Discarded 1 [Worm/Battle City]

This chapter was commissioned by Tzardok

Anyone still remember Yugioh?

Chapter 1: Card Games at Night

I found them beating up someone in an alley.

Three men in black cloaks held a teenager by the wrist from where he slumped against the asphalt. They grabbed something from the winged disk around the teen’s arm, before discarding him.

“And now,” said one, I marked him as the leader. “Your precious Red-Eyes Black Dragon is mine.”

The three laughed as the teen fell back to the ground. They turned to leave, when the leader paused, one hand raised. “We are not alone.”

“I mean, did you expect to be?” I stepped into the glow of a streetlight. “After that explosion.” The rush of light and sound had led me here, after days of searching.

The three of them shifted to face me, shifting in confusion. “Another rare hunter?” one asked.

The teen staggered to his feet, clutching his jaw. “Aw man, more stooges?”

I frowned. Should I have been happy they thought I was part of their group? These three wore deep black cloaks with metal chains. The washed-out lighting hid that my ‘cloak’ was a ratty grey poncho I’d dug out of a dumpster to ward off the cold instead.

It had been a rough week since Contessa left me here with no holes in my head and an obnoxious wrist watch welded to a prosthetic arm.

A bit heavy handed.

“No,” the Leader said. “She is no predator, but she might instead be prey.”

I laughed, once.

In that past week, I’d done my best to find my footing in this weird world caught up in of card game mania. There didn’t seem to be any parahumans, which was good, because I didn’t think I could take a “Blue-Eyes Dragon Man” seriously.

Instead, most people here treated this Duel Monsters card game with the fervor of every professional sport rolled into one. And I’d been dumped in the middle of a city-wide tournament with no funds, no identity, and a deck that felt nearly as heavy handed as my new prosthetic.

I hadn’t figured much out since then (my only experience with competitive card games was when Cuff tried to get the Chicago Wards to play some game called commander). Instead, I’d come to a simple conclusion. I needed information on why Contessa had thrown me here, and I needed money and other resources so I could survive to find that information.

With forty pieces of cardboard to my name, and a city-wide Duel Monsters tournament taking place, my choice seemed obvious. While I was learning the layout of the City and the rules of the game from kids at the local playground, I also happened to hear a rumor.

“So, you three are the Rare Hunters, sniping people’s most expensive cards.” I moved closer. “I’m honestly surprised you’re playing by the rules of this tournament. If you’re going to ambush people in dark allies for their deck, why not steal all of it?”

“A good hunter needs to cull weak cards and duelists.” The leader pressed two fingers against his temple, eyes flashing. “And my senses tell me that’s what you are, a weak duelist with weak cards, not worth the predator’s time.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I should hope not.”

He didn’t seem to get it.

“But I’m interested in you.” I shifted, letting my prosthetic slip from beneath my poncho. “Grown men preying on the weak. Did you really think you could get away without showing your faces?” The men shifted, one angry, two dismissive.

All three looking at the scratched duel disk wrapped around my wrist.

I lifted it up, and the two arms of the duel disk swung together in a flash of light, declaring my intention to challenge one of them to a children’s card game. I would have preferred beating them up, honestly, but that’s now how things were done here.

The leader snorted. “A hunter doesn’t waste time on unworthy prey. Anfel, deal with her.”

The angry one stepped forward, raising his own dual disk. “Understood.”

I clicked my tongue as the leader and his other lacky left.

“I challenge you to a duel!” Anfel pointed at me.

“Do I need to say something?” I murmured. “Oh, right. I accept. Let’s duel.”

“When I’m finished with you, you’ll know better than to interfere with your betters.”

Both of our duel disks synchronized in shimmer of light, launching the tinkertech-style holoprojectors to frame the battlefield. Anfel and I stood maybe five yards apart, but I knew from watching other duelists that soon that space would be filled with projections.

The spectacle, at least, I could appreciate. Card games were much more interesting when there was something to look at.

Right, at the start of the game you draw five cards from your deck. I took a look at mine, frowning as I realized it was mostly the bug cards. At least it was the good bugs. Despite my lack of knowledge, I felt qualified to make that judgement.

“As the prey, I insist you take the first turn.” Anfel grinned from beneath the shadows of his hood. “It wouldn’t do to cut the hunt short.”

“Leave the grandstanding to your boss,” I replied.

I couldn’t stand the predator and prey nonsense. Something about it just made me want to punch someone in the face. Before my opponent could say something like ‘the mouth of the predator’ or something else vomit inducing, I summoned a card in defense mode, which was all I could do, and ended my turn.

After I placed the card in a slot of my duel disk, a facedown card as large as a magic carpet appeared on the ground before me, solid brown with a dark circle in the center.

Leet would have loved this place.

Since you could only play one monster a turn—or something, I still wasn’t sure what the kids were babbling about with special summon—I was hoping I could buy some time to draw some of the other cards contessa thought were on theme.

“A weak play for a weak duelist.” Anfel sneered.

“Do you ever stop talking?” I asked.

“No! I draw!” He pulled a card from his own deck with a flourish of his arm. “Perfect! I play Pot of Greed! It allows me to draw two new cards from my deck.”

He placed the card on the front portion of his duel disk, and the projectors generated the image of a grinning green pot as large as its owner was tall.

“As long as he sticks to drawing cards…” I muttered.

The teen from before shuffled over to stand next to me. “I dunno about that, lady. The last guy played two graceful charities on me and then summoned Exodia!”

I glanced at him, taking in the tense expression on his face.

