Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh or any of its affiliates
Warnings: Fan-girling, violence, hints of swearing
Chapter 3: Ban lists, Fan girls, and Champions
Without any exceptions, it can be easily said that pro dueling was the hardest career to get into. Although it was great to be formally recognized as Neo Domino`s best duelist, it was a complete gamble. Every year, duelists seeking to enter the pro circuit or continue in it have to find a sponsor who would supply them with all the funds needed to build decks.
That being said, since the ban list was constantly changed, pro duelists were forced to continue making new decks to get around new restrictions. The fact that new cards were constantly being released didn`t help their financial situations at all.
One of the easiest ways to tell if someone was a pro duelist was their gear. Is it a standard or customized duel disk? Are they wearing very fancy or theatrical clothing for the sake of drawing attention? Are they wearing the revered champion`s cloak, or is it simply a very good imitation of it?
Meh, the last question doesn`t really count. The current champion of the Neo Domino circuit was easily recognizable without it due to his one of-a-kind duel gear.
Actually, it isn`t one of a kind. Three currently exist, and all three proud owners share the same penthouse…
O O O
"IT`S OUT! IT`S BEEN RELEASE!" A spiky teal haired boy shrieked, slamming into corners and doors as he tried to find his roommates. He wore a black hoodie with purple zigzag stripes running up and down. With his grey trousers, the boy looked like a normal person you might find in a mall…was he not carrying his duel gear.
What is the duel gear? It is a small specialized metallic container that attached to one`s hip, no bigger than a notebook and no thicker than a small wooden slab. Easy and portable, but it carried what only most pro duelists could dream of.
But then again, this boy had donned the cloak of champions several times in his own retrospect.
"Eh? Enzyo, what is the matter?" A slightly accented voice replied from the living room. Finally finding somebody, Enzyo rounded the corner and jumped onto a red couch, landing with a thump. "What the heck!"
The speaker was a black haired boy wearing a brown jacket and white shirt. The duelist glared at Enzyo`s crystal blue eyes with dark black ones that clearly showed anger. He had been busy tinkering with his own duel gear when Enzyo slammed onto the same couch he was on; his cards were now sprawled all over his black trousers as all his champion decks had gone flying. "No! I just spent half an hour trying to fix this piece of garbage!"
"Never mind that Alec! Where is Grey?!"
"Right here, watching you make an idiot of yourself," an amused duelist replied. A white haired boy was leaning back in a black office chair, his duel gear already all fixed. He wore a black and blue turtleneck shirt with matching grey trousers. But the most startling thing about Grey wasn`t his pitch black.
Rather, it was the bright white champion`s cloak casually draped over his chair. It was made with a simple white cloth, but the design on its interior was a grand sight to see: the famous New Domino city, hand sown into the cloth seamlessly and beautifully.
"Alright Enzyo, what`s the matter?"
"It`s out!" Enzyo eagerly reached into his pocket and pulled out a ball of paper. With a flourish, it expanded out and was revealed to be a crumpled up list. "The new ban list came out!"
"What!" Both Grey and Alec grabbed a corner and pulled, straightening out all the creases in the paper. After placing down spare decks on the corners, all three ex and current champions carefully examined the list.
"…Dragon Rulers have fallen!" Grey triumphantly declared and Alec groaned, sinking back into the couch.
"Dammit. I should`ve known they were going to get hit," the boy moaned.
"Your problem, not really ours," Enzyo replied and tapped a name. "I think that we can safely declare Prophecys are now dead. Without Judgment Day, they can`t really do much."
"Yeah, that`s probably my fault. I overused Reaper Turbo." The champion nervously chuckled. "At least I was prepared for this."
"Nope, you`re not." Alec was grinning sinisterly as he stared at the list. "Macro Cosmos and Dimensional Fissure are both limited now."
"Oh, what the heck!" "I know!" Both Enzyo and Grey raised protests seeing as how they were such a common side deck card.
"On the plus side, Scapegoat is now unlimited."
"That and T.G. Striker`s comeback is going to help the syncro format comeback now," Enzyo observed. "Hey, what`s this?"
