Chapter 15: The True Nature of Dr. Pepper
I stare into the back of the monster before me, scanning up and down its body as I try to force some memory to the surface. Despite being able to feel Shapeshift's presence, the creature I created through Fusion Summon feels… unfamiliar. I know that I must have summoned it at some point, but unlike the other Fusions I've formed, I only feel the basest connection.
It turns its head slightly, just to look back at me. One bulbous pale blue eye stares back at me, and the head between the flytrap jaws gives a subtle nod, its thin mouth an unreadable slash on its green face. Out of habit, I nod back, a gesture of understanding between partners.
Across from us, Leo looks up at the towering plant-creature with pure awe, his eyes sparkling in the bright sunlight. "Whoaaa… who's that Duel Monster?" he asks.
In a robotic tone, reminiscent of a cartoon that Bastion says we would watch occasionally after X-Men no longer aired, the old man explains, "Elemental Hero Wildvine—a Plant-type Fusion monster, formed by fusing Elemental Hero Shapeshift and Elemental Hero Poison Rose." His voice returns to normal as he continues, "A bit unusual, because he isn't a Warrior-type, and because he requires Poison Rose to have been Special Summoned properly, but he's not someone you'd want to be facing down. There's a certain professional duelist who learned that the hard way," he adds with a chuckle.
Leo looks back down to me, and asks in a slightly shocked voice, "Did you defeat Jack Atlas?!"
"No. Not him," Bastion says quickly, before I can even try to remember who Jack Atlas is. "Carry on, you two! We haven't got all day to talk about who Ben has and hasn't beat!"
"No, keep going—I want to know more about this pro too," I suggest, feeling a swell of pride as I try to reckon with the idea that I've defeated a professional duelist, even though it must have been decades ago.
Nah Boss, let's take 'em down! says Shapeshift, though his voice is distorted, garbled, almost as if he's talking through a fan running on high, with his voice deepened slightly. In this form, I've got an effect that will get us out of this jam!
I know that Shapeshift is right. I don't want to admit it, but he's right. That quip about the pro duelist is probably all I'll get out of Bastion on the matter, at least for now, and I won't lie, I'm also a bit interested to find out what exactly Wildvine has up his… er… vines? He doesn't actually have sleeves…
Aww, you forgot my effect already? Shapeshift asks in a mock-hurt voice.
I don't even remember using you, if truth be told. Be patient with me, I respond.
You wound me, Boss! But I'll forgive ya! Just follow my lead.
The words begin to spill from my mouth as Shapeshift says them in my mind, the two of us speaking in unison, perfectly in sync. "Now for Wildvine's special effect—once per turn, I can return one of my removed from play Elemental Hero monsters to my Graveyard, and if I do, I can target one card on the field and negate its effects until Wildvine leaves the field! So, by returning Poison Rose, I'll be blocking out your Morphtronic Bind!"
A flash of light emanates from my Graveyard slot as Poison Rose makes her return from being removed from the game. This light coalesces into an orb which shoots forward into Wildvine's back, causing one of the solid black pods to flash a warning red. In response, Wildvine reaches a slender hand back, wraps his spindly fingers around it and tears it off, lobbing it like a grenade through the air and impacting against Leo's Continuous Trap, surrounding the card in a cloud of thick smoke.
"Uh-oh…" Leo says worriedly as the smoke disperses, showing his Trap now a dull gray, as if it were made of stone. A tinge of nervousness shows in his eyes.
Wildvine looks back to me; Shapeshift says nothing this time, but his lips quirk up in a smirk.
Let's do this, partner, I tell him. "Elemental Hero Wildvine, take out Morphtronic Radion!"
Silently, he swings an arm backward, the thin vine stretching like a rubber toy before he pivots his body, bringing the arm around and delivering a devastating slap to Radion's face—or, whatever it is that the transforming robot calls a face. The strike caves in the Machine-type's head, smashing it into a billion little pixels that fly back into Leo, who crosses his arms over his face to protect himself from the digital shrapnel.
