Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh!-Kazuki Takahashi/Konami
CFGX: "Here's my next chapter. With my inability to apply a grammar check at my home computer, my writer's block and juggling other projects, it took much longer than usual to post this chapter. As usual please read and review and ask questions, and if possible, let me know if you'd care to be a beta-reader or co-writer for one of your favorite stories or those you're just curious about..."
"What happened to this place?" Crow rather stated as he rode down a sharp, freshly-paved highway with Yusei, Margaret and Jack. "I mean look at this! Cleaner streets, nice buildings-"
"The Satellite we all grew up in is gone, that's for sure!" Yusei laughed.
"Whadda you lads say to a high-speed race through the streets for old times' sake." Jack challenged.
"You're on!" Margaret accepted and they raced onward through the revamped Satellite.
They could barely seen a trace of what it used to be until they reached their former foster home. The place seemed to have expanded since they were last here, a few elderly milling the field along with the orphans. As they pulled up, three of them came out the door.
"What's up, little runts!" Crow greeted the children he used to take care of.
"Crow! Yusei!"
"Long time, no see!"
"Jack, will you duel me later today?"
"Well, look who's decided to return to their old stomping grounds," Blister greeted as he and Martha joined them. "Good to see ya guys."
Yusei pulled his helmet off. "Did Jack's Flush set up shop full-time here, Blister?"
"You've tasted Martha's cooking; how could I walk away from that?"
"Have you nerds been behaving?" Crow asked the nestlings.
"And practicing every day."
"And we help Martha take care of all the old people!"
"They causin' ya any trouble, Martha?" Crow asked, to be sure.
"Nothin' like the trouble you caused me when you were their age," she joked, causing Crow and the nestlings to laugh. "Now go look around, you three, and meet us back in the house."
Later...
"...So what did he say?"
"Nothing. He just launched a trash can lid at me."
"That sounds painful." Crow said as he, Yusei, Jack, and Margaret strolled into the dining room, where Martha and Dr. Schmidt were sitting at the table, with all five nestlings standing around.
"Oh, hey, you three." Martha greeted as they entered.
"Maybe you can help us out, Crow." one of the children said.
"With what?" Crow asked.
"Mister Bashford," the doctor said. "An elderly fellow who lives by himself out in the Grogen District. We've been worried about him and wanted to offer him the chance to relocate and live here at Martha's place."
"But he's a little hardheaded, and he won't even listen to what we have to say!" Martha added.
"You should go and convince 'im to move here, Crow." one of the girls suggested.
"Wait, what? Why me?" Crow asked, "Old people make me kinda nervous."
"Hear that, you guys," the boys snickered. "Crow's not up for the challenge."
"Say what?!" Crow snapped.
"Yeah, he can't pull it off!"
"He's not clever enough!"
"Oh, yes I am!" Crow declared, "You just set an extra plate tonight, 'cause this old fossil's gonna be livin' here by sundown!"
"Wait a minute, Crow..." Jack warned, but Crow wasn't listening.
"I'm on this like pop on corn! So talk to me, where do I find this old crockpot?"
"Something tells me we're gonna need a stretcher by the end of the day." Magic muttered, watching the kids giggle amongst themselves.
"He has no idea what he's getting into!"
"Should we go ahead and call the ambulance now?"
"Called it." Margeret muttered.
"Why is this even happening?" that's the question Futaba seemed to keep asking herself as she stood her ground with her duel-disk ready. It was supposed to be a day like any other. But someone had come and started destroying her homeland by the piece. Why would they go as far as destroy her precious garden just to force her to duel? What does this man in rust-colored armor want with her? "If I give you want you want, will you please leave?!" Futaba waited for a reply, but all she received from the suit of armor was the triggering of its own duel-disk, in which Futaba had no choice but to activate hers as well.
Armor: 4000
Futaba: 4000
"I'm going first!" Futaba insisted, taking the opportunity, "I summon (3) Naturia Rosewhip(3/ATK: 400/DEF: 1700) in DEF mode!" a small flowerbud with a smile appeared (DEF: 1700), "Then I place one card face-down and end my turn!" a reverse-card appeared.
The armor wasted no time in drawing its sixth card. The first card played is a continuous-spell, a card called Worm Call. Upon activation, a set monster appeared, followed by another. Finally, a card was set behind them next to the spell card. That would end its turn.
"I guess…it's my turn," Futaba drew her next card, "I summon (4) Naturia Honeybee(4/ATK: 1800/DEF: 100) in ATK mode!" a small leaf-winged bee appeared (ATK: 1800), "Honeybee, attack the second monster he has face-down!" the bee zipped towards the hidden monster, but the armor triggered the trap card Call of the Earthbound, which switched the bee's target to its other monster. It rose from its hiding place, revealed as a tall, skeletal creature with a light-green exoskeleton that swatted back the insect with one of its long arms (DEF: 2400). The monster is known as Worm Noble.
