Crystal Knights: Normal Life Still Exists
It was a nice morning in my room in the temple. The birds were singing, the flowers were blooming. I might have enjoyed it, savored it all through in the midst of my sleep, if it weren't for a beeping noise growing louder with every second. I groaned, hearing the small beeping noise. "5 more minutes." I muttered as the beeping got louder. I cracked my eyes open, glancing at my left arm and seeing the emerald in my duel disk flashing on and off. "You are not my alarm clock. Now let me sleep." It was at that moment that I felt a sharp pain in my left arm. "Ow! What!?" The emerald flashed the time; 8:00 AM. "What, you're a clock now too?" I then remembered something; normal life still existed, and I still needed to be apart of it, even with a magic rock strapped to my arm. And normal life said that I had school today. "Dangit!" I yelled, getting up and running towards the stone door. It opened instantly and I ran through Steven's part of the temple and ran out onto the beach.
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"Please don't be late. Please don't be late!" I repeated to myself during the entire mad dash to school, and when I got the main building and saw kids still groggily filing in, I let out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank god." I sighed with relief, feeling as though my heart would worm its way up my throat and jump out. "Now to just blend in, act natural, and hide this thing every chance I can." I stared down at the disk on my arm before nodding to myself and walking into the building.
The day went normally enough for a while. I kept my left arm under my desk or behind my back and no one who did see it called me out on it. But right before lunch, as I was taking part in my daily ceremony of dumping everything into my locker, I heard a trio of voices, getting closer to me. "Oh no." I said aloud as a loud "Hey!" came from about ten feet away. I panicked, shoving my left arm into the locker up to the elbow. "H-hey." I replied nervously. My bullies had found me, and they were about 1 a foot from me.
"So, what're ya doin' here?" One of them asked, leaning a bit closer. His name was Carson, a large meathead sort of guy with short black hair.
"W-well, this is my locker. I kinda need to be here to get my stuff." I replied, trying not to make eye contact and instead looking at the other two. I didn't know their names. All they did was stand there, with their lanky bodies and their flattop hair, looking intimidating.
"So, where're your cards?" Carson asked, leaning close enough so that I could smell his breath.
"They're somewhere." I lied with a quick nod. "But they're not here."
"Oh yeah?' He asked, grabbing my left arm. "Then what's in here!?" He yanked my arm out of the locker, and something, weird, had happened. My duel disk had disappeared. It was no longer on my arm as it had been for the past 2 days.
"My arm?" I asked, yanking the appendage away. "Look, I'm sorry for wasting your time and all, but I have somewhere to be." I turned to walk away, and the next thing I knew I was tackled to the ground, and felt my arm being grabbed. "Hey! Let go!"
"Check it out guys. There's a jewel in her arm. This thing could be worth thousands." I heard Carson say as three sets of hands began clawing furiously at my flesh. I tried to crawl away, hoping that my right arm had enough strength to do the job, but no such luck.
"Get off of me!" I screamed, still trying to get away.
"Listen girl. We're kinda doing you a service here." He said, letting his henchmen dig while he talked. "There's a large rock in your arm, and it just looks uncomfortable. So, we're getting it out. Free of charge." He laughed to himself as I began to black out, the pain in my arm becoming too unbearable. Though right before I went under, I heard two words; "Allow me." I had no idea who that voice belonged to, and at that point, I really didn't care.
I woke up what felt like hours later, though a quick look at a nearby clock said it had been a minute, and Carson and his cronies were nowhere to be seen. I looked at my left arm, and found not so much as a scratch on it. "Great, I'm a complete pansy." I said to myself, finally shutting my locker and heading off to lunch. What I didn't notice were all the human sized dents in several of the lockers.
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The best part of Beach City was that it was always warm enough to sit outside and, do anything really. While most of the teachers didn't usually do anything with the good weather, except for the gym teachers, the students usually took advantage of it and had lunch outside. While they were out there, they usually talked, ate, did both, or watched Duel Monsters battles that happened out in the middle of a large field. Whether people liked the game or not, most admitted they enjoyed the spectacle.
Lunch for me, as of the past few days, had consisted of me sitting on my own, eating whatever the school was serving and drawing starting hands out of boredom. "Let's see, if I do this, and then this…" I said to myself on this particular day, my mouth full of sloppy joe as several cards lay next to me. "And then we draw another card and…"
"Excuse me?" I heard as someone sat down next to me. I looked, seeing a boy with bushy black hair covering his eyes and a monochrome striped jacket over a white t-shirt with a blue musical note on it. A black messenger bag was also draped over his left shoulder."Is this spot taken?"
"Well, you're already sitting, so I'm gonna say no." I replied before returning to my cards. "Now let's see…"
"Oh, you play too?" He asked, looking down on my cards.
"Yeah, but I'm still a bit new to all of this." I said, gesturing to the first play in front of me.
"Would you mind if I looked through it?" I nodded cautiously as I put the deck back together and handed it to him. He spent a few seconds looking it over before handing it back.
