Atlas gazed upon the ocean as he sat on the dock overlooking the water. The ocean reflected the night sky like a liquid mirror, perfectly displaying wavy images of the moon and the stars that dotted the sky. For him it was refreshing to be away from home and smelling the crisp salty air. Atlas always wanted to live near the water, but his whole life has either been lived in a lofty skyscraper for business trips where his parents' top floor apartment gave him an excellent view of smog and people toiling away or in a cookie cutter neighborhood for cookie cutter people and their million dollar houses.
Atlas scoffed as he remembered how his parents would host parties what seemed like every week for his two brothers, and how he would feign happiness for the sake of their company. Nothing had disturbed Atlas more than his own family's wealth and how it inflated his brother's egos, but in the same way it was affecting him. He thought back to a couple of weeks ago when he had assumed Oscar would be placed in the lowest ranking dormitories on Duel Academy, purely based on his mannerisms. Granted he was right, but it was not until after Atlas saw Oscar defeat an Obelisk Blue, did he decide he was at least worthy of earning Atlas's friendship, but not yet had he earned the title of an equal.
It was this very elitist mentality that Atlas had grown to despise. He used to rebel against his parents whenever they would look down on people because of their economic status. The mentality where his brothers believed they had a right to everything, including their expensive and rare cards.
Atlas on the other hand refused to build his deck form expensive cards, although his cards are just as rare his brothers'. He had entered a card creating contest where the winner would receive the card they created and a series of cards not yet released to the public. Atlas had entered similar contests before, but he would never even come close to winning. But he found a new resolve after his brothers mocked him for not owning a deck. He spent months researching and finally created a card that embodies what his family lacked most, humility.
Atlas shook his head clearing his thoughts of the past. Although Atlas still resented his family as It only fells second nature as of now, greed and selfishness has infected his thoughts. 'I was so naive as a child,' Atlas thought to himself. 'This world's unfair, and in an unfair world its survival of the fittest.'
A sharp knock interrupted Dalton, who was currently sprawled out on his bed, from reading a novel about a dragon rampaging through a kingdom. He looked over to his alarm clock and saw it was just after eleven p.m. 'Who is coming over at this time of night,' he thought to himself as he sluggishly got up to answer the door.
More knocks assaulted Dalton's door as he approached. "I'm coming! I'm coming," He yelled at his surprise visitor. He lurched the door open to a pair of hardened green eyes belonging to a stern looking Obelisk Blue.
"Michael Atlas. Where is he?"
Dalton was taken aback by the briefness of the visitor. "He's normally at the docks at this – –"
Before Dalton could finish the visitor was briskly walking down the hallway. "How rude," Dalton mumbled to himself as he closed the door and went back to his novel.
Atlas was brought out of his thoughts as he heard footsteps approaching. 'Odd,' he thought to himself as most people were in their own dorm rooms at this time of night.
He turned to see the figure rapidly approaching his seated position. He brought himself to his feet and faced the mystery visitor with a questioning glare. As the lighthouse's came full circle the figure was illuminated and Atlas was able to determine it was a male wearing an Obelisk Blue uniform.
The unknown Obelisk Blue stopped approximately twenty yards from Atlas and reached into his backpack. "Michael Atlas?"
"Yes...and you," Atlas questioned as he tried to determine if he recognized the voice.
"My name is Nick Forbes...and I've come to challenge you to a duel." As he said that, he fished out his duel disk from his backpack and placed it on his arm.
"Why does your name sound so familiar...and why are you so eager to duel me," Atlas questioned as he reached for his own duel disk.
"My name might sound familiar, because I was to be one of the rising pro-league duelists last year," Nick said as he placed his deck into his duel disk. "That was until examination duel with another pro-leaguer. The conditions were if I won I would immediately join the ranks of pro duelists...but if I lost I would instead attend Duel Academy and join the pro-league if and only if I ranked within the top ten by the time of my graduation."
"Okay that's cool and all," Atlas interrupted. "But what does any of this have to do with me."
"Patience, I'm getting to that part. As you can see," Nick said as he patted his Obelisk Blue uniform, "I didn't pass the examination duel. As a matter of fact, it was your brother, Remus Michaels, who made sure of that. He beat me within a few turns, and I didn't even get a chance to inflict any damage to him." Nick paused as he examined his duel disk.
Atlas frowned at the mention of his brother's name. "I still don't see how this concerns me."
"They say the Michaels brothers are very similar-"
"Watch it," Atlas snapped angrily. "I'm nothing like my brothers. If you want to duel me fine, but don't compare me to them."
