The backstreets of Millstone weren't the streets of cities like Baltimore and New York. They weren't dirty and like worlds all in themselves. But they certainly weren't for the innocent and uneducated. Why Xavier found himself here, he wasn't really sure of himself, but he found himself stand outside the entrance to a old arcade. He had decided to go legend hunting through the backstreets of Millstone. He wanted to see about the urban legend of Quentin Squires, but somehow he'd managed to find his way here. He'd heard about the place. It was the favored hangout of a clan of duelists that called themselves D-Light. He'd had dealings with D-Light before.
"Eh…another one of you Prime punks?" he heard from inside the arcade.
"I don't fly Prime's flag anymore." Xavier called out to the voice.
"Oh, is that right?"
Xavier saw three of them come at him from the entrance of the arcade. They all wore duel disks to their arms. Unforturnately, one of them looked familiar to Xavier.
"So how is Kennedy these days, boys? Still cracking the whip for D-Light?" Xavier asked causally.
"Kennedy's fine, boy. You, on the other hand?"
"Aww, you still sore over that duel, Ryan? That was ages ago, and I was probably a lot worse then than I am now."
The one Xavier knew as Ryan stood much shorter than his cohorts. More around the 5 foot area, he was a dwarf compared to the rest of them. He wore square rimmed glasses that he was constantly wiping down with a tissue, a napkin, the side of his shirt, whatever he could get his hands on. While Xavier joked about it, when he had dueled against him last, Xavier recalled it was a tough duel to win.
"Anyway, I was just passing through here. No need to whip out your Duel Disks, boys, seeing as I don't fly Prime's flag anymore."
"Yeah, you said that." Ryan said, then got a evil smirk on his face. "Wonder if it was before or after the ass-whupping that clan master of yours put on you. I heard about that."
Xavier deflected the stab, considering it came from someone he wouldn't listen to otherwise. "It wasn't no ass-whupping, Ryan. But I imagine if I had plugged you into that duel, it would've been a massacre."
Ryan took a few steps closer to him. "There's one sure way to find out about that."
Xavier considered it. "Tempting as it is to take down the top tier of D-Light…I'll pass, fellas."
Xavier turned his back to Ryan and walked further down the alley. From behind him, he heard, "You keep your behind away from here, Michael. You ain't got no kind of pass to come and go."
Xavier just waved behind him to the trio.
Terry wanted to imagine that there was some kind of weight on his neck. It would make a fine excuse as to why he refused to look up. He knew he didn't want to look up because that was like acknowledging that he was locked up into a holding cell. If he kept looking down at the linoleum floor, he could imagine he was someplace else.
After the authorities had shooed away the reporters and such, he had all his belongings taken from him besides his clothing. They got placed into a bag and were shipped off to wherever. He wanted to plead with the officer to let him keep his Duel Disk and deck, but felt continued silence was the better plan. Afterwards, he had to pose for his first ever mug shot. They took down his fingerprints, double checked he had no other personal effects on him and then locked him into a square room with a dingy linoleum floor. Benches were along two of the walls. The back wall had a small corner cut into it that made for the bathroom with an equally dingy handsink. Terry had been sitting in the same spot since he'd been thrown in.
Once again, his eyes fell on the single pay telephone in the cell. Maybe he'd seen too many crime movies but he felt like if he made a call to his friends, the police would have taped the phone to get to them. Plus, he wasn't sure they even had them since they'd all gave them up pretty soon after this whole thing began.
There wasn't a clock in the cell, but there were a string of windows along the top part of the wall that connected with the ceiling. From his angle, he could see to one of the officer's offices and see that he'd been held for about 3 hours now.
There was a jingle of keys at the door, but Terry didn't heed it. Nor did he heed it when someone came into the cell without announcing their presence. He just kept his head down.
"Mr. Terry Hairston, correct?"
Terry looked up to see a street clothes officer. The two of them regarded each other for a second before they recognized each other. "Wait." the officer said, "It really is you, huh, kid."
"And you're here?" Terry exclaimed. Terry recognized him as the officer that had called him down to the library when he first met Re'-Sha. A lieutenant named Biggs.
"Fell a long way from grace, kid." Biggs said, shaking his head and stepping in to raise Terry up by the arm.
"Wait, Biggs. Listen to me, I didn't -"
"Not now, kid." Biggs commanded. "You wait 'till we get to where we're going before you talk."
