Chapter 2:
Life didn't grow easier from there on out. After spectacularly failing his first duel, Blakes 'father' threw a fit of rage that resulted in a severe beating, which made the already incredible pain even worse.
Since that day he was required to duel in the underground arena every weekend, Friday through Sunday, one duel a day as he kept passing out due to the shocks. As if that wasn't bad enough, he got a splitting headache whenever he woke up afterwards for seemingly no reason. It reminded about the first time he woke up here and wondered what caused it. Probably just the bad air.
After that it was back to school during the week, which resulted in only more problems. As Blake was in constant pain and lacking sleep – and nourishment, because 'a loser doesn't need no food' – there was no way he could concentrate on any of his classes, slipping in and out of sleep instead. The only subject he was able to perform in was maths, but only because the material was ingrained into him already. The time after school was spent recovering and doing chores at home.
He tried to run away three times, all ending in him receiving even stronger beatings once he was delivered back home. For whatever reason, the police didn't give a damn about what he told them, some even laughed as he left.
This went on for a whole year, as Blake kept clinging onto the last hope he had. He heard about a contest held by 'Industrial Illusions' in the news. One that Mr. Pegasus himself was hosting and encouraged children to send in their art and ideas about new Duel Monsters cards. That was his chance to get enough public attention to escape the hellhole he was forced to live in again.
He had knowledge about cards from decades later, summoning mechanics that weren't even invented yet, and new support cards for already existing archetypes. Since he had to limit himself to cards that could actually work at this point in time, Blake decided on writing up the entire roster of the initial 'Gladiator Beast' archetype. His drawings were in no way close to the cards he remembered but that would be of little consequence, when he remembered the core mechanics and rough effects of the different cards.
After another week of detention, Blake eagerly awaited any kind of news about the contest, only to have his hopes crushed once more. Some random kid named Kenyou won the contest and received free scholarship for the central Duel Academy. But the real kick in the gut was the announcement of a brand-new revolutionizing archetype that would hit the market next summer; the 'Gladiator Beasts'.
Some guy working for Industrial Illusions must've pocketed Blakes draft of the cards for himself, probably got a massive bonus and a promotion out of it as well. Blake didn't hear the name as his mind slowly came to the conclusion that there was no way out.
With his brain on auto-pilot and an already aching body, Blake dragged himself into the arena once more. His opponent was once again a teen, that looked as bad as he did as he took his position on the opposite side.
Blake had a blessing in disguise when it came to his duels; normally, every duel was played with an ante rule, allowing the winner to take the best card of the loser. But since his deck was scrap build from a public access box, no one even bothered to take a look at his deck, allowing him to keep the few useful cards he had.
With the announcement of this duel done, both of them drew their cards, his opponent taking the first turn. He summoned his Drooling Lizard (900/800) and ended his turn with a face-down.
Blake drew a Polymerisation for his turn and looked at his hand. He could actually use it now to summon a more than lacklustre fusion monster, but he'd rather keep that option open in case he drew a higher-level monster he could immediately tribute it for. The play by his opponent was either a bluff or an obvious bait for a trap, but Blake couldn't risk his opponent summing a high-level monster himself.
Having decided to spring the trap, he summoned the strongest monster he had on his hand in Witty Phantom (1400/1300) and ordered it to attack. His opponent flipped his Reinforcement trap, boosting the attack points of his own monster enough so that both of their monsters got destroyed in battle. With nothing to set into his backrow, Blake passed.
The duel was a back and forth from there on out, or more accurately a 'who draw the worse monster'-contest. Once he drew his Swordstalker however, things changed. His handler had given him the objective of making his duels more interesting, in exchange for receiving actual, edible food if she was pleased with his performance. Having had only dry, terrible tasting leftovers for weeks on end, he decided to try and achieve that, starting with his next turn. (Blake 500 / ? 1500)
"I activate Polymerisation from my hand, fusing the Monster Egg and Hinotama Soul from my hand to summon Charubin the Fire Knight!" This was the first fusion summon he ever witnessed while in this world and it was bombastic. The monsters he used as materials for the summon briefly appeared before fusing in a show of swirling lights into a red-caped knight that entered through a wall of flames onto the field (1100/800). As cool as both the fusion and the monster looked, it was a shame that its stats were utter garbage.
His opponent, having two monsters in a Destroyer Golem (1500/100) and Rude Kaiser (1800/1600) on his field, laughed at him with a pained voice. "That weak-ass monster will get you nowhere you idiot!"
