Chapter 2
Seto Kaiba was probably the most famous - or infamous, depending on your personal opinion - person to ever originate from the small city of Domino. He was a highly controversial figure in his time, and even in the present. Some saw him as a genius with unparalleled mental acumen while others regarded him as a ruthless opportunist who only thrived by stomping over others.
Hideo, however, was one of those who considered him a genius, and to those who insisted Seto Kaiba was only successful by stomping over others he'd ask, 'is there any other way?' The man had singlehandedly made an empire and he began small.
His invention of the duel disk revolutionalized trading card games and changed it from being a table top affair, he had later branched out into various industries and now Kaiba Corp made up more than seventy percent of the technology industry in Japan, and almost a quarter of the world, he couldn't dispute the accomplishment.
Seto Kaiba would have been turning 65 that year, and the words 'would have' are used because it was exactly 25 years since his disappearance.
The anniversary, during its two decade run, had somewhere along the line turned into a bit of religious thing. The spectators gathered around the extremely large bonfire in the centre of the Kaiba Dome, peering into it as though it was something more than a ball of flames. The entire stadium was silent, not a soul made a single sound.
That was until a shout rang through the area. "Duelists!" The voice continued, "Every year, on the 25th of the tenth month, we gather here in remembrance of a great man,"
Numerous people in the crowd mumbled in agreement as the voice spoke. "He might not be with us here but he will never be gone either. Seto Kaiba was the definition of a real duelist, and he strove to teach us how to be one too! So in celebration of the man that made this possible, we come here to decide which duelist is worthy of the prestigious Kaiba Medal!"
The flames suddenly turned blue and the spectators began to shout in anticipation. An image of a man's appeared surrounded by the flames, the brown hair, cocky smirk and focused eyes were unmistakibly that of Seto Kaiba.
The flames suddenly increased in intensity, threatening to reach the ascending levels of the stands. The people closest to it recoiled in discomfort due to the heat, it was only solid vision but the pain it mimicked was very real, solid vision had gone a long way since its inception. Silence once again returned to the arena as the flames completely dissipated, leaving the dueling field bare.
"Now lets announce the final contestants!" The voice continued. "On one side we have an up and coming duelist, a Domino City native and old school duelist, Bando Shinji!"
Shinji was in his late twenties, with a relaxed smile on his face he walked onto the field, dressed in nothing but a long sleeved t-shirt and black pants.
"On the other side we also have a Domino City native, a face many should recognize, the pro duelist Yuen the Swift!"
A crimson coat hung around his muscular frame, billowing behind him as he walked. Yuen had a smirk on his face, his bright orange hair spiked up wildly and with his blue irises he sized up his opponent.
The crowd cheered as both duelist stood against the other, in anticipation of the battle to come.
Yuen brought the device he held in his right hand and strapped it over his left. It looked like a small, slim cuboid with round edges, and when it was safely strapped on his hand he pressed a button. A small rod jutted out of the device in the direction away from his hand, out of the rod a rectangular platform rolled out, barely half a centimeter thick the platform was extremely light looking but it housed both the monster card zone and spell/trap card zone of the duel disk.
Bando strapped a similar device to his hand, and as he pushed the button the device went through the same changes his opponent's did.
"Now, duelists!" The voice said, magnified by the microphone it echoed round the stadium. "It's time to…"
"DUEL!"
"Yay…" Kiku said weakly. Confined to watch the ceremony through a screen, the girl wasn't as enthusiastic as she could have been.
She sighed, so were the demerits of having parent's like hers. They were always over protective, but as a twenty year old you'd think they'll have less influence over her, she thought so too. But there she was sitting in front of their holo screen watching an event that was occuring at a stadium barely ten minutes from her house all because her mom was scared of her daughter staying outside by midnight.
