Quotes of the Day: "Brevity is the soul of wit." – Mark Twain

Tournament of Souls – Regionals

When Lucien, Aliya, and Raoul got to the board, nothing new was posted. They looked around and saw that Mr. Kiwasaki was waiting with the microphone for the last few duels to end. He also noticed that it was starting to get late – some of the duels had taken a while so it was already a good 3 hours after the start of the tournament, so it was already dark out being about 8 o'clock. The last few duels finished up and Mr. Kiwasaki called for attention.

"Attention! Attention please!" as everyone quieted down he continued.

"This was the last round of the tournament for today, and even though we got less than half of it done, as tomorrow is a weekend, we should have no problem. The 32 people remaining should come here at 1 o'clock tomorrow, ok?" There was a chorus of assent from the crowd.

"Good, I will see you all tomorrow then, and remember, if you are still in the tournament you are not allowed to alter your deck. Thank you and good night." Mr. Kiwasaki went into the back room and all was quiet for a few moments until everyone started talking about the tournament again. As soon as Mr. Kiwasaki had stopped speaking, Lucien had started towards the door of the shop. He saw Amy coming in his direction so he picked up the pace. He was lucky, as soon as he got to the bus stop the bus arrived and he was on it safely before Amy got anywhere close.

Raoul was picked up by his older brother and Aliya was picked up by her mother. As she went home she worried about Amy. If they both won 2 more rounds then they would have to duel in the quarter finals. I don't know if I can duel her. She beat me so many times before…But that was before; before Lucien helped me get stronger. I can beat her now…I need to. I still hope that I don't have to face her though.

When she got home, she showered, and went to bed. As she slowly drifted off to sleep, she started to think about what she would do if she made it onto the team that would come out of this tournament. And those thoughts turned to dreams as she slept…

About 5 hours later, in the dead of night, the shutters opened and whispers of a life past rushed through the room and Aliya started to toss and turn in a nightmare.

A cloaked figure was holding a duel disk, and there was a demon standing in front of the figure. It had a green face with yellow eyes wrought by cruelty, and it was laughing at her. It wore a head piece, with sharp designs in gold and blue baubles on each side of the head. At the bottom of the head piece there were small blue stones, and in the middle a face that looked as if it had been marinated in grape juice and sorrow, as it was purple and sorrowful. From under the head piece came two plated shoulder guards that hang low and coming from under the head piece, right under where the face was, was the face of a skull, a true deaths head with red eyes and a nose that looked distinctly inhuman. From there on were blue robes embroidered with gold hems. The demon looked almost casual holding a wine glass with a little gold spiral coming up it, almost full of a green liquid. Behind the demon were several face down cards, and at its side, a smaller blue fiend with wings was fluttering about.

She was sweating, and as she looked around desperately for an exit, but she only saw a shifting shadows, and if you looked to closely, you would see faces of demons and monsters, and humans who were part way to becoming the demons that surrounded them. She decided not to get a closer look and looked back at the field. Facing the demon, was a group of fairies huddled on a flower. The were shaking in fear though they were better suited to dancing. The cloaked figure spoke.

"Your doom has come. I will tribute my smaller monster for a monster capable of doing damage through defense." The winged fiend disappeared and was replaced by a dark knight mounted on a horse wielding a long handled battle axe. He and his mount had red eyes and appeared to be hell spawn.

"My new beast will attack your fairies. You lose 800 point from that, but my other demon will take care of the rest." The demon in question swilled around the wine in its glass for a bit, took a sip, and then held out its other hand and uttered a curse. The eyes of the skull it was wearing started to glow red, and there was a sudden shifting of the world toward it. She felt a part of herself lurch forward with it and fell to her knees. The displacement of air from the attack had knocked back the figures hood revealing a woman with long red hair. The woman was laughing manically, and faded away into the darkness, which no longer held back by the duel, had rushed in and around her. She felt herself fading away, split in two. Much of her awareness faded into the darkness, but a little bit was channeled elsewhere, the darkness faded as did all of her feeling and a hotel room was revealed as the little bit that had yet to be channeled off, whispered,

