A/N: Here's a little Christmas gift to all of our loyal fans. We aren't sure how often it will update yet, but we'll see how popular it is.
Disclaimer: We don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. Please don't sue us.
Aye…
It was one year ago that they showed up at my "Grand Elemental Tournament."
Each one of them was unique…
…special…
…and an idiot to boot!
But what do you expect when you try to find good help from "Generation Y?"
I know "Y." Because there a bunch of stupid little punks, that's why!
But I digress…
My name is Needlez. And I was once known as the Elemental Master. And I was so close to becoming an elemental god. But I was defeated, betrayed by my peers seven-thousand years ago. And just when you think times have changed, history repeats itself like a broken record.
I thought that if I came back in this modern time, I'd find someone gullible enough to follow me. I was right. Six times, I was right. Until they wised up that is. My own personal traitors, just like before.
But this story isn't about that. This is about what happened before…
How six regular duelists, who barely qualified for the finals of their local card shop tourneys…
Became the Elemental Duelists.
Santoryu presents
A prequel to "The Elemental Duelists Saga"
The Grand Elemental Tournament
Prologue
Destiny Signal
In a dark cave, somewhere in the mountains of Japan, a lone figure sat. He looked to be about seventy, and wore a simple gray business suit. His gray hair was neatly trimmed, and he held a golden pocket watch in his right hand. Set in the front of the watch was a shimmering blue-green stone.
He stood in a small chamber, with nothing but six stone tablets around him and a large pillar of green crystal in the center. Sealed within the crystal was a mummified corpse, thin and dry as bone (albeit, that about all that was left of it), with a permanent scowl on what was left on its face.
"I thought I was feeling old before." The man muttered in a Scottish accent, "Looking at this really makes me feel my age."
He turned around, and pulled a stack of paper out of his coat. He frowned and the papers flew out of the room, carried by a mysterious breeze.
"It took too long finding the components I need." He sighed, "I canna' do this myself, I need some younger blood."
He strolled from the room, and down a short tunnel. He entered a larger chamber, and took a seat on a black throne made of obsidian. He sighed, and several torches along the walls ignited.
"All this practice, and this body barely contains one-one hundredth of my former power." He growled, "I need to find me someone who will be able to learn this quickly, someone who is truly dedicated to the elements, and most importantly…"
He reached into his pocket, and removed a stack of cards.
"Someone who has managed to slip under the radar." He concluded.
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Tornado Mills, Kansas, USA
2:00 p.m. (Eastern Time)
Friday, June 17th 2005.
Tornado Mills was a small, rural community. The largest (and oldest) building was, naturally, an abandoned mill that had been closed after a tornado struck it (hence the name of the town). Most people who came through barely knew they were in a village. The houses were spaced very far apart, and ranged from small Victorian style homes to large farmlands.
But this village still had enough to keep itself relatively self sufficient. It even had its own elementary school, part of which still resembled the old-fashioned one-room school house it had been built from. This room now served as one of the classrooms, and was currently filled with twenty students. The children were about seven-years-old each, and seeing that it was last day of classes and all final exams had already been completed, the children were being allowed free time.
One such child was a young girl. She had blond, shoulder length hair, green eyes, and was wearing a spring-green jumper and white t-shirt. She was gazing longingly out the window, and occasionally checked the clock. She let out a frustrated sigh when she saw that it hadn't moved ahead since she checked it fifteen seconds ago, and reached into the pocket of her jumper.
As she pulled out a stack of Duel Monsters cards, she looked around at her classmates. Most were reading books from the classroom shelves, some were playing other card games like Go Fish, and one kid at the back of the room had fallen asleep in his chair.
"Zeffie is so bored!" The girl moaned in her head (referring to herself in third person out of habit) as she shuffled the cards, "Why won't Mr. Clock hurry up and make it 2:45!?"
Looking around again, she saw a couple of kids were gathered close to the window. One of them glanced to the teacher, who was looking through a book of her own and glancing up every couple of minutes, and then carefully pushed the glass portal open and snatched something from the sill outside.
Her interest thoroughly piqued, Zeffie slid away from her assigned seat, and joined the duo.
"See Sammy," One of the kids whispered as he held out his prize, "It's some kind of poster."
"And it's announcing a tournament!" The other whispered excitedly.
"Can Zeffie see?" Zeffie whispered to them.
The two boys looked up. One had brown hair and brown eyes, the other (called Sammy by his friend) had darker hair and blue eyes. They exchanged nervous glances as Sammy's friend tried to hide the paper behind his back.
"Just for a minute?" Zeffie pleaded.
"No." Sammy snapped quickly.