"Gateway of the Six is now banned? Six Samurai? Really?" Grey looked curiously at his two friends. "Who in the world still runs Six Samurai?"
O O O
A certain blue haired samurai stared in horror at the taped up ban list. He took a deep breath before speaking.
"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUU-"
O O O
"Hey, you hear something?" Enzyo asked, his head tilted to the side. "It sounds as though someone is screaming."
"Nah, probably your imagination," Alec replied. "Right now, take a look at this. Mermails have not gotten hit that badly. Maybe it`s time to build that Mermail deck we were thinking about."
"No, I don`t think Mermails are what we need to focus on." Grey grinned. "My Infernitiy build will actually triumph now! Macro is gone, so the main card to side in against them is gone!"
"One card: Shadow Imprisoning Mirror," Enzyo reminded. "That card, if anybody else realizes what is good this format, will become a primary side in. We should run triple MSTs to counter it if Infernities become hot."
"That might be why they banned Heavy Storm."
"No, they might`ve banned Heavy Storm on the account that it was devastating last format, especially when a Prophecy deck used it."
"Same thing perhaps applies to Monster Reborn."
"Not Monster Reborn! Seriously, they banned that?!"
"Yep, take a look."
"OH, SCREW YOU ILLUSIONARY! WHY? WHY?!" Enzyo cried and fell to his feet, weeping in nostalgic sadness. "That was one of the final reminders of our original days…"
"There`s plenty more," Alec and Grey both monotonously replied and turned back to the ban list.
"We should head down to Illusionary to grab the cards we need," Grey suggested, wrapping his cloak tightly around his shoulders. "Our sponsor would also like to hear our personal opinions on this new list."
"Yeah, him and the waiting 20 press reporters that I know are just waiting there," Alexi grumbled, hastily stuffing his decks back into his duel gear. "Seriously, can we not go anywhere without getting bombarded with questions?"
"Okay, then, screw Illusionary. We`ll just go out to the mall. That way, only fans will recognize us," Enzyo suggested, folding back up the ban list before remembering the core fact of the matter. "Oh wait. That`s practically everybody, we`ve been on live T.V."
"Pick the lesser of two evils. We`ll go to the mall."
O O O
"OMG IT`S ALEC!"
"ENZYO! MARRY ME!"
"GET OFF GREY! HE`S MINE!"
"I`m going to kill you Grey!" Enzyo shouted, dragging a semi-conscious Alec behind him, keeping him barely out of reach from the fan girls. "Especially if you drop my goddamn cards!"
"Well, screw you too!" Grey yelled back, his back hurting from carrying three binder cases of cards. "And just run! For the love of Ra, run!"
"Doesn`t count! You`ve never used him!"
"Oh my god, shut up!" Alec quietly muttered. "My headache is freaking killing me!"
The three had arrived in Neo Domino mall unhindered and unrecognized. Good. They had then proceeded to the card shop on the ground floor of the building. Alright. Each of them had brought their own trade binder and had bargained with the shop keeper for some new cards they needed. Mission success!
Then somebody recognized the champion`s cloak. And it was a fan girl who immediately blogged the news all over the World Wide Web. That`s where it starts getting interesting.
Within a baffling five minutes that resulted in Alec getting clobbered over the head by his own trade binder, several dozen fan girls had used their mysterious fast travel ways and the shoppers were now on the run, trying to escape without getting caught, mutilated, and violated in various ways too explicit for me to describe.
Just a typical day when these three friends went out to go shopping.
O O O
"Fan girls to your right," A spiky black haired boy muttered as he browsed a selection of listening devices. "Bah, who are they chasing this time?"
"Meh, I don`t know and care. What do you think?" A blonde girl replied, holding up a white headset. "Looks good?"
"…sure. Let`s just go, the headphones here suck…"
O O O
"That…was…way…too…close!" Enzyo bent over, out of wind and second wind. "We…really…need…good disguises!" The teal haired boy wheezed.
"I…agree!" Grey dropped all the trade binders and collapsed against the wall, not even caring about the state of the precious champion cloak. "Never…again!"
