out in a Super Smash Bros. Melee tournament held in the store. The mall gave this electrifying feeling, like some great, extravagant competition of an intricate strategy game, like inside a difficult maze full of riddles, ghosts, monsters, traps, where all players would match the limits of their wits and imagination to make it through. Like the metropolis, like how she imagined the inside of skyscrapers, where anyone who was anyone gathered. Like Broadway! Like the dueling world!

Well, the cream of it. People where Maya lived just dueled on the street or in the schoolyard or in a basketball court. That’s where Maya saw JC and Yukio duel once. – JC totally creamed him – Where the highest prize was fifty dollars, a nice album maybe. Nothing. The best card at Game Stop cost a whooping $500. No wonder JC was crazy. There was no way to climb up, almost as if – A commercial break on the nearby television.

Melodramatic synthetic strings with a rap beat behind play in the background. “When you duel...” A young man of pasty white skin, oiled black hair, wearing an expensive suit steps outside an immaculate penthouse apartment and descends down his skyscraper castle. “When things get tough...” He emerges from the garage below in a powerful, sleek jet-black car, plowing through the city. “The tough get going!” – Cut to mid-duel with a comically degenerate drag queen and black thug in a strip club. Buff friends wearing the same suit as the young man emerge and take his side. “SEIZE THE POWER OF CHOAS!!” The young man triumphantly plays Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning and slaughters his opponents. Skimpy women with glazed eyes fawn and gyrate over him. He shows his epic card, blazing in front of him, waiting to be grabbed by the viewer. “Chaos, the power of a true duelist!”

A girl with rosy cheeks and immaculate hair and clothes playfully and quizzically puts a finger on her pink, shiny lips. She stands in a mall that looks more like a supersized toyshop. Cutesy, quirky bells and electrical sounds dint in the background. “Being a duelist sometimes requires making some pretty…” She stares at the options around her: a pastel coloring for an academy duel disk, a novel outfit, a Kuriboh plushy. “Choosy decisions.” A wimpy young man with a high-pitched voice joined her side. “How about this?” He presents her a Harpy Structure Deck. “Sometimes you gotta’ be a bad girl.” – Cut to a duel scene. Three harpies in rocky, forest setting join together in a whirlwind and destroy an assortment insect, beast, rock, and fiend monsters, eradicating the forest in the process, leaving behind a scorched, glittering plain of land, as scrubbed clean as the mall.

Comforting, kitsch guitar music plucks in the background. A beautiful, bright meadow is shown. A kindly, middle aged man with a gentle voice says, “There were times when I didn’t know I was or where I was going.” His younger self sits on a bleak gray city bridge while strings joined in on the swelling music. “I had to ask questions and find a direction. Fortunately, the direction found me.” A sun broke through the horizon and in light the scene transitioned to bustling, but pleasant office scene, crystal pure, white. “In I2 we produce quality work, have excellent managers,” The man appeared with his wife and two children beside a large SUV, “and give a happy, healthy, quality life to all.” The scene once more became a bleak night. The family got into their SUV and drove to a huge building. “I2: Industrial Illusions, it’s the only choice.”


Not too far away there was a McDonalds. Inside sat a golem just awoken from his millennia old slumber, a mountain made of flesh. He made JC look absolutely minuscule. His haircut and sideways cap made his head look like a pencil butt. Wrapped around his Xtra Large Coke™ were several wet cards, prized weapons of his defeated opponents, taped together. He was the mighty VolcanoMan, champion of his domain, the man who caused JC such ire a few days ago.

His face glued to its food, the golem reached into the toxic wasteland in front of him and stuffed a Big Mac™ into his mouth and chewed.

Sickly, weak pulsating noises…

Sickly, weak pulsating noises…

Sickly, weak pulsating noises…

Sean “Phoenix” Slade gazed at his audience with a quiet confidence. A throng of duelists who gathered round to see him as the center axis. An emerging giant, Phoenix recently graduated from New York Academy with flying colors, and had since then laid waste to one tournament after the other. The State Championship was his and the Nationals were just a breadth away. And it showed in his proud uniform. He wore a white academy long coat, the sign of a student in the top caste, adorned with the stars and chains of a champion, customized by him to look like Magneto, his favorite comic book character.

Phoenix was short, gaunt young man with pasty white skin and an angular face. Both his short sculpted, spiky hair and thick contact lenses were colored bubblegum pink. Two large men, wearing dark glasses and dark green suits, flanked themselves behind him as bodyguards. He stood squarely in the middle of mall’s ground floor, now a raised dueling platform. Twin huge loud speakers blared out generic rock music. Huge holographic flames blazed in a huge vortex on the stage and a golden phoenix majestically rose from the maelstrom in a dazzling display. The whole presentation took about five minutes.

