Disclaimer: I do NOT own Yu-Gi-Oh GX
Chapter 1: Opening Act
O.K. this is my second shot at writing a fan-fic, if you missed my first one, trust me, you didn't miss a thing. Hopefully this one will be WAY better. Only one way to find out!
UPDATE 5/20/09: As many of you know, I am NEVER satisfied with my work. (And for good reason) So until further notice DDaD will be on hiatus as I, with the help of my beta attempt to re-write what chapters I have and bring them up to a suitable standard. This is the firs (and only) chapter re-written with the help of Dreamer of Universes. Unfourtnately, he will not be able to help me with the re-writing of any other chapters. However his help is GREATLY appreciated! So peek back at my profile everynow and then for an update on the re-writing process!
Issac dashed through the night, breath exploding from his lungs. Had he lost them? The sound of pursuing footsteps and shouts pounded in his ears, but weather they existed or were only his imagination, he couldn't say.
Various pieces of trash were trodden underfoot and others were brushed aside from the wind of Issac's rapid passing. The moon shone down upon the scene seemingly half-heartedly, as if it could care less about what went on below it.
Where was it? There! Issac made a sharp turn and raced down a narrow alley. He slowed to a jog and peered into the darkness. "F-Fink? You there?" He whispered hoarsely.
Fink materialized from the shadows.
"About time you got here Issac" Fink's voice was nasal and oilily. "I would think you of all people would know the most important part of a business transaction is respect. And part of that respect is showing up on time."
"Listen Fink, I don't have much time," Issac said hurriedly. "Do you have it?"
Fink produced a brown paper package haphazardly sealed with duct tape and handed it to Issac. "Here's you're ticket outta here." He said. "All the information and needed materials are inside."
Issac peeled back one corner of the wrapping just enough to let a patch of bright red peek out. "Are you sure?" He asked.
Fink narrowed his eyes. "From what you've told me, that's the safest place for you. Your presence should be masked by everyone else's."
Issac still seemed hesitant. Fink's face remained impassive, though his mind was working overtime. Issac had always been the original straight arrow. But now, he was asking for something if not illegal, then very shady...only two questions remained. Why? And how could Fink turn this to his advantage...?
Issac tucked the package safely away. "Thanks, Fink," He said as he hurried off down the alley. "I won't forget this."
Fink smiled to himself as he watched Issac's retreating back. "No kid, do us both a favor. Forget it."
Fink turned to leave, unaware of a pair of unseen eyes watching him from the shadows. The figure raised a cell phone and spoke two words.
"Duel Academy."
The cell phone closed with a snap.
Rusty strolled through Domino City, enjoying the mild day. The sun struggled to shine through the gray overcast sky as a few stray clouds sailed lazily across the sky, pushed along by the breeze. A puff of wind blew several damp, fallen leaves through the gutter, tossing them playfully into the air before breathing away.
Rusty's reflection wavered and shimmered in the windows of the various shop fronts he passed. A lone car growled down the street, muffling the sound of the latest hit single being played by a near by music store in an attempt to draw customers.
Rusty shoved his hands deep into his jacket pocket as he tasted the cool morning air. He paused a moment to admire his reflection in the window of the store he was about to enter.
Rusty was slightly taller than your average teenager with a lean, wiry frame and flaming red hair. His green eyes sparkled with mischief and we're never still.
"Well, are you coming inside or are you gonna just stand there and admire yourself all day?"
Rusty's trademark Smirk crossed his face as he raised a hand to his chin as if in deep thought.
"I'm not sure," He mused. "For some reason, I'm not sure I can pull myself away from this vision of perfect beauty..."
The store owner who was leaning in the doorway snorted, pushed himself away from the doorjamb and headed back into his shop.
"Get in here," He commanded. "I just got your cards in."
Rusty's eyes lit up as he followed the proprietor into the store.
The small store specialized in Duel Monsters merchandise, it's walls were covered in everything from booster packs to Duel Disks to books detailing the history of the game.
The owner walked around a display case for rare cards that doubled as the counter and pulled a package out from under it.
"This is it!"
"Really?"