"Lu…cien…"

Aliya woke up, startled, and scared. She looked around for the demon or the red haired duelist. Finding neither she calmed slightly, and got out of bed, and as the covers slipped off revealed a navy blue pajama shirt and blue pajama pants. I won't be able to sleep for awhile after that. She went into the bathroom and splashed some water on her face, and wiped it off with a towel. As she looked in the mirror, she thought she saw someone else looking back at her, but she wiped her eyes and just saw her self. Puzzled she went back to her bedroom and got into bed. Soon she was asleep once more, and this time, no dreams disturbed her sleep.

In the morning, Lucien got out of bed and immediately took a shower. He made sure that his hair was thoroughly cleansed, and that any trace of body odor was gone before he got out of the shower. He brushed his teeth, glad that he had gotten his braces off last month so that he no longer had to worry about food getting stuck in his brackets. No more orthodontists for him! He also combed his hair more carefully than usual as he wanted to look half decent for the tournament. If he won, which he had every intention of doing, he didn't want to embarrass himself. He then started working on a new deck.

He had seen how effective Aliya's deck was with its burn strategy, and had decided to build one of his own for the next tournament. He didn't want to copy her deck idea, even though he had a fair claim to it having helped her build it. He also didn't want a standard burn deck. He needed something new. Then it came to him. He started building his new deck.

As soon as Raoul woke up, he repeated the exercises that he did every night before bed and in the morning. He did 45 push ups, 40 sit ups, and ran half a mile around the neighborhood. When he came back, his parents were up, but his older brother, Larron was still asleep assuming that he was in his room. He always locked the door so there was no way of knowing if he was there and who was with him. He had a window that made entrances and exits fairly simple, and the lock was on both sides and couldn't be unlocked from either side without the key. Raoul knew that his parents kept a copy, but that they didn't use it unless it was an emergency or Larron was so drunk that he wouldn't remember. Larron was only 19, so he still wasn't allowed to drink, but he and his gang managed to get alcohol and consume it in large amounts at times.

His parents were in the kitchen, arguing as usual. His mother as usual was on the offensive, and loosing.

"How are we supposed to trust him if he stays locked up in his room all the time? We don't even know if he is there. Odds are he's had a dozen girls in and out of there! We've all seen him stone drunk, and we still don't know where he's getting the alcohol. Our liquor cabinet is locked up tight as a safe yet he still gets drunk!" His father was siding with Larron though.

"Really, why can't you just trust the boy, I know he has made some mistakes--"

"Some mistakes! Why that boy is riddled through with mistakes! He gets drunk, he has girls in his room—"

"Hold on now—"

"And don't you try do deny that he has, I do the laundry, I see the evidence." Raoul was trying to get his cereal without being noticed. He didn't like it when his parents argued and wanted nothing to do with him. As for his brother; he didn't know what to think. Larron did take him to duel monsters tournaments, and pick him up… most of the time. Once or twice he had gotten drunk and forgotten, but then he had called Lucien and Lucien had told him the bus route.

Raoul exited the kitchen with his bowl of cereal without his parents noticing him. He would wait until a little before noon to wake Larron to drive him back to the tournament. He knew how to pick the lock, even if his parents didn't.

At around noon, Lucien had finished his new deck, and brought it with him along with the deck he had to use for the tournament, and was devouring lunch when the phone rang. He picked up.

"Hello, this is Lucien speaking, may I ask who is calling?"

"Hey, Lucien, its Raoul."

"Oh, hi Raoul."

"Listen, could you get me the bus route to the tournament? My brother said that he would take me, but I can't find him anywhere! You know how he disappears some times."

"I have a better idea, I'll take the bus to your house, and then we will go to the tournament together."

"Cool, ok, I'll be outside by the bus stop on the corner, see you."

"Ok, I'll get going now, bye."

"Bye, and Lucien?"

"What?"

