Just like to say thanks to all those who've reviewed thus far, and the matter of Arlene's dorm has been addressed. Enjoy!
You have GOT to be kidding me. Arlene stared in disbelief at the large Duel Arenas in the ship that would take them to Duel Academy. It was clear from the gasps and cheers of the other Duelists that she was the only one who had this take on them. There were some already dueling, calling out insults and commands. Arlene rolled her eyes. We're going to be dueling enough as it is on the island! Ugh. Well, if they have Dueling Arenas, they might have other facilities as well. As she looked around for a ship guide, her thoughts turned back to the practical exam and its outcome. I was the only student not to win outright but I'm in Obelisk Blue? They did say something about sashes but...meh. Arlene spotted a ship guide posted on the wall and started reading it. Duel Arenas 1-10, Duel Arenas 11-20, Duel Arenas 21-30, accomodation...
"ACCOMODATION?" Arlene blurted out. Her calm composure dissipated as soon as she read that word. A few duelists in the vicinity turned and gave her some strange looks, but Arlene was too concerned with her own problem to care.
I have to find an official. There has to be a mistake! This ship doesn't need accomodation! Rushing down a narrow hall Arlene managed to find an official looking man and raced up to him. The man noticed her almost immediately.
"Yeah? What is it, kid?" He asked looking very bored. "'M afraid I don't duel students..."
"There's ACCOMODATION on this boat?" The guard looked at her, puzzled.
"Well, yeah. This boat is at sea for three days..." Arlene's jaw dropped.
"THREE DAYS?" She shrieked. "I CAN'T BE ON A SHIP FOR THREE DAYS!" The guard blinked at her dumbly.
"It's part of Duel Academy's new entrance regulations. This way, we can determine more accurately which dorm you really belong in...or in your case, which sash you wear. You have to duel at least once." The man looked like he had rehearsed this, but Arlene simply groaned.
"I don't...handle ships so well." The guard shrugged.
"Not my problem." Arlene started turning green. "Aw great, make it my problem why don't you? Alright, bathroom's down the corridor to the left." Arlene didn't move and turned ever more green. "Kid, are you listening? The bathroom's...no no no, don't...not here...come on, move your legs to the bathroom." The guard started shoving Arlene towards the bathroom while Arlene was now a violent shade of green. "Don't puke here, DON'T puke here, DON'T PUKE HERE!" The guard got her to the bathroom and shut the door. He breathed a sigh of relief and walked off. About a minute later, Arlene staggered out of the bathroom.
"I...don't handle...ships so well..." she muttered to no-one in particular, before slamming the bathroom door again.
After recovering from the initial sea sickness, Arlene found out that there was a library but was infuriated to learn - via a grumpy librarian - that you needed to have dueled once to access the library for the rest of the day.
"What kind of a rule is that? What if a duelist needs to find out rulings on cards?"
"They duel first and then find out," the librarian answered curtly.
"I thought dueling here determined which dorm you went into. Surely something like that..."
"A duelist loses, then goes here, learns how to use their cards and makes up for their loses," the librarian interrupted. "Now if you're finished with your questions, I request that you leave." Arlene growled and stormed off.
Arlene decided to ask some duelists if they knew anything about Balance Warriors. Unfortunately all the people she asked were all infuriatingly useless. There were the duelists who were obsessed with dueling who demanded a duel from her before they said anything. There were the people who wanted to help, but knew very little about the Balance Warriors, and what they did know Arlene had already found out from the examiner. Last but not least there were the people who did know but respected the ship's policy and told her she would have to duel to find out. Arlene had finally lost it and snapped at a little boy who ran off crying.
Dammit! This isn't getting me anywhere. I have to duel anyway before I can leave this ship... She suddenly clutched at her stomach. I don't feel so good... At this point there was an announcement.
"Attention all duelists! Please report to Arenas 1 to 10 to receive their keycards to their rooms!" Arlene sighed in relief and headed off.
Arlene's first day at sea passed in a blur of duel challenges and throwing up, though thankfully not an amalgamation of the two. Arlene woke up early on the second day at sea, telling herself that she would duel today.
The sooner I duel, the sooner I can find out about Balance Warriors and finally use my deck! Let's get this over with. She slipped on a blank T-Shirt and some jeans and headed down to the large buffet she had stumbled upon while searching for a bathroom. To her annoyance, the normally full buffet was completely empty.
No-one's hungry? I thought people would be abusing the buffet like crazy, after all it's free! Well, may as well get something to eat...
"Hey you!" Arlene looked round to see a boy pointing at her.
Well, so much for eating.
"It's rude to point." Arlene stated.
