The Crystal Tree Buds

"My turn, I draw!" I'll set one monster and end my turn. I'm afraid that's all for this turn.

I draw, and i'll set one spell/trap face down. Now, I'll summon, Abyssal Crystal Beast Cobalt Eagle! Attack his facedown monster!"

"That's not going to happen, i flip Atrum Monstrum, The Forelorn Raven face-up and activate his effect!" Chuku stops the attack with the effect and special summons 1 monster in face down defence position.

"Well... you've certainly got some interesting cards.. i'll end my turn for now"

"I'll draw!" Gail looks at his hand and considers his next move against a deck with such power "I'll summon, Abyssal Crystal Beast Cobalt Eagle and attack Atrum Monstrum, the Forelorn Raven!"

"Once again, your attack is in vain. I activate Magic Cylinder." Cobalt eagle turns around and swipes it's wing across Gail reducing his life points by 1400.

"Damnit... i have to get through somehow.. I'll end for now"

"My turn, I draw. Due to its effect, ulgivagus Animus, the Lost Raven, returns to the field from my hand. Next I flip up mystic tomato and activate the effect of Peius Gelamen, Cursed Flocking Raven; since I control two "Raven" monsters, I can special summon this card from my hand. when it is special summoned, I can summon up to two more from my hand or deck. I'll only summon one though. I tune one of them with mystic tomato, Ulgivagus Animus, Atrum Monstrum to summon my ace monster. Block out the sun with your dark feathers, ternus Pennae, Raven of the Black Sun!"

"I activate my facedown, phoenix wind blast. By discarding a card, I return that monster to the top of your deck, in this case, your extra deck."

" I use my synchro monster's effect. When it's summoned, I can remove from play two raven monsters in my graveyard to have this card gain attack equal to the total attack of the monsters. I'll end my turn." Things were not going the way he had planned it.

I draw, and will activate the field spell Abyssal Plains of the Crystal Beasts. Next, i'll equip my Eagle with Golden rule! Using this i can bring Abyssal Crystal Beasts Sugilite Bear and Ruby Carbuncle to my spell/trap zone from my deck. and special summon one Amethyst Cat from my hand! Now, i'll use the effect of Carbuncle to special summon itself and Sugilite Bear from the spell/trap zone.

He smiled at the duel and liked how things were starting to turn out in his favor. He had just gotten this deck, but the spirits he held since a child stayed with him and guided him this far.

"I seem to not be doing that bad for myself... Now then, Sugilite Bear, attack his Fane!"

"When will you learn, your attacks will not get through?.. I activate book of moon and flip your-

"Stop right there, because i activate solemn judgement to stop your moon of moon. I cut my Life points to 3300 but your book of moon is negated."

Both cards dissapear from the field and into the graveyard, leaving the field as it was before

"Now, shall we continue?!" Sugilite bear destroys his monster. "And, now for the rest.." The rest of Gail's monsters attack Chuku directly reducing his life points to 3000

"I end my turn"

"My turn, I draw. You aren't half bad. I activate allure of darkness, drawing two and removing Gale in my hand from play. I summon Dark Armed Dragon from my hand. I remove two dark monsters to destroy your facedown spell/trap and your field spell. Next I attack your Ruby Carbuncle with dark armed dragon. (800). I set two cards and one monster and end my turn."

"I draw, and i'll use Carbuncle's effect to summon it from the spell/trap zone. Next, i'll use my Cobalt Eagle's effect to tune it with Anethyst Cat to summon, black rose dragon!!" The petals from the rose garden tear off and fly into the duel area, they form a miniature black rose dragon, just big enough to move about properly inside Gail's room. "I use it's effect to blow up the whole field!" The black rose soon destroys itself cutting away everything on the field with it's rose petals.

"Now, i special summon Ruby and Sugilite bear back from the spell/trap zone. Now, attack directly!" the two monsters charge at Chuka cutting down his life points to 1500

"I end my turn"

"My turn, I draw. I set one monster and one card and end my turn."

"I draw, and what a good draw it is.. I'll equip Golden rule to my Sugilite bear and activates it's effects. Starting with placing Abyssal Crystal Beasts Ruby Carbuncle and Amethyst Cat in my spell can trap card zone. I'll use my new Carbuncle's effect to special summon it, My new Carbuncle, and Amethyst cat from my spell/trap zone."

He looks at Chuku and smiles as his tattoo glows again. He was having fun in such an interesting duel.

"Amethyst cat, attack his facedown!"

"That won't work.. I flip up Atrum Monstrum, the Forelorn Raven and negate your attack. I then summon a monster from my deck, face-down."

"Either way, the end result is the same. Sugilite Bear, attack his Forelorn raven!" Sugilite bear charges at the raven and doubles in size on his way to it. "When he attacks a monster, Sugilite Bear's attack points double! Making them 2400!"

Sugilite bear destroyed forelorn raven taking away the last 1500 life points from chuku, ending the duel

"That was really fun!"

