The Millenium items are gone. The God cards are presumed destroyed. Dueling
is a way of life now. People live and die by their decks. Wealth, power,
love, happiness; they are all controlled by your proficiency with your
cards.
50 years ago, the Millenium items were all returned to their rightful holding places with a tomb in the Egyptian Pharoh's tomb. Not long after however, the tomb suffered a violent attack, and the entire tomb collapsed. When excavators removed the rubble they found all of the Millenium items gone, save for a single piece of the Millenium Puzzle; which was presumed shattered in the accident.
Over the last 50 years duelists all over the world have taken up a grand search in an attempt to collect and assemble the pieces of the prized possesion of the King of Games, Yugi Moto, who dissappeared not long after the first Battle City tournament.
Finally, 100 years later, a new Battle City Tournament has been declared, not by the Kaiba corporation; now a global company and the largest of any in the world; but by a mysterious individual who claims to have a piece of the fabled Millenium Puzzle for the winner.
Domino has become the Duelists' haven once more.
* * *
Fader made his way through the streets of Domino. His Duel Disk locked into place on his left arm. Why am I even here? he thought to himself. Of course he already knew the answer.
It had all started with the letter that he had recievec in the mail: "The answers you seek are here." was all it said and had an address scribbled in at the bottom. He had been curious of course, who wouldn't? So he went to the address; a run down old shop, ravaged by riots and theives.
Fader opened the door and stepped inside. There was something unsettling about this place. He couldn't even see anything in the darkness and of course he didn't have enough foresight to bring a flashlight. he was about to leave when a glimmerout the corner of his eye caught his attention.
He walked over to the shelf and found a small envelope, and on top of it he found a peice of the Millenium Puzzle! Fader refused to believe that it was authentic, there was no way he was that lucky, or that no one else had ever seen it before his arrival that day. He put the piece in his pocket and tore open the envelope. Inside were 5 cards and another note.
"With each piece of the puzzle, the picture of your life becomes clearer and clearer. Battle City calls you."
And now Fader was here, in Domino. Trying to undertand soemthing he couldn't and trying to win a prize that might not even exist. He thumbed the clear locator card in his hand. Whoever had set this up hadn't spared any expense in rplicating the feel of the original Battle City, except this time a total of 10 locator cards were required to make it to the finals.
"Hey you!" shouted a voice from behind him. fader turned to see a girl, looking to be only a few years younger than he was, with long brown hair standing there, her Duel Disk locked in the ready position. "Nice locator card you've got there. It'll go nicely with the other two I've already got."
He stared at her. Two locator cards? Already? The tournament wasn't even a few hours old yet.
"The name is Serena. I'm the last Duelist you'll ever see in Battle City."
We'll see," said Fader. He was proud of his deck and his abilities as a duelist. He couldn't count the number of time his deck had bailed him out of a jam. His deck was the closest thing to him since his parents had died years ago when he was a young teen. Now, at the age of 20, he could be one of the better duelists in the world but he had never had a need for the wealth and fame that accompanied the dueling circuit. Battle City would be his first test against the best duelists in the world.
"I'll start this show," she said with a confident air and drew her opening hand. "I play two cards face down and play Cursed Gyura (1500/1200) in attack mode."
Fader drew and looked at his hand. he didn't have all the cards he wanted but he had enough to take care of Serena's monster.
"I play Dunames Dark Witch (1800/1050) in attack mode and attack your Gyura. You lose 300 Life points."
"And you lose 700."
"What?"
"Your Dunames' attack activated my trap card 'Attack and Recieve' which deals 700 damage to you if I lose life points in an attack. I also activate Time Machine to bring back my Cursed Gyura."
Fader: 3300, Serena: 3700.
"Damn. I'll lay one card face down and end my turn." She was proving to be a much better duelist than Fader had initially thought. He might be out of the tournament before he could even get started.
"I tribute my Gyura to summon Kaiser Glider (2400/2200) and attack your Dunames Dark Witch."
"I activate Negate Attack!"
"Fine, I play 1 card face down and end my turn."
Fader drew his card. Excellent! He now had what he needed to turn this duel to his favor. "First I play Pot of Greed to draw two cards from my deck, then I'll set 1 card face down and play Senju of the Thousand Hands!"
"Senju? No way!" replied Serena.
