Daniel slid a card into the graveyard and the Dragon Cannon began to gather energy in all of its weapons. "I target your precious Earth Crusher." In a flash of laser energy the Cannon blew the Earth Crusher to pieces, leaving Robert with nothing to protect him. "And for the finale I'll trigger the magic card Monster Reborn to revive a monster from either graveyard. I choose to bring back your Beast of Talwar under my control!" As the falchion-wielding demon appeared all three of Daniel's monsters prepared their attacks, simply waiting for his signal.
It never came. Robert placed his hand on his deck and sighed. "I surrender."
The scene had been replayed over and over on the television in his office. Something about the way that boy had played his combo had sparked something in the man's head. It was so deliciously lethal to watch the boy dash his opponent's hopes of winning on the rocks. ("Perhaps he is worthy of the test.")
The man reached over and pressed a button on his desk, listening to the buzzer. Seconds later a voice came on the other line. "Yes sir?"
Eyes still watching the replays of the duel the man said, "Send an emissary to test the duelist named Daniel Pilkington."
There was silence on the other end of the line, until finally the voice asked, "And what would the ordered punishment be if the boy failed the test?"
A dark smile crossed his lips. "It would be the same punishment that any other duelist who fails the test gets."
It never came. Robert placed his hand on his deck and sighed. "I surrender."
"Kill him."
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Amidst the cheers and applause, Daniel couldn't help but smile. He removed his graveyard from his duel disk and shuffled all of his cards back together, before pocketing his deck. Robert had already left the arena in a rage, so Daniel didn't get a chance to shake his hand and say good game. ("Oh well, his loss.") The announcer announced the next duel while Daniel rejoined the others up in the duelist stands.
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Deondre smiled widely and clapped Daniel on the shoulder. "Who'd have thought that magic card you had would actually win you a game?" Everyone around Daniel shook their heads at that. They didn't understand why he had stopped attacking just so he could use that combo.
Blushing slightly, Daniel shrugged. "I like Rise of the Machines. It's a cool card and the ability is awesome. Can you blame me for wanting to try the combo?"
Allon added in, "But you could have lost because of it. It was a pretty foolish move. I thought all of us taught you the game better than that Daniel."
As all of his friends scolded him, Daniel lowered his eyes to his feet and mumbled defensively, "Hey I won the duel didn't I?"
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The announcer called out of the name's of the next few matches. Each one passed by rather unspectacularly, at least in Daniel's opinion. It did give him a look at the strategies of opponents that he might be facing in the near future though, so he kept his attention on each game and quickly memorized any new card effects he saw being played.
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Outside of the stadium a jet helicopter landed down on top of the building's roof. As the engine cooled down the door of the vehicle opened and a man hopped out, his features completely obscured by a thick black cloak he is wearing. He reaches into a pocket and pulls out a photo of his target. Making sure he had every little detail of the boy's face down in his head, he crumpled the picture and threw it to the wind.
"How long will you be?" The pilot asked from inside the helicopter.
"From what the master has said the boy possesses an effective deck. I however, doubt he will be a challenge. I will keep in touch. Be ready if I need an emergency escape from this place." When the pilot nodded the cloaked man turned and entered the building through the roof stairs. ("Daniel Pilkington will soon find himself wishing he had never been born.")
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As another duel came to its end CJ sighed and put his head in his hands. Every deck he had seen so far was rather boring, and it was driving him nuts. He was a big man with dark-skin, and because of his temper his friends always related him to a gorilla. ("I can't wait for my chance to show the guys that my new deck possesses strategies that none of them could even hope to beat.") He'd show them that he wasn't just a mindless beatdown player.
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The randomizer machine flickered with the names of the remaining duelists, until it finally came to a stop. The announcer yelled into the microphone, "Will CJ Anderson and Commander please step into the dueling arena!"
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CJ clapped his hands together in joy. ("All right, here we go!") He slid his duel disk onto his arm and turned to his friends. "Wish me luck."
Daniel patted his friend on the back and smiled. "You won't need it. You've got all the luck you need."
Deondre nodded. "Yeah, he is the best out of all of us when it comes to top-decking the cards he needs." He ducked when CJ threw a punch for his head.
Growling, CJ ignored whatever jibes Allon and Janeam had for him, stomping down the steps and into the arena. He looked around at the other parts of the stands and scratched the top of his head. "Where's my opponent?"
The sound of a horse caught his attention as a man in a suit of medieval knight's armor rode up on the horse from the ground level entrance. "I shall be your opponent!"