Ben: 2200 LP / Leo: 3400 LP
"W-whoa, take it easy!" Leo complains.
"Didn't I always tell you to prepare for counterattacks, Leo?" Bastion chides, sipping a frosty glass of lemonade that looks very satisfying right about now. "Keep your mind open to the possibilities—expect retaliation, and you can survive any encounter!"
Old man is really looking out for the youth, eh Boss? Shapeshift says, and I can hear the grin in his distorted voice. I think I can remember him telling you something like that, decades ago.
Yeah? But when he said it to me, he was probably trying to make me punch him. "I'll be ending my turn there! Are you ready for the Hero's Counterattack, Leo?"
"I'm not so sure…"
[Cue in second opening theme: "Sorairo Days" by Nathan Sharpe/NateWantstoBattle (English cover of the first opening for Gurren Lagann)
Ask if you can hear the sound, of my voice through the cold hard ground,
Our first sight is a shot of the Satellite and the City, a diagonal slash dividing the two. Ben and Bastion appear, Ben in the Satellite, Bastion in the City; they face away from one another, facing to the left and right respectively. They reach their hands in front of them, grasping for something off-screen, and close their eyes. The screen is constantly flashing black, and after their eyes shut the screen stops flashing and becomes solid black.
I lost it while searching for you, I screamed into the dark,
We open back up on a shot of Ben's eyes opening, before zooming out to find him overlooking the City at night, the lights of the buildings shining like thousands of tiny stars. He's all alone, until Shapeshift appears behind him, with several other Heroes joining in further behind.
If the world we're living in, has a single soul that you love,
Cut to Bastion's house, the living room. The old man and Dr. Pepper sit next to one another on a couch, a photo album propped open before them. We pan over the various pictures, most of the faces obscured by well-placed glare from lights—until coming to a stop on an image of Ben and Bastion in their younger years, dressed in Ra Yellow uniforms with their arms tossed around one another, both grinning.
If it holds a shred of meaning, well, then it's worth every fight!
A wrinkled hand glides across the photo, before the book is shut. We zoom up on Bastion's face, and for the briefest of moments, he appears youthful again, a flash of determination in his eyes.
And when all that we know comes to push and shove,
The other characters begin to appear in quick succession, appearing in various poses with their Signer dragons beside or behind them as we begin to pan across the sky. Starting with Yusei and Stardust Dragon, we go next to Jack and Red Dragon Archfiend,
Then we will pierce the heavens!
Next are Leo and Luna sharing the screen, Power Tool Dragon and Ancient Fairy Dragon behind them. Next is Akiza, her face obscured by her Black Rose Witch mask, Black Rose Dragon roaring and spreading thousands of red petals behind her.
The colors we see are new to you and me when we see the sky—
The Dragon Star shines brightly in center frame now, red and pulsating. Clouds swirl around it, gray and purple and black, before a sudden burst of red from the star blows them all away. The camera slams downward to see Rally staring up at the sky, and smiling.
As we began to run,
Jump cut to Ben and Bastion in a Duel Runner, the old man sitting in a side car as they rocket toward the camera, both of them grinning maniacally.
So we can finally feel the sun,
We zoom out a bit to find ourselves in the Kaiba Dome, with Goodwin watching on from his booth with his back turned.
Finally, you and I feel so alive, I feel your beating heart!
We now see Yusei and Jack riding alongside one another, Stardust and Red Dragon locked in combat as Ben and Bastion speed between the two. The camera zooms in on Stardust Dragon's wing, using it as the segue into the next scene,
If you believe in me, we'll find where we were meant to be—
Ben and Akiza in a ground duel appears next, Elemental Hero Shapeshift somersaulting and cartwheeling around the field as Black Rose Dragon attempts to slash at him with its vines. Ben and Akiza's eyes meet, and the rage in Akiza's eyes softens a bit.
Now who cares about tomorrow, if today we are free?