Zeffie stepped back with a gasp. She started to turn to the teacher to get her attention, when Sammy waved his hand to stop her.
"Wait!" He hissed, "It's just a Duel Monster's tournament, you wouldn't be interested anyway."
"But Zeffie loves Duel Monsters!" Zeffie almost shouted.
Some of the others turned to her, and the teacher's attention moved away from her book. Sammy seemed quite shocked by the answer, and smiled as he took a stack of cards from his pocket.
"Oh really?" He challenged, "Well I'm one of the best duelists in school. If you beat me, you can have the poster."
"O.K.!" Zeffie said as she and Sammy pushed two small tables together to make a dueling field.
"You sure about this?" Sammy's friend asked.
"Don't worry, girls can't play Duel Monsters." Sammy assured him.
"Oh yeah?" Zeffie smiled as the two drew their opening hands.
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Tornado Mills, Kansas, USA
3:00 p.m. (Eastern Time)
Friday, June 17th 2005.
Outside the Tornado Mills Elementary stood a rather large man. He stood about six-and-one-half feet tall, and was heavily muscled. He had dark brown hair and eyes, and was currently wearing an old-white t-shirt and a pair of worn out blue jeans. His shoes were worn sneakers, which seemed to be approaching their last legs.
He was standing near the playground, where the children adjourned for recess during the school day. At the moment though, no one was present on any of the equipment.
"Julius Gold, with all the stuff you've put up with earlier in your life, why do you have to tolerate a hyperactive seven-year-old?" The imposing figure wondered to himself.
At that point, the school bells rang, and children flooded from the building. One in particular, Zeffie, immediately spotted the lone man and ran toward him at top speed.
"GOLDIE!" Zeffie cheered as she jumped up and latched her arms around his waist.
"Oh yeah, she's cute." Mr. Gold realized as he carefully pried the girl loose.
Mr. Gold picked up Zeffie, and perched her up on one of his broad shoulders. Zeffie smiled, and waved a piece of paper in front of the larger man's face.
"Hey Goldie, look what I got!" Zeffie smiled as she held the poster right up to Gold' nose.
Gold laughed a bit and took the paper from the child.
"Watch it Zef, you gonna give me a paper cut if you keep doing that." He said as he looked over the poster.
Attention Duelists of the Elements!
Do you specialize in using one particular attribute in your deck? Are you sick of facing "cookie cutter" decks? Do other duelists mock you for being original with your elemental theme? Then consider this a break, and a reward. A chance to duel with your true peers.
On Saturday, June 25th 2005, we will hosting The Grand Elemental Tournament at 487 Norington Lane.
Sign in time is at 9:00 a.m. sharp. Details regarding tournament set up will be explained there. The only requirement is that your deck be based around one of the six attributes of Duel Monsters: Fire, Wind, Earth, Water, Light, or Darkness.
Amazing prizes will be awarded to the strongest of each attribute. This is the chance you've been waiting for!
Signed,
Underground Dueling Committee of Kansas.
P.S.
We will be using Duel disks during this tournament. If you do not have one, one will be provided for you for use in the tournament. Don't miss this chance of a lifetime!
"Can we go?" Zeffie asked, bouncing up and down on her perch, "Please, please please please…."
Zeffie continued saying please without pause as Gold looked over the poster again.
It had been a while since he had been in a big tournament, there hadn't been many to attend since he had moved from New York City.
Gold had always had a rough time in life, he was forced to drop out of high school so he could get a job to help support his family. Even after getting married, money was tight and his wife eventually left him and took their daughter (leaving him to make child-support payments). It was almost by chance he learned about the money that could be earned in Duel Monsters tournaments, and an even greater chance had come about last year.
After sweeping through a tournament as per his usual, Gold found himself scouted out by a man known as Don Gale, who was looking for a talented duelist to represent his "business" in a small tournament. While hesitant at first, Gold learned how well the job could pay and signed on.
The tournament was also doubling as a birthday party for Don Gale's niece: Zeffie. It was here that Zeffie and Gold first met and, after a security incident that Gold managed to set straight, Don named Gold as Zeffie's official caretaker. In order to fulfill his duties as a caretaker better, Gold agreed to be moved out to Tornado Mills and live near Zeffie.
The job paid well, as did his job as a construction worker in Kansas City, but it left little time for tournaments. So this man, who had been known as 'The Fighting Mountain' in New York City dueling circles, slid from the lime light.
Looking from the poster to the girl on his shoulder, Gold smiled.
"Okay, if your parents say yes then I'm okay with this." He nodded.