It was a short walk that Biggs pretty much dragged Terry along for. Down the hall and into another room that was dark on the inside. Biggs closed the door on them and must've hit a switch somewhere. A light bulb above a wood table came on that showed there was another man there. He sat at the table facing Terry and Biggs. Even in the dark the man had some sunglasses on his face. White collared shirt with a black suit jacket and pants. He had a manila folder on the table in front of him.
"A'ight, so here's the kid." Biggs said to the guy in the suit. "So what now?"
"Now?" the man asked in a cool manner. "Now you leave, lieutenant."
Biggs moved past Terry and slapped a open palm on the table. It didn't make the man in the suit even flinch. "I ain't your errand boy, Riker."
"This interrogation has nothing to do with you." the man known as Riker said.
Biggs snorted. "My station, my precinct, my shift, and my perp. Whatever you gotta do, I'mma be here to see it. I'll just go over here 'an be real quiet."
Biggs sat himself down in the corner of the room, crossed his arms and waited. His gaze met Riker's but Riker didn't question it. He coughed to clear his throat and stood. "Terry Hairston, correct? My name is Agent Riker."
Terry didn't say anything.
"Please, have a seat."
Terry took the seat as offered. Agent Riker took the seat opposite him. He opened the manila folder and removed a large glossy photo. He slid it across the table to Terry.
"That's you, right?"
Terry looked down at the photo. A still image of him supposedly inside the Millstone Museum's receiving area smirking at a security camera. Agent Riker didn't wait for his response.
"Understandably so, The Peoples Republic of China are not happy that they lent us these rare pieces of their nation's history and we've let them go missing. They are looking for the culprits just as thoroughly as we are."
Terry swallowed hard, not liking the idea of being tied up by some Chinese faction and sent back to China to answer to them. Then, another photo was slid across the table and this one Terry recognized.
"I will presume that you are familiar with this young man." Agent Riker said. "His real name is Liam Chen. He's gone by the alias 'Lim' frequently."
Terry looked down at what was a detailed listing of the essential statistics on Liam Chen, aka Lim. But he wondered why this Agent knew of Lim. Still, he didn't say anything to him and let him keep doing his talking.
"Liam Chen, as we know, is a member of a radical function that call themselves the Shang Dynasty. The Shang Dynasty itself is based on a dynasty before recorded history. And you've had direct contact with him. We're aware he was in the states fairly recently and was the one behind that ridiculous damsel in distress caper downtown on top of Millstone Tower. And that he disappeared. Part of the reason I'm making this visit today is that I want to know what you know as to where he went."
Terry tried, but couldn't shake the nervous pitch his voice made. "What does Lim have to do with this accusation I have of stealing another country's artifacts?"
Agent Riker leaned forward, "Because I know that you were framed and that it was likely Lim that did it. Interpol is already processing information that clears you and the others involved in this of any wrongdoing."
"Say what?" Terry asked.
"When you leave here today, you'll be a free man again." Agent Riker said.
Terry couldn't stop the smile that broke across his face. "Really!"
"Really."
"Really?" came Biggs' voice from the corner.
"Really." Agent Riker repeated.
"Knew it in my gut…" Biggs mumbled aloud. It didn't hamper Terry's new mood one bit.
"But there is something I want you to do for me, Mr. Hairston." without asking for him to agree or not, Riker pulled a whole file from the folder and slipped it across the table. Terry kept his gaze on Riker, though.
"I need to know if you made contact with a certain man." Agent Riker said. "A man that calls himself Savior."
"Savior?" Terry questioned, feigning ignorance.
"A terrorist that my department has been keeping tabs on for quite some time now. He's the leader of this Shang Dynasty and we figure that Liam Chen, or Lim, reports to him. Him and their network of followers have targeted various interests of ours in the name of ensuring peace in the world."
Nothing I haven't been told…Terry thought to himself. But something made him hesitant on sharing what he knew of Savior with this man. The sunglasses he supposed. You spend enough time as a duelist, there are certain things that you look for to show weakness. One being the eyes. And this man hadn't removed those sunglasses since he'd seen him. Did he have something to hide?
"Lim mentioned a Savior," Terry said. "But I never met him."
Agent Riker said nothing but Terry assumed he was staring at him through those sunglasses. So Terry played along and stared back for a minute. Agent Riker stood, smoothing out his suit and then pulling a business card from his pocket.