Armor: 4000
Futaba: 3200
Suddenly the shadow under the noble began to move. It quickly traveled to Futaba's field and struck her, causing the Naturia duelist to yelp.
Armor: 4000
Futaba: 2300
"What just happened?!" Futaba exclaimed aloud, "Why did I take damage just now?" although it didn't take long to figure it out, '…It must be that monster's special-ability that I triggered. I gotta be more careful.' "Fine. I'll end my turn for now."
The Armor drew once again, and set two more cards, one monster and one spell/trap card. It paused from there.
"My turn then," Futaba drew her next card, "I summon (5) Naturia Pineapple(2/ATK: 100/DEF: 100)!" a pineapple with a face appeared (ATK: 100), "Next I tune both my monsters with Naturia Rosewhip to synchro-summon Naturia Leodrake!" the three naturias merged and formed the colossal plant-like lion, its power dominating the others (ATK: 3000), "Now, Leodrake! Destroy Worm Noble!" Leodrake raised its giant paw and slammed it down ontop of Worm Noble, crushing it under its weight. "That's all I can do for now…"
The armor started its next turn. It flipped over one of its reversed-monsters, revealed as a slimy, four-legged creature that instantly latched itself onto Leodrake's chest. The lion struggled to scrape it off but it was fastened tight with the (8) Worm Millidith(4/ATK: 400/DEF: 1600). The other monster flipped over was a yellow bulb called Worm Opera. Its large mouth opened, eliciting a powerful scream that pounded the lion's eardrums (ATK: 3000-2500). After setting it once again with Book of Moon, it finished.
The scene changed to a plain, dark room, where the only sorce of life came from an old man wearily stands there, staring despondently at the desk in front of him.
"I miss the old times, son..."
He kept leering for so long he could've sworn someone was sitting in front of the desk, swiveling the chair to meet his gaze. "Hey there, dad. Still too busy to duel me?"
"No...! Adam, I'm not...!" But the old man was reaching out to nothing, merely a delusion; more like a dream, as he soon realized. Once again alone, he looks at a picture frame sitting on a shelf nearby. It contains a family of three, "Not anymore..." he reached out to pick up the picture frame. Just then, an alarm sounds.
"Tresspassers!"
Yusei, Jack, Blister, Margaret and Crow stand before the gap in the fence before an old house. It's built a fortress that has endured through the seventeen years of the Satellite and probably before that, surrounded by piles of trash almost as tall as itself.
"Why does this place feel more like home than everywhere else?" Margaret muttered.
"Somebody live here?!" Crow groaned in disgust, "It's a mountain a' junk!"
"It's more like a mountain range of junk." Yusei added.
"Are you certain this is the right place?" Jack asked Blister.
"This is it."
"All right, guys, I'm on it-"
"That's close enough, punk!" a loud voice blasted in Crow's ears before he could take a single step in. An old man can be seen standing in the top window of his fortress, holding the megaphone.
"And that is Mister Bashford." Blister wearily introduced.
"What's up, you oldtimer!" Crow called out, "You wanna ditch this trash heap and come live at Martha's place?"
"Good, Crow. Nice and direct." Yusei said, hinting sarcasm.
"This trash heap is my home!" the elder barked, clearly offended, from his megaphone.
"And you're all alone; what if you fall down and can't get up?"
"The only way I'm leaving's if you drag me out!"
"Well, you heard 'im," Crow smirked, "Guess I gotta infiltrate the fortress." he then made a mad dash into the elder's property.
"He's gonna regret that..." Blister muttered under his breath.
"You're comin' with me, old man!" Crow promised as he charged on with a warcry.
"I'm not going anywhere, but I can't say the same for you!" Bashford yanked one of the ropes next to him. From one of the trash heaps poped out a real-life Scrap-Iron Scarecrow, which pops up and bounces Crow backward, launching him back headfirst in a trash pile across the front walk. He shook it off as he popped out of it.
"This means war, oldtimer!" Crow runs for the house again.
"Keep comin', squirt!" Bashford muttered as he pulled another handle and a trap door opens up ahead of Crow. Crow leap clear over it and was about to reach the ground...
Until another lever was pulled and a second trap door opened right under his feet. Before he dropped inside all that's heard from him was, "Mommy!" this was becoming more of a show than an invasion.
"Okay, now this is my idea of a good time," Jack admitted, "We should do stuff like this more often."
Even Margaret was fighting to keep from laughing. "Of all the days I wished I brought a video camera!"
