Greetings fellow readers and writers! This is my newest story and I hope you like it. I tried to write this story before, but something went wrong with my computer, I lost everything I hadn't already posted, and I deleted what was. Fortunately I had chapters one through three saved under a different format, so I was able to start over without too much trouble, so please give great reviews, they make me feel good about what I write.
Once again we look into the lives of our five favorite girls from Heatherfield. This story is my long awaited sequel to Heart of the Cards. I've been planning this for a long time, constantly reworking the plot so it would work on paper, so again, I hope you like it.
Time wise this story takes place about three months after my last W.I.T.C.H. fic, 'Kurse of The Krawl', while in the world of YuGiOh GX it takes place between seasons 2 and 3. Later on there'll be elements of Berserk.
Now I don't own W.I.T.C.H., Berserk, YuGiOh GX or any rights to the game YuGiOh, (or Duel Monsters as it is known in the show YuGiOh and YuGiOh GX), though I do have a lot of cards. Please don't sue me; I'm just trying to tell a good story. And now, without further delay, please enjoy…
Heart of the Cards 2: Tournament of Souls
By AndrewK9000Chapter 1: Deck Shakedown
"Finished!" said Irma as she sat in the park, shuffling a deck of cards, "The perfect Water based deck."
"I'll wager my Earth deck against your Water deck," said Cornelia, "Any day of the week." She also had a deck of cards in her had, as well as Will, Hay Lin and Taranee. These were no ordinary playing cards. Rather, they were part of what could possibly be the hottest and most popular trading card game ever, Duel Monsters.
It has been just over three months since The Guardians defeated The Krawl: a race of amoeba-like aliens hell-bent on absorbing all life in the universe. It was a long and difficult struggle; countless thousands of innocent lives were lost across the galaxy as the putrid aliens devoured planet after planet.
Yet with the help of some new friends, as well as the previous generation of Guardians, along with a race of ancient beings called Spectrobes, Will and her friends were able to defeat The Krawl. Actually it was Elyon who defeated the monsters by sealing up the entire species in an enchanted urn, but that's another story.
When The Krawl was defeated, Will and her friends had to say goodbye to their new companions, the Spectrobes. The amazing creatures survived by eating rare precious gems known as Minergy Crystals. When the supply of Minergy Crystals dried up on Metamore and no alternative source available, The Oracle offered to help reformat the Spectrobes so they no longer needed Minergy Crystals.
The reformatting process would take several months at the latest. With their new friends bound to Candracar for an unknown length of time, Will and her fellow Guardians were left with an empty feeling, like they left a part of themselves behind with their Spectrobes.
Yet that empty feeling didn't last long. Almost immediately after returning home, Will and The Guardians felt a sudden urge to learn how to play Duel Monsters. This presented a problem to the five Guardians. Due to an increasing amount of schoolwork and homework, as well as various activities that consumed their time (Hay Lin's artwork; Irma's comic routine; Taranee's photography; Cornelia's ice-skating and Will's swimming), the girls found little time to buy Duel Monster cards and construct decks.
Obtaining cards proved to be somewhat easy. As it turns out, Cornelia, and Irma's boyfriend, Martin Tubbs, both had a large collection of cards, (Cornelia considered her collecting a guilty pleasure, while Martin preferred to openly collect cards rather than play the game).
Finally, with school out for the summer, Will and her friends found the time needed to sort through the cards at hand, purchase some booster packs and construct decks that suited their personalities and Guardian elements.
Cornelia, being a down to earth girl, had built a deck that focused on Earth monster cards that had high defense. Irma, with her fluid eagerness, selected Water monsters, while Taranee's burning determination, chose Fire monsters, and free spirited Hay Lin used Wind monsters.
Will surprised everyone the most when she chose her cards. Instead of selecting monster cards that had Light and Dark attributes with varied types (as everyone expected her to), she settled on building a deck that was composed of Spellcaster types, most of them of the Dark attribute.
"I happen to like Spellcaster monsters," said Will as she shuffled her deck, "Especially this one," she pulled out from her deck, "Dark Magician Girl, my favorite."
"Isn't that one of Yugi Moto's favorite cards as well?" asked Hay Lin.
"You bet," said Will as she shuffled her deck again, "That card helped Yugi win more than one duel. I just hope I have the same luck."
"It takes more than luck to win at Duel Monsters," said Martin, "It takes a good strategy and cunning."
"And you know this, how?" asked Irma, "I thought you didn't play the game."
