Another chapter for you all
Carmine was storming her way back towards the Slifer Red dorm, wanting to vent in her room where no one could bother her or see her. However, she never got there because on her way there she felt her Duel Pilot vibrate. Letting out a frustrated sigh, she pulled it out and checked the message she received.
Meet me at the harbor in five. Bring your deck and Duel Disk.
Carmine stared at the message with narrowed eyes. The message didn't show who had sent it. That meant this could probably be a trap, one set up by some cocky student or something. Maybe even that Chazz Princeton. It made Carmine wonder if she should accept.
On the other hand, this could be a great opportunity to relieve herself of her anger and frustration. Carmine instantly chided herself for thinking that way. Her brother taught her better than that.
Letting out a long sigh, something that she needed in order to calm herself down, Carmine pocketed her Duel Pilot then headed towards the harbor.
Zane waited at the harbor, arms crossed as he faced the ocean, eyes closed as he stood there. Soon he heard footsteps that caused him to open his eyes and look. Walking towards him was Carmine, Duel Disk strapped to her arm, hands in her pockets.
"You decided to show up I see," Zane said, turning to face her.
Carmine's blue eyes widened at the sight of him. "Zane? You challenged me?"
"I did, so get ready to duel," Zane told her, activating his Duel Disk.
"I don't know why you challenged me but I'll accept anyway," Carmine replied, activating her own.
"Answers," was all Zane said as he drew his hand. Carmine just looked at him oddly.
(Z: 4000)
(C: 4000)
"If you don't mind, I'll be going first," Zane said, drawing a card. "And first, I'll set one monster face down then set two cards face down as well. And with that, I end my turn."
"Alright, then it's my move." Carmine drew a card then evaluated her hand. "First I'll play the spell card Nobleman of Crossout. This spell card automatically destroys and banishes your face down monster."
"Not a bad move but you activate its special ability. You see, when Cyber Jar (1) is flipped up, both Duelists have to reveal the top five cards on their Deck. Then, if any of the cards revealed are monster cards that are Level 4 and under, we each special summon them in either attack or defense mode. Any other cards we just add to our hand."
"Fine then," Carmine said as she drew five cards. Then she showed the cards she drew. Cyber Harpy Lady (2), Pot of Avarice, Flying Kamakiri #1 (3), Harpie Lady 1 (4), and Harpies' Hunting Ground. "I'll summon all three monsters in attack mode due to the affect of Cyber Jar." Carmine looked at the cards Zane was showing.
In his hands were Nanobreaker (5), Drillago (6), Cyber Raider (7), and Pot of Greed. Carmine got a bit worried since she wasn't familiar with the monsters in his hand, wondering what possible special abilities they might have, but tried not to show it.
"Same as you, I think I'll summon my monsters in attack mode," Zane stated calmly.
He's summoning them in attack mode? Why? Due to Harpy Lady 1 all three of my monsters gain 300 more attack points, which makes them stronger than his, Carmine thought. He's probably planning something.
"Since my three monsters were special summoned," Carmine said, "I'll normal summon my Breaker the Magical Warrior (8). And since he was summoned normally, he gains a Spell Counter that increases his attack power by 300. However, I'll just use that Spell Counter in order to destroy one of your face down cards."
Breaker's sword glowed with purple energy right before he rushed forward and stabbed his sword through one of Zane's face down cards. Zane showed no reaction when it shattered.
Guy's as solid as a statue, Carmine thought.
"Anyway, first I'll have Breaker destroy your Cyber Raider."
Breaker brandished his sword then sliced right through Cyber Raider.
(Z: 4000—3800)
"Next I'll have my Cyber Harpy Lady attack your Nanobreaker."
Cyber Harpy Lady flew up high into the air, and then did a swan dive straight at Nanobreaker, slicing right through her before flying back over to Carmine's side.
(Z: 3800—3300)
"Now, I'll have Flying Kamakiri #1 destroy your last monster, leaving you wide open to an attack."
The large insect slashed through Drillago as if it were paper, adding more damage to Zane's Life Points.
(Z: 3300—3200)
"But don't forget about my Harpy Lady 1. She gets to attack you directly."
Showing off her fangs, Harpy Lady 1 flew right through Zane, claws outstretched. Zane flinched but only just barley.
(Z: 3200—1600)
"And with that, I'll end my turn finally," Carmine said, standing up a bit straighter. Honestly, having just knocked out so many of Zane's Life Points didn't make her feel any better. Well, actually it did relieve her of some of her anger, but it left her with a bad feeling. Her dueling instinct told her that Zane was planning something. She hoped that she wasn't falling into a trap.
