It was a rather busy day in Crystal City as soldiers were getting assignments left and right. Some were so big that three soldiers had to be sent at once for safety reasons. However, one particular individuel who looked beyond excited was Steven.

He was marching down the halls to find Morgan when he bumped into Damien who was on his way to a mission with Scarlet and Cindy. He was not actually going with them, though. In fact, Damien's partners were two soldiers he had never met before.

The green-haired man grinned upon seeing the three and said, "Sorry, didn't see you there."

"No problem," Scarlet replied with a shrug, "Everyone's running around today. We've never had so much work to do before," Damien sighing, "Yeah, at least all we're doing is collecting oil again."

"Actually, that's what just about everyone's doing today," Scarlet replied, "It seems someone quite a few containers full of the stuff last night," Cindy finding this rather worrisome.

"Well, I guess that might be my mission too," Steven replied with a sigh, "Though I'm hoping for something better."

With that, the man carried on as Damien asked, "Any of you know what that was about?"

"Well, see, of all the soldiers here, Steven is by far the weakest," Scarlet replied as Matt sighed, "Yeah, I hate to say it, but he has a really poor track record. So far, he has only defeated two opponents since he joined the army."

"I dunno, two doesn't seem that bad," Damien replied as Scarlet replied, "For a low-ranked duelist, it is here, but what's more is that Steven is only chosen for really simple assignments, you know, those last-minute jobs that the general secretly doesn't care that much about."

"Wow, she thinks that little of him!?" Damien remarked, his eyes almost going wide when Cindy whimpered, "I feel sorry for him. He's been trying to get an important mission for a long time but Morgan never gives it to him. He always accepts with a smile, but deep down, I can tell that he hates her for giving him missions like that."

"Yeah, I've seen him come close to snapping before," Matt stated, "I wonder if he'll ever actually do it someday," Damien groaning, "Has he at least gone on team assignments before?"

The others blinked as Scarlet replied, "He went on a few once before. His teammates couldn't stand him, though, so Morgan refused to let him work with others again. I sometimes wonder why she keeps him around."

During this time, Steven had managed to find Morgan as he waved and exclaimed, "Good morning, ma'am!" running over with a grin and asking, "So, what's my assignment for the day?"

Morgan blinked and tapped her chin. As a matter of fact, Steven's mission had completely slipped her mind. She had been giving so many assignments that she had completely forgotten about him.

"Oh, I know," she said with a grin, "I want you to gather some fuel in the Jade Coalmine."

Steven blinked and asked, "The Jade Coalmine again? You know, it's funny, not a lot of enemy soldiers go there."

"Yeah, nice and easy, right?" Morgan replied with a grin as something in Steven's brain snapped. He had a grin of his own plastered onto his face while the side of his mouth twitched.

"Um, are you okay?" Morgan asked as Steven gave her a long silent stare, the general shrugging her shoulders and saying, "Okay, well, you got your assignment, so-"

"No!" Steven grunted just as the general was about to leave, Morgan turning to him and asking, "What did you just say."

Her eyes widened as Steven had a look of irritation in his eyes, the man growling, "I am getting sick and tired of this! I try my best hoping that someday I'll get an important mission and yet you always give me the easiest tasks! It's like you don't think I'm worth having in the army!"

Morgan took a deep breath and replied, "Look, I'm not your mother or your aunt or your uncle or whatever family member you can think of, so I'm just going to tell you how it is. The reason I don't give you important missions is because you suck."

Steven's eyes went wide as she added, "That's right, I've given you important tasks before and you always fail to do them. You are the worst soldier I have ever had. The only reason I don't get rid of you is because you're the only one who will actually accept menial tasks like going to the Jade Coalmine, and if you don't like it, you can just leave."

With that, Morgan turned and headed off to find other soldiers she had not talked to yet while Steve stood there silently. He then bit his lower lip and sniffed, but he did not shed any tears. After all, he knew it would make him look weak.

And the worst part of all was that deep down, he knew this. He knew that he had a terrible track record. Even when facing the weakest of opponents, he would lose constantly. But at the same time, he could not leave. Like Damien, this was the only job he could do. Piloting a mech was the only thing he was remotely competent at.