Rusty peeled back the wrapping to reveal the brown backing of several Duel Monsters cards. He carefully pulled them from their resting place and flipped through them.
"Gadjiltron Chimera, Ancient Gear Castle. These're some pretty rare cards!"
"You think that's rare?" The owner slid a card across the counter. "Try this!"
Rusty's eyes bulged. "The Ancient Gear Golem?! You told me you couldn't get that!"
The manager frowned and leaned forward, resting his arms on the table.
"I couldn't, but the weird thing is, when I opened up this morning, I found that card, along with the money for the others in an envelope on the counter"
Rusty looked back at the cards in his hand. "Who would just give me a card like this? Not to mention waste a ton of money on me?"
The store owner looked like he was about to say something, when the door opened.
The boy standing in the doorway was short and stocky, with powder blue hair that matched the lining of his long black coat.
"Can I help you?" The owner asked.
"I'm looking for someone to duel." The boy said curtly. The store had a reputation for being a Duelists hangout. If you needed someone to challenge, just show up and wait for a while.
The store owner looked at Rusty with a raised eyebrow. "Why not take it for a test drive?" He asked.
Rusty grinned at his deck and turned to the boy. "I'll duel you." He offered.
The other boy sized him up with a sneer on his face.
"Fine." He grunted and switched on his duel disk.
"Woah there, champ" The store owner raised his hands. "If you want to duel, fine, but take it outside, OK?"
The boy shot him a glare. The store owner smiled, but there was a trace of steel in the grin.
The boy snorted. "Fine" He said, and stalked out. Rusty hurried after him.
Once they were outside, the two boys took up positions opposite each other
"I've never seen you around here before" Rusty said amiably as they shuffled their decks. "What's your name?"
"Torego," His opponent snapped in a rough voice "Not that it's any of your business."
Rusty raised an eyebrow. He asked for it... "Torego? Sounds like a cheap sauce if you ask me"
Torego's jaw muscles bulged. "Yeah?" He snarled. "No one asked you!" He activated his disk. Rusty shrugged and did likewise.
"DUEL!"
Five minutes later...
Rusty: 1000 Life Points
Torego: 1000 Life Points
Rusty's Field: Empty
Torego's Field: Tri-Horned Dragon (2850/2350) X1
Torego seemed confident he had the upper hand. "You've had it punk!" He shouted, pointing at Rusty, an almost maniacal look in his eyes "Next turn, this duel is mine!"
Rusty Smirked. "Don't bet on it, Sauce-boy. My Draw!" He scanned his hand, ignoring Torego's sputters of rage.
"I activate the Spell Magnet Circle LV 2! This let's me pick one Level 2 or lower Machine monster from my hand and Special Summon it right away. Like the Ancient Gear (100/800) for example!"
A jumbled bunch of rusted metal rose from the ground. Suddenly, they twitched and jumbled together to resemble some mechanics toy.
Torego had recovered enough to growl: "That thing's nowhere near enough to stop me. You trying to make me look like a fool or something?"
Rusty shrugged "Why should I do that?" He asked. "You do it so well on your own!"
This sent Torego into fresh spasms of rage as Rusty went on. "When I have a monster with "Ancient Gear" in it's name on the field I get to Special Summon another Ancient Gear (100/800) from my hand."
A second pile of twisted metal rose from the ground. "And..." Rusty said, wagging a finger. "...I still haven't Normal Summoned this turn..."
Torego stopped ranting long enough to look blank. Rusty grinned wickedly.
"I Tribute both my Ancient Gears..." The machines fell to pieces then sank back into the ground. "...to Summon...wait for it..." The ground began to shake. "...The Ancient Gear Golem! (3000/3000)"
A giant figure covered in metal plating rose from the earth. The whir and clank of gears and springs could be heard as the Golem lifted it's head to reveal a pair of red electronic eyes pulsing under it's helmet. The Golem towered high over the duelists. Even the mighty Tri-Horned Dragon seemed small in comparison. Torego's mouth hung open in amazement.
Rusty folded his arms. "Playtime. Ancient Gear Golem! Attack! Mechanized Melee!"
The titan hauled back a gigantic fist and slugged the Tri-Horned Dragon straight in the chest. The dragon seemed to crumple like a paper bag, then shattered into pieces.
