Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh nor do I own the card game.
Chapter 1: Introductions
"Luck." Sakura Kazekage sighed. "That's the only reason I won. Pure stupid luck."
Sakura Kazekage headed for the outdoor café, quite tired after her last duel. The dark-haired 16-year-old girl looked back on the duel that she won mere moments ago. She remembered the mistakes she made, all rookie mistakes as she only started dueling two weeks ago. Mistakes like her forgetting to set off the Magic Jammer trap card that she placed face down just two turns before her opponent activated his Tribute to the Doom magic card, destroying her Dark Magician Girl and scoring a direct attack, nearly ending the duel in his favor.
-----FLASHBACK-----
"I now attack your life points directly with my rarest monster: Zoa!" the boy hissed. A holographic image of the dark beast, Zoa, slashed Sakura as her life points dropped to 300. The duel was not going her way as she had no monsters on the field whereas her opponent had his most powerful monster out and still had 2100 life points.
She looked at her duel disk and slapped her forehead in frustration. The Magic Jammer! She had forgotten that she even had it on the field! Dark Magician Girl was her favorite card and she lost it to the graveyard due to a careless rookie mistake.
"Arrrgh!" Sakura shouted as she drew her next card. "I lost." She said to herself. "I could have won if I had just remembered to flip my trap card." She impartially looked at the card that she just drew, assured that she had no chance in winning. Suddenly, her eyes widened at the card in her hand.
Change of Heart.
"This duel is over!" Sakura shouted as she activated her trump card
-----END OF FLASHBACK-----
Sakura looked at the newest addition to her dueling deck. Zoa, a highly powerful dark monster that has the potential to change into an even more powerful machine monster. "I don't deserve this card." She whispered. "I didn't deserve to win. Kazeyama-sensei always said that the most important thing about dueling is honor." She thought of her sensei, the father she never had. The old man that often looked after her when she was dismissed from school. The man that taught her everything about dueling, from the rules and starters to the strategies and counter-strategies.
"How could I face Kazeyama-sensei now knowing that I can only win through flukes and luck?" she asked herself. "Sensei always told me that a duelist should always keep his or her mind on what is happening on the field. I just disrespected that by forgetting to play Magic Jammer."
After staring at her card, Sakura decided she needed a break. Her mind was weary after dueling, she would need to rest as soon as possible. Walking to the nearest outdoor café table, she noticed a man sitting while reading a novel.
"Excuse me, can I sit here?" Sakura kindly requested. The man didn't even look up, much less give her a response.
"Sir?" she asked again, slightly louder this time. Again there was no reply. Growing frustrated and annoyed, Sakura fought to suppress her anger at the man. She was much too tired to teach him some manners with her fists anyways.
Nevertheless, she took the seat across from the man, hoping that he wouldn't mind. Actually, she secretly hoped that he would mind, just so she could annoy him for being rude. The stranger gave no hint that he even noticed her. Sakura glanced at the man. He was wearing a black trench coat that was buttoned at the top. The coat extended above his mouth, right under the roof of his nose, covering half his face. His expression was masked by his coat, his eyes focused only on the novel he was reading. Above his head was long black spiked hair, waved towards the back of his head. Below he wore a small beard that covered only from his chin to his ears while not crossing above the mouth. Any hint of impassiveness would be hard to detect. Then Sakura noticed something else about the strange man. He had a dueling disk hooked onto his belt right next to a box holding a deck.
"Are you a duelist, mister?" Sakura asked, now desperate to get some sort of response from the man. Again, no such luck, which really annoyed her. "Damn it you can at least give me the decency of a reply, jackass!" She shouted a little too loudly. People in the café started to stare at her. Sakura duck her head down, a bit embarrassed at her own outburst.
After calming down and ordering a cup of tea, Sakura reviewed her dueling strategy. Her rarest card was the Dark Magician Girl, a monster that was not very strong on its own, but her deck backed up her prize monster with plenty of Dark Magicians and Magician of the Black Chaos's. Along with many magic and trap cards to strengthen her monsters, her cards formed an all-out offensive deck that proved to be a challenge to duel. The deck was not the problem, nor was the strategy. Sakura knew that she as a duelist was the problem.