"If you have a change of heart…or just have something else we may find useful about Savior, be sure to give me a call." Agent Riker said cryptically. Terry could tell he knew he was not giving him the full story.
"DXS?" Terry questioned, seeing the initials on the card.
"Department of eXternal Services." Agent Riker said.
"I thought you said you were Fed." Biggs said, putting in only his second comment through this.
Agent Riker gave Biggs a shrug in way of a response. "Mr. Hairston, in a few hours, the local authorities will have everything they need to clear you of this misunderstanding and likewise, the media will get wind of this. As is their usual."
As he put his hand on the door, he looked back. "My advice to you, though…would be to think very hard about who you have and who you haven't seen."
Agent Riker stepped through the door and out of the interrogation room. That left Biggs and Terry alone.
"Good riddance, 'ol nosy stick-in-the-mud." Biggs said, scratching his ear. He looked down at Terry. "Well, kid. Guess you're about free to go, along with the rest of them. Wherever they're at."
"I'm sure they'll be elated." Terry said, trying to not sound like a liar. He got up to do just that, but was stopped by Biggs at the door.
"Nah, you ain't a free bird just yet." Biggs said. "When I got what I need to let you out, I'll do just that. But not 'till then, cowboy. You sit in that chair until I get back." Biggs opened the door to the room and walked out.
Terry paced around the table in the room, turning over the last few things he'd learned. Which wasn't much at all. All in all, now he just had some shadowy part of the government breathing down his neck because they thought he knew Savior. And to be completely honest, all he'd done is seen his face while he was on the ground at his feet. But there was something about Agent Riker that put him off. He trusted his instincts and they told me there was nothing about Riker that was trustworthy in their first meeting.
Terry leaned against the side of the table, then decided to hop up onto it and laid across it. He found a small pull cord next to the light in the ceiling and pulled it. The light went out and Terry laid on the top of the table in darkness, just staring into nothing.
After his little encounter with D-Light, Xavier found himself still walking through the back streets and alleys of Millstone. Now, he was looking to clear something up that he'd heard of.
Even though the tech for the Duel Disks had been only just introduced to duelists worldwide, urban legends began almost as soon as they came into play. One such urban legend in Millstone was the tale of Quentin Squires, or just Squires. Fascinating how urban legends started so quickly.
Everybody knew that in the last tournament the city had, Battle City, Terry Hairston had been the number one ranked duelist in the competition. Lamar Vega had been number two. The third ranked duelist was someone by the name of Quentin Squires. According the website info, he was a resident of Millstone that had placed well in local tournaments and was, by virtue of a #3 ranking, obviously a strong duelist.
When Battle City was announced, the tale really began. Generally, the story went that Squires was upset that he hadn't earned the number one ranking for the tournament and had set himself a goal. The tournament's requirement was to have 6 puzzle cards in order to gain entrance to the second round. Squires challenged himself to gather three times as many before he sought entrance.
In the end, Terry Hairston, Lamar Vega, Jamie Cantou, Catravious Collins, Janet Rush and Kwandao Kawamura got entrance. They say he had gotten the 18 puzzle cards he wanted but missed the deadline by seconds. The frustration drove him insane. So now he hunts for unwary duelists through the alleys because his newest goal is to beat anyone and everyone connected with that tournament. Especially those six finalists. And just about anyone and everyone in this city that was a duelist was connected with that tournament in some way.
Xavier looked at a wall near him, seeing the image of a Rook chess piece spray painted onto it. This was his symbol, supposedly his last means of a warning. You stayed away from this area if you didn't want to confront him. He saw another person walking toward him, another duelist.
"Went legend hunting, my friend?" Xavier asked, pointing to the image of the rook. The duelist, a guy about his age looked at that image then shook his head smirking.
"Nah, Quentin Squires is just a myth, man. There isn't anything to it."
"Eh, I don't know." Xavier said, looking down the alley. "They say he's possessed, can make the monsters real and really hurt you in a duel."
The guy shook his head again. "Yeah? I heard he made himself a throne on top of a garbage heap, too."
"Would be interesting to meet him…" Xavier said, walking past him and deeper into the alley.
He heard the guy call out to his back. "It's just a myth, probably just some nut job with a Duel Disk."
Xavier heeded the word, but kept on walking. Along with being 'painted' as Squires' domain, there were more than a few duelists that used this area as a sort of 'fight club' of sorts. If you wanted to see it, you'd likely find it here. More than likely the guy Xavier had just passed had come for that reason, too.