Maya was just ending her shift when the huge display caught her attention.

Greetings duelists! I welcome you all to this special gathering. The dueling world is not what it used to be. We have abandoned the true duelist and have become tainted by darkness. A true duelist does not cheat during a duel. A true duelist does not steal or pirate cards and gear from our stores. A true duelist does stake money or other antis. A true duelist never backs down from a duel. A true duelist never disrespects his many friends. A true duelist is never alone.

Phoenix paced back and forth, his hands in his pockets, flapping his elbows, gathering momentum. There was electricity in the air. The audience was in rapt attention.

Many of you make weak excuses to be abandon your honor of the duelist. You think you can just be free to do whatever you want with no accountability for your actions. Maybe I will steal this card at the store one time, or maybe I will run out a challenge so no one is looking. Well, I have news for you. You are of the darkness and have evil in your heart. You no longer are of the light and since you are no longer of the light you cannot be good people. You do not love and you cannot love because you have no love in your heart. You disrespect the memory of Yugi and the other legendary duelists. You can no longer call yourselves duelists!

Those without the light are forever swallowed into the darkness, into the shadow realm, wandering hopelessly for all eternity. This isn’t just some fairy tale to scare you into obeisance. Evil duelists would challenge Yugi in the dark game and received their punishment and countless of duelists who became wicked would fall into a coma in an alleyway or some other rat hole. They arrived there by the bad choices they made in life and were judged thusly. Coincidence? I don’t think so.


The tension in a huge, mountain-sized obese man wearing a small baseball cap next to Maya was palpable. “Uh-oh. I won some antes.” He shook his head furiously. “It didn’t count because they sucked… I don’t wanna’ end up in the shadow realm. What do I do?”

But there is hope. You will never hear this from other people, but I love you. My heart reaches out to you and I know you still have light and love in your hearts. Matthew Carter, if anything is the next Yugi. He has never lost a duel since he started playing, has always dueled honorably, and has always had the back of his friends. Follow him and DIViant Bros. who sponsors him and you too can return to the light. You can be a true duelist. Burn away the darkness! Team Shining Crusaders is now in town! This is the TRUTH!

A picture of a handsome but paternally stern young man with the highest white regalia of the Academy showed on a big screen behind Phoenix. The went wild. They roared in affirmation, so deafening nothing else could be heard but their unified consent. They threw their fists in the air, chanting “YUGI! YUGI! YUGI!”

Phoenix took the complements warmly, smiling, taking the luxurious time to soak the whole scene in like a warm bath. Finally, he raised his hand to sooth them quiet.

Thank you all for listening, for taking into heart this message. We are now holding Phoenix’s Challenge, a fun little duel puzzle where the winner will get $500. All you have to do is make a small donation that will go to children’s hospitals around the world. Thank you for supporting us in our time of need.

The huge audience lined up in anticipation. One member after another processed through, faced the challenge, and lost. Before Maya knew anything she was already on the stage, Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning staring down at her. The huge, heavily armored soldier was one of the strongest and most iconic monsters in the game. The puzzle? To use her limited resources to get past the opponent’s monster and reduce its life points to zero before the turn ended.

Maya: 4000 || TEST: 4000

Maya’s hand:
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Tribute to the Doomed (Spell Card): Discard 1 card. Destroy 1 monster on the field.
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Chiron the Mage (EARTH/Beast-Warrior/Lv. 4/1800 ATK/1000 DEF): Once per turn: You can discard 1 Spell Card to target 1 Spell/Trap Card your opponent controls; destroy that target.
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Megamorph (Equip Spell Card): While your Life Points are lower than your opponent's, the original ATK of the equipped monster is doubled. While your Life Points are higher, the original ATK of the equipped monster is halved.
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Amazoness Swords Woman (EARTH/Warrior/Lv. 4/1500 ATK/1300 DEF): Your opponent takes all Battle Damage that you would have taken from a battle involving this card.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Maya spoke to herself, her gears grinding, “Chiron and Amazoness obviously can’t beat BLS. I need to remove it with Tribute. Then either monster equipped with Megamorph should win the challenge. But neither of them, even when equipped, will have enough ATK. Unless… I use Amazoness in a different way!”

“I activate Megamorph and equip it to none other than Black Luster Soldier!” The soldier became surrounded by a fierce lightning aura and doubled in size, looking even more intimidating than before. “I summon Amazoness Swords Woman! Appear!” A busty, bronze, scantily clad warrior woman manifested on the stage.

