Kintaro walked casually into the mall, being flooded by people who had seen his duel. He had been popular during his older dueling days. Kintaro didn't care much for popularity, but he didn't mind the group of girls following far behind. Yeah, but after Chi, I think I'll stay off the relationship train for a bit. Kintaro then realized that he should check the standings. There was always a Duel Computer wherever cards were sold. The computer could offer you simulated duels and stats on any tournaments.
Now that the hype of his duel had settled, Kintaro could enjoy his stroll through the mall. He spotted a game store. He walked in and pulled out his ID card and slid it through the reader on the silver computer terminal.
"WELCOME . . . . KINTARO AKECHI" The computer screen read. He didn't put his last name in his application because Kintaro hated Kaiba. Kintaro used the little wireless mouse to scroll the names and their ranks.
1. Kaiba - 88 credits
2. Grinnex Xavier The 9th -
64 credits
3. Masamune Baba - 42 credits
4. Dante "Shadow"
Halter - 28 credits
5. Kintaro Akechi - 18 credits
6. Ryou
Bakura - 17 credits
7. Chi McCabe - 15 credits
8. Joey Wheeler
- 12 credits
9. Rebecca Hawkins - 10 credits
10. Bandit Keith -
9 credits
Several names caught his attention. Kaiba at the top, what else is new? Masamune? You piece of rat crap, I'll get you. Hmm, Chi still is in the running? She didn't have another deck with her. Grinnex? What a name. Kintaro laughed as he thought to himself. Kintaro almost didn't notice that he was in 5th. After printing out the sheet, Kintaro looked around the card store a little more.
The walk around the card store kind of disappointed him. There weren't many of the new cards he wanted. Then he saw a poster. "New Card Tins Coming Next Month!" A picture showed several cards never before released. Not bad.
"Hey, you're Kintaro!" A little voice from behind him said.
Kintaro spun around and saw a pint sized little girl with a teddy bear . . . and a duel disk.
"Aren't you a little young to be wearing one of those?" Kintaro said.
"I only look small but my talent is great. I challenge you to a duel!" She shrieked.
"Only if you bet all of your credits young lady," Kintaro said mockingly as he took a sip of his cola.
"Don't you underestimate me! I'll have you know that I beat Yugi Moto! Who at the current time is world champion!" Rebecca bragged.
"Heh, so you're that brat who smacked around Yugi several years ago. He should have defeated you. Apparently, the lesson he tried to teach you didn't work. You're still a little snot-nosed punk." Kintaro said as he started to walk away.
"So you're just too chicken to take me on, aren't you?" Rebecca said.
"No I just have better ways to waste my time. Now go play with that doll of yours and leave me alone." Kintaro said. He could feel that same anger that he emptied on Chi filling up again.
"Just because some evil lady almost beat you doesn't give you the right to be such an anti-feminist," Rebecca yelled.
Still walking, Kintaro almost laughed. Instead, it turned into more of an evil growl. He felt his body growing cold and his head burning. He turned and looked at Rebecca, who seemed scared at his new gnarled looking face.
"Making faces isn't going to scare me!" She said sticking up her nose.
What's happening to me?
"Then let's duel!" he said in a lower, crueler tone.
Kintaro Akechi (5) Vs. Rebecca Hawkins (9)
The two were now standing on an elevated platform above the main hall in the mall. People started gathering, waiting for the heartthrob Kintaro Akechi to duel.
Wh . . Wh . . . What's . . . happening to my body . . .
"I'm going to wager all nine of my credits. You?" She said.
"I'll wager nine of mine as well, of course, I have more where that came from." Kintaro said.
"Wee! I draw first! Hmm . . . I play one card facedown and I'll summon Black Forest Witch!" Rebecca said. "And I'll end my turn."
A tall, robed, and purple haired woman appeared on the field with a shriek.
"How pathetic. I'll activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your facedown trap." Kintaro hissed.
A pair of cylinders appeared and were destroyed by a single strike of lightning.
"How did you know I had a trap?" Rebecca screamed.
"A hunch. Next I'll summon Particle Beam Cannon!" Kintaro shouted.
A small little man resembling Magical Scientist appeared. He then swung his finger and a large machine fell next to him. It was a small computer connected to a massive generator and a large metallic cannon on top.
0/1500
Dark/Machine/Effect
"This is one of my secret weapons. See, I can pay 900 LP to select and remove one monster on the field from the game. And I choose your Witch!" Kintaro said as he grinned evilly.
