Isaaru, Episode 1 Birth of the Landstar Duellist

It starts off as a normal, sunny day in Isaaru's world. Isaaru is a young and budding Yu-Gi-Oh duellist, much like everyone in his neighbourhood. He has an unorthodox style of duelling, as if he tries to humiliate his opponents, and have as much fun as possible at the same time. He is in his bedroom, adding some finishing touches to his deck.

"Should I use 2 Marauding Captains, or 3?" says Isaaru, to his sister, Tori. His sister is also a duellist, but is much older than him, and has more experience of the game at a national level.

"Definitely 3. You know how Marauding Captain works don't you? You can use his effect to swarm your opponent with those monsters of yours, and give them some added protection," said Tori.

"What will happen if I lose? I don't want to lose in my first tournament."

"Well, I know you'll do fine. You've beaten everyone in your school, and I'm the only one you haven't managed to beat."

"Ok then. I'll try my best. I just hope they don't laugh at me or anything like that. Oh wait, we've got to go now," he says, as he looks up at his clock. He picks up his backpack, grabs his cards and rushes out the door.

Isaaru and Tori walk down the street together, and they reach a large building, much like a village hall. This is where Isaaru is entering into his first tournament, and hopes to win. He walks into the main room, and sees well over a hundred people, all duelling each other and trading cards. He then sees a small desk to the right of the entranceway, and goes over there to register his deck in the tournament. The man at the counter asks him for the entry fee, and a list of cards he will be using. Isaaru hands over the money, and a small piece of paper, with a list of card names scribbled on it. The man reads the deck list and starts laughing, but still enters him into the tournament. Soon after they arrive, the round one pairings are posted up, and Isaaru and Tori go over to check Isaaru's first match line-up.

"Ahhh!" screams Tori. "You're going against Dominic Donovan."

"Huh? Who?" says Isaaru, who has never heard of the name before.

"Dominic Donovan. He's a really rich kid, and the best duellist in the country. He beat me at the national championships last year."

Then, a guy around Tori's age comes over to the two of them, and also looks at the listings. "Well, then. If it isn't that weak little girl I beat at the national finals. Long time no see Tori."

"Um, hi Dominic," says Tori, blushing.

"So, looks like I'm facing some guy named Isaaru. I hope he's good so I can finally get some sort of a challenge." Isaaru hears this and stands in front of Dominic.

"Yeah, I'm your first opponent," says Isaaru. "I think it's about time I teach you a lesson for beating my sister and knocking her out of the nationals."

"So, are you Tori's sister then? Hah! You won't last 5 minutes if you're anything like your sister was. I think I should show you how things are done around here. Let's duel Isaaru." Isaaru and Dominic stride over to the table they're allocated, and shuffle each other's decks. The announcer says for everyone to start their duels. "So then, Isaaru. Are you ready?"

"You bet. It's time to duel, Dominic!" Both competitors draw 5 cards from their decks, and the duel begins, starting from 8000 life points each.

"I'll go first then," says Dominic. "I summon the fairy monster, Shining Angel (1400/800), in attack mode!" Dominic throws down an effect monster card with a picture of a shining fairy on the front. Isaaru doesn't look too worried. "Next, I'll activate the field spell card, Luminous Spark, to give my Shining Angel, and all other light attribute monsters a power boost of 500 attack points." Shining Angel now has (1900/300) "And with, that, I'll lay one card face-down, and end my turn."

"Nice opening move. Now, let's see mine. I draw…" Isaaru picks up his card, and looks in dismay. Nothing in his hand has enough strength to beat Shining Angel. However, he does notice the trap card Sakuretsu Armour in his hand. "Ok then. Meet my favourite monster. I summon the Swordsman of Landstar (500/1200), in attack mode!" Everyone watching the duel, including Dominic starts laughing, and Isaaru starts to get nervous. "Errr…ok…um… I'll then play 2 cards face down, and end my turn."

"I thought I'd actually get a challenge from you," says Dominic. "Oh well. Now I'll show you why I'm the best around here. I activate the continuous spell card, Frontline Base. Then, I'll use Frontline Base's special effect to summon the machine monster, W-Wing Catapult (1800/1100) to the field, and follow up by normal summoning my V-Tiger Jet (2100/1400) in attack mode." Dominic can hear everyone standing around him whispering things such as this new kid's going to lose now, and he gets more and more nervous. "Well then, I'll summon a different monster to the field. My sacrificing my V-Tiger Jet and my W-Wing Catapult, I can fusion summon the all-powerful VW-Tiger Catapult (2500/1700) to the field. And now, it's time to end this. VW will attack your swordsman."

"Come on Isaaru!" shouts Tori, as she can see Isaaru looking nervous. "I know you can beat him!"

"Yeah. I can, can't I," says Isaaru. "I activate the trap card Sakuretsu Armour. This card allows me to negate your attack, and destroy your Tiger Catapult."

"No!" responds Dominic. "I can use this card." He points the face-down card he played in his previous turn. "I play Trap Jammer. This negates the effect of your Sakuretsu Armour, leaving my Machine free to attack you."

"Very well," says Isaaru, now back at the top of his game. "I'll then play a different trap. Negate Attack!"

Dominic just shrugs, saying, "Well, I don't mind that. If I can't attack, then I'll end my turn."

"Good. Time to bring the advantage back to me." Isaaru draws his next card and smiles. "I activate the spell card, Polymerization. This allows me to sacrifice Swordsman of Landstar, and the Grappler of Landstar I have in my hand to summon this card." He looks through the nine cards of his fusion deck, and finds the card he wants. "I summon the Raging Swordsman of Landstar (2200/1500)! In attack mode."