"Yeah!" Zeffie cheered, "Thankyouthankyou…"
Gold chuckled a bit as Zeffie thanked him all the way home.
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Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
4:00 p.m. (Eastern Time)
Saturday, June 18th 2005.
"Another victory for, the Amazing Dueling Hokage Brothers!" A pair of duelist shouted, high-fiving each other.
The first had sandy-brown hair, and stood about and inch taller than the other, he looked about sixteen. He wore a black t-shirt and a black jacket over it. He had blue jeans which frayed near the cuffs, just above his gray sneakers.
The other wore a red shirt that matched his spiky hair, and was around fifteen. He wore black cargo pants and worn-out black and orange sneakers. Both of them had blue eyes, and were smiling as they stepped up to the counter of the small card shop they were in.
The owner of the shop, an older man in his fifty's wearing a pressed white shirt and black pants with a leather belt, scowled as they approached.
"You boys won again!" He shouted as he slammed a box of booster packs onto the counter, "You have to stop doing this. You're scaring away all my customers."
"Not our fault if they can't handle a little competition." The older one said, "Besides, Tim and I win every week."
"It's tradition, Brian and I don't want to break it." The younger brother agreed.
"Well you're starting to break my sales." The owner growled, pointing at a large cork board, "Those are people who can't play in the tourney here anymore. Check the latest two additions…"
Brian and Tim walked to the board, and saw two names freshly inked at the bottom of a slip of paper on it. The names were "Brian Hokage" and "Timothy Hokage."
"Wait, you're banning us!" Brian shouted, "But that isn't fair, we didn't do anything wrong!"
"You annoyed me, and almost no one participates in the Duel Monsters tournament if they know that you're going to be here." The owner growled crossing his arms, "The last time you missed it, I had a five page sign up list and made a killing on entry fees alone!"
"So we're banned because it profits you." Tim protested, pointing an accusing finger at him, "You know we're your best customers."
"You can still buy things." The owner sighed.
"But what's the point if we can't play here?" Tim asked, "I get bored just kicking Brian's butt…"
Tim was cut off as his brother smacked him in the back of the head.
"Ow!" Tim shouted, rubbing the back of his head.
"If that's how you feel, we'll take our business elsewhere." Brian sighed.
"But before we do, can we exchange this week's prize for some more store credit?" Tim asked.
"You must have at least five-hundred dollars each!" The owner said as he put the box back (something he had grown used to over the years), "What could you possibly be saving for?"
"Those." Brian responded, pointing to a pair of boxes, each with a $450 price tag.
The owner saw them and gulped.
"But we just got those in once Battle City ended." He stammered, "Are you two telling me you've been saving up all this time for those?"
"You bet." Brian nodded, "And we'll take them to go."
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Outside the shop, both boys tore into the boxes and smiled as they each removed a shiny new duel disk. They gleamed metallic silver in the light of the summer afternoon, and both of the Hokage brothers inserted their decks.
"It was worth it." Tim smiled as he attached his to his arm.
"Totally." Brian agreed as he strapped his on.
"Should we try them out now?" Tim asked, looking it over.
"Nah, let's wait till we get home." Brian said as he started down the street.
The two of them set off down the city street, heading for the bus stop. Their house was back in the suburbs, but the best card shop around was here in the heart of "the windy city." They had been attending the tournaments there for at least two years, and had been winning weekly for at least a year and a half.
It was the same routine every Saturday. Get up, catch the ten o'clock bus downtown, play Duel Monsters for a few hours, exchange the prize, and catch the four o'clock bus home.
But this time, as they waited near the street light for the bus, something caught Brian's eye. Fixed to the lamp post was a poster, emblazoned with several strange characters. Six in particular caught his eye though.
"Hey Tim, look at this." Brian commented, gesturing to the poster.
Tim looked up. In a circle around the top of the poster were six Japanese characters. More importantly, they were the ones that represented the attributes on Duel Monster cards. Beneath the circle was the following message:
The poster was similar to the one that Zeffie had found, only this one advertised a location in Chicago. Brian read it over, his smile growing as he let his brother look.
"What do you think?" Brian asked as the bus pulled up.
Tim smiled, looked both ways, and tore the poster down. He folded it up, and stuffed it in his pocket as the two got on the bus.
"I think someone's gonna get burned on this deal." He smiled.
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Los Angeles, California, USA
2:00 p.m. (Western Time)
Saturday, June 18th 2005.
It was a hazy, humid afternoon in one of the biggest cities in the country. On the outskirts of the city, in a suburban area, the people were really feeling the heat. The sun beat down mercilessly, and everyone was either sitting in their air-conditioned homes, or lying out under the shade of a tree, allowing their automatic sprinklers to splash them occasionally.
