The Trials and Tribulations of a Duelist

by Tails9095

Chapter 2: Unforeseen Circumstances

An announcer's voice spoke out over the intercom, it was parleying a simply message to the duelists. "Duelists! Please make your way to the dueling arena, then find your first round opponent." The voice explained cheerfully, the excited crowd followed the instructions. Then the voice came back on, it told them a side message. "Now may I remind duelists, that there is a fifteen minute time limit to make it to your opponent. If you don't make it to your designated dueling platform, you are automatically disqualified!"

"Who would be late to their game?" Kaji Sumaro asked with a small chuckle, walking out into the dueling arena. He paused for a moment, taking in a deep breathe before telling himself "Well this is it Kaji. Try your best!"

"Talking to yourself makes you sound crazy, you know that right?" Questioned a familiar and annoying voice. The insult was followed by a familiar laughter from the crowd of fans who usually flocked around Katsuo. This was the one who pushed past him, giving Kaji a smug smile. Though this upset Kaji, he found it was best to forget the cruel words of others and forgive. Truly a very merciful look on life. He then moved into the huge arena, finding himself surrounded by hundreds of duelists. Then he turned his glare up, above the crowds, to a huge line of televisions that displayed the dueling match ups.

"Kaji... Kaji..." He mumbled to himself, turning a full circle looking for his name on the televisions. "Kaji Sumaro!" Kaji called happily, finally finding his name. "I duel... Good... God..."

Round 1: Kaji Sumaro Vs Katsuo Osimaru!

Kaji's draw dropped in disbelieve, what were the odds he would have to play this person in the first round? "Well, it looks like I'm getting a free pass this round" Called an obnoxious and happy Katsuo. He and his crowd laughed at his insult. "Well, let's get this over with..." He told Kaji, turning to the doomed duelist.

"Alright, fine. Now... Where do we go?" Kaji asked, his face flushing as he smiled. He glanced around, trying to find where they would be playing.

"Wow. You really are a newb..." Katsuo told him with a sigh, his crowd departed to watch from the sidelines. "Just. Follow me." Katsuo walked them through the duelists who were finding their opponents. After a few moments, the concrete ground below them lit up in a bright red light. These lights formed lines all around the huge platform, moving around where the players stood. The lights formed giant rectangles around the duelists, where they would have to stand and play. Then inside these rectangles, more lights appeared and names appeared. These names were for the people who would play in those platforms.

Kaji found himself being led to the center of the entire ring, why? He didn't really know at first. This was followed with the floor under them starting to shake. It seemed like a earthquake, but it was much too controlled. In reality, the floor just below Kaji and Katsuo was rising, it went about six feet higher than the other players. "What's... what's going on?" Kaji called to his opponent.

"I am the favorite in the tournament today, and they like to give their favorites a featured match!" Katsuo explained with a small chuckle at his rival's confusion. Then when the arena of people found their places, the floor all around them started to shake again. This time, next to each duelist rose a small podium that held their weapon of choice: a Duel Disk. Kaji picked up said duel disk, slipping it onto his wrist, watching as the other duelists followed his motions. Then the battleground was filled with loud shooting noises, each duel disks had shot off a pair of holographic projectors. They set themselves up at the corner of each rectangle, shooting a beam of light into the air. Then the machine gave off an acknowledgment noise, Kaji had entered in his deck. This noise then echoed throughout the stadium, the rest of them following his actions.

"Greetings one and all to today's tournament!" The cheery voice called from nowhere, yet it echoed everywhere. It went on to explain that the duelists had a half-hour to complete their duels. Then as soon as the duel was over, the computer would enter the results into the database. The voice told them all to have good luck and have fun. Then it came.

"DUEL!" The shout came like a sonic boom, hundreds of duelists all shouted this out at once. This signaled the official start of the tournament.