Kiku pouted as she stuck her hand in the bowl of popcorn balanced between her thighs as she sat crosslegged on the couch, she moved her hand around, fishing for nothing in particular. Her short black hair spiked out widly, normally she applied gel so it didn't but she didn't care to do so when she was home. Her mom always complained about her keeping her hair short, said it made her look like a boy, but she liked it short, it was less work that way. Following her mom to the hair dressers as a child seemed to have caused an aversion for the long sessions, and as soon as she was able to make the decision she decided to keep it short.
She blamed her mom for her current situation, it was her fault she couldn't go for the ceremony. Her dad wasn't as bothered as her mom, he was hardly around anyway, but her mom just had an infuriating way of guilt tripping you into doing exactly what she wanted you to do, she'd been that way as long as Kiku could remember, even when it was something as little as not wanting to make an omelet for your lazy sibling she would call on that super power of hers - yes, it had to be a super power, what else could it be?
There was nothing she could do now, anyway, but enjoy the finals. Bando was the dark horse of the tournament, he'd somehow managed to reach the finals despite the odds against him, but against Yuen, it was her opinion that he would lose, she just couldn't see his fiend deck keeping up with Yuen's deck, it would still be fun to watch either way, if not for the dueling then for the visual spectacle.
The solid vision system had gone a long way, much older people interested in dueling liked to say. They liked to go on about how it wasn't as dangerous as it was at the present, but Kiku couldn't even imagine a duel in which a flaming attack from a dragon didn't leave you sweating, there was just that big a difference.
She'd always loved dueling as a kid, but as she grew her passion went elsewhere and whatever dream of being a pro duelist she had died, she didn't regret it though, she definitely didn't want to be a pro duelist, she was happy with what she was doing. She did like dueling though, just not as a profession. She had a deck she maintained by buying cards and keeping it up to date, and sometimes she even dueled and occasionally participated in a card shop tournament, she liked to think she was averagely skilled in the game.
It was more fun to watch the pros go at it though, seeing different strategies and deck types clash against each other, it was great. And despite not being able to witness it live, she was sure she would still enjoy the duel. There was just one problem, she wasn't sure the popcorn would last.
Shinji: 4000 Yuen: 4000
On the blue lifepoints counter, Bando's name was highlighted, the computer's randomizer had picked him to take the first turn.
"My turn!" Bando said as he gazed at the five cards in his hand. "I set a monster, then I end my turn with one set card in my spell/trap zone." A horizontally oriented reversed card appeared before the black haired male.
"My turn, draw!" Yuen added a card to his hand and smirked, he had the advantage. Thanks to the new rules the only thing the first turn was good for was setting traps for your opponent and disrupting their plans, the player who went first ended up having a hand disadvantage, and for Bando whose deck used up the hand more quickly than it could replenish, going first was a bad thing. Yuen knew that and he would make sure he used the advantage as best as he could. "I summon Summoner Monk!"
A monk dressed in black and white robes appeared before the orange haired man. (4/800/1600)
"When my monk is summoned he switches to defense position." Yen said. "Now I activate Summoner Monk's effect. By discarding a spell card I can special summon a level four monster from my deck, and I'll use it to summon Top Runner!"
A bipedal robot appeared. The robot possesed a body that was white with blue streaks. (4/1100/800)
"The effect of the Cursed Bamboo Sword activates." Yuen said. "When the spell card is sent to the graveyard I can add a Bamboo Sword card to my hand. I'll add Golden Bamboo Sword to my hand."
"Next, I tune Top Runner to Summoner Monk."
The crowd began to roar in anticipation, Synchro monsters only just made their debut so they were still quite excited to see one being played.
Top runner transformed into four green rings that the monk flew through before being reduced to four shining orbs.
"Synchro summon! Blood Mefist!"
A beam of light shot through the rings and after the light disippated a new monster could be seen. A short red cape billowed behind the fiendish-looking figure, a top hat stood atop its head and in its hand was a short staff with a skull at the top. (8/2800/1300)
"I activate Blood Mefist's effect, once per turn I can deal 300 points of damage for each card you control. You control two cards so thats 600 points of damage." As soon as Yuen finished speaking the fiend pointed its staff at Shindo and a black miasma was conjured around the black haired man.
