A loud noise, almost as loud as an explosion, made Subaru open his eyes and wake up from his honey sweet sleep. The boy found himself all alone in the bed and saw everyone running through the UFO.
"What's going on?" he asked himself and got up from the bed.
The black haired boy dressed up quickly and got out of the room. He then saw on a window Rad's rocket fly away from the UFO with Rad piloting it and with Sora and Tsugumi inside. It was then the moment he remembered that they had a mission to accomplish. They had to separate into two groups, his going to Tibet, the other going to eastern China. Deep inside him Subaru was regretting the fact that he didn't even get the chance to say 'good-bye' to his beloved Tsugumi. But he soon got swiped out of these thoughts as he saw Edo walking down the corridor towards him.
"Good morning, Edo-kun!"
"Good morning, Subaru!"
"So it's only us, Kokujo and doctor Root left, right?"
"Yep, and I still can't believe that this whole UFO is ours!" Edo said and stared amazed at the giant hall.
"How long will it take till we reach Tibet?" Subaru asked.
"Doctor Root said that tonight we'll surely be there. Till then I suggest we do something fun."
"Edo-kun, you're a genius!"
"I-I am? I mean s-sure I am! But why was I a genius again, Subaru?"
"You'll see." Subaru said and started running. "Hurry up!"
"Here we go again... Wait for me, Subaru!" Edo said and ran as well.
Meanwhile Kokujo and doctor Root were having a walk through the corridors chatting about the mission and dueling strategies. If you wouldn't know them you would think that they were two philosophers or scientists talking about the problems of humanity.
"If I could only get that XENOM, the Reaper King, I would so add some discarding card strategies in my deck. And who knows, I may use Romanoff the 1st again, doctor."
" But that would imply taking Subaru's Romanoff from him Kokujo , since you were the one which gave it to him. And it's a pity since he has such great Knight cards!"
" Tsh if I have to I'll help Subaru remake his whole deck just to get Romanoff back and make the discarding deck which I dream of!" Kokujo said. "But for the moment I'm not disappointed of how my deck looks , and I think that I should give Bell Hell De Gaul a few more tries while he's still a new card ! "
" Good idea , Kokujo , that's what I want to hear ! Be patient and wait until you get a XENOM , and keep relying on your actual cards ! " Doctor Root said and then changed the subject of the discussion . " So , what do you think that Subaru and Edo are doing at the moment ? "
" Do you want my sincere opinion or ... " Kokujo said while sweating .
" Kokujo , please don't joke arround with me ! "
" Okay , doctor , do you really want to know what Subaru and Edo are doing ? "
" Yep ... "
Kokujo then went to the computer game room . The long haired boy pressed a button and the doors opened . Inside the room there were lots of computers , all filled with thousands of games . Edo and Subaru were both sitting at one of them playing a Sonic the Hedgehog racing game .
" That's what they're doing ! " Kokujo said .
" I see ... " Root replied and sweated . " So this is how these two are getting ready for a mission ! "
Edo and Subaru were too concentrated on the game to notice that Kokujo and Root had entered the room . They had a mine level where they were racing . Edo's character was Tails the Fox while Subaru's character was Knuckles the Echidna . At speed they were both equal , but both had special powers . Tails could fly while Knuckles could destroy stuff with ease . It was the last lap of the race . Both were equal in speed and they were soon reaching the finish line .
" Come on , Tails , you can do it ! Show Subaru and Knuckles who's the man ! GO TAILS ! GO TAILS ! " Edo yelled while holding some keys on the keyboard .
" Knuckles , we cannot let these two defeat us and our pride now , can we ? RUN LIKE THE WIND , KNUCKLES ! RUN ! " Subaru yelled while also holding keys .
When both were reaching the finish line , someone had pressed alt and f4 closing the game . Subaru and Edo stared shocked at the computer screen with open mouths .
" And I was so gonna win ! " Subaru said with tears falling from his eyes .
" Kokujo , why did you close our game when we were about to finish it ?! " Edo yelled and got up from his chair .
" Tsh , we're on a mission and we don't have time to waste with silly games , so grow up a bit ! " Kokujo spoke to the two with a cold voice .
" Then what do you want us to do ? I mean , we've dueled over a thousand times and improved our decks even more ! There's nothing else to do so that we could get ready ! " Edo said .
Kokujo then took out something from his pockets . What he took out were two cards . He threw them to Subaru and Edo and each catched one . The two cards were two Supernova Neptune Shutrom . Supernova Neptune Shutrom was a water Phoenix which evolved from Grand Devils , Demon Commands and/or Angel Commands . It's power was of 13000 , it was a triple breacker and it had meteorburn ability . By its meteorburn ability , when it attacked , its user could put one of the creatures he/she evolved into Shutrom to the graveyard and send all of his opponent's creatures to the top of his/her deck in any order !
