The snow was falling hard. A young, handsome man was lying in a mass of red snow, face down. His long blue hair swayed in the wind as though it was the only real part of him. A woman, no older than the man, with hair long and blonde was standing between a toddler and a large man in a black coat. On her arm clinged a duel disk, and on that duel disk lay two face down cards, one turned horizontally in the front row and one hiding in the back. On the woman's duel disk read the number "500."
The man in black laughed in a mocking tone. "I have all 8000 and you are already down to 500! Hope you have something good hidden away, because that brat sitting behind you will die should you do anything stupid!"
He laughed again.
"Someone's full of themselves! At least I don't have an empety field!" said the woman. "I end my turn!"
"I hope God has mercy on you, because I sure won't!" the man said as he drew a card. "This is over! First, I activate my Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your facedown card!"
"Crap, my Sakuretsu Armor!" she said as a tornado destroyed her trap.
"Now I summon my Exarion Universe in ATK mode!He'll attack your monster! And while I'm at it, I'll use his effect to utterly annihilate you!"
"NO!" cried the woman as the centaur's lance went straight through her Marshmellon and into her duel disk.
The man and the woman's cards both disappeared, and he walked over to her. Then he raised up a golden blade, with a golden eye inscribed on it. "The Millennium Blade will not only send you to the shadow realm, but will also destroy your body so you can't come back to get in my master's way! The Black Knights will have the emblem! Your husband was a loser and so were you! Any last words before you become worm-food?" he said with a grin.
"Yeah, I got one." she turned to the toddler. "Be safe, our beautiful son." she said with a sad smile. "I'm sorry we couldn't watch you grow up." And in a flash if crimson and gold, she was struck down.
"AUUUGH! I'll KILL you!" cried a young boy, 16 years of age with short black hair as he jolted up from his bed. His name was Richie.
"Oh...Just a nightmare...Again..." he said, breathing hard.
He got up, got dressed, and went out to his mail box. It had been two days since his grandpa died. His Grandpa had been the only person there for him when his parents were murdered by an unknown criminal. He was wracked with grief; it seemed that death was the only constant figure in his life. Because of that, he tended to stay away from others. He had no friends.
Richie reached in to find one solitary letter. He took it and opened it promptly.
The letter read:
Dear Richie,
Hello nephew! I haven't seen you since you were a baby, so you probably don't remember me. I have heard the sad news about my dad, your grandpa, and have decided that, as your last living relative, that I would assume guardianship over you while you attend school. I understand that you currently live in America , but seeing as you have taken Japanese language classes at your school, I think you would feel more at home here at Duel Academy. Inside the envelope, there is one ticket to Duel Island, the landmass on which the school sits on, and a beautiful island paradise that only the best duelists may stand on. I hope to see you this Saturday at the school's enty exams. I've put a map on the back of this letter so you can find the place where they will be held from the airport. Good luck!
Sincerely,
Your uncle; Syrus Truesdale
"Wow. Could this guy be a little more wordy?! Hmmm...I wonder if I should really go...I suppose it couldn't hurt. I'd better get ready to leave tomorrow."
Richie went upstairs and packed only his favorite clothes, cargo camo pants and a black T-Shirt with white wings on the back, just like the clothes he was already wearing. Then he picked up a large box and stuffed it into his backpack. He had always thought that the one with the most decks won, and so far he had been proven right. He was the highest ranked duelist in America.
The next day:
A 16 year old American girl with long blone hair and glasses was sitting next to Richie on the plane. She was wearing a black shirt with jeans.
"Hi, I'm Kathy." said the girl as she took her seat. "You look familiar, do I know you?"
"Nope." he replied, not wanting to talk.
"Where in Japan are you headed to?" she asked.
"Domino City." he said back, a little irritated.
"Me too! That's cool!"
Richie thought to himself "Man, I wish she'd shut up! It's none of her business what I do!"
The girl took out a small box from her pack. She opened it up, revealing a stack of 40 duel monsters cards.
"So, do you play?" she asked Richie.
"Yeah. Why?" said Richie back.
"Well...Will you duel me?"
"Alright. I'll play you."
"We'd better not use duel disks on this tiny plane." said Kathy. "We can use the trays though."
Richie reached into his backpack and took out the huge box, selected a random stack from the pile and put it on his drink tray.
Richie shuffled his deck while Kathy shuffled hers."Duel!" they said in unison.
The plane was high in the air.
They drew.
"I'll start." said Richie
"I'll set a monster and a facedown card. End."
"My turn!" said Kathy. "I summon my Amazoness Fighter! And Attack!"
Richie flipped over his Sakuretsu Armor. "So much for that." he said.
"Hmph. I end."
"Then it's my turn." said Richie as he drew. "I flip summon my Desrook Archfiend. Next I summon my Terrorking Archfiend.
I attack with both."
"Crap, that puts me at 4900. My move! I summon Amazoness Tiger! Then put one on the back row and end."
"Draw." replied Richie. "I pay 1300 lifepoints to keep my monsters alive. Then activate the effect of Archfiend General. I send him from my hand to the grave to get my Pandamonium field spell. Next, I activate it. But I'm not through. I'll summon my second Archfiend General."
"I attack Tiger with Terrorking." said Richie.
"No fun." said Kathy as she moved her tiger to the discard pile. "I'm at 4400 now."
"Now General and Desrook will attack."
"Not so fast! I use my Sakuretsu Armor on your General, so I only take 1100." (3300 LP)
"Fine, I set a facedown and end."
Richie: Desrook, Terrorking, Pandemonium, fd s/t. 6700 LP. Saku in grave
Kathy: 3300 LP
"I draw!" said Kathy. "I activate Hammer Shot! Say goodbye to your ugly general-thing! Then I summon Amazoness Paladin and attack your Desrook!" (6000 LP)
"Fine." Said Richie as he sent it away. "It's my turn now, so I draw."
Richie smiled."I remove Archfiend General, Desrook, and Terrorking in my graveyard from play to summon my Dark Necrofear.
Now I activate my Call of the Haunted to bring back the General that I didn't remove. Now I summon Archfiend Soldier from my
hand."
Richie: Necro, General, Soldier, Call, Pandemonium. 2 in hand. Saku in grave. General, Desrook, and King in RFG
Kathy: Paladin. 4 in hand. Fighter, Armor, and Tiger in grave.
"Soldier attacks Paladin dealing 100, then Necrofear and General go together to pull out a combined 4300. I win." said Richie.
"Wow! You're really good!" exclaimed Kathy. "You should check a brochure out on Duel Academy while you're in Japan! I'm going there, because I want to be a really great duelist, like...OH! That's where I've seen you! You were on TV when you beat that Rebecca Hawkins girl for the title of Top Duelist! Oh my GOSH! You're Richie Truesdale! I never thought I'd meet a celebrity in my life!"
While Kate kept raving, Richie put his deck back into the box. "I AM going to Duel Academy." he interrupted. My uncle invited me to try out."
"WOW! This is so cool! I'm going to be going to school with a celebrity!" she giggled to herself. "I'm gonna be so POPULAR for being friends with the famous kid! We should hang out!"
"Uh...sure..." he replied.
Just then, a voice came over the intercom. "Attention passengers, we have arrived at our destination! Please make sure to take all of your belongings with you when you disembark."
"Finally here..." thought Richie as he stepped off the plane.
