BuddyFight: High Stakes

by Kohdoku

Hideki is a high school student who is not interested in Buddyfighting. However, everything changes when he accidentally unleashes a Buddy Monster who was being used in the "Compatability Experiment", a study with the goal of making it possible for any person to buddy with any monster, getting him tangled between the study and those who seek to use the research for their own ends.

1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Girl with the Ocean's Name, Part 1

It was dark in the districts around Aibo Academy. The normal bustle of the futuristic city was dead silent. Most of the shops were closed for the night and everyone was at home. Everyone except a guy named Hideki, alone in a small shopping district, where all of the stores were barred and shuttered. Hideki was a student of the Aibo Academy High School.

"Aibo Academy High School," you ask? Never heard of it? There weren't any high-school students as part of the ABC cup? The Aibo Academy High School does take part in the ABC cup; however the High School has a competition all to itself. Not only does this follow the standard age brackets found in many tournaments worldwide, but the High School division is larger than both the Elementary and Middle school divisions combined.

Despite going to Aibo Academy, Hideki was not a Buddyfighter. The idea frankly never interested him. Monsters were coming from another world and people were only using them to play card games? The whole thing seemed too silly to take seriously and, in Hideki's opinion, those who played card games were little more than fools with no direction in their lives. Then again did Hideki really have any room to talk? He didn't really have any strong dreams or aspirations of his own and odds were he would pursue whatever job his parents thought he should.

Which tonight was to make a midnight run to the local 24-hour convenience store for a gallon of milk. He was on his way back home at this point. There was no rush, since it was a pretty nice night; a little darker than usual due to the waning moon, but the temperature was pleasant. As a result, He was a bit more relaxed and tuned-out than usual. Or he had to be to not notice the footsteps of someone running down a nearby alley.

Hideki was startled when a figure suddenly burst from the alley, causing him to stop in his tracks and drop the milk he was carrying (which thankfully didn't rupture). The one who had suddenly appeared from the alley was a girl roughly his age, with straight, black hair and glasses, dressed in a simple blouse and non-pleated skirt. She was clearly just as surprised as he was, for she suddenly came to a screeching halt, though the sudden movement caused her to lose her grip on something in her hand, a rectangular box which went skidding to Hideki's feet.

The two looked at each other for a split-second before an arm flew from the shadows behind the girl and lassoed her around her neck, dragging her back into the shadows. Hideki focused on the darkness as his wits caught up with him, remaining stock-still and getting a better look at the assailant.

The first word that came to mind was "Samurai", as the fearsome, metal-plated face-mask and flaring, golden crests on the helmet would suggest, but the armor was considerably less archaic, looking a bit more like a costume from one of those Sentai shows; The armor was silver in color, conservative and functional, covering the chest, torso, shoulders, arms and legs. A black bodysuit and black gloves covered the areas that the armor and helmet didn't, betraying nary a hair of their wearer's identity. The girl struggled futilely in his grip, her toes barely touching the ground.

While he was taking the sight in, Hideki was started as the armored figure suddenly spoke.

"You there," he said he pointed to the object at Hideki's feet, "You are going to pick that up, bring it to me, and then you will leave," His voice was calm and deeply charismatic. Hideki looked down at his feet. Now that he had a better look at it, he could see that the box was, in fact, a Deck Case, blue in color, with pink trim and an ovular yellow jewel in the center.

Now, Hideki was known for his bravery about as much as his ambition, or lack thereof, so he did what any smart person would do when a threatening, potentially violent person made demands of them: comply. No need to try and be a hero. If anything, he could call the police once he was safely away from this lunatic. Hideki bent down and lifted the card case, but in his nervous state, his hand slipped, dropping the box onto the ground and scattering its contents.

"Pick those up," The samurai said imperatively, his patience clearly wearing thin. Hideki dropped to his knees and scrambled to pick up the cards. One by one, he picked them up as quickly as he could, sticking them back into the deck case.

However, as his finger brushed the last card on the ground, it suddenly exploded in a burst of light. Hideki quickly drew his hand back and shielded his eyes. While the mask of the armored figure did not reveal his reaction, he was no doubt surprised by the sudden twist. As for his captive, she, too, was surprised, but there was another expression on her face; distraught, perhaps? But Hideki had little time to puzzle what was happening, as the light from the card grew brighter and larger and shifted into a more humanoid shape.