" Oh my God ! THIS CARD ROCKS ! " Edo yelled and manly tears fell from his eyes . " I'm proud of being a water duelist ! "
" Wow , was this card in your Castle of the Demon deck , Kokujo-kun ? " Subaru asked .
" Yep , and I even remember using it one or two times... " Kokujo said and remembered the good old times when he was on his quests against Zakira , when he was a lone wolf , when Malice was alive . " Those were the days , that's for sure ! "
" So , um... what are we supposed to do with these cards ? " Edo asked .
" You two will build together a Supernova Neptune Shutrom darkness and water deck having all the mono darkness and mono water cards at an equal number ! This will show how much you can concentrate on building a deck together ! " Kokujo said and walked out of the game room . " Come with me , there's something I need to show you ! "
Subaru and Edo walked out of the game room and walked after Kokujo and doctor Root which had already left . The four went to a room which had extremely big doors . Kokujo grinned and took out his remote control . The long haired boy clicked one of the buttons and the doors opened . Subaru and Edo got big eyes as they saw that behind the doors there were drawers filled with Duel Masters cards , all arranged after civilisation , race and card type . It was evreything which a duelist could wish !
" Just exactly how many cards do you have here , Kokujo-kun ? " Subaru asked still amazed of what he was seeing .
" Oh , not many , just twenty thousand ! " Kokujo spoke with an uncaring voice .
As they heared the word 'twenty thousand' , Subaru and Edo fell on the floor with shocked expressions on their faces . Edo then got up and spoke to Kokujo while trembling :
" A-and how in the world can you keep all those cards in this room ? "
" Professional secret ! " Kokujo answered .
Subaru also got up , and together with Edo walked to the drawers and searched for darkness and water cards . Doctor Root and Kokujo stood in the room a bit to watch the two take all the cards they needed . Subaru and Edo had a big pile of cards on a table . Both sat on the chairs and started thinking of how the deck would look without noticing that doctor Root and Kokujo were leaving . They were too absorbed in their work to pay attention to other details . Kokujo closed the doors of the room with his remote and walked relaxed on the corridors with his hands behind his head .
" Where are you going , Kokujo ? " Doctor Root asked .
" To the living room ! I'm gonna read the evil genious newspapers and watch some good animes where bad guys always win ! " Kokujo answered and kept walking .
" Good luck , then ! I'll be in my lab if you need me ! " Doctor Root said and walked in the opposite direction .
Subaru and Edo were working on the deck harder and harder . For starters they added their favorite cards AKA Deathliger and Aqua Sniper .
" Okay then , one Deathliger and two Aqua Snipers should do fine ! " Subaru said .
" But I want four Aqua Snipers ! " Edo said .
" I'm sorry , Edo-kun , but they'll take too much space in the deck ! Two are enough ! "
Edo sighed and after they put the three cards on the two Shutrom cards , they continued thinking . After their favorite cards they needed their trump cards .
" Next up are the trump cards ! " Subaru said . " Lets say one Ballom Emperor and two Crystal Paladins ! "
" B-but your Ballom Emperor will destroy my water creatures ! " Edo said sweating .
" This deck will have the number of darkness and water creatures equal , so it won't count that much , Edo-kun ! "
" Yeah , good way to treat your friend's favorite civilisation ! " Edo said with tears falling from his eyes .
" Stop whining and help me here ! " Subaru said and looked through the cards . " Okay , now we need bait for Ballom Emperor and Crystal Paladin ! For Ballom Emperor I'll take some useful Demon Commands , hmm , I think that two Gajirabute , Vile Centurions would work well ! Oh yeah , I'll also take this other Demon Command which fits like hell ! It's Shiver of Sealed Devil Jumazohl ! We'll talk about it later , now tell me what Liquid People you want to use as bait for Crystal Paladin ! "
" Hm... besides Aqua Sniper ... I think that one Aqua Hulcus and three Aqua Surfers will do fine ! " Edo said . " Speaking of that , shouldn't we also add three Terror Pits since they're basic shield triggers along with Aqua Surfers ? "
" Of course ! " Subaru said and added all the cards . " Lets see now , so far this deck has : two Supernova Neptune Shutrom , one Deathliger Lion of Chaos , two Aqua Snipers , one Ballom Emperor Lord of Demons , two Crystal Paladins , two Gajirabute Vile Centurions , two Shiver of Sealed Devil Jumazohl , one Aqua Hulcus , three Aqua Surfers and three Terror Pits ! So far there are just nineteen cards ! I think that we should think for a few more spells for this deck ! I know , lets add just shield trigger spells ! Any suggestions ? "
" Lets add Streaming Shaper , Energy Stream , Eureka Charger , Emergency Typhoon , Transmogrify and Cyber Brain ! " Edo said smiling .
" Um...Edo-kun... most of these spells don't have shield trigger except for Emergency Typhoon , Transmogrify and Cyber Brain ! " Subaru replied and sweated .
