Troy is back at his place of work. The overtime and late nights have taken a toll on the duelist. As a result, despite being at work, he's passed out in a beanbag chair. The room is filled with the faint echoes of his light snores.
While content in their comfort zone, an older gentleman stands over him. Wearing straight jeans, a white t-shirt, and a black leather jacket, they look like everyone's middle-aged dad rolled into one, with the grey streaks on the side of their hair to boot.
They lightly nudge at Troy's motionless body with their biker boot, shaking them a little. With tired eyes, Troy opens them to see him standing there. "Oh, Henry. Good to see you...," he lets out a hard yawn as he stretches, "What can I do for you?"
"Nothing much. Just curious to see if you were getting on. I know working isn't easy, but I didn't think to see you fast asleep like this."
"It's not the job, it's...well, it's a long story," Troy replies as he slowly rises back up.
"It's about your mentor, I know. I heard about it from Micky," Henry narrows his eyes, giving Troy a stern look, as if to stare into their soul, "I also wanted to make sure you weren't getting involved with that wracked-out cult."
Troy scratches the back of his head before answering, "If you mean joining them, not on your life. They can sod off with that noise."
"Good. The last thing I need is my nephew being caught up by some punks with terrible fashion sense," that last remark gets them laughing, lightening the mood. "Anyway, you busy?"
"Nah, my shift ended not too long ago, but the boss man said I can crash for a few before going home."
"I see. I was actually looking to throw down, so if you have your cards on ya, we can have a casual friendly outside. I won't make it easy on ya."
"You're on. Just let me get dressed first, I don't want to mess up my uniform."
Troy gets changed back into his regular clothes and grabs his duel disk before meeting with Henry outside. He's already prepared, having brought along his duel disk for just an occasion. He finishes shuffling his deck upon seeing Troy leaving the building.
"Good, you're ready. I was starting to think you fell back to sleep again," Henry jokes, putting his deck into the disk before activating it.
"Nah, I downed a can of pop, and the sugar rush is keeping me going until I crash and burn, no biggie." He inserts his deck into the disk and activates his.
"Well, alright then. But be warned, I won't go easy on you because you're tired and pining for your lost mentor. This is serious stuff, and I want you to know it."
Troy just scoffs, "Bring it on Old Man. Bring, it, on!"
Henry 4000LP
VS
Troy 4000LP
"I'll place this card face down, and then set this monster in defense position. With that, I'll end my turn," Henry takes it easy with his first turn, going with a simple approach.
"My turn, draw! I summon Ruby Dragon in attack mode." [Level 4/Wind Dragon/ATK 1600] Troy summons a fairly strong red dragon to the field. "Battle, I attack your set monster!" Roby Dragon breathes fire on the monster, revealing it to be Cyber Jar. "What!"
"When Cyber Jar is flipped up, all monsters are destroyed." The mechanical jar explodes, taking Troy's dragon with it. "Next, we both draw five cards and then summon all monsters level four and below." Out of the five cards drawn, Henry only summons two monsters. "In defence mode, I play Grand Tiki Elder, and Melchid the Four-Face Beast." [Level 4/Dark/Fiend/DEF 800] [Level 4/Dark/Fiend/DEF 1200] Henry's monsters appear as two masked fields of unsettling origins.
Troy draws his top five and summons three monsters from them. "I summon Wonderbeat Elf, Thoroughbred Elf, and Bau the Black Dog Beast!" [Level 4/Earth/Warrior/ATK 1700] [Level 4/Light/Warrior/ATK 1800] [Level 4/Dark/Beast/1800] Troy manages to get out two of his elves, and a feral beast.
"Wonderbeat Elf has the ability to attack additional times for every other Elf monster I control. Meaning he can take out your two monsters, leaving you wide open for my other two. I attack Tiki with Wonderbeat!" Troy calls his attack, hoping to destroy both monsters.
"I activate Negate Attack. With this, your attack is negated, and the battle phase is skipped this turn," Henry's plan has worked like a charm. Troy places two cards from his hand face down on the field before ending his turn. "My turn again, I draw. I tribute my two monsters to summon Masked Beast Des Gardius in attack mode." [Level 8/Dark/Fiend/ATK 3300] Henry summons the strongest monster in his deck with ease. "Battle! Des Gardius attack Wonderbeat!" Henry's tri-faced beast slices Wonderbeat to ribbons, destroying it.
[Troy 4000 - 2400]
"I end my turn with this card face down. And now I move it back to you," Henry is confident, yet cool, keeping his plan undercover.
"I draw!" Troy already had a counter planned for Henry's boss monster. "I tribute Bau and Thoroughbred Elf to summon Seiyaryu!" [Level 8/Light/Dragon/ATK 2500] Using both monsters, Troy brings out his ace card.
"Seiyaryu? Not a bad-looking monster to have. But, can you use it to destroy Des Gardius?"
"I can with this. Trap open, Burst Breath! By tributing Seiyaryu, I can destroy all monsters on the field with defense points less than, or equal to Seiyaryu's attack points." Seiyaryu turns into a body of blue flames before skydiving into Des Gardius, destroying both.
"Not bad, kid. Not bad," Henry struggles to hide his pride, enjoying the duel.
"That's not all. I also have this, Birthright. I can revive a normal monster from the grave. And guess what Seiyaryu happens to be." Troy revives his beautiful pink dragon to the field. "With no monsters on the field, I attack you directly!" Seiyaryu breathes its mystic fire onto Henry, heavily damaging their life points.
[Henry 4000 - 1500]
Troy ends his turn, leaving his monster out on the field. Henry is smiling, proud of how far Troy has come.
"I draw. I use my face down, Curse of the Masked Beast. Using Vorse Raider and Gene Warped Warwolf in my hand as material, I ritual summon The Masked Beast!" [Level 8/Dark/Fiend/ATK 3200] Henry calls upon the aid of his second-strongest monster. "Let's see your dragon handy this. Attack my Masked Beast!" Henry's monster strikes Troy's mystic dragon, destroying it in one shot.
[Troy 2400 - 1700]
"With this, I end my turn by playing only two cards face down. Let's see what you got, hot shot."
"Draw!" He turns over the top card of his deck and smiles. "I activate Snatch Steal. By equipping it to a monster you control, I can gain control of it as if it were my own." Masked Beast changes sides on the field, appearing beside Troy as if it didn't just destroy his monster. "With this, I end the duel. Attack him directly, Masked Beast!"
Henry just tutts, "Oh well. I guess you're still a rookie. Trap card open, Ring of Destruction." A ring of grenades wraps around Masked Beast's neck. "This destroys a monster and inflicts damage equal to its attack points to both players. However," his second card flips, "Rind of Defence. I won't be taking any of that damage." Masked Beast explodes, throwing Troy back as a ring of shields defends Henry.
[Troy 1700 - 0]
Troy drops to his knees. His prior victories against Genesis created an ego within Troy's mind. One that was deeply humbled by Henry and his skillful playing. Henry stands over Troy and offers a hand.
"That was a good game, son. You would have made proud with how far you've come in such little time." Troy accepts Henry's hand and gets back up on his feet.
"Thanks. I still have a lot to learn, and some soul-searching to do. As well as the regular kind of searching."
"Hmm, yes. You're not alone in thinking 's disappearance is suspect. I want to help you find her. I owe her that much, and I know she'd do the same for me."
Troy smiles, giving them an agreeing nod, "Glad to have you on board. Where do we start?"
"You can start by telling me everything you know, and what I can do to help."