"Prepare to DUEL!" The boy announced, putting extra emphasis on the word duel. Arlene shrugged.
"Sure. Let's go." The boy laughed and launched into a dramatic speech.
"On your own head be it! I will crush you with my AWESOME cards!" Arlene said nothing but started walking towards an Arena. "Did you not hear me? I said..."
"I heard you. But we don't need the amateur dramatics beforehand." The boy looked surprised but simply ran ahead of her and stopped at one side of a Dueling Arena. Arlene was annoyed to see that all duelists who were awake were now focused on Arlene's duel. Arlene smiled slightly at the prospect of dueling again.
I must admit that dueling's fun, but I really need to figure out how to use this deck. Arlene got a better look at the person she would be facing. The boy had sapphire coloured eyes that were sparkling in anticipation and thick short hair. He was broad shouldered and tall with tanned skin. He gave a huge grin, and picked up one of the ship's Duel Disks. Arlene did the same.
"My name's Arlene, by the way."
"And mine's Bryon Perez! Now let's go!"
Arlene: 4000
Bryon: 4000
"Ladies first," he said, gesturing to Arlene.
"How kind." Arlene looked at her hand. "I'll set a monster in defence mode and end my turn."
"And now it's MY turn!" Bryon drew his card and held it high in the air before adding it to his hand. "I'll summon Mother Grizzly (1400/1000) to the field in attack mode!" Bryon slapped a card on his disk and soon there was a dark blue bear on his field. "Now attack her face down!" Arlene did nothing as Mother Grizzly rammed into her monster only to be flung back.
"You hit my Balance Warrior Vimetu (900/2100) so no luck for you."
Arlene: 4000
Bryon: 3300
"Well, I'll set a card on the field and call it a turn!" Bryon called out. Arlene drew a card, and a few seconds later a Light Aura was circling Vimetu.
Crap, another monster whose effect I don't know. She looked at Bryon expecting him to tell her about the card, but he looked as puzzled as she felt so Arlene continued her turn.
"Alright, I'll summon Balance Warrior Kirud (1500/1500) to the field and destroy your monster!"
Arlene: 4000
Bryon: 3200
"Well, thank you for activating my monster's effect!" Bryon said, looking through his deck. "I can now summon a Water monster from my deck to the field with an attack of 1500 or less, so I'll summon another Mother Grizzly to the field!"
"Alright then your move, Bryon." Bryon picked up his card.
"I activate call of the haunted, allowing me to bring back my Mother Grizzly from the grave! Even better, I'll now sacrifice it in order to summon Mobius the Frost Monarch (2400/1000) in attack mode! He has a special effect, but I wont activate it. Instead, Mobius will destroy Kirud!" Arlene winced as she received a blast of frigid air.
Arlene: 3100
Bryon: 3200
"Fine then, it's my move!" Arlene drew, and the Light Aura circling Vimetu vanished.
These Auras seem to be the key to the Balance Warriors. She looked at the card she had just drawn. Maybe if I top up Vimetu's Aura count something will happen. I'm placing the whole duel on this, but then again, what have I got to lose?
"I activate my spell card, Artificial Aura! By paying life points in multiples of 1000, I can add a Light or Dark Aura on my monster depending on how much I pay. I choose to pay 3000 life points to add three Light Auras!" Vimetu shimmered as Light Auras began circling him while Arlene's lifepoints went down.
Arlene: 0100
Bryon: 3200
Arlene looked on, hoping that something would happen, but Vimetu didn't destroy anything or let her draw cards, so she ended her turn.
"What happens to Vimetu now that it's got those Lights dancing round it?" Arlene tried to hide her lack of knowledge.
"You'll have to find that out on your own. Now make your move!" Bryon picked up his card.
"Alright then, this duel's done! Mobius, destroy her monster!" Arlene couldn't help but avert her eyes as she tried to brace herself for the inevitable. After a few seconds she heard Bryon yell in surprise. Curious, Arlene turned back to the field to see that Vimetu was still there!"
Wow! The Light Auras did something at last! Though I'm not sure what...
"What happened?" Bryon screeched. "My monster should have destroyed your monster! I should have won!"
"You're forgetting about those Light Auras." Arlene stated. "You wanted to know what they did, and now you know. Is it my turn now?" Bryon muttered under his breath but signalled the end of his turn. Arlene drew and set a monster before ending her turn. Bryon drew his card, then grinned at Arlene.
"I think I've figured out how your little monster works. I activate Smashing Ground to destroy your highest Defence monster, and that's Vimetu!" A giant fist slammed into Vimetu from the air, which promptly destroyed it. Arlene couldn't help but stare, utterly bewildered, as Bryon destroyed her face down with Mobius and reduced her life points to 0 with Mother Grizzly.
