The moment the announcement dropped, it became clear just how ENORMOUS the popularity of Duel Monsters is; within less than an hour, social media went wild—photos, videos, comments, and even challenges that make it feel like the Wild West, only with cards instead of six-shooters.
On top of that, orders for game discs and cards have surged. The card pool is quite limited, but it promises to be interesting—after all, this is my equivalent of the World Championship. This month is going to be the most 'extreme' of them all; I just hope the spirits don't cause any trouble.
I have to say, though, this is impressive—it even makes me want to participate. But since I'm the organizer, I can't just pull a "Kaiba" and jump right in.
Then again, I might end up hiring people—or just using robots—to handle the actual work.
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When finally the 24 hours are out and the duels started.
"Holly… fucking… shit!" I say looking at the THOUSANDS of duels that started the moment the 24 hours were out, I saw thousands upon thousands of monsters battling each other, I could see monsters, spells and traps everywhere; the app that allowed the duels to be streamed live seemed to be reaching its limits; and that wasn't all—videos quickly began circulating across the internet and on platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Justin.tv, and even made the news. The whole country was buzzing.
"I think... I might have gone a bit too far." I mumble to myself while pulling out my journal.
With Fury
Nick Fury was not having a good day, from the moment that fucking announcement started the fucking absurd number of creatures spawned by those holograms that appeared was just too much.
And now, to add more problems in his mind, the journal is updating. He went to his office and disconnected everything that may record this, and then activated the group call of everyone that was or knows about the journal.
Okay, I think I went a bit overboard with that announcement—though it is hilarious to see the absurd number of active duels. It's only a matter of time before some politician decides to be a pain in the ass about it; plus, there's that Council member—or whatever body runs S.H.I.E.L.D.—who's actually with Hydra, or something like that. Also, it won't be long now before we have our favorite green buddy alongside Cap—pretty much the whole Avengers lineup.
I still haven't received any info on the Thunderbolts, so I'd better speed up the search.
I also need to find where the hell Zola stashed his brain, since, as far as I know, the Mind Stone doesn't affect machines.
"Well, at least the number of revelations was drastically reduced," commented Barton.
"Barton, we just discovered that one of the members of the World Security Council is part of HYDRA…"
Fury said, looking at his subordinate as if he had said something ridiculous.
"At least he only mentioned one, so that's something," Natasha murmured.
"What's the status on Capsicle? It seems our friend is already aware of him. Is he awake yet?" Tony asked, glancing at the journal.
"It'll take a while; the serum kept him alive, but we need to make sure everything is okay," Fury explained. "It also mentions a 'green buddy,' so we can assume that it refers to 'Hulk'—though we still have no idea what or who that is."
"Well, we just need to wait, right now I want to know about this Zola, if I'm reading right Zola uploaded his brain into a computer that means that Zola could look into anything, I'm insulted that a NAZI has something as JARVIS but weirder AND EARLIER."
"Be careful Stark" Said Maria Hill, "we don't know how powerful he is on the web, and he may already have information about your AI and that would be worse."
Tony didn't say anything, because he didn't want to admit that someone else was right.
"Are we going to talk about this 'Mind Stone', I don't know exactly what it is," Melinda May said, sounding somewhat concerned, "but it sounds exactly like something that could affect people's minds—this screams trouble."
Everyone fell silent and thought about it; one thing they hated was the inconsistent nature of the information they received—sometimes it was data that mattered to them, other times it was information about Gabriel's plans, and at other times, it was simply matters related to their own world, were more than once Fury felt a big migraine coming each time he read something new and dangerous.
"Should we do anything about this pre-tournament stuff sir?" Ask Coulson.
"Not for now, but I'm pretty sure if we participate Gabriel will be on guard, so for now don't, or if you do, make sure that is subtle and doesn't look like a mission."
The agents nodded at that while Tony was already thinking of participating, mostly because he wanted to win for the sake of it, he likes the game and since he did make the duel disks—it makes sense for him to participate.
Things kept moving along smoothly enough, though there were—of course—*so many* cameras pointed my way, all eager to learn more about... well, basically everything. Regarding the game's origins—and my own—I had to make up lies that even I could almost believe. For the game's backstory, I went with a modified version of the truth: a man who decided to create the game to honor his late wife, since the original plan had been for the two of them to build it together.
Some channels even decided to get involved in the tournament—which was considered the biggest event in the country—since everyone wanted to keep the broadcasts and coverage going. I agreed to it all, given that the sheer number of duels was just fucking absurd.
And not only that—I kept running tournaments in the shops, packing them to capacity; I even had to call in favors with local governments to designate more "official" zones for sanctioned tournaments. The sheer number was absurd, yet—curiously enough—everyone agreed, mostly for the publicity or because a relative, a friend, or even themselves enjoyed the game. Naturally, I'm not blind to the hidden agendas at play.
