Nightmares of the Past: The Day of the Tournament Arrives

"I attack directly with both my monsters!" (Zeon, 7800, ???, 300)The monsters attacked the middle aged man directly, sending him flying back onto the ground. He slowly climbed to his feet shakily. The 10 planet cards were in a circle surrounding the players, and had formed a strange variant of the golden colored Rules of Engagement that surrounded the players. People were watching the duel outside of the circle. Zeon was shaking with rage.

"Why did you kill them? There was no reason to end their lives. ANSWER ME!" The man chuckled.

"To manipulate you. You've been doing exactly what I wanted you to do. I shaped you and Syveta along; I killed them, made sure you would find that deck, and made it look like that the Order did it. You even killed one of them for me. But more importantly, you're dueling me right now. I know your deck inside and out. I made sure that you would face me in this duel; you can't win! And once I do win, I'll obtain the powers of a god, the powers of the Light Gods of old!"

"You're even crazier then I thought you were! Look at your field and life! You have nothing." Zeon just knew he had this. The man chuckled.

"You still don't get it, do you Zeon? I have some of the best cards around. It's my move now. I draw! I summon Sanctum Assassin: Moonlight Sniper. Then I activate Monster Reborn and Bring back Sanctum Assassin, Twin Barrel. I remove Sanctum Assassin Silent Killer in my grave to special summon Sanctum Assassin Vice Maurader. All my monsters are level 4. I use my 3 monsters and construct an Overlay Network! "Ultimate Divine Power, cement my rule in heaven, then unworthy shall be offered in the name of a new God. Xyz Summon! Affirm my rule over all mankind!" A huge monster shaped like a man appeared.

"Now witness the power of my ultimate monster! I activate his ability. I remove a material monster from it, and it gains the abilities and attack power of a monster in my grave. I use it's newly acquired effect to destroy your synchro monster and inflict damage equal to it's attack to your life points. Oh well, there goes your monster." A laser beam shot out of the monster, destroying Zeon's monster, and Zeon doubled over with pain (5400).
"And now I'll attack your other monster with mine. That little pest has annoyed me." The monster slashed through Zeon's last monster, then turned and slashed Zeon, causing blood to fly around. Zeon yelled out and collapsed on the ground. A small pool of blood formed, with Zeon moaning on the ground. (1600) The man laughed.

"I made these cards specifically for Rules of Engagement duels; they bring out the circle's max capacity to do damage, well, apart from the Envoys anyway. Now do you see how futile your efforts are? Nothing can stop me. Soon all will bow down before me. You might as well just continue to lie down there and die; you're a useless duelist. You've always have been one, and that will never change no matter how many rare cards you've obtained. Your death will be my gain, as I become the most powerful being in the world. Farewell, you good for nothing weakling. " The man laughed again as Zeon woke up with a cry, sweating and breathing heavily. Zeon looked up from his place on the couch. It was morning again. Zeon reflected on the night before. Zeon had gone out and had gotten dinner with Ami. The food was really delicious, and he and Ami had just sat there and talked about things. Afterwards, they went home, and after awhile, they went off to bed. Ami seemed to be in really high spirits when she went off to bed that night. Zeon was in a pretty good mood at the time too. After settling down, he had soon fallen asleep on his couch. Zeon blinked. His couch? His home? He really was getting used to staying here, if he was thinking of this place as home. There was only one other place that he had considered a home. Zeon took out a deck of cards from his pocket. It was the deck that he had taken after he had killed that man. He didn't want such a powerful deck falling into the wrong hands. Strangely enough, he had checked the deck afterwards and there was no trace of that strange XYZ card. Now he would never know about it. Was it like the Envoys? Did it disappear and reappear later when it's owner died? Who knew? Zeon just stared at the deck in his hand, just wandering how the lust for power could drive a man to the lengths that this guy went to.

Ami moaned softly as she stretched. The sunlight was shining through her room....it was morning. She smiled and yawned, then got out of bed. Last night had been such a wonderful night....the perfect way to end the day...and to transition into a new one. Today was going to be a rough day, but she felt ready for it.

