Day of the WDC: Streets of Heartland, Early Morning…
Three men in black suits with sunglasses walked along the streets. One of the men had a case imprinted with the DA logo and attached to wrist by a hand cuff as he carried it. Suddenly, they stopped as Organization walked out from an alleyway.
"Halt." One of the men without the case stated. "Either identify yourself or back away."
The one with the case stood back as he other men stood in front of him.
Organization said, "My bad, I just have a card on my person that Reiji Kaiba might enjoy seeing." He removed a card from his sleeve. "Here, look for yourselves."
The three men were bathed in a crimson red glow. "We will do anything for Barian World."
"I merely request that case around your wrist." Organization stated. "You three may then go."
"Yes sir." The man with the case unlocked his hand cuff before passing the case over. "Now, you three take a nice, long vacation. You've earned it."
The men nodded and walked away.
Organization opened the case. "Perfect." He closed the case. "Now I have everything I need to do what I intended. Got to meet with Shark and Rio, preferably when Lance isn't round, a quick trip to a prison, and got to place the contents of this case into the right hands."
Heartland City, Present…
Two people stood in the crowd of duelist and spectators as the WDC got underway. An old man and a girl around Yuma and Lance's age. The old man had two toned brown hair and matching eyes. His attire consisted of dark jean and a red with black trim shirt.
The young girl had red hair styled in a similar manner as the old man's only it was red as were her eyes. Her attire consisted of a pink and white shirt, which reached below her waist, black compression shorts, and a pair of boots in the same color as her shirt.
"Alright, it's time." The girl stated.
She tried to run off until the old man grabbed her arm with a smile. "Whoa Anna, I'm just as excited for your first, huge tournament as anyone; however, what's the rule we discussed on the train."
Anna looked at the ground. "Don't fire my rockets at people." She sighed. "Don't try to ram them with it's hover craft setting either."
"Good." The old man smiled. "I love you Anna."
Anna looked at him. "I love you to Grandpa Jaden." She then ran through the crowd as she uncrossed her fingers from behind her back. "Sorry Grandpa, but the person I'm here to find deserves to meet my canon first hand. Lance Hogan, I'm coming for you."
With Lance, Present…
Lance was walking around. "Alright, who do I duel first?"
"Well, I've been wanting a duel for awhile now, and I don't think I can wait until the finals." Lance turned around and smiled upon seeing Lloyd Andrews who nodded. "Hey Short Lance."
Lance ran over and hugged him. "Hey Lloyd." He pulled back. "I'd heard you entered the WDC. You really want your first duel to be with me?"
Lloyd smiled. "Of course. I haven't had any chance to see what you're capable of. If I happen to lose, I'll be fine losing to you." He chuckled. "Don't mistake that for me planning on going easy on you. I have every intention of winning."
"So, do I." Lance walked back. "Alright. Let's do this."
Duel Disk Go
Duel Gazer on
Augmented vision link established
(Lance 4000/Lloyd 4000)
"Time to see if talent really does run in your family Zach." Lloyd thought. "I challenged you, so you can go first."
Lance smiled. "That's perfect for this deck. I'll start by summoning The Phantom Knights of Cloven Helm(LV 4/1500/500)." A medieval helmet appeared. "I then end my turn."
Lloyd drew and smiled. "Ah, looks like my deck is gearing me up for victory. I'm activating four spell cards Fire Formation-Gyokkou, Tenki, Tensu, and Yoko. These four spells shall grant me a great start.
Gyokkou prevents you from activating face downs in response to this spells activation, Tenki allows me to add a level four or lower Beast Warrior from my deck to my hand, Yoko enables me to discard one card and destroy your monster, and Tensu allows me to special summon."
"Before you special summon, you just destroyed Cloven Helm witch means I can special summon The Phantom Knights of Fragile Armor(LV 4/1000/2000)." A suit of dark blue armor with light blue energy appeared kneeling before Lance. "He's in defense mode."
"Now I send Fire Formation-Tenki, Gyokkou, and Tensu to the grave in order to special summon Brotherhood of the Fire Fist Swallow(LV 5/2100/800 spell) and keep in mind that Gyokkou is still on the field meaning he's granted 100 more attack."
