I do not own anything "Yu-Gi-Oh" related. The characters, cards, and settings described in this piece of fanfiction all belong to their rightful owners. All cards in bold however do belong to me, mainly because they are custom made cards I created.
The silence down in the lounge area was maddening to even the most sane person. Being left alone with his thoughts was the last thing that Sam would have wanted and yet, here he was. Sitting on the luxurious couch with his head in his hands thinking about how he had failed. Images of the duel kept flashing through his mind like a runner past the finish line all ending with his "mistake". The laughter of the crowd still haunted him and in that silence he could of swore that he could hear them through the ceiling still mocking him. His eyes wide with shock from the upset as he contemplated what he thought he knew. Was he as good of a duelist as he thought? Or was it all dumb luck?
Suddenly even through the floor he heard the crowd cheer as the winner of the last round of the semi-finals ended and chants of "Jack Atlas" and "King" ripped through the stadium and into his brain. It took a second for it to register as he looked up imagining Flare up on the field devastated like he was.
"Why are we even here? We don't belong here at all." He said to himself as footsteps were heard coming down the hallway and into the lounge.
Looking towards the noise he caught a glimpse of coat-tails go past him as the blonde haired duelist walked nonchalantly with his hands in his pockets. The click and clack of his boots against the floor as he stopped and turned around to resume his position leaning against the back wall. Deciding to ignore the legendary duelist Sam returned to his sulking as the seconds ticked by.
The sound of clothes rustling was heard as Jack had enough and decided to make the first move. "You just going to stay down here and sulk all day or what?" he said making the man across the room jump from his seat with the sound of talking. Swinging his head around initially with surprise but ultimately changed back to despair as Sam replied back.
"Why do you care?"
"I don't. But someone else does." He replied back simply not changing his expression even once.
Now intrigued by what he was talking about Sam raised an eyebrow curiously. "Who?"
"The same person who is waiting for you to duel her now." Jack said back slightly agitated that he had to spell it out for him.
"Well, she's going to have to wait a long time because I'm not going out there to make a fool of myself."
Footfalls were once again heard as Jack walked up to Sam and in a sickly moment of dark surprise gasped and was lifted up by the collar in a similar fashion to Drogo in his first match. "Listen here. Do you think you can go anywhere in life fearing that you will make a fool of yourself? Do you think that's what your friend did when she was being called out by the thousands of people here, being called a murderer?" Jack started yelling straight in his face.
Not knowing what to say back Sam only listened while Jack continued on. "I'm going to tell you what you need to do now. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and get out there. Because sometimes that's all we need to do, is to just do it."
"But what if I fail like I did before?" Sam mustered back slightly frightened by the imposing man holding his collar.
"When you try there is no fail." Jack replied back seriously looking down to his right before staring Sam back in his eyes. Seeing the feeling of uselessness in his dead eyes. The same that he has seen many times in the past and how he can relate to the man's feelings.
Having only spurts of non-audible air being exhausted from Sam's mouth as he thought long and hard and found truth in Jack's words. "I'll do it." He said reluctantly as the older man let him go letting his now ruffled t shirt collar fall back into place atop his chest.
"Good. Now go." Jack commanded walking aside and back to his spot against the wall leaving the hazel haired man to reel in his thoughts and prepare himself.
Walking out the door into the hallway Sam looked back at the ex-signer who gave him a nod returning to his head angling down as if in meditation once more. Turning back around towards the elevator, Sam exhaled and got on after the doors creaked open waiting for its passenger.
The ride was shorter than he had hoped and on the way up he looked down at his deck and prayed that he wouldn't make a fool of himself as Jack's words still were fresh in his mind. Clenching his fist as sunlight trickled into the elevator doors revealing two people already on the duel field. The first the usual MC walking around the field trying to pump everyone up and on the opposite side was the long crimson haired duelist with her arms folded waiting patiently for her friend to arrive having already having her duel disk and gazer on. Much to his surprise she wasn't upset at all that she lost the duel instead she was happy seeing him coming up.
With another creak the elevator stopped with a sudden jerk and opened its doors letting the duelist out. Seeing this Flare smiled to herself and ran forward to meet him at the entrance but as the two met Sam continued walking straight past her as she remained watching him continuing to walk towards the opposite side of the duel field.