One of the latter (minus the sprinklers) was a brown haired sixteen-year-old girl lying in a hammock in the yard behind a large, white house. She wore a white tank top and shorts, her matching sneakers lying on the ground nearby. On a small glass table next to her was a glass of lemonade and a stack of duel monsters cards. Curled up on her stomach was a brown house cat, dozing gently.
Suddenly, from the house, a terrifying screech sounded. The girl sat up with a start, and the cat tumbled to the ground. It meowed indignantly, and curled up again.
"WHERE IS CELESTE!!" The voice shouted, "SHE STAYED HOME FROM CHURCH TO GO TO ANOTHER TOURNAMENT, DIDN'T SHE!!"
The girl sighed, and quickly shoved the deck of cards in her pocket. She knelt down, and scooped up her cat, which meowed in an upset way at being awakened again.
"Come on Gabriel, Aunt Lumia is home, and Mom is still at work. Time to head Barb's house for a few hours…" She whispered to her pet.
The cat meowed again as Celeste put on her shoes and carried him across the neighbors yard, and then back out to the sidewalk. She smiled as she headed toward the end of the street, the screeching fading away behind her.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After about five minutes, Celeste and Gabriel reached the end of the street. Situated on the corner was a standard, two-story suburban home. It was colored green with a white door. She looked over her shoulder and, neither hearing nor seeing any sign of her aunt, knocked on the door.
"Coming!" A voice shouted.
The door was opened to reveal a blond-haired girl, the same age as Celeste. She wore a pink t-shirt with the word "Girl Power" written in red on the front, and red shorts. She had a pink visor on, and a pair of pink sunglasses.
"Oh, hi there Celeste!" She said with a bright, peppy smile, "What brings you here today?"
"Hi Barb. You know my aunt. Bitching for the lord, as usual on a Saturday." Celeste shrugged.
"You didn't go to another tournament, did you?" Barb asked, putting a hand on her hip.
"Of course I did. It's more fun than church." Celeste smiled as she stepped inside.
"So's solitaire, but I'd never get away with skipping Sunday Mass." Barb commented as she led the way through the house, "You'd think with a deck full of angels, you'd be a total religious kook like Lumia."
"Thankfully, that's not the case." Said a young man as he walked into the room.
He had tan skin and short blond hair. His brown eyes were obscured by a pair of sunglasses, and he wore a red muscle-shirt and blue jeans. On his feet were a pair of sandals.
"GEORGE!" Barb screamed, "How did you…"
"You left the back door unlocked, like you always do." The teen laughed, "Hi Celeste, I heard your aunt howling, so I figured you were coming here."
Barb sighed, and the trio passed through another room, and then into the backyard. Like most on the block, it was very spacious, covered in soft green grass with a picnic table in the center. Celeste knelt down and released Gabriel, who immediately dashed over to the table and stretched out underneath it.
"So, you win anything good this week?" Barb asked as she took a seat.
Celeste pulled out four cards, and showed them to the other two. One was spell card showing the image of a heavenly palace. The second was a monster card, this one a wise looking man wearing armor and stroking his blond beard. The third was also a monster, this one a two headed serpent covered in blue scales. The last one was a hideous corpse, wearing the remains of a red and blue robe and carrying a golden staff.
"Sweet!" George cheered as he took the card with the human on it, "I've been looking for Freed the Matchless General for months."
"And Ocean Dragon Lord Neo Daedelus." Barb said in awe, "You're the best!"
"Hey, you guys are my friends." Celeste smiled as she shuffled the spell into her own deck, "I got the four as a package prize at the shop, and I couldn't believe my luck…"
"Is that for me?" Asked a hushed voice behind her.
Celeste looked over her shoulder. A girl, once more about sixteen, wearing a long black coat and skirt stood behind her. Her face was pale, and she wore black eyeliner. Her black hair cascaded down to her shoulders, and her red eyes were focused on the last card in Celeste's hand.
Celeste just smiled however, and held the card up to the girl. She smiled as she gripped it between two black nailed fingers.
"Fushioh Richie, just like you wanted Chris." Celeste smiled.
"Um…Christina? Do you, like, have to where those creepy red contacts all the time?" Barb asked with a shiver.
Christina smirked and swept her skirt back as she sat down across from Barb. She pulled a stack of cards from her pocket and began to shuffle her new card into it.
"You know as well as I do that I have a prescription for contact lenses." Chris explained, "And you also know I prefer to be called Chris. Only my mom can call me Christina."
"Sorry." Barb muttered as she shuffled her own deck, "But hey, as long as we're all here, how about one of our little mini-tourneys?"
