CLASH IN UMBRIS TOWN
"What happened to this place?" Hugo asked.
The entire town looked like a war zone. Every building they saw was dilapidated and in serious disrepair. Some buildings were listing, others were completely toppled. Support beams had been splintered, and windows had been shattered; the glass from the windows dotted the streets, as did the splinters and rubble from the broken buildings.
There was absolutely no one to be seen. The town seemed to be abandoned.
"Creepy," Shelly whispered.
"Maybe we should turn back," Yuka suggested.
A ball rolled out of one of the broken houses. A young child followed the ball, laughing happily as they picked it up.
The child's laughter stopped when their mother came outside to fetch them.
"Get back inside! There might be duelists out!"
"Why would she be scared of duelists?" Hugo asked.
"Who cares; let's just leave," Yuka said. "We'll just go around this town and find another way to the mountain."
She turned to head back the way they'd just come, Hugo and Shelly following a second later. Something about this town just felt wrong; between how ruined it looked and that mother's comments about duelists, she didn't feel like staying to find out just what was wrong. Her plan was for them to leave the town and check the map, hoping to find another path to Mount Riansares. Or maybe even another path to Simia City in general.
Their path was blocked by three little kids, each no more than ten years old. These kids were a mess - their hair was messy and dirty, their skin was dirty and blemished, and their clothes might as well have been shredded rags.
"You three are duelists, aren't you?" one of the kids, a young boy, asked.
"What makes you think that?" Hugo asked, trying to feign innocene.
"Don't play dumb with us," the girl said. "We see your duel disks on your arms. We're not stupid."
"Look, kids, we just took a wrong turn," Shelly fibbed. "So just move aside and let us leave."
"No," the third kid, another boy, said. "You're duelists, and duelists are bad. You're with one of the gyms, and you're breaking our town." The kids picked up some planks and rocks off the ground. "We're gonna get payback."
Hugo leaned over to Yuka. "Do you have any idea what these brats are talking about?"
"Not a clue," Yuka answered.
"That's enough, kids."
Another person came out of one of the broken houses, a taller, older, slightly balding man. He put himself between the two groups, facing the younger kids.
"These three aren't hurting anybody."
"They're duelists, Aaron," the young girl said. "We all know duelists are bad."
"Look at them," Aaron said. "Do they look like they're with either gym? No, they don't." He turned to face Yuka, Hugo, and Shelly. "I'm sorry about them. It's been a rough couple of years for everyone."
"Why?" Yuka asked. "What's going on?"
"Why don't you come inside my restaurant?" Aaron suggested. "I can explain things there."
"Uh-uh, dude," Shelly replied. "We're not going anywhere with some random guy. You can explain things right here."
"Guess I can't blame you on that," Aaron said. "Fair enough. Introductions, first. I'm Aaron Spalding. These three are Luke, Wendy, and Jack." He waited for Yuka and her friends to introduce themselves. "Well, welcome to Umbris Town. It's our own little war zone."
"Yeah, we've been wondering about that," Hugo said. "What's going on here? Does it have anything to do with people not liking duelists so much?"
"It has everything to do with that," Aaron answered. "It all started a couple of years ago. Two duel gyms were set up here in town - the Zon and Zok gyms. Each gym is named after its leader, twin brothers Vezon and Vezok."
"Wow," Shelly breathed. "Their parents must have hated them, with names like that."
"Well, both gyms have been trying to become the official gym of Umbris Town," Aaron continued. "It all started off as small arguments; those arguments soon became duels, and the duels became more frequent and destructive, leading to, well, all this." He waved his hand around to the surrounding area, emphasizing all the destruction around them. "A lot of people got caught up in their duels and left if they were able to."
"Then why are you four still here?" Yuka asked.
"We don't have anywhere else to go," Wendy said. "Our parents got mixed up in the duels and got really hurt."
"Aaron's been taking care of us," Luke added.