No, he had to prove her wrong. In his eyes, he had a great, stellar deck full of amazing cards and knew just how to use them. This could be his big chance to prove himself. All he needed to do was find a newcomer, someone who did not yet understand the rules. Yes, it was dishonest, but right now, Steven was desperate.

After a bit of wandering, he noticed one newcomer, a young woman named Cici being assigned a mission to find a core hidden in the rainforest. Sure, this was not as highly advanced as it sounded as the rainforest was one of the less dangerous locations soldiers were sent to, but it would still be difficult. And of course Cici would be going with another soldier whom she was to pass the message on to.

Once Morgan headed to her office, feeling satisfied, Steven approached the young woman and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned and said, "Oh, hi, Steven. What's up?"

"Hey, I couldn't help but overhear that you're going to the rainforest," the green-haired man replied with a grin as Cici nodded and replied, "Yes, though I'm a little nervous."

"Well, how about I ease your conscience?" Steven replied, "See, my mission is to find oil in the Jade Coalmine. Now, that's a very safe location. The odds of a soldier from New Domino going there are slim to none. Now wouldn't you much rather do that?"

Cici nodded and replied, "Yes, but I'm a soldier now, so I'll do my duty," Steven asking, "Well, how would you like to trade jobs with me?"

The woman blinked and asked, "Can I do that?" the green-haired man nodding and replying, "Oh yes, you can totally do that. Not a lot of people do, though, because they're afraid of being judged, but on the other hand, you haven't even been here for a week. The way I see it, I think Morgan's rushing you into bigger tasks."

"But Damien goes on higher ranking assignments and he's new," Cici replied as Steven replied, "That's because he's a special case. Hell, they gave him a highly advanced mech on his first day. No one ever gets that kind of treatment here."

Cici nodded as the green-haired man added, "Let me ask you. Do you feel ready for this kind of mission just yet?"

The woman let out a sigh and replied, "Honestly, I don't. In fact, just thinking about it is giving me chills," Steven nodding and saying, "I know that feeling, but trust me, if you take my job, you'll have it much easier."

Cici nodded with a big smile and replied, "Thanks! I'll go tell Gregory right now!" the woman running off as Steven sighed, "Nice lady. Kind of makes me feel bad, but it had to be done."

And with that, the man headed to the hanger and hopped into a mech rather similar to the one Damien had piloted when he faced Drake. The only major difference was that it has two shoulder cannons as weapons and had a vitality of fifteen hundred. As it so happened, most soldiers who had not proven themselves worthy were stuck with weak mechs as Morgan saw no reason to waste the good ones on underachievers.

And during this time, a soldier from New Domino was preparing to head off to that very location, a young woman with ocean-blue hair named Katherine. Her mech was aquamarine and had a trident as its weapon, something she herself had chosen.

However, things were about to get complicated. Shortly after Steven took off, Morgan noticed Cici and her partner, a man named Thomas, just about to head off themselves. The woman grinned and walked over to them.

"Hey, best of luck on your mission today," the general said, "I know this is kind of tough for an early mission, but I'm sure you can handle it," Cici replying, "Oh, we're not going on that mission anymore. We're getting oil from the Jade Coalmine."

Morgan blinked and frowned, asking, "Are you disobeying orders?" Thomas shaking his head and replying, "Oh no, Cici traded jobs with that Steven guy. He said people could do that here."

Morgan narrowed her eyelids and remarked, "He did, did he?" before sighing, "You two come with me to my office. We have something to discuss before you head out."

All the while, Steven was looking around while thinking, 'Dammit, I should have installed a tracking device at the very least. I have no idea where a core would be hiding.'

He then noticed another mech flying through the area while thinking, 'That person might know,' a grin forming on his face as his mind added, 'Yes, it's perfect. I'll let that New Domino soldier lead me right to it and then I'll initiate a duel. It's perfect!'

While this was going on, Morgan had led Thomas and Cici to her office as the two sat in front of her desk. The woman rubbed her temple and said, "Alright, I was once like this, very naive and unaware of how things work. So let me tell you all how it goes. I am the general. That means I'm your boss."

Thomas and Cici nodded as the woman added, "That means what I say goes. Now is Steven a general?"

