The Ubiquitous Circumstance [YuGiOh]

[Hydra of Ages]

[spoiler= 1. Fate]

I was a man sitting in a Starbucks, glancing out the window, preparing himself for the day. As he sipped from his paper cup, he had no inkling that later that day, his car would swerve off the road into a ditch, causing grievous harm to himself. Though the accident would seem gruesome, it would not be fatal; the resultant traffic slowdown he caused, however, would prevent a far worse disaster on the highways.

 

I willed it to be, and thus, it was; and then, before the first trickle of his hot drink rolled down his throat, he and I were no longer one.

 

And, in the same instant, thousands of miles away, I was a woman walking along the park. In but a few minutes, she would happen by an elderly citizen, and using CPR techniques she had previously learned, (and with some additional help from my own repertoire of knowledge) successfully sustain the person’s life until the proper medical personnel could arrive. Once more, our union was a fleeting affair; once this was preordained for her future, I fled once more, seeking out another being to merge with.

 

It was my usual job. The strategic changing of small elements, allowing the illusion of freedom whilst I, unseen and unheard, guided the human race to a preferable outcome one member at a time. It was what I had done for hundreds of years; until now, it had been rather simple. Disconnected and impotent, the human race had never the ability to affect one another as they now did. It allowed each of my individual changes to be far less precise than they had been far in the pass, and yet it required a far higher volume. Though time was a concept nearly meaningless to me, I couldn’t help but feel the slightest bit overworked. Perhaps it was human nature rubbing off on me.

 

It was then that I felt the call. The swelling of the ley lines, the disconnection from the material world; it wasn’t a sensation I had felt in a long time. The beckon pulled at my very essence, tearing it from the plane of existence where I had resided for so long. I could have broken from its grasp, but to do so would be to tear the ley around me. The needless destruction of ley was perhaps the most harshly enforced law of my kind, and thus I wouldn’t dare to try; the beckoning caged me as well as metal bars would a human.

 

Even so, such precautions were unnecessary. I knew who called me, and was eager to see them once more; it had been so long since we had spoken, that I had begun to feel tedium from my given duty. Such things could lead nowhere good for one such as me.

 

I felt myself separate from all that was mortal, and once again manifest in the realm of fey. A place of both primal chaos and order, I found that with my newly gained human senses, it was colored as an endless void of white, likely the best approximation a human concept could get to the true state of the fey. Even the ley, the tendrils of the fey that connected the two realms together, was invisible to all human senses. It would stand to reason that a realm composed entirely of the intangible substance would lack any sort of color; presumably, white was the closest color to nothingness that could be comprehended with any degree of sanity.

 

I noted I myself, was also rendered intangible in my current state. For sake of appearances, I chose my favorite human form; a male, probably in his early thirties, blue-eyed and black haired with the faintest hint of stubble, and a casually worn black business suit with a crimson red tie offering a splash of color. As far as humans went, I felt I was quite dashing.

 

The one who had called upon me made her appearance shortly. I was surprised to note that she, indeed, had an appearance that registered on the human spectrum. Though just barely; between her writhing tentacles, feathers of pure fire and eyes shaped from lightning, there was a core whose details were far too non-Euclidean to be comprehended by a rational mortal mind.

 

I wasn’t too surprised. My master had herself once been stationed on Earth, and not too long ago in comparative terms concerning our species; it would stand to reason that she, too, developed some mortal senses, though twisted by her prolonged hermitage.

 

“Good morning, Druma.” I said respectfully, in the traditional human greeting. The usual method of communication among our kind, the Fey, was alien to me now and it would likely take me a fair bit of time before I regained the knack. The more simplistic human method of verbal conversation was a fair substitute, which I hoped my Master would still be acquainted with.

 

“Good morning, Fate.” She responded in kind, her voice strangely feminine and musical despite her monstrous appearance. She seemed to be in good humors, which I noted with a slight bit of relief after registering the prickling in my essence that accompanied the use of my true name. Among the Fey, use of the names that truly personified us was considered in bad taste at best and hostile at worst; the exception, of course, being between an Adept and their Master.

 

Druma was not my Master’s true name. Nor was it her mundane name, which the Fey frequently used with each-other; it was the name she granted to me to use to refer to her. When I advanced and became a Greater Fey, I would be allowed to use her mundane name and would be known by my mundane name in exchange, a courtesy I was already allowed with other Fey regardless of their status. Until that time, though, she had me at a disadvantage. Using a Fey’s true name allowed you to see what separated that Fey from simply being ambient fey energy- without the concept of fate, for example, I would be nothing but the endless void of invisible energy that surrounded me.

 

“So, Fate, how is my game coming along?” she asked conversationally, and I was abruptly reminded of how odd a master Druma was. While most Greater Fey were creatures of solitude, content with spending their existence contemplating the concept of fey and integrating themselves within it, attempting to achieve the ultimate state of fusion between sapience and a state of universal consciousness and thus immortalizing themselves within the laws of reality themselves, Druma was not. Though generally only the Lesser Fey dealt with the material plane itself, she had not been content with leaving it entirely for a life of isolation within our realm. Though she only rarely visited it directly like I did, she did still apply her concept to the laws of that plane, and enjoyed observing the results. This was often rather annoying for me, as her games often interfered with my machinations.

 

Of course, the ‘game’ she referenced in that particular sentence referred, not just to experimentation utilizing her core concept, but to a quite literal and far more mortal hobby.

 

“Duel Monsters?” I asked with a twinge of humor in my voice. Druma clicked her three mandible-like incisors together in confirmation, with what I assumed was a hint of pride, misplaced though it may be.

 

“It is as popular as you anticipated. More so, even. It is by far the most popular non-lethal human hobby in existence, and I personally have found it useful in diverting more than a single war. I am not entirely sure what the human’s bizarre fascination with the game is, and I can only assume that you do.” I reported, summoning a pair of glasses on my face so I could fix their positioning after I finished talking. I noted that Druma and I were apparently moving -though I was quite sure my legs weren’t walking- by the gradually lengthening slime trail originating from my master’s base. Or perhaps the slime was an organism gradually growing outwards; it was difficult to tell in a realm where physics as humans knew them didn’t strictly apply.

