After the parade of constant back and forth action of The Dark Duel Force, we move on to this book, which gets pretty bleak pretty fast. I designed this chapter to invoke mood whiplash. We go from a super lighthearted chapter with a cheesy hero speech and everything, to...whatever that is at the end there.
Chapter OneJohn, the Hero!
My name is John Sieger. I'm a Duelist from the Checker Township of Ohio, in the U.S., and boy howdy do I have a story to tell you. I already told a bunch of it. You really should go read all of the rest of that first. Let's just say that Duel Monsters, the popular trading card game that has begun, more and more, to shape the entire world with its popularity, has its roots in ancient magic battles. My friends and I, the Duel Force, are in charge of guarding twelve relics that used to belong to a powerful sorcerer in the ancient past, until he can come back to life and fulfill a prophesy.
Head hurt yet? Just try not to think too much about it. That's what I do.
We'd already fought off a powerful evil group that wanted those relics, the Duelist's Souls, for themselves, repelling them by the skin off our teeth on more than one occasion. It had been several months since the massive battle between my team and the last assassins of that group, the Duelists of the Order of the Divine Cards. Those assassins, known as the Dark Duel Force, had almost beaten us. It had taken me awakening a new level of magic power, and then going so far to defeat the leader of their entire organization, to end that threat.
Now, it seemed, whatever remained of the Order had backed down. Some of my friends weren't sure that I'd really killed their leader, Yami, in our duel, asserting that this quiet period was just him taking time to regroup, and they had reason to think so. The last time that it had seemed like the Order intended to leave us alone, the Dark Duel Force had attacked. But this time, I was sure. The Order was without a leader. What this meant for the members of the rather large group I couldn’t say, but what it seemed to mean for us was that the Order was finally leaving us alone, finally going away. For the first time in almost a year, we were actually safe, at least for the time being, and frankly, I could live with that.
My friends Karen, Tucker, and Rocky, my sister Sarah, my cousin Jen and I were sitting around one of the round tables in the local mall’s Game Center, a combination restaurant and arcade with a heavy Duel Monsters theme. It was a place where Duelists like us could relax and watch others play the game, or test and hone our skills against one another. I was watching a duel taking place on the Duel Disk Arena in the center of the room, between a kid named Richard, who I had dueled once before, and my apprentice, a thirteen-year-old girl named Jenna Rein.
Jenna is unique, which is why, when she asked me to help her improve as a Duelist, I'd agreed. I like unique people. They intrigue me in a way that, when I think about it, is a little supervillain-ish (in a good way). Her uniqueness was apparent even in her clothing. She wore a brown skirt that stopped just above her knees, a flannel long sleeve button-up shirt, and pink knee-high socks with thin purple stripes running down them. She flipped her long frizzy red-brown hair back out of her freckled face and stared down her opponent’s monsters, two mighty black beasts that seemed to shift between the forms of several four-legged creatures, both called ‘Gravity Chimera’ (ATK: 3000 (each)). His monsters had just attacked two of Jenna's monsters, both of which had been in Attack mode.
“My attacks,” Richard explained, “bring your Life Points down to within a stone's throw of zero (Jenna’s Life Points: 1100). You're lucky. If your monsters had been just a little weaker, I would have won right here."
"I don't know," Jenna said with a half-frown, "eleven hundred Life isn't much, but it isn't "a little" either."
"You'd be right,"Richard agreed, "if I were finished dealing you damage this turn. Before my turn ends, I play ‘Polymerization’, fusing one of the ‘Gravity Chimeras’ in play with the ‘Gravity Beast' in my hand to form ‘Ultra-Gravity Chimera’.”
Darkness enveloped one of the two massive beasts and it grew into an even larger beast with enormous horns and a face like a bull’s (ATK: 3800).
“At the end of a turn in which ‘Ultra-Gravity Chimera’ did not attack,” Richard explained, “my opponent takes one thousand damage.” The beast fired a beam of force, which I guess represented the force of gravity, from his mouth at my young apprentice (1100-1000=100). Richard thought he was going to win, since all Jenna had was a face-up ‘Solemn Wishes’, a face-down card, and three cards in her hand, but I knew better. Jenna is a lot stronger than she looks, and at that moment, only one hundred Life away from defeat, she still looked pretty tough. She was completely unshaken.
Jenna smiled, “because my ‘White Magician Pikeru’ was destroyed in battle while equipped with ‘Ribbon of Rebirth’, she returns to the field now.” A young girl in a baggy white dress appeared, wearing a hat that resembled a stuffed toy sheep, and carrying a wand (ATK: 1200).
