Yu-Gi-Oh: From Cradle to Grave
Chapter 1:
Buses smelled terrible.
Just her luck that she was propped at the window closest to the tailpipe, where every ounce of exhaust that belched out of the bus' rear inevitably found its way through an open window. Some cosmic dueling entities had also seen to it that this specific window would stay open regardless of how much people would wish otherwise.
With a sudden lurch, the bus froze in its tracks. The occupant in the back—a teenage girl with blonde hair mixed with green highlights—was catapulted into the seat immediately in front of her.
Well, at least now her smashed nose couldn't smell the exhaust.
"Sorry about the rough ride, folks, but we've arrived at our destination," the bus driver announced. "Welcome to Miami City!"
With a roll of her eyes, the girl clutched her dark brown jacket around herself as she lurked in the back of the crowd. She was the last to disembark, some of the other passengers scattering forth with elated cries and leaps into the air.
Kill me now,she thought. Just freaking kill me now.
"Brush up on your dueling skills!"
The booming voice brought the girl's gaze up to an enormous television screen mounted on the side of a building, where a giant man with three large spikes in his purple hair and red patches around his eyes gave whoever was watching his best intense facial expression and most dramatic finger point. A plethora of cards floated past him as a fire burned beside him.
"If you're looking to go pro, I'll be waiting for you at the Leo Duel School, managed directly by the Leo Corporation!" the man declared.
Good for you, the girl thought bitterly. Now go jump in a lake.
Choosing walking over taking the bus again, the girl carefully treaded her way through the streets of Miami City. No one met her gaze or heard her speak. She was just another random person on the sidewalk, and nothing more. Besides, these people had other things to focus on.
"DUEL!"
The girl jumped a few feet in the air when she heard the collective cry of a dozen people who had gathered to watch two others face off. Each one bore a device mounted on the left arm, with a large glowing blade protruding from the side.
Duel Monsters. Everything came back to Duel Monsters, a card game that had somehow existed since ancient Egypt. Monsters engaged one another in combat, aided by spell and trap cards that either powered the monsters up or stopped them in their tracks. Occasionally, the monsters would work together to summon more powerful monsters through a variety of processes.
The girl was familiar with this game. She gave the dueling crowd a brief look.
And then she walked away without so much as a backward glance.
The park was where she wanted to go. She managed to find a nice tree and prop herself up against it. Dropping her backpack by her side, she pulled out a small book and began to read.
Finally, she sighed. Maybe I can get a little reading done before school tomorrow.
She flipped to the first chapter of her book and allowed her eyes to traverse the pages. A few minutes in, she heard a polite cough above her. She glared upward to see an adolescent boy with glasses and luscious brown hair.
"Sorry," the boy said, flicking his hair a bit. "Couldn't help but notice you here."
"Mm-hmm," the girl grunted, eyes going back to her book.
"Mind if I take a seat?" he continued. "I've been walking a while, and I could really use a rest."
"Whatever," the girl shrugged. The boy sat down beside her and looked over at her.
"So, what's your name?" he asked.
The girl didn't respond.
"I'm Casey," the boy said. "You got a name?"
She ignored him again.
"You seem to really like reading," Casey remarked. "Any particular kind of book you're into?"
Still no response.
"Okay, fine," Casey said with a defeated raise of his hands. "Have it your way."
His words had the sound of surrender, but he still sat there. He began rummaging through his own backpack for something.
"Let's see…no, that's a textbook, surprising resemblance though…ah, here it is!" Casey said triumphantly, pulling out a small package no bigger than his hand. "Let me show you something of mine."
When the girl didn't look up, he tapped her forehead a bit.
"What?!" she snapped. Unfazed, Casey opened his box and pulled out a stack of cards.
Duel Monsters cards.
"This is my deck," he said proudly, spreading his cards out. The images on the cards resembled knights with jewelry attached to various parts of their bodies. "There are a lot of gems in here, no pun intended. But, I have to say…while a lot of the jewels in my deck are nice to look at, they're nowhere near as gorgeous as you."
"I'm flattered," the girl said. "Now go away."