"It's just you and me, all over again!" Katsuo called with a smile, drawing into his first hand, starting off the duel. "I will start by summoning Angel's Meteor, (4 1800/700) in attack made!" Katsuo called, a huge fiery meteor appeared onto the field, but it was sporting a small pair of angel wings. The card seemed like just a huge oxymoron. "Then I will follow that up by setting one card face down, and ending my turn."

"Alright... Let's see what this what this baby can do..." Kaji told himself as he drew his card. He glanced down at his hand, examining all six of the cards. One of them caught his eye and he decided his move "I will set one card face down" A card appeared on the field "Then two cards face down" two spells/traps appeared too.

"Going on the defensive already Kaji?" Katsuo mocked as he drew his card "Last time it took you at least TWO turns before you did that" His moves were much faster and precise from years of experience. "I will summon Brick Smasher (4 2000/0) in attack mode!" A karate master appeared onto the field, a pile of broken bricks at his feet. "Then I will flip my face down card up, I activate the spell Incredible Rush! This card allows me to attack with each of my monsters as many times as possible as long as I pay 1000 life points for each attack I make this turn" He explained to the duelist who obviously didn't know the effect. At the same time, his two monsters started to pump themselves up for the huge attack they were about to go through.

"Well that doesn't seem fair..." Kaji replied, watching as his opponent went to smash him into the ground.

"Nothing in life is fair" Katsuo responded as he pointed to the face down monster that Kaji controlled "Now! Angel's Meteor attack his face down monster! Oh! And if you didn't know, Angel's Meteor does damage to my opponent equal to the difference in his attack and your monster's defense!" Katsuo's life points dropped down to 7000

"Assuming the attack goes through" Kaji responded with a small grin on his face as he watched the attack start. The Meteor flew up up up and away! It disappeared into the sky. There was a pause... Then a HUGE red meteorite was flying straight down at Kaji's monster. "Activate trap card!" Kaji announced as the monster quickly approached. "I activate Imp's Fire!"

"Imp's Fire?" Katsuo shouted as the meteorite, that was moments away from obliterating Kaji's monster, disappeared. "How did you get a card that powerful?" Katsuo called as the meteorite reappeared in front of it's master and exploded. As the card says, Katsuo's monster is destroyed from Imp's Fire and he takes damage equal to the monster's attack. While Kaji takes double, but his face down monster stays protected. Life points 4800 to 5200.

"Let's just say... It was from a friend" Kaji responded with a small smile. Realizing that he actually did damage to this so called unbeatable opponent. He could even win...

"Well no matter, I attack with my Brick Smasher!" Katsuo announced as the monster prepared it's attack by picking up a brick. 4200

"Wrong. I activate my other face down card! Holy Alliance!" Kaji then proceeded to explain how the card worked "Well for every monster on the field, I can special summon a new one to the field. You do get to do it too. But it does automatically ends your battle phase."

"Another rare card... How did he get so many...?" Katsuo questioned, he started to special summon monsters. "I bring out my Warrior of Fire (3 1200/1400) and Aqua Boxer (4 1500/1000)" Katsuo's monsters then appeared, one as a Warrior with a flaming sword. The other was a giant pair of fists, made out of water.

"My monsters will be Kamikaze Healer (2 500/500) and Greedy Totem Pole (1 100/100)" Kaji's monsters appeared onto the field. One was a monster, laced with dynamite but holding a medic pack. The other, a giant Totem pole who's different sections would randomly turn a 360 degree angle and back to it's starting spot.

"Is that all you have? A bunch of weaklings?" Katsuo laughed out loud at the horrible difference between the two sides of monsters. One was a wall of giant crazy attacking monsters, the other was filled with pathetic, tiny, useless monsters, in Katsuo's opinion that is.

"I would not take them so lightly" Kaji replied as he reached down to draw his next card. But as soon as he touched the top of the deck, it started to glow a pinkish light. "Hmmm?" He asked himself, drawing his card. "It's that card again, White Magician Pikeru..." he thought as he stared at the card "Why is this card acting so weird...? Is there something wrong with it? Maybe it's radioactive..."