Unfortunately, I wasted my favor to use the Time Stone—just to check if any of my "workers" were secretly with HYDRA. It was basically a waste, since none of them were. Yao surely knew that but chose not to tell me, just to keep me from "potentially" manipulating time—or maybe she just gets a kick out of the whole thing.
Of course, I couldn't deny that I was having fun too; I loved watching the duels and even participating in them myself. However, since I was the organizer, dueling me only awarded standard points—some people were annoyed, thinking there would be special points involved, but most didn't really mind; they just found it interesting.
I also had to register every single duelist—a task so fucking tedious, you wouldn't believe it—though thanks to that, I got to see a lot of unique deck lists instead of the standard ones that mimic the anime. Man, there were even Boss Monsters involved.
I nearly cracked up when I saw that Peter's Boss Monster was the damn Moth—and mind you, I had to print out both the anime version and the regular one with their different names, and it's a total bitch to summon anyway—but here I am, looking at my screen and watching Peter Parker wipe out three opponents with the Ultimate Moth...
"This guy is broken in any universe, holly fuck."
I also take the opportunity to check out the others who catch my eye—like James Morrison, who is *still* playing Exodia.
"30-15-5 isn't bad; a 60% win rate with Exodia says a lot." I also ran into Alex Smith, Kian Burke, and several of my regulars from my first shop. Curiously, though, there's no one from the little SHIELD group—at least I don't have to keep an eye on them. What *did* strike me as interesting was seeing Tony play; and man, the publicity for the tournament really went into overdrive.
There is practically no one in the entire country who doesn't know about the tournament; unfortunately, that led to a horrible side effect...
With so much Dueling energy present at once, the Duel Spirits have had to stay on guard in case anyone starts hunting them down.
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It was night, and a group of guys had just finished a free-for-all Duel.
"Man, that was close!" one of them said; looking at the match history, he had lost by a razor-thin margin.
"Sucks to suck," said the clear winner.
"Still, nobody can take away the fun we had—though David, next time you target me, I'm coming for you," he said, sounding a bit annoyed, since his friend always singled him out.
"Okay, I get it," said David, the winner of the Duel.
Suddenly, the darkness in the area seemed to grow in a somewhat unnatural way.
"What the hell, John? You said this area was safe," asked one of the friends.
"Don't blame me, Marcus. According to my dad, there wasn't supposed to be an electrical surge until Monday," replied John.
"I think that might be the answer," said David, looking toward a silhouette hidden in the shadows.
The unknown individual took a few steps forward, revealing his true form; he wasn't—or didn't appear to be—human. He had light green skin and armor that looked like it was made of purple shells.
"Guys, am I dreaming, or does he look like that 'Warrior of Darkness' water monster?" John asked, shocked.
"I don't *look* like it; I *am* it," said the creature—now identified as the Sea Serpent Warrior of Darkness. He raised his spear, pointed it at the boys, and fired what looked like an energy blast.
"Such bad manners for a warrior," said another voice as a massive dark wing shielded the youths.
"What the shit?!"
"Damn!"
"FUCK!"
The bird transformed into Spectra Phantom, and—like any teenager with a live-streaming device in hand—one of them started a live broadcast.
"So much pride, yet you attack without thinking. Curious," I said, looking at him with a faint smile.
The Sea Warrior snorted in annoyance. "You must be the human sorcerer everyone's talking about in the Spirit World lately; every spirit craving Duel Energy has heard of you."
"Wow, I feel so important," I said with amusement; it was as if I had a 'Wanted' poster out on me or something. "Well, then you know I can't let you get away," I said, summoning my Duel Disk from my arm—doing it with style, of course.
Sea Warrior snorted in annoyance but raised his arm into position; an organic duel disk formed, and I could hear gagging sounds behind me.
"Relax, guys—as soon as I finish thi—are you fucking recording me?" I said, turning my head to try and reassure them, but I froze in shock when I saw them pointing the duel disk's camera at me.
"Sorry, but this is badass and we couldn't resist."
"Whatever... I'll explain everything later. And don't cut the feed; more people need to know about this, because the lessons from 'Kame Game Shop' didn't sink in."
"Less talk. You die here, Sorcerer."
"DUEL!"
[Spectra Phantom: 4000]
[Sea Serpent Warrior of Darkness/Sea Warrior: 4000]
"I draw!" Looking at his hand He choose a card "I summon 'Amphibious Burgroth MK-3'"
[Amphibious Burgroth MK-3 lvl 4 WATER Machine/Effect ATK 1500 DEF 1300]
"The fuck? What is that monster?" Ask one of the boys.
"The spirits, have a bigger cardpool than us, but don't worry I got this," I said.
