It was a Friday night, and for Jason and Frederick, that meant their second meeting at the Duel Monster's Club.
The last couple of days that had been leading up to this day were near torture for both Jason and Frederick. Not because of anything bad that had happened throughout said days, but mostly because of how little there was leading up to it. Even days after it happened, both of them were still a little charged up from what had happened just a few nights prior.
Who could really blame them? It wasn't every day that a couple of college students got to help in taking down one of the most elusive criminals of their time, let alone both him and his brother. It was made even worse, mostly for Jason, by the fact that they weren't even allowed to tell anyone about what they had done anyway. Frederick didn't really mind that much. He had a feeling most of the students wouldn't believe them even if they did tell them anyway.
That Friday Night, Frederick and Jason left at around 5:00 this time, both agreeing that they would get something to eat some time after the club, deciding that they would have probably been late, with how much Jason normally ate. They arrived at the university and walked to the hall where the meeting was taking place with ten minutes to spare before the meeting officially started, and the head of the club had opened the room a couple of minutes prior, so they were able to get in right away.
To kill the time, at first they began to look through their Decks together. This club had some really tough duelists in it, so whenever the two were invited to duel any of them, they always made sure that they would be ready for whatever would come their way.
By the time the meeting was about to start, however, and more people were starting to arrive, the conversation instead turned into a dispute about which of the current existing archetypes Frederick and Jason thought were the most broken. It was a very mild argument, neither of them getting angry or aggressive at each other, but they still stuck to their guns throughout the dispute.
"The fact of the matter is that Zoodiacs literally came and broke the rules of an entire type of Monster." Frederick argued. "It's been a set in stone fact beforehand that an XYZ Monster had to be Special Summoned using more than two Monsters of the same Level. Zoodiacs literally allowed a player to make their XYZs with only one Monster, on top of other really strong effects. They were an archetype that never should have existed in the first place."
"Oh, please. Zoodiacs will probably be turned into a gimmick by the time the new rules come into play." Jason responded. "Dragon Rulers are the real face of nonsense in the game. With how pathetically easy they were to bring out, and the fact that they just loved to make that God damned Big Eye XYZ… the fact that they all had those hard once per turn clauses, and still did so much… there's a reason why every single one of the big Dragon Ruler Monsters were banned."
"All but one of them now." one of the other club members reminded, as he had been listening quite intently to the disagreement between the two friends. "Remember? They unbanned Tempest in one of the more recent Banlists, and it's still sitting in the Limited List right now."
"Yeah, and they probably think he's not a problem, because all of his buddies are still banned." Jason said with a scoff. "You just watch. Once they decide to unban all of the Dragon Rulers, now that they got their Super Rejuvenation card back as well, they'll probably start screwing the entire game up again until they put them back on the banlist for good."
"Come on. By the time the new rules come out, Dragon Rulers, and more than likely many other meta decks, will probably be pushed out of the spotlight by the changes and more powerful cards." Frederick said before chuckling and crossing his arms. "I'm telling you, their only answer to trying to make busted archetypes less powerful is to make future archetypes faster and stronger, until even the most broken cards can't keep up anymore."
"Well, that's why erratas are a thing. To make sure that they don't have to keep doing that for every single card that makes it on the banlist." The other member said with a shrug.
Jason simply gave a little grumble. "Never let me hear you say anything defending erratas again." he growled a bit under his breath.
Before the conversation could go on and take another turn over the existence of erratas, the head of the club stepped to the front of the room to get things started. "Attention, duelists!" he called out in a mocking, playful voice that got everyone's attention. "I thank you all for being so patient, but we are now ready to begin with our planned activities for the night."
Everyone sat in their assigned seats and looked up to the head of the club. He was a bit older than most of the other members. He was a very jolly man, and was very passionate about the game of Duel Monsters. He always wanted to make sure everyone was able to enjoy themselves while playing.
"As you all are aware, we originally planned to have a small tournament here tonight, with some of the rare cards being offered at the card shop as prizes for the highest placing duelists." he announced. "...Unfortunately, due to the recent situation that happened there, we were not able to get ahold of these prizes, and will have to postpone the tournament until further notice."
The room immediately sounded with the chorus of disappointed groans and sighs. Everyone there was disappointed to hear that, as they were all looking forward to that tournament, but they also understood why they had to postpone it for the moment.
"To think that someone would be so desperate for some good cards that they would actually rob a small business like that." one of the other members grumbled. "At least both of them are heading off to prison now."
Another member nodded in agreement and said, "To think that after so many years of incompetence and barely doing anything in these parts, the police were not only able to catch Magic Moe, but also a brother of his that was working in the background. Guess it can really pay if they take things seriously after all."
Yet another member, who was sitting just in front of Jason and Frederick, crossed her arms and said, "Rubbish. They couldn't stop a kid stealing a candy bar if it happened right in front of their station. I've heard that there was some outside help on their side, and now they're just too embarrassed to admit to that."
While the side discussions were being had, Frederick and Jason just looked at each other with a smirk and fist bumped each other. It might not have been the outward knowledge of what they had done, but they would still take it.
"Yes, yes. I understand your disappointment. I'm just as disappointed as all of you." the head of the club said. He then gave an optimistic smile and said, "However, from what the owners have said, they should be able to open relatively soon, so we should be able to have the tournament within good time. With that being said, however, tonight, I still have something planned for anyone to participate in, if they're interested."
He walked a little to what was normally the professor's desk, and gestured to a small container that was there, filled to the brim with booster packs. "Here in this container, we have an assortment of packs. Most of them are Legacy Packs, including Legend of Blue-Eyes, Metal Raiders, Pharaoh's Servant, Invasion of Chaos, and Spell Rulers. There are also a couple of Mega Packs hidden away in there, if anyone is adventurous enough to search for them."
He then opened up a folder and took out a whole handful of quizzes that were two pages long, front and back. "These packs are what I offer in reward for these. These quizzes will test some of your knowledge of the card game. It's nothing too hard, just a few questions to see if you know what certain cards do, what the rulings are, and what cards would be good for certain situations. These quizzes are by no means required to be done, so you can do your own thing if you don't want to participate. If you do participate, you'll be rewarded with a pack of your choosing, regardless of how well you did, and can earn more depending on how well you did."