"Actually none of the above..." Came a voice, it's origin could only have been from inside the card.

"What the hell was that?" Sumaro thought, holding the card out away from him. In response to his question, the card started to glow a darker pink than it had the time before it. The next thing that happened would've made an average person pass out, but Kaji's determination to win kept him conscious. The card had started to shift around in his hand, an object had started to come out of it. I repeat. An object had started to come out of it! It looked at first like a scapegoat, then he realized that it was part of a much larger...thing. The rest of what he found out was a head, came with it.

"Hello there!" The head called cheerfully to him, smiling up at her owner. She shifted herself and started to pull the rest of herself out of the card. When she got out she stopped, then reached back in, feeling around. After a moment of searching, she pulls out her white staff. She proceeded to hop off the card and floated up into the air. Now they were now staring at each other, about only an arms length away.

"Who, or what are you?" Kaji asked nervously, the person landed onto her two feet and stood. When standing straight up, she reached only about to his waist in height.

"Who do you think?" She asked back with a smile, her hand holding the staff lightly "I did come out of the card... But just in case you forgot. The name is Piker-"

"HELLO?" Came a shout from the other side of the dueling ring, cutting her off. An extremely frustrated looking Katsuo was standing there, watching Kaji move around like a crazy person. "Are you going to make a move at ANY time this year?" He shouted harshly, stomping the ground impatiently.

"I don't really think I like him very much Kaji..." Pikeru mumbled, looking up at him. She walked over so she was standing next to him, her fingers gripping the staff she kept with her.

"No... I don't either. Wait, how do you know my name? Eh, never mind" He replied with a mental sigh, glancing down at his hand again. Then his face brightened up as he read one of his monster's effects. "I will activate Greedy Totem Pole's special effect!" Kaji called, three of the five levels of the totem poles proceeded to point to the three monsters that Katsuo controlled.

"Right... Greedy Totem Pole's effect..."Katsuo said, watching the totem's actions. He didn't say anything, but from the look on his face, he obviously couldn't remember the card's effect.

"I'll help you out, mister 'pro'" Kaji mocked his opponent with a smug smile. Then he announced the effect of his monster "It deals 300 damage to you for each monster you control." He explained, the totem then shot three blasts at Katsuo. The three all passed the monsters and hit Katsuo directed, they all did 300 damage each. "But, sadly, greed comes at a price..." He told his opponent, his life were draining 300 for every monster that he controlled. Kaji and Katsuo's life points were now at 4100 4200,respectively. Kaji moved his hand to grab Pikeru's card. He glanced down at the duel spirit, their eyes met and they nodded "I will summon White Magician Pikeru! (2 1200/0)" Kaji announced loudly as he threw the card onto the duel disk.

"White Magician Pikeru?" Katsuo shouted as there was a flash of light as the card appeared on the field between them. When she hit the field, she was standing in her full form. Her outfit was white, her hair was pink. Her scapegoat hat and cape were both a lemon yellow. "That card hasn't been played in a duel for years! It's so rare..." Katsuo exclaimed, the small monster smiled as she gripped her staff, feeling herself ready to fight.

"That's not it! I will play another card that's a blast from the past!" Kaji announced, he reached for another card from his hand. Then he slid it into the spell zone, announcing the card's name proudly. "I activate Swords of Revealing Light!" Bright white swords began to rain from the sky, locking the creatures Katsuo controlled down. There was a gasp from Katsuo's fans as this card hit the field.

"How the hell...?" Katsuo growled as he drew for his turn. He quickly scanned his cards, choosing one of them and played it. "I activate Unfair Trial! I can discard one card from my hand" He explained as a card in his hand went to the graveyard. "Now that Totem you control is automatically destroyed!"