"I see you already know what it does so I'll simply search my deck for a ritual monster, and then I'll activate the ritual card I had set down. Go Black Luster Ritual! Absorb the power of Dunames Dark Witch and Senju of the Thousand Hands to summon the Black Luster Soldier (3000/2500)!" Fader had done it. It was only the third turn and he had already summoned the most powerful monster in his deck. "Black Luster Soldier attack Kaiser Glider with Chaos Blade!"
At that moment Serena started wagging her finger at him. "Not so fast. I'm not going to let you gain the advantage that easily, I activate Waboku to protect my Glider and my Life Points."
Serena's move didn't phase Fader. He had one of the strongest monsters in the game on his side and her Waboku would only save her for one turn.
Serena drew her card then looked over at Fader with a large smile. "I set 2 cards face down and play Monster Reborn to bring back my Cursed Gyura. I then tribute both it and my Kaiser Glider to summon, the Blue Eyes White Dragon (3000/2500)!"
"There's no way!" shouted Fader. "That's impossible. There are only three Blue Eyes White Dragons in all of Duel Monsters!"
"I know," she said with an evily calm demeanor. "My grandfather had all three."
"Your grandfather? You mean you're..."
"Serena Kaiba."
Just great of all the people in Battle City, Fader would end up facing off against the granddaughter of Seto Kaiba first.
Serena smirked, " It changes the whole pace of the game doesn't it? Feel free to give up now before my Blue Eyes destroys you!"
"Last time I checked, your Dragon had the same attack power as my Soldier. We're even Serena."
"For now, just give me time. I end my turn."
"This isn't over yet." Fader drew his card. "I equip the Black Luster Soldier with the Legendary sword. raising his attack power to 3300. I then set 1 card and summon the Gemini Elf in attack mode! Now, Black Luster Soldier attack the Blue Eyes White Dragon!" The Soldier dove at the Blue Eyes and sliced it in half, and it shattered as it was sent to the graveyard.
Fader: 3300, Serena: 3400.
"Just what I wanted you to do. Activate Quickplay Magic card: Bargain with a Demon!"
"What does that do?" asked Fader.
"Whenever a monster of level 8 is destroyed, I can summon the Berserker Dragon (3500/0) from my hand or deck. And since there are no more moves you can make for your turn, I'll simply draw and have my Berserker attack and destroy both of your mosnters!"
"Both of them?"
"Berserker Dragon's special ability allows it to attack all of your monsters at the same time. Not even your beefed up Soldier can stand up to its 3500 attack power. And it's about to become more powerful as I activate my other face down card, Sword of Dark Destruction increasing its attack power to 3900!" Serena let out a wicked laugh; all Fader could do was watch as both his Soldier and Gemini Elf were destroyed.
Fader: 700, Serena: 3400
"Go ahead and take your final turn so my Berserker Dragon can destroy what's left of your Life Points."
Fader felt a heavy weight over his entire body as he brought his hand up slowly to make his final draw.
Fader grasped the card between his thumb and forefinger and pulled it out of the Duel Disk. He slowly brought it up to his eyes. "I set this card," he said. "And one other. Then I play Monster Reborn to bring back my Black Luster Soldier!" His Soldier reappeared on the field, its sword and shield at the ready. Its focused eyes matching Fader's own.
"A pointless effort. My Berserker Dragon will destroy it next turn."
"Maybe, but your dragon has been weakened. You foget that it loses 500 attack points at the end of each of your turns."
"It still has more than enough power to kill the Black Luster Soldier."
"We'll see. I'll end my turn."
"I'll make this quick for you. I do have other duels to win you know." Serena drew her card. "My Dragon may not be able to take out both your Soldier and your remaining Life Points at the same time but all I have to do is give it a little backup. I summon the Battle Ox! Now Berserker Dragon destroy his pathetic Soldier!"
Fader smiled. "Nice try Serena."
"What are you talking about? My Dragon beats your Soldier."
Fader shook his head. "It's true that your Berserker Dragon would have destroyed my Black Luster Soldier, but you forgot out my face down card, the trap I set last turn."
"What trap?"
"I activate Last Battle!" shouted Fader triumphantly. "I can see the confused look on your face so I'll explain its effect to you. I select one of my monsters in the field. All other cards, your and mine, are destroyed."
"No! My Berserker Dragon!"
"Not to mention your Battle Ox," Fader said with a grin.
"There has to be something I can do," she said. Fader could hear the panik in her voice.