"We'll get to the duel in a minute, I'm almost done with my story. Now where was I...oh yes, ever since I've joined the academy I have ascended through the ranks and now I stand here as the second best duelist at the academy. Now if you truly are like your brothers, then I'd wish to test my skills against you...and come out victorious."
Duel
(Atlas: 4000)
(Nick: 4000)
Both duelists quickly drew five cards, with Atlas quickly snatching a sixth signifying he was taking the lead. "Don't think that your little title of being ranked second in all of Duel Academy means anything to me. I'll squash like all the other insignificant peons who think they can stand up to me." As Atlas spoke he placed a spell card into his duel disk causing a large vortex of wind and multiple colors to appear above Atlas.
"I'll start the duel off with Polymerization," Atlas stated as he sent two cards from his hand to the graveyard. "Now by fusing Divine Hero Argonauts (1200/800) with Divine Hero Jason (1600/1200) I can give you Argo, the Divine Hero Carrier (2100/2500)."
The waters behind Atlas began to churn violently as a large boat dropped from the vortex into the sea.
"Next I'll activate Son of Zeus, which lets me add one of my more powerful cards to my hand," Atlas said with a slight grin as he pulled free the desired card. "Now once per turn, Argo can special summon one Divine Hero monster from my graveyard or hand, and I choose my hand."
A bright light emanated from the prow of the boat as the winds began to pick up again.
"Only the mighty have what it takes to become a hero, and still only the divine can become godly. A hero's work is never done. Appear, achiever of efforts, Divine Hero Heracles (2600/2000)!"
A hulk of a man wearing golden and silver armor formed from the light and placed himself in between Atlas and Nick.
"And if you thought I was done there...you were dead wrong, because I still have my Normal Summon. And since I control a Divine Hero, I can summon this card without a tribute. Arrive, Divine Hero Theseus (2400/1600)."
A smaller Divine Hero appeared next to Heracles in a fighting position.
"Now with my last card I'll replenish my hand. Card of Sanctity activates!" Golden coins rained down from the sky as Atlas drew six cards and Nick only drew one. "Now I'll set two cards, and pass over the turn to you...try to keep up."
"Oh...I'll do more than keep up," Nick replied as he added his seventh card to his hand. "Now you made a very rookie mistake, you overextended."
"Overextended, what are you talking about," Atlas growled.
"Well when a person overextends, they leave themselves susceptible to mass removal cards. Cards such as this one. Lightning Vortex, by discarding one card all of your monsters will bite the dust," Nick explained as he slid one card into his graveyard.
Atlas watched with a stern face as lightning dropped from the sky and obliterated his three monsters.
"Now that your field is clear, I'll now summon Vortex Magician (1600/0) and attack you directly." A magician in a stark white robe appeared then shot a white orb of energy straight towards Atlas.
Before the attack reached Atlas, a purple fog erupted from the water carrying with it Atlas's recently departed Argo. "The card I just activated was Call of the Haunted and I choose to bring back Argo, the Divine Hero Carrier. Care to continue your attack?"
"I'll cancel Vortex Magician's attack," Nick called out unfazed. "I'll leave you with one face-down and end my turn."
A face-down card materialized on Nick's side of the field as Atlas swiped a card from the top of his deck. "Argo's ability revives Divine Hero Heracles in attack position!"
Following the same events as before the famous Greek boat manifested Atlas's favorite monster into existence. "You're going to have to try harder than activating a few 'mass removal' cards if you want to beat me. Now I'll summon Divine Hero Eteoclus (1300/100) also in attack position."
A man in golden armor carrying an ornate shield depicting a warrior climbing a tower appeared next to Heracles. Atlas then slid a spell card into his back row showing a band of warriors preparing to fight a mysterious enemy. "The A. Forces now gives all of my warriors attack equal to the number of warriors and spellcasters I control times two-hundred."
A bright golden aura surrounded Heracles and Eteoclus as their attacks started to rise (Divine Hero Heracles: 2600-3000/2000) (Divine Hero Eteoclus: 1300-1700/100).
"Now that face-down of yours better be a useful one, or this duel is over. Divine Hero Heracles, demolish Vortex Magician with Herculean Punch!"
Atlas's strongest monster leapt across the field in a single bound as his left fist began to glow brilliantly. The fist was about to connect with Nick's lone monster, but an invisible force field stopped Heracles from going any further. Atlas brought his attention to his opponent's now face-up card. 'Negate Attack...damn it,' Atlas thought to himself as he signaled the end of his turn.
"I told you not to overextend or you would end up paying the price. I activate Dark Hole!" Nick slammed the card into his duel disk and mere moments later a swirling vortex appeared in the middle of the field pulling all of the monsters into them.