A few minutes into his walk, he could hear the sounds of cheering and explosions. He used that as his guide, leading him to what must've been the courtyard of a apartment complex. Nothing remarkable about the courtyard itself, but it was pretty full up with people with a couple of pockets where duels were underway. The people themselves didn't look like bums or anything to dueling.
"Hey, man, wanna buy some cards?" a skinny kid in some greasy clothes said to Xavier.
Xavier shook his head 'no', stuck his hands in his pockets and moved around. Even as he did, he saw another one of rooks on the wall nearby. But he saw a group of kids hanging around it, too.
"Tellin' you man, I saw him!" one was saying, exaggerating with flailing arms and wild eyes. "He came outta nowhere! He looked like a monster, all tore up with rags on and bandages over his face. And he didn't talk either, he just hissed. He wasn't all…"
Xavier kept on walking and the conversation faded. Like the two kids he was speaking to, they didn't believe him. But, he realized, that's how legends and myths got started. Because of kids like them and people like him. He took it, ran with it, and wanted to prove something by going and finding it. Or proving that it didn't exist.
Xavier left the courtyard through a different exit. Just as he did, off to his right was a narrow alley barely big enough for two trash cans to fit inbetween. Toward the end of it, he thought he'd spotted movement from someone. After considering it a moment, he shuffled into the narrow space and moved toward the end. But before he got there, he heard voices and that made him stop cold.
"A duel, you said?" one voice was saying. It sounded street savvy.
"I-I win, you let me go? And…if you win you-"
"I win, and you gonna gimme what I wanted."
"I-I can't do that!" the second voice was strained, scared.
Xavier had edged his way forward toward the corner. He laid himself flat against the wall and peered around the corner. He saw one guy, a middle aged man that was balding, cowering and clutching a Duel Disk and a briefcase. The other man was a black guy that had his back to Xavier. The only distinguishable feature about the man was the dreadlocks he wore.
"You don't gimme what I want old man, then you ain't going to be able to stand much longer." Dreadlock warned. "But hey, I'm a man of my word. You beat me, you walk outta here scott free. That's all you gotta do."
Baldy seemed to turn it over in his mind. He set the briefcase down and put his Duel Disk over his arm. "You-you promise?" He could barely put together a sentence without stammering.
"Just duel, old timer." Dreadlock said, "If I wanted, I could just take what I wanted off ya. We gonna do this like duelists."
Xavier saw the guy with the dreadlocks draw out five cards and then a sixth. "I'll set two reverse cards. Then I'll summon Solar Flare Dragon (1500/1000) in attack mode."
Solar Flare Dragon. Xavier thought to himself as he watched the monster appear. A dragon with a mane of flames, burning red eyes and skin that looked more like lava That all but confirms what dreadlock's deck is about. Burner. Using card effects that inflict damage to your opponent as your means of defeating your opponent. Solar Flare Dragon itself can inflict 500 damage to its opponent in the End Phase.
"I'll end my turn. And right then, Solar Flare Dragon's effect will kick in. It'll inflict 500 damage to you." Dreadlock announced, as Solar Flare Dragon's mane expanded out and bits of flame rained down on Baldy.
Baldy - 3500
Dreadlock - 4000
"My turn. Draw!" Baldy called out. He seemed a lot more focused and not nearly the nervous wreck as before, Xavier noticed.
"I'll play the Field Spell Card, Clear World!"
Xavier was extremely lucky they didn't catch the sharp inhaling of breath that he did when Baldy played his card. Clear World was a extremely difficult card to deal with. But it would certainly make for an entertaining duel with all the things that it could do to liven up this game.
Baldy continued. "I'll summon Field Commander Rahz (1600/1200) in attack mode!"
Even before the monster could fully materialize on the field, Xavier saw Dreadlock reaching for the trigger of one of his reverse cards.
"Reverse card, Open! Slip Summon!"
Dreadlock picked a card out of his hand. "I can play Slip Summon when my opponent summons a monster. It'll let me special summon a level 4 or lower monster from my hand in face up defense position. I'll summon another Solar Flare Dragon!"
A twin of the first dragon appeared on the field besides Dreadlock's first one but curled up to show its defensive nature. "But with two of them on the field, your attacks won't work!"
Indeed, Xavier thought. Another effect of Solar Flare Dragon is that it won't allow you to attack it as long as there's another Pyro-type monster on the field. With two Pyro-type monsters that have the same effect, this is as good as a lock down. Baldy can't attack and the next turn, Dreadlock will likely re-summon that monster to cement the lock down.