"There is. You now get to special summon one monster card from your deck to the field in attack mode to batte against my Soldier. the one of us whose monster remains after the attack, is the winner of this duel."
Serena's worried expression faded. "Then you still lose. I summon the Death Gaurdius (3300/2500)! Its attack is higher than your Soldier. Hand over your locator card."
"You like jumping to conclusions, don't you? Your Death Guardius would have beaten my Soldier if I hadn't chained my Last Battle trap card with the Quickplay magic card, Rush Recklessly, which increases my Black Luster Soldier's attack power to 3700." Fader's eyes narrowed and his grin evaporated into a stoic expression. "You lose Serena."
"I...don't...believe it. I lost." Serena dropped to her knees, her Duel Disk locking into it's standby position. "i haven't lost since I first played with my dad."
Fader reset his own Duel Disk and walked over to where Serena was kneeling. "It was a good game," he said, extending his hand. Serena looked up at him oddly, then reached up and grabbed his hand and allowed him to help her up. As soon as she was back on her feet she recoiled her hand and brushed herself off.
"I suppose you'll want my rare card and my locator card right?"
"Those are the Battle City rules," Fader replied.
Serena removed one of her loactor cards from her pocket and tossed it at Fader, who juggled it a couple times before getting a firm grasp on the card. She then began looking through her deck.
"I can't believe I lost Grandpa's last Blue Eyes White Dragon."
"Last one? But Seto Kaiba had all three Blue Eyes White Dragons."
"He did. But a long time ago, when he was an older man, he was attacked by a group of guys in an alley. They wanted his Blue Eyes cards. He refused. He even beat them in a duel but they wouldn't let him go. They beat him up and took his entire deck. All of it except this card," she said, holding up the Blue Eyes White Dragon. "My father told me that story when I was just a young girl, when he gave me my first deck; the deck with this very card in it. I vowed that I would find and get back both of my grandfather's two Blue Eyes White Dragon cards. But now..." Serena held the Blue Eyes out to Fader.
"I don't want your card," he said.
"You're joking."
"No. We each have a part of ourselves in our decks. If I took that card from you, I would feel that I was no better then the men who attacked your grandpa." Fader pocketed the locator card and turned to walk away.. After a couple of steps he looked back over his shoulder, "We'll just say that you owe me one rare card, okay?" Serena nodded and the two of them went off in seperate directions.
50 years ago, the Millenium items were all returned to their rightful holding places with a tomb in the Egyptian Pharoh's tomb. Not long after however, the tomb suffered a violent attack, and the entire tomb collapsed. When excavators removed the rubble they found all of the Millenium items gone, save for a single piece of the Millenium Puzzle; which was presumed shattered in the accident.
Over the last 50 years duelists all over the world have taken up a grand search in an attempt to collect and assemble the pieces of the prized possesion of the King of Games, Yugi Moto, who dissappeared not long after the first Battle City tournament.
Finally, 100 years later, a new Battle City Tournament has been declared, not by the Kaiba corporation; now a global company and the largest of any in the world; but by a mysterious individual who claims to have a piece of the fabled Millenium Puzzle for the winner.
Domino has become the Duelists' haven once more.
* * *
Fader made his way through the streets of Domino. His Duel Disk locked into place on his left arm. Why am I even here? he thought to himself. Of course he already knew the answer.
It had all started with the letter that he had recievec in the mail: "The answers you seek are here." was all it said and had an address scribbled in at the bottom. He had been curious of course, who wouldn't? So he went to the address; a run down old shop, ravaged by riots and theives.
Fader opened the door and stepped inside. There was something unsettling about this place. He couldn't even see anything in the darkness and of course he didn't have enough foresight to bring a flashlight. he was about to leave when a glimmerout the corner of his eye caught his attention.
He walked over to the shelf and found a small envelope, and on top of it he found a peice of the Millenium Puzzle! Fader refused to believe that it was authentic, there was no way he was that lucky, or that no one else had ever seen it before his arrival that day. He put the piece in his pocket and tore open the envelope. Inside were 5 cards and another note.
"With each piece of the puzzle, the picture of your life becomes clearer and clearer. Battle City calls you."
And now Fader was here, in Domino. Trying to undertand soemthing he couldn't and trying to win a prize that might not even exist. He thumbed the clear locator card in his hand. Whoever had set this up hadn't spared any expense in rplicating the feel of the original Battle City, except this time a total of 10 locator cards were required to make it to the finals.
