Chapter 5: Яeappeared Enemy
That's was tiring," said Daisuke, sweating as he returned from lifting several cardboard boxes atop of each other from the storeroom. He placed the boxes on top of the counter desk. "Granduncle is the one who always lifted these; never knew he was that strong for his age."
He sighed and looked over to the tables. "Hey, Byakuro stop cardfighting and come over here. I thought you wanted to build a stronger deck," he called.
"Yeah, I'm coming. Just as soon as I end this match," Byakuro replied.
Daisuke twitched slightly. "I don't have much time waiting for you to come over here to buy your cards. My shift ends at seven, which is less than an hour from now," replied Daisuke. He turned his attention back to the boxes and began unpacking. "Geez, that kid is ridiculous… He's barely even started playing, but he's already hooked!"
Over at the table, Byakuro was on a roll. He was at four, damage and his opponent was at five, with only one card in hand. "Go, Garnet Star and Photon, do a legion attack on Mr. Invincible (20000 to 10000)!" said Byakuro, resting his vanguard with a smile on his face.
The kid, named Bunta, looked nervous. "No guard!"
"First check, Neon, nothing there. Second check, heal trigger!" Byakuro looked at his damage zone. "My damage only at four, so I can't heal so power to Radon(9000+5000=14000)." He didn't particularly care, though; he had already won…
"Damage check, heal trigger," said Bunta with a relieved sigh, replacing one damage with the heal trigger.
"Turn End," said Byakuro, with a mix of irritation and disappointment.
Byakuro-Bunta
4-hand-1
0/4-damage-0/5
0-drop-5
4-soul-7
Quantum,Magnesium-[King of Swords],Queen of Hearts
empty, Garnet Star+Photon—Mr. Invincible, [Shout]
Satellite Mirage, Radon-empty, empty
*[locked unit]
Bunta's turn: "I stand and draw, Mr. Invincible's skill lets me soul charge and unflip a damage but since I have 5 face up damage, I can't unflip more."
"Next, I call a Brutal Jack (11000) to the left and counterblast one to release its restraint. Then I call clay doll mechanic behind it(7000) whose skill lets me unflip a damage."
Bunta grinned. "Now, Brutal Jack, boosted by Clay Doll, attacks your vanguard (19000 to 11000). Brutal Jack's skill allows it to gain 5k power when boosted by a Nova Grappler (24000 to 11000)."
"I'll let it through," said Byakuro undaunted as he only had four damage and could certainly guard the next attack easily. Byakuro damage check didn't reveal a trigger.
"Mr. Invincible attack your Radon, Invincible charge (10000 to 9000)!" declared Bunta, resting his vanguard.
"I don't guard," said Byakuro. "Looks like I'll beat you next turn," he said with a smile. Bunta checked Shout and Asura Kaiser.
"Think you can beat me that easily? Ha! My Mr. Invincible skill activates, when his attack hits, I can activate a megablast and stand all my units!" gloated Bunta. "Counterblast five, soulblast eight! Hell Stand!" Every card that wasn't locked stood once more.
"A megablast?" Byakuro said, shocked, "This is the first time I've heard of it."
"You should not have let my attack hit your Radon. If I can just land one more hit on your vanguard, you will lose this fight, so it doesn't matter if it costs lot," Bunta taunted.
"How was I supposed to know it had a skill that activated on-hit?" Byakuro questioned. Then he glanced at his hand, and shrugged. "It doesn't matter anyways, since I can guard your attacks," he said confidently.
"Oh yeah? We'll see! Brutal Jack attacks your vanguard again with a boost from clay doll (24000 to 11000)!"
"Guard," said Byakuro while putting the heal trigger and neon he checked before onto the guardian circle (24000 to 26000).
Bunta growled. "Mr. Invincible, you're my last hope, attack! Invincible Charge! (10000 to 11000" His hope for victory rested on drawing triggers on the drive check…
Byakuro grinned. "Let me crush your hope: I guard with Apollo (10000 to 21000). Even with two triggers, your attack can't get through!"