Baldy seemed to turn this over in his mind. He was staring at the two monsters then he slipped three cards out of his hand. "I'll set three reverse cards. I'll move to my end phase. In order to keep Clear World on the field, I have to pay 500 Life Points in my end phase, so I'll do that. End turn."
Baldy - 3000
Dreadlock - 4000
"The other effect of Slip Summon kicks in now." Dreadlock said, as one of his dragons started to turn itself into a rope of fire that faded to nothing. Looked like he had the card in his hand. "It's returned to my hand in the end phase of the turn I summoned it."
Dreadlock drew another card from his deck, glanced at it, put it in his hand and slapped the card he'd been holding back onto his Duel Disk. "I'll summon Solar Flare Dragon again to the field in attack mode. Now, I'll flip up Bad Reaction to Simochi."
Xavier rubbed his chin. If there was a doubt as to whether this deck was a burner of some type, it was gone now. Bad Reaction to Simochi's effect would turn all effects that would increase Baldy's Life Points into damaging him for the same amount of points. And there were plenty of cards that did that in the game.
Dreadlock made a show of removing a card from his hand and slamming it home in his Duel Disk. "Activate Spell Card, Soul Taker!"
Xavier watched the backside of a card appear on Dreadlock's field and a transparent, violet, clawed hand shot out of it and embedded its fist inside of Baldy's monster. Dreadlock mocked his opponent. "Soul Taker will destroy Field Commander Rahz but it would normally increase your Life Points by 1000 for that. Today, through, with Bad Reaction to Simochi on my field, you'll take 1000 damage."
"Reverse Card, Open! Quick-Play Spell Card! Ring of Defense!"
Just as Baldy called out the name of his reverse card, Rahz exploded violently, spewing ropes of flame across the field. There were a few that headed backwards toward Baldy, but they were parried by the spinning four pronged shield on his field. "Ring of Defense won't keep my monster Rahz from being destroyed, but it will negate any damage your combo would've inflicted on me."
"Don't matter." Dreadlock said, flipping a hand through his locks. "I'll set a card and go into my end phase. With two Solar Flare Dragons on the field, I'll hit you for 1000 damage."
Dreadlock - 4000
Baldy - 2000
Baldy pointed back at him. "Clear World's effect activates now!"
"What?" Dreadlock asked almost casually.
"Clear World has effects related to each attribute of each monster we have on our fields. In your case, your attribute is fire. When you have a fire attribute monster on your field, you'll take 1000 damage!"
Dreadlock - 3000
Baldy - 2000
Dreadlock must have been unaware of Clear World's full range of effects because demanded to know why he didn't take damage either.
"Clear World's effect is different for earth attribute monsters, like Rahz was. When there's a earth attribute monster on the field with Clear World active, the controller must destroy a defense position earth attribute monster in their standby phase. Rahz was always in attack position so the effect doesn't harm me."
Dreadlock made a 'tch' sound. Baldy drew his next card and immediately showed his opponent his Pot of Greed Spell Card, the other card he'd had in his hand.
"Needs no explanation." Baldy said when he drew two cards from his deck.
Now, Xavier noticed, he seemed hesitant. He was fidgety and he could see his free hand shaking just a little. And his breathing quickened. Did he draw something good?
"I'll…" he started, then stopped.
Dreadlock sneered at him. "You'll what, old man?"
"I'll summon the tuner monster, Chaos End Master (1500/1000) in attack mode!"
"Tuner monster?" Xavier whispered to himself aloud. "There's no way…!"
"That's right…" Dreadlock said, "Show it to me, old man!"
Baldy seemed to get egged on by that and forcefully slammed a card into his Duel Disk. "Spell Card, Monster Reborn! I'll revive Field Commander Rahz (1600/1200) in attack mode!"
Dreadlock seemed to watch the two monster appear saying, "Level 3 and Level 4..."
Baldy shot his hand into the sky. "Clear World's effect activates! Whenever a player has a light attribute monster on their side of the field, they must play with their hand open to their opponent. I only have one card…"
Xavier peered closely at it. "Junk Barrage? An Equip Spell?"
Baldy said, "Level 4 Field Commander Rahz (1600/1200) and Level 3 Chaos End Master (1500/1000)…Tuning!"