And suddenly, there was a fourth person in this mess. As the light faded, a distinctly humanoid shape was standing there. It was another girl, fairly young and a wee bit shapeless, wearing a sleeveless purple kimono with an unusually large sea-green obi. The dress was short, reaching slightly more than halfway down the thigh, but a pair of thigh-high leggings made up for the additional space. A golden, jewel-covered comb was lodged into the girl's aqua-colored hair, the rest of which formed a braided ponytail, almost looking like a princess's tiara or other sign of nobility. The most striking thing about her, though, was that in place of where her ears should have been, a pair of three-pointed, blue fins were there instead, with matching fins on her wrists and ankles, holes in her long gloves and leggings accommodated the strange growths.

While everyone else remained still, the girl, calm, but still a bit surprised, took in her surroundings a bit, then smiled wide.

"This is the human world, isn't it?" She said with wonder, "Does that mean you finally got it to work, Shion?" She turned to Hideki at that last phrase. However, the expression she made next made it clear that she was expecting to be looking at someone else. That surprised expression soon melted into dread as the girl's situation sank in. "You're not Shion…" She muttered.

"Marie!" The girl in the samurai's clutches called out, prompting the new arrival to turn her head, her eyes going wide.

"Shion!" She yelled back. She took a more aggressive stance, keeping her hands aimed at Hideki and the masked stranger, "All right, who are you guys?! What are you doing to Shion?!"

"I didn't do anything!' Hideki protested loudly.

"Oh, but you have," The samurai finally spoke up, "You have made a fatal mistake," He reached behind his back and pulled out his own deck case, a considerably more ornate black one with silver trim and a red gem in the middle resembling a cat's eye.

"You'd better let Shion go, you big meanie," The one whose name was no doubt "Marie" demanded, striking a commanding posture.

"I'm afraid I can't do that," the Samurai responded calmly.

"I'm not afraid of you!" Marie yelled. She then lunged headlong at the samurai, pulling back a fist. Another light now burst forth from the Samurai's deck case and landed before him, taking the form of a hulking brute in tattered, red Samurai armor, geta and all, who was at least twice Marie's size. This monstrous man had six muscle-bound arms carrying a horribly mismatched menagerie of swords, though one hand was curiously empty. Lacking a helmet, his face was covered in some sort of eccentric Kabuki paint, and a pair of horns jutted from his head.

It was official; some sort of odd Japanese culture show had arrived in town.

"Oh-ho-HO!" The man in red shouted, "Not so fast, little lady!" Marie halted her charge, taken aback by the red warrior's anachronistic dialog as much as his sudden appearance and size.

"In case my associate hasn't made it clear," The samurai said to Marie, his deck case glowing, "I will be taking this girl with me and, once I'm done with the boy, I'll be taking you, as well," In another flash of light, what was once a deck case was now a belt carrying a pair of sheathed swords, a katana and a wakisazhi, forming a traditional Japanese Daisho, with the red stone from before lodged between the two. Due to having Shion in his clutches, the Samurai was content to merely hold the belt in his free hand, rather than attempt to put it on.

Marie growled; it was clear that she could not take this six-armed demon on by herself. "You!" She commanded, turning back to Hideki, "I don't know who you are or what's going on here, but you're gonna help me buddyfight this guy and save Shion, okay?"

"What?!" Hideki protested, "I don't want any part of this! I don't even know how to play!"

Marie's arms fell slack as she slumped over in disbelief, her larger opponent guffawing wildly, "Ya hear that?! The kid doesn't even know how to buddyfight!" He bellowed.

"Indeed," The Samurai replied, "It will be a shameful act to destroy one so inexperienced."

"On the contrary," The red one quipped, "I relish the thought."

"Either way," The Samurai said, turning his attention back to Hideki, "Your chance to run has long since past. Your choice is either to fight, or perish." He flipped the belt in his hand and raised his finger, delivering a powerful chant, "Come forth and serve your lord! Shinsengumi deck, Luminize!" Swiping his finger through the air, a set of six glowing card-like shapes appeared before him. Two more, larger that the others, appeared at his left.