The entire arena went silent as the man climbed off his horse. Finally CJ broke the silence. "Is this some kind of joke!?"
His knight's armor hiding his face, Commander chuckled and took his position facing CJ in the ring. His Duel Disk clicked into place and the life point total appeared above his head. "What's the matter varlet? Does my appearance frighten you?"
CJ's Duel Disk clicked into place and his life point total appeared. "Nobody frightens me! Bring it on tin man!"
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Up in the duelist stands Janeam shook his head. "Is it just me or does CJ always get the opponents who just aren't right in the head?"
Allon scratched at his beard and nodded. "You're right he does tend to play against crazy people. Maybe it's just because he is a mad man himself?" That put all four of the friends deep into thought. They would have gotten into a deeper debate, but the duel was starting.
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Commander drew his five cards and bowed to CJ. "As an act of charity you may go first."
CJ drew and threw down a monster onto his disk. "I summon Mad Dog of Darkness (1900/1400) in attack mode. End turn." A demonic looking dog appeared and howled, before bringing its snarling gaze upon the armored duelist.
Commander drew his card and laughed haughtily. "I shall slay thy beast! I summon forth the mighty Warrior Dai Grapher (1700/1650) in attack mode! And then to arm him properly I shall give him the magic card Legendary Sword, to raise his attack and defense power by 300 points!" (2000/1950) A burly warrior carrying a sword appeared and snapped his weapon back and forth, yelling out a battle cry as his sword was replaced by a much fancier blade.
"Now Warrior Dai Grapher, attack his monster!" Dai Grapher flew across the field and in one slice the Mad Dog was destroyed.
CJ- 7900
Commander- 8000
CJ considered throwing an insult at Commander, but changed his mind about it. ("I have to show the other guys that I'm not the berserk duelist that I used to be.") He took a deep breath and drew his next card. "I summon Enraged Battle Ox (1700/1000) in attack mode." A tall red-faced Minotaur beast appeared on the field and snorted, brandishing its weapon. He grabbed another card from his hand and slid it into the bottom of the duel disk. "Next up I'll give him a boost with the United We Stand magic card. This'll increase his attack power by 800 points for every monster I have on the field!" The Enraged Battle Ox howled as it started to glow. (2500/1800)
CJ pointed at Commander's Warrior Dai Grapher. "Now tear down his Warrior!" The Enraged Battle Ox lunged forward and in one slash Dai Grapher was gone.
CJ-7900
Commander-7500
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Deondre sighed and shook his head. "CJ and his beatdown strategy is such an old thing for him. He needs to look into a new strategy." He made sure he said this just loud enough for CJ to hear, eliciting an angered growl from said beatdown duelist's throat.
Daniel slapped Deondre in the back of the head. "Stop criticizing him Deondre. Want me to get on your case about you never changing your strategy?"
Deondre grimaced in protest, but he went silent and watched the duel.
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Commander chuckled again and drew. "You're a pitiful excuse of a duelist. Is brute force your only answer to a problem? It'll be your downfall you know?" He set two cards in his magic/trap zone and ended his turn.
CJ looked like he was on the verge of going over and beating Commander senseless. "I've had enough of your insults! Try this!" He drew and forcefully tossed another onto his disk. "GO D.D. CRAZY BEAST! (1400/1400)" A strange looking red and teal beast with googly eyes appeared and made a weird garbling roar.
His voice calmed slightly as the energy of United We Stand increased the Enraged Battle Ox's power. (3300/2600) "Now I'll show you that I don't need strategy to beat you! Show him what I mean Crazy Beast!" The odd beast roared and flew in, biting Commander forcefully on the shoulder.
CJ- 7900
Commander- 6100
CJ motioned to his Battle Ox next. "Now send him to his knees beneath your might Enraged Battle Ox. Axe slam attack!" The Battle Ox launched in next and brought its weapon down hard on Commander's shoulder, sending him to the ground.
CJ- 7900
Commander- 2800
As Commander stumbled to his feet CJ smiled. "You still wanna talk big tin man? Or maybe you should just surrender now. You won't recover from the damage my attack dealt to you."
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Up in the duelist stands Daniel stood up and shook his head in frustration at CJ's actions. "I'm going to go get something to drink. Does one of you guys want to tell him his mistake?"
Deondre smiled slightly. "Naw, he'll figure out soon enough that Commander wanted him to attack. I'll tell you if you missed anything important." Daniel nodded and jogged up the steps to the exit.