“Amazoness Swords Woman, attack Black Luster Soldier!” Maya boldly declared. SERRATTED Saber Slash!!! The amazon pounced at the mighty soldier-giant as a leopard, sword drawn out for the kill – A face down card Maya didn’t see revealed itself: Skill Drain. The battle suspended in mid air, frozen in time briefly enough for a red aura to drain the energy away from both monsters. With Amazoness’ effect negated, all the damage would go back to Maya.

With an effortless contemptuous swing of its large sword, the giant soldier cleaved the amazon in half. The shockwave from the attack threw Maya back and slammed her to the ground. Maya cursed at herself for not seeing that face down Skill Drain, but realized that even if she did there was nothing she could have done. Only then did she realize the game was rigged.

Maya: 0 || TEST: 4000

The bodyguards quickly came by to scoop up the mess. “It seems you didn’t pay up.” Phoenix said behind them. “That’ll be twenty dollars.”

“No, the game was rigged.” Maya protested. “Even if I find the hard solution and play the winning combo the machine still has a card to prevent me from going through. There is no way to win and you designed it so to take all the money for yourself.”

The audience stood for a moment in shock and then started to boo. Phoenix was appalled. “It is clear that you have come here with an agenda, an agenda to spread your lies and for your selfish purposes and wicked ways to the cost of all, even to those of children. There is nothing ‘rigged’ here, just your incompetence at the game. You are not a true duelist! Guards, take her entire deck and take her away!”

The bodyguards ganged up on her. Frightened and outraged, Maya tried to jump one of the guards in the face. The guard effortlessly caught Maya’s hand and twisted her wrist with ease. The two guards dog piled her, burying her on the ground with their knees. They wrenched her deck and gave it Phoenix who held up high as a trophy to the jeering audience and threw it to the huge, mountain sized man, who caught it with a large, greasy hand.

There was one desperate option left. “Hey fatass!” Maya roared. “I challenge you to a duel!” The audience stopped. The mountain-sized man ascended the dueling platform. His huge, intimidating body could now be entirely seen. “You talkin’ to me? Do you have any idea who I am? I am VolcanoMan, mall champion. You must either have balls or be stupid to challenge me in my domain! What’s your rank?”

“I’m Zarathustra and…” Maya paused. “I don’t have a rank.”

The entire audience, including Phoenix and VolcanoMan burst into laughter. “I’m surprised anyone would be want to duel you, you ugly and obnoxious dyke.” Volcano guffawed. “No wonder you got floored today. Zero out of ten. Wouldn’t bang. It’s not like you have a deck to duel me with anyway.”

“Then we duel for our decks. If I win, I take your entire deck. If I lose, you take mine.”

“Pffft!” Volcano sneered. “I already have the prize right here. There is no point pipsqueak. You probably never won a single duel in your life. Challenge denied! I only accept challenges from big duelists.”

“So you are a coward? I thought you were this big guy and I was a little ant you could squash at any moment. A true duelist does not run away from battle. Duelists who do end up dead in alleyways, swallowed into the shadow realm for eternal torment. Do you want that big guy?”

Volcano froze in fear, still as a snow capped mountain. He violently shook his head. “Challenge accepted! What can I say? I like beating Water Duelists because they put up no fight, but it seems you’re an exception.”

Phoenix ordered the guards to release Maya and hand her her deck. Maya and VolcanoMan then faced off. The crowd buzzed in expectation and cameras hovered into place to record the duel live for the whole dueling world to see online.

Zarathustra: 4000 || VolcanoMan: 4000

ZARATHUSTRA – Draws her first card and reads her hand carefully. “I summon Mermaid Knight in attack mode!” Under the dazzling white lights and whirring sounds of the holographic systems, the amazonian mermaid wielding a saber appears. (ATK 1500) “I set two cards face down. Turn end.”

VOLCANOMAN – “That’s it? What a weak move. Suits a half-pint like you.” Draws. “I summon Cyber Dragon!” A long and thick cybernetic serpent manifests. (ATK 2100) “Because I don’t have any monsters on my field I can special summon this bad boy. But there’s more. I tribute Cyber Dragon to summon Mobius the Frost Monarch!” Cyber Dragon disappears in a vortex on the floor and is a towering, apish beast ironclad in icy blue armor takes its place. (ATK 2400)

“When Mobius is summoned it destroys two spell or trap cards!” The monarch waves its hand in a stormy blizzard Zarathustra’s two cards are blown away. She grimaces. He sneers. “Go Mobius, smash the ugly, obnoxious dyke’s dyke monster! BLIZZARD CRUSHER!!! Mobius pounds Mermaid Knight[ to the ground, crushing her. Zarathustra winces at the destruction of her monster and the total clearing of her field, much to Volcano’s delight. (LP 4000 -> 3100)

“Now I activate Foolish Burial. I select one monster in my deck and sent it to the graveyard.” He proceeds and dumps one monster, sneering. He followed every step to complete his plan. She doesn’t stand a chance! “And I end my turn.”