 

“Wonderful. I had thought such a point had been reached, when that lovely little academy was built.” Druma responded, twitching her dorsal spines happily. “How long ago was that, again?”

 

I furrowed my brow briefly in thought. It was a rather human gesture, and I was vaguely surprised to find I had done it instinctually. “Duel Academy? I’m not sure; I don’t remember specific details too well, especially dates. I don’t think it’s recent. At least a hundred years since it’s construction I believe.”

 

“Hm,” she considered the information, two of her green eyes and a violet one flicking over at me briefly. After a few moments of silent mental digestion, most of her body split into a great smile. The sound of her carapace as it broke into the inverted arc form was strangely muffled, probably by the liquid interior of orange puss that slowly seeped outward from the crack. I noted with distaste that some had gotten onto my shoe, and quickly materialized a new shoe when it began to hiss.

 

“Excellent…” she hissed, clicking the teeth lining her third mouth together briefly. “I think it’s about time that we got started on my next game, now don’t you?” she said with a hint of whimsy in her tone. She glanced over, probably expecting me to react with horror, shock or incredulity as I realized that all of my plans for the nearby future were screwed.

 

Needless to say, my expression was nothing of the sort. Indeed, I was doing my best impression of a cocky human smile as I could, though I found it made my mouth ache. “I couldn’t agree more, Druma.” I responded.

 

One of Druma’s prehensile eyestalks cocked its inverted eyebrow, and coiled around me to observe me more closely. “Oh?” she said curiously. I didn’t stop smirking, though my face was attempting to rebel. I changed some of the muscles in my face to make the expression more natural before I continued.

 

“Oh, indeed. In fact, I have three candidates already selected.” I said airily, trying to give off the impression that I’d planned much more than I did. In truth, I hadn’t had anything else aside from the selection of the chosen ones prepared, but hopefully she wouldn’t notice or question that.

 

Druma’s eyestalk withdrew itself, and she sat on her haunches, slick tails swishing back and forth as its lacquer dripped and lit the not-floor on fire. “Oh, indeed? And who would these be? I cannot wait to hear your suggestions.”

 

Suggestions. That was a worrisome word to me. She’d earlier promised me that I’d have total control over who would be selected for her next game, and I was unwilling to hand her any sort of advantage we hadn’t discussed when we had made up the terms of the game, and the wager to be run beside it.

 

I gestured with a hand. “Shall we observe, then? I believe my first pick is about to display his competence…” I said confidently. Where my hand had pointed, the floor became translucent, revealing a medley of mortal colors beneath. I allowed a moment to pass as the mortal ley energy linked up with the fey energy of our dimension, and slowly a full situation came into view.

 

A wiry brown haired man, perhaps around nineteen years old, was standing at one end of a dimly-lit stadium. All around him were concrete walls, and a high pointed tin roof stood above him, devoid of most other characteristics. He appeared to be in a warehouse, probably abandoned due to the lack of goods stored there, and wore a duel disk on his right arm, a standard red-and-white model lacking any sort of special modification or skin.

 

“A duel, then?” Druma said with interest as she gave the man a cursory glance over. I nodded. “Yes, he’s waiting for a duel. A rather important one, I believe. I think you’ll be satisfied.” I said after a moment’s consideration. I had gone through multiple ‘chosen ones’ before, and it was in my favor that Druma called her game when I had assembled the group I had possibly the most faith in yet. I knew that if it was possible to defeat Druma in her own element, this would be the best opportunity I’d ever have.

 

Druma chuckled, which made me apprehensive. Chuckles could mean a multitude of things, and it was impossible to identify on an inhuman face in which way she meant it.

“Very well then. This duel shall decide the worth of the first selection”. She stated. This also raised some alarm bells in my head; that was an awkward way of putting it.

 

I wasn’t sure what Druma was scheming, but it was largely out of my hands now. Once more, I peered into the hole I had wrought between the two dimensions, turning my attentions again to the mortal plane.

 

 

[spoiler= 2. A Test Gone Awry]

I ran a hand anxiously through my brown locks, while trying to decide if this was the stupidest thing I’d ever done.

 

It took me a second to figure, and yes, I decided, it was. Not quite the most moronic thought I’d ever had, but certainly the worst one I’d ever actually put into action. It exceeded the usual threshold of ‘bad idea’, entering into a class of its own. It was the type of thing black humor was built from, an idea so implausibly horrid that it’s ridiculous to conceive of someone performing it in utmost seriousness.

 

But what could I do? Let my neighbors and friends be bullied into paying tithes to criminals? Get the police involved? NOT risk my neck doing something that would likely result in my death? In fact, there was a good chance that even if I did win this little engagement, they’d kill me anyway and say I lost to save face. I was totally at the mercy of their sense of honor, warped as it may be.

 

But, I was here now. Couldn’t leave, at least not without risking what they’d do to somebody who tried to break one of their agreements. I was in a cement-lined empty warehouse on the outskirts of town, deep in the clutches of a notorious criminal organization, without any kind of defenses or backup or anything, and they would most likely shoot me, drag my corpse to the wharf and sink it, then have police they bribed write it off as boating accident.

 

Definitely stupid.

 

With that morbid fact in mind, there really wasn’t anything I could do except stand there and wait. The warehouse was completely barren; there wasn’t even much dirt, they must’ve cleaned it recently. I tried not to think about why they’d need to clean the hideout they brought challengers to, and instead tried to look for other details that could somehow play to my advantage, somehow.

 

There were only two doors in the largely empty building, one at the front that I’d entered from, and another one towards the back that went out the side. I’d already checked, and it was locked, so that wouldn’t provide any sort of escape. Made sense, really; I’d been specifically told to stand near the back of the warehouse and away from the entrance. They wouldn’t have made the other exit available to me if they were already going through the trouble of specifying that detail.