" So ? They're cool and have great drawing power ! "
" You don't get it ... oh well I think that we could add two Transmogrify and one Cyber Brain ! " Subaru said . " Also I'll add one Inferno Sign as well and we're done ! "
" B-but why just one Inferno Sign ? " Edo asked .
" Because from now on it's restricted to one ! I know , damn japanese producers ! "
And after half an hour of intense work , the two had only one part of the deck to work on . The most important AKA the Grand Devils they were going to add . Since Shutrom had Grand Devils as evo bait , they had to be careful what Grand Devils they would add in that deck . Now this was the point where the real war between the two had started . It was darkness Grand Devils VS water Grand Devils . Both Subaru and Edo were as tough in opinions as the creatures they were choosing and so the battle of cool creatures and eye stealing combos had begun .
" Fuuma Ravaal , the Reaper is perfect for this deck ! It makes all evolution creatures cost 1 mana less , so Neptune Shutrom will be summoned faster ! Also it's a great combo with Maxval , Electro-Fuuma ! " Subaru said .
" Yes , but Sealed Devil Balzoo is also great ! It's a cheap and non-shield trigger Aqua Surfer ! " Edo said .
" Yeah , but he's no match for Sealed Devil Garmagias which is a frigging cheap 8000 powered double breacker ! In this deck it would be invincible ! " Subaru said .
" It may be , but this deck is not only about fast attacks ! Blockers might also be good and that's why I think that Sealed Devil Webaris is good for this job ! He's a more powerful Aqua Guard ! " Edo said smiling .
" Oh , but Edo-kun , lets not forget Sealed Devil Josjaks ! " Subaru said . " He's a slayer and ..."
The heated discussion went on and on and the deck seemed to become improving and powerful . Edo and Subaru spent hours in that room working on that deck and they had great fun , even better than playing ordinary computer games .
The UFO kept flying above the world like a lost cloud in the eternal blue horizon called sky . If you could look at it from a decent distance , you would think that it's just moving calmly like all the other clouds , but actually it was moving really fast , because it had to reach Tibet before Rezo or his army .
The black and mystic night had fallen over the lands darkening all the places and making impossible for people to see anything without the help of a torch or flashlight . A cold and menacing snow storm was approaching the Tibet mountains . The UFO had reached the moutains by 8 PM and had stopped at their bottom .
Inside the UFO , doctor Root had given the announcement to the other three passengers that they had arrived to their destination . Kokujo got up from his couch and put the good looking evil genious magazines under the table . Afterwards he closed the TV and rushed to the control room . Subaru and Edo got out of the card room as well . Both had their clothes and hair messy , because of all that struggle with the deck planning .
" God , too much thinking can make your head explode ! " Edo said .
" Yeah , but it's better than watching Teletubies non-stop for a whole week ! " Subaru added . " So , shall we go to the control room ? "
" Yep , doctor Root called us , so it must be something serious ! "
" Or maybe he wants to give us candy ? "
" I haven't thought of that , Suby ! LETS GO GET SOME CANDY ! " Edo yelled and ran while followed by Subaru .
The four passengers of the UFO were now gathered in the control room . Doctor Root held an important speech about safety measures and health protection on mountain expeditions . Edo didn't pay much attention because he was too busy to cry for not getting any candy . Subaru and Kokujo on the other hand listened to Root's whole speech , no matter how long and boring it was . But before the doctor could finish his speech , the UFO suddenly shook .
" What's this , an earthquake ? " Subaru asked while grabbing a hold of a pillar .
" No , it's something worse ! " Kokujo replied while staring at one of the windows . " It's the masked duelist ! "
" WHAT ?! " Subaru , Edo and doctor Root yelled .
They all got out of the UFO and had found the masked duelist standing in front of the moutain . Behind him was a blue energy barrier which was blocking the UFO's way . It was clear now that Rezo was a step further than them . The masked duelist was just sent there to slow them down a bit .
" You've arrived sooner than Lord Rezo had expected ! " the masked duelist said .
" Tsh , get outta the way or you'll regret it , worm ! " Kokujo said with a cold voice .
" Hehe , you'll pass this barrier only through my dead body ! " the masked duelist said and took out his glowing deck .
" You've asked for it ! " Kokujo replied and was about to take out his deck .
Suddenly Subaru put his hand in front of Kokujo and made a step foward to the masked duelist . The black haired boy took out his glowing deck and stared at the duelist which was wearing a black robe and a mask with the darkness civlisation emblem .
" Stand back , Kokujo-kun , this guy is mine ! " Subaru said .
" Ooo , so the chosen darkness duelist wants to face me ? Heh , bring it on , kid ! I'll make sure your death will be quick and painless ! " the masked duelist replied and made two dueling tables appear .
With a deep breath and a sigh , Subaru put his deck on the table and set up his five shields , thing which the masked duelist also did . The duel which would decide if they would continue their journey had started .