The opening ceremony commenced, and after a few words from Rex Goodwin, the contestants were revealed, but after noticing Yusei had a criminal mark, everyone in the crowd began to yell that he should be booted from the tournament. A large and muscular man walked past the MC and took the mic from his hand and started speaking into it.
"I have something to say. My name is Greiger, and I know things are different here, but where I'm from you judge someone on their spirit. He may have branded as a no-good by you people, but when I look at him, all I see is a duelist. And being a duelist myself, that means I give him respect until he gives me a reason not to, because a duelist doesn't judge another duelist based on where he comes from, whose family he hails from, or how much money he has. That isn't what really matters," the man said before handing the mic back.
The audience was silent for a moment before erupting in applause, moved by his words. The duel brackets were then determined randomly. "Looks like I'm up against Greiger in the first duel," as he looked at the brackets. Everyone headed to the waiting room. Alex was looking over his deck while he was waiting for his duel when Yusei came up and sat next to him.
"You nervous?" Yusei asked, knowing Alex had some anxiety issues. "A little bit. Mostly, I'm just worried about not being able to live up to my dad's name," Alex confided, feeling comfortable around Yusei to tell him how he felt. "Alex, you're an amazing duelist. You shouldn't worry about your father's name. This is your chance to set a name for yourself. But no matter what happens out there, I know you'll make your father proud," Yusei assured.
"Thanks Yusei," Alex said, hardly able to believe he'd met so many great friends. Soon, it was time for his match with Greiger, so he headed to the duel arena. "And now to introduce our duelists. From the tops, we have the son of legendary pro duelist Jaden Yuki, Alexander Yuki!" the MC shouted as a platform rose up, revealing Alex.
"I can do this. I know I can," Alex thought to himself as he took a deep breath to settle his nerves. "And hoping to bring him down, we have the Wall of Wallop, the Tower of Power, Greiger," the MC announced as another platform rose up across the field, carrying Greiger.
Alex and Greiger walked to the center of the stadium to greet each other, shaking hands. "It's a pleasure to meet you," Alex said, slightly intimidated by his opponent. "Likewise. Your father was an exceptional duelist, let's see how well you do," Greiger responded before they both walked back to their sides of the field. "And now, it's time to start the duel. Contestants, activate your duel disks," the MC said before Alex and Greiger both obliged and began the duel.
Alex: 4000 LP
Greiger: 4000 LP
"I'll go first. From my hand, I play the spell card Star Blast. With this card, I can pay life points in multiples of 500 to reduce the level of a monster on my field or in my hand by 1 for every 500 life points I paid. I give up 500 life points to reduce the level of Summon Reactor SK in my hand by 1, allowing me to summon it without a sacrifice," Greiger said as he summoned a robotic monster that looked like it made from airplane parts.
Level 5-4/Dark/Machine
ATK 2000/ DEF 1400
Greiger: 3500 LP
"I end my turn," he continued. "Greiger's off to a strong start, so let's see how Alex responds," the MC said, trying to hype up the crowd. "My move, I draw. First I play The Forbidden Chalice spell card. This card raises a monster's attack points by 400, but negates its special abilities this turn, which means your Summon Reactor's effects are cancelled," Alex explained.
Summon Reactor SK: 2000-2400 ATK
"So you're aware of my monster's special ability," Greiger said, seeing Alex had done his homework. "Yep, and now that I can summon without taking damage, and since I control no monsters, I special summon Evil HERO Infernal Prodigy in attack mode," Alex said.
Level 2/Dark/Fiend
ATK 300/DEF 600
"But he won't be there for long, because I'm trading him in for Evil HERO Malicious Edge," he continued.
Level 7/Earth/Fiend
ATK 2600/ DEF 1800
"But that monster is level 7, so you have to tribute two monsters to summon him," Greiger pointed out. "Normally that would be true, but due to his special ability, if my opponent controls a monster, Malicious Edge only needs one tribute," Alex explained with a smirk. "I see, not bad," Greiger praised.
"Thank you. Now Malicious Edge, attack with Needle Burst!" Alex ordered before Malicious Edge jumped in the air, launching spikes from his knuckles that tore through Greiger's monster.
Greiger: 3300 LP
"I place a card face-down, then, due to Prodigy's effect, at the end of the turn he's tributed to summon a HERO monster, I can draw 1 card. It's your turn," Alex conceded. "Incredible, Alex has summoned a level 7 monster and defeated Greiger's monster with ease!" the MC marveled.
"It's my turn. First I play Monster Reborn to bring back my Summon Reactor. Next, I play the Double Summon spell card, which will allow me to perform 2 normal summons this turn instead of one. I play Trap Reactor Y-FI and Spell Reactor RE," Greiger explained.