"Sam" she muttered to herself as she clenched her fist and remembered what both Angel and Jack wanted her to do as she confidently walked back to her spot on the field.
Sounds of laughter peppered the field as some participants recalled his last duel. "Maybe he will mess up this time again too" one man said. "Surprised me that he even showed his face after a disgrace like that" an older gentleman responded with. It was the overwhelming sense of uselessness, doubt, and self-hatred that overcame Sam as he failed trying to block the voices out much to his dismay.
Flare had to look away to avoid seeing her friend in so much pain as she silently swore to herself that no one should have to suffer like he was right now. With a sudden jump of the microphone being turned back on the MC started announcing the new round.
"Alright, Ladies and Gents. We have now the last match, the final match, the 'piece de resistance' the fight for the coveted bronze medal!" he started as the audience clapped to show their support for the duelists in front of them. "These two have worked hard and rose their way to the top and now it is time to see who will be able to stand on the podium. In this corner we have the upstart the woman with the heart of fire, Flare Valentine!" he started allowing cheers to be had from various sections of the stadium before he turned 180 degrees to face the opposite way. "And in this corner we have the man of ultimate comebacks, the one and only, Sam Mitchell!" he finished as less cheering was heard from the crowd and more gossiping became the only thing audible.
Not budging an inch even to look up. Sam stood there only wanting this to end, no longer seeing the point in being here anymore. The moment of clarity from Jack fleeted from his memory as the whispers of others entered his mind and soon that's all he could think about. Being shook back to reality the MC yelled into his microphone "Duelist's. Begin!" making the disks activate unfolding themselves from their box like models and exploding into their true forms. The automated voice rang out "Augmented Reality Link established" signaling the two to draw 5 cards. It was only Flare who yelled out "Duel" leaving the man across from her nervously staring at each card in hand.
Flare: LP- 4000 Sam: LP- 4000
"I guess I will take the first turn. Draw!" she yelled out drawing the top card of her deck. "I summon the monster, 'Flamvell Firedog', to the field in attack mode." She called out as a dog appeared from a dark portal in front of her. Steam as well as extreme heat emanated from the mutt as its skin consisted of molten lava that coursed through its pores. Its razor sharp claws gleamed in the sunshine as it sat himself howling in front of Flare.
Flamvell Firedog Attribute: Fire
Level 4
1900 ATK 200 DEF
"I set one card facedown and end my turn." She said confidently smirking as she did.
Flare: LP- 4000 Sam: LP- 4000
Sam looked up at Flare nervous as it was now his turn as he turned his attention to his deck. Breathing heavily he said quietly and hesitantly, "It's… my turn now… Draw!" "I summon Masked Knight LV3 in attack mode and end my turn." He said unenthusiastically as the gray armored warrior made his way through a portal and landed in front of his summoner.
Masked Knight LV3 Attribute: Earth
Level 3
1500 ATK 800 DEF
The crowd above as well as Flare herself was shocked that he had forgotten something very important but it was the MC that stated it for everybody. "What a turn! Not only did Sam not play any backrow but he also didn't activate the effect of his Masked Knight that could have inflicted 400 damage to his opponent. What was he thinking?"
Sam gasped at his mistake once again, in his nervousness and wanting to end this duel as quickly as possible, he had forgot that he could of used the effect his monster giving him an opening lead. Smacking his head and berating himself he could once again hear some whispers as clear as day from the audience. "And this is the guy who beat Sgt. Walcroft? Heh, what a joke." While another said, "And here I was becoming a fan of him, what a rookie mistake."
The woman across the field could only look on as her friend was in a similar situation she was in just in the first round. "I swear to you. When I draw THAT card. I will make everything better. But in the meantime I have other options to bring you back to us."
Up in the stands the duo of Connor and Jace both watched carefully as their best friends faced each other once again. Not a single word or gesture between the two existed as their minds were set on their struggle down below. Especially when they took notice of Sam's behavior at the end of his duel as well as just now.
"Something's not right, Sam would never forget one of his best monster's effect like that." Connor mentioned breaking the silence as Jace answered him.
