After the pretty heavy Yu-Gi-Oh! DE, one of my more carefully plotted stories, and one that I really hope speaks for itself, the next full book returns to John's story. I'll be commenting on this one more. It is more disjointed, with a few different archs, and a lot of the conflict is more domestic than the stuff in DE. It's a very different kind of story than Rocky's in DE. Rocky's story, ever since I conceived the character, was always one of overcoming outward hardship and sorrow, where John's story was always more about the temptation of power and the struggle to remain the person that you want to be despite your deepest nature. Just as Rocky's story reflected the intent for this character, John's here in DA reflects the intent that I have for him. Karen will also be featured in this book, but she will take a back seat to John most of the time. Her difficulties in this book will mostly consist of her wanting to get on with her life and surround herself with people who she can rely on, and the revelation that John might not be one of them.
See, it isn't just a power fantasy about a school for card games.
Chapter OneThe Entry Exam
There are times in everyone’s lives when they realize that they are somewhere that they shouldn’t be. I’m no exception. I’m John, a Duelist who held the World Championship for a year, led the best known Duel Monsters team in North America, and who was invited by Seto Kaiba himself to attend the dueling school Duel Academy, and yet here I was, being forced to take the entrance exams just like everyone else. I watched as my monster, a warrior wearing layered yellow armor, ‘The Fiend Megacyber’, was destroyed by the ‘Axe of Despair’ wielded by my opponent’s monster; a four-armed werewolf called ‘Gene-Warped Warwolf’ (ATK: 2000+1000=3000).
My Life Points dropped (4000+2200-3000=3200). I scowled as I looked around the room, from the hologram of my face-down card, to the other duels taking place around me. I was inside a large open building with the outlines of eight duel arenas marked on the floor, spread evenly across the wide space.
To my left was one arena and a set of stands filled with other Duelists. To my right were two arenas and a table at which sat three judges, given the task of grading the performances of potential students. Behind me were the other four arenas. Standing across from me was my opponent, a man in his thirties. He was one of the testers from the Academy. From what I could tell the Test Deck that he was using was pure Beatdown, which meant I could guess what was coming next. It was easily the least exciting duel I had ever fought.
“Now I end my turn,” the tester said, “with ‘Skill Drain’. I pay one thousand Life Points (4000-1000=3000) to cancel the effects of all monsters on the field.”
I sighed, “I reveal ‘Seven Tools of the Bandit’, paying one thousand of my Life Points (3200-1000=2200) to negate and destroy your Trap. Now I draw, and I summon ‘Giant Orc’ in attack mode.” A huge, gray-skinned goblin appeared, carrying a club (ATK: 2200).
“Next,” I continued, “I play ‘Quick Summon’, tributing my ‘Orc’ to summon ‘Great Maju Garzett’! My monster has Attack equal to twice the attack of the tributed monster.”
‘Giant Orc’ disappeared, and a massive brown skeletal demon appeared in its place. It had tufts of hair coming off of its wrists and head, and it had two spherical crystals embedded in its shoulders, with a third embedded in its forehead (ATK: 4400).
“I play ‘Monster Reborn’,” I declared, “to revive ‘The Fiend Megacyber’.” The yellow-armored warrior appeared at my side (ATK: 2200). “‘Great Maju’,” I commanded, “attack with Vile Energy.”
‘Great Maju’ thrust his palm, firing off a wicked energy blast that tore ‘Gene-Warped Warwolf’ apart (3000+3000-4400=1600).
“Now I finish it with ‘Megacyber Impact’,” I commanded. ‘Fiend Megacyber’ shot forward and punched my opponent, reducing his Life Points to zero. Before the tester could say a word, I turned and walked away.
Once I was off of the main floor I made my way over to the stands. I stood beside them, scanning the other duels for Karen. I found her immediately and repositioned myself a bit so that I could hear what she and her tester were saying. She was dueling at the second row arena closest to the stands. She was in a situation that would have been trouble for most Duelists, but I knew better of Karen.
Her opponent, a young woman in glasses, had ‘Marshmallon’ on the field. ‘Marshmallon’ is a unique monster, known for its mushy marshmallow-like appearance, and its immunity to battle damage (DEF: 500/LP: 4000). Her opponent also controlled the Trap card ‘Spirit Barrier’, a card that protected her from damage in battle while she controlled at least one monster. All that Karen had out was the caricaturized sorceress ‘Toon Dark Magician Girl’ (ATK: 2000) and the green book that supplied the ‘Toon’ with her power, the magical ‘Toon World’ (LP: 2000).
“Your Toon Monster might have the ability to attack directly,” the female tester said, “but I am immune to damage while I control ‘Marshmallon’, and thanks to his effect, I think I’ll be controlling him for a while.”
“Don’t count on it,” said Karen. “I play ‘Comic Hand’, pulling one of my opponent’s monsters into the magic book that is ‘Toon World’, putting it under my control.”
A white-gloved hand reached out of the pages of the green book, grabbing the ‘Marshmallon’ and pulling it into the pages. The book slammed closed, and a few moments later it opened again, spewing pink smoke. The smoke cleared, revealing a bouncier version of ‘Marshmallon’ with large, cartoon-ish eyes.
“Next,” said Karen, “I double the power of my ‘Toon Dark Magician Girl’ with ‘Megamorph’.” An aura flared around the cartoon sorceress, and her power rose (2000x2=4000). “I attack,” Karen declared, “with Dark Burning Attack!” The Toon aimed her wand at the tester and fired a massive pink spherical blast (4000-4000=0).
Karen smiled, full of pride, and brushed her long dark hair out of her face. She turned off her Duel Disk and walked over to stand next to me, wrapping her arm around mine. “Did you see any strong Duelists?” she asked.
