2 The Rules

"Hey, are you listening to me?" the bat demanded.
"I'm sorry," Daniel said, sitting down with his back against the building. "It's hard to focus on what someone is saying when that someone happens to be a talking crack bat."
"A talking- Oh, you did not just call me that!" the bat snapped menacingly.
"Okay, why don't you just start over or what ever?" Daniel said.
"Ugh, fine," the bat said. "But you had better pay attention!"
"Okay, I'll try," Daniel said.
"Okay," the bat said. "First of all, winning a duel will earn you points."
"Points," Daniel said. "Got it."
"You can spend these points at shops," the bat said. "Different shops sell different things. Some have groceries, some have clothes, and some sell cards."
"Not sure how many more of those I'll need," Daniel said, clutching his bag of decks, most of which he probably wouldn't even use.
"Well, they're there if you need them," the bat said. "But you'll have to find them first."
"Okay, I think I've got all that down," Daniel said.
"Now, on to the fields," the bat said. "There's various arenas here on the Board. Each arena has its own field spell in effect. Even the Board itself is treated as a field spell."
"Neat," Daniel said. "So what's its effect?"
"You'll have to figure that one out on your own," the bat said. "Occasionally, the field will change in the middle of a duel, and activating a new field spell will void the effect of whichever field you're dueling on."
"Okay," Daniel said, getting back to his feet. "So what happens if a field spell me or my opponent activates leaves play? Will the original field come back into effect?"
"Yes, it will," the bat said.
"Great," Daniel said. "That means there's always a field spell active no matter what, right?"
"Pretty much," the bat said.
"In that case, I'd better look out for Earthbound and Malefic decks," Daniel said.
"Oh, yes you should," the bat said. "Also, there's a feature on your duel disk that transforms it into a dDuel Runner."
"You mean the bike things from 5Ds?" Daniel asked.
"Yes," the bat said. "If you duel using it, the Speed World Board spell will take effect."
"Speed World Board?" Daniel asked. "s that like, a modified Speed World or Speed World 2?"
"Pretty much," the bat said.
"So that means I need Speed Spells to duel there," Daniel said.
"You can buy those in shops," the bat said. "Also, there's one last thing..."
The bat spread its wings wide, and three glowing swords appeared. They shot forward, piercing into Daniel's chest.

Meanwhile, on a different part of the Board, two other people were having their preliminary match. One of them was a woman with blonde hair and a black duel disk. The other was a 20 year old British man, with shoulder length brown hair, and a crimson duel disk. The woman was clearly winning. She had out a Gem Knight Pearl equipped with Axe Of Despair, bringing it up to 3600 attack points, and the guy only had out a Scion Strife, with only 2000 attack points. The woman had 2200 life points, and the guy had 1900.

"I activate the equip spell Demon Shell!" the girl said. "This card prevents my monster from being destroyed by card effects! Now, attack hs monster!"
Her Gem Knight raised its axe, and struck Scion Strife. The man's life points dropped to 300.
"Looks like you'll be finished soon!" the girl said. "I set one card face down and end my turn."

"Shit," the man said, getting back to his feet. He drew a card. "How the hell am I supposed to deal with that thing!?"
"Try xyz summoning," said another man.
The man dueling turned sharply to see a man in a hooded robe leaning against a rook building nearby. His arms were folded across his chest.
"Who are you?" the british man demanded.
"That's not important, Malkator," the man said.
"How do you know my name?" the demanded.
"Like I said, it's not important," the hooded man said. "I finished my preliminary duel and then came across you. You seemed to be having trouble."
"Well, it's none of your business," Malkator said.
"Um, excuse me?" the girl said. "Are we dueling or not?"
"Just hold on a second!" Malkator snapped, looking at the cards in his hand. "Wait a mintue..."
He turned to see the hooded man walking away from them.
"Where the hell are you going!?" Malkator demanded.
"Elsewhere," the man said. "There's someone I need to find."
"Don't leave yet," Malkator said. "Once I finish off this girl, I'm taking you down."
"There's onlyone duelist in this tournament I'm interested in facing," the man said. "And you're not him."
"Why you little-," Malkator said.
"Hey! Brit! What are you waiting for?" the girl asid.
"Ugh, fine," Malkator said. "When I control no monsters, I can bring out Scion Noble Blade!"
A swordsman with a long black cloak appeared on Malkator's field. It was level 4 with 1800 attack points.
"Next, I activate Scion Shroud!" he said. "Since my life points are less that 1000, I can transform this card into a level 7 monster!"
A cloak appeared on Malkator's field, hovering as if it were being worn by an invisible man. It had 1500 attack points.
"Next, I play Scion Initiation!" Malkator said. "Now, Noble Blade's attack power and level become the same as Scion Shrouds. And then I overlay these two level 7 monsters to xyz summon!"
Malkator reached into his pocket to view his extra deck. He had two monsters he could summon. One of them wouldn't work with her Demon Shell in play, but the other one...
"I xyz summon Scion Sky Heart!" Malkator said.
A cloaked man with a lance and 2800 attack points appeared on his field.
"Now, I have him activate his effect!" Malkator said. "By detaching an overlay unit, I can switch your monster to defense position."
Gem Knight Pearl only had 1900 defense points.
"During my battle phase, Noble Blade's effect allows my xyz monster to gain 300 attack points," Malkator said, as his monster rose to 3100 attack. "Now, attack!"
"I activate the trap card Magic Cylanders!" the girl said. "Now, your attack is negated, and you take damage equal to your monster's attack!"
"I use Noble Blade's effect!" Malkator said. "Your trap card is negated and destroyed. Then I play the quicklplay spell card Ego Boost, which raises my monsters attack power by 1000!"
Malkator's Sky Heart destroyed Gem Knight Pearl easily.
"Sky Heart deals piercing damage," Malkator informed her. "Meaning you lose!"
Sky Heart struck her with a flash of light, and her life points were reduced to nothing.