A man in dark blue armor with gold trim appeared wielding twin clubs cloaked in green fire. "His ability allows me to set a Fire Formation trap from deck to the field. Now Swallow will destroy your armor. I'll set one card."
Lance drew. "I activate Predaplast. By revealing a Predaplant, such Predaplant Chlamydosundew(LV 2/600/200), I can grant your monster a Predator Counter which makes him level one. I'll then summon the monster I just showed." A green lizard appeared.
"This monster can act as a Polymerization itself with the added benefit of being able to use any monster with a Predator counter as material. Now Fusion Summon Starving Venom Fusion Dragon(LV 8/2800/2000)." The poisonous purple dragon rose up on Lance's field.
Lloyd looked at the monster in amazement. "That is an impressive dragon."
"Now Fusion Dragon, attack Lloyd directly (Lance 4000/Lloyd 1200)." Lance declared. "I end my turn."
Lloyd drew. "Alright, I summon Brotherhood of the Fire Fist-Dragon(LV 4/1800/400)." A female in black and fire red armor appeared. "Now I'll activate the trap Fire Formation-Tensen which will grant my Dragon 700 more attack.
In addition to a 300 boost all my Beast-Warriors get. I'll then activate Dragon's ability allowing me to set another Fire Formation trap from my deck to the field. I'll activate her second ability by sending both face up Fire Formation cards to the grave.
This allows for the special summon of Brotherhood of the Fire Fist Swallow(LV 5/2000/800 spell) from the grave. Since he was summoned, that's another face down Fire Formation trap. I still have one trap I set last turn, Fire Formation-Tenken.
The effect isn't all that useful in this situation since Swallow already protects all First Fist monster from card effect, but like Tensen, this card grants all my monster a 300 more ATK. Since Tensen's still lingers, dragon has enough to destroy your dragon."
Lance smiled. "Those were some great plays. You managed to stop my dragon's effect. I assure you, Fusion Dragon has a nasty back lash to those who normally destroy her."
"I did lose Dragon, but I'm not done yet." Lloyd declared. "My swallow will now take his 2300 ATK and hit you directly (Lance 1700/Lloyd 1200). I end my turn."
Lance drew. "Just what I needed. I summon The Phantom Knights of Ragged Gloves(LV 3/1000/500)." Purple energy with black gloves appeared. "Since I control a Phantom Knight, I can special summon The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots(LV 3/200/1200)."
Blue energy in the shape of a human without arms and ragged brown clothing appeared. "Now, I construct the overlay network with my two level three monsters to Xyz summon The Phantom Knights of Break Sword(R 3/O 2/3000/1000 effect)."
A helmetless suit of armor with blue energy and atop a steed appeared. "Thanks to Silent Boots, he gains 1000 more attack. I'll now detach an overlay unit and destroy both a monster I control and one you control. I'll choose Break Sword and Swallow."
Lloyd chuckled. "Don't you remember, Swallow can't be affected by card effects?"
"I remember Lloyd." Lance smiled. "The point of this move is all for my benefit. See, when Break Sword is destroyed, I can resummon the materials used to make him only they become one level higher.
Welcome back, The Phantom Knights of Ragged Gloves(LV 4/1000/500) and The Phantom Knights of Silent Boots(LV 4/200/1200). They won't be staying. I overlay my level four monsters to Xyz summon Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon(R 4/O 2/3500/2000 effect)."
The mighty black and purple dragon appeared. "Of course, if not for those face downs or your monster's ability to protect all Beast Warriors, I'd have won without having to resort to the final card in my hand, Dragon's Mirror.
By banishing the necessary materials from my grave, I can fusion summon a dragon. By using Starving Venom Fusion Dragon and Predaplant Chlamydosundew, I can fusion summon Greedy Venom Fusion Dragon(LV 10/3300/2500)." A large, purple dragon appeared.
Lloyd smiled. "Well Zach, seems your little brother really is quite the duelist. With my only traps being Fire Formations, the best I could do is tie with the Fusion."
"Now, Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon attack Swallow (Lance 1700/Lloyd 0)." Lance declared.
Lloyd smiled as he was blown onto his back.
He got up and approached Lance before rubbing his hair. "You know, that may just be on par with your brother the last time I say him duel."
Lance looked up at him. "You mean it?"
