"Hey guys!" James shouted as he walked over to a few of his friends that were gathered at a nearby locker. "What cha looking at?" James looked over the shoulders of his tall friend Martin. He saw Jesse Darktide holding a deck of cards in one hand, and a single card in the other hand. What was it? "A game called Duel Monsters." Leon, another of James' friends answered. "Hrm, thanks for not being vague." James replied, still not having a clue of what these cards were.

Jake began looking through the deck of cards in his hand. "Hmm, I know it is in here somewhere. ah! Here it is. The Red Eyes Black Dragon, my strongest, not to mention rarest, card!" As he said this, Jessie held up the card letting everyone see. "There is a tournament in week, and I plan to win it with this card."

Tim and Leon began talking back and forth as James remained silent. He was thinking. These cards intrigued him, as did the Tournament. After about a minute, Tim turned his attention away from Leon and the card he was holding. "Hey, you ok?" He asked James. Although Tim already had an idea what was going on. Jesse and James had always competed against each other at anything. They were always trying to prove they were better then the other.

"No, just thinking about something." James shortly answered. "Really? What's that?." Leon said, a grin on his face. "I need to buy these cards."

James sat at his computer, a chat window open with Leo. "You buy the cards?" Leon typed out. "Sure did." James messaged back. He then typed out "Opening the packs now".

The new duelist picked up the first pack and tore it open. Nine cards came out, and he looked each one over. Cyber Falcon, Pale Beast, Remove Trap. what seemed pretty average cards. James opened up a few more. In the middle of a pack a card caught his eye.

"Twin-headed Fire Dragon eh." he mumbled to himself as he looked it over. 2200 attack and 1700 defense. Not bad. Not bad at all. He separated the dragon from the other cards. He opened more, and then found another nice card. Judge Man. James put that card with the dragon.

"Those cards are pretty good, but neither will beat Jake's Red Eyes. I need something stronger."

Twenty minutes passed, and James was reaching the end of his booster packs. He had some nice cards that would be very useful in a duel, but he still did not have a card that could defeat Jake if they were to duel. James tore through another pack. Then another. He had only two left. The second to last pack contained a very nice trap card that he decided to put in his deck for sure. Only one pack left. James reached for it. The pack wouldn't open at first, so he tugged a little harder. The pack split open and the nine cards fell to the floor. He started reading them as he picked them up. And there it was on the floor! The card that can defeat a Red Eyes Black Dragon. James picked the card up and smiled.

It was early Friday morning. The students at Fenton High began pouring into the school. James and Leo walked down to hall to their locker.

"Ok. so trap cards can be played any time after I set them. hmm.. Fusion cards are considered special summons.. Hrmm.. Special summon. hmm.." James mumbled to himself as he flipped through the Duel Monsters rule book. Leo was more then a little annoyed.

"So do you plan on doing anything else today besides reading that?" Leon asked.

"Like what?"

"Never mind!" "Hmm, I know what I am going to do after school though. I will have to go back to Solomon Motou's card shop and ask him a few questions about this game."

The school day eventually came to an end. James took a bus to the card shop, and Leon tagged along for fun. The two walked into the store to be greeted by another kid about their age. James was eager to learn more about this new and intriguing game. Leon was a bit less enthusiastic.

"Heya, my name's Joey Wheeler. Nice to meet ya."

"Hello." James said back. "I am here to see Solomon Motou."

"Ah, Gramps is in back over there." Just as Joey said those words, a door opened behind the check out counter and Solomon spoke out.

"Oh, hello James!" Solomon called. "How were those cards I sold you yesterday?"

"They are great, in fact I made my deck. But I have a few questions about the rules, and I thought you might be able to help me." James commented.

"Sure!" Solomon answered, as he bent down under the counter. He came back up with a very thick book. The cover read Duel Monsters Master Rules: Volume 1. "Let's get started"

***

A few hours had passed. Leon started by looking around the store, but slowly tired of that. Joey had been looking through several sheets and notebooks of cards and making several stacks. Leon went over to see what he was doing, and the two began to talk. After seeing a few demonstrations of the game from Joey Wheeler, Leon ended up buying a few packs of cards. Later, Wheeler was a bit upset when his tab was as large as ever, despite making a sale for Solomon.

James and Solomon continued discussing the game and Leon started listening. It was getting late, and the conversation was coming to an end.

"Remember," Solomon said, "No deck is perfect."

"Even yours, Solomon?" Leon asked.

"Except mine." Solomon retorted.

