Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh. But I do own the characters and some cards I created.
Celtic Guardian 7: I love the name Lyn too and yes, I remember Hope's full name: Hope Lyn Giles. Btw, if you find some names too common and similar, please don't be angry at me. I have littleto no problem writing a story but creating names gives me migraine.
Okay, I'm away from home. Now what? I don't even have any idea what I'm supposed to do or where to go.
Lyn sighed bitterly as she tried to decide on what to do. She had arrived at Serk yet again and had purchased several booster packs from the local card shop. Tearing the tops apart, she was both happy and disappointed at the cards she had gotten. To help herself relax and build her new deck, she went to a café and ordered an ice lemon tea. As she looked over her new cards again, she went over what her mother had told her about deck-building.
It's important to build your deck around a theme. This way you know what your deck is supposed to do. Without a deck theme you'll just be playing randomly with whatever cards that comes into your hand. There are many themes you can play, so I'll leave it up to you to choose from the notes I've given you. As an example though, I'll tell you my own. My theme is quite simple, based around a monster card, Black Paladin. I concentrate on cards which help him. To bring him out, I needed Buster Blader and Dark Magician. Therefore, I concentrate on cards which help me bring the both of them out, which were Skilled Dark Magician and Skilled White Magician. Then, in order to strengthen him, I use the trap card DNA Surgery with a few others.
That was what her mother had said a month ago. She remembered now. Still, it did not help make things any easier. Thinking about what theme to build from gave her a headache. Sighing in frustration, she frowned as she tried to remember something else her mother had said, something more recent.
It'll be easier for you to duel if you make a deck that can take advantage of your Deck Master's ability.
Of course. That was what she had said during their duel. Lyn's hand went to her pocket and she retrieved her Soul Monster's card. She looked at the blank front and tapped at it thoughtfully.
No use wondering what it is. Might as well just unleash it to find out, she told herself. She slid the card into her Duel Band.
At first nothing happened, then suddenly came something that she could only describe as a miniature tornado. It happened so surprisingly that she ducked and covered herself without thought. When the tornado stopped, she raised her head slightly and found a tall man standing in front of her. He had shining emerald hair and wore an odd outfit-one of those traditional clothing that came from some culture she could not remember- which colors matched his hair. The long-sleeved clothing was the least unusual thing about him though. His entire skin seemed to be purple in color, his eyes a shade of crimson and there was a gold headband around his forehead. In his hand he held a wand. It had four spikes protruding one-sided from it. In the centre there was an emerald orb which shone brightly in the afternoon glare of sunlight.
As she continued to gape at the stranger, she noted how the air seemed to circle around him. She closed her mouth and almost hesitantly asked, "So are you my Soul Monster?" When the question left her mouth she mentally slapped herself. Of course he was her Soul Monster.
"Of course," he replied politely. He held his hand forward. "I am Silphatos-short name, Sil. It's a pleasure to meet you Miss…"
"Feiniel, Lyn Feiniel." She shook his hand and was amazed at how real it felt.
Strange. His hand seems so real. I thought that he would be like the rest of the Duel Monsters, all mere holograms. But then, I never touched them before either.
"Miss, here's your drink and your free booster pack." The voice snapped her back to reality and she looked up to see the waitress who took her order.
"Free booster pack?" she asked confusingly.
"You didn't know? My, you must be pretty lucky then. Our manager has decided to offer free booster packs to new duelists who comes to our café. And you just got the last one. You're very lucky if you ask me.
"How did know I was new?"
The waitress smiled. "Judging by how you were gaping at your Soul Monster, it's obvious to see that you never saw him before, which could mean that you are a seasoned duelist who never relied on you Deck Master or you are new. And seeing how young you are, it's no surprise I guessed the latter."
"I see. Well, thanks for the gift." She was about to open the pack when suddenly a youth came stumbling into the café unceremoniously. He hurriedly got up and brushed himself. Standing slightly taller than Lyn herself, the boy seemed to be around her age. With his dark hair combed sideways, parted at the middle, he smiled almost sheepishly and apologized for the mess he caused. He was clad in simple light blue t-shirt and jeans and strapped on his left arm were a Duel Disk and a Duel Band.