Lloyd chuckled. "I'm sure wherever your older siblings are, they're proud of the duelist you've become." He took out his heart container and gave it to Lance. "I'll be rooting for you unless you go up against Nelson. At which point, I'm on his side."
"Thank you, Lloyd." Lance nodded. "It was a fun duel."
Park, Some Time Later…
Lance looked at his Heart Container. "Two pieces and the day is far from over. If I play my cards right, maybe I can knock this out in one day. Then, I'll have no worries… Other than the many enemies of Yuma and I. Hey, I think we're ready for them."
Lance stopped when he heard Rio's voice. "Go, Blackwing Armor Master!"
Lance ran forward and found Rio finishing a duel with a brown-haired guy. He was handing over his heart container and the two shook before he left.
Lance approached with a smile. "Hey Rio!" She turned and smiled back. "What's up?"
Rio said, "Hey Lance." She showed her Heart Container. "I just got my third heart piece. What about you?"
"Wow, three heart pieces already." He happily showed his own. "Only got two so far, but I've been a little picky. Trying to find tougher duelists" He then looked at Rio and couldn't help but slightly blush. "Hey Rio, you want to grab a bit to eat?"
Rio smiled genuinely. "I am hungry so sure."
"Really?" Lance was jovial. "Cool, anywhere in particular you want to go?"
Roof Nearby
Anna had positioned herself and was aiming at the Heroic duelist. "Target acquired. Goodbye Lance."
She fired an explosive.
Park
Lance noticed the explosive just a few seconds earlier than Rio. "Look out!" He grabbed Rio and jumped forward in a way that he shielded her body as the explosion went off. "Are you okay Rio?"
Rio nodded. "I'm fine."
Lance looked up at the roof, but he couldn't see the figure clearly. He stood, got Rio to her feet, and held her hand as he ran. Not a moment later, the area was bombarded by more explosives.
"Keep running Rio!" Lance shouted.
Streets
The pair continued to run only now Rio noticed Anna flying after them.
"Now I got ya." Anna declared.
"Hold on a second, that voice sounds familiar." Lance thought.
She fired off another shot, so Rio wrapped her arms around Lance before jumping away from the explosion. Anna moved into position above them, so The Blackwing duelist moved in a way that she could best block Lance.
"Get of the way!" Anna shouted. "I'm not after you."
"You could have fooled me!" Rio didn't move. "Even if you aren't after me, I'm not going to move and let you hurt Lance. He's too important to me."
Lance would have blushed at that, but suddenly he was completely serious as he put a hand, gently, on Rio's shoulder. "It's okay Rio. I need to handle this myself."
Rio looked down at him. "But Lance…"
"Rio, I need to confront this person." He gently squeezed her arm as his gaze softened. "Please."
Rio nodded. "Alright." She stood and helped Lance up with a determined look. "Know that I'm not going anywhere."
Lance accepted the help and moved to stand just in front of her. "Thank you, Rio."
Anna now faced Lance. "Lance Hogan, it's time you payed."
"I don't owe you anything Anna." Lance firmly stated. "I'm not afraid of you anymore."
Rio looked at him. "Lance, who is she? What's this all about?"
"This is that bully I told you about." Lance stated while he never took his eyes off Anna. "Chasing me up trees was the least she ever did to me. Really, it all started when I tried to befriend her." He looked at the ground.
As I said, I was a shy kid. No courage to make friends; however, she was new and seemed lonely. No one would talk to her. I felt that loneliness through my own experience and couldn't leave someone else in that place. I mustered up the courage and talked with her.
We said we were friends, but friends don't do what she did. Chasing me up trees, graffiti all over my D-pad, glue on the bottom of my shoes, and holes n my gym shorts… Just countless ways she'd bully me. It didn't do much to help my less than stellar self-esteem."
"Wait, you knew that was me?" Anna asked. "I mean besides the chasing?"
"How could I not?" Lance asked. "When you end up peaking around the corner every time something horrible happens, even a kid could put 2 and 2 together."
Anna became angry again. "If you can do the math, then how come you never got the message?"
"What message?" Lance asked confused.
Anna suddenly blushed. "I asked you to meet me at the end of the last day I'd be attending our school. I had something important to tell you, yet you never showed up. I was left waiting and waiting all to confess my crush. My crush I had on you."
