Chapter 13:

First round matches

My time to fight

The black knight marches.

I wandered through the town, wondering where I could go to have some fun. I did think that I could, somehow, find a gaming tournament here, for all of those who failed in the official one. My thoughts were interrupted by a message coming up on my sight.

Dear Craig

Your duel is being brought forward a few hours, so please get to the recycling centre as soon as possible.

You opponent is still unnamed, but your friends will be notified. And to repeat; Get to the recycling centre.

Ocean star Administer, Marcus Solari

P.S. I hope you're ready.

"Looks like I'm up sooner then I thought" I spoke, thinking the three spirits would be listening.

"Master, we should get moving" Lightblade answered, appearing in front of me.

"I'm not your master. It's friend, ally or Craig, alright?" I moaned at him. He stumbled back, surprised at what I had said to him.

"You're lucky; we used to call someone 'lord'"

"Really, that must have been high up the list of weird moments"

"You'd be surprised"

"Moving on" Silveneste interrupted, appearing next to Lightblade. "We should get going, and I think I can feel some one coming here at high speeds"

"How can you tell that?" I asked her, scratching my head.

"Trust me, you don't want to know"

"Look, even I don't know, and I'm sure Darkblade would be interested" Lightblade told her. I smiled as I thought about the warrior.

"It's true" the demon warrior spoke, appearing on the other side of Lightblade. "I would like to know so I can learn. And I'm sure it would come in useful for Mas…"

"CRAIG!" I shouted, everyone looking at me as I shouted.

"Fine, Craig would find it useful"

"I'll tell you after our next battle" The angel archer told the other warrior. "Besides, we have to go"

I heard an engine roar behind me, the three duel spirits disappearing as I turned around to look at whoever it was. I saw my D-wheel being driven by James. He had plugged his disk in to get the bike moving. He stopped next to me; smiling…something had changed in him.

"Ready to go?" he asked me, taking his disk out and getting off.

"As ever" I replied, plugging my disk in and getting on, James passing me my helmet.

"Justin, Simon and company are being taken to the match site as we speak"

"So all I've got to do is get there on time"

"Correct, now get rolling, your opponent isn't going to wait forever"

I nodded, getting the system set up and my hand around the throttle. I sped off, leaving James behind me. People stayed out of the centre of the street, leaving me enough room to get to my duel. I honestly hoped that it would be like the other duels, easy and done without much effort.

After about five minutes, I arrived at the duel site, stopping just inside and getting ready. I had to win this, if it was like my last one with James, it would have some kind of special rule. I walked in, seeing nothing but the mechanical centre in the darkness.

"Hello!" I shouted, hoping someone would answer. "Anybody home?"

"Over here" someone spoke. I heard a light switch click, followed by the lights turning on. I looked around, seeing someone in what looked like old dancer's clothes. Quite vividly coloured and with a long silk hair tie back thing on his head. He moved his arm, showing the custom disk, it was basically an arm disk…no, literally an arm disk. The sleeve had the card placement area on it, along with the deck held on it. "Shall we dance to a glorious victory?"

"Who the hell are you?" I asked him, engaging my disk and seeing the deck shuffle itself.

"My name is of no importance. What is important is this duel. If you lose, you're out"

"Enough talk, let's go" I told him, looking round for the group. I knew I owed Justin and Andrew a good look at my deck, but I knew they wouldn't miss it.

"Duel!" we both shouted at the same time, drawing the first 5 cards. My hand was Soul Edge, Fields of Blood, Negate attack, Dunames Dark witch and Prince of the fallen kingdom, Level 3.

"I'll start, handsome" the guy started, drawing a card. "And just call me Sugar"

"Great, I'm playing a guy who thinks I'm sexy" I moaned…I must stress, I don't have anything against gays, but I'm not…in fact I'm nowhere near gay.

"So sweety, enjoy the moment" he then looked evil as he played a card. "I summon Desert Dervish!"

The nomad appeared on the field, holding a sword in her hand. (2, 600, 1400) I don't know why, but was in attack mode…was he joking with me.

"And now, I play the spell First strike!" he placed the card, a picture of two archers loading arrows in a duel like fashion, "So now my monster can attack you"

"What?" I gasped, looking at the monster.

"But that's not all, I play Rush recklessly!" he placed the card, the woman getting quite angry as she gained 700 attack points (1300) "So go, girl, attack Craig"

"Oh jeez"

"Desert's dance!"

The woman slowly danced towards me, swinging her sword around in a dance like fashion. When she was close enough, she kicked me in the chest and slashed at my arm. I was annoyed at going down to 2700 life points in one move, but I had chance to get momentum back in my favour.

"I'll end with two beautiful face down cards and end my turn" he finished, going back to his normal voice. Thank god it was my turn.

"Here I come" I told him, smiling and drawing a card. Harpies feather duster…great. "First off, I play Harpies feather duster to remove your face downs" I told him, placing the card in the active zone.

"I counter with Gyphon wing" he told me, revealing the face down card. Neither of us lost anything, but we didn't exactly gain much.