"It's not bad." He said, nodding to himself. "I run a deck similar to it, if you wanna take a look." He grabbed a deck from his bag and offered it to me, though I pushed it away.
"I'd rather not look. I wanna be surprised." I said, stuffing the rest of the sloppy joe in my mouth and getting to my feet. I offered him a hand and he accepted, pulling him up. "By the way, I never got your name."
"Oh, uh, I'm Leroux Holzman." He said, scratching the back of his head.
"Oh, you're French?"
"No, my parents were huge musical nerds." We both laughed a little.
"Emma Rald." I said, still smiling.
"Oh, are your parents geologists?"
"No, they just enjoy making bad puns." I let out a nervous laugh. "But in any case, there's a field over there that most of the people here duel in. Follow me." I lead him towards the field, and as we moved, eyes were following us.
"Do the people here normally stare?"
"Nah, we're just about to be the entertainment." The field was nothing special, just a large plot of dirt with a large 5 by 4 grid drawn in the dirt. "Alright. You go to one end, I'll stand at the other, and then we go at each other." He nodded, a determined grin on his face as we stood opposite each other.
"Ready when you are!" Leroux yelled to me, grabbing a duel disk from his bag strapping it to his left arm. I raised my own arm, my disk reappearing on it.
"Woah." I muttered to myself, looking up at the boy opposite me who didn't seem to notice. It was probably better that way. "Ready!" I yelled back.
Duel!
Emma: 4000 LP
Leroux: 4000 LP
"I'll start this." I stated, looking at the cards in my hand. 'I can work with this.' I thought. "I'll play two cards face down and then one card in face down defense position." As the actions were stated, three large cards appeared on the field, two vertical, and one horizontal. "I end my turn."
Leroux drew a card, and briefly looked over his cards before nodding much the same way I did.
"Since you have a monster on your field, I'm allowed to special summon Solo the Melodious Songstress (ATK/1600 DEF/1000) in attack mode!" He announced, as a pink woman in a red dress and stupid looking hat appeared on the field. "Next I'll activate the spell Polymerization, fusing Aria the Melodious Diva and Shopina the Melodious Mastera to create Bloom Diva the Melodious Choir (ATK/1000 DEF/2000) in attack mode!" As he stated it, a large ray of light illuminated the field, stopping to reveal a small, white haired fairy in teal dress floating on a flower. "Solo will attack your face down monster!" The woman rushed at my card, causing it to flip face up, revealing a knight in blue armor, a shield of crystal outstretched in front of it.
"I'm afraid you've attacked too thick a wall!" I yelled, trying to keep up with his hamminess. "You have attacked Gem-Knight Sapphire (ATK/0 DEF/2100), in defense mode!" The woman punched the crystal, waiting a few seconds before shaking out her fist and returning to her own side of the field. "
"Fine. I end my turn." He muttered.
Emma: 4000 LP
Leroux: 3500 LP
"Before we go any further, can I check something?" I asked.
"Um, sure. What is it?" Leroux asked. I didn't answer, but instead walked up to his monster, Solo as he called it. I put my hand on its shoulder, and it went right through.
"Well, a bit disappointing, but now I know." I told myself before walking back to my place and starting my turn.
I drew a card, smiling to myself. 'This just keeps on getting better.' I thought. "I activate my trap card! Pyroxene Fusion!" A magenta card rose from the dirt. "With this card, I can fuse Gem Knights Garnet, Emerald, and Tourmaline to summon Gem Knight Lady Brilliant Diamond (ATK/3400 DEF/2000)!" I yelled, as a large cream suit of armor with a red cape fell from the sky, its diamond encrusted armor and blade shining in the sun. "I activate the effect of Brilliant Diamond, sacrificing Sapphire to summon Zirconia (ATK/2900 DEF/2500)!" A large, bulky suit appeared next to Diamond, sporting a purple cape and large jewel fists.
Leroux let out an impressed whistle. "Nice." He remarked. "Quite a lot of big rocks you have there. What're ya gonna do with them?"
"This! Brilliant Diamond will attack Solo!" The leaner suit rushed at the woman, blade drawn. "I also activate Battle Fusion!" A green card rose from the dirt. "This card causes every single attack point on my fusion monster to hit you, regardless of your monster's attack!" The blade sliced through the pink woman and she disappeared.
Emma: 4000 LP
Leroux: 100 LP
"Though in destroying her, you've activated Solo's second ability! When she's destroyed by battle, I can special summon one Melodious monster from my deck! And I choose, Aria the Melodious Diva (ATK/1600 DEF/1200), in defense mode!" A new pink woman, this time in a black leotard and orange skirt with purple hair appeared, kneeling with her arms crossed over her chest. "While this special summoned monster is on the field, none of my monsters can be targeted by effects or destroyed by battle!"
