Chapter 1: New School...Again!
"Terry, did you get kicked off the playground again?"
"Ya, so?"
"Did you hit someone?"
"He was calling me names."
"But if you keep on hitting people you'll never be able to play on the playground."
"The playground is for babies. Fighting is more fun."
"Well, when your older, if you fight, you can go to jail."
"Well, I like to fight."
"How about fighting a different way?"
"What do you mean? There's only one way to fight."
"Actually there's a less painful way."
"How?"
"Its a game, called Duel Monsters..."
---
"I now flip summon Magician of Faith!" Terry announced, and a girl with purple hair appeared. (ATK 300)(DEF 400)"I can now take a spell card from my Graveyard!" (TLP 300)
"It's not going to help you," smirked the little boy on the other side of the table. (BLP 300)
"I choose Magic Blast!" Terry announced. "And since I have Apprentice Magician as well as the Magician of Faith, you take 400 damage declaring me the winner!"
"Hold your horses," the boy laughed. "I play my face down, Magic Jammer! I discard one card and the magic card is destroyed." Terry's eyes narrowed angrily.
"Your turn done?" the boy asked. Terry sighed and nodded.
"Now, for my turn," the boy smiled drawing a card. "I'll play my Celtic Guardian! And he'll attack your Apprentice Magician declaring ME the winner!" The boy laughed proud in Terry's face. Terry's fist slammed on the small table in frustration.
"Face it," he snapped. "Your deck is wimpy! And your just as bad, Bean stalk.."
"Don't call me that!" Terry shouted, jumping out of the chair and tackled him to the floor. Terry got in a few good punches before being yanked away.
"My office, now!" declared the principal taking them away.
---
"Honey wake up!" Rang the joyful voice of Terry's mother, Jennifer. It shot through one ear and out the left. Terry's eyes opened and glanced over at her.
"We're here!" She chimed excitedly, pulling the silver Volvo to the curb. Terry's narrowed eyes glanced out the car window. Zeta High School stood only meters away, with a sea of students before it. The girls were dressed in purple shirts and black skirts, the boys in black shirts and blue pants, and blue jackets done up all the way, or half way. Terry rolled up the sleeves to the jacket so they were past the elbow.
"Promise me that you won't get kicked out of this school," Jennifer asked in a concerned voice.
"Why should I promise?" Terry asked, still slouched in the seat.
"Because you have a bad rep going on, and your only in grade nine. And I don't want it to get worse," she explained.
"Well I shouldn't be at these schools," Terry said defiantly. "I should be at Duel Academy, but someone wont let me go."
"Well there's more to life then just dueling," Jennifer sighed. "You have a whole life ahead of you and I wont you to use it right."
"But dueling is my life," Terry sighed annoyed. "Why can't you just let that be?"
"Because I won't let my child become some card-crazed fool," she shouted.
"Save it mom," Terry shoved the car door open and stepped out.
"Have a nice day," she sighed as Terry slammed the door shut. Terry began to walk to the big front doors of the school, and as expected most of the kids were giving Terry confused looks, and/or giggling behind their hands. Terry shrugged them off and walked into the school.
Terry marched down the wide locker covered hallways, brushing off every weird look. This school was so old fashioned compared to the other 3 high schools Terry had been to. Oh yes, been kick out of 3 schools in the past 4 months. Either for illegal dueling with the Ante rule, or for beating up took the set of stairs by two, and continued down a smaller hallway. Finding the locker 527, Terry swung the locker open a little too fast and hit a smaller boy who had just got to his locker. The boy stumbled back, and landed on his rear.
"Umph!" the boy cried on impacted. Terry glared at him. He had short blonde hair in the front, but in the back it reached his shoulders. He wore a blazer instead of a jacket, his glasses hung on his nose, and a big sub sandwich was in his hand.
"You mind watching it?" the boy asked standing up. The boy was a whole head shorter then Terry.(Terry was tall to begin with) Terry didn't reply, and looked away.
"Hey dude," he said, poking Terry. "I'm talking..." Terry faced him with a very angry look, and bent down so their faces were at the same level.
