Isaaru, Episode 3 Arrival of the Ritual Gods

Isaaru, as we all know, is a young, teenage duellist. He has just defeated his older sister Tori, and the national champion, in the build up to his eventual winning of a local tournament. As he leaves the tournament hall, he and Tori are discussing his prizes for winning the tournament. He received a pack of rare cards put together by the tournament organisers, and one promotional card of his choice. He selected a second copy of his new monster, the Ultimate Warrior of Landstar, since his only copy of it was given to him by Dominic Donovan, the national champion and his rival. He walks out of the hall, and is discussing some of the rare cards he won with Tori.

"I tell you what sis," said Isaaru. "Some of these cards are pretty cool, and some of them are just plain pretty. I know, since you helped me out a lot, I'll let you have this card. I think it suits your deck very well." He sorts through the cards and picks out a powerful 2800 attack strength fairy monster, known as Guardian Angel Joan. "I hope it can help you as much as you've helped me."

"In fact, I've never tried this card," replied Tori. "It might work very well. It gives me a major life gain bonus when she destroys something in battle. I'll probably end up using it. Hey, what's that?" She looks at one of the cards Isaaru is holding, and sees it as a Dark Magician Girl card.

"Oh… Err…It's a Dark Magician Girl?" questioned Isaaru. "Why do you ask?"

"That's one of my very favourite cards. Can't I have it?"

"Sorry sis, but I'm keeping this card. I've got a special plan for this card." He slips it into a plastic case to protect it, and puts it into the top pocket of his shirt. "I plan on using this in a new deck. If I enter a tournament, I'd like to have the opportunity to play a secondary deck, in case something happens to my current one."

"Well…" sighed Tori. "Alright then. I suppose you deserve it more than I do."

All of a sudden, a large man walked up to the two of them and asked them to stop. He was very tall, and quite broad in his appearance. He was wearing a long black trench coat and a black hat to conceal his face. His voice boomed out and was very deep.

"Is your name Isaaru Watanabe?" said the large figure.

"Yeah. Who wants t know?" questioned Isaaru.

"My name is Sissero," replied the figure. "I come from the office of the current world champion of the game of Duel Monsters. He has told me that I am to seek out Isaaru Watanabe, and see if he is worthy of joining his new world tournament."

"New tournament?"

"Yes. He has invited the very greatest duellist from all around the world to visit his estate in Japan. I am told you have a very unique duelling technique, and that he wishes to add you to his tournament line-up. However, due to a lack of any world rankings in the game, I am told to duel you, to see if you are worthy of joining the tournament. If you beat me, then I will allow you access to the tournament."

"Well, I don't know," replied Isaaru. "Why should I come along to this tournament?"

"The winner will duel the world champion for his title. Along the way, you will duel such legendary duellists as Bastion Misawa, Joey Wheeler, Mai Valentine, and if you're lucky, maybe even Jaden Yuki or Seto Kaiba."

"Is this serious?"

"As serious as it can get. Do you accept my challenge to a duel?"

"Isaaru…" sighed Tori. "Be careful."

"And who might you be?" asked Sissero.

"I am Tori Watanabe, 2nd ranked duellist in this country."

"Apparently, you have been deemed worthy of this tournament as well. If your brother here can defeat me, then both of you will go to the tournament. That is more than fair."

"Alright then, I accept your challenge," said Isaaru. "Where shall we duel? Shall we go back inside to use the tables?"

"No need, I have what we need, right here…" said Sissero, who reaches inside the pocket of his trench coat, and pulled out a machine with card-shaped slots along it. "This is a duel disk. You strap it onto your wrist, and play the game using it. You will duel using this, and it will project holograms of the monsters you summon."

"Cool! Just like Yugi Mutou."

"Erm, ok then. If you say so," sighed Sissero. He pulls his left arm out of his trench coat, to reveal his own duel disk, with a deck loaded into it. "Let's duel Isaaru."