"This is their rematch." He said making the two beside him both look as he started again. "The first time around was Sam trying to help Flare but now the shoe is on the other foot."
Yusei nodded as a response, "I have confidence that Flare can change Sam's attitude back to normal. It was that duel with Bastion that clearly took a toll on him."
Connor shook his head not understanding how Sam could change like that. "But I don't get it how can a man as strong as Sam be this devastated by a single defeat?"
The two older men looked at each other before Jace responded with their collective unsaid answer. "Sometimes defeats can mean more to a person than their victories."
Back on the duel field Flare took the best approach she could think of and play along with his move. "I see what you have in store." She started spreading a fake smile for the audience as well as the MC who all looked not expecting her answer. "You must have something in store for me in your hand leaving your Masked Knight as bait."
Her opponent looked up at her shocked that she said that knowing full well that it was his misplay as well as some people in the audience believing her as well "No, Flare I really…" he started trying to tell the truth before being interrupted by her again as she lit up with a huge smile.
Flare: LP- 4000 Sam: LP- 4000
"Well I'll be glad to accept. My turn, Draw!" she yelled out as she drew and immediately activated the card. "I activate the spell card, 'Pyro Mania', this card activates by automatically discarding 2 cards from my hand. But in turn I get to special summon one level 6 or lower monster from my deck ignoring any and all summoning conditions. So by discarding Tri-Blaze Accelerator and Volcanic Scattershot from my hand I special summon a great beast straight from the core of the great Volcano! Come forth, Volcanic Queen!" she yelled out as the spell activated as two representations of the two cards she sent to the grave appeared before them immediately catching fire and smoldering into ashes. From the ashes arose a large dragon-like creature that accurately depicted Flare's description of it from the core of a volcano.
Volcanic Queen Attribute: Fire
Level 6
2500 ATK 1200 DEF
"It doesn't stop there because Scattershot's effect activates whenever it's sent to the graveyard, it inflicts 500 damage to you." She said as a ghostly image of Scattershot appeared before both of them and went straight for Sam engulfing him in flames making him yell out (Sam: LP- 4000 – 3500).
"Sam!" Jace called out from the audience but fell on deaf ears as Flare continued her turn. "Let's go! Firedog attack his Masked Knight now!" she called out as the dog obeyed her and leapt forward towards the knight who raised his sword in defense but ultimately was too slow for the dog as he took a bite out of his armor and made him shatter into pieces (Sam: LP- 3500 – 2900). "Firedog's effect activates when this guy destroys your monster by battle and sends it to the graveyard, I can special summon a fire attribute monster from my deck with 200 or less defense and I choose the monster 'Volcanic Shell'" she called out as a new monster looking like a baby Slicer complete with its metallic finish covering its entire body, its loud and high pitched shriek engulfed the filed as some found it adorable despite knowing what some people could do with it.
Volcanic Shell Attribute: Fire
Level 1
100 ATK 0 DEF
"Queen it's your turn, attack Sam directly!" she called out as the Queen did as she was commanded and leaned backward powering up a flame ball and launched it towards Sam who could only raise his arms up in defense. Smoldering from the last attack he stood strong still as Flare called out her final attack (Sam: LP- 2900 – 400).
"Shell, attack Sam directly" the baby monster again did as it was told and launched itself towards Sam and bit his ankle making him wince in pain (Sam: LP- 400 - 300.
"Alright, that settles it. I'm below a 1000 life points. All Flare needs to do is activate her Queen's effect and I will be finished. It will finally be over." He thought to himself hoping this ride that was called the Duelist Cup would end.
"I now activate Volcanic Queen's effect…" Flare called out making Sam smile.
"Yes. Do it… please." He pleaded inwardly as if she could hear him.
"During each end phase I send 1 monster I control to the graveyard if not I take 1000 damage. So to avoid this I send, Volcanic Shell to the grave."
The crowd as well as Sam couldn't believe what they had just heard. Again it was the MC who spoke up first. "Amazing Flare didn't activate Queen's effect that would have finished Sam off, what was she thinking?"