"True," said Martin, "I do prefer to collect the cards rather than use them. Speaking of which, I expect you five to be careful with those cards; nearly half of them came from my personal collection."
"Excuse me," said Cornelia, "But I also contributed cards as well. That Dark Magician Girl card is an extremely rare holofoil; only ten like it in the world."
"I promised you before that I'd take good care of it," said Will, "Don't you trust me?"
"She trust you like she trusts me," said Irma, "But trust only goes so far. We're each lacking one important item if we're going to be Duel Monsters champions."
"Duel Disks," said Taranee, "Those things are obscenely expensive."
"I wouldn't call $200 apiece obscene," said Cornelia, "Outrageous, maybe, but not obscene."
"My parents promised me one for my birthday," said Hay Lin, "But that's a long ways off."
"Same with me," said Will, "Mom said she get me one, but I was hoping we'd all have Duel Disks by today. Jaden is coming to visit and he's bringing his friends form Duel Academy."
Last year Will's cousin Jaden Yuki, (his aunt married her uncle) helped Will get back the Heart of Candracar. This was back when Nerissa was still evil. The Duel helped purify the former leader of The Guardians.
Back in the present, Matt, Caleb, Nigel and Eric showed up in Matt's car, (he got a vintage red convertible for his birthday). "Word on the street," said Matt, "Is that you five girls are in need of some new gamming equipment."
"So we loving boyfriends…" said Caleb.
"And former boyfriend turned regular friend," interjected Eric.
"We all went 'Dutch' and bought you girls Un-birthday presents," said Nigel as he, Eric, Matt and Caleb pulled out four large boxes that were gift wrapped, while Martin got a fifth box out of the car's trunk.
"You shouldn't have," said Will, "But thanks anyway." She kissed Matt as she, Taranee, Irma, Cornelia and Hay Lin unwrapped their gifts. Each had received a brand new Duel Disk. These were in the style perfected by Seto Kaiba for the Battle City Tournament.
As the girls took out their new Duel Disks, they saw that each machine was costumed colored: Will's was bright orange, Irma's was aqua blue, Taranee's was red, Cornelia's was forest green and Hay Lin's was sky blue.
"This is too much!" said Taranee as she strapped her Duel Disk onto her arm.
"Nothing is too much for you," said Nigel.
"If you think your new Duel Disks are cool," said Martin as he pulled out a small PDA-like device, "Check this baby out. This little wonder contains information on every card in the game of Duel Monsters. Ladies and Gentlemen, you're looking at the most complete, handheld database in the history of trading card games."
"Groovy," said Hay Lin, "Where did you get it?"
"I made it," said Martin, "I just modified an old PDA. I boosted its memory capacity and downloaded all the card information from the Internet."
"He means he stole the info," said Irma.
"I didn't steal anything," said Martin, "I acquired the data in a legitimate transaction."
"Well however you got it," said Will as she tried her Duel Disk on, "I've got a feeling we'll be needing that database."
It was a short time later, after Will and the girls read the instructions for their new Duel Disks, that Will's cousin Jaden arrived with his friends from Duel Academy. He still had the Osiris Medallion around his neck; a magical item that allowed Jaden to bring Duel Monster cards to life in times of great need.
After saying high to Will and her friends Jaden introduced his friends from Duel Academy:
Syrus Truesdale, while short in stature and meek in appearance, was not one to be underestimated. Despite his shy personality, Syrus possessed great loyalty to his friends and a deep passion for dueling. He had shoulder length, spiky light blue hair and wore glasses. He wore a yellow blazer representing his Duel Academy class, Ra Yellow. From what Jaden told Will, Syrus preferred a specific breed of Machine type cards.
Tyrano 'Sarge' Hassleberry was part army brat and part archeologist. At just over 6 feet tall and full of mussel, Hassleberry radiated his mixed military attitude with his love for dinosaurs. He wore his Ra Yellow blazer cut as a sleeveless vest. His long, black dreadlocks were secured with a yellow bandanna. It was more than obvious that Hassleberry used Dinosaur cards
Alexis Rhodes had looks that even Cornelia found envious. She had long, dark blond hair that went down to her waist. She wore a sleeveless blue blazer with a blue miniskirt, and fingerless blue gloves that went up to her elbows. She had a serious look about her that at this time was directed at her brother. She preferred female Warrior monster cards.
Her brother, Addicus Rhodes, had long, brown hair and a look of childishness that just seemed natural for him. He too wore an Obelisk Blue blazer. His deck was build around Dragon type monsters.