He picked up the container of packs and set them right next to where he would be sitting, just to make sure nobody had any funny ideas, and set the quizzes on the desk for the club members to take if they chose to. "And that's what we have planned for tonight. Feel free to duel to your heart's content after the quiz if you do it. Let me know if any of you want to duel me, or have any questions."
With that, he sat down at the teacher's desk and began to work on something on the computer. While a few of the club members immediately went to the dueling, deciding that they didn't care much for a few packs, a majority of the members, Jason and Frederick included, decided to take the quiz to try to earn some good cards, much to the head of the club's delight.
Both Frederick and Jason were working on their quizzes, each of them struggling with a particular area of their own. For Jason, most of his trouble came from the question of rulings, while for Frederick, he had a tough time deciding which cards would be best to have in a certain situation.
As they were getting close to finishing their quizzes, they heard the door suddenly opening, accompanied by heavy, tired breathing. When they both looked up at the door, they saw someone that they had never seen before. He was quite small, standing no more than five feet tall, if even that, and had a bookbag that appeared to be very full, bulging out in a couple of spots. His hair was long and wavy, and a dull brown color.
The head of the club looked up at the person who just walked in, giving a little hum as he didn't recognize him, and checking on the computer to see if there was anybody new for the club tonight. "Ahh. You must be Joel. Joel Bulus, right?"
"Yeah… that's me." Joel said as he panted, obviously quite tired from having run to the room. "Sorry for being late… I got a little lost." His voice was quite timid, and he was very soft spoken. This, added to his relatively short height, almost gave the impression of a child, rather than a growing adult.
"That's alright. We've never been too picky about latecomers in our club. If you want to do that quiz over on the desk, you can get a pack of your choosing just for doing it, and can win more depending on how you do… so, yeah. Just take a seat wherever you'd like."
Joel gave a little nervous gulp and nodded, taking a quiz with him as he decided to sit at the end of the table that Frederick and Jason were sitting at. Both Jason and Frederick looked at each other, smiling and nodding before they went back to finishing their quizzes.
It took Frederick about five minutes before he finished his, being one of the earlier members to finish and hand it in. For Jason, it took about ten minutes.
As for Joel, he was one of the last people to turn in their quizzes. After turning it in and sitting back down, he looked around at the rest of the people in the club. He wanted to approach someone, to see if he could make a friend while he was there. That was the whole point of being in a club, after all, but he was too nervous, and he wasn't sure whether or not they would appreciate whatever questions he had.
With a little sigh, he went back into his bookbag and began to rummage through it, looking for something in particular.
After a few seconds, however, he felt like he was being watched. He turned his head up to the left, and looked and saw Jason and Frederick sitting there, talking amongst themselves. Thinking that he was just going nuts, he went back to digging through all of the stuff he had in there.
A couple seconds later, he had that feeling again. He looked up once again, and saw Jason and Frederick still conversing with each other. Only this time, he felt like they were… a little closer. He could have sworn that they were sitting a seat or two further down the first time he looked up at them… but he once again dismissed it, thinking he must have just not noticed how far away they really were the first time, and began to rummage through the bag once again.
He looked up once again, but this time, instead of just having a feeling of being watched this time, he was set off by the sound of seats shifting and someone sitting down right next to him. When he looked back up once again, he saw Jason sitting right next to him with a smile, Frederick being right behind him. "Hey. How ya doin'?" Jason asked in a friendly manner.
Joel was a bit taken aback by what was going on. He might have been more initially overjoyed to have someone talking to him, if the way they went about approaching him wasn't so… creepy. "...Uhhh… I'm… not doing too bad…" he said. "...Can I help you?
"Your name to start with, if that isn't too hard." Frederick joked with a chuckle. "Here. We'll give you ours first. I'm Frederick. Frederick Calverson, though some of my friends just call me 'Fred' or 'Freddy'. This is my best friend, Jason Titan."
Joel was silent for a few seconds before giving a little smile. Despite how creepy their approach was, they didn't seem like too bad of guys at all. "Nice to meet you both… I'm Joel… Joel Bulus."
"Nice to meet you too, Joel." Jason said with a nod. "You're gonna love it here. This club is full of really cool people, and most of them are really good duelists. You'll be able to learn a lot from this club."
"R-really…? So… you two have been here for quite a while, then?"
"Well, this is only our second week of being members, honestly." Frederick answered with a chuckle. "But we've been playing the game for quite some time. How about you? How long have you been into Duel Monsters?"
"Oh… well…" Joel started, scratching the back of his head a bit in embarrassment. "...Honestly, I'm just getting into the game now… I started collecting cards when I was four-years old… but I never really had anyone that I could play them with, except for my brother… and… well, I never really could beat him, so I never really bothered all that much after a while. It's not fun to play something if you can do nothing but lose, you know?"
"Understandable. Had an episode of that in my time as well." Jason said before grinning a little bit. "Hey. You must have some cards if you're here, right? How about we duel right here and now, see what you got?"
Joel looked down nervously as soon as Jason suggested that. "Uhhh… no… I don't think that's a very good idea."
"What's the matter?" Jason questioned. "I'm not going to go too rough, if that's what you're afraid of. I can take things nice and slow, if you want."
"No. It's not that." Joel said, taking in a deep breath in, really hesitant to tell Jason what the problem was. "...It's just… well… I actually… don't know how to play."
"You don't know how to play?" Frederick questioned. "But you said a little bit ago that you dueled your brother and could never beat him."
"Well… yeah, I kind of did. But… we never really knew the rules. We just played based on what little we've seen, or we just made up our own rules as we went along."
"Oh, I see… so you need to also learn the actual rules of how to play… well, they say experience is the best teacher, don't they? Come on, take your Deck out. We'll duel and teach you along the way."
"Y-you mean it? You really don't mind if I get a couple of things wrong?"
"Of course not. We all have to start at some point, and it's never a bad thing to have questions or be unsure of things. Mistakes are made to learn from, after all." Jason reassured.