Yuka felt her heart drop. Even though Wendy had said that their parents were hurt, she couldn't help but feel like that they were more than just hurt. She didn't want to say anything, mostly because she didn't want to come off as rude or insensitive, but something told her that in this case, "hurt" meant the same thing as "dead".
But there was one other thing bothering her right now.
"Let's back up a minute. You're saying that these 'gym leaders' are using the card game to hurt each other? That's not the point of Duel Monsters."
"Try telling them that," Jack said.
"Well, if it's such a problem," Shelly said, "why haven't you, I don't know, called the police?"
"We did," Aaron answered. "We called the police when this started to get too out of hand. But we're just a small town, so we fall under Avis City's jurisdiction. And you want to know what they told us? They told us that since the Duel Monsters card game is involved, and that this is a matter between duel gyms, we should take it up with the Duel Monsters League."
"Have you?" Hugo asked.
"They said they would send an inspector out to survey the situation," Aaron said. "That was almost a month ago. The inspector could already be here in town, I don't know. But I do know that things are slowly starting to get worse. We're running out of food, we have no clean drinking water, and look at these kids' clothes - they're practically rags!"
"Well, I hope you're not expecting us to do anything," Shelly said.
"I know," Aaron said. "You three aren't involved. But if you could at least spread word about what's happening here -"
"No," Yuka interrupted him.
"What do you mean, no?" Luke asked.
"Yuka?" Hugo said.
"Look, between these guys and those cult idiots, honest duelists everywhere are being given a bad name," Yuka explained. "I can meet you guys outside of town later; I'm going to go find these jerks and give them a piece of my mind." She turned back to Aaron. "Where can I find these guys?"
"Their gyms are downtown," Aaron answered. "I wouldn't recommend it, though, Yuka. These guys are no joke. They will eat you alive."
Yuka removed a card from her deck, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. "Not to brag, but I have this."
"I don't care if you have a Blue-Eyes White Dragon or an Egyptian God card," Aaron rebuked her. "You'll be lucky if you last even one turn against them."
"Let's test that theory," Yuka said. She put the card back in her deck and turned to start walking down the road.
"Yuka, wait!" Shelly called after her.
"Son of a gun," Hugo huffed as he followed them.
########################################################################
The two gyms were easy enough to find. Out of every house and building in Umbris Town, these two were the only ones that seemed to be untouched. Yuka wasn't entirely sure which one was which, though. Both gyms seemed to be made out of what could have been schools at one point, each only a single story tall and less than a hundred yards from each other.
"Are you sure about this, Yuka?" Hugo asked. "This isn't our problem."
"You guys don't have to be here with me," Yuka said.
"You're right, we don't," Shelly said. "But we still want to, because friends stick together."
"Thanks, guys," Yuka said with a smile. "So, which one do you suppose we start with?"
"Maybe they'll start with us, because someone's coming," Hugo pointed out.
Two groups of people approached, each led by a nearly identical person.
"You think those are the gym leaders?" Shelly asked.
"Let's wait for the sales' pitch to find out," Yuka said.
They watched as the two men approached. As the men got closer, they could make out the details. In terms of facial structure, the two were identical, the only difference being the colors of their eyes - one had green eyes, the other had two different colored eyes, one blue and one brown - and their hair, with one having blue hair and the other having silver hair.
These guys must be Vezon and Vezok, Yuka thought. She felt herself tensing up; if these guys really were as dangerous as Aaron had said, then perhaps this wasn't such a good idea.
Hugo put a hand on her shoulder. "You still sure you want to do this?" he asked.
"It's going to eat me alive if I don't," Yuka answered. She took a deep breath, then addressed the two approaching men. "I take it you two are the gym leaders in this town. Vezon and Vezok, right?"
"You've heard of us, then," the blue haired man said. "I'm Vezon. That idiot over there is my brother Vezok."
"Ignoring the real idiot," Vezok said. "I see three prospective new duelists who want to join my gym."
"Excuse you, but they're going to be joining me," Vezon growled.