Rio fell to the ground. "This girl likes Lance? That makes me angry. Really angry. Is this envy? Does this mean Lance is someone special to me? Does Lance think of me the same way?"
Lance was just as shocked, but he recovered. "How would I ever consider your intentions romantic Anna? I was frightened of you. Utterly terrified. I avoided you because I thought you were going to chase me up another tree."
This only seemed to make Anna dig her feet in deeper instead of realizing her error. "It's your fault for jumping to conclusions. Now, you're going to be mine weather you like it or not."
Rio stepped forward composing herself so none of her anger at the situation showed. "Stop right there. You can't just force Lance to fall in love with you. Especially when you've threatened him at gun point."
"Why not, Ms. Perfect?" Anna asked.
"It's because forcing me to love you wouldn't be love at all." Lance declared. "I wouldn't have any incentive to get to know you as a person. Any relationship we'd have would be unhealthy."
"What do you suggest we do then?" Anna angrily asked.
Lance removed his heart container. "Anna Kaboom, you are here for the WDC, right? Then I issue you a challenge for your heart pieces. If you've cooled down after, then we'll likely have an easier time talking this out."
Anna nodded firmly. "You're on."
"Are you sure about this Lance?" Rio asked. "I could take her."
She'd gladly do it.
Lance looked back at the Blackwing user. "I'm sure Rio." He looked forward and closed his eyes. "I now know her 'bullying' wasn't meant to be malicious; however, to really put this behind me, I must do this." He opened his eyes. "I must duel myself!"
Rio nodded firmly. "Alright." She moved off to the side. "Then take her down."
So, Lance faced off with Anna.
Café
Jaden was enjoying some pastries when he heard a familiar voice. "I should have figured you'd be stuffing your face long before I arrived."
Jaden turned to face Zack. "You know me so well old friend."
Zack took a seat across from him. "It's good to see you Jaden." He shook his head. "It's been years."
"Tell me about it." Jaden smiled. "Blair said I should make the trip down, and my granddaughter wanting to compete turned out to be the perfect excuse to get away for a while."
"Oh yeah, Anna." Zack chuckled. "Lance used to be so afraid every time I'd mention her name." He shook his head. "Such a shame. The two could have likely been good friends."
Jaden sighed. "Yeah, turns out herself and her mother picked up Blair tendencies." He leaned back. "Hey, I hear he's gotten great confidence over the years. Maybe they can duel and become friends."
"Yeah, he's no longer the frightened kid he was." Zack smiled. "What's more, his overconfidence seems to be down as well."
"That's great to hear." Jaden stated.
Just then, Winged Kuriboh appeared on his shoulder while Dark Magician Girl appeared next to Zack. Winged Kuriboh flew over and started happily flying around DMG's head jovial making his usual sounds.
DMG smiled. "I'm happy to see you as well Jaden and Winged Kuriboh."
Winged Kuriboh perched himself atop DMG's head.
Zack gave a sigh of contentment. "Man, it's great when the four of us can get together. Fells like the old days."
Jaden nodded. "I hear you."
So, the two, old best friends continued chatting and eating.
Heartland Streets
Duel Disk Go
Duel Gazer on
Augmented vision link established
(Lance 4000/Anna 4000)
"I'm taking the first turn." Anna declared. "I summon Night Express Knight(LV 10/0/3000 effect)." A large white and blue knight atop a train appeared. "He can be normal summon to the field, but his attack is reduced to zero.
Since an Earth, Machine monster was summoned, I can special summon Heavy Freight Train Derricrane(LV 10/1400/1000 effect), but it's original DEF and ATK are halved." A large, yellow train appeared.
"Two level 10 monsters!" Rio shouted.
Lance grit his teeth. "I don't think she's stopping there."
"I now overlay my two level 10 monsters to Xyz summon Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Gustav Max/R 10/O 2/3000/3000)." A huge canon on three tracks appeared. "By detaching one overlay unit, I can bypass the rule of not attacking you this turn.
For your information, he deals 2000 life points (Lance 2000/Anna 4000)." Anna smiled. "Alright, that's half your life points gone." Anna smiled proudly. "Soon you're going to be all mine Lance. I set three cards."