"Drive trigger check, first check...Tough boy, second check... critical trigger all effects to Mr. Invincible (15000 to 21000)," said Bunta who grimaced that his attack didn't went through.
"Turn end," said Bunta who proceeded to unlock his two cards.
Byakuro-Bunta
1-hand-4
0/5-damage-5/5
4-drop-12
4-soul-0
Quantum,Magnesium-King of Swords,Queen of Hearts
empty, Garnet Star+Photon—Mr. Invincible, Shout
Satellite Mirage, empty-Brutal Jack, Clay Doll
Byakuro's turn: "End Game!" declared Byakuro.
Bunta and Daisuke both looked oddly at Byakuro. "End game?" Bunta asked. "Is that some sort of declaration? I've never heard it before."
Byakuro ignored him, intent on finishing the fight.
"I call Neon to right (7000), and attack your vanguard with a boost from Mirage. Plus, it gains 3k power when attacking (17000 to 10000)!"
"I intercept with King of Swords and Brutal Jack," said Bunta moving the two units from the rearguard circle towards the guardian circle.
"Well then, here comes Magnesium boosted by Quantum (15000 to 10000)!" Byakuro ontinued, glee rising.
"I guard," said Bunta putting the critical he checked to the guardian circle.
"Now, Garnet Star and Photon, Legion attack! (20000 to 10000)" declared Byakuro resting his legion unit.
"I can't guard that," scowled Bunta. He only had 10000 points of shield in his hand.
Byakuro then performed his drive checked which reveal a Berkelium and a Crumble mare. Bunta then placed his sixth damage in the damage zone. He had lost.
Byakuro-Bunta
1-hand-3
0/5-damage-5/6
4-drop-15
4-soul-0
Quantum,Magnesium-empty, Queen of Hearts
empty, Garnet Star+Photon—Mr. Invincible, Shout
Satellite Mirage, Neon-empty, Clay Doll
"That was a nice match. Thanks!" Byakuro said with a happy sigh, while subtly canceling the reverse. "That megablast is scary, but I don't think it's good because the cost is so high. You can barely use any skills the entire game, and then you can only use the megablast once. It's like a desperation strategy in a deck that can get consistent pressure." Then he noticed the crowd that had been gathering to watch the fight. "So, who's next?"
"Don't you need to go and buy cards for your deck? I heard that the part time worker has a really bad temper," asked Bunta, before thanking Byakuro for the match.
Byakuro beat down his urge to have another fight, parted the crowd, and walked towards the counter.
"I waited for you to return from the storeroom like about 30 seconds or so and I got bored so I decided to card fight to kill time. At least an hour must have gone by the time you return from the storeroom. What took you so long?" said Byakuro explaining himself and questioning Daisuke.
Daisuke growled menacingly. "30 seconds is not nearly enough to make anyone feel bored! You could have at least waited for five minutes before you left and fought. Or even better, you could have lent me a hand in the storeroom! You should see the mess in there! A stray cat got in and knocked over boxes filled with booster sets. Do you know how long that takes to clean up?" complained Daisuke. By the end, he was just short of shouting.
Of course, Byakuro was completely unfazed, and pretended that Daisuke hadn't said anything. "Yeah, yeah, I apologize. So which sets should I buy first?" he asked.
Daisuke sighed and ran his hand down his face, trying to calm himself down. He almost looked like he was going to complain more, before the look on Byakuro's face told him not to bother. "Before that, I need to know what kind of deck you would like to build first."
"Link Joker of course, I already have a trial deck for them so I don't need to buy more cards for them," answered Byakuro. Wasn't that obvious?
"No, no, what I meant was, do you want a Limit Break deck or a Legion deck?" Daisuke amended. "Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Limit Breaks are usually more powerful, but you need four damage to use them, and Legions have a basic 20000 attack power at all times.