"Oh… w-well… that's great. I'd love to!" Joel beamed. "Oh… but I don't have a duel disk of my own yet… I-I have a couple of playmats, though, if you don't mind using those instead."
"That's fine. We don't really use duel disks unless for bigger duels here in the club anyway." Jason answered. "With the holograms and how hectic things can get from them, they're a bit too intrusive during casual play, you know?"
Joel nodded in understanding and began to fish for the playmats in his bookbag. After digging them out, he pulled two of them out, handing one to Jason. It was a very old, worn down mat, having no real unique design aside from its simplicity. It had a top half and a bottom half, each having a total of seven zones on it, for a total of fourteen, and was folded up so that it appeared to be only one zone.
When Jason unfolded his, he got to have a good look at the old playmat, and see what it was all about. It had the specific zone names on each of the Zones in white letters, so beginner duelists would know what the zones are and what goes on them. The top half had the Field Spell Zone, Monster Zones and Graveyard, while the bottom contained the Extra Deck Zone, Spell/Trap Zone and Deck Zone The mat was so old that the Extra Deck Zone was referred to as the "Fusion Deck Zone" on it.
"Wow... " Jason said in admiration with a nod as he unfolded it and put it on the table. "This is the OG mat right here. I haven't seen one of these babies in a long time."
"Yeah… sorry if they're a bit old. They're the only ones I have." Joel said as he unfolded his own playmat and put it down so that it was a few inches away from Jason's on the other side of the table, taking a seat from the table in front of them and sitting across from Jason.
"They'll do perfectly fine. We won't be doing anything too fancy in this duel anyway." Jason said as he took out his Deck and shuffled it before putting it on the Deck Zone. "I almost feel like I'm in elementary school again, playing the game like this. Really takes me back."
"Yeah… l-let me get my Deck now." Joel said as he began to rummage through his bookbag again.
As they watched him search for his Deck, Frederick patted Jason a bit on the shoulder before speaking quietly to him. "Try not to go too hard on him, alright? We don't need to be scaring him out of playing the game, alright?"
"Ah, relax. I'll take things nice and slow for him." Jason said with a chuckle and a shake of his head. "I hate quick duels anyway. You know that."
They looked back at Joel, watching as he finally pulled out a tin that was full of cards. He opened the tin, and took the whole stack of cards that were in there, and put them in the Deck Zone. "Jumping Jesus on a pogo stick!" Jason exclaimed in shock. There were enough cards in that pile to make up at least three decks.
Joel gave a flinch in reaction to Jason's outburst. "What? Is something wrong?"
Frederick and Jason both stared at the stack of cards for a while before Frederick cleared his throat and spoke. "Uhhhh… Joel… you're… not allowed to have that many cards in your Deck." he explained. "A Deck is only allowed to have between forty to sixty cards. No less than forty, no more than sixty."
"Oh… really…? I wasn't aware that I wasn't supposed to have more than sixty cards." Joel admitted sheepishly.
"Well… originally, you were allowed to have any number of cards in your Deck, as long as you had more than forty… but the story goes that some jerk messed that up by bringing a Deck with over two thousand cards… and totally abused it by having as many cards that would require him to shuffle the Deck as possible. Needless to say, the Deck Limit was implemented soon after to make sure nobody could do that again."
"Yeah… leave it to some jerk to have to abuse something like that." Jason said with a shake of his head. "Most people tend to run forty in their Decks anyway. In most circumstances, having too many cards in your Deck can lead to more difficulty getting the cards you want."
"Good to know." Joel stammered as he took a handful of cards from the top of his stack. He took a moment or two to put any Monsters that would go in the Extra Deck Zone in their appropriate zone, taking out any cards from the remaining cards as needed until he had only forty left. He shuffled those forty cards and put them on the Deck Zone, while putting the rest back in the tin.
"Alright. Let's see what you've got." Jason said as he drew his starting Hand, to which Joel followed his lead, drawing until he had a starting Hand of five cards. "Since you're just starting off, I'll let you go first."
"Right." Joel said as he looked at his Deck. "So… I get to draw at the start of my turn, right?"
"Well… yes, but not on the first turn if you're going first." Frederick explained. "They changed the rules a couple years or so back, so now the person who goes first doesn't get to draw on their first turn."
"Oh… alright." he said as he looked at the cards in his Hand. "Well… in that case, I'll go ahead and Summon Yaranzo in Defense Mode." he said as he put his Yaranzo card on the Monster Zone sideways. When he looked up, however, he saw Jason frowning a little bit. "...Did I screw something up again?"
"Well…" Jason started to say. "...You're actually not allowed to Normal Summon in face-up Defense Position… you can only Normal Summon them in face-up Attack Position, or Set them in face-down Defense Position."
"Wait… really?" Joel asked, genuinely confused. "...But I've seen other people summon in Defense Mode all of the time."
"Yeah, I've seen that too… but… people really aren't supposed to be allowed to do that. There's a certain card that kind of forces you to do it if it's in play, but…" Jason gave a little shrug. "...It's not really that big of a deal though."
"Well… I still want to be playing legitimately." Joel said as he took his card and flipped it face-down. "There… and… uhhh… I guess I don't have anything else I can do. I end my turn."
"Well… alright. Guess it's my move." Jason said as he drew his card, looking at his Hand and humming in thought. "For my turn… I'll Normal Summon my Messenger of Pure Chaos. When she's Normal Summoned while I control no other Pure Chaos Monsters, I get to add one Pure Chaos Ritual Monster or one Chaotic Ritual from my Deck to my Hand. I'll go ahead and Chaotic Ritual to my Hand." He showed the card he was adding to his Hand before putting it in, and shuffling his Deck.
"Woah… Pure Chaos Monsters?" Joel asked. "I've never heard of anything like those before."
"A lot of people here seem to haven't." Jason replied with a shrug before chuckling, absentmindedly continuing to shuffle his Deck as he spoke. "Kind of funny, actually. Some people on the campus seem to believe that I made these cards on my own, and that I'm cheating by using them. Yeah. Like I'm gonna be able to do something as idiotic as that."