 

Some time passed. I wasn’t sure how much, as I didn’t wear a watch and the warehouse didn’t change much, but it seemed a considerably long time. Just as I was beginning to think, somewhat hopefully, that nobody was going to show, I heard a slight bang echo from outside the main entrance. Considering the warehouse walls were thick with cement and I was standing a considerable distance away, it must have been an impressive sound- I tried not to think about it too much, lest I scare myself even more. Either way, a humanoid shape in a dark hoodie made their way inside only moments later; the dim lighting and their choice in garb effectively masked their details, so I was forced to accept that I’d largely be going up against a faceless specter. I didn’t really expect much else, but it would have been somewhat comforting just to see a human face.

 

The anonymous figure placed a hand into the front pocket of their hoodie and drew out something small and black. I flinched when they raised it up towards me, wondering if this person was intended to be my executioner rather then opponent, but was relieved and a bit confused when they instead tossed the parcel at me.

 

I let the object fall to the ground a couple feet away. It made a loud clacking sound against the cement floor and bounced slightly, but it didn’t seem damaged. Now that I could see it more closely, I noticed it didn’t resemble a weapon at all; it was a black circlet, a tube made of either hard plastic or metal with -strangely enough- a cushioned interior.

 

“Pick it up and put it on your left leg,” the stranger demanded, their voice echoing with the large empty room. It was far higher pitched than I anticipated, and quite obviously female; now that I had a moment to collect my thoughts, I noticed the figure seemed to be a little on the short side, under five feet if I had to guess. Somehow, knowing that I was taller than this shadow gave me a slight bit of relief. Any slight perceived advantage was a welcome boon to my confidence, at least.

 

Even so, I complied with what she asked rather quickly. I bent down to pick up the strange object; touching its cool surface confirmed that it was made of metal. I ran my fingers over it for a moment, found a plastic adjustment strap and lifted it until the cylinder widened to a portion where my foot could comfortably fit through it, pulling it up to my calf. I fiddled with the straps for a couple seconds before pulling finally pulling it tight.

 

The moment I finished the adjustments, the cylinder hummed loudly and came to life; the padding on the inside inflated tightly around my muscles, cutting off the circulation while glowing with various lights as it booted up.

 

My duel disk decided to activate itself simultaneously with the cylinder, causing both of its wings to quickly snap together into position and knock me briefly off balance. I stumbled backwards, and noted that the mechanism clenching my shin suddenly had the number eight thousand emblazoned on it in glowing white font. It was rather simple to guess the meaning of that.

 

“So…I guess this does something to me if I lose, then?” I asked casually, trying not to betray how completely terrified I was. Judging by its shape and weight, I assumed that the object’s intended use was to discipline the loser of the duel, likely through electrocution or the injection of some sort of deadly poison. Neither was a particularly positive outcome to think of, so I put the device out of mind, even as the inflated cushioning released slightly, at least allowing blood to flow through my leg.

 

The hooded figure walked closer to me, to approximately the usual distance required for a duel, as bright floodlights suddenly sprung to life, illuminating the floor of the warehouse. I saw spots for a couple seconds, and only just managed to blink them away when my formerly anonymous adversary drew the hood away from her face, revealing long golden tresses and finally allowing me to get a look at her.

 

The first thing I noticed was that she had exceptionally pale skin; it wasn’t quite albinism, but close, and the glare of the lights didn’t exactly help. She had a thin, waifish face accompanied by a long, straight nose that reminded me of a beak on a bird of prey. Or rather, that of a sparrow; even the foreboding regalia of a powerful crime gang couldn’t make her scrawny form look particularly threatening. She had large green eyes -a rather pleasant bright shade few others had- and long blond hair that extended far below what her hoodie would reveal. I’d go as far as to say that she was cute, if she didn’t have a maniacal gleam in her eyes that I was instantly terrified of.

 

“You can call me Sasha,” she said with a creepy grin on her face, drawing a thick metallic brick from her pocket. She held it out for a second in her left hand, and it quickly divided itself into a series of long rectangles arranged in a row, the end tapering into a point that resembled a sword. She took her right wrist and placed it near the foot of the makeshift blade, causing a hidden mechanical device to whirr as it linked up with the weapon, causing the brightly flashing number ‘8000’ to appear near the hilt. Five rectangular spaces started glowing along the blade’s length, and she held it out before herself as she added the final touch- a deck of cards, held in a metal clip, quickly inserted near the hilt.

 

“Sasha, eh? Well call me Jon then, Sasha. Fancy duel disk you have there.” I observed casually. “Custom?” I asked, “Because it looks like a modified duel coat to me. It’s just the two parts screwed together end-to-end.”

 

She frowned, her previous sadistic glee quickly fading. “Perceptive,” she grumbled. “The Saintly Blades get them special-order. One of the perks of being a member.”

 

“I’ll have to assume there are many.” I mused with a slightly sardonic smirk. I always felt it was a little easier to cope with stress when I acted cocky. “I prefer the standard model myself. No frills. Makes it easier to concentrate on the duel.”

 

Her face fell a bit more, into a slight frown. Evidently she wasn’t used to this kind of response during these kinds of occasions. “Make your move,” she said vigorously, as the hilt of her duel disk discharged the top five cards of her deck into her left hand. “Challengers always go first. The Saintly Blades are kind enough to guarantee their opponents at least a single turn before they are crushed.”

 

“How kind of them.” I said with a hint of a chuckle, as I drew my initial hand, plus a sixth card for the first draw of the game.

 

I checked my hand briefly. It wasn’t bad at all, which was good news for me; two copies of Heroic Gardna, one of Valiant Gardna, a Book of Moon, The Warrior Returning Alive, and an Exiled Force.

 

I considered them for a brief second before I made my move.

 

“To begin with… I summon Valiant Gardna.” I announced, placing the card on the tray of my disk. Between me and Sasha appeared a massive man, shirtless and with gigantic protruding muscles. He had dark, tanned skin and a veritable mane of bright red hair that stuck out in every direction as a tangle of spikes. Strapped to his left arm, he held an absolutely massive broadshield, fire-red and covered in runes, each spelling out a long mantra of courage, or a prayer for victory, or a stanza of an epic. His right arm held a far more modest shield; small, round and a single spike poking out of the center, making it seem more like a weapon than a piece of armor.

