Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, or Duel Monsters, or Master of Cards by Chuck ZFB. I strongly recommend that you read his story before mine. This is a PARALLEL of that fic, and was written with his permission. So, if you don't like parallel stories, don't go any further. But, if you do, read on. And now I present....

Yes everyone, I'm back to reward my two faithful readers. That's right, only two. If you have been reading this, but just aren't reviewing, now is a time for change. Please. I need support.

Chapter Nine: First Things First

Lance...

We were walking down the path towards the city that we'd spotted about twenty minutes earlier. I was ahead of the girls, and observing the card that Yugi had said was 'Born of my Soul and Crest.' However, the only words on it were 'Card of Life.' Even the picture was blank.

"So then, what's it for?" I asked out loud. I looked skyward hopelessly. "Why me." I was becoming disgruntled.

"Hey, your not the only one that's growing annoyed with these things." Tina pointed out from behind me. "Mine just says 'Card of Wisdom,' and Meren's says 'Card of Faith.' So your not alone.'

"Did I ever say that I was?" I shot back. We continued onward, arriving at the edge of town within the next fifteen minutes. "Finally." I sighed. "I'm going to find a place to change into my new clothes, then I'm going to the laundry mat." I said, observing the rough state our clothes were in. I then looked back into my backpack to catch a glance at the outfit Yugi had given me. I liked it, but I was more partial to a different one I had often thought about giving myself if I was an Anime character. No matter.

***

"What..." I quietly shouted. I had draped the clothing out over myself before trying it on. "The pants are too short, and the jacket is a few sizes to small. Why me." I cried again, storming out of the dressing room. I marched up to the front desk with the clothes folded in my arms. I slammed them down on the table and got right in the clerks face. I glared into her eyes.

***

"Hey you two." I said as I walked out of the store where I had changed. They both took a look at my garments and stared at me in what appeared to be anger.

"Lance, you didn't just go and spend some of the money that Yugi gave us to buy those, did you?" Meren iquired.

"Only about two or three. I traded in the clothes that Yugi had given me and traded them in. However, they were still classified as 'Used,' so I couldn't trade 'em in for the full price of these." I explained, taking a look at my new outfit. They were thin, loose fitting black pants that seemed to be made of cotton, or something along those lines. I also had a white shirt on, and a light black vest over that, which I let stay open. "Anyway, I think we should spread out look for some supplies. I'm going to find us some food that will last a few days in my backpack. Then I'm headed for the laundry matt. As for you two, find something productive to accomplish. We'll need a map and such. See of you two can find out anything useful. We need some sort of direction to go in. We'll meet up at the fountain over there in two hours." I instructed, pointing at the font to my left. They nodded in agreement.

Now, I wasn't trying to be pushy, but I always had had a natural instinct to take command in this kind of a situation. I always seemed to be the leader of any group I was in.

***

"What did you two find?" I asked as I approached the water spout where they where waiting.

"We got a map of the general surrounding area, and one of that mountain over there." Tina replied, pointing to the small mount that the town was at the base of.

"Why one of the mountain?" I asked. Meren looked up at me and began to explain.

"We need to go to the nearest town, which just happens to be on the other side."

"I see. Perhaps we should go tomorrow, first thing in the morning." I suggested, raising my hand to my chin.

"Why not now?" Meren inquired.

"It would take us the rest of the day to get to the caves themselves, let alone through the mountain. No, we should rest up here tonight and get started tomorrow."

The girls looked at each other. "He has a point there." they said in unison.

"But lets not just let this day waste away. Why don't we do a bit of exploring." Tina advised. "But no spending more than five stars for the remainder of the day." She added sternly, mainly focusing on me.

I raised my hands up defensively. "What?" I innocently asked.

Before long, we were once again split up. I roamed the streets for a few minutes when one building caught my attention. "An arcade! Yes!" I had never really been to one, but I needed to relax. I was still tense and extremely stressed from my experience in the Shadow Realm.

I entered and looked around, taking in the various and as sundry games. I slowly approached the exchange desk, fumbling with the small bag of stars that I had fastened to my belt.