"Awesome, got two sentences out. Making progress," Casey smirked. "Seriously, though, you don't have to get all defensive. Let's start this encounter off right."
He opened another pocket on his backpack and pulled out what was unmistakably a Duel Disk. Attaching it to his arm, he slipped his deck into a slot and allowed the device to shuffle it.
"How about a duel?" Casey asked.
The girl shut her book with a resounding clap.
"How about you get eaten by vultures?" she growled.
"Hey, calm down," Casey said. "Just figured you would be a duelist. I mean, who isn't?"
"Me," the girl said. "I don't duel."
"Aw, why not?" Casey asked. "Dueling's fun! You get to meet all sorts of new people, you get stronger as a person…what's not to love about dueling?"
"Try the fact that people have died from dueling," the girl snarled. She slipped her book back into her backpack and made to leave.
"Hey, hold on!" Casey cried, grabbing her arm. "Is it so wrong to want to know someone?!"
"It is for me, now back off!" the girl yelled. Her struggle to get away managed to dislodge her backpack, and once it fell on the ground, something fell out.
"Oh, crap, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have—" Casey began, but stopped upon noticing what fell out.
A Duel Monsters deck.
"So you are a duelist," he grinned.
"Doesn't mean I want to waste my time screwing around with you," the girl shot back, gathering up her cards.
"Wait, wait, hold on," Casey said, clasping one of her hands in both of his. "Listen, they say that the best way to get to know someone is by dueling them. I'm not trying to pry—"
The girl snorted.
"—but I really want to know about you," Casey continued as if the snort never happened. "Look, I'll make you a deal. One duel, and that's it. Chances are good that what we're experiencing right now is one of those random encounters that will never happen again. So, I don't really think you have much to lose by dueling me."
"Ugh…fine," the girl sighed. "One duel. Then, I never want to see you again."
"Your choice," Casey shrugged. "Got a Duel Disk on hand?"
"Well…no, actually," the girl admitted. "I'm from out of town, didn't bring my Duel Disk with me. Haven't used it in years, so it probably wouldn't fit, anyway."
"Don't worry about it," Casey smiled. "Gimme a sec."
He dug through his backpack again and pulled out a second Duel Disk.
"I always keep a spare Disk on hand," Casey said proudly, "in case a lovely lady like yourself could use one."
"…okay, before you were annoying," the girl said as she slid the Disk onto her arm. "Now you're crossing the border into creepy." The fact that the Disk fit perfectly added to this.
"I get that sometimes," Casey chuckled. "So, before we start, I don't believe I caught your name."
"Can we just not?" the girl sighed. "We went into this strangers, and I'd rather we stay strangers."
"Not going to happen, I'm afraid," Casey shook his head. "Dueling does that."
"Fine," the girl huffed. "My name's Serenity. Happy now?"
"Very," Casey nodded. "A pretty name for a pretty girl. You're just perfect all around, aren't you?"
"That depends," Serenity growled. "I'd like to see how perfect a cut I can make on your throat with the blade on this thing."
"All right, all right," Casey said. "Just making an observation. No need to freak out. Now, let's get this show on the road."
The two separated by a significant distance, leaving plenty of room for what was to come. Each clicked on their Duel Disk, and the blade came to life with a neon glow. Serenity's deck was shuffled, and a small screen with the number 4000 on it floated near Serenity's face.
"Wow, the holograms have gotten better since I last used these," she remarked.
"That would be the work of Miami City's own Leo Corporation," Leo said as a life point counter of his own floated beside him, the same number written on it. "But I think we've had enough chat. Let's get down to the real business."
Serenity shrugged.
"DUEL!" Casey shouted.
Can you just, I don't know, not yell that to the heavens…? Serenity thought with a grimace. The two drew five cards from their respective decks, and the duel began.
"Since I'd like to give you the pleasure of the first draw, I'll go first," Casey said. He looked over the cards in his hand for a moment. "Hmm…well, nothing too fancy this turn. Just going to Set a monster and end my turn there."
Casey placed one card horizontally on the blade of his duel disk, making sure that it was face-down. On the field, a larger version of Casey's card appeared in front of him.
