First Reflection: The Lance of Mirrors
The school bell rang at the local high school in the suburbs of a town in the middle of California in the middle of summer. Students groaned their way to buses and cars in their heat. A small group however, was stupid enough to duel in this heat.
"Draw! I activate E- Emergency Call, and add Elemental Hero Sparkman to my hand! Then I'll play him!" A short blond haired boy yelled, slapping the cards down onto his Battle City-Era Duel Disk. Just as soon as Sparkman appeared, he vanished, as a large holographic card flipped face up on the boy's side of the field "Miracle Fusion! I'll summon Elemental Hero Electrum!"
The watching members of the group groaned as the spandex clad big yellow man appeared. Well, thats another duel Jack just won was the unanimous thought between them.
"heh! Electrum always wins my duels!" The blond boy, apparently named Jack, shouted. The group groaned in unison, including the losing duelist. "Who wants to go next?"
Nobody replied. Jack waved them off. "Fine, then. Can't duel in the heat? I shoulda used E-hero Inferno!" The various duelists just shook their heads and walked away. Why bother with this duel freak? Jack crossed his arms and pouted a little. "Fine! I'll find someone else to duel!"
At this exact moment, a rather lonely looking asian boy just walked by, wearing a Katsuya Jounouchi, better known by his pro duelist name "Jounouchi fire" T-shirt walked by. The tell-tale sign of a duelist was strapped to his left arm, a duel disk. Apparently an old Duel Academia duel disk, before they upgraded to the new color-coded ones.
"Hey, you! Duel me!" Jack shouted as he held his disk up.
"..I don't duel people, sorry." The Jounouchi fan sighed. "Nobody wants to duel me when I tell them what kind of Deck I run.."
"I don't discriminate! Come on, tell me. I run E-heroes, myself!"
"..Mirror Monsters."
Jack paused for a few seconds and doubled over laughing. The other boy sighed and kept walking. Kaermiru Sanshi, 16 year old Japanese exchange student. He was really used to that reaction now. Mirror Monsters were considered the worst archetype of the game, literally laughed out of production. He kept on walking, brushing his short brown hair back a little. Man, it was hot in America.
Jack frowned when he stood back up. He didn't mean to make the other guy leave..oh well..when he turned around to walk back into the school to get to his locker, he found himself staring at a black suit..
The next day, Sanshi dragged himself into class as usual. He'd much rather be at home, where people didn't laugh at him because of his deck..he overheard Jack and his group talking as he walked in, and blinked.
"He was like six feet tall! Wore a secret service-like black suit even in this heat, and he wasn't breaking a sweat! His duel disk was pretty normal, but his DECK..it was so freaking weird! He kept using this card to add a level 5 monster to his hand..then when I summoned Electrum to finish him off, he had a face down Magic Cylinder. Nothing weird there, it was annoying to finally take damage in the duel though..but next turn he summoned this weird dragon that had 4500 attack because he discarded three level five monsters!" Jack explained, somehow in one breath. The rest of the group just stared at him.
"Theres no monster like that, Jack." A tall brown haired third-year explained, groaning at the shorter kid's rant.
"There is! He used it, Alex!"
"..What was it called?"
"...I don't remember."
Alex groaned again and turned to the teacher as she walked in. Another exciting day at school. And tried to ignore that Umbrella-headed girl behind him rolling dice. Didn't she know that nobody liked Dungeon Dice Monsters?
The school day went by as normal for Sanshi. Bullies picked on him for using mirror monsters, and for playing a card game in general. They never did that to the good duelists..
Sanshi dragged himself out of school long after everyone else had left. He had detention for sleeping in class a few days back. He groaned. All the buses had left. He'd have to walk home today..20 miles. He groaned again, why him? He plopped down on a curb and plucked his deck out of his backpack and looked through it..nobody would even duel him, how did they know that the mirror monsters were bad?
At this point, a large man in a black suit tapped him on the shoulder. "Kaemiru Sanshi, I presume?"
Sanshi jumped off the curb and turned around to the man. He was about six feet tall, not sweating in a black secret-service style suit..was this the guy that blonde guy was talking about? "Y-yeah, so?"
He held his duel disk up. "I'm here to duel you, and I'll tell you why afterwards..and if you win, I'll give you a free ride home." The bald secret service-man motioned to his air conditioned limo.
That was reason enough for Sanshi. "I accept!"
The man nodded and slid his deck into the disk, Sanshi did the same. Their disks activated at the same time.
"DUEL!" The two shouted at the same time, as their life point counters shot up to 4000
Sanshi blinked as his life point counter "..Why only 4000?"