"Excuse me," I said, addressing the young woman behind the desk. "How many tokens equal one star chip?"

"Four." she said. I flipped the star onto the counter while she slid four back over to my side. I left her behind and walked amongst the many games.

"Come on." I quietly whined. "Is there nothing to do." I had finally reached the back when something caught my eye. The sign above it read 'Duel Freak.' I saw the image of a Serpent Night Dragon explode, being struck by a bolt of pink lightning that had reached down from out of no where. Then, a black demon creature towered over the dragons owner and slashed with its long claws. "Wow. That was the Dark Master Zork!" I gasped. It was a card that only existed in Japan back home, and was a rather useful ritual creature, if you were a lucky player.

I walked over to see what was happening. The loser was holding his dragon in his hands, as if he was looking at it for the last time. He then flung it into the shadows under the sign. Then, another card swished out of his deck, turned so that all could see the Dark Fire Soldier #2 on it, then disappeared.

'Such is the fate that awaits all those that lose.' said a voice that filled my mind. I wasn't sure who was trying to communicate with me, but I understood.

'So, if I lose a match, then I also lose one of my cards.' I then smiled and lifted my head. "But just the same, I'm going to play; here and now." I challenged the shadows.

I expected a duelist to walk out and agree. What I got instead was a large piece of machinery that reached down. It was circular with seven card sized slots, and twin triangles extending out of the sides.

"A Duel Robot." I questioned.

"Insert tokens for desired level of play." the computerized voice commanded. I looked over to a small black box that was about two feet high, and then another one foot wide. There was a small rectangle with five rows, each with different numbers and words. I looked at the top one first:

One token for champion game level.

Two tokens for professional game level

Three tokens for basic tournament game level

Four tokens for armature game level

Five tokens for easiest game level

All game levels require the ante of at least one card by both players. The card may be selected by the victor at the end.

I held out two tokens and pressed them in. I may have been getting ahead of myself, but I was feeling confident, even though I was strained, and the risking of a card did seem rather nerve-racking. The black box opened to reveal one of the Kaiba Corps. advanced Duel Disks. I lifted it up and strapped it onto my right arm. I stuck my deck into the slot, extended my arm to release the holographic imagers, and then watched as the main field snapped together.

"Duel Begin." the machine chimed.

I drew my five cards and observed my hand. I had four basic monsters and one trap. I looked up at the robot to see what its first move would be.

"Draw card." it spoke, the mechanical claw snatching a card from the top of its deck. "Set one card face down, and one monster in defense mode." It finished. I drew.

"I set one card face down, and then I'll summon Breaker the Magic Warrior, in attack mode." I said, laying the card down on the mat. A tall fighter that was dressed in armor that looked like a tough, red version of the Dark Magicians, with more jewels encrusted, and baring a long, thin sword (1600/1000). "And Breaker gains one Magic Counter when first summoned, raising his attack points by three-hundred. That puts his points at 1900. Attack!" I said. He charged in and swung down, crushing the bug creature that was once standing there. It was thin and covered in spikes. "What was that?" I asked.

"Analyzing monster, Needle Worm. When flipped, the opponents top five cards from his or her deck are discarded." The machine explained. I gritted my teeth as I drew the top five cards from my deck and shoved them into the slot under the Life Point counter.

"I end my turn." I said. The metal arm once again grabbed at a new card.

"Set new monster in defense mode." It said, sliding a new card to take the worms place. I drew again.

"I'll summon my own monster in defense mode. And I'll attack with Breaker the Magic Warrior." I commanded. My monster once again rushed in and cut the enemy monster down. The Mysterious Puppeteer shattered in a mess of glass-like light. "Now I'll end my turn by putting this card face down." I said.

'So far, so good. I haven't lost much energy.' I noted. My breathing had picked up, and my legs were getting tired, but other than that, I was good.

"Draw card. Playing magic card, Dark Hole to destroy all monsters on field." A black swirling abyss began to move across the area above the field.

"Counter with trap card, Magic Drain." I said, pressing the button on my Duel Disk to activate my face down card. A decaying, armored body appeared one the field, being held up by a green skinned creature with massive bat wings appeared. These two pulled the entire vortex towards them.

