Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Yu-Gi-Oh! DF Special #1: Of Life and Fate - Chapter One

As Yu-Gi-Oh! is itself an anime property, I decided a long time ago to follow in the tradition of anime properties and create specials that tell stories that don't really fit anywhere in the main storyline of the series. The main difference in the case of DF is that in most anime, such specials are non-canon, where in the case of my story, my specials are canon and will even be referenced from time to time by the characters. This special is based on characters and concepts submitted by an old friend of mine on yugiohcardmaker.net. I don't know his real name, but he went by Ned on the website. It takes place in the few weeks between John and Max's climatic duel in book two, and Max's return at the very end. So, without further ado, here's...

There won't be any Original Cards in This Chapter entries for this special. There are just too many original cards for this to be feasible.



Chapter One

The Remarkable Ancient Cards


Eight-Thousand B.C.


Atop a mountain millennia before you were born, two dragons faced off against each other to determine the fate of the world’s future. The smaller of the two, a purple dragon with wings like a butterfly’s who commanded the life around him said, “You will never defeat me. You could fight me a hundred times throughout the next ten millennia, and still, at the time of our final battle, I would win. You are an inferior force.”

“Never,” said the larger dragon, a winged serpent with white wings and scales of gold and green, who commanded the forces of the spirit realm. “I would defeat you again and again and I would make the world mine in the end!”

The smaller dragon breathed a wave of life itself over the body of his evil enemy, and the larger dragon’s body began to fade away.

“I won’t let this happen!” the larger dragon cried. “I will use of my power to bind us to your words! We will wander the world for ten millennia, battling whenever we meet, until our one hundredth battle when our quarrel will finally be decided!”

In a blaze of light, the two dragons disappeared, not to be seen again until the renewal of their battle, doomed to wander the world for ten thousand years.


Present Day


My name is John. I’m a Duelist from Checker Township Ohio, in the United States, and the leader of a fairly well known team of Duelists, known as the Duel Force. You probably haven’t heard of us, but I’ll fix that. One day the entire world will know the name Duel Force. I’m going to see to it.

At this time in the story of the Duel Force, I was at the Industrial Illusions Game Center in my local mall competing in a tournament. My old rival, Christopher Johnson, was back in town for a few days, and the winner of the tournament got to duel him. He owed me a rematch. Well, I guess from his perspective I owed him a rematch.

Either way, I had made it to the semi-finals. My next opponent was some kid named Ned. I hadn’t seen any of his duels in the tournament so far, but I’d heard talk that he was good.

I stepped up onto my end of the Duel Disk Arena, my hands in my pockets. People in the crowd cheered. A lot of them had seen my duel with Christopher the last time, and even more of them had heard about it after the fact. More than a few of them were hoping for a rematch.

I took my hands out of the pockets of my favorite black jacket, brushed my brown hair out of my brown eyes, and looked up at my opponent. He was a couple years younger than me and about my height. He had hair almost as dark as mine. He seemed a bit anxious.

“You ready to start?” I asked him. He nodded. “Okay,” I said. “Just try not to look so nervous, okay? Calm down and have fun!”

“Yeah,” he said, “alright. It’s just that the buzz around here is that you’re one of the best Duelists in the region. I’m a little worried about how well I’ll measure up.”

“You’ll do fine,” I said. I drew my opening hand, saying, “Why don’t you go first.”

“Okay,” he said, picking up his first hand as well. When he did, something happened.

You see, I’m not just a Duelist. My team and I are the heirs to a legacy, the legacy of a man known as The Forgotten Duelist. We each possess a magical item, a spherical crystal pedant. The items are known as the Twelve Duelist’s Souls. My Soul, the Soul of Darkness, saw a great power within this kid. A power that I wanted to see with my own eyes.

Do you see it too? I asked Hiro, the shadow of The Duelist’s spirit who dwelt within my Soul of Darkness.

Yes, He answered. I’m more than a little curious about this boy’s power. See if you can draw it out.

I already planned to.

“I start out,” said Ned, “with ‘Yin, Apprentice Magician’.” A glowing white sorcerer appeared, a staff in hand (DEF: 2000). “I’ll also set two cards and end my turn.”

I frowned. What kind of monster is that? Hiro asked, appearing by my side in his transparent and invisible spirit form.

I don’t know, I replied. I’ve never seen that card before.

Be careful, He warned.

Don’t worry, I said, I will. Time to see what this kid can do.

“Come on,” I said, “can’t you do better than that?” He didn’t say anything, but looked determined.

“I hope you don’t mind,” I said, “but I’m going to make you show me exactly what you can do. I activate ‘Graceful Charity’, letting me draw three cards,” I picked up three cards, “and then discard two cards,” I threw out two cards from my hand. “Next I play ‘Monster Reborn’, summoning the monster that I discarded. My favorite monster, ‘The Fiend Megacyber’!”

A static bolt appeared at my side, becoming a warrior in yellow armor, his fists charged with power (ATK: 2200).

“Next,” I declared, “I play ‘Polymerization’, fusing two monsters into a new monster.” A black dragon and a red-violet-colored skeletal demon appeared and merged into a large dark gray skeletal dragon with huge, powerful claws. “Summon,” I said, “the ‘Black Skull Dragon’ (ATK: 3200)!

“Now, ‘Fiend Megacyber’,” I commanded, “attack with Megacyber Impact!” My warrior punched, but Ned’s magician was surrounded by a barrier of light before the attack could hit.

“I discard a Spellcaster from my deck,” my opponent explained, “to prevent my monster from being destroyed once per turn, and I chain, the Trap cards ‘Ancient Blast’ and ‘Ancient Codex’. Each time a card is discarded from my deck you take three hundred damage from the effect of ‘Ancient Blast’,” a pulse of energy shot from his Trap and hit me directly (4000-300=3700), “and then, by the effect of ‘Ancient Codex’ I can increase your Life Points by five hundred to shuffle that discarded monster back into my deck.”