"Yes, let's. Duel!" declares Isaaru, as he draws five cards from his deck, along with Sissero.

Isaaru – 8000, Sissero - 8000

"I'll take the first move," said Sissero in his dark, deep voice, as he draws a sixth card, "and I'll activate the spell card, Pot of Greed, to draw two more cards." A large green pot appeared on the field in front of him, with a freaky laughing face on the front of it. "Next, I'll activate the spell card, Final Countdown!" Yet again, a hologram of the card's picture appeared. In this case, twenty large fire balls appeared in the sky above them, and the weather suddenly turned dark and cloudy. "Let me explain how it works, I pay 2000 life points (Sissero 8000 – 2000 6000), and in twenty turns, I win the duel automatically. This is now a timed duel, and you have to beat me in twenty turns. I'll then set two cards face-down, to end my turn." Sure enough, as Sissero slotted the 2 cards into his duel disk, two bright brown cards appeared just above the floor in front of him, face-down.

Isaaru – 8000, Sissero - 6000

"Wow! This is so cool!" shouted Isaaru. Just as he said this, people began to leave the tournament hall behind them, and saw the duel going on. Just like Isaaru, they had never seen a real, live hologram duel, and so they raced over to the duel scene to get a better view. They stood near the two combatants, underneath the presence of the now 19 orange fire balls hovering in the sky above them. Isaaru draws his next card, and begins his turn, everyone going silent so that he can concentrate.

"Alright then, I'll summon the monster called, Grappler of Landstar (1000/500) in attack mode!" As he places the yellow-coloured card onto his duel disk, a creature materialises on the field in front of him. It looks like an army commando, with a camouflage suit on, and all sorts of belts strapped around him, with many different daggers and explosives tucked into them. He had a baby-like face, like something out of a fairy tale. "Now, Grappler, attack his life points directly!" declared Isaaru, pointing at his opponent. The Grappler of Landstar steps forward, and removes a dagger from his belt, and jumps at Sissero, slashing at his chest so that he takes damage. (Sissero 6000 – 1000 5000) Sissero falls to his knees in pain, but quickly gets back up again.

Isaaru – 8000, Sissero – 5000

"I'll activate a trap card!" said Sissero. "The Pyro Clock of Destiny. This trap card moves forward all turn counts currently active on the field by one turn. Therefore, my Final Countdown now has 18 turns left."

"Very well," sighed Isaaru. "I'll set one face-down on the field and end my turn. I guess that takes Final Countdown's turn count down then?"

"You learn fast," replied Sissero. "My turn now. I'll summon one monster on defence mode, and activate the continuous spell card, Level Limit Area-B." A small gate appeared behind Sissero, with a letter "B" on the front of it. "As long as this stays in play, all level 4 or higher monsters on the field are put into defence mode."

"Yeah, yeah. I know what it does. Just go ahead and end your turn," said Isaaru, impatiently.

"Very well. I'll end my turn," replied Sissero. Up above the duelling field, the fourth fire ball disappeared. Isaaru could see that his time was running out fast.

"I'll have to think of a move soon, if I'm going to stay in this. I draw!" declared Isaaru. He looks at the card he picked up, and saw it was the ritual spell card, Landstar God Ritual. He didn't remember this card being in his deck at all. He then thinks a bit harder, and reminisces about his birthday once. He was about 14 years old, and Tori was only a little older than that (about 16). Isaaru then flashes back to the moment:

Flashback

"Wow, some duel monsters cards!" said a younger version of Isaaru.

"Yeah, I picked out a few that might help you build your own deck," replied the younger Tori. "The shop owner said they're quite new releases."

"What's this?" asked Isaaru, holding up a green-coloured card with a picture of a bubbling cauldron that appeared to be in the middle of some sort of dungeon. "I've never even heard of this card."

"That's a ritual spell card. You can use it to special summon a Landstar ritual monster in a duel. And in fact, I got you the monster too," said Tori, handing over yet another package to Isaaru. He opens it up to reveal a pair of blue-coloured cards.

