The world is ruled by darkness. Since the embodiment of evil was revived, the shadow games have returned. The game of Duel Monsters has returned to its roots, with the victory walking away with their life, while their opponent is sent to the darkness.
Walking a long stretch of road, with swarms of trees on either side of them, the wanderer known as Drifter journeys. Drifter is a duelist, one of the few remaining that hasn't been corrupted by the shadow games. Wearing a leather coat, and a red scarf around their neck, he's been traveling for miles on this road and has yet to have seen or heard a passing car.
Drifter is stopped as a figure emerges from the trees, blocking his path down the road. This Stranger wears dark clothes, with a face mask, their identity a mystery.
Drifter stands there and stares them down. "I take it you won't allow me to go any further?"
"Not unless you plan on paying the toll," the Stranger holds their hand out, gesturing for Drifter to hand them their bribe.
"What is it you want?"
"You're a duelist aren't you?" The Stranger asks, noticing the duel disk hanging over Drifter's shoulder. "I want your deck. Hand over your cards, and only then you may pass."
Drifter just shakes their head, "A duelist's deck is their soul. Without it, they're nothing in this world. Why would you believe I would hand you my soul?"
"I thought we could do without the hassle of me just taking it from you. But since you're not going to hand over your cards nicely," the Stranger pulls out a duel disk of their own and straps it to their arm before activating it. "I'll just have to take it."
Drifter grabs their duel disk and flings it into the air. He pulls his deck from the box on his belt before catching the duel disk on his arm. He inserts his cards into the disk, accepting the duel.
Drifter 4000 LP
VS
Stranger 4000 LP
"I'll start this duel off by setting a monster face-down, and end my turn," the stranger plays just one defensive monster before calling the turn. "Let me see what you've got."
"I've got plenty. My turn, draw!" Drifter looks over the card he just drew, and summons it immediately, "I summon Neo the Magic Swordsman in attack mode." [L4/Light/Spellcaster/ATK 1700] Drifter summons a dimensional swordsman of magic and swordplay to the field. "Next I equip Neo with this, Fairy Meteor Crush. While equipped with this, you take damage whenever Neo battles a defending monster. Like right now! Neo attack his set card."
Neo charges forth with their sword. Slicing the set monster, it is revealed to be Morphing Jar. [DEF 600] With the equip spell in play, Stranger still takes the battle damage.
[Stranger 3400 LP]
"Not bad. But I'm afraid you fell into my trap. When Morphing Jar is flipped face-up, both players discard their hands, and draw a brand new one," as per their monster effect, both Stranger and Drifter discard their hands and draw five new ones.
"Because I drew this via a card effect, I can special summon Watapon from my hand. So I summon it in defense mode," Drifter summons a cute, white hairy ball with eyes to their field. [L1/Light/Fairy/DEF 300] "Next, I'll set this card face-down, and end my turn."
"You duel me with that pathetic monster? Are you even trying to win? No matter, it's my turn again, and I draw." The stranger smiles through their mask. "I discard a monster from my hand to special summon the Tricky in attack mode." Stranger summons a masked magician with a question mark motif. [L5/Wind/Spellcaster/ATK 2000]
"That's not all. I still have my normal summon, so I set another monster facedown. And now I attack Neo with the Tricky!" Using their magic, Neo explodes, taking a small amount of Drifter's life points.
[Drifter 3700 LP]
Stranger laughs, happy he removed a problem monster from the field. "I think you've had enough for now. I will place this card face down, and call a turn. Back to you."
Drifter looks over the cards in his hand before drawing. "First I need to deal with the Tricky. I activate the spell card, Shrink. This card literally cuts your monster down to size, making its attack points exactly half." [The Tricky ATK 1000]
"Now to deal with your trap card. I summon Pitck-Black Warwolf from my hand." Drifter's new monster is a dark werewolf in armor. [L4/Dark/Beast-Warrior/ATK 1600] "While I control Warwolf, you are restricted from playing trap cards during the battle phase. Speaking of which, Warwolf, attack the Tricky!"
Warwolf comes in for the killing blow, raising their sword to strike The Tricky down. "Sorry to disappoint. But my face down isn't a trap card like you thought." The face down flips open, revealing a quick-play spell card, "I activate my own Shrink card. This cuts Warwolf down to half size." [Warwolf ATK 800] With Tricky being the stronger of the two, Warwolf meets the same fate as Neo.