Byakuro thought for a moment before responding. "From the fights I watched so far, I can't deny that Limit Break is deadly, but I think I'd prefer Legion over Limit Break. The four-damage requirement is too slow for me," answered Byakuro.
"Okay, so you want to build a Legion deck. Let's start by finding an ace card for your deck, you can buy grade 3 Legion cards in Booster Sets 17," said Daisuke with a nod, placing a bunch of packs on the counter. "But for Legion you also need to buy its corresponding mate so it won't come cheap and easy to find the cards you want."
Byakuro listened just long enough to understand what to do, and began scanning the card packs. Funnily enough, he could hear a whisper from some of the packs, as if they were calling to him. Some of the packs were louder than others, and some didn't even have a voice. Byakuro winced as one of them seemed to shout at him, and he instinctively placed a hand over it to shut it up. He paid for and opened the pack, before he was greeted with a familiar sight, a mostly-white dragon with black and red rings covering its body, and red horns.
"That's Imaginary Plane Dragon, a triple rare Link Joker unit and you were lucky enough to get him on your first pack!" said Daisuke with awe. .
Byakuro smiled, imagining the power he could wield with this card, before a nasty-looking black and red aura suddenly surrounded it. Byakuro barely restrained his yelp, but couldn't stop his eyes from widening slightly. The aura, similar to the reverse, began to crawl up his arm, and he could feel that limb going numb. More out of fear and sheer determination than any real power, he pushed, and the reverse began to fade. The effort left Byakuro slightly panting and scared, but with full control of his faculties.
'Pid is trying to take control of me and make me his puppet, and he'd almost done it too. I need to be stronger to master this power. No matter how much I want to use this card, it's useless if I can't control it without it controlling me,' thought Byakuro, catching his breath.
"Daisuke, does this set have any other grade 3 Legion cards I can use? I don't want to add this card to my deck," asked Byakuro. The exhaustion he felt was strangely unnoticeable by Daisuke, but Byakuro wasn't about to complain.
"Yeah, there is…but why wouldn't you want to use Imaginary Plane? It's a good card that can let you do a triangle lock by a counterblasting two cards when you Legion and have another card in the center column behind it," said Daisuke, puzzled by Byakuro's rejection.
"No specific reason," answered Byakuro. "I've just got a gut feeling that this card isn't for me." Which was completely false; that card was PERFECT for him, but he couldn't exactly tell the truth.
"If you say so," said Daisuke, with an odd look.
The hour passed with Daisuke recommending and Byakuro purchasing packs from sets with Link Joker. Byakuro continued to pick the packs that called to him softly, but avoided the packs that seemed to shout at him, no matter how hard it was to ignore—he didn't think he could handle being in the possession of even one more copy of Pid's card. Daisuke looked almost indignant at the number of useful cards Byakuro continued to pull, but only thought that Byakuro has really good luck.
After a while, Byakuro stood up and gathered the cards he had bought. "Well, as fun as this has been, I think it's time for me to get going. I've got a math test to study for and whatnot if I'm in the mood to."
Daisuke nodded. "Ok, no problem. I'll see you later. Remember to buy from the shop again, and…" He chuckled slightly. "Let's fight when we have the chance. I have a feeling it's going to be amazing."
Byakuro stood in front of the sliding door and looked back over his shoulder with a pleased smile. "Yeah, can't wait to fight you, too."
As Byakuro walked home, he struggled with the dual feeling of awe at his new power and the fear of being conquered, but with no doubt, he was looking forward to cardfighting again at the soonest possibility. Then, strangely enough, when he arrived home, there was a blue-haired girl standing there. The girl was wearing Miyaji Academy's female uniform—the same school Byakuro attended.
'Must be Yuki's friend, since I've never met her… I never thought that she had any that were close enough to invite over, though. Maybe she's just here to bring her homework or something,' thought Byakuro.