Chaos End Master glowed white for a few moment and then disappeared, being replaced by three green rings that hovered around the transparent body of Field Commander Rahz.
"Seven destinies dance across the battlefield. Listen to their roar to the emperor! Synchro Summon!"
Dreadlock was ignoring it all. "Hurry! Show it to me! Your synchro monster!"
"Bow to none…Seven Swords Warrior! (2300/1800 L7)"
Seven Swords Warrior? Synchro monsters! Xavier was screaming to himself in his mind. These cards haven't even been released yet! They were supposed to come out later this year.
Just like that, this whole scenario clicked for Xavier. He was watching a holdup, a Yu-Gi-Oh! holdup for this guy's synchro cards.
"Beautiful…" Dreadlock was saying to himself. "That would look awesome in my deck!"
Baldy didn't acknowledge him. He seemed more focused on winning, and Xavier couldn't blame him. "Reverse Card, Open! DNA Surgery!"
That forced Dreadlocks to put his attention back on his opponent. "What, now?"
"DNA Surgery allows me to change all monsters on the field and all monsters that will eventually be summoned onto the field to change their original types to a type that I select. I'll select dragon!"
"Shit!" Dreadlock cursed. He must've realized that with his two Solar Flare Dragons (1500/1000) no longer pyro-types, their lockdown effect was no more. Now they were two inferior attack strength monsters that were opposing Baldy's Seven Swords Warrior (2300/1800).
"I'll equip Junk Barrage to Seven Swords Warrior!" Baldy announced, which only caused his monster to glow white for a few moments before it seemed to return to normal.
"Battle! Seven Swords Warrior, (2300/1800) attack Solar Flare Dragon! (1500/1000)"
The warrior calmly reached for its sword but in a blazing flash, he unsheathed it which let loose a white sickle of energy from its edge that raced across the field and mercilessly beheaded the fire dragon before it exploded into polygons that blasted back at it's duelist.
Dreadlock - 2100
Baldy - 2000
"Ugh…not yet!" Dreadlock grunted, pumping his fist to his reverse card. "Reverse Card, Open! Backfire!"
The card opened and even before it could fully materialize, it shot out a fireball that screamed across the field toward Baldy. "Backfire is a Continuous Trap Card I can activate when one of my fire attribute monsters are destroyed. My opponent immediately takes 500 damage!"
The fireball struck Baldy dead on the chest, causing him to stagger backwards and gingerly hold his torso.
Dreadlock - 2100
Baldy - 1500
"Rgggh! Junk Barrage effect activates!" Baldy roared, pointing to some of the rock pieces of Solar Flare Dragon that hadn't disappeared with the rest of it. They started circling around Dreadlock as if he was the center of a tornado.
"When a monster that's equipped with Junk Barrage destroys a monster in battle and sends it to the graveyard, it inflicts damage to my opponent equal to half of the destroyed monster's attack power!" Baldy watch with what seemed to be a little pleasure as the hunks of rock started raining down on Dreadlock. He tried shielding himself with his arms, but it didn't help.
Dreadlock - 1350
Baldy - 1500
"Heh, I'm still standing, old man." Dreadlock said. "Your synchro monster is gonna be mine!"
"You sure of that?" Baldy challenged. "I haven't even used Seven Swords Warrior's greatest ability yet."
"What?" Dreadlock said, watching, along with Xavier as Seven Swords Warrior turned to face the Equip Spell Card that was behind it and pointed its sword toward it. Now all parties were confused when the card started to vanish and get absorbed into the sword. But the card promptly reappeared but the glow that the card had put into the sword hadn't diappeared.
Baldy explained, his voice rising. "Once per turn, when Seven Swords Warrior is equipped with a Equip Spell Card, it inflicts 800 damage to my opponent!"
Dreadlock didn't stand a chance to even evade Seven Swords Warrior as it almost disappeared and reappeared above his head and brought down the sword over him.
Dreadlock - 550
Baldy - 1500
"Seven Swords Warrior has even another ability, but it isn't worth it to use." Baldy stated. "End Phase. I'll give up 500 of my Life Points to keep Clear World on the field. End turn."
Dreadlock - 550
Baldy - 1000
Xavier tried to still his beating heart. He felt like with the silence that had set on the field, it was beating so loud he'd be found out. If this is the power of just one synchro monster…then when the rest hit this game, it will change things. Forever. Advance summoning, rituals, hell, even my fusions are hard pressed to beat the power of just this one synchro monster. Baldy has set himself up pretty well.