"Listen, dude," Terry mocked. "Touch me again, and that sub won't be the only sandwich you'll be eating."
"Wait uh...," he looked at Terry with surprise. "...You're a girl?"
"So what?" she replied, standing up straight again. "You have a problem with that?"
"Um, well...," he stuttered, and Terry brought her fist up.
"NO!" he squeaked in a frightened voice.
"Good," she nodded, putting her backpack in her locker. " She got her stuff out and slammed the locker shut, causing the boy to jump in surprise. She locked it up and brushed past him leaving him dumbfounded.
---
"What's that ugly thing?"
"Its a Duel Monster, from the game I told you about."
"It looks like a rat."
"Haha, that's because it is."
"I don't wanna beat kids with an ugly rat!"
"Well, no matter how Duel Monsters look, they can be very useful, you just have to create a strategy."
"Will you give me one? And one that isn't ugly?"
"I've got just the one..."
---
Terry was brought back to reality by the buzzing of the annoying school bell. The first half of the day was a bore. The teachers went on about things that never sparked an interest to her. She made her way to her locker again, and got out her backpack, shoving her stuff in. She headed down the stairs ready to leave the grounds for lunch, but something caught her eye. She saw a big lug of a guy picking on a small girl who looked her age.. She couldn't stand bullies, so she went over to solve the situation.
"Just leave me alone," the girl pleaded. Her head was facing the floor and her long black bangs covered her face.
"Your so pathetic," the boy laughed. "Your like the only person at this school without a deck. You shouldn't belong here, or any other school! Why don't you go home and cry to your mommy?" She saw the girl begin to tremble, and she saw a drop of water fall from her face. Terry never like bullying, unless of course she was doing it, and only physical. Verbal bullying really pushed her buttons(along with many other things). She couldn't stand watching, so she decided to get involved.
"Hey you!"she shouted. She stood so the girl was directly between them. The girl looked up at her in fear, probably thinking she would join in on the insults.
"And who are you?" the bully laughed. "Must be a Freshman if your even thinking about talking to me"
"In fact I am," she snapped. "And I don't like talking, or how your treating her. So either you shut up and leave, or I make you."
"Oh, u think your so tough," he said.
"I am," she nodded, opening up her backpack. "but I'd rather leave the fighting to my monsters." She revealed a duel disk, and slipped it onto her arm, dropping her bag beside her.
"You duel cross-dresser?" the bully insulted.
"Your all talk," Terry snapped. "Your insults don't bother me, so put you deck where your mouth is."
"With pleasure!" the bully motioned another a boy over and he handed him a duel disk. The girl ran over to Terry's side, and whipped her eyes.
"Th-thank you," she stammered, looking at her with icy blue eyes.
"Just get back, and don't distract me," Terry ordered removing her deck from her back pocket and slid it into the duel disk causing it to open up. The bully put his deck in and his disk opened as well. Kids cleared the section of the hallway they were using, and stood behind them on either side.
"You ready to lose?" the boy shouted, as 4000 life points appeared on either side.
"Ready to put you in your place is what I'm ready to do!" Terry shouted back.
"DUEL!"
"I'll go first!" Terry said, drawing her card. "I'll summon Rapid-Fire Magician, in attack mode!" A man with purple clothes with yellow trimming appeared with a staff in each hand and many colored orbs floating around him.(ATK 1600)(DEF 1200)
"I'll now activate Nightmare's Steelcage!" A giant cage of steel formed its way around the bully's side of the field. "And if you don't know what that is, it means you can't attack for two turns."
"Big d..." the bully's sentence was cut short for the Rapid-Fire Magician sent orbs at him with one of his staffs. (BLP 3600)
"What the hell was that!" he demanded, as the orbs returned to the Magician. "You can't attack on the first turn!"
"I set off Rapid-Fire Magician's special ability," Terry explained, closing her eyes, arms crossed. "Every time I use a spell card, you take 400 damage in Life Points.
Now I'll set this card face down and end!"
"Whatever," the bully mumbled under his breathe, drawing his card. "That thing won't be out for very long. I use Mystical Space Typhoon!" The card appeared before him, and a tornado shot out destroying the Steelcage.