 

His stats, conveniently enough, appeared in glowing font above his head. (1500/1900)

 

Sasha abruptly touched the air with her index finger, a floating blue panel appearing before it; evidently checking up on the effect of my Gardna. It was perfectly legal to examine an opponent’s cards in closer detail using that feature, but it was often considered taboo; usually, competitors generally just explained their cards if they were using one that was particularly unique or obscure. It was somewhat bizarre seeing a member of a fanatical duelist gang breaking common unspoken rules, but I guess I’d seen weirder.

 

“Valiant Gardna allows me to set an extra monster per turn as a special summon, so long as the monster has a higher defense score than its attack score.” I explained anyway, mostly out of habit. “I’ll do so now.”

 

I placed my Heroic Gardna face down next to the first card, and it appeared, represented by a shadowy rectangle. Duel Disks were wired to detect cheating, so it wasn’t necessary for me to reveal my card to show it fulfilled the criteria of the effect, it was assumed that since the disk accepted it, it did.

 

“That’s all for my turn. I hope it meets you standards.” I said coolly. That wasn’t bad for a turn- two gardnas out, and Heroic Gardna set up to activate next turn. I glanced over at the blond as she made her turn.

 

Sasha drew her card idly and briefly scanned her hand before making a decision.

 

“I play Terraforming.” She said without any real emotion, discarding it immediately after its activation and receiving the card she’d privately specified from her disk’s discharger. She wasted no time in activating it immediately, as the additional wing of her blade intended for field spells opened immediately.

 

“I activate Power Zone.” She said in a remarkably dull tone, which I had to frown at. What happened to the maniacal, sadistic glee I’d seen before? I almost felt cheated at her disimpassioned conduct so far, not even bothering to wait for my explanation of card effects and monotone speech.

 

I was taken slightly aback, however, when a giant crackling sphere of dark purple energy formed above our heads, emitting violent violet bolts of lightning every which way. It hummed with energy, causing distortion in the air, and I could have sworn I’d even felt an increase in gravity; that was certainly an impressive hologram.

 

The ground beneath us seemingly cracked and splintered, becoming an impacted wasteland, evidently the wreckage left behind by a massive explosion or release of energy. Even Valiant Gardna seemed to glance around warily when it appeared.

 

Sasha went back to her cards. I blinked.

 

“Aren’t you going to explain your field spell?” I asked; probably less smugly than I could have put it. Sasha gave me a somewhat odd look and a shrug. “You can check it on your own, you know. Duel disks do have that feature,” she shot back.

 

I shook my head indignantly. She might not want to abide by the usual customs, but that didn’t mean that I had to abandon them too. The back-and-forth between the duelists was an integral part of the competition; even in a life-threatening situation like this, I couldn’t let that go by. I certainly wasn’t getting the Duel Monsters Zealot vibe that the Saintly Blades were famous for. “That’s just how it’s done.” I argued. “You play a card, you explain it. That keeps the rapport running. If I consult a separate screen every two seconds, it just wouldn’t be a proper duel.”

 

She shook her head in a way that clearly showed she was bemused at my irritation. “I don’t get it,” she said with a grin. “You’d rather take my word for it, rather than a computer that never lies? Well fine, I suppose I may as well. Power Zone is simple; while it’s active, the owner of a monster destroyed in battle takes damage equal to that monster’s base attack score.” She paused for a second. “Oh, and I get to summon Power Annihilator to the field from my deck.”

 

A card was ejected from her deck, and she placed it on the blade of her sword-like duel disk. A strange, fiendish creature appeared on the field; it was about the size of a person, but covered in black organic armor and fiendish spikes. Its neck was long, and its head reminded me of an insect; eyeless, with a wide open mouth and two pairs of long horns that extended from the middle of the head-portion over the mouth, like an insect’s mandibles. It had a long, whip-like tail and strangely proportioned arms, gangly but with heavy and clumsy looking clawed hands. (1500/1500)

 

It was an interesting creature, to say the least. I’d seen plenty of fiends, but none quite like that. Its stats were lower than the average monster- it likely had some trick, probably some sort of synergy with Power Zone. “And what does Power Annihilator do?” I questioned.

 

Sasha just smiled grimly at me, brushing a lock of hair away from her face that had gotten in the way. “I was just getting to that. Be a little more patient, you could always just look it up on your own, you know. Anyway, Power Annihilator gains a thousand attack points if he’s in battle with a monster that has more attack points, and loses a thousand if he’s in the opposite case. So you’ll need something with more than thirty-five hundred attack points to get rid of him, I’m afraid.”

 

Hmm… well, I could see Power Annihilator wasn’t easy to beat in battle, and would likely give most types of deck grief. But she appeared to fail at math.

 

“Actually… I’d only need something with a twenty-five hundred attack score. Or anything at or below fifteen hundred. Like my Gardna.” I said with a brief gesture, somewhat curious about how she missed that.

 

She just shook her head. “Not quite, as you’ll see. I activate Power Spirit,” she stated, placing a spell card from her hand. Abruptly, lightning began crackling from the ground as well as the sky, linking between them in a seemingly deadly dance. The ground itself seemed to be in upheaval, as pressure was suddenly applied upwards; the floor started to take on a forbidding red tinge, which Valiant Gardna eyed warily. Power Annihilator hissed with pleasure as it was covered in the red glow, its carapace gleaming crimson.

 

Very foreboding, even if it was just a hologram.

