I sit idly at the normal table outside Dairy Queen, waiting for the others to arrive. Brittany's already here and idly doodling on a notebook; I'm finishing a picture of Shiny Giratina in Altered Forme and watching the purple glow of my mark bring the creature to life. The Renegade Pokemon roars into my mind and flaps its wings before looking up at the upper left corner, where Brittany's notebook overlaps my sketchbook. I follow its gaze, and I know what it's doing before it moves. The Pokemon flies up and through the barrier to appear on the lined paper, earning a squawk of indignation. It roars at Brittany, spins to show itself, then flies back to its home page, leaving little stars in its wake.

"What?! How-?"

I point to my mark, which I wound up drawing on the sketchbook. "I think it's a power I've got from this," I explain. "But, if this deity originates from the anime I'm assuming it does, then I can do more than just make drawings have a mind of their own."

Our conversation's cut short when a horrible, scratchy noise is emitted right in our ears, and we both shriek in fear while I fling a fist backwards. Someone catches my wrist with ease, and I instantly know who it is. "NATE!"

The teen busts out laughing and Brittany tries to hit him too, so he lets go of me to defend himself from the onslaught. Dani's not far behind, and she motions for me to start. "A'ight," I reply. "Okay, so. The deity has some sort of connection to an anime deity called the Crimson Dragon."

"Right."

"Okay."

"So you said."

"That Dragon is from a world where card games solve practically everything," I continue.

"Cool!"

"Well, I like this already!"

"Count me in!"

"Does anyone know how to Synchro Summon in Yu-Gi-Oh?" I raise a brow

Silence.

"Alright," I sigh. "I was expecting this. So, Brittany and Dani, I'm going to give you guys a refresher/rundown of types of cards by using Magic the Gathering to help. There are Monsters, Field Spells, Traps, normal Spells, and Speed Spells. There are several kinds of monsters - Fusion, Ritual, Tribute, Synchro, Tuner and normal monsters. You can only Normal Summon once a turn, but you have an unlimited amount of Special Summons."

"What count as Special Summons?"

"Everything other than Normal Summoning," I reply. "Fusion is self-explanatory; Ritual means you have to have a special Spell card and may have to meet other requirements. Tribute is where you sacrifice monsters to bring out others. Now," I pause and make sure I've got their attention - Nate started spacing out. "This is the new crap. Tuner and Synchro monsters are very close because you need Tuners to get Synchros. It's kind of like Fusion, because it puts two or more monsters together into a better monster, but the catch is that all the used monsters' levels have to add up exactly to the desired Synchro monster's level." I get a few nods. "Alright, well, for you girls, Trap Cards are a lot like Instants in MtG - except, you have to have them face down on your field to activate them. In Duel Monsters, you don't have Mana/Lands. Spell Cards are the equivalent to Sorcery Cards; play them only on your turn. Your Deck is the Library, but the Graveyard should be the same. You can also banish cards in both."

Quickly, excited talk sprouts from all three friends, and I look back down at the still active Renegade dragon, with text slowly forming below it.

Giratina lvl. 10 DARK-Attribute

Dragon/Synchro/Effect 3600/4000

1 Tuner + 2 or more DARK monsters

Cannot be destroyed by card effects. Once per turn: You can discard two cards; destroy all cards on the opponent's side of the field. Inflict 400 points damage for each card destroyed by this effect.

I smile as Shiny Giratina transforms to its Origin Forme, but it's lost the shiny coloring in favor of its menacing normal palette. I look back up when the small talk stops, and feel someone breathing down my neck. "Impressed?" I ask with some sarcasm, and I vaguely see Dani and Nate nod as they continue to stare at the lively drawn dragon.

A little later, we pooled our pocket change to buy Blizzards to eat. As Dani drives us around to find something fun to do, I sketch Palkia, the second dragon of the Creation Trio (Dialga and Giratina are the other two). The messy sketch attempts to move, especially when Giratina comes to see, but it's doing something equal to glitching out. "Hey," I say softly, "You need to calm down. If you keep freaking out like this, I can't finish you." The dragon-to-be stills, and I bring out a black gel pen to make some lines permanent.

It's not a long peaceful drive, because these Aztec symbols soon start to light up brightly, bathing the vehicle's interior in a deep purple. It doesn't hurt at all, but Dani quickly pulls off the main road just in case. Forced to leave Palkia uncolored, but in ink, I close the sketchbook and gaze at my right arm. "Carol?" I look up to Brittany. "You know the most about these things. What are they doing?"

I look back at the mark. "There are several reasons as to why they'd glow. Either there's something unnatural nearby, another Signer's in trouble, or the deity that marked us is about to make an appearance. If it's something unnatural, we need to leave. I don't see a dragon anywhere." We all search the environment. "The only other option is actually plausible, though."

"What? How?"

I frown deeply. "We're not all here. Ethan, my online friend, said he has a mark, too. It may be trying to tell us he's in trouble."

"Where is he?"

I put my arm down. "That's the thing about talking to people online - never give out personal information. All I know is that he's not in Ohio, but in the United States in general." I frown, deeply concerned for Ethan. My Soul mark grows brighter in response, and flashes of a foreign environment. I can't see anything definite, and I'm pulled back to myself when I'm shaken.

"Carol, what happened?" Nate asks quickly. "Your eyes went completely white and glowed!"

"Sight Sharing?" I offer, recalling a Pokemon movie that featured this ability. "I think I was seeing through Ethan's eyes. I couldn't make anything out clearly, but I think he was running."

Our marks grow brighter still, and I can feel and weird sensation like the feeling I got after the mark had been carved onto my arm. An echoing, beautiful cry rents the air mere moments before a swirling purple and silver energy consumes my vision, then my consciousness.