Leo and Luna walk beside Bastion now, wandering through his immense garden. The old man says something, causing Leo to start laughing as Luna smiles brightly. She looks off to the side and sees Kuribon bouncing along with them.
My answer is always "Yes,"
The cast now stands assembled in front of Bastion's mansion in a freeze frame, centered around Ben; Bastion is to his immediate right, Akiza to his left, Yusei to Bastion's right, Jack to Akiza's left and so on. Rally, Leo and Luna are chasing Dr. Pepper in front, and over Rally's head Ben's face is just barely visible.
That I will always be with you.
One final cut puts our focus back on the old photo of Bastion and Ben. This time, however, it's elderly Bastion and Ben standing together, still smiling as bright as ever.
"It's my turn then… I'll draw!" Leo says, trying to keep up the bravado, but when he draws, his hand shakes just so slightly on the flourish. But then he starts to grin. "Oh—looks like I was worried for nothin'! I summon Morphtronic Datatron in Attack Position!"
With the same covert way the rest of his monsters joined the field, so too does a small orange rectangle appear in midair before falling to the ground in a dramatic fashion. It then flips into an upright position, and its top fourth shifts upward slightly to reveal the innards of a flash drive, set with a small face with solid rectangular green eyes and a flat gray mouth. On either side, next to lettering that reads "2 GB," two arms pop out, thin and gray and shielded by orange paneling, with the bottom third popping out in similar thin limbs with orange plastic armor. (Morphtronic Datatron: Level 3, FIRE, Pyro-type; 1200 ATK/600 DEF)
"Next, I'll be activating my Clocken's Defense Position effect to add another Morph Counter to it! That means two!" Leo says triumphantly, possibly trying to gauge whether or not I can count.
On Clocken's black display screen, the blocky numbers tick up from 00:01 to 00:02. If it's possible, the monster begins to look somewhat smug to match its master. (Morph Counters: 2)
"Now that Clocken has two Morph Counters, I can use its effect to tribute it and inflict 1000 damage to you for each Morph Counter on it!"
It all happens in an instant, a single, annoying instant. The numbers tick back down to 00:00 rapidly, and when it hits zero the small golden hammer atop its head begins to rapidly move back and forth between the bells, letting out an ear-splitting ringing noise that causes me to clamp my hands down over my ears; even from their sitting place, Luna and Bastion are covering their ears as well, not immune from the audio assault. The noise only fades away when Clocken explodes, sending a burst of mechanical components flying through the air and crashing into my stomach.
Ben: 200 LP / Leo: 3400 LP
I feel my own bravado starting to crash down around me. I hadn't expected such a high damage output from such a small monster…
"And that isn't all! I'm gonna end it right here, by using Datatron's Attack Position effect! By tributing my Datatron, I can inflict even more damage—"
Now, Ben! Put me back in the Graveyard to stop him! Shapeshift's voice comes through loud and clear, unaltered by Wildvine's presence this time. Quick!
"Hold it, Leo! I've let you go far enough!" I say, holding up a hand to stop the boy across from me. His eyes widen in surprise. "I might not have told you, but Wildvine's effect can be used on either player's turn—so, by returning Shapeshift to my Graveyard, I'll be negating Datatron's effect! No damage for me!"
Leo grits his teeth. Clearly he was counting on that damage to go through. "Well… I guess I'll have to end my turn too… back to you, young ward! I'll come up with something, since you don't have any more Heroes to return!"
Of course, he's right, but depending on my draw I might be able to end it here… "Draw!"
A sense of familiarity comes over me as I look at the card I drew, which must have been one of Bastion's additions—a Magic Card known as Pot of Greed.
Pot of Greed, huh? Wonder what it does…
Boss, I'll kill you if you ever say that again. Shapeshift deadpans.
What? You can't expect me to know what it does, I probably haven't seen this card in over fifty years! I shoot back, feeling a slight bit of annoyance toward my supposed partner.
Relax Ben. It's a joke… sort of. Anyway, just play it, I'll walk you through it.
