Chapter Three: Tournament Begin!
It was a new day, and the whole city stirred in anticipation of the upcoming event. As of 4:30 PM, the New Mephisto City Tournament would begin. People were even starting to gather outside the front gates of the Blackheart Corporate Business center.
Even the casually late Nick Poljacik was up early this morning, as he was excited about the tournament. He was planning to cut class today so that he'd be able to wait outside the front gates as well. He had to have a place in this tournament no matter what.
"NIIICK, IT'S 15 MINUTES TO EIGHT! DIDN'T YOU SAY YOU NEEDED TO LEAVE EARLY TODAY?" Duo called from downstairs.
Nick hurried down, and grabbed some yogurt from the fridge. He walked over to Duo's room.
"Nick, I hope you're not thinking of cutting today to go the the front gates of the Business Center. Those people out there are just going to be told to move along by the security. I've been reading about this tournament on the internet, and also looking into the Blackheart Corporation's policy on people loitering outside their building. It would just be a waste of time to go down there just to be kicked out. Here's your money for today, now get moving."
Nick took the envelope from his brother's hand, and took a look at his brother's computer monitor.
"Hey! Is that the new Strongbad Email? I wanna watch it..."
"Too bad Nick, you gotta go now. I'll let you use my computer later if you want, so don't worry about it."
Nick left Duo's room and shut the door behind him. He put his ear on the door to take a quick listen...
"Dear Strongbad,
Do you like to play Duel Monsters? I heard from The Cheat that you are the Duel Monsters Champion of Strong Badia.
Your friend, Antonio N.
New Mephisto City
Well Antonio, the only person I've ever dueled was dis guy named Yugi. He looked like he came straight from a Japanese cartoon! Except, he didn't have any blue hair...In da end, The Cheat helped me to cheat, and I ended up vanquishing him to--"
Nick took at look at the clock, it was 5 minutes to eight. He wished he could stay, but he wanted to get in line early for the event at the Blackheart Business Center.
---
Nick arrived at the front gates of the Business Center at 8:35. He was met by a crowd of hundreds, possibly thousands of people awaiting the time when the gates would open. He saw many familiar faces, classmates and others.
"Hey guys, it's Nick! He came here too!"
It was one of the upperclassmen from school, Jason. Nick saw him in the computer lab yesterday. Jason was a a great duelist, as he had won several local tournaments held at card shops in the city.
A group of students along with Jason gathered around Nick, commending him for his duel against Manny the other day.
"So all of you decided to cut class today too?"
"Oh no, upperclassmen like us don't start school until next week. What are you doing here Nick? Aren't you in your first year at New Mephisto High?"
"Yeah, but I was too excited about this tournament. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity after all, and I wasn't gonna miss it for school. You're not going to tell anyone I'm here are you?"
"Don't worry about it Nick, as a fellow duelist, I can understand. Just as long as you promise me a duel, 'cause I WANT that Tyrant Dragon of yours...Hehe..."
"Well, we'll have to see about that, now won't we? You all saw how I--"
*HOOOOOOOOOOOONKK!!!!*
Nick was barely able to finish his sentence when a security horn sounded. A black car drove up to the gates and two men stepped out. They were Manuel Figo and Sumga Hong, two of Jeff Blackheart's henchmen. The larger of the two men, Sumga took out a bullhorn.
"ATTENTION! Until 3:30 PM today, NO ONE will be allowed outside of these gates! They will open promptly at 3:30, and then people will be allowed to gather. As for right now, all of you must leave immediately! Any people who remain will be arrested! NOW GO!!"
Sumga stepped back into the car, and Manuel drove them away.
"No...then that means I have to go to school! And since I'll be coming in late for cutting, they'll give me detention! NOOO!!!"
Nick walked to school as quickly as he could, so he could try to sneak into class unnoticed.
---
The school was in his sights, and he took at glance at his watch. It was 9:23. It took him almost 20 minutes to get to school from the Business Center. He took note of that and hurried along.
"Hmm...almost 9:30. I'll be able to sneak in for second period, but Mr. Marcus will wonder where I was during first. C'mon brain...let's come up with an excuse...."