"Great! This will make my deck that much better for when I can go to tournaments."

End of Flashback

"Okay then Sissero!" said Isaaru, in response to his draw. "I think it's about time I make my advantage a little stronger. I'll set one card face-down, and summon the monster, Knight of Landstar (500/2200) in defence mode. With that, I end my turn." As he placed down his cards, a shining silver Knight appeared in front of him, with the same child-like face on it that Grappler had. Isaaru then looked above and counted the remaining fire balls, seeing there was only 15 left.

"My move," growled Sissero. "I'll sacrifice my face-down Big Shield Gardna (100/2600), and summon the Total Defence Shogun (1550/2500) in attack mode." A tall warrior holding a gleaming sword was summoned in front of Sissero, ready to strike.

"Wait a minute," said Isaaru. "If you played Final Countdown, then aren't you supposed to be playing defence, and stalling my moves?"

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"You just tributed a 2600 DEF monster to summon one with 2500 DEF, in attack mode! I could knock that down easily."

"Well, I'll explain Total Defence Shogun's special effects to you. Firstly, when I summon him in attack mode, he immediately switches himself into defence position. Secondly, when he is in defence mode, he can still attack you! This means, I get a monster on my field with 2500 points for you to get through, and I won't take life point damage from you attacking it, and in addition, I can use 1550 attack points to attack you safely." As he finished saying this, the Total Defence Shogun monster on his field began to crouch down on the field, holding his large sword in front of him as a defence. "Now, Total Defence Shogun! Attack the Grappler of Landstar!" commanded Sissero, as the Total Defence Shogun leapt at the Grappler of Landstar, destroying it and sending it to Isaaru's graveyard (Isaaru 8000 – 1550 + 1000 7450). "I'll set one card face-down and end my turn. Now, you have 14 turns to win this."

Isaaru – 7450, Sissero - 5000

"Good, it's time I finished this anyway. This is going on for far too long. My move!" declared Isaaru, as he drew a card. He looked at it, and saw it was Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands. "That's just what I needed. I summon the monster, Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands (1400/1000) in attack mode!" An ugly monster, looking very old, protruded from the holographic card that appeared in front of Isaaru. It had many thousands of hands coming out of its torso. "When I summon this card, I get to look through my deck for any ritual monster or ritual spell card, and add that card to my hand! So, I'll search my deck for this card…" he picks out his deck, and finds a blue-coloured monster, the same one seen in his flashback. "Then, I'll activate the ritual spell card, Landstar God Ritual! This card allows me to ritual summon the monster I just drew, but it is a level 10 monster, so I'll have to tribute monsters that I have that have a total level equal to 10. So, I'll tribute my Manju (4), my Knight of Landstar (3), and my Swordsman of Landstar in my hand (3), to summon this! The Sun God of Landstar (2000/1900)!"

As Isaaru placed the ritual into the slot on his duel disk, the same cauldron from the picture appeared on his field, and absorbed his three monsters. Then, the mixture inside the cauldron bubbled, and shot into the air. Clouds formed over the duel, and a swirling tower of flames shot from the sky down to the ground. They then morphed into an enormous dragon, which appeared to be made of fire.

"Sun God?" exclaimed Sissero, looking very puzzled.

"Yeah, this is one of the two Landstar gods who is worshiped by all those in the Landstar kingdom," explained Isaaru. "And, it has a very unique special ability. When I ritual summon it to the field, like I just did, I can pay 1500 life points (Isaaru 7450 – 1500 5950) to destroy everything you have on the field."

Isaaru - 5950, Sissero - 5000

"Very well, before my cards are destroyed, I'll activate a second Pyro Clock of Destiny! So now, you have 13 turns left." Every other card that Sissero has out is burnt away by the flame breath of the Sun God, including his Total Defence Shogun.

"It doesn't matter. I can still attack you. Sun God of Landstar! Attack his life points with raging inferno! (Sissero 5000 – 2000 3000)." The Sun God unleashed a mighty flame breath on Sissero, causing him to be knocked back onto the floor. He gets up, looking a little weaker.

