Treading Lightly
Silver stared at his reflection in his mirror. He dreaded the final duel, and at the same time he looked forward to it. Winning the tournament would be a very big deal, but he was scared of winning, if he did win, there was a large probablity he would be forced to ditch his mask.
He had managed to use the mask for so long because he had begun in the underground scene, gaining a reputation after participating in numerous duels involving money betting. His manager was probably the closest person to him, he was the one who encouraged him to don the mask, he was the one who took care of the complocations that came with it.
Silver didn't realize how popular he was until he got the invitation for the tournament, when he did, the same set of emotions that had plauged him as a teenager came back. He always had an inner conflict, one part of him sought out fame and recognition and the other part was scared of the repercussions that came with such and the effect it had on the people around him. The mask had provided some sort of security, alienating him from his dueling persona, this success threatened to destroy that security and he was scared.
Today was the day of the duel, there was no going back now, he would give it his all and fate would decide if it would cause him to abandon his mask or not.
Kudo Yamato was Silver's manager, the only person close enough to the Masked Marauder to be regarded as a friend. Despite the large difference in age, Silver saw him not as a father figure, but as an older brother he never had, Yamato understood him and his feelings, despite how childish they were and decided to help him. Obviously, Yamato was getting a fair share of Silver's profits, but Silver always considered himself indebted to the man.
Yamato was surprised when he recieved a message from Silver telling him he would be late, Silver was normally such a stickler for rules, he wondered what it could be that would make him late, he decided to call him. "Hey, are you okay?"
"Yeah." The voice at the other side of the line said.
Yamato wasn't convinced, Silver's voice sounded stiff. "Are you sure? You sound a bit odd."
"Yeah, there's … no problem, I think. I feel … weird."
Yamoto was concerned now. "Don't think too much about it, it's just another duel, you won't have to lose the mask or anything."
"I don't think so."
Yamato supressed a sigh. "C'mon, ultimately its up to you to choose whatever direction your career goes, it'll hurt you more if you back out of this duel now, think about your fans." There was silence on the other end. "Are you still going to be late?"
"Yeah, I have something unavoidable …"
"Just don't back out now."
"Sure." Silver replied before hanging up.
Yamato sighed, suddenly feeling like a babysitter of sorts, when did Silver become this difficult, he wondered. Since Silver was arriving late, he decided to get through the procedures so he would just begin the duel when he came.
Jun was in an interesting get-up. A blue cap sat atop her head, hiding her purple hair from view, she was wearing a blue and white security uniform, black boots and a baton was strapped around her waist. A hand was clasped over her nose and mouth as she trudged through the damp, dark pipeline.
A hand reached into her pants pocket, bringing out a phone. On the screen of the phone was a map of sorts, she looked at the junction ahead then back at the map, she slid her finger across the screen, moving to another portion of the map, she checked the time then proceeded to lock the screen and replacing the phone in her pocket. It was six o'clock, she was doing good time.
She had woken at five, and about fifteen minutes ago Tetsuya had gotten her into the pipeline, she grit her teeth in annoyance, what job could that guy possibly have that was more important than hers? The pipeline was disgusting, abandoned it might be but the people in charge clearly hadn't cleaned it out after ditching it. It smelled horrible, Jun couldn't even think of anything else to compare it to, the walls were covered with a myriad of organisms and on the floors were several puddles of what she tried to believe was sewage, even though she knew it probably wasn't.
Her left hand kept her flashlight steady while her right gripped the strap of the bag she wore on her back, she would certainly walk faster without it, but inside it was the strange contraption she was to plant. It was illegal, she knew, breaking into the Momentum reactor plantsite and messing with the machinery, but it was necessary. Yuka had made it, she spent hours in that weird room of hers doing all sorts of stuff Jun didn't understand, now her lack of advanced education annoyed her, maybe she could have helped her aunt, or at least not looked so hopelessly stupid, if she knew more about Physics. Maybe it would be possible to have her aunt teach her after she sorted out her affairs, just maybe …
Her job was simple, on paper that is, it was actually much harder to do in real life. She was to sneak through the pipeline into the main reactor hold, the bigger contraption was supposed to be hooked to one of the reactors, both her aunt and Tetsuya insisted that she didn't need any special suit to approach the reactors, she wasn't so convinced, she didn't want to get bombarded by some kind of radiation and end up sterile, or worse get cancer, she wasn't too concerned about it now but she wanted to get married later on and have kids of her own, kids were nice. The smaller gadjet would have to be connected to the main control board, how she would get there and connect it without being noticed was a conundrum her aunt and Tetsuya failed to give a solution to.