Sakura was not a bad strategist. Her sensei saw great potential in her mind's ability. But when she was in battle, she tended choke often. Her focus was frequently divided, allowing her to make bad decisions during the heat of duels.
"I just need to focus." She said out loud to herself. "Focus on the duel, and remember everything the sensei taught me." Realizing that she was talking to herself, Sakura grew self conscious. "Sorry if I'm bothering you, mister. I tend to rant, even when no one is listening." Again the stranger gave no hint of reply. "Do you even have a name?" she asked, trying once again to get a response from the man.
"Shin!" A voice sneered from the entrance to the café. It came from a short turquoise color haired boy with large round glasses who was pointing at the stranger across from Sakura. "There you are. I demand a rematch! No one steps on Weevil Underwood and gets away with it!"
"Weevil Underwood?" Sakura said to herself. "I've heard of him before. He's a high level ranked duelist who's only been beaten by a few people including the champion, Yugi Moto."
"Well?" Weevil sneered as he approached the man. "Do you accept my challenge?"
"I'll duel you!" Sakura interrupted as she stood up, heated and ready to duel.
"Stay out of it, missy!" Weevil hissed. "My quarrel is with him, not you."
"Missy?" Sakura screamed, nearly exploding. Her hands clenched into fists. "You want to repeat that to my knuckles?"
"Heh, a feisty fly aren't you?" Weevil snickered. "Alright, I'll duel you." His attention turned towards the stranger. "Listen, Shin. After I squash her, you're next!"
"Hey, flea brain." Sakura yelled. "Standard rules sound good?" Standard rules meant that the duel was to be played with 8000 life points, sacrificing rules, and card restrictions, very similar to the rules that were used in the Kaiba Battle City Tournament that took place a year ago. That includes the rule that the losing duelist would have to forfeit their rarest card to the winner.
"Standard rules it is." Weevil agreed. "That means it'll give me a chance to improve my deck even further before I duel Shin. You'll regret challenging Weevil Underwood."
"Enough talk." Sakura said as her duel disk activated and set her life points at 8000. Holographic projectors shot out across the floor. "It's time to duel!"
Chapter 1: Introductions
"Luck." Sakura Kazekage sighed. "That's the only reason I won. Pure stupid luck."
Sakura Kazekage headed for the outdoor café, quite tired after her last duel. The dark-haired 16-year-old girl looked back on the duel that she won mere moments ago. She remembered the mistakes she made, all rookie mistakes as she only started dueling two weeks ago. Mistakes like her forgetting to set off the Magic Jammer trap card that she placed face down just two turns before her opponent activated his Tribute to the Doom magic card, destroying her Dark Magician Girl and scoring a direct attack, nearly ending the duel in his favor.
-----FLASHBACK-----
"I now attack your life points directly with my rarest monster: Zoa!" the boy hissed. A holographic image of the dark beast, Zoa, slashed Sakura as her life points dropped to 300. The duel was not going her way as she had no monsters on the field whereas her opponent had his most powerful monster out and still had 2100 life points.
She looked at her duel disk and slapped her forehead in frustration. The Magic Jammer! She had forgotten that she even had it on the field! Dark Magician Girl was her favorite card and she lost it to the graveyard due to a careless rookie mistake.
"Arrrgh!" Sakura shouted as she drew her next card. "I lost." She said to herself. "I could have won if I had just remembered to flip my trap card." She impartially looked at the card that she just drew, assured that she had no chance in winning. Suddenly, her eyes widened at the card in her hand.
Change of Heart.
"This duel is over!" Sakura shouted as she activated her trump card
-----END OF FLASHBACK-----
Sakura looked at the newest addition to her dueling deck. Zoa, a highly powerful dark monster that has the potential to change into an even more powerful machine monster. "I don't deserve this card." She whispered. "I didn't deserve to win. Kazeyama-sensei always said that the most important thing about dueling is honor." She thought of her sensei, the father she never had. The old man that often looked after her when she was dismissed from school. The man that taught her everything about dueling, from the rules and starters to the strategies and counter-strategies.
"How could I face Kazeyama-sensei now knowing that I can only win through flukes and luck?" she asked herself. "Sensei always told me that a duelist should always keep his or her mind on what is happening on the field. I just disrespected that by forgetting to play Magic Jammer."