“Next,” Jenna continued, “during your End Phase, I reveal ‘Call of the Haunted’, reviving my second monster as well.” A woman with long light brown hair wearing a long red gown appeared, carrying a long wooden staff, “I think you remember ‘Fire Princess’ (ATK: 1300).
“I draw, and ‘Solemn Wishes’ gives me five hundred Life Points (100+500=600)," Jenna explained, "activating ‘Princess’’ effect, dealing you five hundred damage,” the ‘Princess’ launched flames at Jenna’s opponent (1800-500=1300). “Next ‘Pikeru’ increases my Life by another eight hundred, and you take another five hundred damage.” ‘Pikeru’ raised her staff, and Jenna’s Life went up (600+800=1400). ‘Fire Princess’ brandished her staff, hitting Richard with another burst of flames (1300-500=800).
“I follow up,” Jenna declared, “with a Spell card, ‘Emergency Provisions’. I destroy my own ‘Solemn Wishes’ to increase my Life Points by another 1000 (1400+1000= 2400), and decrease your Life Points by half that amount.” The ‘Fire Princess’ attacked again (800-500=300). “And I finish this. Sacrifice ‘Fire Princess’ and ‘White Magician Pikeru’ to summon ‘Guardian Angel Joan’!”
The two weaker monsters disappeared in a swirl of light and were replaced by a beautiful angel in white with transparent golden wings. Her entire body was wreathed in light (ATK: 2800).
“Your monster can’t touch either of mine,” said Richard. “Good try, kid. You did well, really, but this duel is as good as over.”
“You're half right,” Jenna countered. “This duel is almost over, but not for the reasons that you think. I equip ‘Joan’ with the ‘Cestus of Dagla’!” A curved sword appeared in each of the angel’s hands (ATK: 2800+500=3300). Richard’s triumphant smile disappeared from his face as he realized what was about to happen.
“’Joan’,” Jenna commanded, “attack ‘Gravity Chimera’!” The angel flew straight at the beast, slicing it in half with her swords. Jenna turned and stepped down from the Duel Disk arena as her opponent’s Life Points fell (300+3000-3300=0).
She walked over and sat down at the table with us, across from me, next to Sarah. My sister was pulling her curly blond hair back into a ponytail using a red hair tie that went well with the red hoody that she was wearing. She looked at Jenna and said, “Bravo kiddo. You kicked that guy’s butt (except she didn't say butt)!”
“Yeah,” said Rocky, who was wearing his signature survival vest over a yellow t-shirt (a sharp contrast to his dark hair). “That guy didn’t even see it coming. You’ve definitely gotten better since John started teaching you.” He was sitting between my tall, freckled, red-headed best friend Tucker, who wore a red shirt with a flame decal on the right breast, and black jeans, and my cousin Jen, who had just recently died her hair black with purple bangs to go with the semi-Goth thing that she'd been doing lately.
Jenna looked over at me. “So what do you think, Teach? You said to build a Life Increase deck out of my spare cards and beat a high ranked Duelist with it. Did I pass or not?”
“Yeah, ‘Teach’,” said Karen, elbowing me playfully from her place at my side, “did she pass?” She smiled at me mischievously from behind her long brown bangs, causing her freckled nose to crinkle cutely.
“Yep,” I said, “you passed with flying colors. Good job, Kid. I can’t think of anything else to teach you right now, so I guess you graduate, at least until I can come up with another test.”
“So do you think I’m strong enough to take on the Card Takers?” Jenna asked.
“The who?” I replied.
“You mean you haven’t heard of them?” she asked, surprised.
“Yeah, John,” Rocky spoke up, a rarity twice in a conversation, “even I’ve heard of them. They’re three guys who corner kids and force them out behind the mall, make them bet their cards in a three-on-one match, beat them, and take their entire decks. They think that they’re some kind of experts, and that they deserve the cards they win.”
“That’s right,” Jenna added. “I want to beat them and make them give the cards back.”
I frowned. Karen looked into my eyes. She placed her hand on mine and said, “You’re going to go take care of this?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Dueling isn’t a tool for mugging kids, and beating kids at Duel Monsters doesn’t make you more deserving of their cards than they are. I thought everyone around here knew that. I guess I’ll have to teach these kids that being a Duelist doesn’t mean that you can push people weaker than you around.”
“But I want to beat them,” said Jenna.
“Sorry, Kid,” I replied. “Leave this one to me okay? You piss these people off, and they might hurt you.”
"What if you came with me?"
"No," I told her, firmly. "Consider it an order from your teacher."
Jenna frowned, but she nodded reluctantly, “If you say so, fine.”