By the time Nick was on school grounds, second period had already started. Nick walked along the walls of the school building and crept below the windows so no one would see him. Finally, he reached the window where he'd be able to sneak into Mr. Marcus' class. Now he just had to wait for his opportunity...
"Hm, the class is busy doing Mr. Marcus' lesson for today, and Marcus has got his back turned...looks like he may be asleep at his desk. Now's as good a time as any..."
Nick slowly opened the window and gently set his backpack on to the floor. The others saw him at the window, but he shushed them before they said anything. Carefully and quietly, Nick slid through the window, making sure nothing got caught on the window sill, and not to make any noise. As he crawled through into the classroom, the wind picked up...blowing the window shut.
"AW! ****!!" yelled Nick as he fell on the classroom floor. "Ouch...my ass..."
Before he knew it, Nick was looking up at Mr. Marcus.
"Nice of you to join us Nick, maybe you'd like to join the principal in her office?"
Nick slowly got up on his feet, and Mr. Marcus escorted him to the office. As they walked down the hallway, Mr. Marcus looked very disappointed.
"Nick, I can understand why you were late today, but sneaking into class? If you had just told me you went to the Blackheart Business Center, I would have covered you."
"How did you know?"
"I was there." Mr. Marcus said as they approached the principal's office. "I saw you talking to a group of upperclassmen. I left as soon as those two goons showed up, I knew what they had to say, so I just came to school late. Well here we are..." He knocked on the door.
"Yes?" A woman's voice came from the office.
"I've got another one for you, ma'am...His names Nick Poljacik."
"Go ahead and send him in. I'm talking to a couple of others too."
Nick hesitantly went through the door and took a seat in front of the principals desk.
"Well, Nick, was it? I'm Principal Sheratt. Do you know either of these two young men?"
Nick looked over to see both Antonio and Manny sitting on separate chairs.
"Yes I do ma'am, that's Tony and the other guy's name is Manny."
"Okay, that's all I needed to know. Antonio, Manny, you may go. I need to speak to Nick."
"Yes ma'am!" Tony and Manny said as they stood up and quickly left the office.
"Now Nick, those two told me that it was your idea to cut school today. They came in late this morning and said that they decided not to go with you after all, and that there was nothing the two of them could do to keep you from going. Was it really worth it going to the Business Center early?"
"No it wasn't ma'am." Nick was avoiding eye contact with her. As he eyes roamed around the room, they locked onto a Duel Disk, sitting next to her coat on a chair.
"Nick, I'm going to make you a deal. Since you and your two friends will be getting detention today, you'll be missing the tournament commencement today at 3:30. I'll give you the chance to lift that punishment off of you and your friends."
"Great! What do I have to do?" Nick said in eager delight.
"Beat me in a duel. Now put your Duel Disk and get ready to lose!"
---
Nick was surprised. His principal, a duelist!? The things that he sees in this town...
"I never expected the principal to be a duelist...but wait... Maggie Sheratt? Wait! That sounds familiar...she's...she's the REGIONAL CHAMPION!!"
"Now Nick, are you ready?" She crossed her arms, then quickly stood up straight, arms pointing out in a T-shape. "Commence Western Super Administrative Disciplinary Style! Duel Disk activate!!!"
She ended up in a weird pose with her arms pointing to one side of the room, while her legs were bent in the opposite direction.
"Who does she think she is? A member of the Ginyu Force?"
"Umm...can we start now, ma'am?" Nick said puzzled at her little performance.
Nick: 4000 Sheratt: 4000
"Okay, I begin by playing one monster facedown and two cards facedown."
"I play Goblin Attack Force in attack mode. I equip it with Fairy Meteor Crush, and attack your set monster."
"Argh! My Penguin Soldier!!"
She watched as a tiny Penguin Soldier was being assaulted by a team of Goblins, attacking with the force of meteors. Before the Penguin was destroyed, it threw its tiny sword at the Goblins, piercing them, and sending them back to Nick's hand.
"What happened?" Nick said as the card flew back to his hand.