"Well, my turn, I guess," Serenity said, drawing a single card from her deck. I hate it when they go defensive like this. The closest I've got for that…ugh, guess I'll get the ball rolling myself.
She placed a monster card from her hand on her own blade, but this one was face-up.
"I Normal Summon Gusto Codor!" she yelled.
By Serenity's side, a small grey buzzard-like creature materialized out of scattered light particles. With a screech, the bird flapped down onto the ground, crimson eyes leering at Casey from underneath its gladiator-like helmet. Despite this, Serenity's opponent was unconcerned as a screen with two more numbers—the statistics of Gusto Codor—appeared beside him: a level three monster with 1000 attack points and 400 defense points.
"That's cute," he remarked. "So what can it do?"
"I'll show you," Serenity said. "Gusto Codor, attack his monster!"
With another screech, Gusto Codor took to the skies on its green wings, circling its target for a moment before dramatically diving down towards it. Just as it neared impact, Casey's card flipped over, revealing a turtle with a shell made of emeralds—the defense points of which were twice that of Gusto Codor's attack points.
Gusto Codor let out a pained squawk as it slammed beak-first into the shell of Casey's monster, which seemed to not even notice its attacker. With a casual glance, the turtle picked Gusto Codor up with its own beak, then threw the bird back at its owner with a surprising surge of strength. Gusto Codor slammed into Serenity, knocking her over and depleting a quarter of her life points.
"Sorry about that," Casey smirked. "But, thanks for flipping over my Gem-Turtle. Now that you've done that, I can add a special little spell card from my deck to my hand."
A greenish-blue card poked out of Casey's deck, and with a grin he pulled it out and showed off the two knight-like figures—one red and one blue—circling a storm of gems.
"That spell card is Gem-Knight Fusion!" he declared.
"So, I just gave you a Fusion card," Serenity grimaced as she pushed Gusto Codor off of her. "Great."
"Pretty much, yeah." Casey shrugged. "Anything else?"
Serenity looked over her own hand, then slipped one purple card from it into a slot in the middle of the duel disk. The card appeared on the field, face-down like Casey's Gem-Turtle but this time vertically aligned.
"One face-down card," Serenity said. "That's about it."
"All right, then. My turn," Casey smirked as he drew another card. He smirked when he saw what it was: a pale brown armadillo with what seemed to be oxygen tanks attached to its sides. "I Normal Summon Gem-Armadillo!"
The armadillo appeared alongside Gem-Turtle, boasting an ATK of 1700.
"When it's Normal Summoned, Gem-Armadillo lets me add a Gem-Knight monster from my deck to my hand," Casey explained before removing another card from his deck, this one an orange monster card with a dark-colored knight on it. "Like this guy, Gem-Knight Obsidian."
"Okay…?" Serenity said slowly. "So, where are you going with this?"
"Time to let me show you," Casey grinned. "I activate the spell Gem-Knight Fusion! This lets me send monsters from my hand or field to the graveyard and Fusion Summon a Gem-Knight Fusion Monster from my Extra Deck! So, I'll send Gem-Turtle and this Gem-Knight Tourmaline in my hand to the graveyard…"
As he spoke, an image of Gem-Knight Fusion appeared on his field, and a yellow-armored Gem-Knight from Casey's hand faded into purple dust, alongside Gem-Turtle
"…to Fusion Summon the mighty Gem-Knight Zirconia!" Casey finished, plucking a card from a newly-opened compartment on his Duel Disk.
The purple particles swirled into a colossal humanoid shape, and soon a hulking beast with cylindrical arms and a large blue cape fell from the sky and slammed onto the field. The shockwave of its impact almost knocked Serenity over.
"2900 attack points?" Serenity gaped.
"Hate to break it to you, but I'm not done there," Casey said. "Gem-Knight Fusion has another effect: I can add it back to my hand by banishing a Gem-Knight from my graveyard."
Gem-Knight Tourmaline's ghostly image soared into the sky before vanishing, and Gem-Knight Fusion shot heroically from a dark hole that appeared in the ground. Casey easily caught the card in his hand, and with a smirk, placed it on the field once more.