Rusty: 1000 Life Points
Torego: 850 Life Points
Torego winced as his Life Points dropped. "Nice try, punk," He grated. "But I'm still around."
Rusty shook his head. "No," He said slowly. "You're not. Not after I've played Ancient Gear Explosive at any rate! For this to work I have to destroy an Ancient Gear monster on my side of the field, then you take damage equal to half it's Attack Points! Just watch."
The Golem reached up slowly and pulled it's own head off. As soon as it did so the entire body began to wobble unsteadily. With the other hand it reached inside it's now unattached head and yanked a starter cord deep inside. The eyes began to pulse faster as the Golem hauled back and threw the head. The motion took the last of it's energy and the body collapsed into a mountain of junk. Meanwhile the head landed right at Torego's feet. Torego stared at it dumbly.
Rusty snapped his fingers. "Yippie-ki-yay!"
The head detonated, sending Torego flying backwards, head over heels and wiping out the last of his Life Points.
Rusty: 1000 Life Points
Torego: 0000 Life Points
Rusty pumped a fist.
"Another one bites the dust!"
"Nice going!" Rusty turned to see the store owner standing in the doorway of his shop.
"I was watching you two duel," He said, walking towards them. "You really handled your new deck well. Especially considering this was your first time using it!"
"Thanks." Rusty grinned.
"Are you still planning on entering Duel Academy?" The owner asked.
Rusty nodded. "The entrance exams are tomorrow, but I'm not too worried. With a deck like this," He said, holding up his cards. "Those tests should be a piece of cake!"
The owner grinned. "Well, I wish you luck! Give that proctor hell for me tomorrow!"
"Oh, I will..." Rusty Smirked.
Meanwhile Torego had gotten to his feet and started stalking away. Enjoy it while you can punk, because soon that card, will be mine.
Issac had managed to find shelter on the roof of an abandoned building during the day. As night fell, he stirred. He could finally hear the sounds of pursuit approaching.
"That scum!"
"--thought he could've gotten away with it!"
"Spread out! Keep your heads down!"
Issac waited until the sounds of his hunters had faded. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. searching for the wellspring of power within him. Eyes still closed, Issac bolted from his hiding place, straight into the arms of one of his pursuers.
Rusty lay awake in bed that night, staring up at the shadows dancing across the ceiling, thinking about the entrance exams tomorrow. After the duel today, those pathetic exams decks shouldn't even pose a problem. After all, the exam decks were purposely weakened compared to your average duelists deck. Why did he even waste time thinking about them?
He rolled over and closed his eyes, then opened them almost instantly. Why had the bed suddenly gotten so cold? Then he noticed, he was no longer on the bed. He was lying on some kind of metal floor. Slowly he got to his feet. He was standing on a perfect circle of tempered steel about 10 feet wide. He looked about but there was only darkness beyond the circle.
Enjoying the view?
Rusty whirled to see who had spoken. His jaw dropped, before him stood...well, he really had no clue what it was. The figure looked as though the Ancient Gear Golem had lost the plate armor, shrunk to about 6 feet, and hit the gym. Bare gears turned and ground as the figure spoke again.
I see you have not recognized me, The robot spoke in a deep, chocolaty, rough voice. But that is as well. You will come to know me in time.
Rusty raised an eyebrow. "Know what? A walking can opener?"
The machine threw back its head and laughed. See, that's why I chose you, wit, and an absolute lack of fear!
"You chose me?" Rusty asked indignantly. "What am I? A Camaro?"
The machine raised a hand. There is no time. You must wake now, He said urgently. Your Deck is in danger.
Rusty shook his head. "Danger? Wha--?"
His eyes snapped open. He was back in his bedroom and instantly two things became startlingly clear to him.
1. There was some sort of Duel Monsters card in his hand.
2. There was someone else in the room.
Rusty could see the outline of the person thanks to the light of a full moon streaming in through the open window. The figure was hunched over his desk, rifling through his Deck.
Rusty sat bolt upright in bed. "Hey!"