The audience cheered, doubly so since Zarathustra offended them.

ZARATHUSTRA – Draws and ponders her hand carefully. Her forehead grows moist… Her arms and legs freeze… Icy drops… “I set one monster face down and one card face down.” Two large, holographic cards the size of her body manifests. “Turn end.”

VOLCANOMAN – Grits his teeth together. For a second his face is green in a spasm of nausea. “I can’t believe you didn’t give up yet. Stupid little duelists like you should disappear. I activate Treeborn Frog’s effect. If have no spell or trap cards on my field my little froggy revives.” He takes a card out of his graveyard, a dark compartment inside the duel disk and places it on the portable tray. A small, leaf green frog with budding wings and a small appears. (DEF 100)

“Now I tribute my Treeborn Frog to summon Grandmarg the Rock Monarch!” The leaf green frog disappears and another apish beast, this time clothed in earth brown armor, towers in its place. (ATK 2400) “When this monarch is summoned it destroys any face down card I choose.” Granmarg rasies a boulder with one arm and smashes Zarathustra’s face down monster. Volcano imperiously waves his hand. “Grandmarg, attack her! Wipe her out! GRANITE CRUSHER!!!

ZARATHUSTRA – “I activate my face down card: Call of the Haunted! With it I revive Mother Grizzley!” An eerie spirit ball floats out of her graveyard and becomes a whole physical being: a large, teal-colored bear. (ATK 1400) Granmarg’s fist collides with the bear. (LP: 3100 -> 2100) “When Mother Grizzly is destroyed by battle, I can summon any WATER monster with 1500 or less ATK from my deck, and I choose another Mother Grizzly!” A second bear materializes to replace the first.

VOLCANOMAN – “Psst! How dare you defy me! Mobius, crush the second Mother Grizzly!” The monarch’s fist collides, shattering the bear instantly. (LP: 2100 -> 1100)

ZARATHUSTRA – “I summon Star Boy with Mother Grizzly’s effect!” An alien creature, a red starfish with one leering eye and large tentacles underneath it, is summoned. (ATK 550)

VOLCANOMAN – Wrinkles his face in contempt. “I end my turn.”

ZARATHUSTRA – Is in relief. She smiles. “Your monarchs are strong, but I finally found a way to beat them. I will overpower them with monsters even stronger so you can’t fight back.” Draws card. “Even better yet, I don’t have to tribute. Normally, my monster is Level 5, but because the Field Spell I just drew, I can summon it as a Level 4. I play A Legendary Ocean!” Slides her spell card in the special sixth slot of the duel disk. The field around them transforms into a new environment!

[A sunken city beneath a shallow sea. Fish dancing in the sunlight above and the decaying buildings below. Everything is tainted in underwater colors of deep blue, turquoise, and aquamarine.]

“Now I summon my aforementioned monster, Gigagagio!” A large, bulky, and ominous reptilian soldier was summoned. “Its ATK is originally 2450, but with A legendary Ocean it’s ATK increases by 200 and with Star Boy in play its ATK increases by 500.”

VOLCANOMAN – Astounded. “B-But that means!”

ZARATHUSTRA - “3150 ATK. Gigagagio, kill Mobius! GRAVITY FIST!!! The reptilian jumps on Mobius and dents its armor with its fist, then crushes its head with its hands. The monarch groans and falls to the ground, beaten. Volcano lurches back, as if he himself was hit. (LP: 4000 -> 3950)

“This is all you are, VolcanoMan. You’re nothing more than a litmus test. You continuously summon big and powerful monsters but only up to a certain limit. Once I reach past the small size of 2400 ATK you can churn out as many monarchs as you can but you’ll never stop me.” – Volcano stands dumbstruck in shock, mortified. – “I change Star Boy to defense mode and set one card face down. Turn end.”

VOLCANOMAN – Draws. His fear turns into ridicule. “HA! You thought you could beat the monarchs! Well, see about this! I resurrect Treeborn Frog and tribute it to summon my first and best monarch, Zaborg the Thunder Monarch!” Another huge apish brute materializes, this time in gold and white armor with the shoulders joined by an electrical conduit. (ATK 2400) “When Zaborg is summoned it destroys one monster on the field!” The thunder kind forged a thunderbolt in its hands and threw it at Gigagagio, incinerating it to ashes.

ZARATHSTRA – Grits her teeth in despair.

VOLCANOMAN – “You idiot! You thought you could just overpower monarchs with mere ATK! You forgot one important thing you n00b! Monarchs’ special abilities activate when they’re summoned! You can summon the most powerful monster to the field, but as soon as I summon a monarch BAM your dead!”