Then there was Chazz Princeton, a.k.a 'The Chazz', a jerk if there ever was. He had black hair and wore a black coat and had a look of constant anger on his face. From what Will remembered, Chazz used a variety of monster cards that focused on high Attack power.
"How 'ya doing, cousin?" asked Jaden as he and Will hugged.
"A little bored," said Will, "It's been too quiet lately for me."
"Well I wish things were quiet for us," said Syrus Truesdale, "We just finished saving the world, again."
"Really?" asked Irma, "Another group of 'world savers;' what horrible evil did you stop?"
"A cult bent on world domination," said Addicus, "Controlled by an alien force known as The Light of Destruction."
"Sounds creepy," said Taranee, "But I'll bet that this Light of Destruction is nothing compared to what we just faced."
"Well we had to deal with a alien possessed, brainwashing fortuneteller," said Alexis, "One who was convinced that destiny was on his side."
"Well we had to fight an entire alien species that devoured entire planets," said Irma, "Beat that."
"Aliens!" spat Chazz Princeton, "I've had just about enough of aliens for one life, thank you very much."
"Well you should talk," said Hassleberry, displaying his southern accent, "Considering that you were one of the first that creep Sartourious recruited for his Society of Light. Or has Private Princeton forgotten already?"
"Just back off, Dino-brain!" snapped Chazz.
It was then at a small, transparent creature appeared above Chazz's left shoulder. It had yellow skin, large eyes on stalks, very thick lips that seemed to be in a constant smile and most weird of all, wore red bikini briefs with white spots, and nothing else.
"You tell 'em, boss!" exclaimed the creature.
"Who asked you!" snapped Chazz, "Can't you just leave me alone for five minutes!?"
"You're spirit ally is an Ojama Yellow!?!" laughed Cornelia, "Good luck, buster."
"You can see it!?" exclaimed an embarrassed Chazz.
"Of course we can see Monster Spirits," said Irma, "We're the Guardians, for crying out loud; weird stuff is our business."
It was clear that the tension level was starting to get out of hand. It was then that Jaden's spirit ally Winged Kuribo appeared above his right shoulder. "You're right, pal," Jaden said to Winged Kuribo, "We needs something to break the ice."
"How about a Duel," suggested Will, "Just for fun."
"Sounds like a sound battle plan to me," said Hassleberry as he pulled out his Duel Academy style Duel Disk, "Who thinks they can defeat this soldier?"
"Uh, I was thinking we'd start off with someone less aggressive," said Taranee, "We did just start playing the game."
"I'll pick who Duels who," said Caleb, "How about… Hay Lin vs. Syrus. How does that sound?"
"Sounds good to me," said Syrus as he loaded his deck into his Duel Disk, "Just don't expect me to go easy on you because you're a beginner."
"As long as you don't expect me to go easy on you 'cause you're short," said Hay Lin as she inserted her deck into her Duel Disk.
"Big mistake," said Alexis, "Syrus doesn't like it when people make fun of his height."
"Or lack of," said Addicus, "This game is so on."
The two duelists faced each other off as their Duel Disks activated, signaling the start of the game
"DUEL!!" They both shouted.
Hay Lin's Life Points: 4000
Syrus's Life Points: 4000
"Ladies first," said Syrus as he drew his hand.
"Chivalry won't get you far," said Hay Lin as she drew her cards, "I'll start off with Flying Kamakiri #1 in attack mode." She placed the card on her Duel Disk, and in front of her materialized the hologram of what could be best described as a humanoid praying mantis.
Flying Kamakiri #1
Attribute: WIND
Type: Insect/Effect
Level: 4
Attack: 1400
Defense: 900
"That's all for now," said Hay Lin, "You're move."
"Thanks," said Syrus as he drew a card (draw phase), "I summon Submarineroid in attack mode." He placed the card on his Duel Disk, and the image of a submarine appeared. The monster had cartoon-like eyes and had a pair of hands that grasped a torpedo to its belly.
Submarineroid
Attribute: WATER
Type: Machine/Effect
Level: 4
Attack: 800
Defense: 1800
"You got to be kidding me," said Irma as she watched the duel, "Jaden, your friend just summoned a monster that's weaker than Hay Lin's. Is he crazy, or that inexperienced?"
"You shouldn't underestimate Syrus," said Jaden, "Sure he's had his ups and downs when playing Duel Monsters, but he's come a long way since he started at Duel Academy. Trust me, Irma, Syrus knows what he's doing."