"Your steelcage was put to waste," he laughed. Tori didn't react in anyway, she just kept looking at him with a cold hard stare.
"Now, I summon Malice Doll of Demise!" the boy shouted, slapping a card onto his duel disk. A wooden puppet with torn clothes appeared with and over-sized axe at hand.(ATK 1600)(DEF1700) Terry saw the attack points of both the monsters were the same, but she figured the bully already knew that. "And I'll equip it with Sword of Dark Rites! This will increase his attack points by 400!" (ATK 2000) The doll laughed a scary laugh as the sword appeared before him. He ditched his axe and grabbed onto the sword greedily.
"Now attack Rapid-Fire Magician!" the bully ordered. The doll ran at the magician as fast as its wooden legs would carry him. He plunged the sword into the magician's abdomen, and he shattered into tiny pieces.(TLP 3600)
"Tie game," was all she said.
"Mmhmm," the bully placed a card face down, with a smirk. "Your turn." Terry drew her card, and looked at it. Her eyes widened with surprise, as it brought back a memory.
"You find me a Duel Monster yet?" Terry asked.
"Sure did," a woman answered holding out a thin card. Terry took it and looked at it in awe.
"She's pretty," she smiled.
"I never thought I'd here you saw something like that," she laughed.
"She has brown hair like me!" she giggled.
"Yes she does," she smiled. "This is the first card of your very own deck."
"What is she?" Terry asked.
"A magician," she answered.
"Well, I wanna collected all the magicians," Terry laughed.
"Well good luck with that, 'cause there are a lot," she rubbed Terry's head with her hand. "Take good care of this card. Protect her, for one day, she'll protect you..."
"Yoohoo! Miss drag queen!" the bully taunted, sending some of the kids on a laughing fest. "That card too cool for you to handle?" Terry just shrugged it off and add the card to her hand.
"I summon Mythcal Beast Cerberus!" Terry shouted as a glowing circular symbol appeared before her. A blue and purple lion-like creature with a second head came up out of it and roared loudly.(ATK1400)(DEF1400)
"Did you forget your math?," the bully laughed. "It isn't strong enough to beat my doll."
"I also equip it with Mage Power!" The beast began glowing a red color. "For every magic and trap card out on my field, he gets an additional 500 attack points and defense points! And Mage Power counts." (ATK1900)(DEF 1900)
"It still doesn't..."
"His special effect now activates," Terry interrupted. "For every time a spell card is used he gains a Spell counter adding 500 points to his attack total. (ATK 2400) Now attack his Malice Doll of Demise!" The beast lunged forward ready to dig its claws into the doll's wooden figure.
"I activate Dimension Wall!" His face down card flipped up. "My doll may be destroyed, but you take the damage!" Cerberus destroyed the doll effortlessly, but Tori took the difference in damage. (TLP 3200) Cerberus returned to Terry's side of the field, as his attack points lowering. (ATK 1900)
"What was all that about?" the bully asked curiously.
"After Cerberus attacks all spell counters are removed," She explained annoyingly. "I'll play this card face down and end." (ATK 2400)
"Hey! How did his attack points go up again! You only have one face up!" he objected.
"The card says each spell and trap on my side of the field," Terry sighed. "It didn't specify face up or not." The bully mumbled under his breathe as he drew his next card.
"I place this monster face down, and play Swords of Revealing light!" Terry was now surrounded by swords of glowing light. "Don't think about attacking for 3 turns! And my turn is over with this card face down." Terry shrugged as Cerberus' attack points went up. (ATK 2900) Cerberus was doing good with attack points, so she couldn't let him be destroyed. So it was time to use the card she was given many years ago.
"I play...Magician's Valkyria!" A girl with long brown hair, dress in aqua and purple clothes with yellow trimming, and her curved weapon at hand. She stood strongly next to Cerberus.(ATK 1600)(DEF 1800)
"So now I can't attack your Cerberus, only that wimpy thing?" the bully laughed. "That's fine by me!"
"Good," Terry snapped. "I'll end my turn with her." The bully made his draw and laughed.