“You’re nothing more than some decadent run-of-the-mill punk who’s full of herself! You’re probably a junky too! You think you’re some genius groundbreaker who will take the world by storm! But it’s time to teach you some REALITY! You are the dark horde that seeks to take away the integrity and freedom of duelists! You and duelists like you are an evil set to enslave us all!”

Volcano throws his fists into the air. The crowd follows him. “We are the strong and the few! We are Yugi’s brothers and we shall keep the world clean from darkness! Our strength and brotherhood is something those of the darkness will never understand! For duelists’ honor! For duelists’ glory! For duelists’ freedom!” The crowd cheeres maniacally.

ZARATHUSTRA –“For one of the ‘strong and the few’ you sure have a large following. Do you have any sisters in that bar of yours or is it for ‘male bonding’ only?”

VOLCANOMAN – “OMG SHUT UP! I’m so sick and tired of you, you ugly, obnoxious dyke! Time to put you down once and for all! I activate Monster Reborn! I choose Gagagagio! Reborn the monster!” A large sapphire ankh levitates above the field. It shines and burns with red light and resurrects Zarathustra’s reptilian warrior with its energies.

ZARATHUSTRA – “Reborn the monster? That doesn’t even make any sense!”

VOLCANOMAN – “SHUT UP! Go my monsters! Finish off my opponent and win the duel for me!” Zaborg shoots bolts from the blue. Star Boy explodes from the impact. Grandmarg and Gigagagio jump with their combined strength and pummel Zarathustra out of the stage. She falls hard on the ground and slides to the edge of the arena, a hair’s length short of falling out.

VolcanoMan thrust his fists into the air to the cheering crowd. “YUSS! I WON!”
 
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Queen of the Damned
Duel 4 – Counterattack!! – The First Idol Shatters

Volcano chuckled to himself, content in his victory. He retained his place and hers. Now he could go back to eating at McDonalds.

Maya lay cold, stone still on the ground, her left arm and left leg dangling precariously from the edge of the platform. It was as if she was on a steel beam hundreds of feet in the air, a small push away from a plummet to her death.

A voice rang in her head, “Come on! Get up! You can still do it! You have to do something! Even if you have 1 life point, fight! Live!” Jolene’s voice!

Another voice, “Don’t let that two-bit punk beat you! That’s all he is, a small loud dog!” Yukio’s voice!

Water on her face. The nausea slowly faded away. The voices became a rope. Maya squirmed and grabbed it. Slowly, and in pain, she picked herself up. First she dragged herself away from the edge until she was safe. Then she was on her knees, breathing heavily, her body hot and moist. Her knees shaking slightly, she finally got to her feet.

“WHAT!?” Volcano screamed, his eyes widening open in fear before shrinking into his seething face. “YOU’RE STILL UP!? YOU SHOUT BE DEAD BY NOW!!”

Maya held up a card for him to see. “I activated this trap when your monsters attacked me. Nutrient Z. I gained 4000 life points just before they were subtracted, leaving me with 50 life points left.”

Volcano clenched and shook his fist in frustration. “You ugly –“

“Obnoxious dyke? I know already. Can you please come up with another insult?” Maya turned and saw none other then Jolene and Yukio themselves in the huge throng. “Where the hell were you Jolene, at divorce court with Yukio for the fiftieth time?”

“Shut up!” Jolene shouted. “You made an amazing move! Now roast this marshmallow so hard we’ll eat smores after the duel!”

Yukio thrust his fist in the air. “Kick this hyperactive lobotomized egotistical overinflated baboon’s red ass back in Phoenix’s pomegranate where you found him!”

Zarathustra: 50 || VolcanoMan: 3950

VOLCANOMAN – “Pfft! Whatever! You ugly – I set two cards face down. And my turn is over.” Two cards appear facedown in front of him.

ZARATHUSTRA – Draws. She has only one card in her hand. She looks a little shaky but smartens up. “I will find a way to beat you.” She says more to herself than to her opponent. “The answer is somewhere. In my deck, maybe in yours.” I set one card face down. Turn end.” A single card appeared in front of her.

VOLCANOMAN – “You’ll find a way to beat me? Oh yeah! I’ll put you down once and for all. I tribute my Zaborg the Thunder Monarch to summon Zaborg the Thunder Monarch!” The first monarch in gold and white armor vanishes and is replaced by a second one. It gathers electricity in its hands unto a thunderbolt and hurls it at – being no monster to hit on Zarathustra’s field, it hits Gigagagio instead. The muscle bound reptilian soldier screams before being completely disintegrated.

Volcano stares, baffled, his eyes wide open. “B-But how! What the hell happened! This doesn’t make any sense!”

ZARATHUSTRA – “So, this is it, huh?”

