Well, its time for chapter two.
And Jamie has to face one of my favorite deck types, a deck type extremely hard to perfect.
Care to take bets?
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, or some of the cards used in this chapter.
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Well, its my first day at Duelist Academy.
Me and Sam are in the same dorm with a strange girl with an even stranger deck.
She also talks a lot about what she calls the "Heart of the Cards."
And I can say right now, either this Heart of the Cards is real, or she's the luckiest duelist I have ever met.
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CHAPTER 2:
DARK SCORPION COMBINATION:
HEART OF THE DECK
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The day after their initiation, Jamie and Sam have recieved their dorm assignments.
"Hey, we're roomates," Jamie says. "And it says here there's some other girl named Merideth Zan."
"Cool," Sam says.
The girls accidentaly run into someone, and get knocked off their feet. Jamie looks up, and sees a boy with almost silver hair, and an Obelisk Blue uniform, flanked by Anastasia Jenkins, and another girl.
Without a word, the three walk off.
"Sorry, are you okay?" A voice says, and a girl helps the two up. Her long red hair falls down to her waist, and as she is helping them up, a card falls off her deck.
"Wow," Sam says, seeing what the card is. "Thats a Blue-Eyes White Dragon in its original print! Only someone related to Seto Kaiba could get a card that rare!"
"I'm his daughter, Ariel Kaiba's the name," Ariel says, and puts the card back in her deck as Jamie and Sam introduce themselves.
"Wow, fancy meeting the daughter of a famous duelist on our first day," Jamie says. "Oh, and could you point us to the Sliffer Red dorm?"
Ariel nods, and gives them the directions.
"Thanks, hey, maybe we should duel sometime," Jamie says as she and Sam walk off.
"You can count on it," Ariel says, and waves. She has to be the one, I can sense it, she thinks, and takes something out from under her uniform, its a golden sphere with the eye of horus on it.
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Jamie and Sam enter the Sliffer Red dorms, which look something like a delapitaed old motel.
The girls find their dorm, and open the door. The room is rather plain, and seated on one of the beds is a girl with short pale hair, her uniform's sleeves are ripped off, revealing her muscular arms, and a tatoo of a black scorpion, she is looking through her cards.
"Hmm, maybe if I add this card, she can..." she says in an accent that is hard to place, but sounds like she's from the south seas, and looks up to see Jamie and Sam. "Oh, hello."
"Merideth Zan, I presume," Jamie says, offering a handshake, and Merideth accepts, gripping Jamie's hand tightly. "You have a firm grip."
"Comes with being one of the best thieves on Madripor," Merideth says.
"Your a thief?" Sam says in suprise.
"Yes, well, I used to be," Merideth says. "I grew up on Madripor, an island on the United State's embargo list for years because of human rights violations, and I can tell you right now, there where a lot. Do you see this tatoo?" She says, motioning towards the tatoo on her arm. "This is the symbol of my gang, the Dark Scorpions."
"I thought they were just cards!" Sam says.
"Not entirely, while yes they are cards, the original Dark Scorpion Gang existed a long time ago, and where Pegasus' inspiration for the cards, darn rich buisnessmen," Merideth says. "Copying a card series off of my family."
"What do you mean?" Jamie says.
"If you can beat me in a duel, I might tell you," Merideth says.
"Sure thing," Jamie says. "Just don't assume that I will be easy to beat."
"Me too, Jamie," Merideth says.
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A few minutes later, the two duelists are facing eachother outside the dorms.
"Looks like this will be a good duel," Ariel says, comming up behind Sam.
"How do you figure?" Sam asks.
"Both of them use warriors that don't fit in most kinds of deck," Ariel says. "And its a classic rivalry, Heroes and Criminals."
Wow, my first real duel at Duelist Academy, and I'm facing a thief, Jamie thinks, shuffling Merideth's deck. Which means she must have a Dark Scorpion deck, this might be interesting.
"You ready to duel, Merideth?" Jamie asks, handing the deck over to the opponent.
"Yeah, and I know the Heart of the Cards will guide me," Merideth says, and hands Jamie her deck.
Heart of the Cards, never saw that comming, Jamie thinks. "We shall see."
"LETS DUEL!" The two say in unison.
"I'll go first," Merideth says, and draws. "I set one monster in defense mode, and place a card face down, your turn."
Jamie draws. "I summon Elemental Hero Sparkman (1600/1500), in attack mode!" She says, and the warrior carrying a black gun appears. "Now attack her face down monster!"
Sparkman sends a blast at the face down monster, but there is a sudden crack of a whip, and a young woman with long brown hair and red eyes appears, and trips Sparkman with the whip, giggling, lowering Jamie's life points to 3800.
"What was that?" Jamie demands, looking at the young woman on the field.
"The Femme Fatal, or fatal beauty, of the Dark Scorpions, the ever lovely Menae the Thorn, and because she damaged your life points, I am allowed to add a member to my hand," Merideth says, and takes a card out of her deck.