"We're not joining anyone!" Yuka shouted. "We're here because we want to know what makes you think you can use Duel Monsters basically as a war tool. It's a game; you're not supposed to use games to hurt people."
Vezok rolled his eyes. "Oh, look, another bleeding heart. Listen, you're just kids, so I'm going to forgive you for not fully understanding how we do things in this town. Now, are you absolutely sure none of you are looking to join one of us? If not, get lost."
"And keep letting you hurt people?" Shelly demanded. "Forget it."
Vezon sighed. "And here we go." He turned to Vezok. "What do you say, brother? Truce? At least until we teach these brats some manners?"
"Sounds good to me," Vezok answered. Both men stepped forward, duel pads activating.
"Well, shoot," Hugo huffed.
"Was this part of your plan, Yuka?" Shelly asked.
"You're...assuming I even had a plan," Yuka said.
The two gym leaders approached, looking less like people and more like predators moving in for a kill.
"Hold it right there!"
Everyone turned to the source of the new voice, a tall man in a black coat, a white baseball cap on his head. He lifted the cap slightly, revealing his handsome, boyish face. A silver duel pad was strapped to his arm.
"Who the heck are you?" Vezon asked.
"Wait a minute," Yuka said, realization slowly dawning on her. "I know you. You're Dilan Holdt!"
"Who?" Shelly asked.
"Only the Duel Monsters World Champion," Yuka answered.
Dilan activated his duel pad, bringing up a holographic image of his Duelist ID. "And member of the Duel Monsters Championship League Gym Commission," he said. "When the Commission received word about what was happening in this town, they sent me to investigate. And I think I've seen and heard enough to make a decision." He turned off his duel pad. "And that decision is, you two are unfit to be gym leaders. Your duels have turned this town into a war zone. People have been hurt, or worse, by your actions. I cannot, in good conscience, allow these gyms to open."
"What, you think you can tell us what we can and can't do just because you have a fancy title?" Vezok asked. "You're just some punk kid who's good at playing a card game."
"Okay, then let's play a card game," Dilan said. "Me against the two of you. If I win, you have to close your gyms. Oh, and your dueling licenses will be revoked for going against the spirit of this game. If you win, you keep doing what you're doing, but either way, I will have to report this to the commission."
"Hold on, you can't do that," Yuka said. "You can't risk these jerks continuing to destroy this town."
"Well, then, it's a good thing I don't plan to lose," Dilan answered. He activated his duel pad.
Yuka clenched her fist and furrowed her brow, then stepped forward, activating her own duel pad. "Then let's make this a tag duel."
"Yuka, wait a minute," Shelly said. "He's the champ; let him handle this."
"Sorry, Shelly, but I can't let these guys keep giving us honest duelists a bad name," Yuka said. "If you don't mind, Dilan."
"Not at all, uh...Yuka, was it? Let's see what you can do."
With all four duel pads activated, their life points were set to 8000, their first five cards were drawn, and all four said "Let's duel!"
Yuka's first five cards were The Claw of Hermos; Successor Soul; Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon; Return of the Dragon Lords; and The White Stone of Ancients. "I'll start by setting a monster in Defense Mode, and that'll end my turn." She set The White Stone of Ancients face down.
Vezon's first five cards were Traptrix Myrmeleo; Rose Lover; Trap Hole; Traptrix Garden; and Traptrix Trap Hole Nightmare. He drew a new card, Thunder Hand. "I activate the Field Spell Traptrix Garden. This card lets me Normal Summon an additional Traptrix monster alongside my first summon. Next I set two cards face down." He set Trap Hole and Traptrix Trap Hole. "Then I summon Traptrix Myrmeleo in Attack Mode." The mosnter he summoned looked like a child, but with subtle spider-like features. "When Myrmeleo is summoned, I can add a Hole card from my deck to my hand. And I choose Gravedigger's Trap Hole." He pulled the proper card from his deck; the duel pad automatically shuffled the deck afterwards. "Now I set one more card face down, and then move to my Battle Phase. Myrmeleo, destroy her face down monster."