VOLCANOMAN – “What do you mean?”

ZARATHUSTRA – “This is how small you really are. You’re mind is a simple program. Your entire strategy is nothing more than a basic loop of three commands:

while True {
Treeborn Frog (resurrect);
Tribute for Monarch;
Monarch (activate effect, attack);
}

But after this small rehearsal, nothing else is left. You duel like you eat at McDonalds, sitting in a small, dark hole and eating whatever Big Macs™ you order from Phoenix. Nothing more. Brainless: a blind and deaf little lamb who only exists for fattening and slaughter. Your entire life is eating at McDonalds.”

The audience roars in indication, repeatedly chanting, “SHUT UP raspberry SLUT! SHUT UP N-G SLUT! EVIL! EVIL! YOU HATE THE LIGHT! YOU HATE THE LIGHT!”

“Christ!” Yukio shouts through the mob. “This is getting ugly!”

VOLCANOMAN – Wincing as if punched in the face, small squeaks come from between his teeth. “We’ll see who is the small, weak duelist, stupid! Monarchs, attack! Smash her, put her down once and for all!” Both monsters leap, their fists withdrawn for the kill.

ZARATHUSTRA – “I activate Tornado Wall!” Some of the waters surrounding them separate from the rest of the ocean scene, whirling and twisting until they form vortexes. The monarchs are pushed back by their force and fall back on Volcano’s field. “As long as A Legendary Ocean is in play, this trap card will keep negating all damage you try to bring to me.” Seething with even more frustration, Volcano ends his turn.

ZARATHUSTRA – “I draw. I set another card face down.”

VOLCANOMAN – Squeaking in rage. “Monarchs, attack!” His flunkies jump for another attack but are brushed away by the watery barrier.

ZARATHUSTRA – Draws. “I set one more card face down. Turn end.”

VOLCANOMAN – Draws. “Yes! I found a way to beat you! I tribute Grandmarg the Rock Monarch to summon Kuraz the Light Monarch!” The apish golem vanishes and a golden-colored golem takes its place. Its armor is like Zaborg’s except it shines and radiates light rather than conducts thunder. (ATK 2400) “When Kuraz is summoned I can destroy two cards you control. You get to draw two cards but I don’t see you using those any time soon. Now Kuraz, destroy her Legendary Ocean and Tornado Wall!” The monarch of light spreads it arms and both cards burn away under brilliant light.

[Zarathustra, VolcanoMan, and the crowd are transported back to the duel arena.]

ZARATHUSTRA – “You know, you could have just targeted A Legendary Ocean. Tornado Wall would’ve disappeared by its effect. But then again, I’m not surprised.”

VOLCANOMAN – “OMG STFU!”

ZARATHUSTRA – “You can’t even swear originally, you pygmy-brained bootlicker butt-monkey bully, so full of shit you sneeze diarrhea. A simple program and that’s it.”

VOLCANOMAN – “NO!” He squeals. “You are the dark brainless horde! You are a dark duelist! We will burn you away with our light! Monarchs, attack!” His beasts join up to smite the offender.

ZARATHUSTRA – “I activate Waboku.” A gathering of priestesses materializes. They chant a spell and their white magic creates a barrier to deflect the monarch’s attack.

Draws. “Thank you for giving me two extra cards. You can only duel as long as you can continue your loop, so I will stop one of your commands. I will stop you from summoning monarchs.” She checks her strategy twice. All the cards are now gathered for use. She roars. “I activate Dark Hole! Destroy all of his monsters!” Volcano eeps meekly as a black vortex appears at the middle of the platform, dragging his monarchs to oblivion.

VOLCANOMAN – “I-I activate My Body As A Shield!” He stammers. “I-I pay up some life points and my monarchs are saved!” (LP 3950 -> 2450) Energy sprouts from his body and forms an astral image of himself. The golem-sized ghost slips itself between the abyss and the monarchs, preventing them from being sucked in.

ZARATHUSTRA – “I counter with Solemn Judgment! By paying half of my life points I stop your spell!” Three austere old sages dressed in the ancient Biblical robes grace the field with their appearances. With a chant and a judicious wave of their hands the astral form of VolcanoMan shrinks into nothing. Free from any barrier, the monarchs fall into the abyss. Volcano’s field is empty.

ZARATHUSTRA – “I will beat you right now!” She boldly declares. It is now time to be fearless. “I remove four monsters from my graveyard to special summon two Fenrirs.” From the cave-like graveyard in her duel disk four ghostly spheres fly out. From the ground two puddles form and out of those puddles rise two white, snarling wolfs with icy blue eyes. (ATK 1400) “My first Fenrir, attack him directly SEDITIOUS SLASH!!! The first wolf pounces at Volcano full speed.