A tablet with glowing writing emerged from my opponent’s second Trap, I was surrounded by an aura, and my Life Points were restored (3700+500=4200).

“Then I’ll attack,” I declared, “with ‘Black Skull’, Black Fire Meteor!” The dragon spat fireballs, striking the magician, blowing him away.

“My Battle Phase ends,” I said. “Because all of my summons so far have been Special Summons, I can sacrifice both of my monsters to summon my ‘Maju Garzett’, a monster whose Attack is equal to the total Attack of the sacrificed monsters.” My monsters disappeared in a swirl of light, and they were replaced by a demon. One half of his body was like a brown skeleton, and the other half was covered in long yellow hair (ATK: 5400).

“Finally,” I said, “I activate ‘Double Summon’, sacrificing ‘Maju Garzett’ for the ‘Great Maju Garzett’!”

The demon melted away, becoming thick black smoke that took on the form of a much larger brown skeletal demon with a red sphere in his forehead and a red sphere in each of his shoulders.

“The demon, ‘Great Maju Garzett’,” I explained, “has Attack equal to twice the Attack of the sacrificed monster.” The demon roared (ATK: 10,800).

“I activate the Spell card ‘Card of Sanctity’,” I declared, “letting us each draw until we hold six cards. Then I set a card, and I end my turn.”

I looked into my opponent’s eyes as the crowd cheered for me. Not many Duelists could summon a monster with ten thousand plus Attack points in their first turn, and many of the spectators were impressed. I don’t know what I expected to see in my opponent’s eyes, but it wasn’t confidence. I looked into his eyes, and I saw confidence there. He really was strong. The real question now was, was he strong enough?

“Come on,” I said, “I don’t think you can beat my monster. Prove me wrong.”

“Okay,” my opponent replied, “I will. I start out with the Spell card ‘Colour Burst’, discarding ‘Neon, Recurring Failure’, ‘Ancient Hieroglyphic’, and ‘Meditation’ from my deck to draw three cards and increase your Life Points by one thousand.”

He drew his three cards, and once again I was surrounded by an aura and my Life increased (4200+1000=5200).

“But of course,” my opponent explained, “because I discarded three cards from my deck, you take nine hundred damage.” I was hit again by the energy burst from his Trap (5200-900=4300).

“Next up I play the Spell card ‘Monster Reborn’,” said Ned, “to call ‘Yin’ back from the dead.” His magician reappeared.

“Now,” he continued, “for my key card. I activate ‘Spiritual Promotion’, discarding ‘Lin, Keeper of Peace’ and ‘Shao, Keeper of Rage’ from my deck to transform ‘Yin’ into the ‘Ancient Yin Dragon’, and to deal you another six hundred points of damage.”

Another burst fired at me from his Trap card (4300-600=3700), and ‘Yin’ was surrounded in a bright light that pulsated outward. The magician became a large, pure white dragon. The dragon looked down at his master and then looked back up at me and roared (ATK: 2500).

“Next,” said Ned, “I summon ‘Yang, Fearless Warrior’.” A warrior in gleaming blue armor appeared, his helm shaped like a dragon, riding aback a horse in similar armor (ATK: 1600). “Next I activate ‘Magical Stone Excavation’,” Ned declared, “discarding ‘Keeper’s Impact’ and ‘Natural Selection’ to return ‘Spiritual Promotion’ to my hand.

“I reactivate ‘Spiritual Promotion’,” Ned continued, “discarding another Dark monster and another Light monster from my deck to the Graveyard, transforming ‘Yang’ into ‘Ancient Yang Dragon’!” I was hit again by his Trap card (3700-600=3100), and in a flash of dark light, the warrior became a second dragon, ‘Yin’’s twin, except that it was stark black in color (ATK: 3000).

“Finally,” said Ned, “I activate the Spell card ‘Ancient Dragons’ Judgment’. Because I control both ‘Ancient Yin Dragon’ and ‘Ancient Yang Dragon’ I can discard ‘Nessor, Goddess of Darkness’, ‘Aria, Goddess of Light’, ‘Last Stand’, and ‘Waboku’ from my deck to destroy every face-up card that you control and deal you five hundred damage.”

The two dragons spread their wings and radiated a pulse of dark and white light that washed over the field, destroying my monster (3100-500-1200=1400).

“I finish it,” said Ned, “with the Attack of ‘Ancient Yin Dragon’, Positive Force!”

The white dragon inhaled, pure white energy building within its mouth.

“Reveal,” I countered, “the Trap card ‘Shadow Spell’, blocking your attack,” chains made of shadows ensnared the dragon, preventing him from taking aim at me with his blast, or moving at all.

“Then I attack with my ‘Yang Dragon’ instead,” Ned said, “Negative Force!” The dragon built up a pulse of dark energy and fired it at me from above. It hit, and my Life Points fell to zero (1400-3000=0).

I walked over and shook my opponent’s hand. “You’re good,” I said. “Those are some good cards.”

“Yeah,” he said. “I’ve had them ever since I was a little kid.” He shot me a wide smile, “They sure are something, aren’t they? I think you could have put up a better fight though if you’d tried. You were testing me, right?”

“Yeah,” I said, “sorry.”

“It’s cool,” he said. “I’m only in town for today anyway, but I hope we get to duel again someday. Then you can show me what you can really do!”

We parted ways then. I’d missed my chance to duel Christopher, but I’d had a very interesting duel in exchange. It was a duel that I would never forget.

Card of the Day:
Maju Garzett
Played by: John

Just because this is the only time that John uses it.

Next Chapter >>

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