"Hi," he said excitedly, "I heard about the free booster packs. May I have one?"
"I'm sorry young sir. But the lady here has already got the last one. Tough luck." The waitress informed him.
"Awh man, I wanted that free booster pack." He looked at Lyn up and down. "Alright, I'm challenging you to a duel. Winner gets the booster pack," he declared boldly.
Lyn was not certain whether his bravado was to intimidate her or to impress her. What she did know was that it definitely did not achieve its desired effect. Finishing her lemon tea, she replaced several cards in her deck, stood up and activated her Duel Disk. "Fine with me."
No time to ask Silphatos what his ability is. Oh well, I'll find out in this duel anyway.
"The name's Lyn Feiniel. My Deck Master will be Silphatos, a-"she looked at him hesitantly.
"-Silpheed," he supplied.
"Right, call him Sil. And you are?"
"Ryan Randal." He flashed her a grin as he put on his sunglasses and slid a card- which Lyn presumed to be his Soul Monster's card- into his Duel Band. A blinding white light flashed in front of them. Lyn shielded her eyes from the glare. When the light subsided, she found herself looking at a knight in shining armor riding his majestic horse… well, almost. Standing in beside Ryan was a knight riding on a winged dragon. He wore a silver armor trimmed with gold and held a sword in his hand. His cape billowed in the breeze as he raised his sword and his dragon roared. Lyn had to cover her ears-as did Silphatos- when it did.
"Greetings," he intoned formally.
"Meet Ryu, Paladin of White Dragon." Ryan introduced.
He's certainly one for drama, Lyn thought. She shrugged.
"Duel," they both cried out simultaneously.
Lyn: 8000
Ryan: 8000
"Ladies first," Ryan said politely.
"How gentlemanly," Lyn murmured. She drew her card. "One card in defense mode. End turn."
"No trap cards? How unusual. Draw." He drew his card and placed it in face-down defense mode. "And three cards face-down as well." He gestured for Lyn to continue.
Lyn drew and grinned. "I play Heavy Storm which destroys all our trap and magic cards from field." A huge storm suddenly came out of nowhere and blew Ryan's three cards away. "One monster in defense and one card face-down. End turn."
Ryan growled as his cards were blown away. He was about to snap when he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked back. Ryu was holding him back with his free arm. "Calmly my friend," he told him.
Ryan took a deep breath and drew. "Alright, lets bring up the pace a little. I flip-summon my Big Eye (1200/1000)." A monster suddenly appeared. It had two large eyes, one on its forehead and the other on his neck. Eyes covered his entire body. Lyn averted her own eyes from the disturbing sight.
"I'm sorry, is it too terrible to look at? I'll remedy that soon. Before I do however, I get to see the five top cards on my deck and rearrange them in any order I want." He picked up five cards, frowned and put them back without changing their order. "That was certainly a waste. Anyways, I tribute my Big Eye for Luster Dragon (2400/1400) in attack mode."
Big Eye shimmered out of the field, replaced by the beautiful emerald dragon, which roared as it landed came into the field.
"Beautiful, isn't she? One card face-down and Luster Dragon attacks the monster card on the left." The dragon raised its head and cold, icy breath shot out from its mouth, obliterating the monster card- which flipped to reveal a Vampire Lady (1550/1550). She screamed as the icy breath engulfed her, and when it cleared, only an ice sculpture of her was left. It started to crack and suddenly exploded.
Lyn- who was momentarily mesmerized by the dragon's beauty- snapped back into attention when her Duel Disk suddenly beeped, mentally berating herself for not activating her trap card. Text suddenly appeared in front of her. She read through them and grinned. "Well, this is an interesting effect," she told Ryan. "I activate my Deck Master's Ability. When one of my monsters is destroyed in battle, you get to roll a die." A die appeared in front of Ryan. He looked it oddly.
"Is this supposed to frighten me?" he asked. Picking the die up, he tossed it negligently.
"That depends entirely on what number you get. Get 1 and you'll have to discard one card from your hand. 2 and you'll have to discard one from the top of your deck. 3 and you lose your entire hand. If it lands on a 4 then you get to draw a card. Nothing happens if you get a 5, while I get to draw a card if you get a 6. The chances of you losing a card, or several cards-by my calculations- are 50. Luckily for you it can only be used once."