I stood up and made sure no one was watching. Once I was sure, I summoned the power of my Soul of Darkness, dissolving into smoke that skimmed the floor of the room, bleeding into the shadow cast by our table. From there, I could find another shadow somewhere else and emerge from it. I began searching immediately for a shadow behind the mall.
“You know,” I heard Jenna say as I disappeared, “I’ve known about this magic stuff for a while, but that still creeps me right out.”
I stepped out of the Shadows, and appeared behind the mall, exactly where I'd expected to be. Immediately I heard voices to my right, turned, and saw three kids sitting on the ground in a tight half circle, their backs to me, sifting through a pile of cards.
“Pretty good haul, huh Boss?” said one of the kids, a shorter-looking kid with dark brown bowl-cut hair and a more than decent sized gut.
“Yeah Boss,” said the second kid, a gangly kid that looked to be at least 6’3” with sand-colored hair. “That last kid had a ton of rare stuff in his deck. Stuff we can sell for a load of cash!”
“Calm down you two,” said the third kid, the obvious leader. He was sixteen, maybe seventeen, so about my age. From what I could tell he was maybe a couple inches shorter than me. He had long blond hair and a voice full of arrogance. “We can’t go sell these cards to just anyone,” he explained. “Remember, we have to find the kids who’re willing to pay the most for them so as to make the biggest profit!”
“Oh, right Boss,” said the first kid.
“You sure are smart, Boss,” said the second kid.
So I’m guessing Blondie here got these two brain dead thugs together to help him do his dirty work. The stupid are easy to control I guess. Hiro?
Yes? asked the Soul spirit, who was like an older, more serious mirror image of me with blonde highlights, appearing from his resting place within the Soul of Darkness, to float at my side in his transparent spirit form, his arms crossed.
What do you think of them?
They’re far too confident for the amount of Duel Energy that they possess. You shouldn’t have much trouble with them.
I nodded, frowning at Hiro’s use of the term Duel Energy. It wasn’t one of my favorite terms. Recently I’d told Karen about my old rivalry with a guy named Christopher, and described an incident where he’d been able to see Duel Monster spirits. She’d commented that he must have a lot of Duel Energy. When I’d asked what that was, she’d explained that it's the same energy that the Souls, and weaker Shadow Items, amplify to give Duelists their powers, and that everyone has it. It was just one more detail complicating my life, and I didn’t like clogging up my head with it.
You know what I’m planning then? I asked Hiro.
Oh course.
I nodded again, and Hiro disappeared.
“So you’re the ones who’ve been stealing kids’ cards,” I said. “I expected stronger Duelists than you three.”
The kids were startled. They jumped up and turned to face me. I put my hands in the pockets of my black jacket, trying to look as casual as I could for dramatic effect, and said, “Maybe you’ll want to try stealing my cards too.”
“Oh,” said the boss, “and what cards do you have to offer?”
I stepped forward and handed him my deck. He flipped through it, his eyes growing wide. I could see, for just a second, that he was considering running away with it, but lucky for him, he didn't. I took my deck back and looked him in the eyes. “I’ll duel all three of you, and I’ll bet my entire deck, but if I win, you have to return the cards that you took.”
“Sure,” said the boss. “I’ll bet whatever you want against that deck. Even you can’t beat all of us at once.”
I summoned darkness to my arm, forming my sword-like Dark Duel Disk (LP: 9000), “We’ll see.”
The kids looked shocked at the sight of a Duel Disk materializing out of nowhere, but they were cornered, and they wanted my cards, so they shook it off quick and switched their own Disks on. Still, I'd rattled them, and that was good.
“I’ll go first,” said the first kid (LP: 3000). “I place two cards face-down and summon ‘Goblin Attack Force’, in attack mode.” A troop of eight goblins appeared, carrying clubs (ATK: 2300).
“My turn,” said the second kid (LP: 3000). “Two face-down cards as well, and another ‘Goblin Attack Force’.” A second troop appeared (ATK: 2300).
“And finally,” said the boss (LP: 3000), “I summon my own ‘Goblin Attack Force’ and place two of my own cards face-down as well.”
“When Boss summons his ‘Goblins’ said the first kid, “I pay one thousand Life Points (3000-1000=2000) to activate the Continuous Trap ‘Skill Drain’, negating the effects of every monster on the field.”
“And I,” said the second kid, “activate ‘Light of Intervention’, forcing every monster that’s summoned to be summoned face-up. No setting monsters for you!”
Huh, I thought, these guys aren’t too shabby. Blondie must’ve built their decks for ‘em.