"Very well then, i'll see what i can do. But, it seems i did just fine with this deck without using the necklace. I don't think that it has any need. Can't i just duel without it? it's just a necklace. I don't really see the point of it.... but... a promise is a promise..."

Gail layed in his bed and pointed to the door. "It's late, i'm tired. You should probably go. I'm sleepy." He turned over in his bed and waved goodbye

"Of course. See you at the tournament." Chuku exited the room and closed the door behind him.

*Lumis, your number is up. The best duelists of P.O.D. will be in this tournament, and plus I have set up people who will duel you in addition to the top members of P.O.D. Gail's new deck is one of the decks that you will duel that has been made to counter your deck's stratagy. If you lose against a P.O.D. member or one of the other duelists that we've set up to fight you, well, let's just say you'll be seeing things from our point of view. Once you're down, turning all the duelists in the tournament into workers for P.O.D. will be a simple task.* Chuku walked out of the building, and towards the place where he was staying.

Saix pooked one eye open when Chuku left the room and went for the new deck his monsters were placed in. He took the monsters out and returned them to his origanal deck. The darkness around them had faded. He began to speak to them in a very low tone."I'm sorry for that guys... i'm sorry i made you cry... but we're gonna handle this somehow. You and my mother raised me in peace and light... and something about this and that deck just made things turn bad.."

He saw a twinkle from each of his cards and smiled at them. "I won't put you back in that deck... i could hear your screams.. but i needed the moment to work. As much as i want that killer done with.... i won't forsake my mother's memory for it.. Tomorrow, we're gonna have a little fun." Gail took 3 golden rule cards out of the deck and placed it in his real one along with his monsters. it was the only card in the deck that didn't have a tainted feeling. "We're gonna pay Lunder a visit.. that guy didnt say anything about keeping my mouth shut." Gail chuckled and closed his eyes right after; holding his deck close to him.

The next day, at about 8:00, there was a knocking on Gails door.

"It's me, Lunder. Can I come in?"

Saix woke up to the knocking on his door once again the next morning. He got up out of his bed and walked to the door wearing his white flame pants, but no shirt. "Yeah.. i'm coming" He opened the door and walked back into the main part of his room. "Morning Lunder.. what do i owe this visit?" he said while still dazed from waking up. the thought he needed to tell lunder handnt even come up in his head yet.

"Well we should probably get breakfast soon, since the boat to the city is leaving in two hours to the city for the tournament." Lunder noticed the necklace and the other deck.

"Where did you get those?" Lunder said to him, with worry in her voice.

The memory popped back into the head as soon as she pointed those things out to him, He looked down at them and began to remember

"Right, right, that's what i wanted to talk to you about... Some guy came in my room last night and told me to duel with that deck and wear that necklace while i dueled today... It goes against my mother's values to place my heart into that deck, so it's not something i can do. Although.. why he wanted me to wear that necklace has got me confused.."

he looked back at her. "Why?"

Lunder looked even more worried. "What was his name? And what did he look like?"

Tries to remember despite his sleepy state. He rubbed his eyes while pondering the name

"Uhm... uh.. Chi..Chiken...Chuk...Chu..ku... Chuku, his name was Chuku"

Lunder gasped, and put her head in her hands. "Oh no, no no no no no.... This is the worst." She put looked at Gail in the eyes now.

"Chuku is a pro duelist who is in an organization known as P.O.D. It claims that it's nothing more then a organization made to manage pro duelests and make them better, but it's much more then that. I've done some research on them, and there's something really strange going on there. I think they're brainwashing duelists somehow. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true. My brother and father...." She sighed.

"My brother joined them when he graduated from the school, and ever since then, he hasn't spoken to me, except on one instance. He's become obsessed with being the best. He was always competative, but now winning is all that he thinks about now. Winning. And my father is involved too; I think he's high up in their circle."

"Look Gail, I have more then one reason for entering this tournament. I want to find out what they're up to. And I want to see if I can get my brother back to the way he was, before this whole mess. I wouldn't trust Chuku. It's likely he might know something about your mother, expecially considering since he was a student here, but I have a bad feeling that he wants more from you then he's letting on."

"I wasn't planning on doing what he said, but from here i don't know how to carry through. It's either i use the deck or i don't" he sighed. Then his deck lit up and cobalt eagle emerged and walked over to the deck Chuku gave Gail. He pecked at it lightly then turned to Gail.

"...That's right.... she was your friend too..." Gail looked at his deck and they all started to give him a peace of mind and purity. He could hear they're roars of action and smiled at them. "I wonder.." He placed them inside the new deck as they had been last night. This time, their screams had stopped. They were once Again Abyssal Crystal Beasts but they had claimed hold of that power. The light they just gave him in his normal deck had continued to stay in the new deck. He also returned the Golden rules.

"well.. it seems i can do this without any remorse, knowing you guys are ok" He looked at Lunder and Smiled. "I know.. there wouldn't be a reason for helping me unless he got something out of it. My mother always did teach me to find the evils in others. I still don't quite know how to handle this though... Any ideas?"