I'm trusting you, Shapeshift… "I'll play my Magic Card, Pot of Greed—" I begin. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Bastion starting to grin. "Which allows me to…"
I'm suddenly cut off by an angry beeping noise coming from my Duel Disk. The blue orb flashes red, and a robotic voice responds, "Error! Error! Attempt to use Forbidden card detected. Penalty incurred: immediate loss of duel."
And before I can even question what was said, or what in Sam Hill a "Forbidden" card is, my Life Point counter drops down to zero.
Ben: 0 LP / Leo: 3400 LP
Confusion clouds my mind as I look between Leo, and Luna, and Bastion and even over my shoulder to where I half expect to see Shapeshift. Did we just lose?
Shapeshift is just as bewildered as me, apparently. What… what just happened?
Even Leo is left scratching his head as our holograms fade away, though it's not at the fact that the duel is over, rather, "Why did you have a Forbidden card in your deck, Ben?" he asks, his brow furrowed. "They haven't even printed Pot of Greed in years, how did you get one?"
Bastion, however, is absolutely howling with laughter. He's set his glass to the side and is shaking like a leaf in a breeze, kicking his legs and hooting as if he's just told the world's funniest joke.
My eyes narrow, and at once I know what has happened. I turn to face the old man, feeling a great deal of rage, and also an odd sense of enjoyment, running through my veins, my blood boiling as I somehow find myself trying to keep from laughing.
In five long strides I cross to the steps, breaking into a run halfway through as I let our lifelong friendship blind me to his actual age. Before I even realize it I'm lowering my head to tackle the old man… but then I feel his arm around my waist, and then I feel myself lifted off the ground as I recall the hard muscles I felt, and then I find myself laid out on the ground, even more confused than before.
Bastion just keeps laughing and laughing. Leo starts laughing too, with Luna joining in with quiet giggles. Even Dr. Pepper seems to be trying to laugh, opening and closing his weathered beak silently.
And then the battle within me between anger and humor ends in a decisive victory for humor as I start to laugh too, setting my head back on the concrete floor as tears come to my eyes. I laugh harder and harder, squeezing my eyes shut and clutching my stomach. After a while, Leo and Luna settle down, but Bastion and I keep laughing raucously.
Our laughter mingles in the air like a choir, old and young, and in that moment, as I close my eyes, it almost feels like nothing changed at all. Seventy years haven't passed. We're not ancient, he doesn't have kids, or grandkids, or a wife; our parents are still here, and I never went into this seven-decade coma.
For a short period of time… I feel at home again.
After the bit of excitement that arose from my attempted physical assault on my elderly best friend calmed down, we headed inside to enjoy a glass of lemonade for all of us. I'll admit, I was a bit skeptical when Bastion informed me that Dr. Pepper had made it, but when I saw him standing with his front feet on top of a juice press, I was willing to give it a shot.
It was very good. Best lemonade I've ever had… probably.
Anyway, as we sit enjoying the lemonade made by that mysterious tortoise who somehow understands how to operate a juice press, I decide to question Bastion about his little gag with Pot of Greed.
"So Bastion, mind telling me about that little gag with Pot of Greed?" I question, sipping at the frosty glass of sweet and sour liquid. Most of what Bastion has at his home is either prune juice or water, and I'd really rather not talk about what we had to drink in the Satellite; my point being, this lemonade is probably the best drink I've had in a long time.
"Oh, right. The thing you tried to attack me over," the old man muses with a smirk on his face. "Well, as the years have passed and the game has grown, they've implemented various lists of cards that can and cannot be used in order to keep the game balanced—a Forbidden and Limited List, to be precise. Forbidden cards cannot be used at all, and then you can only have one of each Limited card in your deck, or two Semi-Limited."
"And Pot of Greed is forbidden?" I piece together.
"Quite so. And, as you found out, the penalty for using a Forbidden card is typically immediate forfeiture," Bastion concludes.