"Crafty use of a double trap, grandpa," Crow groaned, climbing out of the pit, "Thing is, I do not give up easily." Crow strides forward, one step at a time. But he failed to notice when he steps onto a metal plate.
"Thank you for flying 'Air Bashford.'" Bashford bid and pulled the last rope to propel Crow off the spring-platform he just stepped onto, and careened him far into the mountain range of trash.
"And that's strike three." Margaret said.
"I'd give that dive an 8.3." Yusei said.
While Crow got up recovering from the landing, he found himself nose-to-nose with a full-sized Two-Headed King Rex, "Whoa! E-e-e-asy, big fella," the dinosaur advanced on Crow, who keeps edging backward, then abruptly disintegrated. Crow looks around, confused, then got to his feet. He then found himself standing on a large concrete stage with two old-fashioned podia at either end. "This is a duel arena! So that was a hologram just now!"
"Hey Crow!" Yusei called as the others ran over and found him.
"That was a doozy." Blister said.
"You all right?" Jack asked.
"I'm good," Crow said, "but forget me; look at this! It's a duel arena! Like a real one!"
"You mean the Duelist Kingdom kind of arena?" Margaret asked. "I figured the guy'd be old school, but this...?"
"And look at those supporting rods, they're made of tire rims." Jack pointed out.
"Yeah, I'm thinkin' this is a home-made job." Yusei added.
"Hey!" Everyone turned to see Bashford has abandoned his fortress and run up towards the arena. "No one's allowed up there, get down!"
"Easy there, grandpa," Crow said, "I'm only up here because you flung me up here with your little booby trap."
"I don't care how ya got up there, just get down!"
"I got a better idea; why don't you get on up here and duel me, century-man?"
"What did you say?"
"If I lose, I will quietly leave. But if I win, you have to come an' check out what life is like at Martha's place!" Bashford just stood there and scowling, "Come on, ya have this incredible arena just standing here! Ya gotta duel me, grandpa! I've always wanted to throw down in a real duel arena like this one!"
Bashford was a bit taken aback. "Ah... You, uh... you really like my duel arena, do ya now?"
"Yeah! Of course I like it; what's not to like!"
"Well, then..." Bashford scowled, "let's see how ya like losing on it!"
"Are they serious about this?" Jack muttered.
"Boy really must like that old arena." Margaret said.
"Besides you and I've dueled for sillier reasons." Yusei responded to Jack.
One dueling podium rose into place with Crow standing atop it while Bashford took the opposite one. Small pillars at each corner of the cement block lit up along with the lines of the dueling field.
"Let's Duel!"
Bashford: 4000
Crow: 4000
"Seniority first! I draw!" Bashford started the duel, "I summon (1) Maternal Junk(3/300/DEF: 1500) in DEF mode," a statue mage of scrapped metal appeared, appearing as what a girl would look like as a robot. A reverse-card then appeared in the back row. "All right, you whippersnapper; show me what you're made of!"
"Don' worry, I'm plannin' on it. I'm not goin' easy on ya just 'cause you're old! I draw!" Crow started his turn, "I summon, Blackwing Vayu!" the small-winged avian appeared (ATK: 800), "And since birds of a feather flock together, I can summon another Blackwing from my hand to join Vayu on the field. Say hello to Bora the Spear!" the javelin-wielding Blackwing joined in (ATK: 1700), "When this Blackwing attacks a monster in DEF mode, and it's rockin' more ATK points than your monster has DEF points, it slams you with the difference!" Bora then took to the sky and divebombed around its own spear towards the opponent's field. "Duck n' cover, y' old fogie! 'Cause Bora's attacking, with Spiraling Spear!"
"I activate a trap, Scrap-Iron Scarecrow!" after the reverse-card opened, a scarecrow got between Maternal Junk and Crow's Bora, stopping the attack by Bora's spear grating against Scarecrow's iron bars.
"Nice." Jack nodded.
"Looks like Bashford's using a junk deck like mine!" Yusei smiled.
"After Scrap-Iron Scarecrow scraps your monster's attack, I can once again place it face-down on my field. So..." the scarecrow retreated back to its face-down position. "there!"
Crow smirked, "I'm thinkin' I might've underestimated you, gramps!"
'And by underestimating me, you've walked head-first into a certain defeat!' "It's my turn." Bashford seemed more focused on the duel as he drew his next card, until the field below was wiped clean in place of "...Adam? Is that you?"
As they continued watching the duel, Silent Magician appeared beside Margaret.
"You came to see the duel too?" Margaret asked the spirit. Silent Magician pointed towards the opponent's podium where Bashford was, and Margaret soon saw the distraught look on his face. "What's his problem?"
"Wow...! This is incredible!" Adam looked up over his shoulder at his father. "It's like a real duel arena, dad!"