A chill ran down Hideki's spine at the word "perish". How had a simple milk run devolved into a pair of monsters having a street fight? Hideki wasn't sure what to do. While the Samurai's sidekick didn't cause as much fear, the Samurai himself had an almost suffocating pressure emanating from him. Clearly he was not to be trifled with. Even though Samurai had said otherwise, Hideki contemplated escape once more. The he remembered the deck case he was holding, still with a white-knuckle grip.

"Time's up!" The lumbering red brute declared. He lunged forward at Marie, bringing his swords crashing down upon her. While Marie was able to step out of the way of the blades, she was still caught beneath the monster's arms and was forced to one knee from the sheer force, grunting from the weight.

Seeing the girl suddenly in distress, Hideki began to have second thoughts about everything. His eyes whizzed from the deck case and back to the impending massacre. Hideki swallowed hard; he couldn't believe what he was about to do.

"All right, I'll do it!" Hideki said.

"About time," Marie strained, "Hurry up and turn that Deck Case into a Core Gadget!"

"A what?" Hideki replied, "What do I turn it into?"

"Just think of something!" Marie yelled desperately.

Hideki took another look at the Deck Case. Thinking hard, he pictured something in his mind and pressed the case against his left wrist. In a brilliant flash of light, the deck case had transformed itself into a wrist-mounted device. A box-like shape with the jewel in it formed on the top, and jutting out of the side was a sort of boomerang-shaped tray clearly intended to have cards put on it. You know, like the things they use in that popular TV show about card games.

"A Duel Disk?!" Marie yelled, exasperated, "Of all the things you could have made: a sword, a hammer a gun, you made a Duel Disk?!"

"I panicked, okay?!" Hideki retorted.

"You don't have a very strong imagination, do you?" Marie grunted, "Now hurry up and lumizine the deck!"

"How do I-?" Hideki was immediately cut off.

"Shout the name of the deck, followed by "Luminize!" Weren't you paying attention?!" Marie yelled in return. Her posture slouched as the red menace put on more force.

"Uh, right," Hideki said. Looking down at his Core Gadget, the name of the deck appeared on the yellow jewel. Hideki tried to remain serious as he read it off, "Uh, 'Aqua World Basic Deck, Version 1', Luminize!" a quick gesture conjured the same six cards in front and two to the side that the Samurai had. A burst of energy suddenly forced the two combatants apart, causing them to land on the right-hand side of their human partners.

"Take your time, why doncha?" Marie grumbled, panting heavily as she recovered from the onslaught.

"Hey, I'm trying, okay?" Hideki said.

"Much better," the Samurai said, "Then, it's time to raise the flag!" The red soldier behind the Samurai pulled out a large banner bearing the image of a traditional Samurai mask with a pair of swords behind it and planted it in firmly into the concrete, "Katana World!"

"And we fight for Aqua World!" Marie shouted. Hideki, bewildered by the situation, turned and looked behind him to see what was clearly a school of fish behind him. A bunch of blue fish formed the rectangle of the flag, while several orange fish formed the shape of a drop of water surrounded by bubbles in the middle of it. Certainly an odd sight, "We're not afraid of you!" Marie piped up again.

"Ah, but your friend doesn't know how to play, right?" Samurai responded calmly, "In that case, I shall lead," Samurai lifted his finger again and pointed to one of the six lights before him, "Charge and Draw," With a swipe of said finger, the small card flew up and joined the other two cards to his left, becoming three. The remaining five lights merged together, the split apart again into six cards. He pointed to another light and flicked this one upwards, "I then call Wandering Ronin Bunaga to the center!"

A flash of glyphs in front of the Samurai heralded the appearance of his monster. Once the lights vanished, what was left was a man wearing a pair of hakama pants and wielding a large Katana, his hair tied back in a ponytail.

Wandering Ronin, Bunaga
Katana World/Monster/Samurai
Size 1
ATK 4000
DEF 2000
CRI: 2

The Samurai continued his turn, "I will also pay 1 gauge to play the Set spell "Bushido"," One of the three cards to Samurai's left disappeared and a disc of light portraying a samurai sitting cross-legged in deep meditation over his sword appeared in its place, "which increases the attack and defense of all of my Samurai monsters by 1000!" Bunaga held his sword vertically, closing his eyes and focusing his thoughts, "Now, Bunaga, attack the fighter!" Bunaga's eyes flew open with a determined glare. Drawing his sword back, he charged forward at Hideki with a loud battle cry.