"Thanks a lot man."

"Anytime, I better get going if I am going to get to you on time. Bye." Lucien hung up. He practically vacuumed up the last of his sandwich and milk, and headed out the door. He ran to catch up with the bus, and managed to get on. He took his usual seat in the back.

People had marked it up with various profane messages, but it was generally pretty clear so that is where Lucien almost always sat. Pretty soon, the bus came up infront of Raoul's house, and Lucien got out of the bus, and saw Raoul.

"Hey, so Larron disappeared again?"

"Yeah."

"And you have no idea where he is?"

"No, he never tells us anything."

"Maybe you missed something. When and where did you see him last, and what did he say?"

"I last saw him right after he drove me home from the tournament, he just said, 'See ya later kid. Go to the top in that tournament, we're dependin' on you ta bring some honor to da family. We all know that I'm a lost cause, and mum and dad can't do nothin' but bicker about me."

"Do you remember anything odd? As a matter of fact, anything at all? The cloths that he was wearing, anything?"

"Well of course he was wearing something!"

"That's not what I meant. What was he wearing?"

"Well, as far as I can tell, some of his rattier clothes, you know, his cut off jeans, and some T-shirt from a rock band who went out of the lime light years ago."

"What band?"

"I don't remember the name, one of those Goth bands that should have gotten a group rate on therapy."

"Hmmm… I'm afraid I can't help you there. Look out, here's the bus." And just in time too. I don't know how much longer I could have hidden my suspicions. They got on to the bus, and Lucien changed the topic of the conversation.

"Ok, Raoul, for future reference, you take this bus, until the carry-out market, and then you walk a block to the card emporium, got that?"

"Sure, with luck I won't need to though."

"With luck." They were silent for the rest of the ride. When the bus came to a stop at the carry-out market, they hopped out and started to walk to the card store. Then Raoul broke the silence.

"Do you want to race to the store? You almost beat me last time."

"Sure, but don't expect me to be a challenge, I am still sore from the figh- from running from Amy." Raoul didn't notice the in discrepancy, but stopped and started to count down for the start of the race and got into a sprinter's starting position.

"On your marks, get set," Lucien bent down slightly, as he didn't feel like sprinting hard he took a moderate stance instead of mimicking Raoul's. "Go!" They started off. Lucien was aching but was only slightly behind Raoul. Raoul may be faster, but he has only seen this area from a car. He doesn't really know his way around. Lucien dropped back slightly more so that he was out of Raoul's line of sight, and then took off down an alley. He leapt over a few pot holes, but in the end came out from behind the card store and was sitting by the door as Raoul came around the corner. When he saw that Lucien was already there he looked shocked.

"What! How did you get here so fast? You were behind me!"

"I just took a little short cut."

"Whatever, lets go inside and get started."

"We are still a few minutes early so I think that I may test out a new deck of mine on a few people who aren't entrants." Raoul shrugged.

"Fine by me, just try not to attract too much of Amy's attention."

"Don't worry, I won't. Just don't make me drag the two of you apart." Then they walked into the store. Lucien immediately went towards the back to test out his new deck against some of the people that were sitting back there to cheer on their friends in the tournament. By the time Aliya came in and the tournament was about to resume, he had beaten three duelists in less than 15 minutes. Mr. Kiwasaki came out from the back, with his microphone to announce the start of the tournament. He cleared his throat and began

"Welcome duelists! We are here to resume the tournament with our remaining 32 duelists. You will be told the match ups by Mr. Dongard." The business man in question came out of the back room with his own microphone. You couldn't help but notice that it was polished and obviously much more expensive than the one that Mr. Kiwasaki used. He looked the same as yesterday… The exact same. Raoul whispered to Lucien.

"Isn't that the same tie that he wore yesterday?" Lucien nodded in agreement and listened to Mr. Dongard.

"Ok now here are the match ups. Lucien vs. Robert at table one. Ray vs. Carmen at table two. Lilly vs. Arnold table three….." Lucien went to table one. As Aliya and Raoul's names were called, they went to there respective tables. Meanwhile, Lucien got ready for his duel. His deck was well shuffled by the time Robert arrived.

