Duel Monsters is one of the most popular games in the world. Originally a project created by former Industrial Illusions CEO Maximllion Pegasus, Duel Monsters is based on ancient Egyptian battles waged by mages. It has grown to become a global competition wherein players battle for grand prizes, fame and renown, similar to that of a major sports league. However! There is a world parallel to our own where all the spirits of the monster cards live. It is in this world is where our story takes place...
The sun rises on a new day. The sky is still dark as the ocean water evaporates and creates plenty of clouds in the air, making the morning in the slums of the port town seem overcast. Inside a dilapidated brick building lives a young porcupine named Beat. The boy lay on his side so as to not get his dark brown quills stuck in his dirty and damaged mattress. It was hard as a rock and stitched up everywhere, but he was used to sleeping on it. Heck, he found some of the unidentifiable stains charming, Even though he believes that one brown splotch near the foot of the bed is blood. Behind him on the wall was an empty window frame, long bereft of its glass pane. Next to him on a crate which acts as a nightstand was an old wind-up alarm clock. It was a bit beat up with the glass on the dial broken, the blue paint peeling off, the metal underneath rusting, and dents all over, but once the clock struck 6 the alarm went off and the bells were still as loud as ever.
Beat sits up on the bed and stretches before grabbing the clock and turning off the switch on the back to silence the alarm. He looks out the window as he takes a whiff of the salty ocean air. His brown hair and lighter brown fur start to move with the wind coming in through the “window.” He stands up, standing on his toes not unlike the animal he is. The boy slept in just his white-and-black pants. They were cuffed at the ankles, near the heels that were off the ground. He grabs his short-sleeved black vest with the matching blue trim on the inside. He then puts on a pair of fingerless, backless gloves and grabs his sword, looking it over. It’s a decently long blade with a bit of tape near the hilt and four diamond shapes etched into the flat end of the tip in a square pattern. Grabbing the sheath and wearing it behind him, he slides the sword in. He was all ready to head out, except for the most important thing for a Duel Spirit like him to have, his deck! He grabs his leather deck box and opens the button on the flap to look at the deck inside. It’s not very good, just a mish-mash of Warrior Monsters and some Spell and Trap cards. He puts the deck away and attaches the box to his belt. He then excitedly heads out of his mostly empty room into the town to take on what would be his biggest adventure ever!
Out in town, one of the locals from outside the slums stands out with a cart of fruit. It’s dangerous to be out there, but the older woman wanted to make sure fresh food was available to the children who might be stuck living in these conditions. Beat was always sure to arrive to grab an orange to stave off that scurvy he’s never really had to worry about. “Morning!” He happily says to the older, fair-skinned, wrinkly woman in robes and a headscarf.
“Good morning to you, Beat!” She says back to him.
Beat reaches out with his right hand and grabs an orange, tossing it up and catching it a couple of times. “Are you sure you want to give this stuff away for free? It seems expensive to do this every day.”
The older woman laughs a little. “Oh, it is, but seeing kids like you happy and healthy makes it all worth it.” As she says that, Beat takes a bite into the orange, rind and all. He sees her motherly smile and can’t help but smile back.
“I promise you, I’ll bring back treasure from my first adventure and pay you back for what you’ve done for me and the others!” He says, thumping, his left fist against his fluffy chest.
Beat’s attention was soon taken to the sky as he saw what appeared to be a giant wooden ship with large wings jutting out from the sides and wings parallel to the ship in the back to act as rudders. There was a gilded section in the middle that connected to the main wings that separate the wooden stern to the nicer looking bow that was striped with light and dark brown stripes parallel to the stern and bow. The front of the ship ends in a long bowsprit, from which jibs are attached to the main mast. Near the ship was a hot air balloon shaped like a cat’s head with three other smaller balloons floating near it. The cat balloon had an emblem: two swords crossed with web-like wings spreading out and three claw marks down the middle. A smaller wooden ship with wings, but no sails, and a cannon coming out the bottom of the bow, appears to be circling about as well. Beat knows exactly what this is: a pirate ship! Pirates were about to make port! This got the porcupine very excited! “Sorry, I’ve gotta go!” He yells, running off to the port with his orange in hand, taking another large bite. The woman just smiles as small children begin to approach her for fresh fruit.