"Sounds good." George agreed as he and Celeste sat down.
----------------------------------------------------
One hour later…
"And Agent of Creation Venus attacks Barb directly for the game." Celeste declared.
"You always win." Barb moaned as she picked up her cards, "Seriously, you're untouchable Celeste."
Gabriel crawled out from under the table, and let out a stifled yawn. The cat stretched, and then hopped into Celeste's lap with a meow.
"What I don't get is why you don't just start going to Regionals." George commented.
"Yeah, you're easily the best out of all of us." Chris agreed.
Celeste smiled at the compliment, but at the same time she paled slightly. She gently stroked Gabriel's back, and the cat purred as he rubbed against her.
"It's…A long story. And I'm not in the mood to tell it." Celeste explained simply.
"Well I've got something you might be interested in." Chris declared as she pulled a folded square of paper from the folds of her skirt, "I found this out at the coffee shop downtown, and I thought you might be interested."
Celeste unfolded the paper, and looked it over.
Celeste looked over her own copy of the Grand Elemental Tournament poster, a thoughtful look on her face.
Celeste read the poster over again, and then looked at her cards.
"Well, I'm not sure. Maybe if Barb would come too…" Celeste started.
"Can't, that's my grandma's birthday party." Barb sighed as she looked at the date on the announcement.
"What about the two of you?" Celeste asked George and Chris.
"Neither of our decks is based around an element though." George pointed out, "I use lots of different attributes of warriors, and the same goes with Chris's zombies. It's either Barb's water or your light, and you are the best of us."
"Besides, it's a no lose situation." Chris pointed out, "Maybe starting with bigger underground tournament like this will be just what you need to get your confidence up to go to big tournaments."
"Yeah, and you'll have an excuse to skip church again." Barb encouraged.
That clinched it. Celeste nodded and stood up, holding onto Gabriel as she did.
"Alright, I'll do it." She smiled.
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Domino City, Japan
6:00 a.m. (Greenwich Mean Time +9 hours)
Sunday, June 19th 2005.
The sun was barely beginning to rise over the water out at Domino City Harbor. Most of the people in the city were still fast asleep, but at least one person was awake enough to go fishing at this early hour. He was sitting on a small, hand made raft out in the water, just past the area that the city had claimed for its massive port.
The youth on the raft looked to be about nineteen. He wore a blue vest and shorts, and had a blue headband with an aqua-blue wave pattern on it. His black hair stuck up in spikes, and was tinged with blue highlights. His dark blue eyes scanned over the water, and he turned a spear over in his hand.
"Almost…" He whispered, watching several dark shapes lazily float by in the rising sun.
He pulled back a well tanned, and well muscled, arm. He carefully took aim at the largest shadow.
"Almost…" He breathed, keeping focused on his target.
The shape continued to float by, completely unaware of the fate the young man planned for it.
With out a word, the spear soared into the water, and struck the shape. The fisherman grinned, and pulled the spear back in with a rope that was tied to the end of it. Stuck to the sharp head of the weapon was a large fish, easily the size of chicken.
"Yes!" The successful hunter cheered, "Another excellent catch for…"
He struck a pose, holding the spear and fish over his head.
"Mako Tsunami, man of the sea!" He yelled.
He smiled as he bent down, and unfolded a local newspaper. He smiled as he carefully moved a waterproof box containing a deck of Duel Monster cards away from the paper, and began to roll the freshly caught fish up.
"This will make for the start of a fine breakfast." Mako commented to himself as he set about his task, "As soon as catch a couple more, back to shore, and start a cooking fire…"
As he picked up another page of the paper to finish wrapping the fish, something caught his eye.
From the paper he was rolling up, a single sheet floated loose. With a quick snapping motion with his hand, he grabbed the paper before it hit the water.
"Now what have we here?" He asked, looking at the sheet.
Mako smiled as he saw what was written on it.
He smiled as he looked to the cards on his raft.
"Grand Elemental Tournament eh?" Mako muttered.
His thoughts wandered to the last two tournaments he had been a part of.
In Duelist Kingdom, he'd found himself and his mighty sea serpents face the power of the now King of Games Yugi Mutoh…
In Battle City, he was bested by Yugi's top follower, Joey Wheeler.
In both cases, Mako had been set back enough to be kept from the finals.
After Battle City, he'd gone back to living off the bounty of the sea. Both eating and selling the fish he caught everyday as a means to get by, along with picking multitudes of waste from the water as he did so.