"If a lot of people don't know about them, they must be really rare cards then… if you don't mind me asking… where did you get those cards?"
Jason gave a little hum as he looked up in thought. "...I got them back when I was much younger… only a couple of years old, as a matter of fact, before I even started getting into the game. My mother gave them to me." He finally finished shuffling his Deck and put it back down before pointing to Joel's face-down Yaranzo. "I… guess I'll just have my Messenger of Pure Chaos destroy your Yaranzo, and call it a turn."
Joel nodded and put his Yaranzo in the Graveyard before drawing a card. "Well… that's nice of your mother to give you her cards… was she really into the game as well, when she was younger?"
Jason actually started to snicker a bit, almost going into full blown laughing after Joel had said that. The latter of them was a bit shocked at first at this, and began to wonder if he had just said something foolish.
"Sorry. Sorry. Not laughing at you." Jason clarified before clearing his throat. "...Just kind of find it funny that you ask that. My mother doesn't know a damn thing about this game. Trust me. I even asked her about it several times after she gave me these cards. She wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the Standby Phase and the End Phase." He began to really laugh now, just imagining his mother trying to play the game.
"She… doesn't know how to play… so then… why would she have those cards in the first place if she doesn't duel?" Joel asked.
Jason simply gave a little shrug and responded with, "Don't really know. I tried asking her that myself when I was old enough to realize that. All she would ever tell me is that these cards would protect me one day… no idea what she was talking about, though. I just kind of assumed she meant they would pull through for me in these duels…?" He shrugged it off before clearing his throat. "Anyway, it's… it's your turn, Joel."
"Oh. Right. Sorry." Joel said as he looked at his hand and gave a hum before placing one Monster face-down. "I'll just set this Monster… and… I guess that's it."
"Alright. Then I'm going to draw." Jason said as he drew his next card. "And… I guess first things first, I'll have my Messenger attack your face-down Monster."
Joel gave a little smile and flipped the attacked Monster face-up. "Unfortunately for you, the Monster you tried to attack is my Dragon Piper." he said. "It's got 200 more Defense Points than your Monster's Attack Points."
"Agh. Yeah, you're right." Jason said as he looked down onto the table, suddenly realizing something as he looked around, remembering that they didn't have any Life Points displayed. "Uhhhh… Fred? Think you can-"
"Already way ahead of you." Frederick said as he took out a piece of paper and a pencil, writing 8000 on both sides of the paper before subtracting 200 from the left side, putting Jason's new Life Points to 7800.
Jason gave a nod and looked at his Hand, scratching his chin in thought. "Well… if I don't Set or Summon anything, I'll have to discard a card during my End Phase, so… I'll just set this card face-down in my Spell/Trap Zone, and call it a turn."
"Hold on a minute… you said that you would have to discard a card if you didn't Set anything… how come?" Joel asked.
"Hand size limit." Frederick explained. "You're only allowed to have a maximum of six cards in your Hand by the time your turn ends. At the End Phase of your turn, if you have more than six, you have to discard one."
"Ohhh… alright… uhhh… I guess it's my turn then." Joel said as he drew his card. "Alright… I think I can do this… I'm going to Tribute my Dragon Piper… in order to Summon my Leogun in Attack Mode." He took his Dragon Piper off the Field and put it in the Graveyard, replacing it with the Leogun in his Hand.
"Heh. Wow. Leogun too?" Jason asked. "Dang. You really got all of the old school cards, huh?"
"Well, he did say he started collecting back when he was much younger." Frederick reminded.
"Yeah… so… I'm going to use my Leogun to attack and destroy your Messenger of Pure Chaos." Joel said as he pointed to Jason's Monster. Jason gave a little nod as he took his Monster and put it in the Graveyard, Frederick being sure to dock him another 150 Life Points. "Uhhhh… I guess that's that… I end my turn."
"Then I guess it's my turn." Jason said as he drew his next card. "First, I'll activate the ability of my Pure Chaos Dragon. If he's in my Hand, I can send him to the Graveyard, in order to pick any Spellcaster from my Deck and add it to my Hand. And I already know which one I'm going to pick." He took his Deck out, choosing the card he was looking for and showed it to Joel. "This right here. Soul - Essence of Pure Chaos." He shuffled his Deck and took his Hand, and put one Monster face-down. "And that's my turn."
"Alright. Then it's my turn. And I think…" Joel started to say before nodding and putting another Monster in Attack Mode. "I'm going to be Summoning Overdrive."
"Woah. Overdrive, huh?" Jason questioned as he got a close look at the card, seeming quite curious about it, despite it not being anything special. "'An all-terrain armored vehicle armed with a heavy-duty machine gun', huh?" He looked at Frederick and gave a little chuckle. "You should probably try running this card, Freddy. Would go well with the whole army thing you've got going on."
"I'm more impressed that this card didn't get censored more than anything." Frederick commented with a shrug. "With how hellbent they've been in censoring most card arts that have a gun in them, I didn't think a machine with a literal gun mounted on it would make it unedited."
Jason gave a little chuckle and a shrug before turning back to Joel. "Sorry about that. It's still your move, right?"
"Y-yeah… and… I think I'm going to have my Overdrive attack and destroy your face-down Monster."
"Well… you were right about one of those things." Jason said with a chuckle as he flipped the Monster face-up. "Because your Overdrive just attacked the Soul - Essence of Pure Chaos that I added to my Hand from my Pure Chaos Dragon's effect."
"Really?" Joel asked as he got a closer look at the card. It was a Level 1 LIGHT Spellcaster-Type with 0 ATK and 0 DEF. "But… this Monster has no Defense Points at all. My Overdrive has 1600."
"Maybe so, but what it does have is a special ability." Jason explained. "You see, while Soul - Essence of Pure Chaos, is the only Monster that I currently control, it can't be destroyed by battle. It's a nice little option for when you're backed in a corner, and need to stall out for a turn or two to get a plan running."
"Oh… so I guess it doesn't even matter if Leogun attacks now. Thanks to your Soul's special ability, he won't be able to destroy it either."
"Nope. My Soul is completely safe from your attacks… well… as long as I don't have any other Monsters on the Field, that is."