Beat soon arrives at a concrete dock overlooking the ocean. He looks up and sees the airship starting to come in for a landing. The small boat and balloon both converge at the ship so it can properly dock. The ship hovers a few feet above the water before the wings begin to retract for the ship to gently land in the water. One would expect an airship of that size to not be seaworthy, but lo and behold it floats just fine! Beat could now get a better view of the front of the airship. It had canvas rigged above the decks almost like awnings or tents, as well as a large mast with sails on it that looked like they had some form of wing pattern on them. There were also three jibs attached between the beakhead and the main mast, but these were just plain canvas. In between the two major sails on the mast was the crows nest, with rope ladders leading up to it from the main deck. This ship was a sloop, further suggesting the presence of pirates. A rope was thrown off the starboard side, towards the dock; a manticore and a dragon came down to moor the ship to the dock. The red mammal and white dragon work together to tie the boat to the dock so that it won’t float or fly off.
A long plank was lowered out from the side of the ship to the ground. The first person out was a grey fish woman. She wore a captain’s hat with the sword emblem on it under which grey hair came out to hide her right eye. The yellow left eye was half closed, making her look lethargic. Instead of ears, she had fins out the sides of her head and her nose stuck out a little bit over her mouth. She had on a tucked, striped, white shirt and a navy and gold-fringed cape draped down
her back and held in place by a red string that was tied around her front. She had on navy pants out of the seat of which her long, pink-finned fish tail poked out. t, Behind her was a goat wearing a blue and gold coat not too much unlike the fish’s cape. He wore a blue shirt underneath and brown pants. What caught Beat’s attention, though, was the crystal horn he was wearing on his forehead in front of his long grey hair that went behind his head. Attached to the strap was a crystal orb that seemed to act as some sort of eyepatch. A motley crew of animals wandered out behind them. They must be the crew of the ship. There seems to be a small number for a sloop, only nine of them? Beat started to wondered how they made do.
The fish-woman makes eye contact with Beat and visibly stumbles a little in a bit of a daze.
The goat-man moved to steady her. “Captain Helmer, what is it?”He asked.
“Seal? I need to talk with you for a moment.” Helmer responded. The two seemed to speak silently to themselves while the others stared on, curious and maybe a bit worried. Helmer gives a glance towards Beat, which the porcupine took as meaning they were talking about him. After the discussion ends, she walks towards him. “I’ve noticed you’ve taken an interest in us.” She says, holding out a black gloved hand. “My name is Helmer. I’m the Captain of the Skyfang Brigade.” She says. Her voice made her sound disinterested, but she was actually interested in meeting him. As Beat shakes her hand Helmer seems to flinch, her expression barely cracks but the extra squeeze in her grip makes Beat wonder if she’s just hurt herself somehow . . This is the one, she thought to herself. “How would you like to join our crew?” She asks Beat.
Beat’s eyes light up with excitement. “Yes! I would love to join your crew!” He says, jumping up and down with excitement!
Helmer stops him. I’ve just gotta make sure now… she again thinks to herself. “First, you have to pass a test.” She says, motioning the dragon over. “You duel, kid?” She asks Beat.
Beat nods and pulls out his deck. His hands were trembling and he even fumbles a bit with the cards, almost causing them to fly everywhere! “Yeah, but my deck’s not that great…” He ends up muttering
The captain smiles back at him. “Don’t worry, just try your best, okay?” She says. “Your opponent will be Rafale.” The white dragon from before approached Beat, shuffling his own deck. He had four pairs of wings on his back and was wearing black pants with knee armor attached to his feet. The membrane at the end of his long tail and his wings were a pink color. He held out his left arm, and the armor on his forearm became a black, gilded disc that shoots out an “arm” that contains slots for Duel Monsters cards to be played! He grabs his own deck with his right arm, covered in an ornate armor and ending a glove, and puts it into the slot. The display on top lights up with “4000”, indicating his life points. The stands in front of the ship with his white hair blowing in the breeze, his black armor horns glinted in the sun as the fog burns off and he snarls with the chin piece attached to the horns to intimidate the boy. Beat nervously summons his disc, a bronze looking one with a similar arm and display. He’s still trembling with his cards while he shuffles before putting his deck in and making his display light up.
