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."