Meanwhile, Daniel was lying on the ground, with the three swords sticking out of his chest.
"What the hell is this!" Daniel demanded.
"Just give it a minute," the bat said.
Slowly, the swords faded away. However, the wounds they left continued to glow a bright blue.
"What the hell?" Daniel asked.
"Those wounds are your lives," the bat said. "Each duelist gets three. When you lose a duel, you'll lose one life, and will be teleported to a random part of the Board."
"And what happens when I run out?" Daniel asked.
The bat gave a weird looking smile before saying, simply, "You die."
The bat vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving Daniel alone.
"Shit," Daniel said. "This just got a lot more serious."
"Hey, you!" a voice called.
Daniel turned. There was a man running toward him. He was older than Daniel, and had a beard.
"Um, hey," Daniel said.
"I'm challenging you to a duel!" the man said.
"I can't," Daniel said. "Didn't the bat thing tell you? If we run out of lives, we die."
"I have no intention of losing," the man said. "Now duel!"
The man clicked a button on his duel disk, and Daniel's duel disk turned on.
"What the hell is this?" Daniel asked.
"You can't get out of this," the man said. "You're going to duel me."
Daniel couldn't move his feet. He was stuck there.
"Fine," Daniel said. "I'll take you on."

"I'll go first!" the man said. "I activate Double Summon! Now, I can normal summon twice this turn. I'll start with Trojan Horse!"
A horse constructed from wood appeared. It was level 4 with 1600 attack points.
"Next, I use Trojan Horses effect!" the man said. "When I bring out an Earth monster, I can use it as 2 tributes. So I'll tribute my Trojan Horse to summon Night Whisperer Rake!"
A humanoid creature appeared on the man's field. It was level 7, with 2500 attack points. It resembled a naked man, hunched over like an animal, with no hair, big, black eyes, and long claws.
"I set two cards and end my turn," the man said.

"Okay," Daniel said. "I activate Ancient Rules. This card lets me special summon a level 5 or higher normal monster, so I'll bring out Dark Witch!"
A woman with angel wings and a staff appeared. She was level 5 with 1800 attack points.
"Next, I normal summon Counselor Lily!" Daniel said.
A fairy appeared on his field. It was level 3 with 400 attack points.
"I tune level 3 Counselor Lily to my level 5 Dark Witch!" Daniel said. "With these monsters, I synchro summon level 8, Light End Dragon!"
A radiant white dragon appeared on Daniel's field, with 2600 attack points.
"Now, I use Lily' effect," Daniel said. "I pay 500 life points to increase Light End Dragon's attack power by 1000 until the end phase. Now, attack!"
Daniel's dragon, now with 3600 attack points, attacked the Rake.
"I now activate my monster's effect!" Daniel said. "By permanently reducing its attack power by 500, your monster loses 1000 attack until the end phase."
Light End Dragon's attack became 3100, and the Rake was reduced to 1500. The attack hit, and the field was enveloped in light. The light soon faded, to reveal that the man was reduced to 6400 life points. However, his Rake was still standing.
"Wait a minute," Daniel said. "Why is your monster still there?"
"You don't get it," the man said. "The Rake is a special type of card, called a Fear. And do you know what the fun thing about Fears is?"
Daniel looked at the screen on his duel disk and enlarged the picture of the Rake card. He read the first line of its effect and realized exactly what had happened.
"Figured it out?" the man said. "As a Fear card, the Rake can only be destroyed in battle by another of it's kind!"


To be continued.