"I place two cards face down, and end my turn," Jamie says.
Merideth draws. "I activate the field card Scorpion's Den!" She says, and a cavern filled with piles of gold appear around them. "This is the home of the Dark Scorpions, and here they each gain 500 attack points.
"And if they find you, they won't let you out alive."
She takes a card out of her hand, and puts it on her disk.
"I summon the Dark Scorpion's master of disarment, Cliff the Trap Remover (1200/1000 + 500)!" Merideth continues, and the knife-wielding thief appears. "Now Cliff, attack her monster with Scorpion Slash attack!"
"Activate Negate Attack!" Jamie counters, and the face down card flips up, and the attack is stopped.
"Your turn," Merideth says.
Jamie draws. "I activate the magic card, Church of Blessing-Ritual Church!" she says, and takes a card out of her deck, and puts it into her hand. "Now I activate the ritual I searched for, Ritual of Machine Angel!" She says, and a burst of energy emits from the field, and she discards two monster cards. "Bring forth, Cyber Angel Dakini!"
A four armed monster, carrying two swords and a staff appears.
"Now, you must destroy one of your monsters."
"Fine, Good-bye Menae," Merideth says, and the thief dissapears.
"Now, I activate Pot of Greed," Jamie says, and the green pot appears, and she draws two cards. "Now, I activate Monster Reborn, and revive Cyber Angel Idaten (1600/1000)!"
A pink woman with a small black outfit appears.
"Now, I can bring Monster Reborn back, and I use it to summon Cyber Angel Benten (1800/1500)!"
A white skinned woman appears.
"Now, I give Benten the magic card Ritual Weapon, raising her attack to 3300, now attack Cliff!"
"Activate trap card, Great Escape!" Merideth counters, and Cliff sends a grapling hook up, and dodges the attack.
"Your move," Jamie says.
Merideth draws, and sighs. "I'm sorry, but I must forfeit," she says, and places her hand on her deck. "I can't stand to see my Dark Scorpions hurt any more," she says, and Jamie nods. "I guess the Heart of the Cards weren't with me after all."
"Thats not true, as long as you have faith in your deck and in yourself, they will always be there to guide you," Ariel says.
"Lets go back inside," Merideth says.
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Back inside, the four girls are talking, and Merideth's story finaly comes out.
It turns out that she had been raised on Madripor by the current Dark Scorpion Gang, some of them were even decendents from the original gang.
The leader, a man they called Don Veronski, had always treated Merideth as a daughter.
Merideth was able to barter passage aboard a steamer bound for America, and had made a promise to the gang that she would some day return, so they all could escape Madripor's corrupt government.
And then she really dropped the bomb, it turns out that Merideth is a direct decendant of Don Zaloog himself.
"Woah," Jamie says.
"Yeah, it sometimes still suprises me, but its true," Merideth says.
Ariel just stays silent, and looks at a card in her deck, depicting a young woman who looks a lot like her, wielding a magician's staff, and having the distinct Black Scorpion Tatoo.
Dark Scorpion-Ari the Magical, she thinks. "Well, I need to be going, good talking to all of you."
She steps out of the dorm, leaving the group in wonder.
"I wonder why she had to leave so quickly," Sam says.
"Ahh, who knows, she's a Kaiba you know," Jamie says.
"Yes, but I always thought there was something familiar about her, like I had seen her before," Merideth says, but shrugs it off.
"Uhh, would you mind explaining this Heart of the Cards concept to me?" Jamie asks.
Merideth nods, and begins talking.
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Scorpion's Den
Field Spell
This is the secret hideout of the Dark Scorpion Gang, if you dare to enter, there is only one rule, they won't let you out alive. All monsters on the field with "Dark Scorpion" in their name, or is named "Don Zaloog" or "Cliff the Trap Remover" gain 500 attack points.
(This card is courtasy of Cyber Commander, it first showed up in Yu-Gi-Oh Junior: The Mandate of Heaven.)
Great Escape
Counter Trap
Image of a laughing Meanae the Thorn escaping from angry guards with a grappling hook while carrying a sack of loot. You can activate this card can be activated when an opponent attacks a monster with "Dark Scorpion" in its named, or is named "Don Zaloog" or "Cliff the Trap Remover." The attack is negated, and the targeted monster cannot be attacked again for the duration of the round.
(This card is courtasy of Cyber Commander, and first showed up in Yu-Gi-Oh Junior: City of Souls.)
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The Cyber Angel cards will be used by Alexis Rhodes in season two.
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Well, we know a little bit about Ariel, and quite a bit about Merideth.
Now, here's Sam with the description of chapter two.
Sam: Okay, next chapter. Ariel Kaiba has issued a challenge against Jamie, a test of some sorts as she says, but there's something fishy about it all. Don't miss chapter 3, "Burst Stream of Destruction: A Blast From the Past."
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