Shinji: 4000 - 3400 Bando: 4000
"Now, Blood Mefist, attack his monster!"
The fiend once streched out its staff towards Shindo, but instead of a black miasma, a purple beam shot towards the set monster, shattering it instantly.
"I end my turn with a face-down card." Yuen said, a reversed card appearing behind Blood Mefist as he did.
"My turn, draw!" Shindo said. "I activate my face-down card, Sinister Yorishiro!"
Yuen grit his teeth in annoyance at the sight of the trap card. 'I hoped he didn't draw it this soon.'
"Sinister Yorishiro, once per turn allows me to summon a level five or higher fiend-type monster without tributing. I'll use that effect to summon Gorz the Emissary of Darkness."
Despite being a fiend-type monster Gorz looked extremely human. Sporting wild red hair and a cape the same color, the Emissary of Darkness stood tall, garbed in light armor and brandishing a odd looking weapon. (7/2700/2500)
"Now I activate the continuous spell card Burden of the Mighty." Shindo smirked, seeing his opponent frown. "This card reduces the attack points of your monsters by 100 times their level, so your level eight Blood Mefist loses 800 points."
As explained by Shindo, the skull-staff wielding fiend lost a bit of its power. (8/2800 - 2000/1300)
"Go, Gorz! Destroy Blood Mefist!"
The Emissary of Darkness made quick work of the weakened fiend, destroying it with a quick strike.
Shindo: 3400 Bando: 4000 - 3300
"I end my turn."
"My turn, draw!" Yuen said, adding a card to his hand, he smirked as soon as he saw the identity of the card. "I activate Mystical Space Typhoon which destroys Burden of the Mighty."
A whirlwind suddenly appeared, it made its way to Shindo's field where it ripped his continuous spell card to pieces.
"Next I activate my face-down card, Call of the Haunted, which I use to resurrect Blood Mefist."
The staff wielding fiend reappeared, tipping its hat in a mocking gesture. (8/2800/1300)
"Next I summon Sergeant Electro!"
A silver robot appeared. Unlike Top Runner, this one had no legs, instead it possessed a gatling gun attached to one hand and a lance to the other. (4/1600/1300)
"I'll activate Blood Mefist's effect!" Yuen ordered. "There are two cards on your field, so…"
Shindo cursed as the black miasma appeared around him and did its magic.
Shindo: 3400 - 2800 Bando: 3300
Beads of sweat rolled down Shindo's face, even his clothes were beginning to get damp. He had to give it to Kaiba Corp, they made a pretty convincing system. Most people didn't know it, but the solid vision still wasn't solid, it was just through some nerve magic Kaiba Corp was able to convince them - their bodies rather- that they had actually been hit.
"Blood Mefist, attack!
A beam of purple released from the fiend's staff struck Gorz, shattering it into a myriad of pixels.
Shindo: 2800 - 2700 Bando: 3300
"Now, Sergeant Electro, attack him directly!" The silver machine aimed its gatling gun at Shindo and let loose a torrent of bullets.
Shindo grit his teeth in pain as he felt the sensation of a thousand pebbles hitting him.
Shindo: 2700 - 1100 Bando: 3300
"I two cards face-down and end my turn." Yuen said, smirking in triumph.
"My turn, draw!" Shindo said. 'It's here!' He puffed out his chest, forming a smirk of his own. "I bet you won't have that smirk when this turn is done." He told his opponent.
"We'll see about that, won't we?" Yuen's smirk widened.
"First, I activate Pot of Greed." Shindo inserted a card into his duel disk, bringing his hand to a total of four as he drew two additional cards. "Now using Sinister Yorishiro's effect, I'll summon my ace card, The Supremacy Sun!"