Arlene: 0000
Bryon: 3200
"You were good, but not good enough!" Bryon gloated before taking his deck out of the Duel Disk and putting the Duel Disk on the floor and walking off. Arlene did the same, slightly disappointed at the outcome.
Just when I have a revelation about my Balance Monsters I lose...but still! Now I can study up on them! Arlene walked towards the library.
"Balance Warriors are unique monsters in that they can accumulate what is called Auras. There are currently two types of Auras, Dark and Light, although Maxamillion Pegasus has hinted that more types of Auras are "possible"." Arlene had found a Beginner's Guide to Balance Warriors Part 1, but was annoyed to find that Part 2 could only be found on the island. Arlene continued reading the passage. "There are different ways to create Auras. Each time a Spell card is used, all Balance Warriors on the field of the player who activated the card receive a Light Aura. Every time a Trap Card activates, all Balance Warriors that the owner of the trap card controls gain a Dark Aura."
So THAT'S what happened in my duel with the examiner! Arlene noted, reading on.
"Certain Balance Monsters gain effects when they have accumulated enough Auras of a certain type. Here is a list of all Balance Warriors who gain effects this way..." Arlene looked down the list until she came to Balance Warrior Vimetu. "When this card has 3 Light Auras, it is unable to be destroyed as a result of battle, though damage calculation still applies. Arlene read the rest of the list, memorising all of the effects. The book then went on to list some Balance Warrior support cards, which Arlene looked through as there was one card that was puzzling her.
If my monsters gain a Light Aura every time a Spell card activates, wouldn't my Kirud have gotten one when I equipped it with my Shadow Cannon when I was dueling the examiner? She found the description for Shadow Cannon and read it.
"Shadow Cannon is an unusual card, in that the card's effect negates the Light Aura a Balance Warrior usually receives, instead replacing it with a Dark Aura." Arlene read through the list which went right up to the end of the book before shutting it.
At least I know a bit more about Balance Warriors. I think I might need to give Bryon a rematch on the island. Until then...Arlene shut the book and left the library. Of course, I'll need to find Ethan first.
Now that you know the basics of Balance Warriors, here are the Balance Warriors and their support cards used in the last part as well as the new cards in this chapter:
Balance Warrior Kirud
ATK: 1500 DEF: 1500
Attribute: Earth
Level: 4
Type: Warrior / Effect
Image: A tall warrior dressed in ragged clothes carrying a simple sword.
Effect: This card can have a total of 3 Auras at any time, and they must be of the same type. Remove 1 Light Aura from Kirud to increase your life points by 800. Remove 1 Dark Aura from this card to inflict 800 points of damage to your opponent's life points. You may only use one of these effects once per turn.
Shadow Cannon
Equip Magic
Image: A black miniature cannon.
Effect: You can only equip this card to a monster with "Balance Warrior" in its name. Increase the equipped monster's attack by 700. Place 1 Dark Aura on the monster equipped with this card. This card does not release a Light Aura.
Balance Warrior Hyan
ATK: 1800 DEF: 1200
Attribute: Water
Level: 4
Type: Warrior / Effect
Image: A warrior dressed in ragged clothes holding a rusty sword.
Effect: This card can have a total of 3 Auras at any time, and they must be of the same type. When this card is normal summoned, special summoned or flip summoned place 1 Light Aura on this card for every Light Attribute monster on your side of the field and 1 Dark Aura for every Dark Attribute monster on your side of the field. Once per turn, you may either remove 1 Light Aura from this card to destroy 1 face up magic or trap card, or remove 1 Dark Aura from this card to destroy 1 face down magic or trap card.
Balance Warrior Vimetu
ATK: 0900 DEF: 2100
Attribute: Wind
Level: 3
Type: Warrior / Effect
Image: A small warrior hidden behind a large shield.
Effect: This card can have a total of 3 Auras at any time, and they must be of the same type. During each of your standby phases, add 1 Light Aura to Vimetu if there is an even number of monsters on the field, and add 1 Dark Aura to Vimetu if there is an odd number of monsters on the field. When this card has 3 Light Auras, it cannot be destroyed in battle. While this card has 3 Dark Auras, it can only be destroyed in battle.
Artificial Aura
Quickplay Magic
Image: Several Light and Dark Auras contained within a large cylinder.
Effect: Pay life points in multiples of 1000. For every 1000 life points you pay, you may add 1 Light or Dark Aura to a suitable monster on the field.