The fan girls were all gone now, having completely lost the trio when they had crashed out of the glass elevator (great, another bill!). Alec was now back on his feet and was on guard duty, making sure that nobody came down this empty side hallway while Grey and Enzyo tried to avoid cardiac failure.
"You guys do realize we probably will have to do this again right?" Alec replied, carefully looking past the corner in the hallway. Their response to his question was two rude hand gestures. "Fair enough, let`s go. The back door should be clear for us."
"That`s what you said back in Moscow." Grey visibly shuddered. "Geez, I can still remember all those drinks we had…"
"Hey now, how was I supposed to know that my cousins were obsessed with Enzyo?"
"Oh, I don`t know, when they started DROOLING over me perhaps?!" Enzyo retorted, picking up his own trade binder and brushing the dirt off the cover. "Enough, c`mon. I want to go home."
"…yeah, it`s been a heck of a day…ban lists and fan girls…" Alec muttered, taking his trade binder. Grey silently nodded and picked up his binder. Soon, the three friends were quietly walking to the back of the mall, carefully avoiding anybody`s gaze in case they were fan girls in disguise. After what seemed like forever, the end was in sight.
Unfortunately, the end had an obstacle right in front of it. How convenient.
"As expected, the Jewels of Neo Domino city: Grey, Alec, and Enzyo. How the mighty look small in real life." A black haired boy stepped out of the shadows near the back doors and stood right in front of them, barring them from escape. He was about 16, two years younger than they were, and wore a white vest with a dark red shirt and a set of dark blue jeans. He wore rather thick glasses and had his hair styled in a way so that it covered part of his green eyes. A standard Duel Disk was on his arm, its power core already humming with energy.
"Oh, dammit all! Can we not get a break today?!" Alec said exasperatedly, already turning to run.
Before he could even take a step forward, there was an ominous shink and Alec immediately stepped backwards. Right where Alec would`ve ran was a metallic ninja knife: a kunai.
"Trapped…" Enzyo muttered, already moving so that he covered Alexi`s awkward retreat. "What do you want from us?"
"Simple. My name is Jeremiah and I just want to duel…you." Jeremiah pointed at Grey, pointing at the champion`s cloak. "Here are the conditions: I win, you give me that champion`s cloak since I will be the top duelist of Neo Domino city from now on!"
"And if you lose?"
"You can go. Simple enough for you?"
"Since there`s a duel involved, I think I understand. Don`t lose." Grey chuckled before reaching under his cloak. With a smooth motion, he pulled out a standard Duel Disk and attached it to his left arm. Jeremiah only had to raise his arm and activate the duel program, but the challenger noticed an oddity.
"Where is your deck?" Jeremiah asked, confused at the lack of preparation.
"Right here! Duel Gear, activate! Deck: C25F15!" Grey held his hand over the metal container and the gears within creaked to life. It hummed as it processed Grey`s request, shuffling decks and shifting cards around before acting. A small slot opened and a smaller deck of cards popped out from it, landing perfectly in Grey`s duel disk as it registered the deck.
"DUEL!"
Jeremiah: 8000
Grey: 8000
"Challengers first! Draw!" Jeremiah drew the first card of the duel and studied his hand carefully. "I set one monster and two other facedown cards. End!"
"No offense yet? Interesting….draw!" Grey swiftly took his card and immediately plucked out a single card from his existing hand. "Since you have a monster and I don`t, Cyber Dragon gets a free summon!"
The field in front of Grey crackled with lightning as the famed machine descended upon the field, letting out a mechanical roar as it touched the floor (ATK/2100 DEF/1600).
"Nope! Trap activate: Bottomless Trap Hole!" Cyber Dragon, despite it being a dragon, could not escape as a deep hole of unknowable proportions opened up underneath, banishing it permanently from the game.
"Huh, I didn`t know people would still run that card when it`s limited," Grey commented, taking Cyber Dragon and pocketing the card. "Alrighty then, time to activate this spell: Upstart Goblin! You gain a 1000 lifepoints, but I get in return, the ability to draw another card."