Brilliant light radiated from the armor worn by the new creature. The armor was primarily black with golden edges, the wearer's dark skin could be seen from its exposed hands and partially exposed face. Oddly enough, while the creature seemed humanoid in build its legs weren't visible. (10/3000/3000)
A lot of murmurs could be heard from the spectators. The Supremacy Sun was a very rare card, a member of the legendary planets series, the members of which hardly ever say the light of day and were probably expensive collectibles.
"I'm sorry, but your ace card won't be staying for long." Yuen said. "I activate Bottomless Trap Hole!" One of his two reversed cards flipped up. "This destroys your monster and banishes it!"
"I activate Sinister Yorishiro's effect!" Shindo countered. "If a fiend-type monster, only one fiend-type monster and no other cards, will be destroyed, I can save it by sending Sinister Yorishiro to the graveyard.". Both the continuous trap card and Yuen's Bottomless Trap Hole disappeared.
Yuen frowned. "Where does someone like you get a card like that?"
"Supremacy Sun, attack Blood Mefist!" Shindo ordered, ignoring his opponent's question.
The armored diety let out a low grunt and multiple beams of light shot out of its hands, each of them finding their way to the hat wearing fiend.
"I'm not going down so easily," Yuen yelled. "I activate Widespread Ruin! When you attack me, this card destroys the monster you control with the highest attack points, since you control only one monster there's no choice there."
Just as the beams were about hitting Blood Mefist an explosion rocked the entire fiend, kicking up a large amount of holographic dust and culminating in the destruction of The Supremacy Sun.
"I end my turn with two set cards." Shindo said cooly, appearing unperturbed by the loss of his ace card as two reversed card appeared before him.
"My turn." Yuen said, giving Shindo a wary glance as he drew his card. He looked at the two cards in his hand carefully before deciding what his next move was.
"I activate The Sun's effect." Shindo said.
"What?" The orange haired man blurted.
"By discarding one card on the next standby phase after its destruction I can special summon it from the graveyard." Shindo inserted the lone card in his hand into his graveyard. "Return to me, The Supremacy Sun!"
The armored diety returned back to the field, the light radiating from its armor increasing in intensity. (10/3000/3000)
Yuen grit his teeth in annoyance. "Fine! In that case I'll activate Broken Bamboo Sword, equiping it to Blood Mefist."
Like the name implied, a broken bamboo sword appeared in Blood Mefist's free hand. Its stats stay intact however, the equip spell card seemingly adding no value whatsoever. (8/2800/1300)
"Next I activate Golden Bamboo Sword." Yuen declared. "If I control a Bamboo Sword equip spell Golden Bamboo Sword allows me to draw two cards." He swiped the top two cards from his hand, a small smile coming to his face as he saw them. "You've lost, Bando-san."
"How's that?" Bando Shinji asked with a small smile.
"The Supremacy Sun might be able to resurrect itself, but that only happens on the next turn. Right now your life points are low enough that an attack from almost any monster I own will end you, all I need to do is to power Blood Mefist up."
Shinji laughed in response, though his opponent didn't back down. "Well let me also tell you something too. I have two reversed cards, one of which will stop whatever plan you have, how much luck do you think you have?"
"Plenty." Yuen answered with a smirk. "I activate Sergeant Electro's effect, once per turn, I can select a reversed card you control and while my Sergeant is on the field that card cannot be activated."
"Then by all means select." Shinji said. "Left? Or right?"
A bead of sweat rolled down Yuen's face, this was crunch time. A wrong guess would be fatal, Supremacy Sun's weakness was banishment but he had no cards that could do that at the moment, if he was wrong he could lose. "The one on the right!"
Sergeant Electro shot out the lance at the end of its left hand and it pierced the reversed card to Shinji's right.
'Was I right?' Yuen wasn't sure, his opponent wasn't smiling anymore, but he still didn't seem worried, could he be bluffing? Either way, he had to take the chance he had. "I activate Blood Mefist's effect, dealing 900 points of damage since you control three cards!"