"Now that you're finally done," Zane stated calmly. He drew a card. "It's my turn. And first, due to the fact that you have a monster of your side of the field and I have none, I'm allowed to special summon my Cyber Dragon (9) in attack mode directly from my hand."
A cybernetic dragon, that looked more like a snake in Carmine's eyes actually, appeared on Zane's field, towering above her.
"Too bad he's not going to stay for long. The reason being I'm going to play the spell card Dark Hole. This spell card destroys all monsters on the field."
Carmine cringed. So he was planning something!
All the monsters on the field shattered as a small black hole opened up right above them, their pieces getting sucked inside.
"And now I'll play my face down—Call of the Haunted. And with it, I'll bring back my Cyber Dragon. But even now it's not going to be staying for long. Because the next spell card I'm going to play is Power Bond."
This isn't going to be good, Carmine thought.
"This spell card allows me to fusion summon a monster and then doubles its attack points. And thanks to the card I just drew, I'm going to fusion summon Cyber Twin Dragon (10)."
"Oh yeah, definitely not good," Carmine said as she watched both the Cyber Dragons fuse together. Soon she was looking at a cybernetic dragon that had two heads. "And seeing as how you have nothing on your field to defend yourself. It's a safe bet that this Duel is over. Cyber Twin Dragon, attack her directly!"
Carmine shielded her eyes as the two heads of the dragon blasted her at the same time.
(C: 4000—0)
(C: L)
(Z: W)
Carmine sank to the ground as the hologram that was Cyber Twin Dragon faded away. Zane walked over as Carmine pounded the ground in frustration.
"That's what I get for playing when I'm angry," she growled. Carmine looked up at Zane. "You played great. No wonder you're the top student here. But I gotta know, why did you sacrifice all those Life Points? You could have summoned your monsters in defense and not lost a single point."
"Because if I did that, you probably wouldn't have attacked in suspicion I was planning something," Zane answered calmly.
"Yeah, you're right about that. I had a feeling you were planning something but I attacked anyway. I didn't even think of setting any spell or trap cards to defend myself with all my monsters on the field like that. Just goes to show how much I have to learn."
"Perhaps that has something to do with what you said, about dueling when angry. Anger can cloud a person's judgment. I expected more from the younger sister of Shawn Kojima."
Carmine gasped then looked at Zane with disbelieving eyes. "How'd you know?"
"Wasn't that hard. I once had the honor of dueling your brother. Afterward, he mentioned having a younger sister who once wanted to come to this academy. Plus your cards match the one's he described when he mentioned you."
Carmine's shoulders slumped. "Oh, so that's how huh? Guess you must remember him well then."
"Yeah. I remember he was a dueling legend. He was a dueling champion ever since he was nine. The guy was pretty popular in the Duel Monster world."
"Of course he was! He was one of the best Duelists there were!" she blurted out standing up. "O-Oh…sorry…about that. It's just…" Her voice trailed off as she looked away.
"It's okay. I know what happened. And I'm sorry for your loss."
"Thanks, and could you do me a favor?"
"A favor?" he asked raising an eyebrow.
"Look I don't want people knowing about Shawn being my older brother. It's…complicated."
"…I guess I can do that, but why keep it a secret?"
"Like I said. It's pretty complicated."
"Speaking of your brother. I don't mean to pry or anything but what happened to him? How did he—"
"How did he die? I know that better than anyone," she said, muttering the last part while looking down at the ground. "…I was there."
"Wait…you were there?"
Carmine nodded. Then she took her shoes off and sat on the edge kicking her feet in the water while Zane just stood there, watching her.
"Okay before I tell you I have to ask," she said facing him. "How did your duel with him go? My brother used to tell me all about his duels if I never got to see them myself."
"It was a long time ago but I still remember the duel like it was yesterday."
"Really? Did you win?"
"Actually I lost," he admitted. "Even so I was close to winning. That's when he told me that little saying of his. I'm sure you know which one I'm talking about."
"Yeah, he had a lot of sayings and stuff like that." Carmine glanced out at the ocean and the setting sun. "Anyway…the night he died, there was a dueling tournament but something happened and he couldn't go. He was really upset about it."
"What happened then?" Zane asked. "Last I remember he made it to that tournament."
"Yeah, he did," she said softly. "…Thanks to me."
Zane looked at her in confusion. After a taking a deep breath she started to explain.
"After he found out he couldn't go to the tournament he was really bummed. I just couldn't really see him so down in the dumps so…so I came up with an idea. I convinced him to sneak out and go anyway. After climbing out the back window and taking the car we went to the tournament."