"Finally!" She whispered, she had arrived at the point of entry and boy was she glad to leave the disgusting pipeline, for now at least, she still had to leave through it after she was done. Her gloved hands threathened to slip as she climbed the short ladder to the hatch above, but she managed to hold on, she tried the hatch, it didn't budge at first and she almost panicked, what if it was sealed shut? Luckily all it needed was a little more effort, and after a few seconds she managed to get it open.
She gasped for fresh air as she climbed out the hatch, breathing in and out until she was convinced her lungs were finally rid of the horrible sewer air. She checked her phone and opened an entirely different map, a number of routes were mapped out each in different colours.
There would be guards patrolling the facility, but not so many, nobody really wanted to mess with the Momentum reactors, power was very important in this day and age, should the people find out someone was trying to tamper with the reactors there was a large chance the culprit would be lynched, scary, huh? 'The people of Neo Domino City, while normally not savages could well be regarded as such during matters involving tampering with the Momentum.' Jun didn't know why but Yuka always said that. She wasn't trying to destroy the reactor, she wasn't stupid, Yuka regarded this little operation of theirs as an attempt at borrowing some momentum, it was more-or-less a perpetual motion machine and nobody would notice if they brought a few more mouths to the never ending stream.
After looking around a bit, Jun decided on a route to take, and tightening her grip on the bag, she began to walk, continuing her noble mission.
It was seven o'clock, Hatake was seated in the Neo Domino park, the place was cold, the sun was not quite out yet.
The investigation had been stopped and Eiji's death had been officially stated as suicide, this was Hatake's last day in Neo Domino City, tomorrow he would be leaving for Tokyo where another case was waiting for him. He planned to spend the day sightseeing and enjoying himself, he would take a couple of photos and buy a couple of things, most importantly a special sourvenir for Saya.
He didn't know why he thought of it, maybe he still missed the case a bit, but the new skating rink that opened up seemed like a good place to start. Eiji's body had been found there but nobody seemed to even remember that, it was just one suicide after all, right? He found himself disgusted by the thought, but hey, what better way to forget your worries than to gracefully float across the air.
He tossed his empty coffee cup into a trashcan and left the park. The rink would open by eight so he had quite some time to get there, in the mean time he was thinking maybe he would get breakfast in one of the popular Neo Domino restaurants, he might not have found out anything useful from his investigation but he still got paid, and he intended on putting perhaps the only good thing he got from the case to good use.
Did he really love her, or did he just want company, to not be left alone. After Carly had so graciously spelt out his actions during those seven years Jack had realize how stupid he sounded telling her he loved her after all that he had done. He didn't deserve her love, not anymore, but he felt like he did love her …
Jack shook his head, snapping himself out of his thoughts of Carly Nagisa, his duel with Silver was now, the fateful duel was now. If he didn't stay focused he would lose, he knew that Silver was no ordinary duelist and he had to be at the top of his game to beat him, he didn't possess Yusei's level of strategy planning but he was smart, enough so he could set up a contingency plan, a defense, and attack, all at the same time. Jack had to trump all that smartness and win, he would trump it and he would win.
The crowd roared, louder than ever, as Jack's name was announced and he walked out onto the field, Silver was already waiting there, his bizarre mask carefully worn over his face. The formalities were taken care of and Silver was chosen to have the first turn.
Both duelists approached each other and proceeded to shake hands, firmly. They went back to their initial positions and held up their Duel Disk in the normal stance.
"It's time to …" the MC bellowed.
"DUEL!" The entire arena shook as the word was shouted.
Jack: 4000 Silver: 4000
"My turn." Silver drew his card.
Jack narrowed his eyes, Silver's voice sounded distorted, he was masking his voice.
"I set a monster and end my turn." A horizontally oriented reversed card appeared before Silver.
"My turn." Jack added a card to his hand. "Draw!" He placed a card onto his Duel Disk. "Since you control a monster and I don't, Vice Dragon's effect allows me to special him from my hand."
A moderately sized dragon appeared. The dragon possed purple skin and green wings, it looked a bit sickly though, and the way it stood implied it was. (5/2000 - 1000/2400 - 1200)
"He's weakened as a result, but he isn't here to battle. I summon Force Resonator."
Like the other Resonators, force resonator was small and behind the grey helmet it wore only its blood red orb-like eyes and its perfectly white smiling teeth could be seen. An odd black orb was strapped to its back. (2/500/500)
"I tune Force Resonator to Vice Dragon!"
À la the normal synchro summoning process, the smaller tuner monster turned into two green rings that the weakened dragon flew through. The explosion of light followed after.