She put on a long, loose shirt and some loose sweatpants and moved into the living room to check on Zeon. "Good morning, Ze-" She spotted him sitting on the couch, breathing heavily and sweating like crazy. She rushed to him and sat down beside him. "Zeon, are you alright?" She asked with a worried look on her face. She hadn't ever seen him like this, not during the past few days that he'd been here. She checked his forehead....no fever. He couldn't be sick. So what was wrong?

Zeon stared at Ami for a second. Then he took a deep breath, and then just shook his head. He didn't want to worry her too much, and besides, this memory was really painful for him right now.

"I just had a bad dream, that's all." Zeon placed the Sanctus Assassins deck down on the couch and put his head on the back of it. He was too tired to put it back in his pocket right now, and figured that she would just confuse that for his deck and not look at those cards. He didn't know that he had forgotten to take his real deck out of his duel disk, which was sitting five feet away from the couch.

Ami smiled at him with a soft, just-barely-woken-up smile. "Well, that's the thing about dreams....they're just dreams." Of course, she knew there were exceptions to the rule, but a good 98% of dreams were just normal dreams. "Come on, Zeon...don't let it get you down, whatever it was. We have a big and rough day ahead of us. Shall I make you some breakfast?" She kissed his cheek gently and then stood up and made her way to the kitchen. Now the big question of the hour was....what to fix for breakfast? Perhaps some oatmeal might provide the right nutrition to get their brains working.

As she made her way to the kitchen, she noticed a second deck in Zeon's duel disk. She paused slightly, curious about the deck he had been holding just now. However, she didn't think much of it and just shrugged it off for the time being. Lots of people had multiple decks....was it really so strange that he had a second one too?

Zeon put the Sanctum Assassins deck into his pocket finally and made his way to the kitchen, and sat down at the table, waiting for the food to come. He hoped that the modifications that Ami had made to his deck would be enough to do well in the tournament, especially if he could end up in a potential shadow duel. He looked at Ami.

"I hope we can do well in this tournament. This is my second one, come to think about it. That one was insane; nothing bad happened during it, but it ended up weird." Zeon then realized he didn't smell that good: he probably needed to take a shower soon.

"So how many tournaments have you been in?"

Ami talked while bustling about in the kitchen. "I've been in several, actually." She turned on the stove and began to boil some water. "It started with the one at the Academy. After that, I go to as many as I can. I've been to well over twenty in the past years....but I've only ever topped in a few." She leaned against the counter and looked at him. "Trust me, I've endured my fair share of both wins and losses."

She finished making breakfast and soon set a steaming bowl of oatmeal in front of Zeon. She placed some brown sugar and raisins on the table as well, in case he wanted to use those in his food. She then grabbed her bowl and sat down beside him. "If you're worried about the tournament...don't be. We'll do just fine." She smiled softly and began to eat her oatmeal.

Zeon grabbed the brown sugar and put some into his oatmeal. He then took a bite out of it. After swallowing it, he spoke.

"The tournament is not what I'm worried about. I just have a lot on my mind right now. Now that we're on the subject though, that tournament I went to took place on another world then mine. Oddly enough, it was called Earth too, and was similar to this planet. But, there's no way they could be the same. Some of the strongest duelists of that world used their own divine cards called the Cardinal Beasts. I'm pretty sure they would be common knowledge around here if this was the same Earth. It was strange. I remember one guy had to run away from the cops right before the duel because he was using a illegal form of equipment; some of the duelists had a power-up that could activate during certain conditions; his was way too unbalanced and he had apparently abused it in other places. So his opponent got a free win. And then there was this weird card that this guy used called Zokusei Kyōki, which required 3 tributes too. Wouldn't that make it a god class card too? And then after the tournament there was this guy who showed up that gave a letter to the contestant, and seemed to know an awful lot about the workings of the universe. He also gave two of the planet cards back to their original owners; they kinda got sealed into another dimension after the Order of Attero was defeated, and yet somehow this guy was able to access that dimension and get them back. Which any normal person shouldn't be able to do. But then again, normal people can't travel through dimensions at will. The things I would do to have that guys power right now." Zeon took another bite out of his oatmeal.