“I summon ‘Sangan’,” I declared, “in defense mode.”
“Nuh-uh!” said the second kid. “I reveal ‘Final Attack Orders’. Now every monster face-up on the field is forced into attack mode!”
My monster, the little brown demon fuzz ball, ‘Sangan’, flexed his tiny arms, as if ready for a fight (ATK: 1000).
“I’ll take a page out of your book then,” I said, impressed but still not worried, “and place two cards face-down. Your move.”
“Reveal,” said the first kid, “the Continuous Trap card ‘Aqua Chorus’. Since there are multiple ‘Goblins’ on our field, each ‘Goblin’ gains five hundred Attack (ATK: 2300 +500=2800 (each)).”
“I also reveal my ‘Aqua Chorus’,” said the boss, “boosting the power of our ‘Goblins’ even further (2800+500=3300 (each)).”
“Now I attack,” said the first kid.
“Reveal,” I countered, “the Trap card ‘Mirror Force’.” A reflective energy barrier appeared around me.
“Chain ‘Seven Tools of the Bandit’,” said the boss, “negating your Trap.”
The barrier shattered. Now I was starting to get a little worried. But just a little.
“Then I reveal ‘Negate Attack’,” I declared. The ‘Goblins’ lunged at me and were repulsed by an invisible wall.
“Your ‘Negate Attack’ won’t protect you during my turn,” said the second kid. “I attack, and I activate ‘Rush Recklessly’, increasing the Attack of my ‘Goblins’ further (3300+700=4000). Destroy ‘Sangan’!”
The eight goblins swung their clubs, crushing my monster (9000+1000-3000 =6000).
“Now it’s my turn again,” said the boss. “I attack you directly.”
A second group of goblins struck me with their clubs (6000-3300=2700). I know that the monsters were only holograms, but the impacts from their attack seemed even more distant than usual. I suddenly felt like everything was distant, like I was watching the duel from far away rather than taking part. I found that I was unable to move my eyes, my head, my hands.
I felt a dark presence sharing my body with me. That in and of itself was something that I was used to, but this was different than the darkness that I was used to. It was fiercer, and it was impossible to hold back.
Hiro, what’s happening? I reached out to my friend, and discovered that he was gone. Not just gone back to the Soul, but gone from the Soul. I was being pulled into the back of my own mind, and there was no one who could help me.
???
Finally I had been released. I looked around, taking in the colors of the world around me, flexing my new fingers. I had awoken in the middle of a modern duel! What an opportunity to learn the ways of battle in this time, and to inflict some pain! I really like inflicting pain. I had no cards in play, and my opponents controlled multiple strong monsters, but I had the power of the Soul of Darkness! Through this body I had full control of a Soul for the first time. I could mold this duel with a single draw!
“For striking me, you three will all die,” I said in a calm, matter-of-fact tone, noting how easily I drained the kindness from my host’s voice and replaced it with an underlying sinister tone. This one wasn’t too far from becoming like me. He had an evil within him that would have rivaled my own had it not been for his incessant need to be “good”, which I could sense at the forefront of his mind. I laughed and watched as the Shadows rose up around me and my three opponents, swirling violently, boxing us in. My opponent's couldn't see the darkness of the Shadow Game, as they weren't strong enough, but they did feel the game, and the sense of dread which came with it.
“Wh-what’s going on Boss?” the fat one asked.
“Don’t worry,” the blonde one said. “He’s just using a trick to psych us out, like the thing with the Duel Disk. It’s three against one. We can’t lose.”
“I’m sorry to say it,” I said, making clear with my tone that I wasn’t sorry about a thing, “but you have never faced anything like me before. Bring a hundred before me. They will all fall to the power of Blackheart.”
Karen
“John’s been gone awhile,” said Tucker. “I wonder if he's doing okay.”
“Why don’t you go see?” Sarah asked.
“’Cause I’m too lazy,” he said, tilting his chair back onto two legs. Sarah kicked the chair, and Tucker fell flat on his back.
I sighed, “Simmer down you guys. I’ll go find him.”
I rose from my seat and made my way toward the Game Center entrance, leading back into the mall. I reached out to John with my Soul of Imagination, and suddenly I couldn’t help but feel that something was very wrong, and as if acting on a compulsion from my Soul , I took off running.
Card of the Day:
Ultra-Gravity Chimera
Played by: Richard
I could have used one of Jenna's cards here, but these aren't her final cards (not most of them, anyway). I could have put "Goblin Attack Force" here, but the Card Takers are dumb. So I put another of Richard's monsters here instead. Hurray for minor characters!
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