 

“Power Spirit states that monsters with Power in their name cannot be destroyed in battle, except with a monster that is at least a thousand points stronger. So, as I said, thirty-five hundred,” she explained with a grin. “In addition, it negates any effect that would destroy a card with Power in its name, including itself, that does NOT target. Of course, to activate this, I pay a thousand lifepoints immediately…”

 

A holographic counter briefly showed up behind her, giving a visualization of her life points as they fell. (Sasha – 7000)

 

Her duel disk’s display also fell, which I could see only the edge of from the corner of my eye. Strangely enough, I noted that the font used to display the life points wasn’t the standard used for most duel disks- indeed; its bright white light reminded me surprisingly of the countdown on my leg.

 

I put two and two together. “Ah, now I see.” I said with a grin. “So, your group puts the same terms of the duel on you, as they do on me. Whatever the purpose of this thing on my leg is, I’m willing to bet your duel disk works the same way.”

 

Sasha frowned a little and muttered something quietly to herself. Though it was difficult to hear, I’m fairly sure it was along the lines of “Perceptive jabroni.”

 

She recovered quickly, and glanced back at me after giving her cards another once-over. “Unfortunately, Power Zone stipulates I can’t normal summon during the turn I use it to bring out Annihilator, so I’ll place a card face-down…” She placed a card, and a shadowy rectangle appeared behind Power Annihilator.

 

“But now…” she continued with a wicked smirk growing on her face, “I’ll special summon Power Wolf from my hand. I can do this so long as Power Annihilator is face up on the field, and I remove from play a card from my graveyard. I’ll ditch terraforming…”

 

The card was evidently exchanged within the duel disk itself, as I didn’t see it exit her graveyard. She seemed to have a slot for removed from play cards below it, which probably explained where it went.

 

A strange beastlike creature appeared on the field, next to her other monster, which didn’t really resemble a wolf. While it did have four legs and fangs, it was black and covered in natural armor much like Power Annihilator. It had no eyes, and two massive white horns extended from either side of its neck, stretching outward. It had a slavering mouth with two large fangs poking out, a slight amount of drool dripping as it pawed the ground. (0/0)

 

I blinked at the creature, noting its odd stats, before a long bolt of purple lightning flew from the above mass into the quadruped. The beast howled with excitement as its power skyrocketed and I sighed a little. (2000/0)

 

Sasha didn’t appear to explain, so I prompted her. “What was that about?” I asked.

 

“Power Wolf’s attack score increases by two thousand while Power Zone is the field,” she explained dryly, though smirking triumphantly all the way. “I can’t attack with him the turn I special summon him in that way, so that’s it for this turn. Make the best of your time.

 

“I always do.” I replied smoothly, as I drew my new card; it was Warrior Lady of the Wasteland. Not exactly what I was expecting, but I could do something with that…

 

“I summon the lovely Warrior Lady of the Wasteland.” I announced with a slight flourish, as the female monster appeared next to the obscured Heroic Gardna. She was a pale-skinned woman, fairly tall, with shoulder-length blond hair, two bangs falling before her face. She wore a light green suit made up of boots that extended to her knees, a miniskirt and a small bodice worn as a tank top. Her naval was covered by two belts worn, each on top of the other, the higher one affixing the sheath of a knife to her side. She wore a long, slightly tattered-looking brown traveller’s cloak and a matching wide-brimmed hat, a small feather pendant affixed to the side of the hat. Her left shoulder bore a small armored piece, and the entire arm was bound in bandages, as if she had recently suffered an injury to it.

 

She gave a slight wink to Power Annihilator, who hissed back.

 

I smirked a little. “No worries Sasha, you’re still cuter,” I flirted, which was met with a scowl, like I anticipated. I was doing a pretty good job of keeping the cocky persona up, almost enough that I’d nearly fooled myself into being casual.

 

“I’ll chain to that.” Sasha spoke up, still scowling a little. “It’s A Rival Appears.”

 

I winced slightly as the card revealed itself; a pair of child magicians combating eachother, one using white magic, the other black. Though the picture wasn’t that threatening, I knew it meant that she got to summon a level four monster from her hand immediately, which couldn’t be a good thing.

 

“I designate Warrior Lady of the Wasteland as the target, and special summon a level 4 monster from my hand. Namely, King Tiger Wanghu,” she continued, placing the card from her hand. There was a roar as a large white tiger appeared, covered in gleaming steel armor held on by a leather harness. (1700/1000)

 

The tiger gave Warrior Lady a withering glance, before backing up slightly and emitting a massive roar reminiscent of symbols clashing. Warrior Lady gave a slight yelp and fell to her knees, clutching her ears, as she shattered into holographic triangles.

 

Well, that wasn’t good. The tiger had to die quickly; most of my monsters had less than fourteen hundred attack points. At least, if I recalled, flip summons weren’t affected by Wanghu, so I could at least go through that way.

 

“Well… I still get my extra set from Valiant Gardna. I’ll do that now.” I said after a second, setting my second Heroic Gardna. I moved my hand over to the other one that I had set last turn.

 

“I’ll now flip summon my facedown card,” I said confidently. “Reveal, Heroic Gardna.”

 

The shadowy rectangle dispersed, revealing yet another shirtless male with ridiculous muscle mass. Unlike the other, however, this one was far less brutal- his hair was long and black, flowing over his shoulders, and he held only a single shield; though his was easily the largest, dwarfing the other warrior’s armor. It was a massive white shell that was even larger than he was; an impressive piece of equipment. At the moment however, it was rather useless, due to being holstered on his back. He raised his fists threateningly at Sasha, who didn’t even spare him a glance. (1000/2100)

 

“When Heroic Gardna is flip summoned, or if he’s attacked while in defense position, I get to take a specific spell card called Moment of Action from my deck or grave. I’ll just grab that now....” I explained despite the blue screen once again appearing under Sasha’s finger. My mouth twitched downward just slightly; I liked explaining my cards. My duel disk found the proper card on its own, and after shuffling my deck automatically, placed it face-up on the top. I retrieved it quickly, adding it to the rest of my hand.

 

I glanced briefly my newest weapon, A Moment of Action. It targeted to destroy, so I could use it to get rid of one of her monsters, even the ones protected by Power Spirit. Annihilator was worrisome, as it was nigh-impossible to destroy in battle, but it wasn’t really a priority at the moment. Wanghu would make things really difficult for me. Still, the pressing matter at the moment was the wolf; it was capable of destroying Valiant Gardna.