The figure started, grabbed something off the desk and jumped through the window. Rusty raced over just in time to see the figure begin to run off. Rusty glanced down at his desk. Despite the fact that it was brand new, it was glaringly obvious that a card was missing. He quickly gathered up the cards along with the card in his hand, grabbed his Duel Disk and jumped out the window after the figure. The theif had not gotten much of a head start. They ran for several minutes the pale moonlight filtering down through tree branches. The night was dead still, the only sounds were the slapping of their feet on the pavement and their rapid gasps drawing air into their lungs. The chase continued for several minutes, until the figure turned down a dead end alley. The theif ran a ways farther, then stopped, it's back to Rusty. Rusty slowed to a stop in the middle of a pool of light from a decrepid streetlight.
"Give it up," Panted Rusty. "There's nowhere to run"
In response the figure turned, it's face in shadow and activated a Duel Disk. Rusty growled.
"You're on." He said, activated his own.
"DUEL!"
Rusty: 4000 Life Points
????: 4000 Life Points
"I'll start this, thief!" Rusty shouted. "Draw!" He quickly made a decision. "I summon the Ancient Gear Soldier(1300/1300) in Attack Mode!" A armor plated robot rose, a machine gun taking the place of one of it's hands. "I'll also Set one card facedown and end my turn"
"My Draw!"The shadowy figure selected a card as well. "I Summon the Luster Dragon(1900/1600)!" A jeweled blue dragon came swooping down out of the night. It opened it's jaws and fired a ruby red beam at the robot, overloading it's circuts and causing it to explode "I also set a card facedown as well"
Rusty: 3600 Life Points
????: 4000 Life Points
Rusty winced as his Life Points dropped. "My turn again! Draw!" Rusty scanned his hand.
I don't have anything right now that can take on that overgrown piece of paste jewelery toe to toe. Rusty thought. So I'll have to try something else.
"I summon Boot Up Soldier - Dread Dynamo (0/2000) in Defense Mode!" That should keep him from getting to my Life Points! That Luster Dragon's attack is lower than my Dynamo's points.
"Now I draw!" The sound of laughter came from the shadows. "I Activate a Trap Card, The Imaginary Dragon! After it's activation, this trap becomes a Monster!(0/0) "
A ghostly translucent dragon appeared in a blast of wind, swirling the dust from the alley street around it. It's mouth opened in a silent roar. "And now, I'll tribute both of them to Summon, The Ancient Gear Golem!"
The golem appeared as before, it's hulking form looking as though it would fall on Rusty at any moment.
Rusty took a step back, his eye's fixed on his erstwhile monster. "I knew it! You stole my Golem! Show yourself, Sauce-boy!"
Torego stepped into the edge of the pool of light. His eye's gleamed with madness.
"Give me back my Golem!" Rusty shouted.
Torego smiled madly. "Not unless you beat me."
"I shouldn't have to beat you to get it back!" Rusty replied. "It belongs to me!"
"Not anymore."
Rusty ground his teeth. "You'll never get away with this!"
Torego laughed. "You can't stop me, now that I've got your best card." His eyes gleamed again. "Go! Ancient Gear Golem! Mechanized Melee!"
The golem shrugged back it's gigantic fist and unleashed another awesome punch. The Dynamo shattered like it was nothing. The fist continued on, taking a big chunk of Rusty's Life Points with it. "Of course, you'll know all about the Gear Golem's special ability." Torego said condescendingly "It doesn't matter if a card is in defense position or not. You'll still take damage!"
Rusty: 3000 Life Points
Torego: 4000 Life Points
Rusty fell to his knees as Torego laughed madly.
"Soon I'll have my revenge for your humiliating me earlier. That, and the Ancient Gear Golem will be mine!"
Rusty lifted his head. He's right, the Ancient Gear Golem is the Ace of my deck. Without him, I don't know if I even have a chance of winning this!
WHEW! That really took it out of me! But we're on our way now! Just a few side notes before I sign off.
I created The Imaginary Dragon card. Just something I came up with on the spot, so don't go tearing open booster packs trying to find one.
I'm a bit of a slow writer so it could be a long time before the next chapter is up, but don't worry, I'll let you know if I'm dead or not.
GAME ON!