"No," Cici replied as Morgan grinned and replied, "That's right, so he's not your boss. Do you know what that means?"

The two stared silently for a few seconds until Thomas asked, "We shouldn't be taking orders from him?" Morgan nodding her head and replying, "That's right. When someone else tells you that you can get away with something, even if that person has lots of experience, take it up with me first. If what he's told you is correct, I'll confirm it."

"Oh, I see," Thomas replied, "So was Steven right when he said we could trade jobs?" Morgan remarking, "No, he wasn't. He was way off the mark, but since he's already gone out there, I guess you two can take his job. Just don't do that again."

The two gave an army salute before taking their leave, Morgan sighing, "Why, Steven? As bad of a soldier as you are, I don't wanna have to punish you."

After a bit of searching, Katherine detected the core under a patch of dirt. With that, she had her mech unsheathe its trident and start digging for it. A part of her wished she did not have to use her weapon like this, but it was all she had for this purpose.

But just as she was about to reach the core, Steven slowly made his way behind her before pressing the big red button labelled 'engage'. With that, the sides of his mech opened up and released two orbs that stopped between the mechs. They then proceeded to form a transparent sphere around the two.

Katherine blinked and slowly turned, sighing, "I should have known something like this would happen," Steven exclaiming, "Yeah, you should have been more careful! Now your entire mission's gonna fall apart thanks to me!"

However, when the blue-haired woman saw the man's vitality, she snickered and remarked, "Oh yeah, I'm so afraid of a soldier with fifteen hundred vitality," Steven narrowing his eyelids. And it did seem like Katherine was at least more of a threat, what with her having thirty-two hundred vitality.

Even so, Steven had to keep a level head as he remarked, "All the vitality in the world won't help you if you lack the skills to back it up," the two drawing five cards as Katherine replied, "Yeah, but unfortunately for you, I happen to have such skills."

'We'll see about that,' Steven thought when drawing his next card. He had drawn a level five monster, something he knew he could not make use of. But this was hardly an issue.

Luckily, the man had a monster with two thousand defence points. Needless to say, this would certainly help him as he summoned it in defence mode and placed two traps face-down. And with that, the man ended his turn feeling confident as could be.

Katherine, however, looked beyond pleased as she looked at her hand. To start things off, she activated a spell called 'Pot of Duality'. With this spell, she was able to look at the top three cards in her deck, add one to her hand and shuffle the rest of her deck.

Once the woman did just that, she proceeded to summon a flying shark known as 'Fly Fang'. This monster had an attack power of sixteen hundred and was able to deal piercing damage, meaning if it struck a defending monster, it would still harm the opponent's vitality.

However, Steven was more than confident as his monster had a very high defence power. But unfortunately, Katherine had prepared for this as she activated an equip spell called 'Aqua Jet'. With that, a big boat motor with wings latched itself to the shark's back and rose its attack power up to twenty-six hundred, the sea creature letting out a threatening roar.

Steven's eyes widened as he uttered, "What?" the shark flying at his defending monster as it was soon revealed to be a green rat tucked inside a big blue shell named 'Prevent Rat'.

And while its defence was high, the rodent stood no chance as the shark bit into the shell and shattered it into tiny pieces. The rat's eyes widened as it started to squeak in panic, Fly Fang biting its head off and crunching it into tiny pieces while the rodent sunk into the ground.

With that, the shark proceeded to spit Prevent Rat's skull into Steven's mech as his vitality went down to nine hundred, Katherine laughing and exclaiming, "That was awesome!"

"Don't count me out just yet!" the green-haired man retorted as he flipped over one of his traps, revealing it to be 'Attack and Receive'. This sent the shark flying backward and its back rammed into Katherine's mech, bringing her vitality down to twenty-five hundred.

"That was a decent comeback, but not good enough," the woman said tauntingly, "Look at you. You're almost done for and it's only been one turn."

Steven gritted his teeth and thought, 'No, don't let her words get you down. You can do this.'

With that, the man took a deep breath and drew his next card. His eyes widened at what he saw next. All of his monsters were levels five and six, meaning he could not summon any of them. And to make matters worse, the one spell card in his hand was completely useless.