"Hello Robert. Shall we duel?" Robert responded with a curt nod, and handed his deck to Lucien to be cut. Rather than mearly cutting it, Lucien shuffled it thoroughly. I can't afford to take any risks now that I am this far. I don't want to run into a more experience version of Afer.

"Heads or Tails?"

"Heads." It was the first thing that Robert had said so far. Lucien flipped the coin and it came down on heads. Robert drew six cards rather than saying which turn he was going to take so it was clear that he was going first.

"Set 2 spells or traps. Summon Newdoria. End." This guy is a tad short on words. Well, speaking doesn't win duels, so I had better get a move on.

"I will summon Raging Flame Sprite." Robert's hand had moved toward one of his face down cards, but he moved it away again.

"Now I will attack your life points directly with it by its effect."

Lucien: 8000

Robert: 7900

"I set 3 spells or traps and end my turn." Robert drew.

"Fissure. Your monster is destroyed."

"I chain with Forced Retribution and Magic Jammer. I discard Sinister Serpent to negate your spell. You must also discard a card because of Forced Retribution."

"Discard Offerings to the Doomed. Set monster. End." Why didn't he attack?

"I get back my Sinister Serpent. First off I play Pot of Greed. I summon Servant of Catabolism, and I will attack directly with both of my monsters, including my Sprite which had 1100 before this attack, and now has 2100."

Lucien: 8000

Robert: 6100

"And I will chain to my attack with Robbin' Zombie so you lose 2 cards off the top of your deck. I will play Gravekeeper's Servant, and to end my turn, I set a spell or trap face down and end my turn."

"I will flip my set monster, it is Man Eater Bug. Destroy your Sprite."

"I chain my set card, Assault on GHQ. I tribute the Sprite and you lose the top two cards of your deck."

"Newdoria, attack Servant of Catabolism. Man Eater Bug, attack directly."

Lucien: 7050

Robert: 6100

"I end." Brevity may be the soul of wit, but this isn't witty, just brief.

"I play Swords of Revealing Light. That is all." If I can't get something to stop his attacks, I am done for.

"Set spell or trap. End." Well, on the bright side, without the chatter, this duel is moving pretty fast.

"I will set a monster. That will be all."

"Activate continuous trap, Needle Wall." Robert brought out a die. He rolled it, and it came up as a 6.

"Re-roll by the effect." He rolled, and it came up as a 4. Lucien's card was in space 2.

"Set spell or trap. End." Robert didn't show any expression. Its clear that he is a very cautious duelist. He won't attack as long as there is a card face down on my field. His strategy is to destroy monsters so he doesn't have to attack them. He left two major holes though. I have yet to see a defense against spells or traps. Also he doesn't have much to destroy face down monsters. Lucien drew.

"I will flip my face down monster. It is Morphing Jar." In response, Robert flipped up his latest set card.

"Activate Offerings to the Doomed. I skip next draw phase, destroy your monster. Not negate effect." They both discarded their hands and drew five cards. After carefully looking at Robert for any sign of why his speech was so blunt, and without any words that were not necessary. Then Lucien broke the silence.

"The cards that I discarded were Sinister Serpent and Night Assailant. I will get back Sinister Serpent in my standby phase and because of Night Assailant's effect, I will get Morphing Jar back to my hand. I set a monster and a spell or trap. That is all." Robert skipped his draw phase as was required by the effect of Offerings to the Doomed.

"Needle Wall activate. Die roll." It came up as a one. This time the monster was in slot three.

"Tribute monsters for Barrel Dragon. Flip coin three times." The coin came up, heads, tails, tails.

"End." This guy relies to much on chance for some of these effects. But now Swords of Revealing Light is gone. I will need to beat this guy fast.

"I flip Needle Worm. You loose the top five cards of your deck." Robert moved five cards from the deck to his graveyard.