"Oh… well… I guess I have no choice but to end my turn here."
"Alrighty. In that case, it's my move." Jason drew his card before looking at Joel with a little smile. "Alright, Joel. We're not going to get much of anywhere if I keep holding back all of my punches. So how about I start fighting back a little bit?"
Joel gave a little nervous gulp. "R-really…? You're gonna start playing harder now? I don't think I'm ready for that…"
"Don't worry. I'm not going to try to do anything too crazy. Just going to start pushing back on you a little bit, see if you can respond." Jason explained. "Now, I'm going to summon my Pure Chaos Dragon Whelp. While I control a face-up Spellcaster-Type Monster on my side of the Field, my Dragon Whelp is treated as a Level 8 Monster, which is just perfect, thanks to this handy card I've had face-down for a while now." After saying this, he flipped the card he had put on the Field a couple turns ago face-up. "I'm activating my Chaotic Ritual."
"Heh. You say you won't do anything too crazy as you activate that card?" Frederick joked. "Come on, Jason. What part of don't scare him out of the game don't you understand?"
"Relax. I've only got one of my weaker Ritual Monsters in here right now. He'll be able to find a way around it." Jason assured as he took the two Monsters on his Field. "Thanks to my Chaotic Ritual, I'm allowed to Ritual Summon a Pure Chaos Ritual Monster, as long as I send from my Hand, Field or Deck, at least two Monsters, with at least one being LIGHT and at least one being DARK, whose Level are higher than or equal to the Level of the Ritual Monster. Thanks to my Pure Chaos Dragon Whelp's ability making it Level 8 while it's still on the Field, sending him and Soul to my Graveyard give me a Level of 9, one higher than what's required for this Monster."
He sent his Monsters to the Graveyard before taking one card out of his Hand. "Kind of a shame we don't have holograms right now. It would be sweet to see this card up close and personal. I Ritual Summon my Manipulator of Pure Chaos." He placed his Ritual Monster onto the Field. It was a Level 8 DARK Spellcaster-Type with 2500 ATK and 2500 DEF.
"I don't like the sounds of that 'Manipulator' part of her name… what does she do?" Joel asked.
"Glad you asked." Jason answered with a smile as he took a card in his Hand, being his Pure Chaos Spirit Drake, and put it into the Graveyard. "Just as the name implies, by discarding any Pure Chaos Monster from my Hand, I can target any one Monster you control, and take control of that Monster while my Manipulator remains on the Field."
"You can what?!" Joel shrieked a bit in shock. "Th-that's a really powerful effect!"
"Maybe. Luckily for you, I can only take control of one Monster at a time with her effect, so I can't go too wild and take control of your entire Monster line-up. But what I can do is take control of… Leogun." Joel gave a little grumble as he handed Jason the card. "I now move onto my Battle Phase. I'll start by attacking your Overdrive with my Manipulator of Pure Chaos."
Joel sighed as he put his Monster into the Graveyard, Frederick docking Joel for his first 900 Life Points. "Now that she's destroyed a Monster you control by battle, my Manipulator of Pure Chaos allows me to fetch any Spell or Trap card from my Deck or Graveyard, as long as that card specifically mentions "Pure Chaos" in its effect. Using this effect, I'll fetch my Chaotic Ritual back from my Graveyard." He took the used Ritual Card and put it back into his Hand. "Now, Leogun will attack you directly."
Joel gave a little grumble as his Life Points were put down to 5350. "Alright. I'll go ahead and place a card face-down to end my turn. Your go, Joel."
"Alright… I draw… I'm not going to be able to defeat your Manipulator of Pure Chaos with a Monster, at least at this level… but I can at least keep her slowed down for a while." Joel said as he played a Spell Card. "I equip your Manipulator with the Paralyzing Potion. While this card is equipped to a non-Machine Monster, that Monster can't attack."
"Good thinking. While she still remains on the Field, using your Paralyzing Potion allows you to minimize the damage she can do to you, unless I'm able to get rid of your Spell Card."
"Well… it's probably not that huge of a play." Joel said modestly, though it was clear that he liked the praise. "Uhhh… I'll just set one Monster face-down and end my turn."
"Very well then. I can't really do much of anything with my Manipulator of Pure Chaos… but I still got the power of your Leogun to work with." Jason said as he drew another card. "I'll have him attack your face-down Monster."
Joel gave a little groan and nodded as he sent his Monster to the Graveyard. "Sorry, Frog the Jam."
Upon seeing the Monster be sent to the Graveyard, Jason gave a little happy cheer and clapped a bit as he laughed, surprising Frederick and getting the attention of some of the other people there. Joel gave a little blush of embarrassment, not really sure what Jason was finding so funny, and feeling a bit nervous with everyone looking at him like that.
"Hoohoo, my man! OG Frog the Jam right there!" Jason said after calming down a little bit. "Didn't think you'd actually have it, dude. That's freaking awesome."
"Uhhh… I'm sorry. I… don't know what the big deal is." Joel said with a confused scratch of his head.
"It's… nothing." Frederick responded with a little chuckle. "See, Frog the Jam is one of Jason's favorite meme cards. He still thinks that it was an insult to the game that its name was changed to Slime Toad later on in the game, because a lot of cards in the Frog archetype had to have their effects specify, '...except Frog the Jam' for a while now, due to Frog the Jam not really being a part of the Frog Archetype."
"Oh… that's… interesting." Joel wasn't really sure how to respond to that, and instead simply drew his next card. "Uhhhh… let's see here…" He looked back at the Monster on Jason's Field and the four cards Joel still had in his Hand before looking back to the cards in his Extra Deck. "Oh… oh! I can actually do something against this!" he chirped excitedly.
"Oh, really?" Jason asked with a little raise of his eyebrow. "Then let's see what you got."
"Alright… I hope this works." Joel said as he took a card from his Hand and played it. "I'm activating the Spell Card, Polymerization!"
"Hooh, doggie. He's got a Fusion Monster up his sleeve!" Jason exclaimed with a nod. "Things are about to get really interesting."