"This duel is as good as mine!" he shouted. "I'll now flip summon my monster, Stealth Bird!" A bird that looked like it could blend in with the sky appeared, wings covering its body. (ATK 700)(DEF 1700) "And when he's successfully flip summoned, you take 1000 damage to your life points!" Sharp feathers shot from the bird and hit Terry in the chest. She hardly reacted as her life points dropped. (TLP 2200). "I'll end with that." Terry drew her card and added it to her hand. "And I don't see how that made the duel as good as you said."
"You'll see now!" the bully shouted lifting his hand in the air after adding his drawn card to his hand. His card flipped up revealing a cemetery. "I reveal my face down, Call of the Haunted! I bring back Malice Doll of Demise!" The doll made a sinister reappearance. "But he and Stealth Bird wont be staying very long, for I sacrifice both of them...!" The monsters disappeared in a whirlwind of dark smoke. "And summon Diabolos, King of the Abyss !" The smoke gathered high above them, and emerging from it was a giant dragon of grey and black and covered in armor. (ATK 2800)(DEF 1000) It gave a loud cry as it flapped its wings, making the smoke disappear.
"Now Diabolos, attack her Valkyria!" The dragon brought its hand down on her, smashing her into many small pieces. (TLP 1000)
"Your beast still can't attack my Cerberus!" Terry mocked. "And after this turn I'll be able to attack, or I might not have to."
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"You'll just have to see," Terry smirked. She knew this monster well, and she had the right cards out to bring him down.
"Hold on!" the bully shouted as Terry went to draw her next card.
"I can use Diabolos' special effect!" the bully smirked. "I can..."
"It doesn't matter!" Terry interrupted him.
"Huh?" he looked at her confused.
"See, I still have my face down card right here, or have you forgotten?" she said, as the bully's eyes widened. "And you activated it! Go Divine Wrath!"
"Oh, no!!" the bully shouted, putting his hands on his head.
"Oh yes," Terry corrected. "By discarding one card from my hand, I can negate your effect, and your monster is destroyed!" The dragon roared in pain as cracks formed all over its body. In a flash of light it was gone. The bully fell to his knees, in defeat.
"Dude, you still have 3600 life points left!" she shouted angrily. "Get back up! Don't be a wimp! And besides Cerberus' attack points go down."(ATK 2400) The bully stayed there on the ground not looking at her.
"I've never lost Diabolos so easily," he moaned.
"Come on!" Terry sighed. "If your tough enough to pick on little girls, your tough enough to finish a duel!" The bully then hesitantly got up onto his feet.
"Fine," he groaned. "Now finish your turn!"
"With pleasure!" Terry finally drew her card, and smiled as she added it to her hand. This duel is now mine.
"Now! I play Apprentice Magician!" A magician with spiked blonde hair, wearing purple clothes appeared holding a staff. "Now since it was successfully summoned I can add a Spell Counter to any of my cards, and I choose Cerberus!" The magician pointed the staff at the beast and a beam of dark magic floated towards him making him stronger. [ATK 2900 "Next, by removing a dark and a light monster from play, Rapid-Fire Magician and Magician's Valkyria, I can summon Chaos Sorcerer!" A dark aura filled Terry's side of the field. A man with with dark bluish skin emerged, dressed in black with red trimming clothes. A helmet was set on his head with the same colors.(ATK 2300)(DEF2000)
"What good is he going to do?" The bully asked.
"I then play Swords of revealing light!" Terry continued ignoring his question. "Now you can't attack for 3 turns." Cerberus' Attack points rose.[(ATK 3900) "Then I'll use Magic Blast! For every spellcaster on my side of the field, you take 200 life points in damage! Do the math! 3 time 200 is 600!" The bully was struck by a giant ball of pure magic. (BLP 3000) "And Cerberus gains more attack points!" (ATK 4400)
"OK, how does he get 1500 more attack points worth when there's was only 2 spell cards used?" The bully demanded.
"Don't forget Mage Power's effect," Terry said. "Swords of revealing light is still on the field, so it adds 500 more attack points. My turn is now over." The swords around her faded freeing her monsters, also lowering Cerberus' attack points. (ATK 3900) The bully drew his card, and sighed.