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Commander drew his next card and sighed. "You are an angry fool. That is one of the most dangerous kinds of idiots in the world." His Duel Disk slid open a slot for a field magic card and he played it. "Prepare to face the true power of a strategist. I play the field magic card Castle of Knights!" There was an earth-shaking rumble and a huge castle started to form at Commander's feet, lifting him high up above the arena. Everyone found it hard to believe that the hologram was somehow keeping him up in the air, but since it was somehow doing so they didn't argue.
CJ felt the sweat drip down his back. "And what does your little house do?"
Commander struck a noble pose. "I am so glad you asked! You see I can only activate this card if on the turn before I play it I have lost at least 4000 life points. Thanks to your foolhardy strategy of attack I have met that requirement easily."
CJ would have gone over and beaten Commander to a literal pulp right the and there if he could, but his opponent was several dozen feet in the air above him. "You never answered my question!"
Commander chuckled again. "Ah yes. My Castle of Knights has many powers. The first is that it restores my life points by 8000!" A golden glow enveloped him and his life point total sky-rocketed.
CJ- 7900
Commander- 10, 800
"Its next power is that as long as it is on the field all of my warrior sub-type monsters gain 1000 defense points." He took a card from his hand and slid it into his graveyard. "The final ability is that once per turn I may discard a card from my hand to summon forth a Castle Knight (1000/2500) in defense mode!" The drawbridge to the castle opened up and a plain looking knight trudged out, falling to one knee with his shield in front of him.
Commander pressed his end turn button. "I end my turn. Make your next move knave."
CJ growled and looked the field over. Then he looked his hand over and sighed heavily. ("Nothing I have in my hand can get past his castle. I'm going to have to draw something or else he will have me locked out of attacking.") His hand inched for the top card of his deck. He drew it and everyone in the lower audience stared in awe. CJ opened his eyes slowly and a smile crossed his lips. ("Topdeck.")
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Daniel started his slow trek back to the arena from the concession stands. He really wasn't in any hurry. ("I've seen the Castle of Knights deck strategy before. It's a top level defense card for Warriors. It's going to take everything that CJ has to beat through it.")
The cloaked man looked out from around the corner and saw his quarry. Stepping out from behind the pillar he was using as cover he yelled, "Boy!"
Daniel looked behind him lazily and saw a tall guy with a black cloak obscuring his features confronting him. "Something you want? Autograph maybe?" He knew it was a bad joke but the guy didn't exactly seem like someone who wished him well, so he really didn't care.
"I have come here to challenge Daniel Pilkington to a duel. The Shadow Corporation requests a showing of your skills as a duelist." The cloaked man swept his cape aside to reveal a duel disk clicked into place.
Daniel watched him a few second, then turned away and kept walking. "Whatever buddy. I have an important duel to get back to."
("The Master told me that you might be unwilling to cooperate.") He put on an air of feigned sadness. "So you do not wish to duel. Such a shame it will be to have to throw this Blowback Dragon monster card away."
Daniel froze in his tracks and spun around, his duel disk already clicked into place. "You never told me that a Blowback Dragon would on the line if I won. Of course I'll play you then!"
The cloaked man shed his disguise, revealing almost hawkish features and pale face on his gaunt frame. "Excellent. I was hoping you would see it my way. My name is Hawk by the way." He threw a strange black box about the size of a deck box to Daniel. "Your card is in there. Attach it to your arm and the duel shall begin."
Daniel checked the box over and didn't see anything sinister about it, so he pressed it against his arm. It made a whirr noise and a black band snapped out around his bicep, latching the box to him. Before he could protest he felt something from inside the box stab into his skin. "GAHH!!! What is this thing!?!?" He tugged on it, and that only moved whatever was stuck in his arm around, sending jolts of pain into him.
Hawk smiled coldly. "Consider it a handicap, and also consider it your part of the bet. That device has a powerful group of surgical nanomachines within it. Now those machines are within your blood stream. When you take damage in the duel they will damage your body in.....interesting ways. When you run out of life points they are programmed to kill off your brain."
When he saw Daniel's terrified expression he couldn't help but smile. "Look on the bright side though. If you win you get a Blowback Dragon. If you lose though you will die. I suggest you duel you hardest." His maniacal laughter sent chills up Daniel's spine.
To be continued...
Next Chapter: The Shadow's test
Author's notes: Hey there! I'm glad I got some reviews from people. Really refreshing to actually know that people are reading my stuff. I'd like to thank anyone who sent in character/deck ideas, and I still wouldn't mind more if anyone else is willing to send in stuff. By the way, I know that I made fun of CJ and his Earth Beatdown deck a lot in this chapter, but don't flame me if you like beatdowns. I like them too.