"Well, Mr. Poljacik, my Penguin Soldier's effect allows me to return monsters to their owner's hand once it is flipped. But with your Fairy Meteor Crush, I lost 1800 Lifepoints in the process. However, now you're open to a direct attack. A small price to pay to clinch this game for me..." She smirked, making Nick incredibly nervious.
Nick: 4000 Sheratt: 2200
"So now I draw my card, and end this game."
"What? What do you mean you end this game?"
"I mean, this game is over. Time to finish you off."
"That's big talk for someone who doesn't even have a monster on the field."
"Ah, well I'm sorry kid, but this move will leave you with nothing. Literally."
"We'll just have to see." Nick shot back...but in his mind he was nervious. If she could bring out something strong enough, this game was over.
"I summon the mighty Flying Penguin in attack mode!"
"Ha! You call that a game winning play? That pathetic thing only has 1200 attack power!'
"Just wait and see what happens, my impatient little boy. I will pay 2000 lifepoints to activate my facedown trap card, Blackheart Role Call! Now I choose one monster on my side of the field. I choose my Flying Penguin. Now I choose one word of its name, Penguin. That means that I may summon as many monsters with the name Penguin as I want from my deck."
Nick looked foward in awe. She HAD won this game...He just had to wait for her attack.
"Aww...what's wrong Nick? Know that you've already lost this game? Well, honey, sorry if you didn't believe me when I told you before! Now I summon 2 more Flying Penguins, and 2 Bolt Penguins, with 1100 attack power. Now I equip my first Flying Penguin with United We Stand, increasing its attack power to 5100! Now I equip the two other Flying Penguins and one Bolt Penguin with Axes of Despair, and my remaining Bolt Penguin gets equipped with Mage Power. Now I have an UNSTOPPABLE PENGUIN ARMY!!!"
"There's nothing I can do...I've lost...and I let down my friends...Now they won't be able to enter the tournament either...Tony...Manny...I'm sorry..."
Nick had never faced a Championship duelist before, and he'd made an amateur mistake in attacking her Penguin Soldier without thinking first...now he stood facing 5 monsters that could easily take away all his lifepoints...
Flying Penguin-5200/5000
Flying Penguin-2200/1000
Flying Penguin-2200/1000
Bolt Penguin-2100/800
Bolt Penguin-3600/3300
"Now, Penguin Army, DIRECT ATTACK!!!"
Nick was horrified as five penguins rushed towards him. The Flying Penguins attacked and pecked at his face while the Bolt Penguins whipped at his body with their electro-whip arms. Nick fell to the ground as his lifepoints dropped.
Nick: -11300 Sheratt: 200
"What? My lifepoints are negative?"
"Oh, did I forget to tell you? As an Blackheart Corporate Admnistrator, I activated my Administrative Discipline Protocol when we began the duel. It allows my monsters to make your lifepoints go into the negative zone, causing you a Time Penalty. But as time passes, it will slowly return to the normal 4000. You can't duel again until it reaches at least positive one, and you must duel with the current amount on your lifepoint counter. So now, you will probably never get to participate in the tournament, and you will not be able to duel normally for quite awhile. And if you actually do manage to enter, you'll be at a great disadvantage."
"But...why me?!" Nick said with tears forming in his eyes.
"That's what you get for cutting class at my school. Your two friends, however, may leave school at the normal 3:00 today. They confessed while you tried to sneak into class. I expect you to be in detention from 3:00 to 4:00 afterschool today. Now get back to class."
"Damn...It'll take me at least 20 minutes to get to the Blackheart Business Center. By the time I actually get there, I won't be able to enter...But she's a Blackheart Administrator. That means she must be one of Blackheart's Eliminators in the tournament. If all his cronies have access to those Blackheart cards, there's no way anyone who faces an eliminator will ever be defeated by one of the entrants. Even if I did get to enter the tournament, my lifepoint counter won't be back to 4000 for awhile. If I dueled with low lifepoints, I'd be kicked out of the tournament anyway...But if I actually got ahold of a few of those Blackheart cards, maybe I'd be...NO! I can't begin thinking like that. If I win the tournament, I'd have access to those cards anyway, but I'd rather win without them. Well, I'll have a lot of time today to think about that...I've got an hour of detention..."