"Maybe this tournament is the chance I've been waiting for." He muttered to himself, "The only other pro I may have to worry about is Mai Valentine, and no one has seen her for a while now…"
Mako nodded, picked up his deck of cards, and held them over his head.
"Very well!" He called out, "I, Mako Tsunami, mighty duelist of the sea, will enter this tournament and win!"
As he made this bold statement, his foot accidentally knocked the fish he had just caught back into the water. Mako gasped and dove for his catch, but came up with nothing but two sheets of wet newspaper.
"But first, I need to catch breakfast." He grumbled as he exchanged his cards for his spear.
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In his cavern home, Needlez was hard at work. He had sent out the invitations less than two hours ago and was now putting the finishing touches on the judges for his little game.
He stepped back from his work, and smiled. In front of him stood a statue that looked like a woman with a pair of graceful wings extending from her back. She was carved wearing a simple dress, and had a peaceful look on her face. A duelist would recognize this monster as Soul of Purity and Light.
"Perfect, they're all ready." Needlez sighed as he slid a ring with a yellow stone set into it onto the finger of the statue. He looked around at his handy work, admiring the other five statues he had made earlier.
The six carvings were arranged in a circle around Needlez, and each one was unique.
The one to the right of the first statute was another young woman in simple dress. She wore a veil over her face, and her ears seemed to be shaped like fins. Around one of her ankles was a ring of silver with a blue gem, but other than this she was the perfect likeness of an Aqua Spirit.
The next one was male, dressed in a white robe like some manner of wizard. His hair stood straight up, with a silver circlet set at the hairline. A single green crystal sat in the circlet. Clutched in the hand of this statue was a strange fan, as per his identity as Silpheed.
Continuing on, was a frightful creature. This one was female as well, and was dressed in some form of demonic armor. She was bald, with pointed ears and a piercing gaze. She cradled a doll in her arms, and around her neck hung a necklace with a deep-purple gem on it, not common to the Dark Necrofear.
The next in line was a hulking, muscular figure dressed only in a loincloth. A stubby pair of horns extended from over his eyes, and his face was twisted in a permanent scowl. On his left arm was a silver armlet with a red stone in it, granting this Spirit of Flames a unique touch.
The final one was just as well-built as the one before, but dressed in roman battle armor. He carried a staff, and his left wrist sported a gold bracelet with a brown crystal in it, almost straining to fit around the wrist of the Rock Spirit.
Needlez closed his eyes, and held his watch overhead. The stone set in it began to shimmer with a powerful light.
"Oh ye spirits of chaos, heed the command of the divine power and step into these effigies I have created in your images…" Needlez intoned, "Light…"
The first statue glowed with a soft yellow light. The gray stone faded, leaving a woman with silvery skin and wings that were nearly transparent.
"Water…"
The next one was surrounded by a puddle on the floor, which slowly absorbed into the statue. The carving turned blue, as did its clothing, and the woman came to life with a sigh.
"Wind…"
A small breeze gathered around the next statue, and the hair on it turned a pale green. His fan turned gold and his clothes white. Oddly enough his skin turned purple and he spun around and smiled.
"Darkness…"
A black aura surrounded the next one, and the figure's skin turned blue. Her doll's mouth opened with a slack jaw, and the figure herself closed her eyes and let out an eerie laugh.
"Fire…"
Small fires appeared on the fifth statue, and this one turned a blazing red. He snorted like some form of wild beast and glared at the others.
"Earth…"
The last one trembled a bit, and its armor turned to metal rather than stone. It slowly shook its head, like someone who just awoke from a peaceful slumber.
"Serve me, oh creatures of the elemental planes, and perform for me this task." Needlez concluded.
He opened his eyes, and smiled at the six monsters around him.
"Well now, glad ye could all make it." He stated, "I have a wee job for ye."
The six creatures listened with rapt attention.
"I'll be holding a little tournament in a couple days, and I need ye to serve as referees. I want each of yew to take yer powers and create a little gaming ground that fits the…atmosphere of yer elements. Understood?"
"Yes, Lord Needlez." All six said together.
"Good, now git to work!" Needlez commanded.
The six former statues left the room, and Needlez closed his eyes once more. He moved over to his obsidian throne and sat down.
"Pace yerself Needlez." He coached himself, "We'll git through this. That was the hard part, now ye only need to make an elaborate series of magical tunnels leading to practically every corner of the globe…"
He opened his eyes and sighed.
"Who am I kiddin'? This is the hard part." He sighed, "Ah well, no pain no gain!"
Needlez began to concentrate, and the walls of the cavern began to shift…
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Somewhere in the mountains of Japan
10:00 p.m. (Greenwich Mean Time +9 hours)
Sunday, June 26th 2005
Mako Tsunami breathed a small sigh of relief as he finally emerged from a long tunnel into a spacious cave.