James and Leon got their things together and left the store, saying a final goodbye to Mr. Motou and Joey Wheeler. On their way out they ran into another kid, who they recognized as Yugi Motou, Duel Monsters champ. James hoped to reach that status one day. He had to work his way up, though, and next weekend he would have his chance to begin his Duel Monsters career.

It was now 7:00 PM Saturday night, and James Frostfell was now in a large dueling arena instead of a card shop. Through a chain of ridiculous and, in some cases, uncivilized events, Frostell and Darktide were know preparing their decks to duel each other. They had paid to duel in a large 3-D holographical dueling arena, which did end up costing them a bit more then some pocket change.

The most memorable part about this duel is the cause for it is pretty unmemorable. If you were to ask either of the duelists what had started the chain of events that led to this battle, neither would know, but both would make up some story and claim theirs is the true one. The true truth is that they had both wanted to prove who was better at this game, and asking for a friendly duel to decide the more skilled is not how the two of them did things.

"Both players will start with 8,000 Life Points to begin the duel. The first one to reduce his opponent's life points to zero will be the winner. After the duel is over, please quickly leave the duel arena in a timely fashion to allow others to play." A voice boomed over a set of speakers.

James found himself on a large dueling arena. A good distance across from him, Jesse stood in his own dueling station. "Lets do this!" James shouted, and inserted his deck into the dueling arena's automatic shuffling machine. Jesse did the same, and then the duel was ready to go.

"Jesse will make the first move" the same voice boomed across the arena again.

Jesse's Life Points: 8000

James' Life Points: 8000

Jesse drew his hand, and set a face down card, and summoned a Harpie's Brother (1800/600) in attack mode.

James drew his card. "Not bad." he thought to himself. Setting a Collected Power face down, he summoned the Judge Man (2200/1500) in attack mode. A satisfied grin crossed James face. "Judge Man, destroy his Harpies!" James cried, and the monster complied. The towering Judge Man took one swipe at Harpie's Brother, and it was blown into many diminutive pieces.

Jesse's Life Points: 7600 Jame's Life Points: 8000

"That was very nice James, and it seems you have not only learned the rules of the game, but aquired a powerful monster, too. It's a shame it cannot hold a candle to my Red Eyes Black Dragon, thought." Jesse said, as he drew his next card.

"If I were in your situation, I wouldn't be so cocky, Jesse." James spat back.

Jesse put a monster in face down defense mode, and simply ended his turn.

James picked up a card and looked at it. "Neo the Magic Swordsman (1700/1000) ! What luck! I can do some serious damage to his life points now!". James set the newly drawn card on the Dueling board infront of him, and the familiar zooomph sounded, as the computer generated the image of Neo the Magical Swordsman on the dueling arena. "Now, attack my monsters!" James yelled out, pointing a finger in Jesse's direction. The Judge Man attacked the image of the card in the arena, destroying, and it blew into pieces similiarly to the Harpie's Brother. Then Neo drew his sword and and in one swift swing, James' lead greatly increased.

Jesse's Life Points: 5900 Jame's Life Points: 8000

At about this time Jesse let out an angry growl, while banging his clenched fist on the dueling platform. He drew his next card and said something impossible to understand through clenched teeth, which quickly was overwritten by a smile of glee. "I summon Mr. Volcano (2100/1300) attack mode!" he cried, as the fiery monster appeared infront of him on the arena. "Attack Jame's Neo!". And with a quick movement of his hands, a large ball of fire leapt from Mr. Volcano's hands and engulfed Neo the Magical Swordsman in flames. Jesse then activated his facedown card, Fissure. The virtual ground beneath Judge Man opened up, and the monster fell into the resulting gap. The earth then closed up, destroying Judge Man."Looks like I took out both of your monsters in one turn." Jesse snorted. Jesse's Life Points: 5900

James' Life Points: 7600

It seemed that the tables were quickly turning. James had to do something quickly if he wanted to maintain the lead. James looked at his new card, and quickly put it into play. "I summon Time Wizard (500/400), master of the past and the future. Use your time roulette!" James shouted as he slammed down the card. It seemed just as the Time Wizard was summoned the round time roulette wheel appeared, an arrow spinning wildly around it's flat surface. If it landed on a skull, James wouldn't lose much. But he had a lot to gain. The arrow began slowing. and slowing... and slowing... And stopped. It landed on the time turning space!

It only took a second, and Time Wizard's magic took affect. Time began shifting into the future, and everything became a thousand years older. The flames of Mr. Volcano faded away. and was now greatly weakened to 200/100. With a quick bash from the Time Wizard, James' held onto his lead.