VOLCANOMAN – Hyperventilates, desperate. “I-I activate Scapegoat!” Four small, fluffy, sleepy eyed sheep, all of different colors, Sheep Tokens, pop into the field. They are extremely weak, having no aggressive power. (ATK 0)

ZARATHUSTRA – “Fine, then I’ll kill your goats!” Both wolves leap at two of the sheep and devour them instantly. “I end my turn.”

VOLCANOMAN – He is backed in a corner. This is his only chance. “I draw!”

!!!!!!

A loud, shrill ring hit everyone’s ears. The judge overseeing the duel blew his large, silver whistle. “That is an illegal move. “ He declared. “If Fenrir successfully destroys one of your monsters in battle you cannot draw a card during your Draw Phase due to Fenrir’s effect.”

“Wait! Why? – Oh…”

“I can’t stop you from summoning your Treeborn Frog and I can’t stop you from summoning your monarchs, but I can stop you from drawing them.” Maya explained, folding her arms.

His eyes looked at the only card in his hand, another Foolish Burial. It couldn’t be! His mind desperately scurried for another possibility, any possibility, but the moment he laid his eyes on the only other option, a monarch he was supposed to draw, he knew he could never use and it.

VOLCANOMAN – Shakes his head. “No! It can’t be! I resurrect Treeborn Frog with its effect!” The all-too familiar small green frog returned. “Please” He says to himself. ”Let there be a miracle. Let the Heart of the Cards answer me. I am a warrior of the light. I am the strong and the few. I am a good duelist and a good man, that is who the Heart of the Cards answer to.”

ZARATHUSTRA – “I play Monster Reborn and revive Gigagagigo, the very monster you turned against me.” Her faithful armored lizard soldier materialized once again on her field. “I attack Treeborn Frog and your two Sheep Tokens! Destroy them!” The two Fenrirs pounce on and demolish the two sheep. Gigagagigo shatters Treeborn Frog with one punch.

VOLCANOMAN – Paralyzed. He can’t draw. He can’t defend himself. He can’t do anything. It is then that he realizes he lost.

ZARATHUSTRA – Time to move for the kill! “This is your end. You think you are a mighty mountain but you’re just a molehill, a Toys R’ Us champion! Now go play with the ten year olds! Direct attack with all my monsters! Finish him!” All three monsters strike Volcano all at once with a powerful collective blow. Volcano teeters precariously, losing his balance. TIMBER! The titan crashes to the ground, unleashing a glorious earthquake like frantic applause.

Zarathustra: 25 || VolcanoMan: 0

The audience was reduced to silence, left choking in their own shock.

“And the winner of this duel is none other than our bold newcomer Zarathustra!” The judge declared. Bright lights and exploding sparkling dust erupted from the corners of the stage as generic victory fanfare erupted from the background. A stray few in the audience began to clap, slowly and cautiously, but then became more open and bold. The rest of the audience hissed and booed them and their new duelist, slashing at them with the same usual slurs. Phoenix simmered silently in a corner, his face contorted into a frightening mask of pure rage. With a hiss he vanished.

Maya tiptoed to the unconscious goliath, sprawled all over the other side. She took his deck and picked his pockets and jacket for any extra cards or money she could find and silently hopped down to the ground. Jolene rushed to her and they gave each other a quick hug – Then they stopped, realizing how embarrassing and hokey it was, let alone with Yukio watching it.

The two friends hurried back to JC’s Dungeon as quickly as they could to tell him of their victory. They burst inside, panting like dogs. “Guys!” Jolene shouted. “Maya just beat VolcanoMan!”

No one paid heed. A whole new group of people gathered in front of the only computer there, with none other than JC himself sitting up front. They were on the Dueling Network on JC’s channel. Displayed for all to see were videos of JC’s last several duels. Maya could see they were automatically uploaded to his channel by the tournament organizers because of their extraordinary quality, unlike the other videos crowded in his channel, which were mostly his excessive and obscene rants.

JC was on a roll. “Look at that! Look at that shit right now! Look at me beat down that little kid right there! Right there! OW! Poor sucker! – Look at this! Here’s my duel against a former Regional Champ! Watch me smite this Shining Crusader goon with my Master of Oz pumped up with Wild Animal Release! OW! 8000 damage right there! Goddamn I’m a sexy mothergrapeer!”

“Um, technically its ATK is really 7900 because – “

“SHUT UP!”

Maya prodded JC with her finger. JC swiveled his large, black, comfy chair – shaped like the throne of a James Bond supervillain. “WHAT!?”

“I just beat VolcanoMan, the champion of Westside Mall. It was a really tough duel but I finally came out on top.”