Jeremiah: 9000
Grey: 8000
"A weaker version of Pot of Greed...completely useless and unnecessary in any deck."
"Oh really?" Grey smiled and showed the card he just drew. "Well, it gave me another Cyber Dragon!"
"What!" Jeremiah flinched as another metallic monster appeared, glaring at the black haired boy (ATK/2100 DEF/1600). It was probably pissed by the fact that its brother just got banished. "Gr…I activate Compulsory Evacuation Device! Your Cyber Dragon returns back to the hand now!"
The dragon roared in anger as the device began to pull it in…only to strike out with electricity and short circuit the device. "Really? Cyber Dragon`s effect lets me special summon him back to the field after your Compulse. So, there was no point in that move." Grey chuckled. "A misplay. Anyway, I now normal summon the Red Gadget!"
A small red humanoid robot with a giant gear on its back appeared on the field, floating next to Grey`s Cyber Dragon (ATK/1300 DEF/1500). "His effect allows me to add-"
"Grey, what are you doing?!" Enzyo shouted, trying to get his friend`s attention. "Since when did you have my deck on you at all times?!"
"Since you retired it. I held onto it, since it was a pretty damn good deck," Grey told the former champion.
"…dammit, should`ve kept it…" Enzyo darkly muttered.
"That interruption aside, Red Gadget allows me to add Yellow Gadget to my hand!" The gear on the back turned and yellow scrap pieces spat out of it, foreshadowing Yellow Gadget`s incoming summon. "Battle Phase! Cyber Dragon, attack that facedown card!"
"Ngh!" Jeremiah covered his glasses with his arm to protect them from getting dust in them as Grey`s machine fired a beam of electricity at his face down, destroying a rusty machine with shields (ATK/1100 DEF/1900). "You just destroyed Geargiarmor! When he is flipped face up, I can add one Geargia monster to my hand, so I add Geargiarsenal."
"Fine by me, since you are now attacked directly by Red Gadget!"
"I forgot about him!" The black haired boy hissed as Red Gadget socked him in the stomach.
Jeremiah: 7700
Grey: 8000
"Well, there goes your Upstart Goblin boost. I set two cards and end my turn!"
"Draw!" Dammit, I need to get rid of that Cyber Dragon! I can`t let him get his fusions! "I activate Mind Control!"
"Negated. Dark Bribe!" Grey revealed his trap card as tendrils of darkness seeped out of it. The spell was infused with the power of greed and it dissolved, unable to hold itself together. "You can draw a card now."
"Hmph…" Jeremiah drew and his eyes immediately lit up. "It seems that lady luck is now on my side! I summon Machina Gearframe!"
An orange android appeared on the field, fists raised in attack position as it awaited further commands (ATK/1800 DEF/0). "Using his effect, I add Machina Fortress to my hand!"
Machina Fortress
Effect LV 7 Monster
You can discard Machine-Type monster(s) whose total Levels equal 8 or more, then Special Summon this card (from your hand or Graveyard). When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard: Target 1 card your opponent controls; destroy that target. Before resolving an opponent's monster effect that targets this face-up card, look at your opponent's hand and discard 1 card from their hand.
"Oh, son of a-!"
"I discard Machina Fortress and Geargiarsenal to my graveyard to bring Machina Fortress back from the grave!" Jeremiah shouted, sending a level seven and four monster to the graveyard, only to have the level seven monster spat back out. On the field, a massive tripod machine with an artillery cannon attached appeared, the barrel of the gun already pointing at Grey (ATK/2500 DEF/1600).
"Ouch. That is going to hurt…" Alec muttered.
"I equip Machina Gearframe onto Machina Fortress to give it additional powers!" The android nodded as it registered the prompt and jumped, transforming into a small orange power box in midair. It landed perfectly on top of the behemoth of a machine, its purpose currently unknown. "Now, attack Machina Fortress! Target and destroy Cyber Dragon!"