"Hey you!" shouted a voice from behind him. fader turned to see a girl, looking to be only a few years younger than he was, with long brown hair standing there, her Duel Disk locked in the ready position. "Nice locator card you've got there. It'll go nicely with the other two I've already got."
He stared at her. Two locator cards? Already? The tournament wasn't even a few hours old yet.
"The name is Serena. I'm the last Duelist you'll ever see in Battle City."
We'll see," said Fader. He was proud of his deck and his abilities as a duelist. He couldn't count the number of time his deck had bailed him out of a jam. His deck was the closest thing to him since his parents had died years ago when he was a young teen. Now, at the age of 20, he could be one of the better duelists in the world but he had never had a need for the wealth and fame that accompanied the dueling circuit. Battle City would be his first test against the best duelists in the world.
"I'll start this show," she said with a confident air and drew her opening hand. "I play two cards face down and play Cursed Gyura (1500/1200) in attack mode."
Fader drew and looked at his hand. he didn't have all the cards he wanted but he had enough to take care of Serena's monster.
"I play Dunames Dark Witch (1800/1050) in attack mode and attack your Gyura. You lose 300 Life points."
"And you lose 700."
"What?"
"Your Dunames' attack activated my trap card 'Attack and Recieve' which deals 700 damage to you if I lose life points in an attack. I also activate Time Machine to bring back my Cursed Gyura."
Fader: 3300, Serena: 3700.
"Damn. I'll lay one card face down and end my turn." She was proving to be a much better duelist than Fader had initially thought. He might be out of the tournament before he could even get started.
"I tribute my Gyura to summon Kaiser Glider (2400/2200) and attack your Dunames Dark Witch."
"I activate Negate Attack!"
"Fine, I play 1 card face down and end my turn."
Fader drew his card. Excellent! He now had what he needed to turn this duel to his favor. "First I play Pot of Greed to draw two cards from my deck, then I'll set 1 card face down and play Senju of the Thousand Hands!"
"Senju? No way!" replied Serena.
"I see you already know what it does so I'll simply search my deck for a ritual monster, and then I'll activate the ritual card I had set down. Go Black Luster Ritual! Absorb the power of Dunames Dark Witch and Senju of the Thousand Hands to summon the Black Luster Soldier (3000/2500)!" Fader had done it. It was only the third turn and he had already summoned the most powerful monster in his deck. "Black Luster Soldier attack Kaiser Glider with Chaos Blade!"
At that moment Serena started wagging her finger at him. "Not so fast. I'm not going to let you gain the advantage that easily, I activate Waboku to protect my Glider and my Life Points."
Serena's move didn't phase Fader. He had one of the strongest monsters in the game on his side and her Waboku would only save her for one turn.
Serena drew her card then looked over at Fader with a large smile. "I set 2 cards face down and play Monster Reborn to bring back my Cursed Gyura. I then tribute both it and my Kaiser Glider to summon, the Blue Eyes White Dragon (3000/2500)!"
"There's no way!" shouted Fader. "That's impossible. There are only three Blue Eyes White Dragons in all of Duel Monsters!"
"I know," she said with an evily calm demeanor. "My grandfather had all three."
"Your grandfather? You mean you're..."
"Serena Kaiba."
Just great of all the people in Battle City, Fader would end up facing off against the granddaughter of Seto Kaiba first.
Serena smirked, " It changes the whole pace of the game doesn't it? Feel free to give up now before my Blue Eyes destroys you!"
"Last time I checked, your Dragon had the same attack power as my Soldier. We're even Serena."
"For now, just give me time. I end my turn."
"This isn't over yet." Fader drew his card. "I equip the Black Luster Soldier with the Legendary sword. raising his attack power to 3300. I then set 1 card and summon the Gemini Elf in attack mode! Now, Black Luster Soldier attack the Blue Eyes White Dragon!" The Soldier dove at the Blue Eyes and sliced it in half, and it shattered as it was sent to the graveyard.
Fader: 3300, Serena: 3400.
"Just what I wanted you to do. Activate Quickplay Magic card: Bargain with a Demon!"
"What does that do?" asked Fader.
"Whenever a monster of level 8 is destroyed, I can summon the Berserker Dragon (3500/0) from my hand or deck. And since there are no more moves you can make for your turn, I'll simply draw and have my Berserker attack and destroy both of your mosnters!"
"Both of them?"