The cannon charged up and fired. The blue beam instantly incinerated the woman in purple robes. She didn't even have enough time to scream.
K-7100 R-8000
"HAHAHA! How does it feel? Next I'll set two cards and end my turn." Kintaro finished.
"Hmm . . . I'll play Fissure! Say goodbye to that hunk of metal!" Rebecca laughed.
The ground in front of Rebecca then cracked open and the fissure started heading for the Particle Cannon. As soon as it would hit it, a tall king in purple robes arose from the ground and held out his jewel-encrusted hand. The fissure halted and disappeared.
"What?" Rebecca said.
"Imperial Order, it negates all magic you play." Kintaro said.
"Then I'll just have to destroy it myself. I summon Dunames Dark Witch! Attack the Particle Cannon!" Rebecca yelled.
An angelic woman manifested on the field and spun her scepter. A beam of light then shot out straight towards Kintaro's machine. At the very same moment, the little scientist waved his hands again and the cannon grew larger. As the beam of light approached, the cannon shot it's own beam. The blue particle beam blew straight threw the light beam and blew Dunames Dark Witch to pieces.
K-7100 R-7600
"I activated the trap card Weapon Upgrade! It allows me to special summon my Particle Cannon Lv.4 from my deck by tributing the cannon I had. "
Particle Cannon Lv.4
2200/200
Dark/Machine/Effect
"Since when is this your strategy? I thought you played warriors now?" Rebecca asked.
"So is that how you challenge your opponents? Try to scrape up everything you can about them and then challenge them? Don't you have any guts? That's a slow way to gain momentum in this dueling environment." Kintaro explained.
"I set one card and end my turn." Rebecca said.
Kintaro drew a card and stared at his hand for a moment.
"I play Monster Reborn on my Particle Cannon! Then I tribute it for Android Psycho Shocker!" Kintaro yelled.
As soon as the cannon reappeared, it dissipated into a thousand pieces and formed into a monstrosity beyond comprehension. It was a tall mechanical man with his pulsating brain being the only flesh on his body. He wore a long green robe and studded vest.
"Next, I'll play my Limiter Removal card! It doubles the attack power of all machines of the field!" Kintaro laughed.
Jinzo - 4800 Particle Cannon Lv.4 - 4400
"Attack, my creatures, to end the game!" Kintaro yelled.
In two flashes of red and blue light Rebecca was on her knees, trying not to fall over.
K - 7100 R - 0 Kintaro Wins
"Happy? You little twit. You're eliminated. Now give me your credits!" Kintaro said grimly.
She looked up at him almost crying and emptied her bag into his. W-w-wake . . .up . . . wh-what's . . . happening?
"Now have you learned not to pick fights you can't win?" Kintaro asked her.
How did I lose so fast? I couldn't even muster a decent defense? Rebecca thought as she saw her possibilities of tournament glory swirl down the drain of defeat.
"Hahaha. See you are short stack." Kintaro chuckled.
People stared at Kintaro like he was a deformed menace to society. G-get out . . . of my . . body! Kintaro screamed from the inside. Just then, he fell over. In the wink of an eye, Kintaro could control his body again. What the heck was that? He remembered what he had just done, but he couldn't control any of it. He felt like he had been watching a movie.
"Kin I have yowr ottogwaph?" A little boy said behind handing Kintaro his card binder.
"Don't talk to him Gerald. How dare you pick on little children like that! You are a terrible man!" A short woman said as her other little sons looked on.
The one with the binder just stared between his mother and Kintaro. Kintaro had a choice. He could hold the image he had just created, or he could just play it cool and leave.
"Well ma'am, I don't back down from a challenge. Little or large it doesn't matter. If that little girl was so stupid as to challenge a former champion, then she knew what she was getting into. So keep your fat friggin' nose out of my business you soccer mom nazi!" Kintaro said harshly to the woman's square face as he looked down at the kid once more, and walked away. The mother stared in amazement.
So maybe I was a little tough on her. Who cares? Kintaro thought as he looked for a real challenge. He decided instead that he would look at his deck once more.
It had the White Paladin (which was a big breath of relief for Kintaro) and a few other warriors he had placed in there, but now there were machine monsters. When I wasn't in control of my body, the "it" controlling it must have altered my deck.
