Entering the game was a rush of energy. Solo's legs were the first to hit the ground. His body was that of the avatar he created. He looked at the standard GX duel disk on his arm. He touched the core light and watched a menu appear. He saw a number at the bottom right displaying his credits; he had 10,000. He exited the menu and looked around. He was surrounded by people in the small village. Everyone was chatting and talking while others bought goods from shopkeepers.
"Looking for a kingdom to join?" A boy asked.
"No."
"You sure?"
"I'm sure." Solo walked over to a shopkeeper selling several goods. "I need a canteen."
"That will be 1500 credits." He opened the menu on his duel disk and typed in the price. A card slid out of his duel disk. It was a picture of coins with the number 1,500 printed on it. He handed it to them. They handed him the canteen. "Come again."
Another person ran up to him offering him the chance to join an alliance. "I don't want to be part of your alliance. Not everyone wants to be part of a group." He walked off to a card counter to spend more money. By the time he walked out of the village, he had 5,000 credits left and he had been invited to join fifteen different groups.
He started heading for the woods. "Everything in this place is so realistic." He felt the side of a tree. He pulled a card from the bag on his shoulder. "Axe of Despair." He placed it on his duel disk and grabbed it. "So real." He swung at the tree chipping away at it. He removed the card from his duel disk and watched the axe disappear. Deeper into the woods, he could here growling noises. Solo instinctively ducked behind one of the trees. He placed a Kunai With Chain trap card on his duel disk along with a Metalmorph trap card. His body was encased in a metallic armor as he grabbed the chain. This feels incredible. He walked out from his hiding place ready to face his new opponent. He looked around and saw nothing. He continued moving through the woods keeping his guard up. At a clearing, he saw a swarm of Giant Rats. "Time to practice." He walked into the clearing and whipped the chain at one of the rats. The blade pierced it sending it into a state of shock before it was destroyed. These cards are making me stronger. He attacked another rat destroying it; this one dropped a card containing five credits. He picked up the card and slid it into his duel disk. He turned to the other rats and started attacking them with no mercy. Each one dropped something different whether it be credits, Giant Rat cards, and or meat.
A while later…
A control room filled with people and screens was abuzz. "Dispersing the Numbers now." They pressed a button on one of the screens.
"Global market is lighting up and people are ejecting."
"That's to be expected." A man said looking at one of the screens.
"Random Barian portal generators are online for eight hours."
"Sir, not much dueling has occurred in Past today. Compared to the other worlds, it's next to nothing."
"That's to be expected. They are going to be preoccupied establishing and building their kingdoms. Have the Millennium Items and Egyptian God cards been claimed?" They nodded their head.
"Sir, we have a player moving far north. There isn't a player within miles of his location."
"Dispersing the first batch of Orichalcos stones now."
"Just about all of the property in Modern and Future has been bought up."
"Excellent. How many infractions have we had?"
"Not many so far. We've taken the appropriate course of action."
"Let's keep up the good work." He took a seat behind a desk lined with several monitors.
…
It was late at night. Solo sat by a fire with a stick in his hand and a piece of meat stuck through it. He held it in the flame for a bit longer before pulling it out and taking a bite. "Not bad." He swallowed and continued to eat. He had spent the day killing Giant Rats. His plan was to wait in the forest until all of the kingdoms were developed. He refused to join other kingdoms or help with their development. Plus, all of the other players would be spread out by then and less likely to bother him. He finished his meal and leaned up against the side of a tree sighing. He played a Mystical Space Typhoon card extinguishing the fire. He closed his eyes to sleep only to see a green glow interrupting him. "There's no way that's what I think it is." He moved around in the dark tripping over an above ground root. His face landed inches away from the green stone. He reached out his hand and grabbed it. A flash of white light hit him before he hit a stone floor.
"Rise up, my child." A sinister yet soothing voice commanded.
"You're Dartz." Solo had a smile on his face as the fanboy inside him took over.
"Very good. Now, come forth and receive your new power." He beckoned for him.
Solo walked over to him. I didn't expect this to happen on the first night. This is already a good start to the game. He knelt before Dartz who touched his forehead. The top card of his duel disk glowed. He drew it seeing The Seal of Orichalcos. He looked at the stone on his other hand and saw it turn into a ring with the stone on it. He slid it on his finger feeling a surge of power from it.
"Go now." Dartz waved his hand hitting him with another wave of light.
He opened his eyes and saw he was back where he found the stone. That was cool. He pulled the card from his deck and looked at it a bit longer as well as his ring before leaning up against a tree and drifting off to sleep.