Spell Reactor
Level 3/Dark/Machine
ATK 1200/DEF 900
Trap Reactor
Level 4/Dark/Machine
ATK 800/DEF 1800
"Lucky me, now if I summon a monster, use a spell, or play a trap, I take 800 damage," Alex groaned. "You know your stuff. But I'm sure you know these cards have a combined form. I play the effect of my Summon Reactor, so by sacrificing my three monsters, I can summon Flying Fortress SKY FIRE to my field," Greiger declared. "Oh no," Alex said as Greiger's monsters combined into one.
Level 8/Wind/Machine
ATK 3000/ DEF 2500
"Now I activate the effect of my Sky Fire. By discarding one card, your Malicious Edge is destroyed," Greiger said as Sky Fire fired its cannons at Malicious Edge, destroying it. "And now that your monster is gone, I'll have mine wage a direct attack on your life points," he continued before Sky Fire launched a missile at Alex.
"I play a trap! Go, Magic Cylinder! This card cancels your monster's attack and inflicts damage to you equal to its attack points," Alex explained. "Say what?" Greiger exclaimed as the missile went in one of the cylinders and came out the other one heading straight for Greiger.
Greiger: 300 LP
Greiger: I end my turn.
"My move. Perfect. I play the spell Dark Calling, and with it, I'll banish the Evil HERO Malicious Edge in my graveyard and the Evil HERO Earth Shaker in my hand in order to fuse them together and summon Evil HERO Malicious Fiend," Alex said as he summoned the evolve form of Malicious Edge.
Level 8/Fire/Fiend
ATK 3500/ DEF 2100
"Incredible, if that monster attacks, Greiger is done for!" the MC shouted. "I activate my monster's effect! When you summon a monster, I can destroy that monster and deal you 800 points of damage," Greiger explained as Sky Fire launched another missile, destroying Malicious Fiend.
Alex: 3200
"But you can only do that once each turn, so the rest of the monsters I play are safe," Alex pointed out. "So you anticipated me using Sky Fire's effect," Greiger said, impressed by Alex's strategy. "Yep. I play the spell Burial From a Different Dimension. This card lets me choose up to three banished monsters and return them to the graveyard, so I'll return Edge and Earth Shaker to my graveyard," Alex said as he slipped said monsters back into his graveyard.
"What could he be planning?" Greiger wondered as Alex pulled another card from his hand and played it. " Next, I play the spell Altar of Restoration, so by banishing the top 2 cards of my deck, I can add 1 card from my graveyard to my hand, and I choose Dark Calling," he explained.
"You're summoning another fusion monster?" Greiger asked. "That's right. I activate Dark Calling, and with it, I'll banish Malicious Fiend and Earth Shaker to fusion summon. And since Earth Shaker counts as a rock type monster when he's in my graveyard, I can summon this guy. Come forth, Evil HERO Dark Gaia!" Alex shouted as a monster with rocky armor and wings that look like they were carved from a volcano appeared in front of him.
Level 8/Earth/Fiend
ATK ?/ DEF 0
"Dark Gaia's attack is equal to the combined attack of his fusion materials, so that's Malicious Fiend's 3500 plus Earth Shaker's 2400," Alex explained as his monster began to power up.
Dark Gaia: ?-5900 ATK
"5900 attack points?!" Greiger exclaimed, in disbelief Alex had summoned such a strong monster. "And now, Dark Gaia, attack with Dark Catastrophe!" Alex shouted as a meteor appeared above Dark Gaia before breaking into pieces and raining down on Greiger's monster, ripping it apart.
Greiger: 0 LP
Winner: Alex
"And the duel is over. Alex is the winner! He will be moving on to the next round," the MC shouted. Alex walked over to Greiger and extended his hand, the man giving it a firm shake. "That was a great duel, and I hope we can have a rematch someday," Alex said with a smile. "Hm, you're an incredible duelist, I'd love to duel you again someday. I hope you win this tournament Alex," Greiger responded.
"Thank you, I'll do my best," Alex said. Goodwin, Lazar, and Jack were watching the end of the duel, but they weren't that pleased. "Well, Alex defeated Greiger as expected, but he couldn't push the boy very far," Lazar said. "Yes, it seems the boy is more talented then we had planned on. Hopefully his next opponent in the tournament will give him more of a challenge," Goodwin responded.
"We can only hope," Lazar agreed. "But, since he was able to wield the Evil Heroes so skillfully, we can say for certain that the boy has inherited the power of the Gentle Darkness and that he has control over his powers. It seems that his father has made our job much easier," Goodwin remarked.
"Indeed, it would be far too difficult and time consuming to have to teach the boy how to properly control his power," Lazar pointed out. "Why are you so interested in this boy Goodwin? I get that his father was a pro, but why show this level of interest?" Jack asked. "All will be revealed in time, Jack. Just know that that boy may be very important in the battle to come. But the question remains, which side of the battle will he stand on?" Goodwin asked himself.