JC laughed. “You beat a mall champion? How amusing! Here, let me give you a pat in the head! I’m so proud of you! Oh and by the way, about one tenth a portion of all your winnings goes to the team to be accessed by everyone.” He yanked a handful of the cards Maya just won and took one twenty-dollar bill. “We don’t have the luxury to be elitist snobs like other teams. Everyone most contribute. I know we’re socialists and we hate America but that’s how we roll.”

Maya was too tired to fight back, too tired to even curse. She could only imagine killing him. The three of them, Maya, Jolene, and Yukio went outside the stifled, dirty, hustle and fell on the sidewalk. Jolene offered them cigarettes and they smoked. Jolene gave a few quips. Maya fired back harder. And Yukio said something funny and quirky every once in a while. The harsh, ugly colors and the harsh, ugly whines of the city just fell away until it was a dull ringing in the ears.

Now the crowd was gone they came back down. Maya opened her Zarathustra account and, surely enough, her duel with VolcanoMan was uploaded. She replayed the duel a few times, feeling good about her hard won success.

JC now loomed behind them. “Actually, that’s not a bad duel. Smart handling of the situation. So how many followers do you have?”

Maya looked at a small corner of the screen.

“You have only one follower? HA HA HA HA!”

“Look who’s talking. You have like what, twelve?”

“Twelve hundred, mind you. So yeah, I’m a pretty impressive guy.”

“Twelve hundred is not a lot.” Jolene corrected. “Phoenix – that guy who conned everybody at the mall – has about five hundred thousand.”

JC backed off dramatically. “WHOA! WHOA THERE! Phoenix is another story altogether. We’ll deal with him later.”

Just to compare Maya searched some other duelists’ channels. Yukio; E-Hunter, had 10 followers. Jolene; IvyCat, slightly better off than Maya, had 3 followers. JC; DistressedDuelist, true to his word, had about 1200. She glazed over the channels of some Shining Crusaders. Overall their counts were significantly more massive, by the thousands. VolcanoMan by comparison was an insignificant twerp, a random loser from the street. He wasn’t even part of team. He had only 120 followers.

Their duel was also uploaded on his channel. Close by it was another video he himself made about their duel. Out of a morbid, sadomasochistic curiosity she went to it just to see what he had to say. It was so jaw-droppingly stupid she could only listen to portions of it.

BULLIED BY DARK DUELIST

Quote:
 
[…]So today I lost to a dark duelist who just kept bullying me. She was such a nasty BITCH. […] She kept calling me names. She kept trying to intimidate me. She kept trying to make me feel small, stupid, and dumb man. […] She had her dyke lesbian friend to cheer her own with her “Grrrl Power!” mantras along with her apricot emasculated boyfriend she carries around with her like an old purse. What grapeing hoes! Those self-centered, whiny, selfish, ignorant bitches! Those pomegranates need to give that guy’s ball’s back and he needs to GTFO of the relationship but bang those hoes into submission first! […]


The comments, if you could call them that, were even more stupid:

Quote:
 
2BWhite
Sadly this seems to be more and more prevalent in the dueling world today. More and more kids are becoming like this. diserespect their parents. joining gangs. doing drugs. If only they obeyed Yugi and read their Instruction Manuals at school.

btw more and more women are becoming unwomanly. They are become so uppity lately. black women especially. women need to be re-institutionalized to re-understand NATURE
5 Upvotes


Quote:
 
cdzzzzzzr
That Zarathustra… just mediocre… bad… lack of imagination… lack of creativity… mediocrity… mediocre dueling…


Quote:
 
warrior4TRUTH
I can’t believe such a vile little bitches could subject you to such horrors VM. Stay strong brother! We are the strong and the few! Together we will make the world the world light again.
2 Upvotes


Maya was ready to punch the computer screen but she fortunately had a small amount of restraint left. “Seriously, they think I’m the bully but he was the one trying to beat me down all the time. He was the one who kept throwing slurs at me. Yet he was the one being bullied?” She wanted to pull her hair.

“More like being butthurt if you ask me.” Jolene snarked. “Let’s go eat ice cream. This was a fun, eventful day.”

“I can’t. I need to run errands with my dad tomorrow and he wants me back home before dark. I have to go very soon. Did you do the Calculus and Physics homework? Because I did all of my Literature, History, and French homework. We’ll swap as we usually do.” Maya once more checked her channel. Only one follower. But that was all she needed.

Quote:
 
futurehero
You did a really did a great job there. Pulling up from near defeat and winning with only 50 LP left is not something many duelists can do. Most people collapse at anything lower than 500. I’m just 15 and you really inspired me to start dueling and fighting for what I believe in.

Edited by Mewthree1989, Nov 20 2012, 02:18 AM.
 
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