He seems to have forgotten that Leo and Luna are in the room as well, both of whom are now looking at us in an odd manner, probably wondering why he needs to explain something that should be common knowledge. In order to cover his tracks, he adds on with a slight cough, "Of course, you should already know this. But, I suppose that you are rather forgetful, so it can be forgiven."
"Right…" I say, giving him a little glare when he calls me forgetful. "So you added Pot of Greed to my Deck because you knew I would play it, and then I would lose."
His smirk widens into a grin. "Indeed."
"I hate you."
The twins are quiet, possibly feeling a little awkward after seeing me lunge at their surrogate grandfather.
After a moment, Luna speaks up. "Um, Ben… during your duel, your monsters…"
Leo looks over to his sister in surprise. "Luna…"
"It's okay, Grandpa B trusts him, so I do too," she replies, patting her brother's arm. She turns her bright green eyes on me and says, "You heard them talking to you, didn't you? Your monsters?"
Immediately I look to Bastion; I'm sure that I must have told him about all this when we were younger. He gives a short nod, so I nod to Luna. "Yeah… how did you know?"
"I can hear them too," she explains. "I've always had some sort of connection with the Spirit World of Duel Monsters, ever since I was little. That's how I knew what your deck was saying earlier."
Right, she had said that… I suppose in hindsight, her telling me that my deck missed me makes much more sense now. A different person might be skeptical of this whole "Spirit World" business, but someone like me sitting here with a shapeshifting superhero cartwheeling around in my mind singing showtunes doesn't have any right to be skeptical.
So, you guys missed me, huh? I ask, leaving the question open to any other Hero voices who might want to make an appearance.
Unfortunately, it's only Shapeshift who responds. Don't make me say it again, Boss… and what do you mean 'unfortunately?!' That's cold, Boss!
Ignoring the form-changing Hero's protests, I instead respond, "So, you can hear the idiots too then?"
Bastion decides to interject with, "Yes, Ben. We can all hear you, as a matter of fact."
If I didn't still ache a bit from my attempt earlier, I would have thrown myself at him again. But since I do, I instead send him an annoyed look, but otherwise say nothing.
"Well, they're not really idiots…" Luna says. "They miss you. All of them."
"All of them?" I repeat. "You hear more than just Shapeshift?"
She nods. "They all have their own voice… but they said you aren't able to hear them. They wish you were."
I'm left unsure of how to actually respond to this; thankfully, Leo saves the day by cutting in.
"So, who's this Pro Duelist that you beat, Ben?" Leo asks suddenly, leaning forward in his seat and clutching his lemonade to his chest. "You said it wasn't Jack Atlas… was it Hunter Pace? Or Bolt Tanner? Or…" he goes on listing names that I can't place.
"Oh no, nobody like them," Bastion says with a chuckle. He takes a drink from his glass and lets out a sigh of enjoyment. "Someone who could take all of them without even being able to read his cards."
"Who? Who?!" Leo asks, his eyes wide with interest.
"Who? Who?!" I ask, trying to prompt my annoying best friend for some more info about my past.
"Aster Phoenix, though I don't suppose you'll know much about him, Leo. Long before your time," Bastion responds.
The name is familiar, calling back a blurry image, with a voice yelling about a group of monsters called the Destiny Heroes… but it's gone in an instant.
"That was the first time you used Wildvine, as a matter of fact… although unlike this time, you actually won," Bastion muses, grinning at me.
Old bastard is enjoying this… I grumble in my head.
Can you blame him? He has seventy years of messing with you to get through, Shapeshift replies.
"So, does Ben have, like, amnesia or something?" Leo inquires.
"Leo! That's not polite," Luna scolds gently, lightly swatting her brother's arm.
"Quit it! I'm only asking because…"
"Yeah, I do," I cut in, waving it off. "It's alright, Luna… I'm missing a lot of memories. I only just remembered his name a few days ago," I explain, gesturing to Bastion with my thumb.