"Berserker Dragon's special ability allows it to attack all of your monsters at the same time. Not even your beefed up Soldier can stand up to its 3500 attack power. And it's about to become more powerful as I activate my other face down card, Sword of Dark Destruction increasing its attack power to 3900!" Serena let out a wicked laugh; all Fader could do was watch as both his Soldier and Gemini Elf were destroyed.
Fader: 700, Serena: 3400
"Go ahead and take your final turn so my Berserker Dragon can destroy what's left of your Life Points."
Fader felt a heavy weight over his entire body as he brought his hand up slowly to make his final draw.
Fader grasped the card between his thumb and forefinger and pulled it out of the Duel Disk. He slowly brought it up to his eyes. "I set this card," he said. "And one other. Then I play Monster Reborn to bring back my Black Luster Soldier!" His Soldier reappeared on the field, its sword and shield at the ready. Its focused eyes matching Fader's own.
"A pointless effort. My Berserker Dragon will destroy it next turn."
"Maybe, but your dragon has been weakened. You foget that it loses 500 attack points at the end of each of your turns."
"It still has more than enough power to kill the Black Luster Soldier."
"We'll see. I'll end my turn."
"I'll make this quick for you. I do have other duels to win you know." Serena drew her card. "My Dragon may not be able to take out both your Soldier and your remaining Life Points at the same time but all I have to do is give it a little backup. I summon the Battle Ox! Now Berserker Dragon destroy his pathetic Soldier!"
Fader smiled. "Nice try Serena."
"What are you talking about? My Dragon beats your Soldier."
Fader shook his head. "It's true that your Berserker Dragon would have destroyed my Black Luster Soldier, but you forgot out my face down card, the trap I set last turn."
"What trap?"
"I activate Last Battle!" shouted Fader triumphantly. "I can see the confused look on your face so I'll explain its effect to you. I select one of my monsters in the field. All other cards, your and mine, are destroyed."
"No! My Berserker Dragon!"
"Not to mention your Battle Ox," Fader said with a grin.
"There has to be something I can do," she said. Fader could hear the panik in her voice.
"There is. You now get to special summon one monster card from your deck to the field in attack mode to batte against my Soldier. the one of us whose monster remains after the attack, is the winner of this duel."
Serena's worried expression faded. "Then you still lose. I summon the Death Gaurdius (3300/2500)! Its attack is higher than your Soldier. Hand over your locator card."
"You like jumping to conclusions, don't you? Your Death Guardius would have beaten my Soldier if I hadn't chained my Last Battle trap card with the Quickplay magic card, Rush Recklessly, which increases my Black Luster Soldier's attack power to 3700." Fader's eyes narrowed and his grin evaporated into a stoic expression. "You lose Serena."
"I...don't...believe it. I lost." Serena dropped to her knees, her Duel Disk locking into it's standby position. "i haven't lost since I first played with my dad."
Fader reset his own Duel Disk and walked over to where Serena was kneeling. "It was a good game," he said, extending his hand. Serena looked up at him oddly, then reached up and grabbed his hand and allowed him to help her up. As soon as she was back on her feet she recoiled her hand and brushed herself off.
"I suppose you'll want my rare card and my locator card right?"
"Those are the Battle City rules," Fader replied.
Serena removed one of her loactor cards from her pocket and tossed it at Fader, who juggled it a couple times before getting a firm grasp on the card. She then began looking through her deck.
"I can't believe I lost Grandpa's last Blue Eyes White Dragon."
"Last one? But Seto Kaiba had all three Blue Eyes White Dragons."
"He did. But a long time ago, when he was an older man, he was attacked by a group of guys in an alley. They wanted his Blue Eyes cards. He refused. He even beat them in a duel but they wouldn't let him go. They beat him up and took his entire deck. All of it except this card," she said, holding up the Blue Eyes White Dragon. "My father told me that story when I was just a young girl, when he gave me my first deck; the deck with this very card in it. I vowed that I would find and get back both of my grandfather's two Blue Eyes White Dragon cards. But now..." Serena held the Blue Eyes out to Fader.
"I don't want your card," he said.
"You're joking."
"No. We each have a part of ourselves in our decks. If I took that card from you, I would feel that I was no better then the men who attacked your grandpa." Fader pocketed the locator card and turned to walk away.. After a couple of steps he looked back over his shoulder, "We'll just say that you owe me one rare card, okay?" Serena nodded and the two of them went off in seperate directions.