As Kintaro left the town center to go home, he decided to take a shortcut and walk through an alleyway. He walked down the path quietly. He stroked the small knife that resided in his pocket. Even the outer city can be as dangerous as the inner, Kintaro knew that much. As he reached the end of it, a shadow stood in his path. "What do you want?" Kintaro barked.
The shadow looked at him with its narrow white eyes and began to say something in another language. The sword pendant around Kintaro's neck now glowed a bright yellow.
"What the heck do you want already?" Kintaro yelled.
"I bet you don't know what that sword does, do you? Or better yet, do you know what it is?" The shadow said.
"Tell me who you are and then I'll consider talking to you." Kintaro said smoothly.
"Just call me Shadow." Shadow said.
"Heh, so you're Dante Halter. How goes the dueling?" Kintaro said.
"Please, just Shadow. I've appeared to you in hopes of achieving a greater goal than you could ever imagine." Shadow spoke.
"Yeah, that's real cute and all but I've got to go home and get sleep before you put me to sleep." Kintaro said.
"So tell me, how powerful has the spirit in that sword?" Shadow said.
Kintaro paused. He had been turning around to go down another street.
"What spirit?" Kintaro said.
"The spirit that lives in your pendant is a very important one. In that sword lies the spirit of the Berserker." Shadow said.
"I'll listen as long as you tell me how you know all this." Kintaro said folding his arms.
Shadow stepped out of the darkness of the rooftop under which he stood. He was very plain. A black ninja's garb and only the upper half of his face showing.
"I am a guardian, a member of a clan that has been watching over great events since the beginning of time. I dedicate my life to making sure that only the light shall prevail." Shadow said.
"If you're a pure soul, then why do you dress in the garbs of the shadows . . . Shadow?" Kintaro said sarcastically.
"I shroud myself in darkness to learn about my enemy and become him. That way I can always be one step ahead. Anyways, the Berserker was the Pharaoh's sole guardian. He went with the pharaoh everywhere until the day of his death. However, he promised, even in death, that he would continue to protect the pharaoh. The spirit is a very rough and tough soldier. He will stop at nothing to find the pharaoh, just so he can stand by his side once more." Shadow said.
"Alright, keep going." Kintaro said now leaning on the alleyway wall.
"Then the day came when the evil sorcerer challenged the Pharaoh to a dark game of Duel Monsters. The Berserker stood in the sorcerer's way, and was defeated. Even though he almost stopped him with his own monsters. The Berserker has slept in that pendant ever since, awaiting for the moment in which the pharaoh needs him again." Shadow finished.
"Then that guy is going to be asleep for a long time because there's no chance that that pharaoh is still alive." Kintaro replied.
"The pharaoh also lives on as a spirit. He lives in the millennium puzzle that Yugi Moto wears. It is my belief that Yugi is in some sort of danger and is what has awakened the spirit of the Berserker Sword. It is your destiny to help and protect Yugi Moto." Shadow said.
"Heh, Moto has that goon Wheeler as his shield. I don't need to bother that kid." Kintaro said sharply.
"You just don't want to be someone's lower. Like everyone else in your family, you have to be number one." Shadow said.
"Maybe. However, I don't see what could be the problem. If it will make you sleep easier, I'll try and find Yugi. Only if he needs it, will I help him. Otherwise, I'm going to duel that shrimp and win." Kintaro said as he pointed to Shadow.
"Before you go, I must share some advice with you. Make friends with that spirit of yours. He should be seen as your companion, not your enemy. Because if he became an enemy to you, your life would surely end. He could eat you from the inside." Shadow said.
"So what's stopping him?" Kintaro said coldly.
". . . I'm not sure." Shadow said, now unsure of himself.
"Well if this crap is true, then he sees me as useful. I'm tired; this talk has been long enough. Tomorrow I'll find Yugi, and I'll keep an eye on him. But only for a little while. I can't play babysitter for the entire IDC season. See you later freak." Kintaro said walking past Shadow.
". . . The pendant chose its owner wisely. I sensed no break in his courage or spirit. He will save the Pharaoh." Shadow said.
"Can you be sure? He is a powerful duelist, but he is unsure of himself. The only way he can be convinced is through his own acceptance." A female voice said from behind where Kintaro once stood.
"I was pretty sure that I awoke the spirit in him. Are you sure the Pharaoh is in danger? My Shield of Mind doesn't warn me of any coming danger." She said as she stroked the tiny shield on her necklace.
"I haven't felt anything either. That's because the gods favor Kintaro and his strength. We won't need to interfere this time. Not yet." Shadow finished.