The crowd looks astonished. This is a card that they have not yet seen. The tournament organiser looks over at what has been played, and looks amazed. He then goes to his microphone and says to everyone, "Hey everyone, come and look at the duel going on at table 29. It looks as though a newcomer is about to beat the national champion!" Everyone in the room, who isn't duelling, rushes over to get a good view of what's going on.

"Well, it looks as though an audience has come to see you fall flat on your face Dominic," says Isaaru, who is feeling a lot more confident now. "I would hate to disappoint them, so I guess I'm going to have to beat you. I activate the equip spell card, Landstar Shot! This spell card can only be given to a Landstar monster, like my Raging Swordsman. It gives my monster an attack increase of 600 points (2800/1500). Now then, let's give these people a nice show. I'll attack your Tiger Catapult with my Raging Swordsman, eliminating it from the field."

The whole crowd gasps, as Dominic's life points drop down from 8000, to 7700. He looks astonished.

"I'm not done yet, Dominic. I'll set the last card in my hand face-down, and then end my turn. Give me all you've got."

"Fine then." Dominic draws his card, but with only 2 cards in hand, he has very limited options as to what to do. "Ok. I'll set one monster in defence mode, and put Shining Angel into defence as well. That ends it for me."

"Good, but before I start my turn, I'll flip over this," says Isaaru. "The quick-play spell card, Multi-Draw. This card is one of the rarest cards I have. I can only activate in my opponent's end phase, when I have no hand. It allows me to draw 5 cards in my next draw phase."

"What!" says Dominic. "That's ridiculous!"

"Tough. It's a card, and it will allow me win in my next couple of turns," says Isaaru, as he draws 5 cards to start his next turn. "Let's end this Dominic. Firstly, when I start my turn, my Raging Swordsman's special ability comes into effect, reducing his level by 1 star. Then, I'll activate Pot of Greed to draw 2 more cards from my deck. With that, I activate the spell card Polymerization, fusing my Brigadier of Landstar and my Knight of Landstar in my hand, to summon the Impregnable Brigadier of Landstar (1500/2200)."

"This is impossible," says Dominic, who looks distraught.

"That's what I would think," says Isaaru. "Anyway, back to my turn. I play the spell card, Raigeki, to destroy both of your monsters." Dominic's face-down Y-Dragon Head (2000/1200) and Shining Angel are destroyed, leaving him wide open for a direct attack. "And now, I'll summon Marauding Captain (1200/400), in attack mode. Captain's effect allows me to summon another low-level monster to the field, so I'll play the Grappler of Landstar (1000/500). Now that I have all of these cards under my control, I'll attack your life points directly with all 4 of my monsters, leaving you pretty weak (7700-2800-1500-1200-10001200). What do you say now?"

Dominic is left dazed after the turn. The can hardly talk. "You… You… You just, did so much to me in that short time, with a bunch of rubbish monsters. I don't believe this. I can't go on." He draws his card, and looks at it. "I draw, Z-Metal Tank, and all I have in my hand is that, and a Machine King. I can't win. I forfeit. You're just too good." Dominic places his hand on top of his deck, and bows his head. Suddenly, the crowd around them start cheering for Isaaru. Tori jumps through the crowd and throws her arms around Isaaru.

"Oh my god!" says Tori. "I can't believe you won. I really can't. You know, you might just have a chance in this tournament if carry on like that."

The announcer grabs his microphone, ecstatic with the excitement of what has just happened. "And we have a winner. Someone has finally beaten Dominic Donovan, the national champion."

Isaaru, smiling with joy, picks up his deck, walks over to Dominic, and puts out his hand. "That was a good game. Thanks for that."

Dominic looks up, and shakes him by the hand, but can't say anything. He just picks up his cards and walks out of the room.

END

Next time (Episode 2: Summon, the Ultimate Warrior):

Having been declared the winner of his first match, Isaaru plays his way through the remaining rounds of the tournament, with great ease, and finds himself in the top-8 of the tournament. He wins his first match, closely, and has more difficulty with the next match, but then finds himself in the final match, against his sister Tori. Determined to beat his sister, for the first time, he shuffles her deck, and sits down opposite her.

"Tori," says Isaaru. "I just want to say, I appreciate everything you've done to help me in this tournament. But now, I'm afraid I have to put all of that aside. I won't expect you to go easy on me, as I won't on you. It's time to duel, sis!"

New cards used by Isaaru in this chapter (that are not in the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG):

Brigadier of Landstar

Warrior / EARTH

900 / 1200 / 3

Grappler of Landstar

Warrior / EARTH

1000 / 500 / 3

Knight of Landstar

Warrior / EARTH

500 / 2200 / 3

Raging Swordsman of Landstar

Warrior / Fusion / Effect / EARTH

2200 / 1500 / 5

"Swordsman of Landstar" + "Grappler of Landstar"

The fusion summon of this card can only be conducted with the above fusion material monsters. During each of your own standby phases in which this card is face-up on your side of the field, decrease the level of this card by 1 star.

Impregnable Brigadier of Landstar

Warrior / Fusion / Effect / EARTH

1500 / 2200 / 5

"Brigadier of Landstar" + "Knight of Landstar"

The fusion summon of this card can only be conducted with the above fusion material monsters. During each of your own standby phases in which this card is face-up on your side of the field, decrease the level of this card by 1 star.

Landstar Shot

Equip Spell / SPELL

This card may only be equipped to a monster with the word "Landstar" in its card name. Increase the ATK of the equipped monster by 600 points.