"Fine by me, because all I have to do is attack with Zirconia and I win!" I replied. "Zirconia! Crush the Choir!" The hulking suit rushed towards the fairy, who only held up a hand. The suit slowed to a stop before falling to its knees, cracks forming in the armor. "What's going on?"
"I forgot to mention Bloom's effects." Leroux said. "In addition to being pretty much unkillable, and myself being unable to take damage from her attacking, when it attacks or is attacked by a special summoned monster, the monster that isn't Bloom explodes, causing you damage equal to your monster's original attack minus a thousand." The suit exploded, sending shards of metal and crystal everywhere.
Emma: 2100 LP
Leroux: 100 LP
"I end my turn." I said, staring at the tiny fairy, and then to my remaining knight. "Oh no." He drew a card and chuckled to himself.
"Bloom will attack your Diamond for game." The fairy raised its hand again, the suit buckling and cracking before finally exploding. "GG."
Emma: 0 LP
Leroux: 100 LP
I smiled, drawing the next card to see what would have happened next. It wouldn't have been too helpful in the long run. "GG to you too, whatever that means." I said, the smile growing wider as the young man approached me. We shook hands and shared a laugh about how I almost beat him before the school's intercom came on.
"Will Emma Rald please report to the main office?" An elderly woman's voice said. "Emma Rald to the main office."
"Oh no." I sighed before heading back into the building. "Meet me at the beach later!" I yelled to Leroux. He only nodded.
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It took me several hours to get out of the building and back to the beach. There were a lot of words exchanged, a good 90% of them weren't pleasant. Thankfully, Leroux was waiting for me. "Hey!" I yelled, my throat slightly trashed from earlier. He smiled and waved at me.
"Hey." He replied, his voice also sounding sore. "How did your run in with the principal go?"
"Well, I think it went well… for about two minutes." I said, a nervous smile slowly growing on my face. "But then there was security camera footage showing that I had seriously injured someone and caused several hundred dollars in property damage, so… I've been expelled." He looked at me, shock on his face as we moved down the beach towards the Gem's temple.
"Really?" He asked. "I'm not judging, or anything, but you just don't look like the type of person who could do that."
"Yeah, all 5 foot and 100 pounds of me managed to throw a kid twice my size hard enough to dent lockers." I chuckled to myself. "Sounds about right."
"So, what are your plans now?" He asked as we approached the front door of the temple.
"Well, I have friends, and they've got a pretty big project going on." I said, entering Steven's room. "Hey Steven. I'm back from school. Probably forever." No response. "Huh. He must be somewhere. Oh well." I turned to Leroux, with a small grin. "Just make yourself at home. My friends should be back any minute." He did as he was told, sitting on the couch that the lower level provided, and as if on cue, a blue light filled the room. "And there they are." I turned and waved. "Hey guys. I brought a friend." He waved, looking slightly uncomfortable. He waved me over keeping the smile.
"What's wrong with their skin?" He whispered, taking a second to get another look.
"Eh. You get used to it." I replied nonchalantly before turning back and seeing that Amethyst had returned to her room, and Garnet was just standing, waiting for something to happen.
"Oh, hello." Pearl said, moving towards us, and looking at my new friend. "Emma, would you mind introducing us to your friend?"
"His name is Leroux. He's new to Beach City. We met at school today. Right before I was kicked out."
"Well, hello Leroux." She said, extending a hand which he shook after a few seconds. "I'm Pearl, that's Garnet over there in the corner, and Amethyst just went into her room." She stepped back.
"H-hello." He croaked out.
"Now, if you could please wait outside while Emma and I discuss something." He nodded and left through the door he came in. "So, Emma, what was that about getting kicked out of school?"
"Well, I was about to head to lunch when some kids came up to me, pushed me around a little before tackling me to the ground and trying to claw this out of my arm." I slid my sleeve up, revealing the imbedded emerald.
"Oh my." Was all Pearl said as she inspected the arm.
"From there I went out, apparently got back up and threw one of the kids hard enough into a locker hard enough for them to get stuck." I continued. "So yeah, I'm sorta done with school for right now."
"Oh. Good. Now you can focus everything into your training." She said, nodding to herself. "We begin tomorrow. Be prepared." I nodded as I began to head back towards the beach when I felt a hand grab my shoulder. I turned and saw Garnet, looking down at my arm.
"Keep an eye on this." She said cryptically before letting me go. I nodded, feeling very confused and headed back to the beach.
"So, what did you two talk about?" Leroux said, sitting on the porch.
"Nothing." I lied. "Though I might be gone for a few days. I'll try and find you when I have free time." We stayed there, letting the awkward silence set in before I asked "You wanna have a rematch?"
"Yes." He replied instantly.
A/N: So, chapter three's done, I have plans for some Pearl lessons in the works, and I really hope to continue this. I find it fun to write. In addition to telling me how I could perhaps improve future dueling scenes, maybe PM me a deck recipe for a later chapter. Anyways, thanks for waiting this long. There's more on the way.