"I'm just worried for the future in general, that's all."

"It sounds like you've seen your fair share of strong cards." Ami ate her oatmeal thoughtfully. The cards he spoke of, she'd never heard of before, but she prayed she'd never have to face such power. "I'm sure we won't see such strength at the tournament....I hope so anyways, for all our sakes." She knew it, almost as soon as she spoke it. If Allison was going to be there....it was possible that such powers would be thriving.

"Who knows? But I will say that tournaments are a gathering grounds for both the very best and very worst of the dueling world. Odds are we'll run into some unpleasant people, as well as decent ones." Zeon took another bite out of his breakfast. He also hoped that they wouldn't run into any problems; the last tournament he was in was fun, if a little weird. Although that dimension traveling guy gave him the creeps for some reason. He prayed that they would deal with Allison as painlessly as possible; maybe she had changed since the last time Ami saw her.

Ami nodded as she finished her food. "Well...either way...i'm not going to any tournament looking like this." She stood to her feet and placed her bowl in the sink, rinsing it off. "I'm going to take a shower. You should consider taking one as well, though you'll have to wait until i'm done." She smiled softly and rounded the corner to her room. She disappeared for a moment, then backed up a little so that her head was peeking around the corner. "In the meantime....you might start getting yourself familiar with your deck! I haven't really seen you look at it once since i fixed it up. You'll not do too well if you don't even know what your playing with!"

She giggled again and disappeared into the room. Now that she was waking up, her spirits were lifting again. Excitement began to crawl through her. After her shower she would look at her deck and make some modifications if needed. Today was going to be fun!

"Alright then." Zeon took at look at his deck and started shuffling through it. He noticed that a lot of the monsters were replaced with "Genex Ally" monsters, who's effects were pretty interesting and worked rather well with his deck. He noticed that his deck had a few traps like Solemn Warning, which were signature cards that the Order used on other people.

*I guess cards are easier to get around here after all.* Zeon waited for Ami to get done with her shower.

Ami enjoyed her shower, letting the water clean her of all dirt and sweat and impurities that might have formed overnight. Sure, she was a simple girl, but that didn't mean she liked being dirty for big public occasions. And with Zeon there, for some reason she felt she needed to be a bit more...beautiful. She washed her hair, then turned off the water, stepping out into the bathroom.

She looked in the mirror and let her mind wander as she began to blow-dry her hair. Who would she face today? Would Nephthys be ready to help if she needed it? Would Obelisk have to show up at all? As much as she loved Obelisk, she prayed she would never have to summon him. After all, he was an Egyptian god card....one of the more powerful ones. To have the need of summoning him...would grant that she was facing off against extremely strong or dangerous opponents.

As her hair finished drying, she put it up in a bun and placed two chopsticks in it for a more oriental japanese look. Then she donned on a light pink, silk shirt and a long gray skirt. This should do just fine: simple, yet elegant. After that, she made her way to the living room and sat down on the couch and smiled at Zeon.

"Your turn!"

Zeon's heart skipped a beat when he saw what Ami had chose to wear. With her hair tied up in a bun. Combined with her light-pink shirt and her grey skirt she looked.... rather beautiful. He realized that he had been staring at her for awhile, and put himself together.

"Alright then, I guess I'll go take my shower now. I hope you have some clothes that will fit me; my current ones are dirty." Zeon made his way out of the room and went into the bathroom, where he quickly got into the shower. As he cleaned his body of the filth he had accumulated he reflected on his reaction to Ami's current attire.

*Stupid, you're stupid. Just standing there and looking at her like that. You'll look like a pervert at this rate.* He finished his shower and dried himself off with a towel. He then wrapped it around his waist and tied it, wandering what he would wear. It would be a waste of a shower if he wore the same clothes as before.

While waiting for Zeon to get out of the shower, Ami took the liberty of running downstairs to a small store. She didn’t have any clothes that he could really wear, unless he didn’t mind wearing a skirt (which she highly doubted). The best thing to do would be to buy some clothes for him.