I decide to leave out the part where I'm apparently almost ninety years old; somehow I don't think they'll be quite so receptive to that as they are the idea of card spirits.
That night, I find out that Bastion, Dr. Pepper and I will actually be staying with them for the next week or so until their parents return, rather than driving home and back every day. I suppose that's probably for the best, otherwise we'd waste quite a bit of… whatever energy source fuels cars nowadays.
However, I didn't expect to find myself in this enormous house sharing a room with those two.
As I float through the air, I get a good glimpse of it all. Pale red walls, thick, dark carpet which is practically black in the dark night; two twin beds, dressed with red sheets and blankets, one occupied by Bastion, the other by myself and Dr. Pepper. I can see how my body curls to fit around the tortoise's shell, as if by muscle memory…
…Wait—did I just say I can see myself? Floating through the air?
At once, I realize that I'm having an out of body experience, or else an extremely vivid dream, and when I do, I'm whisked out of the room through the closed window. Bright light consumes me, blinding me, dulling my senses.
And when it dissipates, I know at once that I'm back in my memories.
The grounds of the mansion are lush and green, covered in trees and bushes and all sorts of other plant life. Rabbits and deer and birds make their homes on the grounds, far into the woods on the property.
How I know this, I'm not sure, as from where I stand now, it doesn't seem like there's any sort of life forms other than me for a thousand miles.
Quickly I come to the realization that I'm a child again, much like when I first reacquainted myself with Morph. I'm so much shorter than everything around me, standing at much less than half the height of most of these trees, so I figure that I can't be more than seven or eight years old here.
Deep down, I know that I'm supposed to be looking for something. As I wade through the bushes, which are nearly chest-high on me, my eyes scan the ground for… whatever the object of my search is. Something lost, I know, but what?
Instinctively, I try to call out for Shapeshift, but the moment I do so I remember that I'm in some memory, and probably won't hear back.
So on I search, all alone in my mind, eventually dropping down to all fours and crawling through the dirt. Branches and twigs scrape at my arms and tug my clothes, but I hardly feel them through the haze of memory.
Somewhere off to my left, I hear a rustling. As I break out of a particularly thick bush, I look over and see… a baseball, rolling out of apparently nowhere. I perk up, understanding that this is what I'm supposed to find, but… something about this isn't right. There's something in me that's telling me that the memory didn't go this way, and I should be on guard.
I don't heed that advice, though, and scramble toward the baseball. Just when my hand closes around the rough white sphere, she steps into my path: a young girl in a white dress, with blonde hair and… no face.
My eyes go wide, and I start backing up quickly, regretting that I didn't listen to my intuition at first. She just stands there, tilting her head, face a blank stretch of skin; I can only assume she's looking at me. Am I in my memories still, or a dream?
A nightmare. A voice from nowhere tells me.
The girl takes a step toward me. Pressure wells up in my chest, and I clamber backward like a crab, trying to get away. She steps closer. I don't seem to be moving at all.
She starts closing the distance between us, her intentions unknowable, until I hear something that I never thought I'd be quite so happy to hear. "Away from the boy!" Magure.
Brandishing his gleaming twin knives, Magure leaps into the girl's path directly in front of me, crossing his arms over his chest so that the tips of his daggers appear over his shoulders. He turns his head, one good eye focusing on me. "Are you alright, Young Master?" he asks. At my lack of response, he turns back to her and concludes, "Rest easy. I'll dispel this and have you out of harm's way soon…"
In a blink of an eye, it's all over. The girl is gone. The forest fades away. Again, I'm left alone in the blackness with Magure.
My heart is beating rapidly, but I force myself to calm down as the apparent danger disappears. "What… was that?" I ask, looking up at the purple-haired man who has come to my rescue again.
He grunts. "You began in a memory, if that makes any sense, but… somehow, someone or something hijacked it, bringing you into a nightmare. That girl you saw… she was a part of that memory, for certain, but you two did not meet until much later. Nor did you find the baseball until much later."