"You're activating it again?!" Serenity cried.
"Sorry, but one Gem-Knight Zirconia just isn't enough for me," Casey smiled. "So, I'll send Gem-Knight Obsidian and Gem-Knight Garnet from my hand to the grave to Fusion Summon a second one!"
This time, Obsidian was sacrificed alongside a Gem-Knight in red armor, leading to the coming of another Zirconia.
"And, guess what? Gem-Knight Obsidian has an effect of his own!" Casey smiled. "When he's sent directly from my hand to the graveyard, I can Special Summon a Gem-Knight Normal Monster from my graveyard. So, say hello to Gem-Kight Garnet!"
The Gem-Knight in red armor rose from another dark portal, fist blazing angrily.
"And…well, why not? One more time!" Casey laughed. "I banish Gem-Knight Obsidian to add Gem-Knight Fusion back to my hand. Next, I'll activate it and send Gem-Knight Garnet and Gem-Armadillo from my field to the graveyard. And you can probably guess who's coming out of my Extra Deck!"
"A…third…Zirconia," Serenity blinked as three behemoths stood before her, each boasting an ATK of 2900. "Are you actually serious right now?"
"Afraid so. Sorry, but it looks like this duel might be over," Casey said. "Don't take this too personally. I don't normally go all-out like this. Must be something about you that just…fires me up."
If you say one more pick-up line, I'm going to take this blade and shove it up your—
"Okay, one of you Gem-Knight Zirconias, go and attack her Gusto Codor with Geo Demolition!"
The Zirconia on the left lumbered forth, swinging its hefty club-like arm down onto Gusto Codor's comparatively tiny body. Serenity's life points dropped to 1100 as she shielded herself from the explosion of wind that Codor's destruction had produced.
"Now, Zirconia number two, attack her directly!" Casey ordered.
Crap! Serenity thought. What am I going to…oh, duh, my trap card.
"I activate the trap, Phoenix Wing Wind Blast!" Serenity cried as her purple card flipped over. "By discarding one card from my hand, I can target one card on the field and send it back to the top of its owner's deck…or in the case of your Gem-Knight Zirconia, back to the Extra Deck!"
A massive gust of wind erupted from the card, strong enough to launch the attacking Zirconia into the sky. The giant dissipated into purple particles again, filtering back into Casey's Extra Deck.
"Not bad, but…well, I hate to tell you this, but it's not going to save you," Casey shook his head. His eyes went wide, however, when he saw a graveyard portal open on Serenity's side of the field, with a green avian beast rising out in a blast of wind. "What?!"
"The monster I discarded was Gusto Griffin," Serenity explained as the regal beast circled about. "And when he's sent from my hand to the graveyard, I can Special Summon one Gusto monster from my deck. So, I'll summon Gusto Gulldo in defense position!"
Gusto Griffin flapped its wings, and the resulting wind somehow brought forth a small turquoise bird. It took its place on the field, wings folded across its chest as its 500 DEF flashed across one of Casey's screens.
"Okay, I'll be the first to admit it…I underestimated you," Casey said. "All right, the last of you Gem-Knight Zirconias is going to attack Gusto Gulldo!"
The last Zirconia complied, striking down Gulldo with one brutal blow. The wind that generated from Gulldo's destruction, however, formed into another bird, this one even smaller and with a darker shade of green.
"When Gusto Gulldo is sent from the field to the graveyard, I can Special Summon a level two or lower Gusto monster from my deck," Serenity explained. "And when Gusto Egul here is destroyed by battle, I can Special Summon a level four or lower non-Tuner Gusto monster from my deck. See how this works?"
"Ooh, I do indeed," Casey whistled. "That is some nice defense. Not much I can do about that, so I'll just end my turn here."
"Okay, then," Serenity said. She looked down at her deck. If I'm going to get this guy off my back, I need to pull this off right now. Come on, deck, give me something…
She drew her card, and when she looked at it, she smiled. It was a monster card, bearing the image of a girl with green-and-red hair and white-lined robes.
That'll do.