It had seemed odd for a tournament to be held at the address on Mako's poster, seeing as it turned out to be a rather small, run down restaurant. Inside though, he had found a notice posted on one of the walls, stating that all competitors for the tournament were to go to the basement and follow the trail of lights through the tunnels.
Observing the walls of the chamber, Mako let out a low whistle.
"When they say 'underground tournament' they apparently mean it." Mako muttered, looking around.
He wasn't the only person present. At least fifty other people were scattered about, some talking to each other, some looking through their cards, and others just leaning against the walls.
One person in particular seemed to be getting attention. He was a young man, roughly fifteen or sixteen, and was dressed in rather formal attire. He had on a white shirt, dark slacks, and a dark jacket like he had just come from church. His brown hair was well combed, and his build was rather willowy, but he seemed rather full of energy as he spoke to the people around him.
"You all must consider the future of your immortal souls." He spoke in a clear, practiced manner, "The Kingdom of the Heavens will only be open to those who accept the love and light of the one and only God…"
Mako noted that roughly half of the people the boy was talking to didn't seem to be listening, while the other half seemed to only be half-listening. The young man obviously realized he was losing his audience, and cast his gaze around. It landed on Mako, and he smiled.
"You there sir! Have you ever considered the fate of your soul?" The boy asked, shoving his way past the uninterested congregation.
"Um…" Mako began, confused about this approach and by the fact that the boy was speaking very quickly in fluent English.
Mako's travels allowed him a brief interlude into learning new languages, but he wasn't fluent with a few. English was one of them, and the boy obviously saw this.
"Oh, sorry you don't understand." He said in English again, slower, "Um, what language do you speak?"
"Most-ry Japanese." Mako said, practicing his rusty English skills.
"Then it's your lucky day…" The boy said, speaking clear Japanese, "I happen to have taken a few Japanese lessons myself."
"You don't say…" Mako said.
"Yes, my name is John Peter." The boy said, extending his hand.
"I'm Mako Tsuanami." Said Mako, accepting the handshake.
"Wow, the famous ocean duelist? A pleasure to meet you." John gushed, "Tell me, have you ever given any thought to religion?"
"What?" Mako asked.
"The fate of your soul rests in your deeds on Earth." John smiled, breaking off the handshake, "Don't tell me you haven't accepted the love of God into your life."
John launched into another sermon, and Mako immediately regretted stopping to make a new friend.
"Okay, I better get a chance to shut this guy up in the tournament…" Mako thought, not seeing a new trio of figures enter from the other side of the room.
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Brian and Tim, much like Mako, had wondered at why a tournament would be held in a run-down office building. After following the lights for ten minutes, they had now entered the cave and were looking around.
"Hm…It's oddly warm in here." Brian noted, "Isn't it raining outside? And unseasonably cold?"
"Must be all the other people in here." Tim pointed out, "Now come on, we've got card games to play!"
"Excuse me…" Said a voice behind them.
Brian and Tim turned around, and found themselves confronted by Celeste Hikari. She was wearing a yellow sundress now, having decided to dress up a bit for the tournament, and her hair was let down almost to her knees.
"This is the Grand Elemental Tournament, right?" She asked.
"We think so." Brian nodded, "And you are?"
"Celeste Hikari." Celeste said, extending a hand.
Brian didn't shake it, but he and Tim both struck a silly-looking pose.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Brian Hokage." Brian said.
"And I'm Tim Hokage." Tim intoned, "And together we are…"
"The Amazing Dueling Hokage Brothers!" They shouted together.
Celeste burst laughing at this ridiculous display, and Brian and Tim both enjoyed a good laugh about it too. Still laughing, the trio made their way further into the chamber.
Off to the side, another pair entered.
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Mr. Gold strode in, with Zeffie taking her usual spot on his shoulder.
"Told you it was down here." Zeffie grinned.
"Eh, you were right Zef." Gold nodded, letting her down, "And here I thought that old gas station was just a joke or something."
Zeffie was gazing excitedly around at the other competitors as more wandered into the cave from several entrances.
"Wow, look at all the duelists!" Zeffie cheered, running toward the crowd.
"Hey Zefs, wait up!" Gold shouted, starting after her.
Zeffie was giggling as she ran ahead of her babysitter, and didn't stop until she accidentally collided with a larger figure.
Mako, who had found some of his English skills coming back to him during his little 'chat' with John, welcomed the distraction from the preacher's ramblings. He looked down at the girl who had run into him and was now picking herself up.