"It's very hot out here, I want this to end soon. I'll go first." The man drew six cards. Sanshi nodded and drew five.
"I'll summon Assault Gundog and end my turn." The man said as the mechanical dog appeared on his side of the field.1200/800
Sanshi nodded "Draw!" he stared at his hand..jeeze, what a slow start. "I set a monster, and two reverse cards! End!"
"Draw! hm..Assault Gundog! Attack the set monster!" The dog jumped forward and tried to bite the card, only to bite into a mirror. It whimpered and jumped back to the man's side of the field as his life points decreased to 3200. "..is that..."
"Thats right! It's the Wall of Mirrors, with 2000 defense!" He said proudly towards the large wall of mirrors in front of him."
..The secret service man just stared at him and shook his head. "Why would they..no matter. I set one reverse card. Turn end."
As Sanshi drew, Jack snuck his way out of the school..he had gotten lost on his way out of his own detention. He noticed the duel and grinned, hiding behind a bench to watch it.
"I'll set another monster! Turn end!" Sanshi shouted as he set his monster.
The service man drew and slid the card into his duel disk. No need to announce it, as the Pot of Greed appeared on his side of the field. He didn't bother to wait for it as he drew two cards..perfect! "I activate two Summoner's Art, and I add two level 5 or higher normal monsters to my hand!"
Sanshi blinked. You didn't see that card much. "Alright. No counters"
"Next, I'll have Assault Gundog attack your newly set monsters."
Sanshi watched the little glass mouse get eaten. "Mirror's Mouse! When it's destroyed, I special summon another one to my side of the field, in defense!" A second one appeared, holding it's little mouse paws over it's face in defense. "Now I'll activate my counter trap, Mirror's Counterattack! When A Mirror monster I control is destroyed, I special summon a level 4 or lower Mirror Monster from my deck!"
Sanshi pulled his deck out and fanned it out. He plucked out a card, shuffled his deck and set it back in the disk. "I special summon Mirror's Bird!"0/0
..The man had to stop himself from falling over laughing. "Fine. I'll end my turn"
"Draw! ..I'll summon Copycat!" The clown with a mirror appeared on his side of the field, and aimed the mirror at Assault Gundog "I'll copy your only face up monster, then suicide Copycat into him!" Sanshi grinned. Thats one annoyance gone..wait, why is there a new one replacing it?
"Assault Gundog's effect is the same as your mouse."
Sanshi cursed to himself. "I end my turn."
The man drew..heh, there it is.
Jack from behind the bench, had a view of the man's card, and gasped. "Thats the card..!"
"From my hand. I send Aitsu, Terrorking Salmon, and Battle Steer to the graveyard. Special summon MONTAGE DRAGON!" The man slapped the card into his disk as a huge, three headed dragon appeared. Sanshi gulped as it's attack points jumped up to 4500. Maybe thats why he wanted a 4000 point duel.
"..And since your bird is in attack, I'm going to finish this duel, Mr. Sanshi. Montage Dragon! Finish him off! POWER COLLAGE TO MIRROR'S BIRD!"
Sanshi stared in awe for a second before realizing he's about to lose, then quickly slamming down on a button on his duel disk. "Reverse card open! Mirror's Reflection! When it's activated, I can switch an attack pointed to a Mirror monster I control, to another Mirror monster! You're destroying Wall of Mirrors now!" Sanshi spat out in one breath, as the wall of mirrors was destroyed.
The man shrugged. Next turn. "Turn end."
"Draw! I summon Mirror's Lance!" A small glass statue-sized lance appeared on his side of the field. 0/0
Jack slapped his forehead. No wonder nobody dueled Mirror decks..
"Mirror's Lance is a Union monster! I'll equip it to Mirror's Bird!" Nothing happened..Sanshi had to walk over, pick up the lance, and stick it next to the bird. Then he walked back to his regular position. "It's effect is..I copy the attack of one monster on the field for one turn!"
"..what?" The man finally started to sweat.
"Thats right, my Mirror's Bird has 4500 attack now too! I discard 5 cards from the top of my deck..and attack you directly!"
The bird suddenly started shaking and a huge, humanoid bird-man erupted from the class, and picked up the tiny glass lance, which shook and exploded out into a huge, glowing lance.
The man could only stare at the bird person in awe. Someone actually had the balls to attack with a mirror monster..and THATS what happens? He was so confused that he was about to lose to Mirror deck that he forgot to activate his reverse card, which was Negate Attack.
The birdman took to the skies and divebombed into the man, driving the lance into him. The man dropped to his knees as his lifepoints hit zero.
Sanshi looked forward and..blinked. Did he just win a duel?..did MIRROR monsters just win a duel?