He then suddenly remembered his face-down card and thought, 'Right, that can be of help,' the man flipping it over. The card had a picture of a dark warrior with a snake growing out of its back and was called 'Embodiment of Apophis'.

"What is that?" Katherine asked as Steven smirked and explained, "This is called a Trap Monster. It can only be played during a main phase, but when used, it becomes a monster card."

The blue-haired woman nodded and said, "I'd actually be somewhat impressed if its attack power wasn't so low," and she certainly had a good point as Apophis only had sixteen hundred attack points. If Fly Fang were to attack that, Steven would be done for.

However, it seemed the man had another plan as he grinned and stated, "That wasn't my soul reason for activating him," as he proceeded to sacrifice his trap in exchange for one of his higher level monsters. However, he summoned the monster in defence mode and thus Katherine could not help but feel a tad suspicious.

"I'm guessing whatever you summoned just now must have one hell of a defence power," the woman said, "No matter. I have more than enough vitality to take my chances, but just to make sure..."

With that, Katherine summoned a blue barnacle with purple drills coming out of its flesh, the monster aptly named 'Drill Barnacle'. Steven was rather confused as the monster only had three hundred attack points, but Katherine's reason for summoning it became clear when it launched its drills past his monster and into his mech, reducing his vitality to six hundred.

And to make matters worse, the barnacle proceeded to grow in size after doing that as Katherine explained, "Not only can Drill Barnacle attack you directly, but every time it does so, it gains one thousand attack points. In other words, even if you were to destroy it, it wouldn't be enough to bring my vitality down to zero."

With that, Steven took a deep breath and braced himself, hoping he would not regret this move while Fly Fang flew toward his defending monster. Once said monster revealed itself, Katherine was rather shocked to see that it was a blue demon with a red armour-like shell and big bat wings named 'Archfiend of Gilfer'.

Its attack power was only twenty-two hundred and its defence was twenty-five hundred. As such, Fly Fang easily destroyed him by ripping open his belly and exposing his organs, the shark flinging one of said organs into Steven's mech. This brought his vitality down to five hundred while Katherine laughed.

"Now I get it!" she exclaimed, "You only summoned that monster because you knew its defence was high enough to prevent me from finishing you off! You should have just accepted defeat!"

"Actually, there's more to it than that," Steven remarked with a serious look, "for when Archfiend of Gilfer is sent to the graveyard, I can equip it to any monster on the field and lower its attack power by five hundred and I choose your precious Fly Fang!"

Katherine's eyes and mouth were wide open as the demon rose up from the dead and latched himself onto the shark's back, sinking his teeth and claws into it and bringing its attack down to twenty-one hundred. Needless to say, the woman had not expected this, but unbeknownst to her, Steven really had no way to make this truly work in his favour. All he had really done was slightly reduce his chances of being taken down in the next turn.

Even so, he refused to let Katherine know this as she sighed, "You know, my turn still isn't over yet. I didn't think I'd actually need this, but who knows what you're planning to use next turn?"

With that, the woman activated a spell card called 'Turtle Oath' as a big shell bound by ropes and chains appeared in her spell zone. Steven's eyes widened as he actually knew what this meant, Katherine smirking and saying, "Try to beat this bad boy."

Both of the woman's monsters were pulled into the shell along with a level two monster from her hand. And with that, the shell came open to reveal a crab with one eye, human-like legs and a green shell on its back. This was known as 'Crab Turtle' and had an attack power of twenty-five hundred and fifty.

"Well, fortunately for you, you get one turn to come up with a countermeasure," Katherine said with a grin as her turn came to a close. And it was just as she said. The only upside to all of this was that her attack phase had ended before she summoned her Crab Turtle.

But what could Steven possibly do? Both remaining monsters in his hand were level five, so he could not use them even if he could find a way to do so. And again, his spell card was useless.

With that, the man gulped and thought, 'Morgan was right. I'm not cut out for this. If my next card is as useless as I think it's gonna be, I'll forfeit the duel, pack my bags and leave the army forever.'