"Trap activate: Mirror Force!" Grey announced and a shining force field appeared in front of his monsters. Machina Fortress, ignoring the danger, targeted Cyber Dragon and fired an artillery barrage at it. The rounds met the mirror force and the two exploded, smoke covering the battlefield. However, it was clear that some of the bullets had been deflected and were now ricocheting back to Machina Fortress!
"Gearframe, now! Force field!" The orange box on top of Machina Fortress glowed as an electrical barrier was placed around the machine, easily incinerating all the reflected shots. But after the barrier died down, the box short circuited and exploded, its power completely depleted. "My Machina Fortress survives, but I doubt your Cyber Dragon did."
"Too true…" Grey reluctantly agreed as the smoke cleared and the body of his fallen monster appeared, giant gaping holes in its body. "Ah, nothing to it. Another Cyber Dragon lost."
"I set one card and end my turn!"
"Draw." Grey calmly drew his next card and looked at the new face down card on Jeremiah`s field. "That is a bluff. It is either an unusable trap or spell card."
"What?!" How did he know?!
"Trust me, you aren`t that great when it comes to being poker faced. You think that right now, this duel is in the bag and the cloak may already be yours. However," Grey grinned sadistically and held up his card, "I can do better! I summon Cyber Valley!"
Cyber Valley
Effect LV 1 monster
You can use 1 of these effects.
● When this card is targeted for an attack by an opponent's monster: You can banish this card; draw 1 card, then end the Battle Phase.
● You can target 1 face-up monster you control and this card; banish both that target and this card, then draw 2 cards.
● You can target 1 card in your Graveyard; banish this card and 1 card from your hand, then place that target on top of the Deck.
A look alike of Cyber Dragon appeared, but this time, it had red power cores all over its body (ATK/0 DEF/0). "I activate Cyber Valley`s second effect! By banishing it and Red Gadget, I can draw two replacement cards!"
Cyber Valley hummed and wrapped its body around Red Gadget before they both collapsed, electricity overloading both their systems. The resulting scraps of metal glowed red and dissolved, leaving no trace of them behind as Grey pocketed the two monsters and drew two more cards. "Excellent! Another Cyber Dragon!"
"That`s two out…but the third is out of commission!" Jeremiah said, unfazed as the final metallic dragon in Grey`s deck appeared, a look of hatred in its eyes as it gazed on Machina Fortress (ATK/2100 DEF/1600).
"I set two cards and end my turn."
"Draw!" The boy with glasses laughed as he held up a second Machina Fortress. "I`ll summon this one out by discarding itself and Scrap Recycler!" A second metal behemoth of a machine appeared on the field, linking up with its veteran counterpart (ATK/2600 DEF/1600).
"Well, the more the merrier," Alec muttered.
"That`s true, so take this: Foolish Burial! I send my last Machina Fortress to the graveyard! And remember what you said about my facedown card?"
"Ah, I see. You couldn`t use it because there was nothing worth using it on then."
"That`s right! Trap card activate: Call of the Haunted! I bring back Machina Fortress back from the grave!" The third machine tank appeared and rolled up next to its two comrades, all three artillery guns pointed at Grey`s lone Cyber Dragon (ATK/2600 DEF/1600).
"Well, this would be the perfect time to go triple Rank 7 XYZ…" Enzyo was the only one to laugh at his own joke.
"ATTACK!"
"Well, count one of your attacks negated!" Grey flipped over his face down card and a metal scarecrow appeared in front of Cyber Dragon. "I activate Scrap-Iron Scarecrow! I can negate an attack once per turn now!" The first artillery barrage sailed over the makeshift scarecrow, but it was suddenly pulled back, hitting the cheap metal rather than the valuable silver plated one.
"So you stopped one attack. I`ve still got two more! Open fire!" Jeremiah pointed and his remaining monsters unleashed a dual barrage of hellfire, taking out Cyber Dragon and hitting Grey.
"Youch!"
Jeremiah: 7700
Grey: 4900
"Another turn and it`s game!" Jeremiah triumphantly announced, but was surprised by a sound coming from Grey.
Laughter.
"So that`s how the deck works! I`ve been wondering how you got past a few rounds with those monsters."
"What? You…know me?"