Once she got to the store, however, she realized that she didn’t know any of his sizes. “Well…this is problematic.” Ami sighed and grabbed several sets of outfits of different sizes, each set including a t-shirt, a polo, two pairs of pants (one jean and one slacks), boxers, and socks. While she was here at the store, she decided to buy some lunch meat and a few packs of cards for Zeon. She figured it would be an enjoyable occasion for him. By the sound of it, he’d never obtained packs of cards, nor had the joy of finding out their contents. She decided to grab five packs of each of the sets that they had available (which were the four most recent packs).

The cashier gave Ami a strange look, and Ami just grinned sheepishly. “They’re not for me, if that’s what you’re thinking.”“Husband sending you to do his shopping?” the cashier asked jokingly.

Ami blushed brightly. “N-no! Nothing like that! Just a friend…from out of town. He doesn’t have any clothing, and I don’t know his size.”

“Oh! So sorry!” The cashier finished bagging the items then rang up the total. Ami paid with her card, then hurried across the street and back to her apartment.

As she walked in, she heard movement in her bedroom. She figured Zeon must already be done with his shower. She set the bags of clothing and cards beside her door and knocked. “Zeon, I’ve left some things by my door. I hope you find them acceptable.” She smiled then took the bag of lunch meat into the kitchen and began making lunches for them. She could easily pay and go out to eat, but she didn’t want to spend money unnecessarily.

Zeon found the clothes outside the door. After debating, he put on the boxers, then the jeans, T-Shirt, and Socks. After that, he slipped into his shoes again. The clothes were a bit flashy, but he didn't really need to hide out here. He went out into the living room, and saw Ami fixing sandwiches. He felt kind bad that Ami was doing all the work for him; maybe she could teach him to do some of the things in this world later, assuming he had to stay here for a long time. He didn't like the idea of freeloading.

"You had to go get these clothes while I was taking a shower, didn't you? I don't think a girl living by herself would have clothes for a guy readily available. I really appreciate that." He went over to his duel disk, and placed it on his arm, then sat down on the couch.

Ami nodded, but continued to make the lunches. “Yes, but it’s alright. I didn’t think you’d like to wear a skirt or dress.” She giggled softly at the thought and turned to look at him. “You look good in every day clothing. You’ll have to tell me what size those are later so I can get you some more clothes. I wasn’t sure what size you wore, so I got a little bit of everything in terms of size.” She leaned back against the counter, supporting herself on her arms. “Did you see your surprise in any of those bags?” She wanted to know what kind of cards he would pull…and secretly she had hoped he would open them in front of her so she could share in this new experience with him.

Zeon took up those packet of cards, and opened them up. He looked through the cards. He took out the ones he thought he were really good and put them in a pile.

"Pot of Duality, torrential tribute, Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier, diffusion wave motion..." He also put a bunch of other cards in that pile. He smiled at Ami.

"Thank you. You didn't have to do this for me. This is one the nicest things that anyone has ever done for me." At this point, he realized he was genuinly happy here. He was starting to have second thoughts about having to return.

Ami smiled softly and scratched the back of her head. "Well, I thought you should have some memories of your first tournament here." She pushed herself away from the counter and turned to the lunches. "I didn't think you've ever had the chance to open your own packs of cards...I thought you should have some of your own cards. I hope you got some good trade power...lots of people will want to trade you at the tournament."

She finished making the lunches and put them in two lunch boxes. She lifted the boxes and turned to present them for Zeon to see. "There, all done!"

Zeon looked at the lunch boxes.

"I guess we're all ready for the tournament now, right? When do we go to there?"

“Mhmm! All set. That is, if you think your deck is ready.” Ami wasn’t quite sure what he thought of the changes she’d made, but she hoped they would serve him well. It was at least a bit better than the build he’d had before. She was surprised he could have ever won even one duel with that deck…it had been so disorganized!

“We can go whenever you’re ready. The arena isn’t far, but it will get packed soon.” Ami set the lunch bags on the counter and began moving about gathering her things. “Many people come and spectate, not to mention the number of actual duelists that will be there. This is sure to be one of the biggest events we’ll see in a while.”

"Alright then, lets get going." Zeon started moving towards the door. He wandered what kind of opponents awaited him at the tournament.