"Built it just for you. Let's break it in with a little father-son duel!" Bashford laughed.
"I can't, right now. I gotta go." and he vanished without a trace, leaving the old man alone again.
"Hey, grandpa!" Crow called. "Something wrong?"
"It's nothing, just..." Bashford stammered. "just never you mind!"
"All right, all right, so make a move already!"
"I summon (2) Paternal Junk(4/ATK: 1600/DEF: 0) in ATK mode!" a colorful robot made of metal appeared, complete with makeshift glasses and a tie (ATK: 1600), "And, when Maternal Junk is on my field, Paternal Junk gains an additional 500 ATK points (ATK: 1600-2100)! And now from my hand, I activate the Junk Factory field-spell."
"What's this about?" Crow looked around.
"It's about winning, sonny-boy! And don't you forget it!" The duel experienced a radical change of scenery. The arena is now surrounded on all sides by the rusty, grimy walls of a run-down factory. The audience looked around; all four are now standing on a railed platform above and to one side of the duel. These holograms are not up to our usual standard; we can still see the mountain range of junk through the semi-translucent walls. "See, here in the Junk Factory, every Junk monster on the field gains 500 ATK points."
Paternal Junk: (ATK: 2100-2600)
"Pretty good, old dude!" Crow admitted. "Ya nearly doubled that monster's power without having to sacrifice anything!"
"Bashford's got a good pair," Jack said, "and if he summons what I think he'll summon, he'll have a full house!"
"What does that mean, 'he'll have a full house'?" Blister asked, "Are you saying Crow's done-for?"
"No way," Yusei said. "I'm pretty sure Crow's got a few feathers up his sleeve."
"Let's battle! Go, Paternal Junk, attack!" Paternal Junk smashed his iron fist into Vayu and destroyed the bird.
Crow: 2200
Bashford: 4000
Crow growled. "You just helped me out, ya goofy geezer! Because Blackwing Vayu the Emblem of Honor only has the power to synchro-summon from the graveyard! My comeback'll be starting right now!"
"It's hard to make a comeback in the Junk Factory, sonny."
"Whaddaya mean?"
"In the Junk Factory, when one a' my junk monsters destroys one a' your monsters, I can snag it from your graveyard and send it packin' back to your deck!" a crane turned over to the field and lowered its winch to fish Vayu out of the graveyard, who was the hovered back into its card.
"Oh, man!" Crow shuffled Vayu back into his deck. "Not bad. I gotta hand it to ya, ya old dog, you still know a lot a' tricks."
"Huh! Well, for my next trick, I place 3 cards face-down and end my turn."
"Why won't he summon it...?!" Jack wondered.
"Summon what?" Blister asked.
"It's my move!" Crow drew his next card, "I activate the Black-Winged Strafe spell card, which wipes out one of your monsters in DEF mode by sending a Blackwing from my hand to my graveyard! Let's say goodbye to my Shura the Blue Flame, and then say goodbye to your Maternal Junk!"
"Not so fast! Go, Scrap-Iron Barricade!" Bashford activated his reverse-card, "During this turn, you can't destroy the monster protected by this barricade with card-effects!" a scrap-iron cage formed over Maternal Junk and protected her from the incoming whirlwind from the Blackwing spell. "And just like Scrap-Iron Scarecrow, after being activated, Scrap-Iron Barricade can return to its face-down position on the field."
Crow groaned, "Pretty good, oldtimer, but let's see how you handle Blackwing - Blizzard the Far North!" the small, white-feathered Blackwing appeared (ATK: 1200), "When Blizzard the Far North is successfully summoned, I can then special-summon one level-4-or-below Blackwing from my graveyard to come an' join 'im on the field. So I special-summon, Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame in DEF mode!" the blue, large-taloned Blackwing appeared (DEF: 1200).
"Then I'll just activate another trap," Bashford scoffed as he opened another reverse-card. "Scrap-Iron Pitfall!"
"You gotta be kidding me!" Crow gasped.
"Afraid not, sparky. When you use a special-summoning to bring a monster to the field, it falls right into my Scrap-Iron Pitfall, and returns to your hand," the ground collapsed under Shura and dropped him inside. "And now, just like my other traps, this card returns to its face-down position."
Crow began seethed with anger. 'This wacky oldtimer sets up his field like he sets up his house; surrounded by junk traps! If I can't figure out a way through, I don't have a chance.'
"The old man's starting to rattle our easily-rattled friend." Jack said.
"Crow just needs to find a way around all those traps." Yusei said.