Isaaru – 5950, Sissero - 3000

"Alright then Isaaru," groaned Sissero. "I think it's about time I sped things up, don't you? I've been keeping these two cards in my hand for a reason." He is pointing at two cards at the side of his hand which he hasn't played yet. "They are both copies of the same card. But for now, I draw!" He draws his next card, and grins. "I activate the spell card, Quantum Leap!" A spell card appears in front of him, displaying some sort of vortex, and some cards being dragged into it, such as Swords of Revealing Light and Final Countdown. "This card is like activating three Pyro Clocks at the same time. It moves the current turn count forward by three turns!"

"That's impossible!" shouted Isaaru.

"You'd think so wouldn't you," laughed Sissero. "But you see; only one would be hard to contend with, but I have three!" He slots two more spells into his duel disk, and they appear in front of him, as the exact same card, Quantum Leap. "And now, you have 9 less turns to win this, and since you ended your turn recently, the current turn count, is 12! So my Quantum Leaps will bring this turn count down to 3 turns. Now, all we need is for me to end my turn after this, and you're finished."

Isaaru ponders this thought for while, and realises it's true, as there are only 3 more fire balls floating in the sky. "Oh no! That means I only have one turn in which to win this." He looks at his hand and sees two cards, Grappler of Landstar, Offerings to the Doomed and Monster Reincarnation. He realises that if he attacks with Grappler and his Sun God, he'll win the duel. "Well, I can easily do that in my next turn."

"That's the point, and I have no doubts that you can beat me next turn, so I'm prepared. I summon Jowgen the Spiritualist (200/1300) in attack mode! With Jowgen in play, I can discard the last card in my hand to destroy all special summoned monsters on the field, so your Sun God is destroyed!"

"But, that means I can't win," cried Isaaru, as he watches his Sun God be destroyed by Jowgen the Spiritualist's spell charm attack.

"And now, that's game Isaaru," smiled Sissero. "I'll end my turn."

Isaaru looked mesmerised by Sissero's duelling strategy. He looked as if he had lost the will to live.

"Come on Isaaru, you can still win this!" shouted Tori. Isaaru completely perked up. He had forgotten Tori was there. "I know you still have a card in your deck that can win you this duel. I know you can do this."

"Yeah, there is something I can do," realised Isaaru. "Alright then Sissero, it's time for you to lose. I draw!" He looks at his final card, seeing another blue-coloured monster card. He grins, knowing that he can win this duel. "Alright then. Are you aware of my Sun God's special effect?"

"It does more than just destroy my field?" questioned Sissero.

"Of course it does. It's a god. When you destroy it with a card effect, I can put Landstar God Ritual back into my hand, and re-use it. Now then, with that back, I'll activate Monster Reincarnation! By using this spell, I can discard my Grappler of Landstar in my hand to add Sun God back to my hand."

"Well then, that's a good try," laughed Sissero. "Even if you can summon Sun God, my Jowgen negates all special summonings."

"And I already know that. That's why I'm going to play Offerings to the Doomed. This card will destroy your Jowgen."

"Oh well. I still have 3000 life points," said Sissero. "You can't beat me with Sun God, and that must be your plan."

"It isn't," said Isaaru.

"WHAT?" shouted Sissero.

"I activate the Ritual spell card, Landstar God Ritual. This allows me to sacrifice my Sun god of Landstar to summon the other God of Landstar. I summon the Warrior God of Landstar! (3000/2800)" An enormous warrior was this time summoned by the God ritual. It has dressed in black so you couldn't see its face, and it had a large broad sword on its back. It stood up straight with its arms folded, and shouted his battle cry.

"But, he has 3000 attack points!" exclaimed Sissero.