With that, the man drew his next card as his eyes and mouth went wide. The card he had drawn was 'Winged Kuriboh', which was basically the same monster Celeste had used to defend herself only with wings attached. But while the card itself was not that strong and only served to delay the inevitable with its effect, the spell he had been holding since his first turn could actually help now that he had drawn it.

"Hey, what's taking so long?" Katherine asked, "Are you out of options? There's no shame in giving up," Steven taking a deep breath and remarking, "Hold on, I'm thinking."

The spell in question was called 'Transcendent Wings'. If activated when a Winged Kuriboh was in play, he could use it to summon a monster called 'Winged Kuriboh Level Ten', the most powerful Kuriboh card ever made.

The green-haired man remembered how before joining the army, his sister gave him all of her Winged Kuriboh cards and Transcendent Wings. Steven was not sure exactly how they would be of help until she told him that these were the very cards that had won her every single duel she had been in. She just knew that Steven could use them.

'That's right, these monsters are more powerful than people give them credit for,' Steven thought, 'But I can't use them properly. That monster really is useful, but every time, every single time I've summoned it, it's resulted in me losing. I'm sorry, sis, but I have no idea how to use it.'

However, his eyes went wide again when he remembered the reason why it had always failed him, and it was always one of two reasons. Either he would use it too early or the opponent would have a trap card at the ready to stop it from fulfilling its purpose.

'That's it,' Steven thought with a sigh, 'I can still turn this around. I just gotta think logically. Would this be a good time to dish out Winged Kuriboh Level Ten?'

"I'm getting bored," Katherine sighed, "Just deal with the fact that you have nothing to help you. If you choose to run, I won't judge."

'She has twenty-five hundred vitality left,' Steven thought, 'That Crab Turtle has twenty-five hundred and fifty attack points. And to top it off, she has no trap cards or monster effects that can possibly help her,' the man grinning and saying, "I'm not running because I've won this duel!"

"What?" Katherine asked as the man proceeded to summon his winged Kuriboh, the fur ball taking form and flapping in place.

"Okay, I know that monster can reduce battle damage to zero, but that's not good enough," the woman remarked as Steven asked, "Did you think that was all I had?"

With that, the man activated his Transcendent Wings as the blue-haired woman stared, Kuriboh's wings growing in size as a golden dragon flew out of the card and latched itself onto his back, its claws hugging the creature's stomach. Spikes appeared on Kuriboh's wingtips as two spear-like tails grew out of his backside, feathers also hanging down from that area.

Katherine's eyes were wide with shock as Steven smirked and said, "It's over," the fur ball releasing a bright light from his body and blowing himself up. The result was a huge explosion that disintegrated Crab Turtle and struck Katherine's mech hard, bringing her vitality down to zero.

The blue-haired woman's eyes were wide with shock as her mech started to sputter. And with that, Katherine made her escape on a jet pack and flew off with fury in her expression. She could not believe it. How had Steven pulled that off?

And of course the man himself could not believe it either. His eyes and mouth were wide open as he breathed heavily and had his mech finish what Katherine had started. Looking at the core brought tears to his eyes as he held his Winged Kuriboh Level Ten card above his head and exclaimed, "I DID IT, SIS! I FINALLY FIGURED OUT HOW TO USE THIS CARD!"

Though as happy as he was to have finally defeated a high ranking opponent, Morgan was not all too happy when he returned. Like Glen, the woman did not tolerate insubordination and as such, Steven had been assigned to not clean the hanger but rather the entire base. In other words, his punishment was significantly worse than Drake's.

And with that, the man was handed a mop and pale as he groaned, "But why!? I got the core! I beat a high ranking soldier!" Morgan sighing, "Yes, and you broke the rules. I can't have you setting a bad example for our new recruits. Now I want this building spotless by nightfall, got it?"

Steven took a deep breath and replied, "Yes, ma'am," but just as he was about to start, Morgan added, "Oh, one more thing."

The man turned, expecting another task added to his punishment only for the general to smile and say, "Good job. Keep this up and I might give you a promotion."

With that, the woman headed to her office as Steven grinned. Now that he knew what he had been doing wrong all this time, he figured that maybe he could defeat more soldiers and maybe even start working well with others. Sure, he hated having to clean the building, but in the end, it had been worth it.