"From my hand, I activate the Cards for Black Feathers spell, which gives me the power to draw two new cards from my deck in exchange for sending a Blackwing from my hand to the graveyard! So by shipping off my Shura the Blue Flame, I can draw!" Crow drew two more times by his spell card, where his hopes lifted from the results, "When there's another Blackwing on my field, I can summon Gale the Whirlwind from my hand in ATK mode!" the chick-like avian tuner appeared (ATK: 1300), "Now I activate Whirlwind's special-ability! This Blackwing can halve one of your monsters' ATK and DEF points!" with a single beat Gale launched a hurricane through scrapmetal father-figure (ATK: 2600-1300). "With that done, now Bora the Spear can attack Paternal Junk!"
"I activate my trap, Scrap-Iron Scarecrow!" Bashford reopened one of his previous reverse-cards.
"I was afraid you'd do that." Crow muttered as Scrap-Iron Scarecrow once again stopped Bora short of attacking anything.
"You're never gettin' to me, sonny-boy." Bashford smirked as he closed the trap back.
"Heh... never say never, ya old jibber-jabber," Crow gave a smirk of his own. "'cause ya never know. Gale the Whirlwind, recycle that Paternal Junk!" Gale darted towards the scrap monster.
"Crow realizes that Blackwing and Paternal Junk both have 1300 ATK points, doesn't he? Does he wanna destroy the both of 'em?" Blister wondered.
"Before attacking, I activate the Moon Shadow's special ability from my hand," Crow said as he discarded the monster from his hand. "By sending this card to the graveyard, I can increase Gale the Whirlwind's attack points by 1400 (ATK: 1300-2700)!"
"Ah, so he's not crazy!"
"Gale the Whirlwind, attack!" Gale bolted through Paternal Junk and destroyed it.
Crow: 2200
Bashford: 2600
The arena shudders. Beyond the holograms, the mountains of junk are shifting ominously.
"How d'ya like that! Never count me out!"
"Let's see if you're still doin' your little happy dance after I activate my trap card!" Yet another reverse-card opened on Bashford's field.
"What?! You've got another one?"
With the trap Junk Spirit in play, when a junk monster is destroyed in battle and sent to my graveyard, I can re-summon that monster during the end-phase! How do you like that!"
"No way!" Crow groaned and slapped on a reverse-card. "I place one card face-down and end my turn!"
"And now, Paternal Junk returns to the field," the paternal scrap monster returned (ATK: 1600-2100). "And once again, because of Maternal Junk and Paternal Junk's special-abilities, Paternal Junk gains a 1000 ATK points (ATK: 2100-3100)."
"Ah, great... so we're back to where we were."
"Okay... now I'm confused. What's the old guy waiting for?" Yusei wondered.
"I know," Jack agreed, "He seems into that 'family structure' tactic, so why hasn't he completed it yet?"
"Now that you mentioned it I've just noticed that too." Margaret said.
"So you're saying," Blister asked. "if Paternal Junk's the father and Maternal Junk's the mother, then that means... that means there's a third card missing from that family!"
"Yup. Kid Junk(1/ATK: 300/DEF: 200)," Yusei said. "If he'd summon it to the field, Paternal Junk would gain another 1000 ATK points in order to protect the 'kid' from any harm."
"Gotcha. And if that happened, the old man would have this in the bag, is that it?"
"Well if that was part of his plan, he would've done it already," Jack said. "With Paternal Junk and Maternal Junk both on the field, gramps could've used their abilities to summon Kid Junk straight from his hand."
"So... why wouldn't that be part of the old man's plan?"
"Maybe he doesn't have one?" Margaret guessed. And looking at the corner of her eye she saw Silent Magician wandering towards the house Bashford lives, giving a brief glance at Margaret before hovering in through one of the windows. 'Now where's she floating off to?'
"Maybe, but for a half-baked deck he sure puts a lot of confidence in it," Jack then took a glance of Margaret leaving the realing and the duel. "What's goin' on, Magic, where ya off to?"
"I don't know what it is but there's something missing from this picture. I'm gonna see if I can find it."
"Do you even know what you're looking for?" Yusei asked, curious.
"I'll let you know when I find it."
"My turn, sonny! I draw!" Bashford started his next turn, "I activate the Junk Barrage spell card! And I equip it onto Paternal Junk. And with that boost, now, Paternal Junk, attack Blackwing Gale the Whirlwind!" Paternal Junk's fist smashed through Gale the Whirlwind.
Crow: 900
Bashford: 2600
"Looks like that bird-brain of a monster you have is about to be destroyed and your life-points are about to fly the coop, Crow! Get ready for a thrashin', scooter!" Paternal Junk then launched a ball of energy that crashed right into its target.
Crow: 250
Bashford: 2600
"This funny old guy's not so funny anymore!" Crow muttered to himself.
Behind the holographic walls of the Junk Factory, mountains of trash have begin crumbling, Jack and Blister noticing from the ground shaking under them.