"It took you that long to figure that out?" questioned Isaaru. "I'm not going to drag this out any longer for you. Warrior God! Attack Sissero's life points directly with that nice big sword of yours. Rage of Landstar!" The warrior leapt several feet into the air, and came down upon Sissero with his sword raised, and knocked Isaaru's opponent down to the ground, depleting the remainder of his life points. (Sissero 3000 – 3000 0) Having been knocked down by the force of Isaaru's attack, Sissero stood up, and all the holograms that were still on the field disappeared. Sissero began to smile, and applauded Isaaru.

"Well done. Well done indeed Isaaru. I thought you had it in you to win that."

"Thanks. I doubted myself a little, but I pulled through," laughed Isaaru.

"It is now with great pleasure that I grant you and your sister access to the most exclusive and prestigious Duel Monsters tournament in history. My master, the World Champion of Duel Monsters requested to meet you personally should you win. If you'd like to follow me. Both of you."

Sissero led the two of them to a helicopter he had behind him. They stepped inside, and prepared to take off. Nearby, the crowd who was watching Isaaru's duel were applauding his victory. Amongst them was Dominic Donovan. He ran up to the helicopter, and sneaked on board. It was a large helicopter, so Sissero and Isaaru didn't see him get on. The helicopter took off, and began to fly them to a remote island. It is this island that was the former site of Seto Kaiba's duel academy, until it was relocated some years ago. Now, the previous academy still stands, but is a shadow of its former self.

"We are flying to the old Duel Academy," explained Sissero. "It is here where you will live and stay during this tournament. My master will explain all the tournament rules when we reach the island." As they began to approach the island, Sissero beckoned to the two of them to look out of the window. They looked, and saw a large island in front of them, with a glistening white building in the middle of it. "The duel academy has been abandoned for nearly 10 years now. The current world champion says he used to be one of the school's students, and wanted his tournament to be based here, and nowhere else."

"Wow. It's amazing," said Isaaru. "I always wanted to see Duel Academy, and now I get to duel there." Isaaru was holding on to the duel disk he was given by Sissero, wondering what faced him next.

END

Next time (Chapter 4: Start of the Tournament, and meet the contestants)

Isaaru touches down on the island. Sissero leads him and Tori to the principal's office, where they meet the world champion of Duel Monsters (for secrecy purposes, I will not reveal who this is until I have written chapter 4). The champion explains why he has chosen for Isaaru to compete in this tournament, and begins saying his deck is unorthodox, and can't stand a chance in the tournament. He says that Isaaru is only the tournament for a laugh, and will be started off against the weaker duellists competing. Isaaru, being the arrogant kid that he and other teenagers tend to be, challenges the world champion to a duel. His challenge is grudgingly accepted, and their battle gets underway. Meanwhile, Dominic Donovan climbs off of the helicopter and finds his way into the World Champion's office, and sees the conclusion of the duel, just as the unthinkable happens…

New cards used in this chapter (which are not in the TCG):

Sun God of Landstar

Dragon / Ritual / Effect / LIGHT

2000 / 1900 / 10

This card can only be Ritual Summoned with the Ritual Spell Card, "Landstar God Ritual." When this monster is ritual summoned to the field, pay 1500 life points to destroy all cards on your opponent's side of the field. In addition, when this card is sent from the field to the graveyard by any card effect, return one "Landstar God Ritual" from your graveyard to your hand.

Warrior God of Landstar

Warrior / Ritual / Effect / DARK

3000 / 2800 / 10

This card can only be Ritual Summoned with the Ritual Spell Card, "Landstar God Ritual." 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 3 stars. When the level of this card is equal to 1 star, you can special summon one monster from your hand of your side of the field. You can only activate this effect once per turn.

Landstar God Ritual

Ritual Spell / SPELL

This card can be used to Ritual Summon "Sun God of Landstar" or "Warrior God of Landstar." You must also Tribute monsters from the field or your hand whose total levels equal 10 stars.

Quantum Leap

Normal Spell / SPELL

Move the turn count forward by 3 turns. The turn in which this card is activated continuous as normal.