"Analyzing Magic Drain. Unable to discard magic card. Dark Hole's effect, negated." the computer conceded. It then grabbed a new card from its 'hand,' and slid it into play. "Activate magic card, Tribute to the Doomed. Target, face down monster." A mummified man rose out of the grown and fired dozens of wrappings towards my creature. My Mystical Elf appeared and was overcome by the whipping bandages, and pulled into the earth by a massive hand that each out of the depths of the earth. "Summon monster in defense mode. End turn."

'Why did it take out my Mystical Elf. Probably so as to keep me from sacrificing for a stronger monster, but so as to also attack. Which means that either that monster has a high defense, or that face down card is about to come into play. However," I smirked as I looked at my next card.

"I activate Breakers special ability by sacrificing Breaker's magic counter." I said as my knight extended his sword towards the robots field were its face down card lay. A purple aura surrounded Breaker , and then focused towards the tip. "By doing this, I can take out one of your set cards." The purple blast fired across the field and pierced the card. It twisted up to reveal a Torrential Tribute, which promptly disappeared. "Next I'll sacrifice Breaker for my Summoned Skull, in attack mode." I called. Breaker turned into a swirl of light that shot into the ground and opened a white void.

That was when things suddenly got hard. And excruciating pain engulfed my mind as the claws of the Summoned Skull lanced out of the hole. I keeled over in agony as I clutched my head. 'It's drawing on my own life energy to take form in this world!' I realized. I continued to wither and convulse in pain as my energy quickly escaped me. But as I twisted, my eyes opened for just a second, and a bright blue light filled my eyes, coming from my fist. 'Crest of Life, help me.' I pleaded to my inner soul. 'Please!' I looked up into the void as a new energy found its way into me. I found the strength to stand, and watched as the Summoned Skull appeared as well.

"I see." I muttered. "With the Crest of Life, summoning will be easier, because it acts as a bridge between my life energy and my monsters that flows far more consistently than most other people. However, I must use this power with caution."

"Summoned Skull, attack with Lightning Strike!" I commanded. It pointed both of its arms towards the face down monster. Thousands of volts of lightning surged throughout the monster, revealing the Hitotsu-Me Giant. I was having trouble standing. My legs were bent inward as my arms sagged. It was only a few turns into the duel, and I was already on the verge of collapsing. I breathed heavily as I tried to put a few words together to create a sentence. "End...Turn."

"Summon monster in defense mode. End turn."

"Would you stop with the dull play-by-play!" I screamed at the contraption. I drew a card and set the monster in defense mode. "Summoned Skull..Attack." I staggered. The electrical blast formed into a ball of energy that was crackling around a small ball of white light. The orb then exploded, but reformed a second later to reveal a small silver pod with a green lense. "Cyber Jar." I gasped.

"Cyber Jar's special effect; destroy all monsters on field." The silver ball exploded, raising dust all around my. I blinked my eyes a few times, and then fallowed up with the secondary effect before the annoying machine could go on, by drawing five new cards, and laying them out on the field so as reveal them to the robot. "Cards drawn: Zambrya the Dark, Dragon Zombie, Mechanical Chaser, Ushi Oni, and Serpant Knight Dragon. Summoning all three level four monster in face up attack mode."

I looked at my cards: Skilled Dark Magician (1900/1700), Man-Eater Bug, a second Breaker the Magic Warrior, Gearfried the Iron Knight, and Thousand Knives. I summoned the four basic monsters; three in attack mode, one in defense mode, and then added the other one to my hand. I also made sure to note that Breaker had his counter active. I then turned the duel over to the Duel Robot.

"Sacrifice Dragon Zombie to summon Ushi Oni, in attack mode." What appeared to be the cross of a Minotaur, genie, and a few other creatures appeared. The devious monster poised itself for an attack. "Attack Gearfried the Iron Knight." The creature lashed out and struck my armed warrior, ripping him apart.