And so Nick went back to class, and afterschool promptly at 3:00, he went to the detention hall, where usually all of the troublemakers would be.
"Well, I've got an hour to kill, I might as well make myself comfortable." Nick said as he sat at a desk, and took out his notebook.
---
Nick sat bored out of his mind in the detention hall, pondering how he would be able to get out of detention or possibly stay until 4:00 and still make it to the Business Center before the front gates are closed and President Blackheart arrives.
He stared at his notebook, writing down the names of Blackheart Cards he had seen used before. He knew these cards were incredibly powerful, and that normal cards he could get in booster packs wouldn't be enough to be able to defeat them.
"Hmm... Blackheart Role Call-Pay 2000 Lifepoints to activate, choose one monster on your side, choose one word in their name, and special summon up to 4 monsters from your deck with a name containing that word....It's an interesting card. If I was able to get a Horn of Heaven or been able to use my Torrential Tribute card, I could've cleared the whole field and won the game... Now I'm stuck here with negative lifepoints."
"Hey wait a minute!" Nick looked around. "This place is completely empty! No one is even here watching me serve my detention! I better just leave!" He had been so immersed in his notebook that he didn't even notice that everyone was gone.
Nick rushed out and looked at his watch. It was 3:45. He was excited, as the event at the Blackheart Business Center only begun 15 minutes ago, and he would make it there! While rushing to get to the event, he decided that he had some time to spare, so he'd stop by at a local card shop and pick up a few booster packs. It was on the way downtown anyway.
He ran down the streets rushing downtown. "Okay, it's 3:58. If I stop by at the card shop and just drop in and get out, I'll get at the Blackheart Business Center by 4:15." Nick reached into his pocket and took out the exact cost for 3 booster packs.
As Nick barged through the door of the card shop, an old man greeted him kindly. "Hello, child, what can I get you today?"
Nick hopped around the store and picked out 3 booster packs, "Just these three, Mister. I left the money on the counter with exact change! I'm in a hurry...so THANKS! BYE!!"
"What a nice young boy..." The old man said. "He must be on his way to Blackheart Business Center. Heh...good thing I already have my Duel Disk ready...hehehe...."
---
4:24 PM, Blackheart Business Center Front Gates
"Whew, I just made it...the gates aren't closed yet."
Nick walked into the gates and towards a registration machine.
[Please insert the green cord into your Duel Disk input port.]
Nick followed the directions the machine gave him.
[Thank you for registering in the New Mephisto City Tournament. Please wait for your Decoder Device to be transported to the drop down box below.]
"Yes...finally, this is it!"
[I'm sorry, although you are registered for the tournament, there are no more available Decoder Devices. Please try again later. Thank you.]
"WHAT!?! No more !@#%#@$ Devices?! Then how am I even gonna be able to duel in the tournament?!"
"Hey kid, quiet down, Mr. Blackheart is going to make his announcement in a few minutes, and we don't need little kids like you causin' so much noise."
"Ugh...I'l have to try and get ahold of one later. Ah! This guy has got his hands on my shoulders."
"Did you hear me, kid? Keep quiet before things need to get ugly around here."
Nick turned around to be met by a large man in a black trenchcoat. It was Siefer "Ghost" Gambianni. Nick had no idea who he was, and surely, he didn't want to.
"Yeah, I h-h-heard you s-s-sir...I'll b-be quiet..."
"Damn right you will. A mouth like yours won't get you far. And if it does, I'll be sure to take care of you myself. Haha..."
Siefer turned around and walked away, leaving Nick incredibly intimidated. Nick looked around for a minute for Laurna and Tony. He found them with a group of other students.
"Hey Tony! Laurna over here!!!" Nick called to them.
"Hi Nick! I thought you had detention...I didn't think you'd make it." Laurna said, pleased to see Nick.
"Yeah, Nick, what are you doing here? Detention is until 4:00 and there's no way you could have made it here on time." Tony looked a little puzzled.
"Well, there was no one around, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to leave a little bit early."