"Unlike you," said Chazz, "Syrus may have been advanced to Ra Yellow, but you'll always be a Slypher Red Slacker."
"Oh shut up," said Cornelia, "I'm watching the game here!"
"My Submarineroid has a special effect," said Syrus, "He can attack my opponent directly, inflicting 800 points of damage." With that Submarineroid 'submerged' into the ground and charged at Hay Lin, launching its torpedo at her. Hay Lin winced as the holographic torpedo exploded, damaging her Life Points.
Hay Lin's Life Points: 3200
"After attacking," said Syrus as Submarineroid 'surfaced' in front of him again, "Submarineroid can switch into defense mode." His monster then assumed a more defensive posture, "I end my turn."
"My move," said Hay Lin as she drew her card. Okay, she thought, I'm not off to a good start here, but I've still got a good monster on the field. I just need a little backup. "I summon Slate Warrior in attack mode." In front of Hay Lin, next to Flying Kamakiri #1 appeared a creature with a blue humanoid face with a ruby in its forehead. It had gold colored armor with red symbols on the chest plate.
Slate Warrior
Attribute: WIND
Type: Fiend/Effect
Level: 4
Attack: 1900
Defense: 400
"Slate Warrior," said Hay Lin, "Destroy Submarineroid!!" Hay Lin's monster charged and destroyed Syrus's monster with one blow. But because Submarineroid was in Defense mode, Syrus didn't lose any life points, yet the destruction of his monster left him wide open.
"Okay, Flying Kamakiri #1," said Hay Lin, "Attack Syrus directly!" Her monster charged at Syrus and swiped at him. The hologram didn't hurt Syrus, but he winced as his life points decreased.
Syrus's Life Points: 2600
"You alright?" asked a concerned Hay Lin, "I hope I didn't hurt you."
"I'm fine," said Syrus, "I've faced much more brutal attacks."
"Alright Hay Lin!" cheered Irma, "You've got him cornered!"
"Well since you're fine," said Hay Lin, "I'll play two cards facedown and end my turn." Two holograms of facedown cards appeared in front of her once she placed the stated cards onto her Duel Disk. The cards could have been either Spell or Trap cards.
"My move," said Syrus as he drew his card, "I summon Steamroid in attack mode!" The image of a cartoon-like steam locomotive appeared in front of Syrus.
Steamroid
Attribute: EARTH
Type: Machine/Effect
Level: 4
Attack 1800
Defense: 1800
"When I declare an attack with Steamroid," said Syrus, "His attack points increase by 500. Okay, Steamroid, attack Slate Warrior!"
Steamroid
Attack: 2300
His monster let out an ear-piercing whistle as it charged at Hay Lin's Slate Warrior, flattening it, causing it to explode into fragments of holographic data. Hay Lin winced as she lost more life points.
Hay Lin's Life Points: 2800
"After attacking, Steamroid's attack points return to normal, so I play one facedown card," said Syrus as he placed a card that was either a spell or trap card onto his Duel Disk, the corresponding hologram appeared in front of him, "And end my turn."
Steamroid
Attack: 1800
"Hay Lin isn't looking so good out there," said Taranee, "She had two facedown cards that she could have easily used. If any of them were Traps, she could have stopped Syrus's attack."
This isn't good, thought Hay Lin, I'm getting my butt handed to me on a silver platter, with egg rolls and fried dumplings on the side. I've got to do something or I'll lose my first real Duel.
"Here I go!" said Hay Lin as she drew her card, "I sacrifice Flying Kamakiri #1, to summon Swift Birdman Joe in attack mode!!" The image of her monster dissolved and was replaced by a male harpy with yellow, green and red feathers.
Swift Birdman Joe
Attribute: WIND
Type: Winged Beast/Effect
Level: 6
Attack: 2300
Defense: 1400
"Swift Birdman Joe!" exclaimed Hay Lin, "Attack Steamroid!"
"I don't think so!" said Syrus, "Activate Trap! Threatening Roar! You can't attack me this turn.!"
Hay Lin's monster, which was in the process of attacking Steamroid, was forced back to Hay Lin's side of the field as its attack was canceled.
It was then that Hay Lin realized that she could have used Swift Birdman Joe's special effect, one that could have forced Syrus to remove his Trap card from the field and back to his hand. She began to panic; only one of her attacks had caused damage to Syrus's life points. He had the upper hand of the whole duel. "I switch Swift Birdman Joe to defense mode and end my turn," she said in a shaky tone as her monster took up a defensive posture.