After staring at her card, Sakura decided she needed a break. Her mind was weary after dueling, she would need to rest as soon as possible. Walking to the nearest outdoor café table, she noticed a man sitting while reading a novel.
"Excuse me, can I sit here?" Sakura kindly requested. The man didn't even look up, much less give her a response.
"Sir?" she asked again, slightly louder this time. Again there was no reply. Growing frustrated and annoyed, Sakura fought to suppress her anger at the man. She was much too tired to teach him some manners with her fists anyways.
Nevertheless, she took the seat across from the man, hoping that he wouldn't mind. Actually, she secretly hoped that he would mind, just so she could annoy him for being rude. The stranger gave no hint that he even noticed her. Sakura glanced at the man. He was wearing a black trench coat that was buttoned at the top. The coat extended above his mouth, right under the roof of his nose, covering half his face. His expression was masked by his coat, his eyes focused only on the novel he was reading. Above his head was long black spiked hair, waved towards the back of his head. Below he wore a small beard that covered only from his chin to his ears while not crossing above the mouth. Any hint of impassiveness would be hard to detect. Then Sakura noticed something else about the strange man. He had a dueling disk hooked onto his belt right next to a box holding a deck.
"Are you a duelist, mister?" Sakura asked, now desperate to get some sort of response from the man. Again, no such luck, which really annoyed her. "Damn it you can at least give me the decency of a reply, jackass!" She shouted a little too loudly. People in the café started to stare at her. Sakura duck her head down, a bit embarrassed at her own outburst.
After calming down and ordering a cup of tea, Sakura reviewed her dueling strategy. Her rarest card was the Dark Magician Girl, a monster that was not very strong on its own, but her deck backed up her prize monster with plenty of Dark Magicians and Magician of the Black Chaos's. Along with many magic and trap cards to strengthen her monsters, her cards formed an all-out offensive deck that proved to be a challenge to duel. The deck was not the problem, nor was the strategy. Sakura knew that she as a duelist was the problem.
Sakura was not a bad strategist. Her sensei saw great potential in her mind's ability. But when she was in battle, she tended choke often. Her focus was frequently divided, allowing her to make bad decisions during the heat of duels.
"I just need to focus." She said out loud to herself. "Focus on the duel, and remember everything the sensei taught me." Realizing that she was talking to herself, Sakura grew self conscious. "Sorry if I'm bothering you, mister. I tend to rant, even when no one is listening." Again the stranger gave no hint of reply. "Do you even have a name?" she asked, trying once again to get a response from the man.
"Shin!" A voice sneered from the entrance to the café. It came from a short turquoise color haired boy with large round glasses who was pointing at the stranger across from Sakura. "There you are. I demand a rematch! No one steps on Weevil Underwood and gets away with it!"
"Weevil Underwood?" Sakura said to herself. "I've heard of him before. He's a high level ranked duelist who's only been beaten by a few people including the champion, Yugi Moto."
"Well?" Weevil sneered as he approached the man. "Do you accept my challenge?"
"I'll duel you!" Sakura interrupted as she stood up, heated and ready to duel.
"Stay out of it, missy!" Weevil hissed. "My quarrel is with him, not you."
"Missy?" Sakura screamed, nearly exploding. Her hands clenched into fists. "You want to repeat that to my knuckles?"
"Heh, a feisty fly aren't you?" Weevil snickered. "Alright, I'll duel you." His attention turned towards the stranger. "Listen, Shin. After I squash her, you're next!"
"Hey, flea brain." Sakura yelled. "Standard rules sound good?" Standard rules meant that the duel was to be played with 8000 life points, sacrificing rules, and card restrictions, very similar to the rules that were used in the Kaiba Battle City Tournament that took place a year ago. That includes the rule that the losing duelist would have to forfeit their rarest card to the winner.
"Standard rules it is." Weevil agreed. "That means it'll give me a chance to improve my deck even further before I duel Shin. You'll regret challenging Weevil Underwood."
"Enough talk." Sakura said as her duel disk activated and set her life points at 8000. Holographic projectors shot out across the floor. "It's time to duel!"