The die continued rolling on the floor until it came to a stop on… 3.
Ryan snarled as he slammed his entire hand into his graveyard. He glared at Lyn, who returned it. "End …turn." It seemed that he was having trouble keeping his temper in check. Once again, Ryu restrained him.
Lyn drew and slammed one monster card onto her Duel Disk. "I set another monster. End turn."
Ryan frowned at his opponent's moves. What is she doing? She been playing defense ever since we started. "I summon Sonic Bird (1400/1000). When it is normal summoned I get to move a Ritual card from my deck to my hand." He picked his card and watched as his deck reshuffled itself. "And Sonic Bird attacks the card you just set."
"I trigger my trap card Negate Attack. Your attack is negated and your battle phase immediately ends."
"Not that I can do anything else anyway. End turn."
"Draw. I hope you have more copies of that Ritual card in your deck, because I'm going to get rid of it. And judging from your Deck Master, I have a very good idea what it is. I play D.D. Designator. I declare 1 card name and if that card is in your hand, it is removed from play. I declare White Dragon Ritual."
Sighing in defeat, Ryan shut his Duel Disk. "That's it. I concede defeat. You have every counter for each of my moves. There's no way I can beat you." He sighed bitterly again.
"What?" Lyn asked in disappointment. "You can't just give up that easily. Even losing can't be that bad. My mother told me that people learn from their losses. If you just admit defeat that easily, you might as well don't duel at all."
Ryan winced at the tone of her voice. Giving a sad smile and bowing his head, he told her, "Maybe, but you're good you know that?"
"Nonsense, I just got lucky with the die roll. That's all. You could have beaten me if you tried really hard."
"Perhaps," he said bitterly. "Well, I'll see you later." He turned and prepared to leave with Ryu.
"Wait! If I give you this booster pack, will you duel more seriously next time?"
When he turned again, there was a bright smile on his face. "I can try. But I feel bad getting free gifts. What say we trade cards?"
Lyn shrugged. "Fair enough for me."
The waitress who had served Lyn watched the exchange behind the curtains. Tracy had to admit the duel was interesting, as far as it went. But even more interesting was how Lyn offered the pack just to help the foolish boy.
Interesting girl. The master was right to be interested in her.
She ran through her master's orders.
A pity she'll have to die so soon, it might be interesting to watch her.
Whistling innocently, she returned to her job, not noticing a pair of eyes watching her.
After hours of trading, haggling and minor chit-chatting, Lyn and Ryan both decided to turn in for the night. They stayed at a local inn (in separate rooms). All in all it was a good day. Lyn got several new cards for her deck and made a new friend.
"Say Sil, what do you think of Ryan and Ryu?" she asked her Soul Monster inside their room.
"He's a good person. A bit hot-tempered maybe, but nevertheless honest and sometimes amusing," he replied.
She grinned. "I thought the same." She checked her clock. "It's getting late. Why don't we go to sleep?"
"Okay." And he vanished into his card.
Lyn changed into her pajamas and tucked herself into bed, sleeping dreamlessly.
Standing outside the room, Tracy crouched low, hidden in the shadows. Putting her ears to the door, she waited until she heard Lyn's regular breathing.
Good, she's asleep.
Her hands went to her pocket, producing the spare key she had easily stolen from the counter. Unlocking the door, she pulled out a knife from her back. When she made to open the door, however, a hand clasped over her mouth, pulling her back sharply.
Instinct instantly kicked in. Bracing herself, she kicked at the floor hard, slamming herself into whoever was holding her. The person seemed to be unaffected, for moments later she felt something sharp entering her back. She felt her body growing numb all over. She was then dragged outside where she was thrown unceremoniously on the ground. As she tried to regain control over her limbs again, she looked at her attacker but all she saw was a hazy figure looming over her.
Must be whatever poison he used on me, she thought.
Then she felt pain explode on her back. She tried to scream but no sound came from her lips. The pain then traveled downwards, and then curved upwards. She gritted her teeth but found even that action denied to her. Every muscle on her body seemed unresponsive to her commands. The pain continued its unknown journey.
And she died screaming silently into the night.