(LP: 7650/8000)

"I draw." I staggered to say. "I play Pot of Greed to draw two new cards." I said, drawing them from my deck. "Of course, this serves more than just the purpose of drawing new cards for me. By playing a magic card, my Skilled Dark Magician gains one magic counter. Once he has three, I'll clue you in on what he's doing. But for now, I'll sacrifice my Man-Eater Bug, using its effect to destroy your Ushi Oni, and then summon my Beast of Talwar!" I shouted as a personal favorite monster of mine appeared. Its upper body was acid green and very muscular, while its legs were black and hairy. Its face was pointed with glowing yellow eyes. And in both hands it wielded large scimitars. "Now my monster, slay Zambrya! Skilled Magician, destroy the Mechanical Chaser!" I commanded. My first monster swung his twin blades in an X-slash, reducing the Minotaur to four separate pieces, while my magician chanted a spell that caused the small ball of blades burst in a brilliant show of lights. (LP: 7650/7950). I keeled over as this attack commenced. Summoning the Beast of Talwar hadn't been much easier than the Summoned Skull, and the upkeep it and my magician required was overwhelming. "I end my turn by placing two cards face down."

"Stupid kid," I heard a voice call out. "He should have attacked directly with that Breaker guy directly. He must be new to this whole summoning system." I clenched my hand into a fist as I realized my mistake. That could have put me at a huge lead. Now it was too late. I looked up to see what would be the Duel Robots next move.

"Draw card. Analyzing counter measures to opponents strategy. Setting monster card in defense mode, and set one card face down."

'This is my chance. I can attack that card, then get in some nice direct damage.' I thought. I grabbed a new card. "I set on card face down." I said as the card slid into the slit on the side of the Duel Disk. "Next I will summon a monster in defense mode." The image of a card that was face down appeared. "Now I' will attack your monster with Breaker the Magic Warrior." I directed. The thin sword cut through with ease. What was revealed was a mask of Darkness, cleaved in half by my attack.

"Mask of Darkness special effect. Retrieve one trap card from Graveyard. Selecting trap card."

"Now I'll attack your Life Points directly with my Beast of Talwar and Skilled Dark Magician." I said as both the scimitars and the staff struck down on the Robot.

(LP: 7650/3650)

"End turn." I said. Although I was getting weaker, I felt better, strengthened by the knowledge that this would be over on the next turn.

"Draw card. Setting one card face down onto field. Summon monster in defense mode, and two cards face down."

"I will first activate my Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your middle card." I declared. My card stood up and a thin cyclone came to life, ripping its way through the card, destroying the Torrential Tribute that the Duel Robot had recovered. "That's a second magic counter on my skilled monster." I said as I watched another ring appear on my magicians staff. "Then I'll use Breaker's effect. I'll sacrifice the magic counter to take out that card to the left..."

"Activating trap card, Fake Trap. Absorbs any magic card or monster effect that targets a trap card. Breaker the Magic Warrior's effect, negated."

"Then I'll switch Breaker to defense mode, and I'll attack with Skilled Dark Magcian." I called. My mage struck downward with the attack, but bounced back after hitting armored shell of the Prevent Rat that it had attacked. I gritted my teeth in a form of silent retaliation. "Now I'll have my Beast of Talwar destroy that vermin. Twin Shadow Strike!" The two swords crossed over each other and tore the rat to pieces. (LP: 7550/3650) "I end my turn."

"Set three cards face down, set monster in defense mode, and playing magic card, Shallow Grave." A fissure opened up across the entire field. "Shallow Graves effect. Both players special summon one monster from the Graveyard in face down defense position. Selecting monster. Set in defense mode." I watched as the metal arm took one monster from the Graveyard and put it in defense mode.

'That card has to be Cyber Jar. I've used that combo so many times.' I remembered. 'I need a card to get rid of that. But I've only got one card that will ensure my success, and I don't have it in my hand or Graveyard. I'll need to play along for now, and hope that I draw the right magic card on my next turn.' I pulled my Graveyard pile out of the slot and grabbed my Breaker and set it in defense mode.