This is all making my head spin, if truth be told, but I nod along as if I'm actually understanding. "Right. Nightmare."
Magure sighs, apparently seeing through my ruse. "I don't know why I'm trying to explain, you wouldn't understand if I spelled it out for you. The point is, that was a memory… with a sinister turn."
"Uh-huh."
He pinches the bridge of his nose. "I know I'm a thief, but did I really deserve this…" He shakes his head.
We stand in silence for some time, until I finally blurt out, "I figured out your name."
I don't know why I said it; it isn't even true, but he perks up significantly at that. His one green eye widens, and a small smile begins tugging at his lips. The initial annoyance seems gone. "Do tell, Young Master."
I try to come up with some sort of bluff, even though I know that any try will just end with him being disappointed again.
But then… I find myself thinking back to the duel with Bastion, and the blank card I drew, and… "Don Zaloog."
His smile widens. "You're correct… partly. There's another name you'll know me under, but I know it will come back to you."
From somewhere in the darkness, a rooster calls. This is doubly odd, because at this moment I'm not entirely sure what a rooster actually is, or why it is even calling.
"Ah… looks like it's time for us to part, for now. I'll see you soon, Young Master," Don Zaloog says, just as I find myself having so many questions.
"Wait—" I try to say, but as I hear the words come from my mouth, I'm sitting up in my bed, wide awake.
I look around at the room, now illuminated by the morning sun. Bastion's bed is empty, and Dr. Pepper is still sitting with my legs curled around him, aching something fierce from being in this position all night long.
"That… was weird," I say, sighing and pulling my legs up to my chest. I try to recall every detail, from the forest, to the baseball, to the faceless girl…
"You're telling me," says a voice from in the room. It's not in my head, like Shapeshift, which admittedly throws me off. I start to look around, more confused than startled, knowing that the only living things in here are me and…
"Dr. Pepper? Did you hear anything?" I ask, for some reason expecting a response from the shelled reptile.
I look down to him, and he looks back at me silently. I sigh again. "…Didn't think so."
"I said something, actually," says the voice again. A voice I recognize as Magure's.
My eyes lock with Dr. Pepper's, trying to wrap my head around this situation. "I'm definitely going crazy…"
Then, Dr. Pepper opens his mouth, and says, "Good morning, Young Master!"
"WHAT THE FU—"
AND THAT'S WHERE WE'RE CUTTING IT! So, how about that duel, eh? Anticlimactic? Acceptable? The product of a tired mind? How do you guys like how I implemented the Forbidden/Limited lists to explain a lack of Pot of Greed in 5D's—and then Ben attacking Bastion for knowingly putting a forbidden card in his deck?
Oh, and how about that big Magure/Dr. Pepper reveal? Anyone see that coming? Who's this blonde girl that Ben saw in his memory? Well… it's probably not that hard to guess, but who knows! Oh, and name dropping Aster, how about that? Huh? Huh?
Anyway, I'm not gonna say much this time. Apologizing if there's a dip in quality at any point in this chapter, I recently got a new job and they've had me doing training for the past week, which involved me driving two hours every day there and back so I haven't had near as much time to write as I'd hope. And just letting you all know, it might be a couple more weeks until I get the hang of the job. I'll see you all soon though!
Anyways, as always, take care, brrrrush yo hair, I'll see ya when I see ya, PEACE~!
~Chase
Oh yeah—and here's Wildvine.
Elemental Hero Wildvine
Level 6
DARK
Plant/Fusion/Effect
"Elemental Hero Poison Rose" + "Elemental Hero Shapeshift"
This card can only be Fusion Summoned using the above cards as Fusion Material. "Elemental Hero Poison Rose" must have been properly Special Summoned to use it as Fusion Material. Once per turn, you can return 1 of your removed from play "Elemental Hero" monsters to your Graveyard to target one card on the field, and if you do, its effects are negated as long as this card remains face-up on the field. This effect can be activated during the Main Phase of either player's turn.
ATK: 2400 / DEF: 2000