"Synchro summon! Chaos King Archfiend!"
The resulting Synchro Monster, like most of Jack's, was, simply put, monstrous. Its body was bony and thin, exuding an odd purple energy, its wings were flaming and its head seemed to have suffered a similar fate. (7/2600/2600)
"Chaos King Archfiend, attack!"
The crowd cheered as the fiend let loose a torrent of dark energy that vaporized the comcealed monster.
"CheepCheepCheep's flip effect activates, allowing me to special summon Genomix Fighter from my deck!"
A beast-like humanoid creature appeared, it looked like a cross between a human and a lion-esque animal, or an evolution of the latter. It was garbed in futuristic looking armor. (6/2200/1100)
"I set a card facedown and end my turn." A reversed card appeared before Jack.
The crowd's cheering only grew louder as Silver began his turn. "I tribute Genomix Fighter to summon Great Maju Garzett!"
Often a comparison was drawn between the Egyptian god monster Obelisk the Tormentor and Great Maju Garzett, two things both undeniably had was an intimidating appearance and the attack power to match. The large fiend appeared, its miscoloured skin looking as vibrant as ever. (6/0 - 4400/0)
"Great Maju Garzett, attack Chaos King!"
"I activate Fiendish Chain!" Jack's reversed card flipped up. "This card targets an effect monster, negates its effect and renders it incapable to attack. With its effect gone, Great Maju Garzett loses its attack points."
As the mighty fiend lunged at the weaker one, chains suddenly shot out of Jack's Trap Card and wrapped themselves around it, binding it completely. (6/ 4400 - 0/0)
"I set two cards and end my turn." Silver stated and the cards appeared behind the weakened fiend.
Jack exhaled deeply as he drew his card. Silver hadn't synchro summoned even though he probably had the chance, he was probably testing the waters. If he was going to wait, Jack decided he would just have to give him too much to handle. He placed one of the four cards in his hand onto the Duel Disk. "I activate Foolish Burial, this Spell Card allows me to send a monster in my deck to my graveyard, I choose Level Eater."
Silver didn't react, Jack continued: "I activate Level Eater's effect, by reducing the level of a level 5 or higher monster I control by one I can special summon it from my graveyard." The flaming winged fiend's level reduced by one as a small portal appeared beside it. (7 - 6/2600/2600)
Out of the portal, a small insect, a beetle perhaps came out, it turned blue to signify its defense position. (1/600/0)
"Next, I summon Barrier Resonator!"
A small fiend appeared holding a golden tuning fork and a rod with an orange sphere at the end. On its back was what seemed to be an charge carrying device. (1/300/800)
"Could Jack Atlas' ace be making an appearance this early on?!" The MC bellowed.
"No." Jack unneccessarily answered. "I tune Barrier Resonator to my now level seven Chaos King Archfiend!"
The small fiend transformed into a lone green ring that Chaos King Archfiend flew into.
"Synchro summon! Dark Highlander!"
The explosion of light occured, but instead of dissipating as it normally did, it seemd to contract, focusing and reducing into a single orb of light. A large scythe cut it into two and another fiend appeared. Unlike Chaos King Archfiend which was stripped to its core, Dark Highlander was well garbed in robes with patterns of gold, white and black, its cape fluttered behind it, it exuded an aura that seemed to connote its position as a sort of adjudicator. (7/2800/2300)
"Dark Highlanders effect prevents either of us from synchro summoning." Jack smirked. "Lets see how you fare without your powerhouses."
"Amazing!" The MC screamed. "Jack Atlas has shut down synchro summons, Silver's deck focuses on high leveled synchro summoning, will this spell doom for the Masked Marauder?"
Jack laughed. "Dark Highlander, destroy Great Maju Garzett!"
Ruka made her way to the kitchen, she looked terrible, she had bags under her eyes and she moved sluggishly, she hadn't slept at all last night. Rua, Rebecca, Crow, Yusei and Aki had gone to the Kaiba Dome to support Jack in the final, she was meant to go too but she had to take a rain check, she wasn't in the best of shape.
It started about two weeks ago when she began to have these dreams … no, nightmares would be more appropriate. She had dreaded sleeping ever since. Normally, no matter how hard she tried she would eventually fall asleep but last night she didn't, somehow she managed to stay awake and now she realized how much she took sleep for granted. Her eyes stung irritatingly and she felt like she would pass out if she attempted any simple task, she desperately needed to sleep but at the same time she wouldn't if it meant having another nightmare.
She fumbled through the kitched cabinets, searching for sleeping pills, she once heard that you wouldn't dream if you took those, maybe they were the answer to her problems.