Jesse's Life Points: 5600

James' Life Points: 5900

Jesse was not upset this time as he was previously. But that is not to say he wasn't upset. Jesse merely drew his card, and summoned Armored Zombie (1500/0) in defense mode.

Jesse's Life Points: 5600

James' Life Points: 5900

It was only a matter of seconds before James' next turn. As he drew his card his confidence only inresaed. He had drawn the trap card Waboku. This could come in handy later, and he set it face down on the field. For his next move, James summoned Beaver Warrior (1200/1500) in attack mode. After attacking with each and obliterating the Armored Zombie, James ended his turn.

Jesse's Life Points: 4400

James' Life Points: 5900

"I don't know what to do! I think you may have won this duel." Jesse had said with a great lack of sincerity behind it. He summoned Woodland Spirit (900/400) in defense mode, and ended his turn once again.

Jesse's Life Points: 4400

James' Life Points: 5900

Once again, James felt as confident as ever. He drew a card and smiled. "Now, your end is almost here Jessse!" James cried as he summoned Rude Kasier (1800/1600) in attack mode. The Time Wizard once again disposed of Jesse's weakest monster. James other monsters began their attack on Jesse's life points, and victory seemed near.

Jesse's Life Points: 1400

James' Life Points: 5900

At this point, victory was almost certain for James. But sometimes, when victory seems nearest, it is actually the farthest away. For Jesse held in his hand, his rarest and strongest card. A card that would win him this duel, and prove him to be the better duelist. A grin slowly grew on his face, as he gazed across the dueling arena. Yes, the match was his.

"Prepare your self, Frostfell, as you will now see my rarest card. The Red Eyes Black Dragon!" Jesse shouted, as he threw down two cards. The first was a magic card: Dark Hole. A swirling black vortex appeared in the middle of the arena, and grew larger and larger. Great gusts of wind sucked in all the monsters on the field, if the arena can actually generate such gusts. The arenas weren't known for creating such realistic and believable effects as the widely popular duel disks were. After the vortex had sucked up Jame's Time Wizard and his Beaver Warrior, it began closing, locking the monsters in their forever. But not even a second passed before Jesse's other card began to take affect. Before him, a large pitch black dragon formed, with menacing crimson eyes. The Red Eyes Black Dragon (2400/2000) let out an equally menacing roar.

Jesse let out a triumphant grunt, and made a subtle wave in James' direction. "Red Eyes. attack his life points!" came another equally subtle command.

The Red Eyes Black Dragon fired a blast of powerful energy out of it's mouth, that almost instantly hit James' dueling platform. As previously stated, duel disks offered a much more exciting version of this, albeit sometimes painful. On a dueling arena like this, a direct attack could seem a bit anti-climatic. But all in all it didn't really matter, as life points were life points, and James' had just lost most of his.

Jesse's Life Points: 1400

James' Life Points: 3500

It was finally James' turn, and things had went from good to bad after Jesse played his Dark Hole magic card, and from bad to worse with Jesse's last move. James drew his card, Magical Hats. The problem is with no monsters on the field nor in his hand, this card was completely useless. James could do nothing but end his turn.

Jesse's Life Points: 1400

James' Life Points: 3500

"What does it feel like, James" Jesse called out in an obnoxious tone, "to be on the receiving end of these attacks?". Jesse didn't wait for James to realize the question was very rhetorical before the Red Eyes Black Dragon had once again ravaged his life points.

Jesse's Life Points: 1400

James' Life Points: 1100

James stood their, his eyes staring at the dragon towering over everything else around. He had spent many hours practicing this game with Solomon Motou, and James wouldn't let him down. According to Solomon, there was one thing more important then memorizing the rules of Duel Monsters, more important then knowing how the abilities of all the monsters, or why to avoid top decking. No, there was something more important then all of that. And that was the Heart of the cards.

A second hadn't passed in-between James' drawing his card and summoning his most powerful monster, the demon Summoned Skull (2500/1200).

"And now you will feel power of my strongest card!" boomed James' voice, backed with more power and force then he himself even knew he had. The beast let out a vicious growl that alone seemed to overpower the Red Eyes Black Dragon. The demon lunged forward at the dragon, and slashed at it with the force of a brick wall. The Skull's claws ripped through the dragon and tore it into shreds. The glowing eyes of the dragon faded as it dissipated into the air around it.

But the dragon was only the first of the two monsters to vanish. The Summoned Skull vanished seconds after the Red Eyes did, as well as the lights on dueling platform. James saw across from him, Jesse's platform was lowering to the ground as he put his deck away.

"You have won this one, Frostfell, but their will be other duels.". As soon as the platform reached the ground, Jesse quickly made an exit out of the room.