"Now, with my Polymerization, I fuse my Hyosube and Mystic Lamp from my Hand." Joel discarded two of his remaining cards, so that only one remained in his Hand. "By doing so, I'm allowed to Fusion Summon one of my strongest Monsters. My Roaring Ocean Snake!" He took the Roaring Ocean Snake out of his Extra Deck and put it onto the Field.
"Nice. The old Fusion Monsters always had some of the strangest Fusion Materials. Not sure how you get that thing from a lamp and a turtle Monster."
Frederick rolled his eyes and whispered to Jason, "Hyosube are a creature from Japanese folklore."
"Yeah. And I'm supposed to know that off the top of my head?" Jason whispered back before looking back to Joel. "Nice play, man, but you do realize your Roaring Ocean Snake is still 400 points short against my Manipulator of Pure Chaos. You can destroy Leogun if you want, but then, since the Monster that Manipulator took control of will be on the Field no longer, I'll have a free spot for a Monster on your side of the Field that I can take control of on my next turn."
"Not anymore. Not thanks to my Stim-Pack." Joel said as he put his final card down on the Field. "By equipping this card to my Roaring Ocean Snake, I can increase its Attack Points by 700. Of course, I'll have to sacrifice 200 of those points during each of my Standby Phases, but one turn with 2800 is more than enough to take care of your Monster. I'll have my Roaring Ocean Snake attack your Manipulator of Pure Chaos!"
"Quite the risky Equip Card." Jason said as he gave a nod to Frederick, who deducted 300 of his Life Points. Instead of sending his Manipulator of Pure Chaos to the Graveyard, however, he took Joel's Leogun card, and put it into Joel's Graveyard instead.
"Uhhhh… Jason…? I attacked your Manipulator… not Leogun."
"That may be so, but my Manipulator of Pure Chaos has a small amount of protection while she has a Monster under her spell. If she were to be destroyed by battle or by card effect while a Monster of yours is under my control because of her effect, I destroy the Monster I've taken control of instead."
"Oh man… so now your Manipulator of Chaos can still take over my Roaring Ocean Snake on your turn?"
"That's right. Well… if I have a Pure Chaos Monster to discard to do so, that is." Jason answered as he drew his next card. He looked at it and gave a bit of a frown. "...Luckily for you, though, it doesn't seem I have anything I'm willing to discard…" He took his Manipulator of Pure Chaos and switched it into Defense Mode. "I switch my Manipulator into Defense Mode, then I'll place one card face-down and end my turn."
"In that case, it's my turn. I draw." Joel said as he drew his card. "And now, my Roaring Ocean Snake loses 200 Attack Points thanks to Stim-Pack, but 2600 is still enough to take on your Manipulator. My Roaring Ocean Snake will attack and destroy your Monster!"
Jason gave a little nod. "By destroying my Manipulator of Pure Chaos, however, you've triggered the ability of my Pure Chaos Dragon in my Graveyard. If a Pure Chaos Ritual Monster is removed from the Field, I can Special Summon my Pure Chaos Dragon from my Graveyard. So now, you have to deal with 3000 Attack Points instead of just 2500."
"Oh man… no matter how I try to deal with these Pure Chaos Monsters, they always seem to be able to come back…" Joel mumbled under his breath. "I'll just set a Monster in face-down Defense Mode and end my turn."
"Then I guess it's my turn." Jason said as he drew his next card, nodding approvingly of what he saw. "Alright. Let's try something a little different. I'm going to be Summoning my second Soul - Essence of Pure Chaos, to the Field."
Joel looked confused as he brought the Monster out in Attack Mode. "But… that Monster has no Attack Points at all… and since you have another Monster on your side of the Field, it can be destroyed by battle."
"Exactly. That's what I'm banking on. Now, I'll move onto my Battle Phase." Jason pointed at his Soul - Essence of Pure Chaos and pointed at Roaring Ocean Snake. "I'll have my Soul attack your Roaring Ocean Snake. Since your Roaring Ocean Snake has 2600 Attack Points, and Soul has none, my Monster is destroyed."
Frederick and Joel were both confused as Jason took his Monster and put it in the Graveyard, but Frederick shrugged a little bit and brought Jason's Life Points down to 5050.
"But… I don't understand. Is this some attempt to try to give me a bit more of a fighting chance?" Joel asked. "Why would you attack my Roaring Ocean Snake with such a weaker Monster?"
"Because by doing so, I've just triggered the ability of another Monster in my Hand." Jason explained with a little grin. "You see, in order to activate this effect, I have to have a LIGHT Pure Chaos Monster of mine be destroyed, either by battle or by your card effect. Since I've fulfilled that requirement, I can Special Summon my Pure Chaos Storm Drake from my Hand." He placed his Monster down on the Field; a Level 8 DARK Dragon-Type with 3000 ATK and 0 DEF.
"Another Dragon with 3000 Attack Points?!" Joel exclaimed in shock. "That was an insane strategy! Losing so many Life Points, but getting such a powerful Monster in return!"
"Not really that insane, honestly. I'm by far not the first to try something like this." Jason responded simply with a shrug. "But now, since he was Special Summoned by his own effect, my Pure Chaos Storm Drake's ability kicks in. When Special Summoned by his own effect, he allows me to destroy any number of cards on your side of the Field, up to the number of LIGHT Pure Chaos Monsters currently in my Graveyard. And last I checked, with my two Souls currently in there, I have two LIGHT Monsters."
Joel gave a little gulp as he realized what that meant. "And I only have two Monsters to protect me…"
"Which means that my Storm Drake can cleave your defenses away in one fell swoop with his ability." Jason watched as Joel put his two Monsters and his Spell Card to the Graveyard. "And with nothing in your Hand or Field to protect you, I think you know what happens next. My Pure Chaos Dragon and Pure Chaos Storm Drake attack you directly for game."
Joel gave a little nod and looked down a bit as Frederick deducted the last of Frederick's Life Points. Jason gave a little smile. "Don't be too down on yourself, man. You fought pretty well in that duel."
"Yeah… thanks, but I know you're just saying that to make me feel better." Joel responded, giving a little bit of a smile. "You were really taking it easy on me, weren't you? Those cards of yours seem really powerful… all my cards are mostly really old cards that aren't all that good anymore."