Hideki was filled with fear at the onrush and tried to brace himself, but it was too late: Bunaga's sword sliced clean through Hideki's torso. Hideki let out a gutteral scream as the blade passed through him. As he recoiled, something crossed his mind: where was the pain? Hideki looked down and found that he had not, in fact, been cut in two, but had been streaked with an odd sort of digital webbing that mimicked where the wound should have been, the only sensation being a sort of light prickling, like when your foot falls asleep. Hideki's eyes went wide at the realization of the strength of his reaction.

The six armed man chuckled at the sight, "He really hasn't played before!"

Hideki panted hard, recovering from the shock, his hands on his knees. He was interrupted by a hand waving in front of his face.

"Hello, Earth to Human!" Marie said, "It's our turn!"

Hideki rose and pressed his hand against his face to regain his focus, "Okay," he said, "So first, I…"

"Draw," Marie said, grabbing Hideki's hand and dragging it across the lights, causing them to merge, then separate into seven, "Now pick a card you don't need, then toss it to the gauge to draw another card,"

"Cards?" Hideki said. Upon further inspection of the lights, Hideki realized that there were, in fact, images of the cards within them. One of them even had Marie's picture on it. He put his finger on one card, a card named "Douse", which had a lot of terms he didn't understand, and added it to his gauge, drawing a new card.

"Now play monsters whose number in the top left add up to three," Marie said. Hideki looked up at the Samurai. Despite the impromptu playing lesson, he was waiting patiently. Even his captive, Shion, though still wide-eyed and fearful, had given up on trying to escape.

It was still a bit for Hideki to wrap his head around, but he figured he'd do his best. One of the Monsters had pretty big number, a size 2, so he picked it, "I call, uh, 'Swing…Swinging Anchor Mermaid to the Center." Hideki flicked the card upwards, and this time the glyphs appeared in front of him with a light gust. Floating in front of him was a tanned, muscular figure with the lower body of a shark wearing a pirate hat and heaving a large anchor over one shoulder, though the chest wrap and the shape of the waist made the figure unmistakably female.

Swinging Anchor Mermaid
Aqua World/Monster/Nereid
Size 2
ATK: 5000
DEF: 2000
CRI: 3

"And," Hideki continued, "I call Ocean Princess, Marie to the left!" He then realized what he had said, "Wait. 'Princess'?!"

"That's my queue!" Marie said, leaping over Hideki's head and into the space on his left.

Aquatic Princess, Marie
Aqua World/Monster/Nereid/Royal
Size 1
ATK: 2000
DEF: 3000
CRI: 1

"And since this is a Buddy Call, you get one life point back!" Marie declared, pointing above Hideki's head. Hideki looked up. He hadn't noticed it before, but there was, in fact, a number "8" floating above his head. He watched as the number changed itself slowly into a "9".

"That's a good thing, right?" Hideki said.

"Of course it is, you moron!" Marie yelled.

"Okay, what next?" Hideki muttered, grabbing his chin, "I'm guessing I have to get rid of the guy in the center, first." He glanced up at Anchor Mermaid. She certainly looked stronger than Bunaga did.

"Attack with Marie!" Shion yelled suddenly. Everyone turned to look at her, "If you attack with the weaker monsters first, then you can deal more damage to your opponent with your bigger ones!"

Hideki's eyes widened in realization; what Shion said had actually made a lot of sense.

Samurai's grip on Shion suddenly tightened and he lifted her into the air, causing his arm to strain more tightly against Shion's neck, "Not another word out of you." He commanded with a menacing softness. Shion strained visibly under the added pressure.

"Shion!" Marie yelled distressfully. She then turned back towards Hideki with a determined expression. Hideki met her gaze, and the two nodded.

"Marie attacks Bunaga!" Hideki declared.