"Oh yeah, I forgot Queen had that other effect. My mistake." She admitted making everyone in the audience begin talking about her misplay now.
Up in the stands as well Jace smirked to himself figuring out what she was doing. "Flare… you… are amazing."
Back on the field Sam was still in disbelief that she 'forgot' to activate her effect. "Why? Why didn't you activate it?" he called out throwing his arms to either side of him.
She only shrugged and said simply to him. "I dunno, I just forgot. But it's your turn now. And knowing you, you have something up your sleeve for me." She said smiling gently as Sam grabbed the top card of his deck and drew.
Flare: LP- 4000 Sam: LP- 300
"I… I… it's my turn. Draw." He said mildly as he looked and immediately played the card he drew. "I summon Silent Swordsman LV3 in attack mode." He ended with a monster appearing from a portal in front of him flashing his red eye as his blue cloak fluttered behind him. Drawing his sword and placing it in his right hand he floated down awaiting further orders.
Silent Swordsman LV3 Attribute: Light
Level 3
1000 ATK 1000 DEF
"I can't win this match so I place four cards facedown and end my turn." He said seriously casting all hope that he could win aside. "Flare, what are we doing here?" he asked seriously making the woman look up in confusion.
"What do you mean?"
"We came here to help Jace out and therefore were entrusted with making our ways to the top. Yet, here we are competing for 3rd place in this tournament. We don't belong here at all." He replied with making the audience in attendance wonder what he was talking about.
The woman across from him only looked down and put on the most serious face she could manage. "So what of it?"
Shocked and angry at her Sam fumed and began breathing heavily as he replied. "That means we let him down. We were supposed to be the standard bearers while he was injured to compete our way to win. But the competition here is ruthless and compared to them we are just kids in experience and knowledge." He said waving his arms to either side of him.
Flare continued watching him and feeling his pain, after all it was what she thought originally before meeting Jace and this was a trip back in the past for herself. "And is that necessarily a bad thing?" she questioned back making the man across from him speechless. "I get it whatever happened in your duel was unfortunate but stuff like that happens…." She began thinking of a proper analogy she could use and lit up when she found it. "Every rose has its thorn. But that doesn't make it any less beautiful. Because no matter how you look at it life and opportunity will always find a way." She said leaving Sam once again speechless as she continued on. "I know your dream was to win this tournament and make a name for yourself outside of being a doctor but things happen for a reason. You may not know what those were at the moment but soon everything will be clear to you in the long run. There will always be people better than you are. Hell, Jace and so many others are better than me and I know I might not ever beat them. Still though, even when things seem hopeless you still cannot back down, because sometimes you just have to do it." She finished as Sam was shocked at the last part of the speech imagining Jack in front of him saying that.
"But what if we fail like last time?" he asked almost nostalgically wondering what her answer would be.
Flare looked down for a second and upon looking up she had a gentle smile on her face. "When you try there is no fail."
Flare: LP- 4000 Sam: LP- 300
Wide eyed at hearing this Flare began her turn. "My turn, Draw!" she yelled out slowly flipping the card around to look at it. The fleeting moment of shock came and left her face as she continued holding it in her hand forming a small smile. "Sam." She called out making him look up to her. "I don't know if you remember or even realize it given the circumstances but this is our rematch duel."
Sam's face once again contorted into shock as he remembered at the beginning of the tournament of his promise to face her in the finals. "Sure this isn't the finals but its close enough. I know how much your friends mean to you as well as winning. So to make up for it I'm going to do this… I summon the monster 'Volcanic Slicer' to the field in attack mode." She said solemnly as a portal in front of her opened up and out popped an older version of Shell ready for battle.
Volcanic Slicer Attribute: Fire
Level 4
1800 ATK 1200 DEF
The field was in silence after the monster was summoned as both Sam and the crowd wondered what she was doing. Finally breaking the silence she finally spoke up with a single tear rolling down her cheek but a smile on her face. "I've been told that losing is sometimes the gateway for true victories and so I intend to do just that. You win this game, Sam."
The crowd immediately got on their feet and shouted that it was going to end this way. Shaking his head Sam spoke up and answered his friend, "What do you mean? How?"