"We'll see about that." Lance drew and smiled. "Normally, I'm not for ending a duel this quick, but I'll make an exception in this case. Especially since Prolonging this duel would mean bad news for me.
I summon Heroic Challenger-Double Lance(1700/900)." A warrior decked out in white and light blue armor appeared. "His effect allows him to count as two monsters during a Xyz summon of a Heroic Champion.
"I'll use that effect to summon Heroic Champion-Excalibur(R 4/O1/2000/2000)." A mighty warrior decked out in red armor and with a huge blade appeared. "I'm not stopping there because I hold Rank-Up-Magic King's Legacy.
For this, I must target a Heroic Champion-Excalibur I control and rebuild the overlay network to Xyz summon Heroic King-Arthur Pendragon(Rank 8/O 2/3500/3000)." A young man with flowing blond hair and adorned in silver and red armor appeared wielding the true Excalibur.
Anna was shocked. "It's more powerful than Gustov."
Rio smiled. "Alright Lance."
"Just wait because this card has some powerful effects. For starters, he can't be destroyed by card effect. I'd tell you the one concerning overlay units, but I won't need it when I can activate Heroic Chance doubling my King's attack on the condition that he can't attack directly." Lance informed.
"7000 attack!" Anna was in shock. "You got your monster up that high before mine?"
"This duel is over." Lance declared. "Heroic King-Arthur Pendragon attack Gustov Max (Lance 2000/Anna 0)."
Anna was blown onto her back as Lance won the duel.
"That's the way!" Rio cheered. "You did Lance!"
Lance then approached Anna who was on her knees. "Now that you should be at least a little calmer, you can tell me why we couldn't just be friends all this time? Why did it have to a relationship?"
Anna looked at the ground. "Don't you see Lance? Didn't you ever see? You are my only chance at finding love. Any companionship. Every school I'd been to, no one would approach me. I was a wild tomboy.
No girls wanted to hang out with me, and I was too much for any of the guys. It was the same at every school I went to. Repeatedly. Eventually, I started to believe that no one would love me. Then, I met you.
You treated me like a person. You were nice to me. I wanted us to be more than friends, but you didn't understand my feelings. You started avoiding me and abandoned me when I had the most important thing in my life to say to you."
Lance got on his knees before her. "Anna, I thought you were going to hurt me with another prank or planning on chasing me up a tree. Had I known, maybe I'd have shown up. Had you been open with me from the start, at least today wouldn't have to happen."
Anna lowered her head in shame. "I never wanted to hurt you. I just wanted to get your attention." She sighed sadly. "I guess I acted like the wild tomboy again." She shook her head. "I'm sorry Lance. I understand if you can never forgive me."
Lance let out a sigh of great relief. "You know Anna, long ago I reached my hand out to a girl who seemed to understand what it was like to be friendless. When she turned into what I thought was a bully, it hurt. It hurt so much that the pain never really healed.
I see that because it's genuinely healed now." He had a small smile. "Rather, I never let it heal. I held a grudge all this time. Look, I'm not certain if a relationship can bloom between up, but I'd be content burying the hatchet to start over as friends."
"I won't deny that I still have feelings for you, but I won't make the same mistake twice." She nodded with a small smile of her own. "Friends." They both got to their feet and Anna pulled out her Heart Container. "Here, you won fair and square."
Lance took it and nodded. "Thank you, Anna."
Anna blushed. "Right, well I'll be going now." She climbed onto her hovercraft. "Lance, don't you dare lose, you hear me. I'll be watching you compete."
She then flew off and Rio approached him. "So, Lance we still onto get a meal."
Lance smiled as a huge weight, he didn't even know was there, had been lifted off his shoulders. "Yeah Rio." He chuckled. "I worked up quite the appetite."
They started down the road with Rio looking at the Heroic duelists. "He now knows Anna has feelings for him, but he doesn't seem interested right now. That means, I must figure things out how I feel soon."
1: i Wonder if lance might have some barian help in the future , nice chapter by the way
Quillion9000: I will say unintentional help... for now.
Martin: I wonder how would Lance feel if he found out Rio was the Barian empress Marin?
Quillion9000: I currently have plans for that. They may change when I enviably get to that point, but I do have plans.