Shinji once again grunted in pain as the black miasma enveloped him.
Shinji: 1100 - 200 Yuen: 3300
"I activate Blustering Winds, which grants Blood Mefist 1000 attack and defense points until my next standby phase."
Blood Mefist glowed red for a moment as its stats rose. (8/2800 - 3800/1300 - 2300)
"Now, Blood Mefist, attack The Supremacy Sun and end this duel!"
"Wrong decision!" Shinji yelled. "I activate Hate Buster!" His free reversed card flipped up.
"Hate Buster?!" Yuen paled. "Crap!"
"This destroys both our monsters and deals you damage equal to your monster's original attack in the graveyard."
An explosion rocked the field, but while The Supremacy Sun was destroyed instantly, Blood Mefist was sent barreling towards Yuen. Upon impact with the duel monster Yuen genuinely felt the wind taken out of him as the monster shattered.
Shinji: 200 Yuen: 3300 - 500
"It- It's not over yet, I still have Sergeant Electro." Yuen, recovering from a coughing fit, opened his mouth to say. "Sergeant Electro, attack him directly!" The silver machined began to aim.
"I activate the effect of the Necro Gardna I discarded to my graveyard for the Sun's effect. By banishing it, I can negate your attack."
The rain of bullets released by Sergeant Electro were stopped by an invisible barrier.
Yuen cursed as his attack failed, knowing he was probably done for. The Sun would ressurect on Shinji's turn and he would lose. "I set a card and end my turn." A reversed card appeared behind Sergeant Electro.
A roar of excitement came from the crowd, clearly a lot of them were happy with the recent turn of events.
"My turn, draw." Shinji said. "I discard a card to bring back The Supremacy Sun."
The dark skinned diety reappeared, garbed in its light radiating armor. (10/3000/3000)
"The Supremacy Sun, attack his Sergeant Electro!"
"Aaaah!" In the usual dramatic fashion duelists loved to employ, Yuen yelled as the fiend-type monster's beams hit him, sending him tumbling to the ground and eliciting a louder roar from the stands.
Shinji: 200 Yuen: 500 - 0
"We have a winner!" The announcer's voice could be heard as smoke filled the dueling field.
"Bando Shinji is the winner of this year's Kaiba Medal!"
Kiku yawned as she switched off the holo screen, cutting off the brosdcast and leaving the empty popcorn bowl on the couch as she stood up. She paled as she saw the time, she had to go to the office in the morning, and she was type of person who needed an exact amount of sleep or else she would be cranky.
With sleepy eyes she trudged to her room, forgetting about everything else aside from sleep.
A man dressed in a simple t-shirt and pants walked inside the almost empty Kaiba Dome. That was the highlight of the year, the Seto Kaiba Festival, the cost of using the dome, even thanks to Kaiba Corp's stinginess, could not put a dent in the profits he made.
It was funny to think that he had once doubted if the idea would be lucrative, now it made up a lot of his yearly income, he thanked whatever caused him to conceice the idea.
However, after the festival came the part he least liked, cleaning the Kaiba Dome. Naturally the spectators would eat and drink, but despite the countless amount of waste bins he had placed around the dome they still littered, it was quite irritating. Sure it didn't cost too much compared to the profit, but still…
"What's going on?" He asked an employee of his who was running towards him.
The employee, panting, explained. "Sir, it's Yuen!"
The man raised an eyebrow, "I don't follow, who?"
"One of the finalists." The employee said. "He hasn't moved since the duel ended. We've tried to wake him up but-"
"Take him to the hospital then!" The man yelled.
"O- Ok sir!" The employee ran off to where a number of other employees clustered.
The man sighed. The last thing he needed was somebody dying on his watch, besides the moral guilt, it could also mean the end of his business, and he couldn't take such chances. "Get him in my car quickly!" He yelled at the employees as he made his way to the parking lot, silently hoping it wouldn't escalate.