"My turn. I draw." I grabbed the card off the top and closed my eyes. 'I nee-aah!' I mentally shouted as I got shocked by another energy drain from my monsters. I collapsed to my knees and clutched my chest. "I d-draw." I looked, and my pained expression altered to one of delight. "I will play the magic card, Nobleman of Crossout to obliterate your face down card." I said while still on the floor. A young soldier in silver armor and bearing a long bladed sword appeared. He held his sword high and slashed down. Just as I had managed to predict, it was Cyber Jar. The card exploded and I started to hunt for mine through my deck, as was the penalty of using the Nobleman. I found it, shoved it in my pocket, and then reshuffled my deck. "Next I will play the magic card, Giant Trunade, to return all magic and trap cards to our hands." I picked mine up and watched to see when the computer would be done. "Then I'll reset four cards." The field was clear for my attack. "And Giant Trunade was a magic card, which means that my Skilled Dark Magician now has the three magic counters it needs to activate it special ability. By sacrificing him while he has three counters on him, I can special summon my Dark Magician from my hand, Graveyard, or even my deck. So I'll play this one from my hand, in attack mode." Once again, I had invoked the mighty sorcerers powers. And the best part was, I didn't feel any strain from him. "Now I sacrifice my face up Breaker the Magic Warrior to Summon Chaos Magician." A tall man in clothes similar to my Dark Magicians, only black appeared. "Next I'll play a magic card, Card Destruction. This will both obliterate the cards that I just returned to your hand, and also will push you closer to deck-out." I grinned as I struggled to stand. "Now my Chaos Magicain, attack!" He lashed out with his staff and a brilliant blast of light slowly pulled the defending Feral Imp. "Then I'll attack with Beast of Talwar." He crossed the blades to prepare for his attack when a small brown ball appeared and absorbed the blow. "What is that?" I shouted in dismay.

"Monster, Kuriboh. Discard directly from hand to reduce enemy monsters attack to zero. Beast of Talwar's attack, blocked."

"Dark Magician, Dark Magic Attack!" I commanded. The burning neon beam rushed forth, blinding my sight. And explosion ensued, and dust filled my eyes, and I looked away. "What?!" I cried in dismay.

To Be Continued...

Thanks to all who read this. So ...Questions, comments, even flames and criticism are all welcomed by me. Just don't reprimand me over my spelling. And keep the reviews coming. I need support, or else I might loose interest in writing. Thank you all, especially Chuck ZFB for allowing me to write off of his story, and Tina and Meren for agreeing to be a part of this. And if you still think that this is to much like the Master of the Cards, leave me alone. And, if you do read this story, REVIEW! And, I'm going to need a few new characters every now and then, so please, send me some stuff, and you might find your Duelist appearing at a random point in time. I'm not stealing this idea from Chuck; it's just taken me a while to be at a point where it is appropriate to ask. So please, send me your stuff!

This chapter has included a few cards that many of you have never before heard of. These were all monsters that have appeared only in the Japanese sets, and therefore, you wouldn't know about them. But fear not, for I, the mighty Time Mage have gone to the lengths to prepare a guide for all. Here it goes:

1) Breaker the Magic Warrior- Dark/Magic User/4/1600/1000
Effect: When this card is successfully Summoned, put 1 Magic Counter on this card (to a maximum of 1). For each Magic Counter on this card, increase this card's attack strength by 300. Also, you may remove 1 Magic Counter to destroy 1 Magic or Trap card on the Field.

(NOTE: A detail that I overlooked while writing here was that Breaker is restricted. However, when I rediscovered this, I had put Breaker onto about two pages of story, and changing all that would be to much hassle. So, I just figured that I'd go with it. This may change at a later point in time.)

2) Skilled Dark Magician- Type: Effect Monster Dark/Magic User/4/1900/1700

Effect: Each time you or your opponent activates a Magic card, put 1 Magic counter on this card (to a maximum of 3). If there are 3 Magic counters on this card, you may sacrifice this card to Special Summon 1 [Dark Magician] from your hand, deck or Graveyard.

3)Chaos Magician- Light/Spellcaster/6/2400/1900
The effect of a Monster which target on this card is repealed.

Hope that is sufficient. If you have further questions, send 'em in. I love getting stuff from my fans.