"I Normal Summon Pilica, Descendant of Gusto!" Serenity yelled, the robed girl appearing on the field. "When she's Normal or Special Summoned, I can Special Summon one Wind-attribute Tuner monster from my graveyard in defense position, and I'm picking Gusto Gulldo!"
Pilica waved her bird-tipped wooden staff, and Gulldo reappeared on the field by her side.
"Now…this is where you go down," Serenity said darkly. "I Tune Gusto Gulldo with Pilica, Descendant of Gusto!"
The two monsters in question morphed into two triplets of stars, each shooting into the sky and entering a series of rings that materialized in the air. The six stars stationed themselves within the rings, an orange outline of a human-like being forming within them. On Serenity's Duel Disk, the word "SYNCHRO" appeared across the blade in rainbow letters.
"Noble maiden of the wind, rise up and defend your friends with the force of a hurricane!" Serenity chanted. "I Synchro Summon Daigusto Sphreeze!"
The rings faded away, and a woman in white armor and green robes gently floated down on the wind. She slammed the butt of a mechanized staff on the ground, opening a graveyard portal.
"When Daigusto Sphreeze is Synchro Summoned, I can add a Gusto card from my graveyard to my hand," Serenity explained, allowing Pilica to fly back into her hand. "Now, Gusto Egul, attack one of the Gem-Knight Zirconias!"
"Um…what are you doing?" Casey blinked, noticing that Egul had only 200 ATK, and even the newly-summoned Daigusto Sphreeze had only 2000 ATK. Despite this, Egul bravely charged forth and—as expected—Zirconia's massive fist crushed the bird into the ground. Upon its destruction, however, a giant explosion of wind burst out from underneath Zirconia's fist, knocking Casey off his feet and across the ground.
"Ugh…what?!" he cried as he saw his life points fall from 4000 to 1300. "What just happened?!"
"Oh, did I forget to mention?" Serenity smirked. "As long as Daigusto Sphreeze is on the field, all battle damage that I would have taken from a battle involving a Gusto monster is dealt to you instead. And here comes the level four or lower non-Tuner Gusto monster I promised before: Winda, Priestess of Gusto! Now, Winda, it's your turn to attack Gem-Knight Zirconia!"
Upon reaching the field, a young green-haired girl in brown robes charged forth and allowed one of the Zirconias to destroy it. Again, a gust of wind erupted from where Winda was destroyed, again blasting Casey off of his feet and dropping his life points to zero.
"Ugh, finally," Serenity sighed, ignoring the screen with the word 'WINNER' plastered beneath an image of her face.
"Oh, you crafty minx!" Casey laughed. "That has to be one of the best duels I've had in a while! I know you're not too fond of me right now, but I think we should totally hang ou—"
Serenity was already leaving. Her deck was back in her backpack, as was the Duel Disk, and she left the park without a word.
"Well…hate to reign in on a deal," Casey remarked, "but you might just be too good to pass up."
Elsewhere in Miami City, a large building with the words "LEO and "LDS" printed on alternating sides of its hourglass-like structure stood proudly amongst the other, more average buildings that surrounded it. Inside, a bell rang out to signal the end of a class, prompting a variety of students to rise from their desks.
"All right, everyone, good duels today," the teacher said. "Tomorrow, the assignment on the monster card to spell and trap card ratio will be due. See you all then!"
Most of the students began to talk with one another, discussing such topics as the upcoming assignment or favorite deck types. One student, this one a young man with dark hair, left the room without a word.
"Hey, Neil, wait up!" a student with red hair cried as he struggled to catch up to the dark-haired student. "So, what are you doing for the assignment tomorrow? If it's not too much trouble, could we help each other with—"
"Sorry, but you're just a rival in class," Neil said abruptly. "I'm not picking up your slack for you."
"Aw, not going to make any friends like that, man," the red-haired student groaned. "If you want to make it in the business, you need to make friends."
"Maybe later, Taylor," Neil said abruptly. "Right now I want to focus on getting better."
"Really want to go for that fame, huh?" Taylor asked.
I'm not even going to dignify that with a response, Neil thought with a scowl. I have more important things to worry about than fame.