Welcome, all, to a rewrite of a previous story I did. This is set (more-or-less) concurrently to Arc-V. Hope you enjoy.
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 Paradise 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.
"Don't be a wimpy loser, be a winner!"
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.
"Come to the Leo Institute of Dueling, and I will teach you how to crush any opponent and fill them with fear!" 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 Paradise 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 energy 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.
Only a blank pair of eyes in the shadows saw her leave.
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 and picking out a particularly yellowed-looking card. "And this is my favorite monster. He's a real black-scaled beauty, let me tell you. But, I have to say…even his looks couldn't hold a candle to 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 anyway, so it probably wouldn't fit."
"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 Paradise City's own Leo Corporation," Casey 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.
"So…you want to go first, or should I?" Serenity asked.
"Please, after you," Casey smiled.
"You know that chivalry's dead, right?" Serenity snorted as she looked down at her hand, knowing that going first would prevent her from drawing. Great…no one I can set up with. Guess I can get the ball rolling somehow.
She placed a monster card from her hand onto the blade of her Duel Disk, making sure that it was vertically-aligned.
"I Normal Summon Gusto Thunbolt!" she yelled.
By Serenity's side, a pale green wolf-like creature creature materialized out of scattered light particles. The beast snarled at Casey, electricity coursing through the large horn emerging from its forehead. Despite this, Serenity's opponent was unconcerned as a screen with two more numbers—the statistics of Gusto Thunbolt—appeared beside him: a level four monster with 1500 attack points and 1200 defense points.
"Not bad," he remarked. "Not bad at all."
"Do you actually think I'm looking for your approval?" Serenity snapped. She looked at the cards in her hand once more before slipping one into a slot on her Duel Disk. "I place one card face-down and end my turn."
"Then it looks like it's my turn," Casey smirked as he drew a card. His smirk grew wider upon seeing what it was; a green card bearing the image of a map. "Aw…sorry, looks like this duel might be over."
Serenity only narrowed her eyes.
"First, I'll Normal Summon a little friend of mine," Casey said as he placed one of his yellowed monster cards on his Duel Disk, "Red-Eyes Black Chick!"
A small crimson egg rose from the ground, a crack quickly forming in the top of its shell. The shell soon broke, and a small dark-colored beak poked out. Serenity narrowed her eyes; the monster looked vaguely familiar.
"Next, I'll activate the spell card Ancient Rules!" Casey cried. "This lets me Special Summon any level five or higher Normal Monster from my hand, and I'm going to be bringing out one of the big ones!"
As he slipped the map card into his Duel Disk, a large image of it materialized on his field. A rather strange-looking reptilian creature emerged from the spell card, resembling a large rock with a pair of large claw-tipped arms and a thick purple tail. From the front of the rock emerged a bulbous avian head, and two bat-like wings protruded from the top.
"Say hello to Meteor Dragon!" Casey cried.
"That looks more like a turtle than a dragon," Serenity pointed out.
"Yeah, but it does have 1800 attack points, which should be enough to put down your doggy," Casey replied. "But I'm not done there. I activate the effect of Red-Eyes Black Chick! If it's on my field, I can tribute it to Special Summon a special pal from my hand."
He dramatically raised his hand to the sky as he continued.
"Let's show her what we've got! Come on out…Red-Eyes Black Dragon!"
Red-Eyes Black Chick vanished in a burst of light, and a massive reptile rose from the ground in its place with sharply-pointed claws and beak glistening in the sunlight. True to its name, the dragon's pitch black skin and crimson eyes showed prominently as it let out a mighty roar. Serenity's eyes widened, recognizing the monster as the one Casey had shown her earlier.
"That's right!" Casey laughed, seeing the shock on his opponent's face. "One of the oldest, most iconic cards in all of Duel Monsters is the ace of my deck. With that in mind, I think I'll save the best for last. Meteor Dragon, attack her Gusto Thunbolt!"
The turtle-like dragon took to the skies (albeit with a struggle due to the nature of its boulder-like body), then suddenly plummeted down towards Thunbolt with frightening speed. Before Serenity or her monster could react, Meteor Dragon's devastating body slam had destroyed Gusto Thunbolt, kicking up an explosion of dust in the process. Serenity grimaced as her life points fell to 3700, and she tensed even more upon seeing Red-Eyes' 2400 ATK.
"All right, big guy…attack her directly!" Casey cried. Red-Eyes reared back and opened its mouth, revealing a growing fire within. "Inferno Fire Blast!"
Crap! Serenity thought as Red-Eyes spat a massive fireball directly at her. What am I going to…oh, duh, my trap card.
"I activate the trap, Phoenix Wing Wind Blast!" Serenity cried as her face-down card flipped over, revealing a dark purple color. "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!"
A massive gust of wind erupted from the card, strong enough to rip Red-Eyes' fireball into nothing. Even Red-Eyes itself was caught up in the gust, carried into the air and back towards its owner.
"Not bad, but…well, I hate to tell you this, but it's not going to save you," Casey shook his head. With a smirk, he held up a spell card. "I activate Flash Fusion!"
A sudden burst of light erupted from Casey's field, and when it faded, Casey's two dragons were lifted into the air. The two beasts began to circle one another as each transformed into particles of energy.
"Fusion?" Serenity blinked.
"Yep!" Casey grinned. "This card lets me send monsters from my field to the graveyard to summon a Fusion Monster from my Extra Deck. Soooo…say hello to the one and only Meteor Black Dragon!"
The particles in the energy vortex soon formed a colossal dragon whose body seemed to be made of molten rock. The ground shook when it landed, and its massive jaws opened to release a terrifying roar. Serenity, however, was more concerned with its ATK value.
"You're kidding, right?!" she balked. "That thing has 3500 attack points?!"
"Looks like it," Casey smirked. Before he could say anything else, however, a dark portal opened on Serenity's side of the field. "Wait, what?"
An avian beast emerged from Serenity's graveyard portal, feathered wings flapping as it galloped through the air on its lion-like paws.
"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, Meteor Black dragon, attack Gusto Gulldo!"
The molten beast 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.
"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 Meteor Black Dragon!"
"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—Meteor Black Dragon viciously stamped the bird into the ground. Upon its destruction, however, a giant explosion of wind burst out from underneath the dragon's foot, knocking Casey off his feet and across the ground.
"Ugh…what?!" he cried as he saw his life points fall from 4000 to 700. "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!"
Upon reaching the field, a young green-haired girl in brown robes charged forth and allowed Meteor Black Dragon 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 Paradise City, a large building with the words "LEO Corporation" and "LID" 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, you're not going to make any friends like that," 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. I have more important things to worry about than fame.