"What is she doing!?" exclaimed Irma, "She still has those two facedown cards. Why didn't she use them!?!"
"Hay Lin is suffering from nerves," said Alexis, "Most duelists are prone to panic and tend to make mistakes in their first couple of duels. Let's just hope Syrus goes easy enough on Hay Lin so she has the chance to recover."
Unfortunately both duelists agreed at the start of the game not to go easy on each other.
"My move!" said Syrus as he drew his card. "First I use the Spell card Power Bond to fuse Steamroid with the Gyroid card in my hand!!" he send both cards to the Graveyard slot in his Duel Dist and pulled out from his Fusion Deck slot a card, "In order to Special Summon Steam Gyroid!!"
The image of a cartoon-like train that had helicopter parts welded to it appeared in front of Syrus, "And thanks to Power Bond," he said, "Steam Gyroid's attack points are doubled for the duration of my turn."
Steam Gyroid
Attribute: EARTH
Type: Machine/Fusion
Level: 6
Attack: 2200, increased to 4400
Defense: 1600
"Private Truesdale just took a big risk," said Hassleberry, "At the end of his turn, he'll take damage equal to Steam Gyroid's original attack points."
"That's the downside of Power Bond," said Addicus, "It's best used as a finishing move."
(Before we go any further, I should point out that throughout this story, all Duels will use Duel Academy rules. The one major factor is that Fusion Monsters can attack during the same turn they were summoned, where as in the real game, they need to wait till the next turn. We now return you to our regular scheduled fanfiction)
"Since I summoned Steam Gyroid as a Special Summon," said Syrus, " I can do a Normal summon. I play Drillroid in attack mode." The image of a blue drilling machine appeared in front of Syrus. It had a huge drill for a nose, smaller drill bits for hands and moved on twin tank treads.
Drillroid
Attribute: Earth
Type: Machine/Effect
Level: 4
Attack: 1600
Defense: 1600
"Okay, Drillorid," said Syrus, "Take down Swift Birdman Joe!!" With that Syrus's monster drilled underground and struck Swift Birdman Joe from below, destroying the monster. It was in defense mode, but Hay Lin still winced as her monster exploded into fragments of holographic data, leaving her wide open.
"Use your facedown cards!!" shouted Irma, "Activate a Trap or a Spell. Do something!"
"I don't think she can hear you," said Will.
Syrus sensed Hay Lin's indecision over what she should do. "Steam Gyroid, attack Hay Lin directly!" His monster charged at Hay Lin and blasted her with a jet of high-pressure steam.
Hay Lin's Life Points: 0
"Are you alright?" asked Syrus as the holograms faded from the field, signaling that the game was over.
"I feel like I just had my cards chewed up and spat in my face," said Hay Lin in a defeated tone, "I suck at this game."
"You don't suck," said Alexis, "You just have a bad case of nerves."
"Most duelists get nervous their first time playing for real," said Addicus, "Take Syrus for example; when he first started at Duel Academy, he could barely win one duel in five, his nerves were so strained."
"Hey!" said Syrus, "I've gotten better, and so will you Hay Lin."
"You really think so?" asked Hay Lin.
"Sure you will," said Syrus reassuringly, "You just need to have more faith in your deck and in yourself."
"The Heart of the Cards," said Hay Lin.
"Exactly," said Syrus.
"Alright then," said Hay Lin, "I'll try harder and believe in myself more from now on!"
"That's the spirit!" exclaimed Jaden, "So who's dueling who next?"
"I wouldn't plan on any dueling in the immediate future, Jaden," said Will, "I've got this feeling that something Guardian related is about to happen."
"What are you talking about?" asked Chazz.
It was then that a Fold appeared right next to where our heroes were standing. "That's what I'm talking about," said Will.
From the Fold emerged Elyon, looking happier than she'd ever been in a long time. "Cornelia!!" shouted Elyon, "You and the others have got to come with me back to Meridian right now!!"
"Why?! What's wrong!?!" asked a worried Cornelia.
"Is it demons again?!" asked Will.
"Aliens!?" asked Taranee.
"Alien demons!?!" asked Irma.
"Nothing's wrong," said a widely grinning Elyon, "Something wonderful has happened; I'm getting married!!"
The end of chapter one. How'd you like the duel? And what's this about Elyon getting married? Find out in the next chapter. Expect more exciting duels in the future. As usual, reviews will be rewarded with cake and pie. See you next time!