Ruka groaned in annoyance, there were no sleeping pills, there wasn't any medicine even, if she wanted to get any sleeping pills she would have to go out and get it. Her face turned pale, not outside … not right now, at least, she would definitely choose having nightmares over going outside now. She steeled herself, deciding to stay put till the gang came back.
Thinking that maybe watching Jack's duel would help, she made her way to the couch and switched the T.V on.
Dark Highlander struck an invisible barrier, his scythe bounced back with a resounding clang.
Jack: 4000 Silver: 4000 - 6800
"Thanks to my Trap Card: Draining Shield, your attack is negated and my Life Points increased by your monster's attack points." Silver replied, his shoulders relaxed a bit.
Jack wasn't bothered by his defense. "I set a card and end my turn."
"Silver defends successfully! Now can he turn the tables or will he be forced to defend, helpless against the effect of Dark Highlander?!" The ever reliable commentary of the MC could be heard.
"I draw." Silver now had three cards in his hand. "I summon Mist Archfiend!"
Another fiend appeared, beyond the abdomen, the lower body of this fiend was composed of shapeless mist. It possessed sharp brown claws and two large horns and its body seemed to be mainly covered by red skin and a black exoskeleton. (5/2400/0)
"Though it's a level 5 monster, Mist Archfiend allows me to normal summon it without tributing, but in return, when my turn ends it is destroyed and I take 1000 points of damage. "Mist Archfiend, attack Dark Highlander!"
Jack rasied an eyebrow but did nothing. Silver's move made sense as soon as he played a Quick-play Spell Card from his hand. "Ego Boost! When a monster attacks, I can activate this card, it grants a monster on the field 1000 Attack Points. Mist Archfiend will be getting that boost!"
The large clawed fiend glowed red as it's power increased. (5/2400 - 3400/0)
Mist Archfiend slashed through Dark Highlander after a short exchange of blows, Silver drew first blood.
Jack: 4000 - 3400 Silver: 6800
"I switch Great Maju Garzett to defense position and end my turn. Mist Archfiend's effect activates now." The weakened fiend took a knee and as it did Mist Archfiend crumbled to nothing and the remaining mist encircled Silver.
Jack: 3400 Silver: 6800 - 5800
"My turn." Jack drew. 'Here comes the mid-duel lull.' He thought. "I summon Phantom King Hydride."
A black horse appeared, reined by a warrior garbed in silver armor. The warrior brandished his weapon as the horse neighed, its brown tail swishing around behind it. (3/1500/300)
"Phantom King Hydride, attack Great Maju Garzett!"
The horse riding warrior rode toward the chained fiend and struck it, destroying it instantly.
"I set a card and end my turn." A reversed card appeared next to Jack's first one. Silver's lone face-down card flipped up as soon as Jack's appeared.
"I activate Xing Zhen Hu!" Jack cursed inwardly as Silver announced this. A purple miasma emanated from the odd looking artifact that appeared next to silver, the miasma moved to cover Jack's reversed cards. "This card activates by targeting two set Spell or Trap Cards on the field, I selected two of yours, and the targeted cards cannot be activated as long as Xing Zhen Hu remains on the field."
"Shit!" Jack cursed.
"My turn." Silver cooly stated.
Jack frowned. Silver now had two cards in his hand, to most it might be difficult to mount a counter with that but Jack knew that Silver only really needed one cards to do that: Masked Chameleon. With his set cards unable to activate, all he had was a low-powered level 3 monster and no cards in his hand, things were looking terrible for him, he could only hope Silver didn't have a Masked Chameleon card in his hand.
"I summon Masked Chameleon."
'Crap.'
The dreaded blue eyed Chameleon appeared, wearing its green and yellow mask and wagging its long red tongue mockingly at Jack. (4/1600/1100)
"When Masked Chameleon is summoned, I can special summon a monster from my graveyard which possesses 0 Defense Points, I choose Mist Archfiend."
The mist covered fiend reappeared next to the Chameleon, it flexed its claws in anticipation. (5/2400/0)
"I tune Masked Chameleon to Mist Archfiend."
The Chameleon tranformed into four green rings, Mist Archfiend flew into it. The fiend was reduced into five stars and an explosion of light occured.
"Synchro summon Giganticastle!"
A humongous rock golem appeared out of the light. Imposing it was, and its power was just as great. (8/2900 - 3100/2800)
"Since I used only one non-tuner monster, Giganticastle gets a 200 Attack Points boost. Now," Silver pointed towards Jack Atlas, letting out an odd sounding cackle. "Giganticastle, crush him!"