"By this. I now activate the spell card, 'Card of the Forgotten Fire.'" She started as the card appeared on her side of the field and flashed. "This card tributes all fire monsters I control and inflicts damage to me equal to the combined attack of those monsters, in return I draw a card for each monster tributed." She then said as the three monsters began shining and were engulfed in three individual flames.
"But! But you only have 4000 life points!" Sam called out not wanting it to end herself.
"Exactly. Consider yourself the winner of our rematch, because I know deep inside you have the heart to face any odds and overcome them just like you did in the factory and the first round." She said as the fires consuming her monsters got brighter.
"No! You can't do this. You can't lose like this!" Sam called out as her monsters started turning into ashes with pieces flaking off and withering to the floor drifting in the breeze. Totally at peace with her decision she closed her eyes and in her mind Flare thought to herself, "Thank you, Sam. For everything you've done."
Suddenly a yell was heard from across the field and immediately after the familiar voice yelling out. "Reverse card, open. 'Soul Exploration.' This card negates the activation of a card that would inflict effect damage and destroys it and in turn both players draw 1 card."
Immediately opening up her eyes she saw that the fires died from each monster and the spell card she just activated shattered into tiny pieces. Looking up towards the source of the noise, she found Sam breathing heavily and looking down at his feet. "Sam?" she questioned
Still breathing heavy he looked up and allowed his messy hair to fall on either side of his head. Staring straight into her eyes she noticed the familiar glimmer that he always had, no longer were they the cold dead ones she saw only a match ago but back to the normal ones that she grown accustomed to. "I will not allow our rematch to end like this." He said with his classic smile which Flare happily reciprocated.
"Sam. Flare." Jace muttered happy that Flare finally broke through to Sam.
"I should really be thanking you." Sam said much to Flare's surprise. "I have been feeling sorry for myself lately but now I realize that it's just as you and… someone else said as long as you try there is no fail. So I'm going to try with all my being, all of my duelist's soul in this match and all I ask is that you do the same." He said solemnly looking up to his friend.
"Just like old times?" she said smirking.
With a chuckle and full of reinvigorated purpose Sam smirked back, "just like old times."
Chapter 35- "For a Friend part 2" preview
The duel between Flare and Sam reaches its climax with Flare having a substantial lead. Will Sam have what it takes to come back and win? Or will it be Flare who comes out on top? Meanwhile the time grows near as two "dragons" approach the Duelist Cup waiting to make an appearance.
Featured Card:
Card of the Forgotten Fire- Normal Spell Card
Tribute all Fire-Attribute monsters you control, and if you do, you take damage equal to the combined ATK of those monsters, also draw 1 card for each monster Tributed this way.
Pvtpatton speaks:
Hey everyone, I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. I just have a couple quick announcements and I will let you guys go to do whatever (play a card game or something like that). I just learned, or rather remembered, that I will have my final exams in 2 weeks. So I am sorry to say this but there will not be a chapter release in two weeks but there will be one next week. It just makes life for me so much easier without having to worry about that. In other news and as I had previously stated last week the first chapter for Millennium Monster will be released on Monday and every month following. And like previously stated I am very excited about it, if you haven't already read the prologue then I do suggest that you do because even though it may sound vague it really does set up everything that is to come.
Alright, for all of you fellow players out there Dragons of Legend will be released on the 25th and will have some really OP stuff in there so Pvtpatton seal of approval on that. Duelist Advent for OCG will be released on Saturday, the reason I bring this up is to watch out for the Satellaknight and Dragonstar Archetypes both are extremely recyclable and powerful, watch out when it hits TCG land.
For all you Arc-V fans out there. Yuzu is already more useful than Kotori. My God, that is amazing and everyone said it couldn't be done. *Spoiler* the one thing I didn't get though is that clearly in episode 1 Yuya knew how to Pendulum Summon because he stated the scale and then proceeded to tell what levels the monsters that could be summoned yet in the second episode he tried to pendulum summon monster below the set scale and couldn't figure out why. That's just the one thing I noticed, other than that it has promise to be really good and already has character development with his loss *end spoiler*.
Well I will let you guys go and I will see you all next Monday and Wednesday. Bye, everyone!