The two both say “Duel!” in unison as they draw five cards to make their starting hands. Beat is already breaking into a cold sweat, his heart racing. He wasn’t sure how strong Rafale was, but was already fearing the worst.
“I’ll go first since you’ll want the extra card.” Rafale says with a smirk. He takes a card and lays it down in the middle spot on his duel disk, depicting a human in a purple cape and a dragon skull on his head, hiding his eyes. “I summon Lord of Dragons!” The dragon announces as the man on the card appears in front of Beat! The display on the boy’s disk shows that it has 1200 Attack Points. Not the strongest monster to start with, thought Beat. “Next, I play the Spell Card ‘Flute of Summoning Dragon!’” The porcupine's foe adds. “Since I control Lord of Dragons, I can special summon a dragon-type monster from my hand.” The dragon’s yellow eyes started to turn blue as he held up a card in the air and yelled out “I summon Blue-Eyes White Dragon!”
Lightning rains down between the two duelists as a large white dragon descends on the field. It bellows out a mighty roar that threatened to blow Beat off of his feet! Everyone watching the duel was stunned! A 3000 Attack monster on the first turn? Beat looks at the dragon and freezes up. He was in awe of the power that was in front of him. However, Rafale shouts at him to snap him out of his stupor. “I know my dragon is amazing, but we still have a Duel to play. I played a card and ended my turn while you were busy staring.” He says, shaking his head and shrugging.
Beat nods. “R-right… m-my turn. I draw.” He draws a card from his deck and looks at it. It shows a shady looking group of knights with the name “Exiled Force.” Reading the card, it says that he can send it to the Graveyard to destroy one of Rafale’s monsters. A way to beat Blue-Eyes! He needed to have another monster to defend himself with, though. “Marauding Captain” would allow him to then summon Exiled Force, so he could keep a monster on the field to defend himself with.
“I-I summon the Marauding Captain.” Beat says as he places the card down on the center of the disk. Just like before, the monster pictured on the card appears between the two duelists, this time on Beat’s side of the dock.
Rafale lets out a loud laugh. “You think a monster with only 1200 Attack Points can stand up against my Blue Eyes?” He taunts.
“I activate the Marauding Captain’s effect to summon a Level 4 or lower Warrior monster from my hand.” Beat announces as he places down Exiled Force next to the Captain on his Disk. The group appears on Beat’s side of the field and the displays show that they have 1000 Attack Points. “I can sacrifice my Exiled Force to destroy one monster you control!” The boy adds, sounding more confident. Rafale just raises a brow inquisitively as Beat takes Exiled Force off of his disk and puts into a slot that represents the Graveyard. As the card is pulled in, the shadowy knights attack the dragon!
“Lord of Dragons! Stop them!” Rafale announces as the robed figure appears and is destroyed by the army, shattering like glass. The army then disappears in a flash of light.
“W-what happened?” Beat asked, eyes wide at what he just saw. “Y-your Blue Eyes was supposed to be destroyed!”
The boy’s opponent just shook his head. “Lord of Dragons keeps you from targeting my Dragons with card effects, but since you already sent Exiled Force to the Graveyard, something had to go.”
Beat’s heart begins to race. He just made a major mistake that may have just cost him the Duel! “I-I end my turn…” He says, defeated.
Rafale just shook his head. “My turn! Draw!” He says, shouting at the top of his lungs. “Blue-Eyes, attack the Marauding Captain! Burst Stream of Destruction!” He then orders, pointing towards Beat’s monster. The dragon roars out and shoots out a beam of light at the soldier. He shatters and the impact appears to wind the porcupine who summoned him. Since the difference in power between the two monsters was 1800, Beat lost that many Life Points, down to 2200. “I Set a card face down and I end my turn.” Rafale finishes, placing a card in the slot behind Blue Eyes and causing a large face-down card appearing in front of the dragon.