“You mean besides you?” I asked. “That would be a no, but to be fair this is the last day of testing, and this was the second to last set. That means that the next eight Duelists will be the last set, period. Most of the good ones have probably gone already.”
“Speaking of the last set,” said Karen, “here they come.” As she spoke, the last Duelist finished his duel. He was defeated. He stepped out of the room through a set of doors on the opposite side of the room, and eight more Duelists entered, taking up their positions. “Should we watch?” Karen asked.
“Why not,” I replied. “Maybe we’ll see someone strong. Come on, let’s find a seat.”
I took her hand in mine and led her over to the stands. We found a couple of seats a couple of rows up. Karen leaned up against me. The two of us actually being together was still new to me, but I liked it.
I scanned the newest set of Duelists. One of them caught my eye, a boy of maybe sixteen. He was facing the tester closest to us in the first row. He had a strong aura and a certain confidence about him. His duel energy was high. He had semi-long sandy brown hair and green eyes, and he wore a black windbreaker with red stripes down the sleeves and white cargo pants. Underneath his jacket he wore a yellow t-shirt with a red flame on it. Because the boy and his opponent were close, I could hear what they were saying.
“You ready, kid?” the tester asked.
“You bet,” said the kid in a cheery voice.
“Then here I come,” the tester said. “I set a card and set a monster. Your move.”
“That’s all?” the kid asked. “After watching some of the last set of duels, I was hoping for something more, but oh well. I set a card of my own and summon ‘Flame Spirit Ignis’ in attack mode.” A spirit creature with a ghostly tail in place of its lower body, strong arms, a head like that of a fox, and eight eyes appeared, wreathed in fire (ATK: 1500). “‘Ignis’ attacks!” The fire spirit summoned a fireball and tossed it at the face-down monster, which was revealed as a ball with a face, covered in several dozen long needles.
“‘Needle Ball’,” the tester commanded, “activate your effect.”
Before the monster was destroyed, every one of its needles fired from its body. Because it was closer to the tester, he was hit with the bulk of the needles (4000-2000=2000), but several still hit the kid (4000-1000=3000).
“Now back to my turn,” the tester said. “I play ‘Dian Keto the Cure Master’, restoring one thousand of the Life Points that I lost.” He was bathed in light (2000+1000=3000). “I’ll set another monster and another card. Your move, kid.”
Interesting, I thought. If I’m right about this tester’s deck, then this kid could very easily lose this turn.
“I attack,” said the kid, and the fire spirit threw another fireball, this time revealing the opponent’s monster to be a large purple worm covered in spikes.
“My ‘Needle Worm’ forces you to discard the top five cards of your deck when he’s flipped face-up,” the tester said, and the worm launched five of its spikes, hitting the kids duel disk. “And,” the tester said, “I chain two Trap cards: ‘Skull Invitation’ and ‘Coffin Seller’. Now each time a monster goes to your Graveyard you lose three hundred Life Points, and whenever a card goes to the Graveyard, its controller takes three hundred points of damage.”
The tester watched as the kid discarded five cards; three of which were monsters.
“I may take three hundred damage when you kill my worm, but you take twenty-four hundred damage,” the tester said. The kid was wreathed in a wicked aura (Kid: 3000-2400=600/Tester: 3000-300-2700).
The kid sighed, “Damn, I was hoping that this would be more exciting. I could draw it out, but I don’t wanna risk things getting out of hand. I activate ‘Mystical Space Typhoon’ to destroy the ‘Skull Invitation’ card.” A burst of wind tore the hologram of the tester’s Trap to shreds. “I’m guessing that you have another ‘Needle Ball’ in your hand,” the kid said, “so I’m gonna go ahead and end this now.
“I activate two Spell cards, ‘Dark Room of Nightmare’ and ‘Soul Absorption’. Now you take three hundred damage whenever I deal you damage through an effect, and I gain five hundred Life Points every time a card is removed from play. I’ll also summon ‘Hinotama Soul’.” A living fireball appeared, floating in the air.
The fireball disappeared, “I tribute ‘Hinotama Soul’ to activate the effect of ‘Flame Spirit Ignis’, dealing you one hundred damage for every Fire monster in my Graveyard. If you add on the three hundred from my Spell card, that’s seven hundred damage.”
‘Ignis’ summoned four more fireballs, launching them at the tester (Tester: 2700-700=2000/Kid: 600-300=300).
“Next,” the kid said, “I remove ‘Hinotama Soul’ in my Graveyard from play to summon ‘Inferno’ and restore five hundred of my Life Points.”
A spark appeared in the air, flaring out and becoming a massive face made of flames, and the kids Life went up (300+500=800). ‘Inferno’ disappeared as well, “I tribute ‘Inferno’ to deal another seven hundred damage (Tester: 2000-700=1300/Kid: 800-300=500).”
“Finally,” the kid said, “I reveal ‘Spiritual Fire Art – Kurenai’, converting my ‘Flame Spirit Ignis’ into his spirit form so that he can launch one final attack! I tribute him to deal you fifteen hundred damage!”
The fire monster flew into the tester and disappeared (Tester: 1300-1500=0/Kid: 500-300=200). Against all odds, the kid had won.
“Hey Karen,” I said, still watching the kid with great interest.
“Yeah?” she replied, looking up into my eyes.
“Remind me to find that kid. I want to duel him some day.”
Card of the Day:
Flame Spirit Ignis
Played by: The Unnamed Student
We don't know much about the kid in this opening chapter, but we do see how much he relies on this monster, and it does make a huge impact on this duel. Despite not even knowing the character's name, his monster fits every criteria for a Card of the Day.
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