 

I made my decision quickly, figuring it was probably best to play it safe in a duel where my life could depend on me winning.

 

“I activate A Moment of Action from my hand. To do so, I have to select a warrior on my side of the field, and a monster from your side with a lower attack score than the defense score of my chosen warrior. I select Heroic Gardna, and Power Wolf.”

 

I activated the card, and Heroic Gardna got a glint in his eye. Rushing up to the fiend, he bore up his massive shield and barreled headlong into his opponent, smashing him down and causing his armor to surge with energy. Power Annihilator fought back a little, making hissing and bark-like sounds, but was eventually overcome and exploded into triangular shards. Heroic Gardna got up, punched the air in victory, and walked back to his square.

 

“A Moment of Action also allows my Valiant Gardna to attack twice during my next battle phase, since I activated it on my turn. I’m going to have to give that part of the effect a miss, however.” I explained; even with two attacks, he wasn’t going to be able to destroy any other monsters.

 

“Next, I’ll play Book of Moon to set Heroic Gardna face-down again.”

 

An ancient-looking bluish book briefly appeared on the field, which opened, revealing complete darkness within. The darkness somehow seemed to seep out, which quickly spread over to Heroic Gardna, covering and swallowing him up until only a black rectangle once again remained.

 

Well, that seemed to be about all I could do. “I’m ending my turn. Your go.” I said with a wave of my hand. Sasha nodded, and drew her card. I felt now was the time to engage her in conversation.

 

“So, the Saintly Blades then? Why’d you hook up with them?” I said conversationally. She glanced at me and blinked in confusion; evidently, she certainly wasn’t used to people making personal queries in the middle of a duel. She chuckled, and shrugged.

 

“Because I like games, and I like hurting people. Do you need any more explanation?” she said with a wolfish smirk, evidently trying to intimidate me. It did, but like hell I’d actually show that.

 

“Really? Not greed or anything? Just hurting people?” I asked, keeping up a friendly smile. She shook her head in exasperation, and proceeded to ignore me, keeping a firm neutral expression. That was good; I knew I was getting to them when they had to concentrate to ignore me. When they did that, I think it threw them a little off their game.

 

She considered her hand for a second before placing a card. “Allure of Darkness,” she stated, drawing two cards from her deck, and giving it a brief thought. “I remove Mystic Tomato for the effect,” she stated, before sliding one card into her removed slot and adding Allure to the graveyard.

 

She fixed a lock of hair beside her head, despite it having not moved from its previous position. I couldn’t restrain a grin; a tick like that was an obvious sign that she was getting uncomfortable, which is great for my purposes.

 

“I place a face-down.” She stated, placing the card. I frowned; she’d already caught me with a trap once, but I wasn’t sure I could afford to play it safe. Giving her time to work would be giving her time to find a way to hurt me.

 

But aside from that trap, so far it was a rather uneventful turn, once again playing to my strengths. From the looks of it, she was having trouble adjusting her strategy to deal with my defense, a happy scenario for me.

 

I made my draw. Millennium Shield. Well, useful, just not at the moment.

 

I cracked my knuckles as best I could while holding a hand of cards and wearing a duel. I could have flip summoned either, or both of my Heroic Gardnas, and received A Moment of Action from both of them, but… doing so would put both of them in harm’s way, and I was only allowed to activate one A Moment of Action per turn.

 

Even so, a strategy came to mind. I turned to one of the Heroic Gardnas, and flipped him. “I flip summon Heroic Gardna,” I stated, as the musclebound shield-bearer appeared again. Once more, I reached down and retrieved A Moment of Action from the top of my deck.

 

I paused for a second, hoping this would work. But if it did, I’d be able to do a large chunk of damage this turn…

 

“I activate A Moment of Action, targeting my Heroic Gardna and your King Tiger. Heroic, go ahead,” I offered. Heroic Gardna’s eyes seemed to light up, as he retrieved his shield. He yelled and jumped towards the armored cat, which hissed and spat as a gigantic shield was shoved in his face. The King Tiger fought back against the warrior’s onslaught of shoves and strikes, but was quickly beaten down by the gardna’s superior armor and shattered into triangular pixels. Heroic Gardna gave a victory cry and made his way back to his square.

 

I sighed a little in relief, as she didn’t activate her trap card. With the King Tiger out of the equation, my job was a lot easier.

 

“I summon Exiled Force.” I said with the cocky grin returning, placing the card down. A group of rag-tag warriors, at least five present, appeared wearing a variety of worn-down armors and weapons. Their apparent leader, a tough-looking man wearing a bronze helm and set of shoulder pads stood upfront, brandishing his long metal pike threateningly at the remaining fiend. (1000/1000)

 

“Next, I’ll tribute Exiled Force to destroy Power Annihilator.” I said, as the group joined weapons and vanished in a flash of energy, a bolt of yellow lightning striking upwards among the purple electricity still crackling above.

 

“Chain,” Sasha replied almost dully. My smile fell, as it revealed the odd image of Swordsman of Landstar emerging from a duel disk’s graveyard.

 

“Limit Reverse,” she said while feigning a yawn. “I’m targeting Power Wolf.”

 

With a burst of light and a screech of power, Power Wolf appeared once more, snarling all the fiercer. Though his limbs seemed stringy and somehow insubstantial, that was quickly fixed as a lance of violet electricity collided with him once more. (0/0) - (2000/0)

 

Immediately after Power Wolf appeared, the yellow bolt re-emerged, descending and smiting Power Annihilator. The fiend cried out and hissed in what was presumed to be pain before its black silhouette was lost in the bolt, shattering into its component triangular pixels.

 

I hesitated, and glanced at my hand. Not much there, The Warrior Returning Alive and Millennium Shield. Either way, I didn’t have my Normal Summon. I could flip my other Heroic Gardna, but I’d already played A Moment of Action once this turn.