"I play Spirit Reaper," a floating skeleton dressed in a purple robe appeared with a long bladed weapon in his hand. "He can't be destroyed in battle, but the damage is still dealt. There isn't anything else I can do, and I end my turn."
Terry drew her card and put it in her other hand.
"Now, Chaos Sorcerer attack Spirit Reaper!" The sorcerer sent a ball of white magic, and of dark magic at the reaper. (BLP 1000)
"Now you Cerberus!" The beast charged and clawed through the reaper, dealing the rest of the damage. (BLP 0) The monsters disappeared, and Terry walked over to the bully.
"You threw away the duel by putting the Spirit Reaper in attack mode," She said looking at him angrily. "If you put him in defense mode I could have kept attacking and dealt no damage.
"But you would have used your Chaos Sorcerer's special ability," the bully objected. "He can destroy one face up monster instead of his regular attack. I would have been delaying the inevitable. Good duel." He put out his hand for her to shake. She only shook her head at him in disappointment and walked away.
"Hey kid," he turned his attention to the little girl. She coward at his sight, and looked down at the floor.
"I'm sorry," he said. "This is one tough friend you have." Terry was about to object to that, but the bully jogged away.
"What's going on here?" A teacher emerged from the crowd. His brown hair was pulled in a long ponytail. His grey eyes were covered with a pair of round glasses. He wore a blue over coat and white shirt with black pants.
"It was nothing Mr. Jyra," the little girl said to him. "Just some lunch time fun."
"Make sure it stays that way Miss Daffil," he instructed with a smile. "Who's your friend?"
"I'm not her friend," Tori said, pushing through the crowd of students.
"She's new to the school," the girl. "I just met her."
"Well, I hope you two become good friends," smiled Mr. Jyra. The girl smiled, and ran after Terry.
"Hey! Magician girl!" the girl shouted trying to catch up to Terry.
"You have some pretty impressive card," the girl smiled, falling into line nest to her. Her black hair reached far down her back in its ponytail, and her skirt had more frills then the others, and she wore a fancy ribbon around her neck.
"If only you saw half of my deck," she mumbled. "What do you want?"
"I'm Julia Daffil," she did a small curtsy. "And I just wanted to welcome you to the school." Terry rput her duel disk away, wishing she'd leave her alone.
"And your name?" Julia asked.
"Terry Flank," she sighed, shoving her deck into her back pocket.
"Well, since your not my friend, could you?" she smiled. The girl was only half her size and looked much younger then her.
"Not interested," she said, quickening her pace.
"Oh," Julia sighed. "Well, maybe I'll see ya after school?" Hopefully you won't, Terry said silently.
---
Two boys who had watched the match between Holden and the new girl made there way down the hallway in the opposite direction. One had shoulder-length black hair, the other red spiky hair, and a backwards visor. They were the best duelists in the entire school. And right now, the only members of the Zeta Dueling Team. The Annual City wide tournament was happening the middle of February, and they had little over a month to find two more members.
"So you think she'll cut it Cody?" asked the spiky haired boy.
"She's only in grade nine," he objected. "And from what I heard Andrew, she's real violent. She got kicked out of 3 schools already."
"Wow," Andrew laughed. "She's perfect then."
"But she has to qualify first," Cody shook his head.
"Then after school I'll challenge her," Andrew sighed.
"But Andrew, I'm the only one who's ever beat you," Cody laughed. "And that's why we don't have any other members."
"That'll show us then if she'd right," he explained. "You saw how crazy that was with Cerberus constantly getting attack boosts. It was crazy."
"You have an advantage now," Cody said. "You know her strategy."
"But it may not be her only one," Andrew said. "A good duelist always has to have a backup plan."
"True, true," Cody nodded. "Come on, I'm still hungry."
---
Terry was relieved to be able to leave the school. She was at her locker shoving her new text books in her back pack when she heard someone clear there throat as if to get her attention. She looked to see the boy she knocked down earlier. He had a bag of chips in his hand.
"Hi," he said.
"Hi," she answered rolling her eyes.