"Like hell you will! I set two cards face-down and I end my turn"
"My move, draw" an okay hand, "I activate the 'Dark Sanctuary'" a dark castle wrapped in a noble figure with dozens of mouths, eyes, eyes inside mouths, and more
"Fuck this is creepy" mumble one of the teens.
"then I'll set one card and end my turn" good defence, so if the Sea Warrior summons something.
"Hum, pathetic" Sea Warrior and summoned some wait what- "I tribute my monster and summon 'Mobius the Frost Monarch'"
[Mobius the Frost Monarch lvl 6 WATER Aqua/Effect ATK 2400 DEF 1000]
Fuck…
"Mobius effect, destroy two spell and traps"
"Dammit, I activate my face-down, 'Shadow Balance' when you summon a monster and you have more than me, I destroy every monster until we have the same monsters."
"Curse you sorcerer! I end my turn!"
"Draw" Okay, that is something interesting, "I summoned 'Sangan' in attack mode."
[Sangan lvl 3 DARK Fiend/Effect ATK 1000 DEF 600]
"Chain, I activate my face-down! 'Call of the Haunted'! I revived Mobius!" Sea Warrior seemed smug after seeing my face.
"Crap, I activate 'Raigeki' destroy all your monsters; 'Sangan' direct attack"
[Sea Serpent Warrior of Darkness/Sea Warrior: 3000]
Sea Warrior draws a card and laughs, "I activate 'Snatch Steal' and equip it to your monster, now it works for me! Next I summoned myself to the field!
[Sea Serpent Warrior of Darkness lvl 4 WATER Sea Serpent/Effect ATK 1800 DEF 1500]
"Battle, DIRECT ATTACK!"
"Dammit, AHG!" Oh this bitch hit hard.
[Spectra Phantom: 1200]
"Draw," okay, this is something, "First, thanks to your equip-spell I gain 1000 Life Points"
[Spectra Phantom: 2200]
"Next I'll set one monster and end my turn"
"Guys, I don't know about this, but this looks grim" said one of the boys, I still don't recognize them by voice, but I think it's the one who records me.
"Shut the fuck up, this That spirit wants to kill us, and this guy is the only thing stopping it. DON'T. BOTHER. HIM."
"Draw! I summoned a second copy of myself, and now my monster, destroy him!"
"My monster is 'Apprentice Magician', thanks to him I can summon another copy face down, and after the 3 copies I summoned a face-down 'Magician of Faith'"
"Dammid Sorcecer, DIE ALREADY!"
"Sorry but no, I draw", Breaker, good, but no need for this, "I gets 1000 life points flip-summoned 'Magician of Faith' recovering 'Raigeki' and I activated it! Destroying your monsters and thanks to my 'Sangan' I add 'Versago the Destroyer'; next I tribute my magician to summon 'Summoned Skull'"
[Summoned Skull lvl 6 DARK Fiend ATK 2500 DEF 1200]
Lightning bolts struck from the sky, causing shadows to envelop Spectra and the new monster that had appeared, making Sea Warrior take a step back in fear. (Sorry for the previous mismamente XD)
"Next I activate 'Spirit Illusion' equipping it to 'Summoned Skull'! And I activate its effect, it allows me to do a Fusion summon using monsters in my field or hand!"
The shadows seemed to gather strength. An unnatural wind picked up, making my clothes billow in a way that—according to the background commentary—was "fucking epic."
"I FUSE 'SUMMONED SKULL' WITH 'VERSAGO THE DESTROYER', UNDERWORLD SKELETON, TEAR THE HEAVENS WITH YOUR THUNDER, AND LET YOUR DEMONIC TERROR JOIN THE FURY OF THE BLACK DRAGON! ABSOLUTE DARKNESS! CURSED DRAGON! MAY YOUR DIABOLICAL FLAME DESTROY OUR ENEMIES! FUSION SUMMON! AWAKEN FROM THE SKIES DRAGON THAT SHOW DESTRUCTION TO MY ENEMIES, LEVEL 9, BLACK SKULL DRAGON!"
[Black Skull Dragon lvl 9 DARK Dragon/Fusion ATK 3200 DEF 2500]
A massive demonic dragon appeared; its roar unleashed a sudden gust of wind that nearly sent the boys behind me flying. I could sense the power of this summon, and thanks to my bond with Summoned Skull, I could also feel my own power surging—it is only a matter of time before I can utilize its other forms.
"BATTLE, 'BLACK SKULL DRAGON DIRECT ATTACK! METEOR FLARE!"
A ball of black fire appeared in my monster's maw and was fired with tremendous power at Sea Warrior; he tried to flee, but it wasn't enough, and he was wiped off the face of the earth—his duel energy serving as nourishment for both me and my monster.
[Sea Serpent Warrior of Darkness/Sea Warrior: 0].