 

“I use Valiant Gardna’s effect to set another card,” I said, appearing to recover quickly as I slid Millennium Shield into position. Another dark shape appeared, filling the fourth of my field spaces.

 

Nothing else I could do then.

 

“Uh… your turn, then.” I said, trying as hard as I could to keep a sigh from reaching my voice. I didn’t want to give the impression I thought I was losing control of the situation.

 

If Sasha knew I was feigning confidence, she didn’t show it; she looked almost as if she were fighting to stay awake while she drew her card. She glanced at it, and actually giggled a little before returning to looking board, examining it closer before adding it to the other card in her hand.

 

Well, that was bad. Sasha didn’t seem like the giggly type. If something elicited such a response, it couldn’t be good.

 

“I summon Power Gravity from my hand,” she said while brushing a stray bang away from her face. Yet another fiend appeared- this one was rather similar to Power Annihilator, but it had a couple key differences. Its stance was longer, and it seemed to walk on four legs rather than on two, though none of them had the bludgeoning qualities you could see on Annihilator. In addition, it had no tail, and instead of a head, sported a massive fleshy disk nearly three feet in diameter. The edges of three claw-mandible type objects grasped the side of the disk in equal thirds, and though it was flat, it had a groove in the middle for a purpose that was impossible to discern. It seemed to glance at its opponents passively, though it was impossible to tell for sure. (1450/1550)

 

“This one has a variety of effects.” She said in near-monotone, “So listen up. First, when I normal summon him, I get another copy of Power Zone from my deck.”

 

Another copy of the field spell was launched and caught by Sasha, who opened her field tray and replaced the card with its identical twin before sending it to the graveyard.

 

That gave me pause. “The point of that was…?” I inquired, though I was starting to wonder if I actually wanted to know.

 

“Because…” Sasha said with a chuckle. “Power Zone allows me to special summon a Power Annihilator from my grave when it’s sent to the grave from the field, by removing it from play instead.”

 

“Oh,” was all I could say. I wasn’t surprised that she neglected to mention this earlier.

 

I noted that the gargantuan purple mass above me seemed to be getting smaller. After a few seconds, it compressed itself to about the size of a basketball, before it suddenly slammed into the ground, kicking up a large bank of virtual dust in the air. There was a loud hissing sound, and seconds later, I noted that her field now included Power Annihilator in addition to Gravity. I glanced upward; the purple mass seemed to have replaced itself, not surprisingly.

 

“Well, Gravity has a second effect by the way. When he’s on the field and a Power monster destroys something, you take damage equal to your destroyed monster’s defense… in addition to the damage you take from Power Zone. Or, if I choose to waive that effect, I can instead flip all your monsters into face-up attack position.”

 

My eyes bulged. “Wha… but, but…” I managed to get out, “That seems almost…broken even, I mean…”

 

“Not quite. Power Gravity has a rather harsh penalty if he’s destroyed, in return for his useful effects. But that won’t really matter this turn. In any case, I’ll my battle phase by having Power Wolf attack your Valiant Gardna…”

 

Power Wolf seemed to wag its long, reptilian tail as it barked in confirmation. It rushed towards Valiant Gardna, who held out his shield to defend himself, briefly warding off the fiendish attacker. But the wolf didn’t give up, and glowing with the arcane purple lightning of Power Zone, thrust his jaws through the shield, cracking it and disemboweling its wielder, who shattered into shards.

 

Power Zone pulsated and rained a bolt of purple lightning at me. I felt the force pass through, though there wasn’t much actual pain to speak of- both my duel disk and the strange object gripping my leg fell to sixty-five hundred. (Jon – 6500)

 

Sasha seemed even less interested now than she did earlier. “Hm… well, I waive the extra damage in order to switch the positions of the rest of your monsters.”

 

A bright second bolt shot down, though this one impacted Power Gravity. The energy seemed to collect in the groove on his flat head, causing it to glow brightly with power. It seemed to crackle with its own vibrant energy, covering its face in a dull glow; the dark shapes that were my facedown cards dispersed, revealing a second Heroic Gardna and a golden shield engraved with an Egyptian eye. Neither were in a particularly defensive position and seemed somewhat helpless. (0/3000), (1000/2100)

 

My opponent did a slight double-take at seeing the shield and grinned broadly. “Well… that didn’t work out for you, did it?” she asked, indicating the fallen shield. I shrugged noncommittally.

 

“Power Annihilator, take out the shield,” she ordered, her amusement fading as victory was in sight. The strange beast ambled forward at a surprisingly swift pace, though its presence seemed to notably lessen as it approached. (1500/1500 – 500/1500).

 

Even weakened, it leapt with a vicious battle cry and lashed its tail out to grasp the piece of ancient armory and fling it to the side, where it shattered. I winced at the sound. (Jon- 6000)

 

A lightning bolt didn’t strike me, presumably because Millennium Shield had zero attack power. But, right on cue, I saw Power Gravity charging up its disk again, and release a powerful blast of its own electricity right into me. I winced again. (Jon- 3000)

 

“Not to add insult to injury, but I’d like to chain to that…” she muttered idly, placing another card into her spell/trap slots. “It’s a quickplay called Strategic Bombard. Basically, I can activate it during a turn that Power Annihilator’s attack score changed; until the end of the turn, whenever I destroy one of your monsters, I can send one Power Bombard from my deck to my grave to hit you for an extra thousand. I’ll do that now.”

 

Her deck spat out a card, and she placed it into the graveyard slot immediately. I blinked in surprise as a sudden explosion erupted from beneath my feet, surprisingly large. As a hologram, it didn’t damage anything but my life points, which were indeed lower. (Jon- 2000)

 

Well, that wasn’t good. That wasn’t good at all. I bit my lip. With that done, it didn’t look like I could win. In fact, she’d finish me off that turn.

 

I glanced briefly at the thing strapped to my leg.

 

Sasha shook her head. “Power Gravity, take out one of his gardnas and finish this off, please.”