Whoa, what is that!" Jack gasped.
"Feels like the commotion from the duel's gonna bring these mountains of junk crashing down on us!" Yusei feared.
"Crow, stop the duel!" Blister called out. "We gotta get outta here!"
"You heard 'im, gramps, let's go!" Crow shouted over the arena.
"What'samatter, sonny-boy?" Bashford smirked. "You're not scared a' losin' to me, are ya?"
"All right, if that's how it's gonna be, I'm activating the Black Thunder trap card!" Crow opened his reverse-card, "When a Blackwing on my field is destroyed in battle, Black Thunder crashes down on you for 400 points of damage for every card on your field! And since you've got 7 cards on your field, well..." the Blackwing duelist chuckled, "Let's just say this might sting a little." pitch-black lightning surged outward and crashed into Bashford.
Crow: 250
Bashford: 0
As Bashford's points hit zero, the podium he stood suddenly broke at the railings causing it to slide back near the colapsing mounting of trash behind it.
"Bashford!" Crow vaulted over the front of his own podium, as it also collapsed, and runs across the field. He reached the other edge of the arena and jumped from it just as the trash caved in over him. The house collapses, undermined by the massive load of trash. When the dust starts to settle, Yusei, Jack and Blister run toward the nearest pile.
"Crow! Bashford! Where are you guys!" Blister shouted.
Crow shoved open the door to a huge, junked refrigerator that he and Bashford safely rode out the wave of trash in. "Were ya lookin' for us?"
"Oh, good, you're safe!"
Bashford walks jerkily toward his duel-arena, now half-buried in debris, shaking with shock and sorrow. "No...! Adam's duel-arena, this can't be...!"
"Stay back!" Crow held him back from lunging forward to run to it.
"Let go a' me, squirt! I have to get into my house!"
"Hey guys, look," Yusei pointed to where the house used to be, Margaret running to them.
"I'm sorry about the house, sir, but it got buried under the rubble," she panted, "But at least I got out with this..." Margaret held up a small portrait to give to Bashford. "I thought you'd might want it."
"Huh, look a' that. A nice family moment." Crow said, looking at the photo with the others.
"Family?" Blister said, "We figured you didn't have a family."
"...I don't, I... well, I..." Bashford stammered. "I did."
"You didn't summon Kid Junk, right?" Yusei said. "I'm guessing that's because it's not part of your deck."
"Did you...did you give it to your son...?" Margaret hesitantly asked.
"I...yes..." Bashford replied, not taking his saddened eyes off the picture, "I was a sculpture artist. And I was so focused on my work, that I neglected what was really most important to me. When I realized how I'd been acting, I built this duel arena to try to make amends, but... it was too late. I have woken up every day since, thinking, maybe this'll be the day my son comes back home for a duel."
"You were waiting all this time..." Margaret whimpered. "You didn't want to leave your home because you didn't want to leave him again, right?"
"Yes. I've... I-I've spent an entire lifetime waiting." A single tear fell onto the picture. After holding it in for so long his emotions broke through in waves as he stood there crying. The others present felt sorry; if Adam does return, all that waits for him will be nothing but a giant trash heap.
"Ya know what..." Crow made up his mind, "You got yourself a new son, right here!"
"Huh?"
"In fact, you've got four, four giant little boys!"
"Hm... Huh? Wait, wait a minute!" Margaret called out. "What about me?!"
"Alright, four giant little boys give or take."
"He's right," Yusei said.
"What?!" Margaret exlcaimed.
"Uh, not about the 'boys' thing, about that other thing. I would love to hang out and learn a thing or two from Bashford about junk decks!"
"Yes; I, too, would like to come around and duel with you." Jack said to Bashford.
"And, if you live at Martha's, you'll be surrounded by more grandkids than you can shake a cane at!" Crow offered.
"That sounds nice!" Bashford accepted.
"Well, then, what're we waiting for!"
"Why isn't he saying anything?" Futaba wondered aloud, "Is he mute? Does he have a sore throat? Why isn't he calling out his cards…? And speaking of which, what is that thing on Leodrake? …Oh well, as long as it doesn't do anything, I'm fine." When Futaba drew her next card, she groaned after realizing her life-points suddenly dropped.
Armor: 4000
Futaba: 1800
'I guess I spoke to soon,' the Naturia duelist thought in exasperation, 'So one monster weakens my monster, while the other inflicts damage. It's like there's a trap waiting for me everytime I attack. If this goes on like this, my life-points will be all gone if Leodrake doesn't become weak enough for him to destroy. But I think I have a solution for that. I hope I can risk it…' "I summon (6) Naturia Sunflower(2/ATK: 500/DEF: 0) in ATK mode!" a flower walking on its two leafy feet appeared (ATK: 500), "Now Leodrake, attack that face-down monster!" the lion stomped on the ground, forcing the Worm Opera to rise form its hiding place. When it opened its mouth to once again scream… "Now I activate Sunflower's ability: by releasing it and another Naturia monster, I can negate another monster's effect and destroy it!" Naturias Leodrake and Sunflower vanished, taking Worms Opera and Millidith with them. "Finally I end my turn with a face-down card."