Rolling his eyes, Blake continued. "Now, I tribute Charubin to summon my Swordstalker onto the field!" The fiery knight was replaced by a wicked looking swordsman clad in purple and black armor, who reached for his large blade as he hit the field (2000/1600).
The crowd actually applauded his simple play, as the warrior tore apart the opposing crocodile and shocked his opponent onto his knees with a loud cry of pain (Blake 500 / ? 1300). "Who's got a weak-ass monster now, huh?!"
Now looking completely panicked, his opponent summoned a monster face-down and switched his golem into defence position as well, frantically looking over the cards in his hands in search for an out.
Not wanting to give his opponent an opening by summoning a weak monster in attack mode, Blake set down his Claw Reacher face-down (1000/800) and had his warrior destroy the golem.
Obviously scared of facing another high-level monster, Blake's opponent summoned a Dark Assailant (1200/1200) to try and take out his face-down, which he did. His opponent only realised moments later that this left him open for a hard-hitting attack by the Swordstalker, now supported by Blake's second strongest monster in Dark Blade (1800/1500).
The two dark warriors quickly destroyed what was left of the opposition, causing the other teen to fall to his knees once again as shocks were send through his body (Blake 500 / ? 500). He was sobbing loudly as he barely managed to draw his next cards, only for his eyes to light up in hope. Shotting back onto his feet, the boy played his Beaver Warrior in attack position (1200/1500), causing their audience to laugh and Blake to raise an eyebrow in confusion.
"You can laugh all you want but with this card, my Beaver Warrior will be the strongest monster on the field!", the teen shouted as he activated a spell card. A large, rotating, round stone tablet appeared in front of the beaver and then sunk into it. The monster grew to double its size and so did its attack points (2400/1500). "My Megamorph will end this duel! Go Beaver Warrior!"
The oversized rodent cleaved cleaved through Blakes Swordstalker, resulting in another round of shocks for him (Blake 100 / ? 500). Everyone fully expected Blake to faint there and then, but the months of shocks and beatings allowed him to stay conscious, if only barely. The blatant misplay of his opponent had him smirking, however.
"W-what are you grinning for?! I destroyed your strongest monster, its over!", his opponent shouted as he ended his turn. Blake drew his card and proclaimed loudly. "Yeah, and it's your loss!"
"Are you stupid?! There's no way you can defeat my-" the other teen laughed loudly, before following the target of Blakes outstretched hand. The Beaver Warrior shrank to half its initial size, and its points along with it (600/1500). "Wha-what did you do?!"
Blake scoffed. "Next time read the effects of your cards through to the end." With a wave of his hand, his Dark Blade destroyed the little beaver for over a thousand points of damage worth of shocks. His opponent hit the ground with spasms seconds later as the stadium erupted in cheers.
"Good job today, boy. I was only waiting for you to faint again, but it seems like you can finally stay up." His handler told him with a wicked smile, before handing him a card. "Since you won today, you receive the best card your opponent had from the ante rule, which also makes you allegeable for the same once you lose again."
Exhausted and trying to ignore the pain, Blake took the card he won. Once he realised what he got he laughed out loudly, much to the amusement of the woman in front of him.
"Don't let it get to your head, kiddo. It took you a whole year just to win a single duel."
Blake immediately put the card in his deck, throwing out a low-level vanilla monster out for it, before he locked back up at her correct her as he shook his head. "It took me a year to stop fainting from the shocks."
"What's the difference?", she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"The difference is, that without the shocks knocking me out, I'll keep winning. Especially now that I have this card." Blake retorted with a sudden surge of confidence.
"Oh? Is that so? So, I can bet all the winnings of today on your win tomorrow?" The woman countered, expecting him to withdraw his statement. Much to her surprise, the boy smirked.
"As long as my opponents have the same shitty card I have been playing against all year, there's no way I'll lose from here on out. And with whatever cards I get from them I'll beat better and better decks down the road."
Thinking back to the duels the kid had over the past months she realized something. 'He never made a wrong play up until now, I think. Sure, he can't do that much wrong with the cards he has but even then …'
Seeing a chance to drastically increase her winnings the woman made Blake an offer. "Tell you what, boy. You win the next two duels this week and I'll accept what you said, for now. If you can manage that I'll get you something to eat whenever you're here, as long as you don't tell your parents from the increased winnings."
Blake snorted in approval. "The last person they'd hear that from is me."
"I activate Tremendous Fire, causing you 1000 points of damage and 500 for me!" Blake shouted as both he and his opponent were enveloped by holographic flames, only to get shocked right after (Blake 2300 / ? 0000). The crowd erupted with laughs and cheers as both boys down in the arena screamed in pain.