Myrmeleo lunged forward, the fangs on the top of its head snapping, and it bit into Yuka's face down White Stone of Ancients.
"That'll end my turn," Vezon said.
"The effect of White Stone of Ancients activates on the End Phase," Yuka announced, "letting me summon a Blue-Eyes monster from my deck. I Special Summon Dragon Spirit of White." The brilliant white dragon appeared, its wings flared, its mouth opened in a loud roar. "And on summon, I use its effect to banish one of your spell or trap cards, so I'll get rid of one of your face down cards. So I'll banish the one in the middle of your back row."
"No you won't," Vezon countered. "I activate my trap card." They all waited for a few seconds; nothing happened. "What's going on? Why isn't Trap Hole activating?"
"Because you missed the timing, you idiot," Vezok said. "That card activates on summon, not when her monster uses its effect."
"Besides, it's still your turn," Dilan reminded him. "Unless the card says so, you can't use Trap Cards on your turn. And you call yourself a prospective gym leader?"
"Oh, shut up and take your turn," Vezon growled.
Dilan's opening hand consisted of Phantom Knights' Wing; Drowning Mirror Force; Phantom Knights' Spear; Magic Cylinder; The Phantom Knights' Rank-Up Magic Launch; and The Warrior Returning Alive.
"I set two cards face down and end my turn," he said, setting Drowning Mirror Force and Magic Cylinder.
It was now Vezok's turn. His opening hand consisted of Keeper of Dragon Magic; Chaos Dragon Levianeer; Dimensional Barrier; Effect Veiler; Branded Fusion; and Pot of Extravagence.
"I start by summoning Keeper of Dragon Magic in Attack Mode," he announced. The monster he summoned was a humanoid in cyan armor and wielding a long metal spear. "Now I'll use his effect to send Dimensional Barrier to the Graveyard to add Fusion Substitute to my hand. Next I activate Pot of Extravagence. I'm going to banish three Extra Deck monsters to draw one card." The card he drew was Springans Kitt. "That'll end my turn."
"I draw," Yuka announced. The card she drew was Maiden With Eyes of Blue. "I summon Maiden With Eyes of Blue in Attack Mode. Next I activate the Spell Card Successor Soul. I target my Maiden With Eyes of Blue, tributing her to destroy your Keeper of Dragon Magic." There was a gust of wind, and as the Maiden faded away from the field, the Keeper was destroyed. "Doing this lets me Special Summon a Level Seven Nomal Monster from my deck, and since my Maiden was targeted, I can Special Summon a Blue-Eyes monster, so I'll bring out two Blue-Eyes White Dragons." The two dragons appeared, their white scales shining majestically in the sunlight.
Dilan couldn't help but let out an admiring whistle. "I don't even remember the last time I saw those."
"And now," Yuka continued, "with three Level Eight monsters on the field, I build the Overlay Network. I XYZ Summon Galaxy-Eyes Full Armor Photon Dragon!" The three monsters vanished into a black hole, and in their place emerged a large black dragon, galaxies swirling in its eyes.
"I activate my Trap Card, Trap Hole!" Vezon said. "So say goodbye to your dragon!" A hole appeared beneath the dragon, the gravity pulling it down.
"So much for Yuka's dragon," Hugo breathed.
"See, that's how you use a Trap Hole," Vezok commented.
"Shut up," Vezon hissed.
"I activate Return of the Dragon Lords," Yuka announced, "bringing back one of my Dragon Spirit of White. And now that he's back thanks to a Special Summon, I use his effect to banish one of your face down cards."
"I don't think so," Vezon said. "I activate another Trap Card, Traptrix Trap Hole Nightmare. Since your monster was Special Summoned and is trying to use its effect, this card negates that effect and destroys your monster."
"I banish Return of the Dragon Lords from my Graveyard to protect my dragon," Yuka countered. "His effect is still negated, but at least he gets to stay. Now I move on to my Battle Phase. Dragon Spirit of White, attack!" The dragon fired a beam of white energy from its mouth, enveloping and destroying Traptrix Myrmeleo and dropping Vezon's life points down to 7100.