"Maybe so… but that doesn't mean all of your cards are worthless. After all, you did just take the top few cards from your big stack of cards, and tried to make those into a Deck. If you really took the time to look through those cards and build a Deck that works with itself, you'd be having a much easier time." Upon saying this, he had an idea. "Hey… that's it! Frederick. Come on over here. Let's look through Joel's cards and help him build a Deck out of them."
"Really?" Joel asked, his face lighting up as they said that. "You would really help me like that?"
"Of course, we would. After all, everyone should be able to enjoy Duel Monsters one way or another. And if it can help you enjoy the game more at all, we'll be happy to help."
"That's…. that's awesome! Thank you so much!"
And for the rest of the meeting of the club, Frederick and Jason sat down, going through all of the cards that Frederick had collected over the years, and were trying to decide what would work good in a Deck for him. They asked him a couple of questions from time to time, such as what kind of style of play did he want to go for, if there was any Attribute or Monster Type in particular that he wanted to play with, and some occasional check ups to see what he thought of a certain card being added to his Deck.
"Man. This really takes me back to when we first started the game." he said before looking at Frederick. "Hey, Freddy. What was your very first Deck that you got? Did you always use those Figure cards of yours?"
"Well… honestly, it's been so long, I can't really remember what my first Deck was…" Frederick started. "...But if I had to venture a guess… I'd say that my first real Deck was the Warrior's Triumph Structure Deck. I've always had a thing for Warriors, as you could probably see from my Figure Deck." He looked up at Jason with a curious raise of his eyebrow. "What about you, Jason? You ever use any other Decks aside from that Pure Chaos one?"
"That's a good question. The Pure Chaos one was the one I almost always used, since it was the first cards my mother ever got for me…" Jason began to answer. "...But I did have a couple of Decks aside from that. The first one I ever got that wasn't my Pure Chaos Deck is the Blaze of Destructions Structure Deck."
To this, Frederick began to snicker quite a bit. "Alright. How the heck do you go from LIGHT and DARK Dragons and Spellcasters to FIRE Monsters?"
"I was trying to put a bit of variety to how I played and what I played." Jason said with a scoff as he went back to looking through the cards, putting whatever cards he thought could work on a slowly growing pile while putting the others back in Joel's case. "Besides, I always liked FIRE as an Attribute as well. If I were to use a Deck that wasn't my Pure Chaos Deck, I would probably bust the old Infernal Flame Emperor out, and try to do some…"
Jason trailed off as he looked at a specific card that he had just found in the pile. "...Hey, Joel. Where did you get this card." he said as he pointed to it.
Joel looked over to see what card Jason was talking about. "Oh, My Copycat?" he questioned. "I got it in a booster pack a few years ago… I've had it for a while, but I've never really been able to find much use of it myself."
"Is that so…?" Jason continued to look at the card, nodding to himself a little bit as he had a bit of an idea. "...Well, if you don't think you're going to be using it still… would you mind trading this card?"
Joel was taken by surprise by this offer as Jason reached into his bookbag and took out a card that was in a protective sleeve. "I've got here a really powerful Spell Card called Raigeki. Upon just being activated, it destroys all Monsters your opponent controls. It's an old card, but it still remains one of the most powerful cards in the game to this day." He put the card down next to the Copycat. "I offer you this card in exchange for that Copycat."
"Y… you would really give me this card… just in exchange for my Copycat? You're sure about that?" Joel asked. "I wouldn't want to take away such a powerful card from you…"
Jason gave a smile and shrugged before responding with, "I've actually got a number of those cards. That's what happens when you're looking for a certain card in a tin, and can't get it."
Upon hearing this, Joel lit up again as he looked at the Spell Card he was being offered. "Alright! Deal!" he happily said as he and Jason shook each other's hands and took their appropriate card. "I'll be able to use this card in my Deck for sure. Thank you."
"Thank you for being willing to trade. This card will come in good use." Jason replied with a smile.
By the time that it was time for the club to disperse for the night, Frederick and Jason had managed to build Joel a more usable Deck out of the cards that he had available to him. Joel was a bit disappointed that he didn't get to test out his new Deck right there on the spot, but Jason and Frederick both gave him their contact information and got his, so that if he ever wanted to hang out with them, they could arrange that.
As Frederick and Jason left that hall, Jason was still holding his newly traded Copycat card in his hand, still having not put it in his Deck, or in any case for protection. They also had in their hands the booster packs that they had gotten from the quizzes. They had both scored in the low 90s, only getting a couple questions wrong, and so were allowed to take five packs. Frederick chose the best modern packs he could find, deciding to get cards that could potentially better help him in the future. Jason, meanwhile, took all legacy packs for his choices, being a bigger fan of the oldschool cards and playstyles.
"Well… I don't know about you, Freddy. But I think that was a very productive night." Jason chirped as he looked at the packs in his hand.
"Yeah… always nice to make a new friend in our group. And of course the new cards don't hurt either." Frederick responded before looking back to Jason. "...But I have to say, I'm a little bit confused as to why you wanted to take that Copycat card of his. It's a LIGHT Spellcaster, yeah, but I don't think it seems like a card you would actually use in your Deck."
"Oh, it's really not." Jason admitted with a shrug. "Actually, it's a card that I think a certain friend of mine will be able to use in his Deck. Since he's not there, I figured it would be nice to get the card for him myself, while helping Joel out in the process."
"...So, you're giving Joel a really good card in exchange for a card that you're going to give to a friend rather than actually using yourself… heh. Not exactly getting much out of that deal, are you?" Frederick teased. "Alright. I'm gonna head back to my dorm. I'll talk to you later, man."
"See you soon, buddy." Jason said as he and his friend both went about their separate ways.
Jason walked the whole way back to his car on his own, humming a little bit as he did. It had gotten considerably darker out now, with the moon up and gently glowing in the night sky. It was a bit chilly out now, but it wasn't anything too unbearable for him. He had gotten used to the colder weather by now.
When he was about halfway to his car, however, he stopped as he felt the vibration of his phone in his pocket. After taking his phone out, he saw that he had gotten a text from Malcolm, simply telling him that he was waiting for him next to his car, to discuss their upcoming duel.