The raven-haired woman down in the arena looked positively intrigued.
The dark knight wielding two large swords doubled in size (3600/1500) before he rushed toward his target, cleaving the blue dragon in front of him (1400/1200) into four pieces. "Megamorph doubles my monsters attack points while I have fewer life points than my opponent. More than enough to finish you." (Blake 1800 / ? -1200)
The amount of damage dealt by that attack caused a higher voltage of shocks, which send Blake's opponent to the ground, vomiting and with a damp spot growing on his pants. A thunderous applause echoed through the arena as Blake limped down the stairs of the arena.
He made his way over to the sharply dressed woman at the exit. "Told you, didn't I?" he teased with a wicked grin.
She had to admit that he was right. The boy played with an understanding none of the other competitors in his bracket could hope to match. For yesterday's performance she put down but a fraction of her winnings for the bet on his win. For today's duel she put down half and easily doubled her reward. If he could really keep this up ….
A cough from the boy shook her out of that train of thought. "I must say I didn't have much hope for you, after your rough start. How about a little deal, between just the two of us?" She asked while leading him back to her office. There she gave him a paper bag full with fries and burgers, which Blake quickly took attention to. She really was surprised, not only by his steady performance these past few days, but the fact that this malnourished and beaten boy managed to duel at the first place.
He answered her with a mouth full of fries. "Schat depensch." A glare from her made him swallow the food he had in his mouth before he continued. "What's in for me?"
'The fastest way to a man's heart is through his stomach. The second fastest is through his dick', her mother always told her. Seeing as how the boy devoured whatever food she brought him made her accept that statement. If he kept this up, she could potentially make a fortune and if she bound him to herself she could …
"How do full meals every weekend for you sound? If you keep winning, that is." She asked, thinking she got him in the bag with that. She was surprised when he tried to expand that deal.
"That sounds great, lady, but I think we can both get more out of this", Blake countered and emptied the drink she got him in one go. "Tell you what; I'll get enough food from you daily, all week that is, so that I don't have to deal with whatever I'd have to eat at home, along with ten percent of your original winnings."
She was about to remind him of his place, but he continued. "If you can give me intel on my opponents beforehand, I can tell you how certain I am of winning against them, so you can place your bets accordingly. Think about it; I only get 10 percent from what you receive before the bets, and that money goes straight to buying better cards, with which I can win more consistently." Blake put another fry in his mouth while drawing circles in the ketchup in front of him with a second one.
"Not that I plan on losing, but everyone can have a bad day. No matter how much skill is involved in this game, there's always the luck of the draw."
She was appalled by his brazen try to haggle with her, enough that she thought about setting the voltage of his collars higher the next time he duels, but on the other hand … 'He made me more than two weeks' worth of money, just like that. I could just stomp whatever confidence he got all of a sudden right now and make sure he gets a fat beating once he gets home. Or …'
With a wide grin and a seductive tone, she altered the deal a little bit, just to make sure she wasn't taking too much of a risk. "Let's give it a trial period, shall we? For the next month I'll get you food every other day and if you win, you get five percent. If you manage to win consistently, we'll go with your request."
Blake was surprised but quite pleased that the scary lady accepted his idea, even if she changed it for now. 'If I'd continue living with what I get at home I'd probably drop dead in a few weeks, but with real and more importantly enough food I can manage.' She brought him home in her sleek, black car shortly before midnight. The people he was forced to live with weren't happy to see him but ecstatic when they received the money, he had made them.
The man gave him a slap on the back of his head, telling him that it took him long enough to finally get anything done and shooed him into his room so he could make some calls. As Blake walked to his room, he looked over his shoulder and briefly saw his manager look at him with a vicious smile before she gave him a small wave and left.
He shuddered a bit from the look she gave him and wasn't quite sure of what she intended to do with him in the future, but this was the best chance he got. Maybe he could put some money aside for later. He knew what was about to happen in the near future and he'd love to go to the Duel Academy, if only to get away from all of this. A small light at the end of this hell ride; a chance to live on a sub-tropical island and further his career by playing children's card games, as well as the once a lifetime opportunity to meet the heroes.
For that, he'd need a lot of money though, as well as the permission of his de facto owner. If his 'parents' would use all the money he made them on even more drugs, they'd most likely not be an issue once he got old enough. 'Four years, maybe five and I can get there, hopefully. Just don't drop dead, butter up the scary lady and do your thing. There's no one else I can rely on but myself.'