"All right, first blood!" Shelly cheered.
"Not bad," Dilan complimented her. "And nice save, too."
"Since my monster was destroyed," Vezon said, "I Special Thunder Hand." The monster that appeared was a large hand brimming with electricity. "Summoning it this way lets me destroy one card you control, so say goodbye to that blasted dragon." The hand grabbed hold of Dragon Spirit of White, crushing it.
"My dragon!" Yuka cried. She gritted her teeth. "I end my turn."
Vezon growled as he drew a card - Kumongous, the Sticky String Kaiju. "I summon Rose Lover in Attack Mode." The monster that appeared was a beautiful blonde woman in an elegant red dress. "Now, it's my turn to attack. Rose Lover, attack!"
"I don't think so," Dilan said. "I activate my own Trap Card, Drowning Mirror Force. Now your two monsters are shuffled back into the deck." Vezon's monsters vanished, and his duel pad automatically shuffled his deck.
Vezon grumbled. "I end my turn."
Dilan drew a new card, The Phantom Knights of Cloven Helm. "I summon The Phantom Knights of Cloven Helm." His monster was a floating knights' helmet and gloves, surrounded by blue whisps of ghostly energy. "Then I'll set one card face down - " he set Then Phantom Knights' Wing face down - "and then I activate Phantom Knights' Spear. Have fun activating effects that target my Phantom Knights monsters, because you'll be taking 500 points of damage if you do. Now, Cloven Helm, attack!" Cloven Helm dashed forward, propelled by its ghostly energy; one metal glove slashed at Vezon, the other at Vezok, and dropped their life points down to 5600. "I end my turn."
Vezok drew a card, Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon. "I summon Springans Kitt in Attack Mode." The new monster that appeared was a young, androginous humanoid in some sort of hydraulic power armor that Yuka swore she'd seen in a movie once. "On summon, I can add a Branded Spell from my deck, and I choose Branded Lost. I can then add a card to the bottom of my deck, so I'll put Chaos Dragon Levianeer back." He pulled the Spell Card from his deck; his deck was shuffled; he then put Chaos Dragon on the bottom of his deck. "Next I activated Branded Lost. This is going to come in handy should I Fusion Summon. But until then, I'm moving on to my Battle Phase. Kitt, attack!"
"Sorry to disappoint, but I activate another Trap Card," Dilan said. "Phantom Knights' Wing! This gives my Cloven Helm an extra 500 Attack Points.
Vezok growled as Cloven Helm's Attack Points rose from 1500 to 2000. "Stop attack. No replay. I end my turn."
Yuka drew a new card. She grinned when she saw it was Chaos Form. "I activate Chaos Form! I banish a Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my Graveyard to Ritual Summon Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon!" The dragon emerged on the field, towering over the other two monsters. "Battle Phase! Chaos Burst!" Energy fired from Chaos MAX Dragon's wings, the beams hitting and shredding Springans Kitt, destroying it and dropping Vezok's life points down to 2900. "And now, Phantom Knights of Cloven Helm attacks you both directly!" Cloven Helm attacked, dropping their opponents' life points down to 900. "You guys might as well concede. Look, you're losing. Horribly. Just admit that the way you're going about things in this town is wrong."
Vezon drew a new card and turned to his brother. "You're making us look bad."
"Me?!"
"Well, that was your monster that was just destroyed."
"In case you haven't noticed, they've destroyed your monster too," Vezok countered. "Your precious little trap cards haven't really been helping much, have they?"
Vezon looked at the two cards in his hand - the Kaiju and the new card he just drew, a Spell Card called Traptantalizing Tune.
"Listen," he said. "That dragon is obviously the bigger threat. Look at those Attack Points. And then there's the fact that it can't be targeted or destroyed by card effects."
"Your point?"