"All right!" Marie yelled. Leaving her spot, she dashed up to Bunaga, who readied his sword. With a yell, Marie leapt into the air and delivered a powerful flying kick, which managed to slip past Bunaga's sword and find purchase on his stomach. Bunaga recoiled as the wind was knocked out of him, and he burst apart in a flurry of black cards. Marie jumped back to her position.

"And now Anchor Mermaid attacks the fighter!" Hideki declared. With a Sultry chuckle, the Anchor Mermaid darted forward and heaved her anchor off of her shoulder, bringing it crashing down onto Samurai, who simply used his belt as a shield to absorb the force of the blow. The "10" above him shattered three times, changing into a 9, then an 8, and finally a 7.

"Hmph," Samurai replied, "Perhaps you do have some fight in you,"

"Let me handle things," The man in red insisted, "I'm more than enough for them!"

"Indeed," The Samurai responded, "Draw! Charge and Draw!" Samurai's hand grew to five and his gauge returned to three, "First, I will pay one gauge to cast Art of Explosive Hades Fall," Another disc appeared next to Bushido, this one showing a ninja ringed with energy throwing himself at a large dragon. Another card appeared in Samurai's hand and was tossed into this new spell.

"Now, by paying another gauge, I buddy call Sword Collector Gilgamesh to the Center!" Samurai flicked another card out of his hand.

"All right!" The red man, now revealed as "Gilgamesh", shouted, releasing the banner and leaping in front of Samurai, "Now we fight like men! And ladies!" He shouted, regarding the gender of the opposing monsters.

"And since it is a Buddy Call, I regain one life," True to what he said Samurai's life points reformed itself from a "7" to an "8".

Sword Collector, Gilgamesh
Katana World/Monster/Samurai
ATK: 5000
DEF: 4000
CRI: 3

"Gilgamesh, attack the Anchor Mermaid!" Samurai commanded.

Elated at the chance for some action, Gilgamesh raised his swords and rushed in, bringing all five into her starboard side. With a slight yelp, Anchor Mermaid exploded into a flurry of cards from the strike, all except for her anchor, which Gilgamesh grabbed with his free hand and hefted into the air.

"Wait, how does that work?" Hideki said.

Gilgamesh laughed, "That's not my only party trick!" he stated, leaping back to his position and bringing the tip of the anchor to rest on the ground.

"You will see Gilgamesh's true ability soon enough," Samurai said, "It is your turn."

"Oh, right," Hideki said, "Draw, Charge and draw…" Hideki paged over his hand again, as well as his new acquisitions. He glanced up at Marie, who looked apprehensive. Hideki picked a card from his hand.

"I call…Ocean Dragon Archelos to the Center!" He said. In the center zone appeared a savage creature, a mix between a giant sea turtle and the Loch Ness Monster, a mouth filled with bristling, needle-like teeth. It let out a loud hiss.

Ocean Dragon, Archelos
Aqua World/Monster/Ocean Dragon
Size 2
ATK: 5000
DEF: 6000
CRI: 2

"Archelos, Attack Gilgamesh!" Hideki commanded. With a roar, the monster leapt forward and snapped at Gilgamesh with its jaws, biting around his midsection.

"Ooh, ya got me!" Gilgamesh yelled as he burst into cards. However, the cards suddenly stopped, then reformed back into Gilgamesh, "Just kidding!" he taunted, the Anchor he had stolen exploding into cards instead.

Marie gasped.

"Wait," Hideki yelled incredulously, "How does that work?!"

Gilgamesh's laugh this time was deafening.

"You see," Samurai said, "Gilgamesh has an ability called "Soul Guard". As long as there are any cards in his soul, whenever he is defeated in battle, he discards a card from his soul to come right back," Samurai raised his head, "The twist is that, whenever Gilgamesh defeats a monster, that monster gets added to his soul; so, as long as he defeats one of your monsters every turn, he's invincible! And you cannot get to me unless you deal with him, first!" This time, even Samurai took part in a light chuckle.

Hideki furrowed his brow. If Gilgamesh couldn't be defeated, then what chance did he have? Hideki looked down at his hand; not a single one of his cards could survive an attack by Gilgamesh! Inexperienced though he was, Hideki knew he was in a bad situation.

"And that is not the only method I have at my disposal," Samurai chided, "My turn...Draw!"