"Oh… holy crap. That's coming up in a couple days, isn't it?" Jason asked himself before laughing a little bit. He had been so caught up with what had happened a couple of days ago, he forgot that he and Malcolm had a deal. "Well… I guess that works out perfectly for me then, so that I can give him his little gift." He put his phone back into his pocket and sped up his pace just a little. He didn't want to keep Malcolm waiting too much longer.
Sure enough, when he arrived at the parking lot where his car sat idly, with Malcom standing right next to it, his motorcycle parked a meer parking space away. Once Jason arrived, he gave a little clear of his throat, signifying his arrival.
"I was wondering when you were going to show up." Malcolm said. "Took you long enough."
"Yeah, well a club meeting takes a lot of energy to get around, meet different people." Jason walked over to Malcolm and stood next to him, leaning against his own car as he continued, "You know, you should really try applying for it. I'm sure you'd enjoy it there. There are a bunch of really strong duelists and awesome people to meet."
"I appreciate the offer, but I'm not interested. You know that I have no interest in making friends that will only serve to hold me back. I do things myself in my own way, and that's that."
"Suit yourself. You're missing out on quite a bit." Jason gave a little pause before clearing his throat. "So… how have you been since we last met?"
Malcolm looked at Jason with a little raise of his eyebrow, surprised to hear that Jason would even care to ask before shrugging his shoulders and responding with, "Eh. The usual. Not much has changed for me ever since we stopped those two thieves." He himself paused for a moment, not wanting to bother asking, but since Jason had already asked, and since he had bothered answering him, it only seemed natural to him, somehow, to ask him the same question. "What about you?"
Jason's head seemed to perk up a little bit upon being asked that, and a big smile appeared on his face. Malcolm simply frowned and looked to the other side. He already regretted asking that. "Well… things have been going good for me… Frederick and I just made a new friend in the club… though I gotta say. It's been surprisingly difficult to not take credit for what we did."
"Guess I can't blame you on that one." Malcolm responded with a little shrug. "The news of the Psyche Brothers getting arrested as spread like wildfire throughout the Dark Alley of Nightmare… a lot of thugs that looked up to Magic Moe have been in shock for the past couple of days…" He gave a sigh and shook his head as he looked over to Jason again. "...But enough of the small talk. You know why I'm here."
"Of course, of course. Our rematch… when and where it's going to be had."
Malcolm gave a little nod. "Monday. After both of our classes are over with. We meet up in this very spot and have our rematch. Bring your best cards and be prepared."
Jason gave a little nod, but then a question arose. "Would it be ok if other people were to watch us?" he asked. "I don't think I can go through with this without Fred finding out and wanting to watch."
Malcolm gave a little scoff and rolled his eyes, but eventually answered, "I don't think we can really have a duel without everyone gathering around to watch it anyway… so there's not a whole lot we can do about that."
Jason gave a nod of understanding. He would have to really make sure he was ready for that rematch. He knew that Malcolm was going to make him work for another win. "Well… that's all I have to say." Malcolm stood straight and walked to his motorcycle, starting it up.
Just then, Jason remembered the card that he had been holding in his hand. "Malcolm! Hold on a minute!" he exclaimed. Hearing this, Malcolm looked over to him, turning his motorcycle back off so he could hear him.
"Uhhhh… sorry, just remembered something I wanted to do before we left." Jason held the card out to him. "I… wanted to give you this."
Malcolm was surprised by this, but slowly took the card, turning it around to get a look at it. "...Copycat, huh?" he asked.
"I just got it today at the Duel Monsters Club… as soon as I saw this card, and saw it was a Level 1 Monster, I immediately thought of how you like to have those… so… I want you to have this card."
Malcolm was silent as he stared at the card quietly, not really sure what to say. "...Is this supposed to be some kind of bribery?" he finally asked. "You expecting to get something out of me after giving this to me?"
Jason was quite surprised by Malcolm's response. "N… no. That's not what I'm trying to do at all. I just got that card, and I thought that you could really make good use of it."
Malcolm shook his head. "I don't need any favors from you. I don't need anyone's help. I'm strong enough to rely on myself and only myself." He held the card back for Jason to take it back.
Jason didn't say anything at first, looking at the card, processing what Malcolm had said, and how he was going to respond to it. He finally shook his head and put his hand on Malcolm's slightly pushing the card back to him. "...This isn't a favor or bribery. Instead… accept it as a gift from a friend."
Looking into Malcolm's eyes as he said that, Jason noticed a little something flashed inside Malcolm's eyes as he said the word 'friend'. He wasn't really sure what it was, but it was around long enough just long enough for him to notice it.
Malcolm looked back to the card that he held again and looked back at Jason. He gave a sigh and shook his head, knowing that Jason had no intentions of taking the card back. "...You know I'm not going to put this card in my Deck." he said. "...I have no need for help from others."
"Do whatever you want with it. It's your card now." Jason said with a shrug. "...But I do hope that one day, you'll be able to change your mind and put it in there."
Malcolm simply shook his head and put the card in his backpack to keep it safe, as he started his motorcycle up again. "...Just be sure you're ready for our rematch. I'll see you then. Don't forget." With nothing more to say, he drove away from the parking lot to prepare himself for the rematch in a couple of days.
Jason gave a nod, getting himself and his backpack into his own car. Before driving out, he just sat down quietly and thought to himself. He still didn't understand why this rematch was so important to Malcolm. Sure he had beaten him, and that possibly damaged his reputation on the campus, but he seemed like it was much more important than that. He seemed like there was something at stake for what he was trying to do.
As he sat there, starting his car up and looking back up at the night sky, he also couldn't help but start thinking about that girl who had walked out of their duel that one time. He hadn't seen her since he had returned her card to her… he would have to duel her again some time as well, to finish what they started that day, but he had no idea where to find her… he didn't even know a name to start searching.
"...Alright, Jason… one rematch at a time." he told himself as he began to drive away. He was going to have quite a bit of preparing to do. But he was sure that when he and Malcolm dueled again, he would be ready.