Each day that passed, Solo would put a notch on a tree marking the time he spent had spent in the forest. He had still not used the Orichalcos having no other duelists to use it on.
On the seventh day, he made another mark on the tree. He opened the menu on his duel disk and opened the map and examined it. "Kingdoms have been established and the growth has slowed. Time to go." He looked at his location before he closed the map and started heading towards the forest edge.
"Holding Arms and Holding Legs!" Were the first words he heard exiting the forest. His arms and legs were being restrained by duel monsters that looked like restraints.
"Wow, one actually came to us." A baldheaded boy walked over to him and touched the menu on his duel disk. "We'll be taking your credits. Only a little over 10,000 is kind of pathetic for only one week." He pressed the screen watching a card slide out of his duel disk.
"Do you know how many rats I killed to get those?" Solo tried to break free, but the restraints would not budge.
"Someone who wastes their time here doesn't deserve their cards, so I think that I'll help myself." He grabbed his deck and started to go through it. "Your cards are as pathetic as you, but if I have to, I'll take these." He pulled three cards from the deck.
"You can't take cards without earning them. You're breaking the rules."
"For the pathetic amount of credits you have, I earned them."
"INCORRECT!" A voice bellowed. Three hooded figures materialized in front of the thieves. "Taking cards is equivalent to taking part of a soul. For this infraction, you will pay with your soul." The three Admins raised their hands to the one thief. They glowed purple as he faded away. One of them turned to the other thieves. "Leave or suffer the same fate." They nodded their heads running off. One of the Admins broke the restraints while the other gathered the cards and returned them to Solo.
"Thank you, but what about my credits?"
"We were only tasked with recovering your cards for you. Stealing credits in the wilderness is allowed." They all disappeared without another word.
"Let's get moving." I have no credits and I'm stuck out here. Great. Solo opened the map up and glanced at it before he started walking.
He was walking for hours not seeing a person or village in sight. There were no monsters in his deck that he could ride and be faster than he currently was. He opened his shoulder bag, grabbed his canteen, and drank the last few drops of water before putting it away. "I didn't think this through." He sighed putting a hand on his forehead in frustration. He walked for a bit longer occasionally looking up at the sky and seeing dragons flying by. "You suck!" He shouted putting his middle finger in the sky.
He continued walking trying to ignore one of the dragons that was flying above him. It began growing hard when the shadow it cast on him started to grow larger. "Watch out!" Someone shouted as he jumped to the side trying to avoid it. Solo did not see the dragon as it disappeared. "Solo, you okay?"
He tried remembering the familiar voice. "Drake?" He asked standing up and looking at the green-haired boy in front of him.
"Yeah."
"How did you find me?" He walked over examining the boy he met on the bus. He was wearing a white tunic and a duel disk on his arm that looked like a dragon's wing.
"Oh, I used this." He reached into his shirt and revealed the Millennium Ring hanging around his neck. "I asked it to find you and it did. I see that you found some power too." He pointed to the ring on his finger.
"So how did you get the Millennium Ring? I thought it was just for kingdoms and stuff."
"The Dragon Riders bought it on the Global Market. It was pretty pricey, but we managed. You can buy and sell anything on there. It was loaned to me when I told them that I was going to find you."
"So you found me. What are you going to do now?" Solo crossed his arms.
"I was hoping that you would come with me to the Kingdom of Roses. They're looking for gladiators and I thought you might want to come for the first Tournament of Roses."
"I've never been in a Gladiator Duel. I've been hiding out in the woods for the first week."
"So you haven't done any fighting?" Drake looked concerned.
"I spent the whole week slaughtering Giant Rats." Solo reached into his bag and pulled out a large stack of cards.
"Okay, we'll do some practice when we get there."
"Is there a prize or something? I got robbed earlier." He rubbed the back of his head shyly.
"So you're broke?" Drake asked.
"I have these cards." He showed the stack of Giant Rat cards."
"Yeah, there's gonna be prizes. The Kingdom of Roses is the wealthiest kingdom in Past right now. So, you gonna come?"
"I don't know."
"I took the effort to come find you. The least you can do is grace me with your presence. I can get you a warm bed, we can get some drinks, and you can earn some credits. Blue-Eyes!" He placed the monster on his duel disk summoning the powerful dragon. "Come on, if we go now, we can get back before sundown." Drake hopped on to the dragon motioning for Solo to follow.
"I never said yes."
"You need the money and you're not close to any kingdoms."
"Fine, let's go." He climbed on to the dragon. Drake patted it on the side signaling for it to start flying. The dragon took off into the sky following his directions while Solo sat on its back waiting for their arrival to the Kingdom of Roses.