[Drifter 3500 LP]
Drifter is stunned by how he was outplayed by his own trick. "I set my own face-down card, and end my turn." Drifter still has Watapon on his field to defend his life points.
"Seems like you're in a tricky spot," Stranger draws from his deck. "I flip open my set monster, Magical Merchant." The monster turns out to be a bug with a bag of items. [L1/Light/Insect/ATK 200] "When flipped, I can search the top of my deck until I get a spell or trap card." He excavates the top few cards until he pulls a spell card. "I add Stop Defence to my hand. Now I have to send the rest, the ten monsters I revealed to the grave."
Stranger's plan is slowly unraveling as more cards fall into his graveyard. "I sacrifice both my monsters to summon Wingweaver to the field in attack mode." The Stranger's new monster is an angel with six wings. [L7/Light/Fairy/ATK 2750] "And with the added Stop Defence card, I turn Watapon to attack mode." [Watapon ATK 200] "Attack Watapon!" Wingweaver spreads their wings before channeling their light.
"Trap open! Negate Attack!" Drifter is quick to use his trap card to protect his monster and his life points.
"No matter. You're only stalling your end," Stranger ends his turn leaving Wingweaver as the strongest monster on the field.
Drifter draws from his deck and smiles. "I activate Share the Pain. I tribute Watapon on my field to make you tribute Wingweaver, leaving us both without a monster." Drifter's spell card sends both monsters to the grave. "Now with no monsters left only our field, I summon Giant Rat to the field to attack you directly." [L4/Earth/Beast/ATK 1400] Drifter's giant rat scratches the Stranger, dealing a decent amount of damage to their life points, before ending his turn.
[Stranger 2000 LP]
"You're putting up quite the fight," Stranger draws for the turn, "Now it's time to end it. Since the start of the game, I've been sending cards to the graveyard, monsters specifically. All for this. I summon Chaos Necromancer in attack mode." Stranger's monster is a dark puppeteer with a twisted mask. [L1/Dark/Fiend/?] "For every monster in my graveyard, Necromancer's attack becomes equal to it times 300." With twenty monster cards in their graveyard, Stranger's monster has more than enough attack points to win. [ATK 6000]
Necromancer goes in for the attack. Channeling the spirits of the resting monsters into their magic, Necromancer attacks with a burning green fire. The attack destroys Giant Rat in one blast.
However, despite taking such a hit, as the dust settles, Drifter is revealed to still be standing. "By discarding Kuriboh, I take no damage from that attack. And since Giant Rat was destroyed in battle, I can special summon a new monster. I summon the Obnoxious Celtic Guard!" [L4/Earth/Warrior/ATK 1400]
"Don't get cocky. I still have the strongest monster on the field, and there's nothing you can do about it!"
"We'll see. Draw!" Drifter draws their card, "I activate Pot of Greed. I can draw 2 new cards. By removing Giant Rat from the grave, I can special summon The Rock Spirit." [L4/Earth/Rock/ATK 1700] "I tribute both my monsters to summon Crescent Dragon in attack mode," Drifter summons one of his ace monsters, a dragon warrior with a crescent sword. [L7/Dark/Dragon/ATK 2200] "Finally, I set this card face down and end my turn."
"That's the worst bluff I've ever seen." The Stranger moves straight into the battle phase after drawing. "Necromancer, attack!" Using the same magic fire attack on Cresent Dragon, the dragon warrior parries the attack with their sword.
"I activate my trap card, Skill Drain! By paying 1000 life points, all monsters on the field lose their abilities. Including your monster's ability to gain attack points!" As the trap reigns on the field, Necromancer loses all of their attack points. "This is for Warwolf!" Playing the same tactic on Stranger, Cresent Dragon counters the attack back into Necromancer, destroying it.
[Drifter 2500 LP]
[Stranger 0 LP]
The Stranger drops to their knees as their life points are reduced to nothing. He's unable to speak, at a loss for words after being defeated by his own trick. Drifter starts walking. Continuing his journey, he steps passed the Stranger as their body becomes transparent. The Stranger fades away until nothing, leaving behind their cards, and their duel disk as a memento to the duel.
Looking back over their shoulder, Drifter gives a solemn thought to the duelist. Pulling their scarf over their mouth, he turns forward and advances down the long road ahead.