"Tsk tsk...Boys...if no one sees it, it's okay isn't it? I guess I'll never figure you guys out. Maybe I'll just forget about dating guys and-"
"Your attention please! President Blackheart will be arriving at anytime now to make his commencement speech. Please be courteous and keep your damn mouths shut!" Siefer wanted to make sure that these people respected President Blackheart. Nick wondered exactly who he was and what sort of work he did for the company.
"Geez...that guy. I was a bit angry earlier because the registration machine didn't give me a Decoder Device, and he came up to me and tried to intimidate me. What a jerk..."
"C'mon man, be quiet already. Blackheart is already stepping up onstage."
Jeff Blackheart very rarely made any sort of public appearances. Yesterday's announcment was a big surprise. Now, he appeared before a large groupe of thousands of people. He wore a very dark trenchvest. Underneath he was wearing a long-sleeve black shirt, with leather straps wrapped around his arms all the way down the sleeves. His pants were black, with all sorts of strange zippers and chains which seemed to serve no purpose whatsoever except for decorative. All his clothes has a strange luster to them, as if they were absorbing all light, but also reflecting it. Blackheart didn't seem much older than most of the people who gathered at the event. Half of them had never even seen President Blackheart before, and some people had even doubted he exists.
"Welcome ladies and gentlemen, to the beginning of the end. The end of normal life as you know it to be in New Mephisto City. The next few months of duels and battling will be worth much more than petty rivalries and reputation, but millions upon millions of dollars of riches. All that will be necessary is that you win the tournament and then defeat me in a duel."
"What a load of crap!" Nick blurted out.
"Did I say that outloud? Oh wait, I did. I mean to think that, but then....Oh crap, Blackheart's looking my way."
"Excuse me, youngman? If you have a suggestion to make about my tournament, feel free to come up and make it, the mic is yours." Jeff made a motion for Nick to come up on stage.
Nick went onstage very nerviously. Laurna and Tony looked on.
"Oh...what's Nick gotten himself into this time..." Laurna thought.
"What's your name kid?" Jeff questioned him.
"My name's Nick Poljacik."
"Nick, huh?" Siefer stepped in and whispered something to Jeff. "Oh, my friend here says that you've caused a little bit of trouble here today, Nick."
"I was just mad 'cause your stupid registration machine didn't give me a Decoder Device."
"Oh, is that it? You entered my tournament, but you have no way to duel in it? I see. Well, you see my friend Siefer Gambianni here?" He pointed over to Siefer. "He's an eliminator in my tournament. You entered, but have no Decoder. As an eliminator, he carries 5 Devices with him at all times. Even though you have no Decoder, you may still duel my Eliminators for one Decoder Device at a time. However, that may be an extremely daunting task."
"That's still crap. Even if anyone of us won your tournament, how would we expect to beat you or any of your eliminators? With those Blackheart Cards you made, how can any of us expect to win?"
"Watch your mouth Nick. I can expel you from my tournament as I may please. You're making me angry now. If you want a Decoder that badly, you can have one, if it will stop your whining. Siefer, give him one."
Siefer handed Nick a Decoder Device. Nick seemed extremely pleased.
"Nick, you can keep that under one condition. You duel me right now. If you win, I'll give you my whole deck. If you lose, you can still keep the Decoder, but you'll have to do whatever I tell you to. I haven't decided quite yet...But I'll come up with something creative."
"But I can't duel, one of your Administrators gave me a Time Penalty."
"Oh, I'm sorry, then no Decoder for you...."
"I'll take his place." A voice came from the crowd.
It was Duo, Nick's brother.
"Duo? Are you sure about this?"
"Nick, I know how badly you wanted to enter this tournament. Cutting class, leaving detention early...If this goes well, I'll even give you my Decoder."
"Awwwww, how nice. Well, then I suppose you're willing to undergo whatever punishment I decide for you then, Duo?"
"I won't need to, because I'm NOT going to lose..." Duo said with a smirk.
"Well then, let's start put on a show for these people! I'm sure that this duel will get them excited, as the New Mephisto City Tournament begins RIGHT NOW!!!"