The armor drew again, before activating the spell card The Shallow Grave, allowing both duelists to summon a monster face-down in DEF mode. The armor ended its turn there.
"It's my turn!" Futaba drew her next card, "I flip the Naturia Leodrake face-down on my field to face-up in ATK mode!" the lion rose back up to the field (ATK: 3000), "Next, I summon (7) Naturia Eggplant(2/ATK: 1000/DEF: 700) to join him!" a much smaller wasp-like insect with a swollen purple thorax appeared (ATK: 1000), "Leodrake, attack his face-down!" the lion's paw lowered towards the set monster, which quickly evaded the attack as Worm Noble. The monster sent another shadow that attacked Futaba, but left itself open for Leodrake to finally crush it.
Armor: 4000
Futaba: 300
"I guess it's worth the damage, because now I can attack directly with Naturia Eggplant!" the wasp flew over and attacked with its stinger, even though it didn't make a single scratch on the impenetrable armor.
Armor: 3000
Futaba: 300
"I end my turn!" Futaba concluded.
It was the armor's turn as it drew, and Worm Call activated and summoned a set monster from its hand. Next, he activated his reverse-card Burst Rebirth, setting another monster from the graveyard at the risk of paying 2000 life-points.
Armor: 1000
Futaba: 300
Then, both set monster vanish and a new monster stood in their place. A large red bipedal creature with six arms, know as (9) Worm Victory(7/ATK: 0/DEF: 2500).
"Why would a high-level monster has 0 DEF points…?" the answer came to Futaba as the Victory's power was raised to (ATK: 2000). Her heart sank as Victory lunged towards the eggplant and crushed it in one of its claws.
"I activate my trap card, Defense Draw!" the Naturia duelist quickly opened her reverse-card, "This reduces the damage I take to zero and allows me to draw a card! But there's more: since Eggplant is sent to the graveyard, I can add a Naturia monster from my graveyard to my hand!" Futaba now had two more cards in his hand. And since the armor gave no response in the last few moments, she decided that it was done with this turn, so she went ahead and drew her next card, "Leodrake, attack Worm Victory!" the lion unsheathed its claws and swiped the crimson monster, slicing it to ribbons.
Armor: 0
Futaba: 300
With the winner decided, the holograms vanished, "The duel is over! Now, whoever you are, please go away!" Futaba wasn't expecting an easy reply but the suit of armor turned around and walked back where it came from on its two heavy feet.
With the threat now gone, she's finally left to continue watching over her fields, which were unfortunately riddled with craters. She sighed as it's going to be a much longer day than usual. The fields are definitely going to look like a bad haircut.
As she returned with her gardening tools, Futaba tried to piece together the events she was forced through. The sounds of explosions woke her this morning as she spotted the armor trespassing. She pleaded what it wanted, but the only reply was the armor holding up a duel-disk. She found this bizarre request ridiculous due to the extreme means it caused, but she soon caved in when it refused to stop destroying her family's land. Now she wonders if it would come back another day. What connections could this armor have to have it target her? What makes her so special?
Then it hit her; she thought back to a time she rather forget. They were dark times she hoped she could put behind. Futaba's been told one time to look towards the future and forget the past. The future, in her case is this land; which reminded her that it will be a long battle. The question is if she's ready.
As she made her first strike in the soul with a garden hoe, her thoughts drifted over to one other she knows with goals of his own… "I wonder what Axel's doing…"
Later...
It took all afternoon, but it's finally done. The new sculpture was made of old, dark steel gray metal; it's an image of Stardust Dragon, taller than Martha's whole house, roaring to the sky, glinting in the bright sunset. The orphans, supervised by Martha, Yusei and the other adults, looked up in awe.
"It's like the real Stardust Dragon!"
"No, it's even better!"
Bashford laughed. "Well, I don't know if I'd go that far..."
"It seems like he'll be happy here," Yusei smiled. "You've done your good deed for the day, Crow."
"Ya think so?"
"Hey, Crow, get over here! My shoulders're killin' me!" Bashford shouted as he climbed down the ladder. "C'mere and rub 'em for me, wouldja?"
"Huh?! Why do I have to?!"
"Quit whining and help a tired old man out, Crow! Don't you wanna get in your good deed for the day?"
"I did that!"
"Go on, Crow," Margaret teased as she nudged Crow. "You're his new 'son', remember?"