Fujiwara Yuki was Byakuro's 13 year-old little sister who studied in the same school as him. He barely knew much about his sister, though, as they almost never saw despite sharing a residence. The same could be said with his older brother, Fujiwara Sora, but that wasn't as surprising, since he lived in a rented apartment near his university. Byakuro sometimes felt that the three of them lived in different worlds despite their relation.
Fujiwara Yuki spent her time in the house, shut in her room watching anime or playing video games. She rarely left the house other than test days. Normally, that would be grounds for expulsion, but the girl still somehow managed to score in the top ten of the school listings every time. It would be a shocker for Byakuro to learn that she befriended any of her schoolmates.
The girl at his door looked lost, but as she turned to leave, she saw Byakuro, and brightened a bit. "Excuse me, is this Fujiwara Yuki's house?" She asked. "I heard that this was where she lived, but no one answered the door when I rang the bell."
Byakuro nodded and used his key to open the door. "Yeah, I'm her brother, Byakuro. Her door is upstairs, the second one on the right," he said, indicating his sister room.
"Thanks, I'm Sendou Akira, nice to meet you," the blue haired girl said with a slight bow before going up the stair to find her friend.
"Sendou…" said a hate-filled voice grudgingly, audible only to Byakuro. "She might pose a problem." Byakuro frowned at the unfamiliar voice; it was most certainly not Pid. He closed his eyes for just a moment and the image of a different dragon flashed before his eyes for a moment; this voice apparently belonged to Garnet Star.
"What do you mean by that?" questioned Byakuro. "She's just a normal high-schooler."
"To all appearances, isn't that what you are, too?" Garnet Star countered. "I can feel it. She is the daughter of Sendou Aichi, the one who successfully defeated our agent two decades ago and foiled our plan to invade earth. His avatar, Blaster Blade, fought and defeated our doomsday device, a feat that demoralized our commanders and rallied the forces of Cray. Likewise, he was the one that defeated our agent on Earth and ended the invasion before it could truly begin.
"So, just by virtue of her relation to her father, she may try to defeat me and thwart your invasion, right?" asked Byakuro.
"Yes, if she as strong willed as her father," answered Garnet Star.
"Or I am weak as your previous agent," continued Byakuro, "but luckily for you, you got me here and I'm certain that she won't be the one to fail your invasion because there won't be a weak agent for her to defeat."
Garnet Star roared. "Don't get too cocky! The previous agent was far superior in card fighting abilities and mental capabilities than you, puny human! He perfectly master the power granted by us Link Joker while you can't even scratch even the surface! The Great Chaos Breaker had to get personally involved because Nebula Lord wasn't strong enough to control him!" The intense hatred was clearly conveyed through the mental link, but Byakuro, once again, would not be fazed.
"While what you say is true for now, I'm sure that you would one day change your mind," said Byakuro undaunted by Garnet Star's mockery of him before the link was suddenly cut off.
"Why do they keep bothering me? Maybe I should learn how to prevent them from linking with me," thought Byakuro aloud before going into the kitchen to have his dinner: A small cup of instant ramen. Although he was bored of the taste, he could not cook for himself, and if he waited for his mother to get home from the night shift at her job, he would miss too much sleep. Perhaps, he mused, he would learn to cook. It would certainly make life more interesting.
After finishing the meal, eaten in silence on his living room couch, Byakuro went to his room to begin building his deck from scratch. Most of the cards from the trial deck were useless, so he had to overhaul everything. He was constantly conflicted with the grade twos that he wanted to add; there was very little space for him to add any grade two that weren't mates.
After hours of play testing (math test long forgotten) he finally built himself a deck he liked and quickly went to sleep after. Byakuro's sleep came easily that night, and he slept soundly; the white dragon and red-ringed black orb had left the realm of his subconscious. Another factor, though, was his excitement. He couldn't wait for tomorrow, and therefore the prospect of sleep didn't bore him.
For the first time in a long time, Byakuro was excited.
Next Chapter: The Яules of Justice