"Um, my name is Oscar," he continued. "Oscar Drail."
"And I care because?" she asked rudely, hanging her backpack on one shoulder.
"Um, I thought, since you're new, I'd be polite to you, since your sensitive," he explained.
"I am not sensitive," she snapped. "I'm just not a people person. So stop talking to me." She was about to leave when an annoyingly familiar came flooding down the hallway.
"Hey Terry!" shouted the high-pitched, overexcited voice. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Julia skipping up to her, waving her hand. Terry gave her a cold stare, but it didn't seem to bother her.
"You walking home today?" she asked with a smile.
"None of your business," she said rudely, hoping she'd leave.
"Oh. Who's this?" she smiled, taking no offense to her rudeness.
"Oscar Drail," he introduced.
"I'm Julia Daffil," she nodded. "So.."
"I'll be going now," Terry sighed, tired of all this talking. She headed for the stairs.
"Are you her friend?" Julia asked.
"I tried to be nice, but she keeps brushing me off," Oscar replied, opening his bag of chips.
"Maybe we should try harder," Julia thought out loud.
"Or maybe we should just leave her alone," he suggested. "She obviously doesn't want to be around us." He grabbed a handful of chips and shoved it in his mouth. He offered her the bag.
"Oh, thanks," she smiled taking a few. "We'll rub off on her. We'll try again tomorrow." The two of them proceeded down the stairs.
Terry stalked down the sidewalk as fast as she could, hoping she'd lost the two annoying little people. Why do they keep bugging me?, she wondered. I be rude, and still they...
"Terry!" called too voices in unison. Terry pretended not to hear them and quickened her pace.
"Terry! Wait!" it was obviously Julia and Oscar, and they were catching up. She focused on the sidewalk ahead, and wished they'd leave her alone.
"Terry, look out!" they were now shouting. What the...? There was a loud honk, and the sound of screeching tires. She turned her head and saw a yellow convertible was only an inch away from hitting her directly in the leg.
"Watch were your driving you lunatic!" she shouted angrily.
"Well watch when you cross the street!" the driver shouted back. He had shoulder length black hair.
"Terry!" Julia shouted coming up next to her. "Are you hurt?" She touched her arm, and Terry pushed it away.
"Don't touch me!" Terry shouted.
"Oh, your the new girl," said the passenger in realization. His hair was red and spiked.
"So? What's it to you?" she demanded.
"Well, we saw your duel with that bully...," the black haired boy started.
"Just get to the point already," Terry sighed angrily. "I'm tired of all this chit-chat, and there's quite a line-up behind you." She pointed to the row of honking cars that had piled up behind there car.
"Well, we were wondering if you'd like to try-out for the dueling team," finished the red-head. "If your interested come to this address in an hour." He held out a card over his car door. Terry rolled her eyes and walked over to the side of the car, with Julia and Oscar right behind her.
"I'll think about it," she said, snatching the card.
"Move it already!" someone shouted from inside of their car.
"We're moving!" shouted the black-haired boy before zooming off.
"Terry!" Julia gasped from behind her. "Do you know who those guys were?"
"Probably really annoying, like you guys," she snapped, waiting for all the cars to pass.
"Vewe, fuee," Oscar mumbled through a mouthful of chips. Terry sighed in disgust.
"Well, they're actually the best duelists in the entire school!" Julia grinned. "And they challenged you! That's a great honor."
"Oh yeah, I'm jumping for joy," she said sarcastically. The last car finally past and Terry quickly made her way across the road.
"Wait for us!" Julia shouted.
"NO!" Terry shouted angrily, turning around to find the duo behind her. "YOU will go home, and leave me ALONE!"
"B-but..." Oscar stuttered before swallowing. "...We live this way."
"Then walk on that side of the street!" she growled pointing.
"But there's no sidewalk," Julia pretended to pout.
"Then walk 20 feet behind me!" she huffed, spinning around and stomping away as fast as she could, adjusting her base ball cap.
"Still think we'll rub off no her?" Oscar sighed, digging farther into his chip bag.
"Of course," Julia smiled beginning to walk. "It just takes time."