Defeated, Crow was left with barely a choice as he went to work.
"Oh yeah; that's the stuff, right there. Don't be weak, put some strength into it!"
"Oh, like this?" Crow grinned and tightened his grip on Bashford's shoulderblades.
"Owowowowow!"
"You said to put some strength into it..."
"I did not! Don't you know you're supposed to be gentle with your elders?!"
"I can't win with you!" Crow sighed, exhausted. giving the crowd to laugh about.
Eventually, Blister decided to change the subject. "Guys, now that the old man's happy, we need to talk."
"Talk about what?" Yusei asked.
"I found sometihng I think you oughta know about..."
"You're comin' with me, old man! Aaaahhh...!"
"That's close enough, punk!"
*BONK!* "AAAAAAHHH!"
On the computer screen was a viral video of Crow taking punishment from Bashford's traps from earlier. It happened to get 3 million view in a few hours since it's been posted. Crow felt like hiding in a hole and staying there while Jack, Margaret and even Yusei was laughing up a storm.
"Okay! Okay...! That's not what I wanna show you guys!" Blister said as he calmed down from laughing, and moved the page to another of the big crater in the ground on the outskirts of the city. "Did you guys see the report about that meteor that hit outside the city?"
"We didn't need a news report, we heard the impact!" Crow pointed out.
"I've been picking up some weird chatter about it on the P-S-B channels."
"What sort of chatter?" Jack asked.
"Cryptic stuff. From what I can gather, it seems like it wasn't a 'rock' that fell. I've heard a few references to 'the stone tablet'.
"This was two weeks ago, right?" Margaret said. "That was the same time those Ghosts started showing up."
"Think there might be a connection there?" Crow asked.
"I don't know, but whatever it is that fell, it seems the Public Security Bureau got hold of it and is keeping it very hush-hush." Blister said.
"A stone tablet, a duel-bot? What exactly is going on around here?" Yusei wondered.
"Well, whatever it is, one thing is clear: someone doesn't want anyone to know."
DUEL-MON DATABASE
(1) Maternal Junk
Stats: [Machine/Effect] LV3 ATK/1300 DEF/ 1500
Attribute: EARTH
Effect: Once per turn, if you control a face-up "Paternal Junk", you can add 1 "Kid Junk" from your Deck or Graveyard to your hand.
(2) Paternal Junk
Stats: [Machine/Effect] LV4 ATK/1600 DEF/ 0
Attribute: EARTH
Effect: While you control a face-up "Maternal Junk", this card gains 500 ATK. While you control a face-up "Kid Junk", this card gains 1000 ATK.
(3) Naturia Rosewhip
Stats: [Plant/Effect] LV3 ATK/400 DEF/ 1700
Attribute: EARTH
Effect: Your opponent can only activate 1 Spell/Trap Card per turn.
(4) Naturia Horneedle
Stats: [Insect/Effect] LV4 ATK/1800 DEF/ 100
Attribute: EARTH
Effect: When your opponent Special Summons a monster, you can Tribute 1face-up "Naturia" monster you control, except this card, to destroy the Special Summoned monster.
(5) Naturia Pineapple
Stats: [Plant/Effect] LV2 ATK/100 DEF/ 100
Attribute: EARTH
Effect: All face-up monsters you control are treated as Plant-Type. During yourStandby Phase, if you do not control a face-up "Naturia Pineapple", and have no monsters in your Graveyard except Plant or Beast-Type: You can Special Summon this card from your Graveyard. You must not control any Spell or Trap Cards to activate and resolve this effect.
(6) Naturia Sunflower
Stats: [Plant/Effect] LV2 ATK/500 DEF/ 0
Attribute: EARTH
Effect: You can Tribute this card and 1 "Naturia" monster to negate the activationof an effect of an Effect Monster your opponent controls, and destroy it.
(7) Naturia Eggplant
Stats: [Plant/Effect] LV2 ATK/1000 DEF/ 700
Attribute: EARTH
Effect: When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard, you can select 1 "Naturia" monster in your Graveyard, except "Naturia Eggplant", and add it to your hand.
(8) Worm Millidith
Stats: [Reptile/Effect] LV4 ATK/400 DEF/ 1600
Attribute: LIGHT
Effect: FLIP: You can equip this card to a monster your opponent controls as anEquip Card. Inflict 400 damage to the controller of the equipped monster during each Standby Phase.
(9) Worm Victory
Stats: [Reptile/Effect] LV7 ATK/0 DEF/ 2500
Attribute: LIGHT
Effect: FLIP: Destroy all face-up monsters on the field, except Reptile-Type"Worm" monsters. This card gains 500 ATK for each Reptile-Type "Worm" monster in your Graveyard.
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