"Who doesn`t?" Alec rolled his eyes. "We`re pros. We keep an eye out for any good deck builds. We then take those builds…"
"…modify them as needed…" Enzyo added.
"…and then we use them," Grey finished. "You are Jeremiah, a competitor from last year`s championships. I remember you from the early qualification rounds, being a complete dark horse candidate who eventually lost to a red haired man. It was quite a mess you made when trying to get to him. Tell me, why are you still hanging onto that deck?"
"That cloak rightfully belongs to me!" Jeremiah snarled in response to the accusations. "The match was rigged. There was no way that man could`ve summoned out a triple Rank 4 XYZ in one turn, especially Shock Master!"
"It`s called Heroes. Check that deck out and research how he did it…and how you could learn from it. Learn from your mistakes, as I will show you now! Draw!" Grey dramatically flourished and smiled. "I activate Monster Reincarnation! I discard my Yellow Gadget and add back Cyber Dragon to my hand!"
"What? No!"
"And since you have three massive monsters on the field but I don`t, I special summon Cyber Dragon onto the field!" Grey shouted, slamming the card onto his duel disk as the mighty metallic dragon rose up once again on the field, roaring with anticipation at Grey`s final play (ATK/2100 DEF/1600).
"That`s…only…one…"
"Facedown card revealed! My own Call of the Haunted! I special summon back to the field a second Cyber Dragon!" Another metallic dragon appeared in a burst of electricity, its pistons hissing with satisfaction as it lived once more (ATK/2100 DEF/1600). "Now here`s why you should be careful about betting everything on your machines! Contact fusion!"
"Contact Fusion!? I thought only Neo Spacians could do that!"
"The Cybers have analyzed and adapted, creating a monster that could be summoned through contact fusion…with all our monsters!" Grey held his hand out and all five machines exploded into metal and scrap, a fiery explosion contained only by the electricity of the two dismantled Cyber Dragons. "Now, come forth! Chimeratech Fortress Dragon!"
"NO!" Jeremiah yelled, helpless as the metal that used to be his monsters assembled into a fearsome monster that was more twisted than anything in his deck.
The Machina Fortresses` metal was used as the interior while the Cyber Dragon`s metal coated the outside and shaped the machine: a giant dark colored version of Cyber Dragon, blue electricity leaping off its uneven skin as it roared in triumph to the successful contact fusion (ATK/5000 DEF/0).
"Final card in my hand: Twin Swords of Flashing Light- Tyrce." Grey quietly placed the card in and Chimeratech glowed. "Although he loses 500 attack points, my dragon can now attack twice. This is game, Jeremiah. Time to go learn from this. Attack twice Chimeratech, and win."
Jeremiah: 0
Grey: 4900
"Way to go Grey!" Enzyo patted his friend on the back as Alec sighed in relief. "Now, give me my deck back."
"Sure. Thanks for helping out," Grey addressed the last sentence to the deck as he took it out from his duel disk and passed it back to its original owner. Enzyo grinned as he fanned through the deck, remembering all the duels he won with it as he pocketed the deck.
"I…must concede defeat. As promised, you are free to leave. However," Jeremiah`s tone darkened, "I will see you soon. And next time, the champion`s position shall be mine!"
"That wasn`t even my best deck," Grey responded in kind, brushing past the defeated duelist with Alec and Enzyo tailing. "Come to us when you are finally ready to learn how to duel."
"….wow, I think I`m going to seriously puke from all the cheese in that last sentence…" Alec muttered as the three finally exited the mall and into a small park.
"Shut up. I made it up on the spot. It was better than that speech you gave a few years back!"
"I was drunk! What did you expect?"
"Oh, I don`t know, an unconscious man instead of one who stripped in front of the audience!"
While the two bickered, Enzyo took the chance and checked up on their schedule via smart phone. "Hey guys?"
"WHAT?" Grey and Alexi turned to see a pale Enzyo
"We have a press conference tomorrow scheduled tomorrow by our sponsor."
"..." Silence reigned supreme before all three duelists opened their mouths.
"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUU-"