"My point, brother, is that it's immune to most card effects, but it's not immune to being tributed." He turned his attention to Yuka. "So, little girl, I tribute your Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon to Special Summon Kumongous, the Sticky String Kaiju to your field." Chaos MAX Dragon was enveloped by a cocoon of silk, which exploded to reveal a giant spider, larger than any spider any of them had ever seen.
Yuka couldn't help but scream.
"Anyone got a really big can of bug spray?" Hugo joked.
"Hold on a minute," Dilan said. "You just replaced one powerful monster with another. Granted, 2400 Attack Points is nothing to sneeze at compared to Yuka's dragon, but what are you playing at here?"
"Yes, that's what I'd like to know," Vezok agreed. "You just replaced one big stick with another big stick. We only have 900 life points left!"
"Then make your move, champion," Vezon said.
"You're not making any sense, but okay," Dilan said as he drew a card, Monster Reborn. "I activate Monster Reborn to bring back one of Yuka's dragons. Yuka, your pick."
"Chaos MAX," Yuka said.
"You heard the woman," Dilan said as Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon repapered on the field. "Chaos MAX, one final attack."
Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon launched its attack.
4000 is greater than 900, and in the game of Duel Monsters, life points didn't drop into the negative, so Vezon and Vezok's life points dropped to 0.
All the monsters vanished from the field as the duel pads were turned off. Vezon and Vezok just stood there; Yuka wasn't sure if they were taking in their loss, or stewing in their anger.
Or possibly both.
Vezok suddenly turned and slammed his fist into Vezon's face, sending his twin brother sprawling. "We lost thanks to you, you idiot!"
"You were in this duel too!" Vezon shot back.
"Your pitiful strategies during that duel just prove that you're not fit to be this town's gym leader," Vezok said.
"That goes for the both of you, after everything you've done to this town," Dilan said. "Look around. This duel might have been tame, but your other duels have left this town a ruin. How many people have you hurt? How many families have you torn apart because of your selfish pride? We had a deal, and you lost. The proper authorities will be here soon to close you down, and the League will make sure that you two and anyone associated with you will never duel again."
"You can't do that!" the twins shouted.
"I can, and I have," Dilan said. "You two give honest duelists like Yuka here a bad name. You should never have picked up a deck. I look forward to seeing you never duel again." He turned to leave, just as a convoy of vehicles, their doors stamped with the logo of the Duel Monsters Championship League - a circle of the various Monster Card attributes with the letters "DMCL" emblazoned in bold gold letters - pulled up.
Yuka turned to follow after Dilan, Hugo and Shelly joining her. "Hey, Dilan, wait up!"
Dilan stopped and turned to her. "Sorry. Just had to get away from those two. That, and let the League people work. Nice dueling out there, Yuka."
"Thanks. I would say you're pretty good too, but that's fairly obvious, you being the champion and all."
"You're competing to enter the tournament, aren't you?" Dilan asked.
"I am, yeah," Yuka answered. "I've already got four badges."
"Halfway there, not bad. It takes some grit to get this far; I've seen some duelists drop out even before this point." He turned to Hugo and Shelly. "How about you two? Are you in the competition too?"
"No, Hugo and I are just Yuka's travel buddies," Shelly answered.
"Don't be so modest, Shelly; I couldn't have gotten this far without you two," Yuka said.
"And there it is," Dilan said. "The spirit of Duel Monsters, right there. It's not just about having the best cards or having the best decks. It's about bringing people together, forging new bonds. You kids don't forget that." He checked his watch. "I'd love to stay and talk some more, but I've got to get going. I'm not just part of the Gym Commission, I am still the reigning champion, so I have to go get in some practice - this duel doesn't count. See you kids later, hopefully at the tournament." With that, he turned and walked away.
"We'd better get going too," Hugo said. "This trap, well, it wasn't a total waste, but we still need to get supplies for the trip up the mountain."
"And it's obvious we're not going to get them here," Yuka said.
"So, what? Double back to Avis City?" Shelly asked.
"We could," Yuka answered. "After we pay Aaron's restaurant a visit."