"I see, you didn't want to lose any more damage..." Kaji mumbled as he watched his creature. His totem toppled down to the ground, then it shattered. "That was very wise of you... Too bad you chose the wrong card..." He drew into his next turn, glancing down at it. Then he looked back up to a confused looking opponent.

"What do you mean by that? How did I choose wrong?" Katsuo asked quizzically as he watched his opponent's field

"Unlike the totem that would've burned you to death, I will now use the effect of my White Magician Pikeru!" Kaji announced to his opponent. Pikeru raised her staff into, Kaji's life points increased by 400 for every creature he controlled. His total amount went up to 4900.

"800 life points? That really doesn't bother me..." Katsuo told Kaji, rolling his eyes slightly. He didn't know where this was going.

"I'll just set a monster face down and and another card face down to end my turn" Kaji told him, the turn going by quickly.

Katsuo drew into his next card and froze. He stared at his draw, then looked up at his Kaji's and giving out a short laugh. "I've just sealed your fate Kaji Sumaro!" He announced cruelly, then he playing a card: Magical Disarm. This spell card quickly robbed Kaji of his Sword's of Revealing light, his only defense from the upcoming onslaught. But then it went from bad to worse, the three creatures Katsuo controlled: Brick Smasher, Warrior of Fire and Aqua Boxer disappeared.

"What just happened?" Kaji asked, a light and dark also disappeared from Katsuo's grave. There was a loud cheer from the crowd, and from the surrounding duelists. "What... what am I missing?" He wanted to know, not liking where this was going.

"I sacrifice three creatures of three separate attributes off the field!" Katsuo explained as the monsters went out of play. His voice had a tad bit of hysteria in it. "Along with a light and a dark creature from my graveyard!" They followed the other three lost souls. "With these tributes, I will summon a monster that will assure my victory!" Osimaru laughed crazily. "I will now summon that which is death." Osimaru called before going on. "I summon that which is a curse to all of mankind." His voice was now becoming more and more dark with every passing word. "I summon:" He shouted out, then he and his entire fan crowd shouted out the monster's name. "Go! Chaos Quad Beast – Bringer of the Apocalypse!"

The sky above them started to darken, a lightning bolt flashed. The earth started to shake the entire Colosseum, a huge crack appearing between the two duelists. The ground opened as a pair of huge pair of red eyes appeared out of the ground. They turned to the direction of Kaji and Pikeru, this led to him letting out a soft laugh "He's not so intimidating" Kaji said. This was followed by the rest of the beast's head. It was that of a Giant bird, but the entire thing was blood red. Kaji's jaw dropped as this thing came out. The size of the head was enormous, by far the largest hologram he's ever seen. He and the monster's eyes met for a moment. 'Still not as big as everyone sa-" He started to think, but was cut off.

When the neck pulled itself out, and three more heads followed. The second head was a giant blue serpent. The creature let out a hiss as it joined the bird's head in the air. Following the snake, came a huge brown deer's head. It looked innocent enough, but looks can be deceiving. Not to be outmatched, a fourth head erupted from the hole in the earth. It let out a tremendous roar, it was a white lion's head. All four heads matched in sizes equally, they all stared down their opponent. The body pulled itself out of the hole, it was a the body of a giant dog. All four heads were connected to the now visible black body. The creature stomped the ground and the heads all let out a roar to the heavens.

"You where saying?" Katsuo asked with a grin on his face, watching Kaji's reaction.

"I... I did not know it was that big..." Was all he was able to say, his voice cutting off in obvious fear. Pikeru started to shake, she was showing a human like emotion. "Looks like this duel is just starting..."

"No Kaji!" Katsuo shouted, the beast now standing above him. "This duel is over!"

To Be Continued...

In the next chapter of The Trials and Tribulations of a Duelist:

That thing is huge! How am I ever going to take that thing down by myself? Could this be the end of me in the tournament already? I can't lost like this!

Wait, why was a hologram trembling?

Find out more in the exciting conclusion of the duel in:

Chapter 3: The Four-Headed Horror

Cya next time!