Chapter One
Fire
For Effect
Deirdre Masako stood in the front of a formed circle surrounding two duelists
at the Battle City Tournament, hosted by Kaiba Corp. His Duel Disk was strapped
and secured on his left wrist and his trusty deck, which had never failed him
before, was in a plastic case in his pocket.
A student at Domino High School, Deirdre was a stoic young man with a rigid
schedule set by his highbrow parents. He wore a black shirt under a smoke gray
vest and matching cargo pants. His dirty blonde hair cascaded over his
bleach-white bandanna and cast his hard features in a dark shroud. Though the
girls at his school would never think him ugly, he was actually quite handsome.
Though his apathetic attitude was enough to throw off even the most determined
of courting ladies.
The battle so far had been intense, as both duelists were renowned for their
skill, but one of the two stood out in particular. Griff, the one-time protégée
of Maximillion Pegasus and the creator of Duel Monsters, was in Domino City on
business and had been in town for the start of the tournament. He had decided
to join mostly because he was bored, but he did not so openly express his
self-superiority too others. Humility was the one lesson that he had to learn
himself.
But more interesting than that, this man had a special secret within his deck
that none were told but the intelligent could easily guess. Being the dueling
pupil of the maker of Duel Monsters gave him the glory of having a deck set to
the brim with all the rarest cards, because all he had too do was ask and his
teacher could snatch one off the assembly line.
He was also the one who convinced Pegasus to release a few impossibly rare
cards into distribution. Griff had been the one who granted the wishes of
duelists worldwide by getting four more Blue-Eyes White Dragon are released.
Also sparsely released were Relinquished, the Thousand-Eyes Restrict, and the
ultra-powerful Toon World magic card.
Currently on the field was one of the rarest monster cards imaginable, the
Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Griff drew a new card from his deck and, being smart as
too not give its importance away, didn't even flinch once he saw it. Though he
then laid it on the field. "I play Toon World."
Shocked gasps echoed throughout the crowd and his opponent, the large and
overpowering Dilo, cringed at the very mention of the card's name. The magical
book materialized and exploded, spreading its pages wide open and releasing a
silhouetted city.
Now, though, a small smile did creep across Griff's face. "Watch this. If you
thought my Blue-Eyes Dragon was invincible before, watch as he is changed into
his super-powered toon form."
A white mist billowed from the book, engulfing his dragon. With a mighty roar,
the powerful beast was sucked into the book and then the cover closed tight.
"Once inside, my dragon is protected against all possible attacks, and that isn't
all." The book opened again and spewed out a smaller, quite comical-looking
monster that resembled the previous Blue-Eyes White Dragon only in color. "My
dragon now becomes the Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon, and I assure you, you'll have a
very difficult time taking him out." Griff accentuated the "very" part of his
explanation like it was an impossible feat.
The little dragon cackled. He knew he was practically invincible and quite
enjoyed flaunting it. Though maybe he just found himself as disgustingly
adorable as everyone else in the audience did.
Griff held out his extended finger. "Now, my dragon! Attack with White Lightning!"
The Toon Dragon giggled and charged a glowing ball of blinding light in its
mouth then released it in the form of a crackling beam upon its opponent's
Buster Blader monster. The monster was annihilated in an instant and reduced
Dilo's life points down to 300.
Next to where the Buster Blader used to be, Dilo's other monster, the Beast of
Talwar, actually showed a sign of fear upon its holographic countenance.
"That is the end of my turn, Dilo. Make whatever last-ditch effort you have
prepared and lets be done with it."
Dilo choked back his fear over not just losing the duel but also his rarest
card and drew another from his deck. Deirdre watched intensely, knowing
full-well that Dilo didn't have a snowballs chance in Hades at winning this
duel now, but why tell him that now? It would be best if he went down in his
prime, fighting his hardest.
"I play the Mechanicalchaser in attack mode." His new monster rose onto the
field and crossed its spear over its spherical body. "Then I lay one card down
and end my turn." The new card flashed onto the field and floated behind his
two monsters.
"Very well," chided Griff and drew another card. He put that into his hand and
set a magic card down. "I play Harpie's Feather Duster, removing your face down
card from the field." He then set down a magic card of his own. "And, just to
add insult to injury, I play Scapegoat." Four multi-colored creatures appeared
around his Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon.
Dilo knew what this was going to amount too and sighed heavily.
"I sacrifice one of my Scapegoat's and bring Summoned Skull into play." A flash
of light and a hulking creature comprised of red muscle and bone appeared on
the field and howled, spreading its wings and getting ready to fly.
"My Toon World card then absorbs the Summoned Skull and transforms him into a
toon as well." Just as before with his dragon, the book absorbed the
monster into itself. Then, it reopened flashing threatening lightning. Then his
new monster, the Toon Summoned Skull rose up and stuck its tongue out at Dilo,
causing a simultaneous laugh from the crowd. Deirdre, though, didn't think
something so dangerous was very humorous.
"Now, Toon Dragon, destroy the Beast of Talwar." With a heavy inhale of its
breath, the stuffed animal-like dragon unleashed its lethal attack and obliterated
the opposing monster. "Summoned Skull, destroy Mechanicalchaser and win me this
duel." Also obeying, lightning crashed and directed onto the monsters wings and
ran down its arms. Then with a heavy push of its hands forward, blasted the
monster with burning electricity and left it nothing but dust. The remaining of
Dilo's life points dropped to zero.
The crowd cheered and applauded Griff's victory. Everyone but Dilo and possibly
Deirdre himself. The reason why Deirdre wasn't so enthusiastic was he now knew
what he had too do. It was a moral obligation more than anything. Plus, he
wanted that card. That oh-so powerful card. His deck would only be complete
once the power to make toons was in his control.
Deirdre pushed his way through the migrating mob until he could see Griff
collect Dilo's locator card and his Gate Guardian. Dilo left without a word,
though the expression on his face said everything. Deirdre approached the
winner, and quite possibly the best duelist in the tournament, and reached into
his pocket, fishing for his deck.
"Griff Terrace, I challenge you too a duel." Deirdre produced his deck and in
his other hand, held up his locator card.
Griff looked at him for a moment, then with a stern expression nodded. "I
accept."