Before Eteoclus had chance to be sucked into the the black hole, he jumped backwards hitting Nick with a strong gust of wind then vanished into thin air (Nick: 3600). Shortly after a tornado appeared on Atlas's side of the field as it dissipated it revealed a warrior in light, golden armor wielding twin blades. "Firstly, when Eteoclus would be destroyed by a card effect, I can instead return him to my hand and inflict four hundred damage to your life points, and when a Divine Hero is removed from my side of the field I can special summon this guy and increase his attack by three hundred, Divine Hero Adrastus (1500-1800-2000/1200). I figured you would try to punish me for overextending again, so I planned accordingly."
Nick only shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly only serving to irritate Atlas even farther. "Well, when Vortex Magician is sent from the field to the grave, I can banish one card in my graveyard to draw one card. So I'll banish the card I sent with Lightning Vortex, which was Chaos Returner (1200/200)."
Nick drew a card then placed it immediately onto his duel disk. "I summon Sangan (1000/600) in defense position." A small three-eyed fiend appeared crouching defensively in front of Nick. "Now I'll play a card face-down and end my turn. And when Chaos Returner is banished from my graveyard, he returns at the end phase."
"Now I summon Divine Hero Eteoclus once more and because of my spell both of my monster's attacks rise." The two warriors gripped their equipments as their company empowered one another (Divine Hero Eteoclus: 1300-1700/100) (Divine Hero Adrastus: 2000-2200/1200).
"Now lets put you to the test once more. Eteoclus attack Sangan, and Adrastus go in for a direct strike."
Nick didn't hesitate in activating his face-down trap card. "Half or Nothing forces you to choose, between automatically ending your battle phase, or halving the attack of your monsters for the turn."
"I choose half," Atlas responded, obviously frustrated by having the damage he was planning on doing significantly reduced (Divine Hero Eteoclus: 1700-850/100) (Divine Hero Adrastus: 2200-1100/1200).
Eteoclus hurled his shield at the defenseless Sangan who immediately shattered upon impact. As the shield returned to Eteoclus as if it were a boomerang, Adrastus quickly launched himself at Nick unsheathing his swords in a slashing motion as soon as he got in range (Nick: 2500).
"You're lucky," Atlas spat coldly as Nick added a card to his hand via the effect of Sangan. "I'll set one card face-down and end my turn."
"Luck...your accusation is laughable," Nick responded with a slight hint of contempt hidden in his voice. "I've fought to the top on skills not luck. For that ignorant comment, you have earned my wrath Atlas Michaels."
The wind started to swirl violently around the two duelists as Nick pulled free a card. "In all honesty, I don't believe you are worthy enough to see a card of such elegance, beauty...and raw power. But I'm tired of watching you duel as if you have been in control. You haven't, as a matter of fact, you've done everything I wanted you to do."
"What are you talking about," Atlas shouted. "Stop talking nonsense and get on with your turn already."
"As you wish," Nick said cruely. "By removing from play Vortex Magician and Sangan I can give birth to one of my most powerful monsters."
A violent fusion of white and black light manifested above Nick, each light seeming to be fighting the other for dominance, but neither gaining the upperhand. "In a flash of light and darkness everything came to be! Bring forth the genesis! Witness the first creation, Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning (3000/2500)!"
Atlas watched in shock and terror as a warrior in blue and gold armor formed out of the spiraling lights. The warrior wielded a wickedly sharp sword and a durable shield that shared the same colors as his armor.
"Now...let's see if you can stand up to this."
To be continued...
Author's Note: So I haven't said this yet but thanks for the reviews, and to all new readers and old readers (if there are any xD) I apologize for taking so long to update this story, as I've had the next 5 chapters' duels written out since August. I've honestly just been really lazy though. But hopefully that will change. But anyway, thank you all for reading. And if you like it write a review, and if you don't still leave a review telling me why, who knows it could help me with my writing. But anyway thanks :)
Cards of the Duel:
Atlas Michaels:
Argo, the Divine Hero Carrier - Lv 6, Water, Machine, 2100/2500
Divine Hero Jason + Divine Hero Argonauts
Once per turn you can Special Summon 1 "Divine Hero" monster from your hand or Graveyard.
Nick Forbes:
Vortex Magician - Lv 4, Light, Spellcaster, 1600/0
When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard, you can banish 1 card from your Graveyard to draw 1 card.
Atlas may have finally found his match in Nick Forbes, a powerful duelist who seems to be able to counter Atlas at every turn. Catch the exciting conclusion in the next chapter, Second Best Part 2.