Kiku yawned, fighting the urge to put her head on her desk and just doze off. Her eyes felt heavy, she definitely hadn't slept enough.
"Quit yawning, and go get a coffee." The person in the next cubicle said.
"Yeah, my old man always said sleep is contagious!" Someone else yelled. "Don't give it to the rest of us!"
"I hear you!" She shouted back before leaving to get some coffee, she wasn't sure she would actually drink it though.
As she passed the corridors her phone began to ring, the sound was louder than usual due to the hollowness of the halls and she instinctively silenced it before checking the caller ID. It was a number she wasn't familiar with but she answered altogether. "Hello?"
The person at the other end of the line said somethings and her expression hardened, her eyes became filled with worry. "Yes I am. Nomura Kiku."
She held her breath as the person said something else. Finally when they were done she asked in an anxious tone, "What happened to Ren?!"
Ren: 4000 Mark: 1600
"My turn, draw!"
"I activate Snake Rain!" Mark bellowed. "By discarding one card from my hand, I can send four reptile-type monsters from my deck to my graveyard."
As Mark milled four monsters from his deck Ren raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
"Now by banishing all reptile-type monsters in my graveyard I can special summon Evil Dragon Ananta!" Mark yelled.
The images of five monsters appeared, each image turned into a purple orb and all the orbs soon coalesced into a much larger one. A snake's head came out of the orb, followed by another, then another, until they were seven of them. All the heads were attached to the same serpent body which also emanated from the orb before it dissappated. (8/? - 3000/? - 3000)
"Ananta's attack amd defense points are equal to the number of monsters banished to summon it times 600." Mark explained. "Now Ananta-"
"I activate Escalation of the Monarch!" Ren interrupted, one of his reversed cards flipping up. "Thanks to this continuous spell card, once per turn, I can tribute summon during your turn. So I'll tribute Caius to summon Kuraz the Light Monarch!"
The orb holding monarch dissapeared and in its place a warrior appeared. Kuraz wore blue gauntlets on both fists and was garbed in shining golden armor and a cape of a similar color. (6/2400/1000)
"When Kuraz is summoned, I can destroy up to two cards on the field. I'll just destroy one though, that being Evil Dragon Ananta."
"I counter with My Body as a Shield!" Mark yelled. "When you activate a card effect that would destroy a monster of mine, by paying 1500 life points I can negate the effect and destroy that card!"
Ren: 4000 Mark: 1600 - 100
"Shit!" Ren cursed as his warrior of light shattered into pieces.
"Now, Ananta, attack directly!"
As the seven headed reptile approached him, Ren did his best to speed out of its reach. Ultimately this was futile and one of the snake heads got close enough, smashing into him and getting him to press the brakes in order to prevent an accident.
Ren: 4000 - 1000 Mark: 100
"I set a card and end my turn." Mark said as he sped past Ren.
Ren's still face-down card suddenly shattered. "Hey, what gives?" The black haired man yelled, panting as his crimson eyes staring accusingly at his opponent.
"Ananta's effect happened." Mark cooly replied. "During my end phase I must destroy a card on the field."
"My turn, draw!" Ren bellowed. He stared at the two cards in his hand and smiled. "I'll admit you're not a bad duelist," he told Mark. "But you're not quite there yet. I set a monster and one more card in my spell/trap zone, turn end!"
"My turn!" Mark said, adding a card to his hand. "I summon Oshaleon!"
A small, brightly coloured chameleon appeared. Its underside was blue while most of its back was green. A number of white stars were visible on its body, its black eyes staring eerily at Ren. (3/1400/800)
"Evil Dragon Ananta, Attack!"
Author's Notes
This story will focus on a number of characters and as such the first few chapters shall be devoted to introducing them.
Feedback is welcome, your opinion is much valued. Thank you for reading, and till next time.