"Now, I will set a monster along with a spell or trap now that I have a space free. That will end my turn." Robert drew his card and after looking at it carefully, turned to the field.

"Needle Wall." He rolled the die and it came up as three. Lucien turned over a familiar trap.

"I will activate Assault on GHQ, I will tribute Needle Worm so you have to discard the top two cards of your deck." Without showing any sign of displeasure Robert continued his move; and would continue to be foiled.

"I will activate Barrel Dragon's effect on your face down monster." The coins once again failed to produce two heads.

"I end." With the failure of Barrel Dragon's effect, Lucien smiled and was filled with a feeling of invulnerability. Nothing could stop him now.

"First off, I will flip Compulsory Evacuation to send your mechanized dragon back to your hand. I believe that this is a lesson to scientists the world over. Do not try to recreate nature. Even more importantly do not try to re-create fantastical creatures." Robert showed a bit of emotion for the first time, as his eyebrows furrowed together in irritation.

"Now I will play Card Destruction. Our current hands are history. Next I will flip up Morphing Jar. Once again, we lose our hands, and according to my calculations, you lose the rest of your deck." However, when five more cards were picked up, there were still 2 remaining.

"You run a forty two card deck? Congratulations. I will summon Servant of Catabolism and attack directly with both of my monsters.

"Chain, two Sakuretsu Armor. Both attacks negated, both monsters destroyed."

"I will set a spell or trap and end my turn." I don't like this. But in 3 turns he will lose."

"I summon Newdoria and attack directly."

Lucien: 5950

Robert: 6100

"I end." That is funny. Now his speech is reverting to normal. He was just being brief to try and scare me. Didn't work though. Now to end this.

"I summon Cliff the Trap Remover –" Lucien was cut off by Robert.

"I will chain Trap Hole."

"I will chain with my final Assault on GHQ. Now the remainder of your deck is gone. I end my turn. You lose." Lucien turned his thumb down.

"Good duel."

"Yes, good duel." Lucien cleared away his cards and headed towards the center of the room where a podium had been erected and where Mr. Dongard was standing. Judging by the group of people around him, including Aliya and Raoul, he was taking results. Lucien told him the result of his duel, was acknowledged with a nod, and went to talk to Aliya and Raoul. Since they were smiling, he knew that they had both won. They were on to the sweet sixteen. As he walked towards them, Mr. Dongard announced that there were five minutes left in the round. Darn, I don't have time to check... It will have to wait. They will probably have a break before the quarter finals. I need to make sure...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rex: Thank you for the advice, if you look above you will see that I followed it. Please keep on giving advice like that so I can continue to make this better. Do you like the "Quote of the Day" thing?

Sdrive: No one else defended him because all of the other duelists were inside either dueling or waiting for opponents. Mr. Kiwasaki is somewhat old and out of shape and wouldn't have been able to do anything. Plus even if he or one of the duelists had jumped in, odds are that they would have gotten hurt. This wouldn't have stopped Raoul but he was unaware. Note that Lucien doesn't tell them what happened.

Peace Writer: I am glad it was better, I do try. . I will check the calculation… uh-oh, your right. I also spotted a huge mistake, but luckily no one has noticed it yet. I will give 10 … I think all the good point names are taken but anyhow whoever finds it gets a digital plushy of any character from either this fan fic or the anime! And see? It was a card emporium!

Lucien: You just did that because of what they said.

Me: …. You just have to ruin everything don't you?

Lucien: You just had to make me say that didn't you?

Me: I hate it when you have a point.

Nanashi Minimino: Aliya's deck rocks. Tom's deck isn't bad but if you couldn't tell it was supposed to be a swarm deck(with cards like Nimble and Germ that activate when attacked) that would then bring out bigger tribute monsters, and it wasn't built to deal with a well built burn deck; and as you saw, this isn't your average burn deck in any way. He got as far as he did because he hadn't faced anyone with such a strong burn deck.

Zenryo: When you get this far you will have seen that it gets better.