 

Power Gravity ambled forward at its own pace, far less violently and quickly than Annihilator had. It didn’t seem to have need to do so, as it charged power in its head; as it approached one of the armored warriors, it released a thick beam of bright violet light, causing Heroic Gardna to gasp, his eyes widening and drop his shields before he shattered. (Jon- 1550)

 

The sky rumbled, and a long lance of lightning from Power Zone again descended to strike me. I stumbled back in shock somewhat, despite there being no pain, as the light had momentarily blinded me. The spots before my eyes faded just in time to see Power Gravity finish gathering its power, and release it in a brutal stream of electricity.

 

Both of my counters fell down again, to their ultimate destination. I felt my breath catch briefly, but I stopped myself from sobbing. (Jon – 0)

 

I glanced up at Sasha, my eyes wide. She glanced back at me blankly. I forced myself to smile a little. “Sasha, it’s been a hono-” I managed to get out, before my body was suddenly caught in a massive wave of pain. My body stiffened as a powerful electrical current ran from it, freezing all my muscles in place. I couldn’t even scream, though the pain was incredible.

 

My vision blurred quickly, and I fell to the ground with a loud thud. There were a few more brief moments of pain, and suddenly, everything faded to black.

 

 

[Guest Supreme Gamesmaster]

Oh, lawlz. Duel Monsters was given to the world by a being who commands fate. It's the only other explanation besides the show exaggerating and Duel Monsters just being another sport.

 

Anyway, the prose can be a little awkward in places, but on the whole, it looks pretty awesome. Specific examples:

 

"Comprised of" is always an error; to comprise is to be composed of. Very common mistake that always irks me.

Some words ("hermitage," "more" in the last sentence) are repeated enough so as to be awkward. The timing is perfect the first time, but in the second, it just seems overused.

 

(I noticed that in your RP intros, too.)

 

But you tend to work better in shorter, more dialogue-packed bits, so I'll wait for that. Great concept; can't wait to see more. ^_^

[Quiksilver]

Interesting. I find this fanfic strange and different from the other fanfics here; It is quite refreshing. Do I detect a hint of Jonathan Stroud's work here?

 

EDIT: Also, you spelled "duel" wrong. Thought I'd just mention that.

[Hydra of Ages]

Oh' date=' lawlz. Duel Monsters was given to the world by a being who commands fate. It's the only other explanation besides the show exaggerating and Duel Monsters just being another sport.

 

Anyway, the prose can be a little awkward in places, but on the whole, it looks pretty awesome. Specific examples:

 

"Comprised of" is always an error; to comprise is to be composed of. Very common mistake that always irks me.

Some words ("hermitage," "more" in the last sentence) are repeated enough so as to be awkward. The timing is perfect the first time, but in the second, it just seems overused.

 

(I noticed that in your RP intros, too.)

 

But you tend to work better in shorter, more dialogue-packed bits, so I'll wait for that. Great concept; can't wait to see more. ^_^

[/quote']

 

I used hermitage more than once? Hm, I specifically recall routing that one out. Oh well.

 

Yes, I do have a tendency to repeat the terminology used in the previous sentence when I loose my train of thought for a second, it's a problem I'm working on. I generally catch most of it when editing, but thanks for the one ones I missed.

 

Hunh, didn't know the used of 'comprised' was incorrect honestly. I'll try to keep that one in mind.

 

Interesting. I find this fanfic strange and different from the other fanfics here; It is quite refreshing. Do I detect a hint of Jonathan Stroud's work here?

 

EDIT: Also' date=' you spelled "duel" wrong. Thought I'd just mention that.

[/quote']

 

Actually, I'm a big fan of Stroud, so I'm honestly quite flattered you noticed some similarities. Oh, and where specifically did I misspell it? I can't seem to locate the mistake with any search functions.

[Quiksilver]

A wiry brown haired man' date=' perhaps around nineteen years old, was standing at one end of a dimly-lit stadium. All around him were concrete walls, and a high pointed tin roof stood above him, devoid of most other characteristics. He appeared to be in a warehouse, probably abandoned due to the lack of goods stored there, and wore a [b']dual[/b] disk on his right arm, a standard red-and-white model lacking any sort of special modification or skin.

 

Its a real word, so that's why I expect the spell-checker didn't catch it. And yeah, I'm a fan too. :D

[Dr. Cakey]

Fan Fiction - Now with 100% less GX rip-off!

 

This is very refreshing, and I'm very interested in seeing how it turns out. As with everything everyone posts on EVAR...so far there's not enough to have a solid opinion.

[Lord Smeagle]

I suppose I should've noticed Stroud's influence, but it's been a really long time since I read The Amulet of Samarkand.

 

Anyhoo, it looks solid so far. I'd be interested to see more of this.

[Hydra of Ages]

Updated.

 

Also, I hate writing duels already.

 

I'd put up a card list for the fakes, but I'm horrible at OCG so I'm almost embarrassed to.

[Guest Supreme Gamesmaster]

...

 

...holy broken combos, Batman. That was well beyond anything Yugi or Judai ever pulled off, an OTK... I guess Industrial Illusions is as half-dead and unobservant as Konami in this world, what with not banning Power Gravity and stuff. Odd to have him playing such a defensive Deck, though.

 

Oh, and Fate's screwed.

[Hydra of Ages]

Eh, not really. You obviously couldn't see it without a card list, but Gravity dies to basically everything and likely kills the user when it goes; it just seemed incredibly broken in this chapter, as it was the antithesis to Jon's deck (which is its purpose, destroying defensive-style decks that are otherwise unhindered by the Power Archetype's main hitters).

 

But I admit, as I was trying to slog through the chapter, I ended up heaping a lot of effects onto Gravity that I didn't originally intend for it to have. Writing duels is hard, if that's any excuse.

[evilfusion]

*whistle* For someone who says writing duels is hard (you're right, of course), you did an excellent job.

[legendhiro]

i actually like writing duels, so if you ever need any help, gimme a call (or pm). seriously, i clear my mind by listing moves in hypothetical card games. it can be yugioh or something else depending on my mood.