Beat is still catching his breath from the impact, but manages to find the energy to start. “My turn. I draw.” Thoughts started to run through the boy’s head. This monster is unstoppable! I don’t have anything in my hand to beat it! I still need to protect my life points, though, so I should probably put a monster in Defense Position. I won’t take any damage even if it’s destroyed. I could also put a Spell Card face down and hope he thinks it’s a trap. Beat then takes a card and places it face down and sideways on his Disk. “I Set a monster!” He then takes another card and places it in the slot behind the monster. “And I place one card face down” Two face down cards appear in front of Beat, one sideways to signify it as a Defense Position monster and another card behind it. “I end my turn.”
Rafale smiles. “I’ll make this nice and quick. I draw!” He draws his card and then hits a button on his Dule Disk. “I reveal my face down card, the Continuous Trap Dragon’s Rage!” He announces as a purple card with a picture of a dragon busting through a stone wall is turned face up. “Blue Eyes, attack his Set monster!” Rafale then orders, thrusting out his right arm again as his monster fires a beam at the sideways card. It is flipped face up to reveal a man in a blue super hero outfit for a few seconds before he, too, is shattered by the sheer force of the dragon’s might. However, the porcupine is still nailed by the blast and is even knocked off his feet! After he hits the ground, he sees that he lost 2000 Life Points!
“Hey! How did I lose life points?” Beat said as he got up.
“Dragon’s Rage allows me to deal Battle Damage when I destroy a Defense Position monster with my Dragons. Since your Battle Warrior only had 1000 Defense Points, you lost 2000 Life Points!” Rafale said before bursting into laughter. “I end my turn.”
The porcupine’s legs felt like jelly. He could barely stand up after that attack, but he still chose to fight on. He reaches for his deck and silently prays that he gets the card he needs. “M-my turn. Draw!” And in that instant, he sees just what he wanted to see. “I once again Set a monster and one card, and end my turn.” He now has three cards in front of him, a face-down monster and two face-down cards behind it.
“My turn, I draw!” Rafale starts his turn, and just like the last time, order his dragon to attack. Beat was quick to react, though, and the dragon’s eyes turn wide.
“I reveal my Trap Card, Mirror Force!” Beat says, revealing another purple card with a white sphere deflecting a red beam. “Your Blue Eyes is destroyed!” He announces as a white barrier appears around the face down card to deflect the white beam into the large dragon. It roars out before it explodes as its destroyed.
“No! My Blue-Eyes!” Rafale replies, as the rest of the pirate crew stare in awe. Was this boy actually going to defeat their strongest Duelist? “No matter, I have plenty of other monsters where that came from!” Beat could see him shaking. He was really starting to sweat. “I-I end my turn!”
Beat shakes his head with a smirk. “You’re assuming there will be a next turn. I reveal my other face down card, Monster Reborn!” he reveals a green card with a picture of an Ankh on it. “I can use this card to bring back one monster from either Graveyard, and I choose your Blue Eyes White Dragon!”
Rafale’s eyes go wide as the Graveyard on his Duel Disk glows. “You’re what?” He yells incredulously. The Blue-Eyes card materializes on Beat’s Duel Disk as the dragon depicted roars out and appears on Beat’s field.
“And that’s not all, I Flip Summon M-Warrior 1!” Beat adds, flipping over the sideways card vertically face up while the giant card in front does the same to reveal a muscular blue warrior wearing a gold mask and holding large green lance. The displays show that the monster has 1000 Attack Points.
“T-those monsters have 4000 attack points combined! That means…” Rafale started saying before Beat finished his sentence.
“This Duel is over! M-Warrior! Blue-Eyes! Attack Rafale directly!” Beat triumphantly announces as the blue warrior lunges at the dragon while Blue-Eyes shoots its energy beam. Rafale is sent flying off the dock into the ocean as his Life Points reach 0.
The dock remained silent until one of the foxes on the crew broke it by yelling “That was totally wicked!” The crew bursts into cheers in applause as the cards and monsters fade away. The manticore heads over to help Rafale out of the water as Beat sits down to catch his breath.
Helmer makes her way over to Beat and holds out her gloved hand again. Beat grabs it and she helps pull the boy up. “Welcome to the Skyfang Brigade, Beat.”