"Oops…" She giggled, "Sorry."
"That's alright." Mako smiled, causing John to stop talking as he realized he was being ignored again, "Are you okay?"
"Zeffie is fine." Zeffie smiled, "Zeffie's name is Zeffie Gale, nice to meet you!"
"Hello, I'm Mako Tsunami." Mako said with a smile.
"And I'm Mr. Gold." Said a gruffer voice, drawing Mako's attention to the giant of a man that now stood behind his new conversation partner (John had wandered off to find someone who was willing to listen).
"Oh…Hello." Mako smiled.
"Don't worry Goldie, Zeffie's fine!" Zeffie smiled, "Didn't hurt a bit."
"Well, don't just run off like that." Gold said, "We have to stick together down here, remember that."
"You got it!" Zeffie said, flashing a thumbs up.
Gold looked to Mako.
"So, Mako was it, thanks to finding Zeffie for me." Gold said.
"No problem." Mako smiled, "Be careful with her though, she seems kind of…"
"Energetic? She's always like that." Gold said.
Before the conversation went any further though, another trio of duelists came up. It was Brian, Tim, and Celeste, and Brian had his new Duel Disk armed and ready.
"Hey, some preacher kid said Mako Tsunami was over here." Brian said, looking toward Mako, "And wouldn't you know it, he was right."
"Looking for a duel?" Mako guessed, seeing the disk.
"You bet, not everyday you get to take on a professional duelist." Brian smiled.
"Shouldn't you wait for the tournament to start?" Celeste asked.
"Oh come on." Tim smiled, "This won't take long anyway."
Dropping his voice, he leaned closer to Celeste.
"Besides, I've got ten bucks saying Mako wins." He whispered.
"I heard that." Brian said, turning to his snickering brother.
"Attention Duelists!" A voice boomed out, "Glad ye could all make it!"
All conversations ceased, as out of one of the tunnels strode Needlez, dressed in his gray suit. He looked across the crowd and smiled.
"So many talented duelists I can see here today. All of ye underestimated in one way or another." He stated, "Well now it's yer time to shine. I am known simply as Needlez, and you are all welcome to my Grand Elemental Tournament!"
Several cheers rose from the crowd, and Needlez waved for silence.
"Now then, the construct of the tournament is surprisingly simple." Needlez explained, "Ye shall be divided into groups, according to the element yew wield in yer deck. Therefore, we shall have six finalists. They will compete in a special match for the title of champion. Simple enough, aye?"
Murmurs spread through the audience, and Needlez once again waved for quiet.
"Now then, let's not waste a lot of time. After all, we have six tournaments to get through. If each of ye could simply go through the door that's been marked with the elemental yew use: Black for darkness, yellow for light, green is wind, brown is earth, blue is water, and red is fire."
As he spoke, light appeared over six tunnels that no one had come in through, each tunnel lit by one of the named colors.
"Inside ye shall find the tournament referee, and a box of rental Duel Disks. Don't break 'em or I lose my deposit." Needlez advised, "Other than that, have fun everybody. I'll see ye all from the winner's circle. Best of luck!"
With that, Needlez waved them off toward the doors. The crowd began to file toward them, with the group of six hanging together for another moment.
"So where are you all going?" Celeste asked, looking toward the yellow tunnel that John Peter was entering "I'm in the light duel I guess."
"Darkness for me." Brian stated.
"I'm fire." Tim nodded, "Good luck bro."
"You too." Brian smiled.
"Wind!" Zeffie cheered.
"You be careful Zeffie, just talk to the judge if you need me, okay?" Gold advised, "Tell him I'm in the earth tournament."
"Okie-dokie." Zeffie nodded.
"I'm water of course." Mako said.
"Funny, we each ended up in a different tournament." Celeste said as they started toward the caves.
"Needlez was kind of funny, that was a brief intro." Brian said.
"Short and to the point, what's not to like?" Tim asked, "I can't take it when we have to talk to the tournament manager for an hour before we start!"
"Well, best of luck to all of you." Mako said, heading for his tunnel.
The others all called out good luck whishes to one another, before vanishing into their caves.
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Sitting in his throne, Needlez watched as six orbs appeared in front of him, each one showing one of the tournaments.
"Very soon, I'll have my army." Needlez said, "It will be small, but it'll be the best…"
Very soon, I would have the ones that would betray me, but as I said that's not this story.
You probably wish to see whom Mako had to duel. Well her strategy was quite interesting.
It certainly caught him off-guard. I don't he expected such powerful creatures from that girl…
I titled this duel
Swamp Battleguard
There's no mercy for those who miss the next chapter.