"Next, I play Fields of Blood" I continued, placing the card where I took the magic card out of. "Fallen crimson tears ask for a blood tribute" the crimson rain showered his dervish, drenching her clothes. "Now you lose your monster and 600 life points" the monster stabbed itself in the chest, blood flying onto my opponent. He winced as the blood hit him; thank god it was just a hologram.

"Continuing, I summon the Mercenary Hero, level 3" I placed the monster on the field, the warrior appearing next to me. "And I place two face downs before my warrior attacks" the mercenary ran towards my opponent, getting ready to slash at him. "Slash of youth!" he hit my opponent, dealing 1500 damage. (1900) I placed Soul edge and negate attack down, ending there.

"How could you disturb the beauty of my duel?" he asked, seemingly mental.

"Chill out and relax, it's not like the fate of the world is hanging on this duel" I replied, smiling

"You don't know what's happening, do you?"

"Huh"

"If I win, I get four million American dollars, so I can buy my way into the showbiz scene"

"There's more to life then showbiz"

He looked at me, evilly, as if I had crossed a moral boundary. So I've pissed off my opponent, great *sarcasm*

"You shall pay for that remark" he spoke, going to his evil voice. "It's my move" he drew a card, smiling as he saw it. "I play Goblin attack force"

The goblins appeared on the field, clubs in hand. They looked at the mercenary, an evil plan in their eyes. "Now Goblins, destroy that ugly mercenary" I watched the goblins run towards the warrior, swinging their clubs…the sane thing would be to play negate attack and end the battle phase, but that wouldn't help him out…no, I had a better idea.

"Go, Soul Edge!" I shouted, revealing the face down. The sword equipped to my mercenary, the warrior moving it to block the goblins. "It saves my warrior from destruction for now"

"Down side there is you still take damage"

"And, while I may have lost 800 life points (1900) I still have my monster, and you goblins are now in defence mode!"

"You're right there, but I place a facedown and end my turn" he turned back into the happy one…you know, he really does seem schizophrenic…man that was a long word.

"Right then, my move" I started, pulling a card and seeing Pot of Greed. "I activate the spell Pot of Greed, to draw two cards"

"Breath before continuing" I heard someone say. I looked around, wondering who it was, then I remembered Darkblade, Lightblade and Silveneste were around.

I drew the two cards, seeing Chaos Synchron and double summon. My mercenary levelled up to 5, so I was in a prime position.

"I activate double summon" I started, showing him the card and placing it in the grave. "So now I can summon Dunames Dark witch and Chaos Synchron to the field"

The pair appeared on the field, Chaos spinning his spear around in his hand. I thought that he might have a piece of Lightblade's spirit in him, then dismissing the thought.

"Now I tune then together!"

The spearman put his spear into the ground, using it as a footstool to jump off. Dunames followed, the synchron forming the rings around her. "Redemption is a widely sought after thing, find your salvation on this field of battle!" the bright light emitted from the area where they had been.

"Synchro Summon. Fight for us Lightblade the Chaotic!" I shouted, Lightblade landing next to me, an arm plate missing. "So now, go Lightblade, destroy the goblins with Secular Slash of the holy!"

"With pleasure" he replied, running over to the goblins, his sword glowing red.

"I play Metamorph and style swap" my opponent spoke, revealing his face downs. Style swap showing two dancers, one doing the tango and the other doing the fox trot. "Metamorph shall increase the attack and defence of the goblins by 300" he started, I watched the figures rise, wondering what was next. "And style swap changes the mode of the goblins"

The goblins got back up, coated in metal. They had 2600 attack to Lightblade's 2400. I heard Lightblade swear, but couldn't quite make it out as he was defeated.

"Lightblade!" I shouted, putting the card into the grave.

"And I believe that's the end of your glorious duel" my opponent told me, smiling.

"That's my turn done"

"Good" he drew a card, ignoring it. "Goblins, attack the mercenary hero"

"Negate attack" I play the card, ending his battle phase.

"I'll end there"

"My move then" I drew a card, looking at it with glee…Wrath of Vengeance. (A warrior holding his blade up as another one walks away)

"I play the spell Wrath of Vengeance!" I shouted, placing the card on the field. "So come back Lightblade. Return as a death demon!"

Lightblade came back, his armour covered in runes and two swords in stead of one, still holding the shield. (8, 2700, 2700) "And he gains 500 from wrath of vengeance, and my mercenary levels up again" I announced, watching the changes occur. Lightblade put more runes on his armour, grunting as he did so.

"Lightblade, destroy the goblins with Demonised slash of Light!" I shouted, watching Lightblade run forward; vanish, and then the goblins heads fall off as he reappeared. (1300) "Mercenary Hero, finish him with Lightning hero slash!"

The hero threw his blade, jumping after it and slashing down onto my opponent…an easy win, and quite fun.

Too easy. When the holograms disappear, my opponent is gone as well, no sign of the guys…I resolved to head back to the shop, thinking maybe that held the answers. I looked at the cards I had used in the duel, smiling

Lightblade, thank you for your aid. Darkblade, Silveneste, all three of you. We need to find out why things are so easy. and what happened to Jack and company