"My turn. Draw!" Dreadlock ripped his card free, glanced at it and then picked another out of his hand. "Activate Spell Card! Soul of Fire!"
A blue pillar of violent flames surrounded Dreadlock, making his form inside it just a blackened silhouette. "My deck is a burner deck, old man. Whatever the means of generating damage to you is my goal, even if the cost is my own monsters! Soul of Fire lets me select one card from my deck and remove it from the game. I'm gonna choose Flame Viper. (400/450 L2) Old man, you get to draw 1 card, but I can inflict damage to you equal to half that monster's attack power!"
A image of Flame Viper, a snake with a disproportionate head to its body, shot away from the flames and clamped down on Baldy's leg.
Dreadlock - 550
Baldy - 800
"I'm gonna leave with that synchro monster! Spell Card! Thunder Crash!"
Dreadlock looked positively wild and feral to Xavier when he was talking. "Thunder Crash will destroy all monster on my field and for each one destroyed, it'll hit you for 300 damage!"
Lighting crashed onto first Dreadlocks field, destroying his Solar Flare Dragon and immediately another bolt descended and danced across the field until it ran through Baldy.
Dreadlock - 550
Baldy - 500
"N-No!" Baldy was yelling out, but it was getting drowned out by the fireball that was amassing on Dreadlocks field.
"Backfire's effect activates! When one of my fire attribute monsters are destroyed, you'll take 500 damage immediately!"
When Dreadlock finished his sentence, the fireball launched and made a quick trip across the field to strike Baldy with enough force to send him careening through the air and caused him to hit the wall behind him with a audible 'smack' that made Xavier wince.
Dreadlock - win
Baldy - lose
It was quiet in the alley as Baldy might've got hit with enough force to knock him out because we wasn't moving or making any noise. Dreadlock's sneakers crunched on the gravel as he walked over to him, kneeled over his body and seemed to fish something out of his opponent's Duel Disk. Just as he thought, Xavier saw the telltale orange-brown of an effect monster and the pure white of what were synchro monsters.
"…thanks, old man." Dreadlock said, tipping the cards to his still prone body.
Xavier was rooted to his spot. He was fighting himself. A part of him wanted to jump in and take those cards back for Baldy…but at the same time, he'd watched the whole duel from start to finish. Dreadlock had beat Baldy fair and square and outplayed him.
Suddenly, Xavier was yanked from his thoughts when the alley around them went dark. Even through it was afternoon, sunlight didn't shine back here and the lights had been killed. It was near darkness, though he could make out Baldy and Dreadlock if barely. Dreadlock was looking around for something and Xavier pulled back from around the corner. He didn't want to be spotted. He just stared at the wall as five words literally slithered across his skin.
"You are not a duelist…"
"Uwaaagh!"
Xavier, cautiously, peered around the corner again. He let his jaw hang open at the sight. A figure that was considerably taller than Dreadlock had grasped him by the neck, one handed, and was holding him up against the wall. All Xavier could make out of the man (and this was clearly a adult) was he was wearing dark clothing and he had dark hair. But he had no eyes. Clearly made out in the darkness were the man's lack of irises and pupils. Just white eyes.
"Let me go!" Dreadlock all but screamed, trying to do everything he could to get out of the man's firm grip.
The man, instead, flung Dreadlock toward his area and he crashed into a small pile of garbage bags. Everyone heard the scratching of roaches as they scattered when an uninvited human dropped on their meal.
It was as his face was turned slightly toward him that Xavier could clearly make out the mark of a rook etched in red over the man's left eye.
"Don't - Don't hurt me!" Dreadlock screamed, taking off down the alley opposite of Xavier. He watched him go for a second, then turned back to the man and about had his heart jump into his throat when he saw he'd disappeared.
Xavier stepped out from around the corner, looking up the walls, through any windows, every nook and cranny of the alley for that man but didn't see a trace of him. The only evidence was the fact Baldy had his cards back next to his prone body. Xavier knelt next to him and felt his neck.
There was a pulse. But he didn't want to stick around anymore. Gingerly, he picked up the two cards Dreadlock had claimed as his and slipped them on top of Baldy's deck on his Duel Disk. That done, he stood up and returned the way he came until he was right outside the courtyard where he'd come. He looked back down the alley from where he'd come.
"Was that…Quentin Squires?" he asked himself.