"Which he won, as everyone knows," Zane said. "Then what happened?"
"After the tournament was over we started to head back to our house. On the way though this truck driver ran a red light…straight into our car. The collision sent our car tumbling and spinning right into a street pole. For some reason, police arrived not even three minutes after the accident so we were rushed to the hospital immediately."
Zane remained quiet as he waited for Carmine to continue. She paused for a few more minutes then continued.
"After three hours I finally woke up. My first thought was to make sure Shawn was okay but…I found out he didn't make it. So now you know," she said quietly. "That's what happened."
"You shouldn't blame yourself for what happened. You know that right?"
"I know," she sighed. "But I just can't help but think that if I never snuck him out nothing would have happened."
She stood up then started to put her shoes back on. "But sitting here and crying over something that already happened isn't going to help. The only reason I enrolled into Duel Academy was to fulfill a promise I made to him a long time ago."
"How noble of you," Zane said as she straightened up.
"Problem? I have my own reasons for dueling. And that's to keep my brother's dreams and memory alive."
"Really? Why not duel for yourself? Hard to be a good Duelist if you're not, in essence, the one dueling."
"I do thank you! I enjoy dueling just as much as my brother. Plus dueling was one of the only times I got to hang out with my brother."
"Why is that? Was he always busy with his dueling career?" Zane questioned.
"You can say that yeah. All thanks to my parents," she said, spitting out the last part like it was poison. "But that's a whole different story."
After that, she started to walk away. Zane didn't stop her, seeing as he got the answers he wanted. He would have to admit he was a bit curious as to what she meant by her last comment but thought he had pried enough. For now, he would leave things as they were. He figured she'd talk about it when she was ready. Taking one last look at the ocean, he saw the sun vanish as nighttime began.
Cards appearing in this chapter:
(1)
Attribute: Dark
Types: Rock/Effect
Level: 3
ATK/DEF: 900/900
Effect: FLIP: Destroy all monsters on the field, then both players reveal the top 5 cards from their Decks, then Special Summon all revealed Level 4 or lower monsters in face-up Attack Position or face-down Defense Position, also add any remaining cards to their hand. (If either player has less than 5 cards in their Deck, reveal as many as possible.)
(2)
Cyber Harpie Lady
Attribute: Wind
Types: Winged Beast/Effect
Level: 4
ATK/DEF: 1800/1300
Effect: (This card's name is always treated as "Harpie Lady".)
(3)
Flying Kamakiri 1
Attribute: Wind
Types: Insect/Effect
Level: 4
ATK/DEF: 1400/900
Effect: When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard: You can Special Summon 1 WIND monster with 1500 or less ATK from your Deck, in face-up Attack Position.
(4)
Harpy Lady 1
Attribute: Wind
Types: Winged Beast/Effect
Level: 4
ATK/DEF: 1300/1400
Effect: (This card's name is always treated as "Harpie Lady".)
All WIND monsters gain 300 ATK.
(5)
Nanobreaker
Attribute: Earth
Types: Machine/Effect
Level: 4
ATK/DEF: 1600/1800
Effect: If this card attacks a face-up Level 3 or lower monster, destroy the monster with this card's effect without applying damage calculation.
(6)
Drillago
Attribute: Dark
Types: Machine/Effect
Level: 4
ATK/DEF: 1600/110
Effect: If the only cards your opponent controls are face-up monsters with 1600 or more ATK, this card can attack your opponent directly.
(7)
Cyber Raider
Attribute: Dark
Types: Machine/Effect
Level: 4
ATK/DEF: 1400/1000
Effect: When this card is Summoned: Activate 1 of these effects.
● Target 1 Equip Card equipped to a monster on the field; destroy that target.
● Target 1 Equip Card equipped to a monster on the field; equip that target to this card.
(8)
Breaker the Magical Warrior
Attribute: Dark
Types: Spellcaster/Effect
Level: 4
ATK/DEF: 1600/1000
Effect: If this card is Normal Summoned: Place 1 Spell Counter on it (max. 1). This card gains 300 ATK for each Spell Counter on it. You can remove 1 Spell Counter from this card, then target 1 Spell/Trap Card on the field; destroy that target.
(9)
Cyber Dragon
Attribute: Light
Types: Machine/Effect
Level: 5
ATK/DEF: 2100/1600
Effect: If your opponent controls a monster and you control no monsters, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand).
(10)
Cyber Twin Dragon
Attribute: Light
Types: Machine/Fusion/Effect
Level: 8
ATK/DEF: 2800/2100
Effect: This card can make a second attack during each Battle Phase.