“I don’t need Exodia to deal with the likes of you,” Anfel declared. “Instead, I’ll cast Soul Exchanged that I drew with my Pot of Greed!” My face down card began to glow. “This allows each of us to use our opponent’s monsters as tributes at this moment. How unfortunate for you that I have no monsters, but I’ll happily make use of yours to play Summoned Skull!”

My face down card shattered as he summoned his next creature. A large winged skeleton with weird horns and muscle fibers. A blue panel flashed into existence in front of it, proudly declaring 2500 in bright yellow letters.

Right, that was its attack.

“No way!” the kid shouted. “They’ve got Summoned Skull and Pot of Greed?”

“Is that rare?” I asked. “It’s a card game, he’s gonna have cards.”

“Yeah but those cards—”

Blessedly, Anfel interrupted us. “Summoned Skull, attack her lifepoints directly.”

I squinted slightly as the holographic monster flashed towards me, claws passing through me harmlessly as its attack was subtracted from my 4000 life points.

“One more attack and you’re finished,” Anfel said. “And with that, I end my turn.”

I frowned. “Maybe this card game thing is harder than I thought.” I ignored the incredulous look from my left. Instead, I drew my one card for the turn.

Well.

I nodded.

“I…set one card.” Set was for cards that weren’t monsters, right? “And summon another monster face down. End my turn.”

“Fool, do you think you can frighten me with two puny face downs?” Anfel drew his card. “My monsters will crush you. I summon Goblin Attack Force to clear the way for my Summoned Skull! Goblin Attack Force, kill her pathetic monster.”

I allowed myself a smirk.

A horde of goblins raced forward, smashing my creature card.

“Congratulations, you killed my man-eater bug.”

“No! It destroys my monster.”

I nodded. “Great, I don’t even have to read the card. Bug, destroy the goblin attack force.”

Anfel paused, staring at me.

“What are yah doing?” the kid asked.

In front of us, the projectors played an all-too-detailed animation of a man-sized bug devouring way too many goblins.

“What do you mean?”

“He’s still got Summoned Skull that’s gonna kill you!”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s not gonna kill me, it’s a projection.”

Slowly, Anfel started to laugh. It was all I could do not to roll my eyes. “But it will end this duel,” Anfel said. “Summoned skull, finish the job!”

It flashed with lightning, very scary, but, “I’ll activate my other card.” I pulled it from the disk and placed it face up. “Mind Control, for the next two turns, your monster belongs to me.”

“What?” Anfel shouted. “Impossible!”

I waited for a moment, but the cloaked man just stared at me, eyes so wide I could almost make them out from the shadows of his hood.

“…Is it my turn now?” I asked.

Anfel glared at me, and at the other cards he was holding. But he’d already played his one monster, and it looked like that was all he had. “I end my turn.”

“Great. Let’s take a look at my strongest monster, Flying Kamakiri pound two.” A praying mantis joined my Summoned Skull on the battlefield, and I allowed myself a moment to gloat. “It has one thousand five hundred attack points, which may be a weak monster to you, but combined with your Skull…what was it you said again? Attack your life points directly!”

My monsters roared, racing forward in a blast of pixilated smoke and thunder, and reduce Anfel’s life points to exactly zero.

“Now then.” I walked forward as the holograms broke apart around me. “I believe you owe me something.”

He staggered back. “No, I—”

The kid shoulder checked Anfel into a streetlight. I blinked once as his head rang against the metal like a gong before he slumped to the ground.

“That’s for takin’ my Red-Eyes,” the teen said. “And trying to welch on a duel.”

“Thanks,” I paused. “Uh…”

“Name’s Joey, Joey Wheeler.”

“Thanks, Joey.” I walked over to Anfel as he groaned quietly on the ground. “So what do I do now?”

“You get to take his best card, and he ain’t gonna run again, right?” Joey leaned over Anfel. The man just pressed a hand against his head.

With a sigh, I pulled the man’s cards from his duel disk, passing them up to Joey to disguise as I quickly went through Anfel’s pockets. The cards I cared less about; I was here for information.

“Make sure to check his deck box too,” Joey said.

I paused. “Right.”

Deck box, as in the small box attacked to the side of his belt. Weird terminology aside, it was the cover I needed to make sure I didn’t miss anything. He had a wallet that I’d go through later, surprisingly full; the…deck box was empty.

“Hey,” Joey said. “There’s something off these cards.” He held them out in the glow of the street lamp, tilting them back and forth in the light. “They’re too glossy, and a lot of ‘em feel weird.”

“They’re just cards aren’t they?” I asked.

“Just cards?” Joey’s shock hit me like a pressure wave. “These are Duel Monsters! And these duel monsters, they don’t feel right.”

I shrugged. For his part, Joey continued to examine the deck for a few more seconds, before his eyes widened. “Wait a sec. These dudes had Exodia, and a bunch of rare cards like Graceful Charity and Pot a Greed? What if they’re fake?”

“Fake cards?”

“Yeah. Check this out.” Joey pulled the Summoned Skull card out of the deck, glaring at it like it personally offended him. His hands clenched for a moment, as if struggling with his self. Then he tore it in half. “Ha! Look at that, same color all the way through! Real Duel Donsters cards have red in the middle!”

I nodded. “…What would you have done if it was a real card.”

He stiffened, almost falling over. “W-well it wasn’t, so we don’t gotta care about that. All we gotta care about is—hey, where’d he go!”

I spun. The ground next to us was bare. Sometime during Joey’s shouting, the ‘rare hunter’ had crawled around the corner, and probably made run for it.

I groaned, running my hand down my face. “What is this?”

“The guy left all his cards!” Joey looked like he couldn’t even believe it.

I swiped the deck back with a roll of my eyes. “You said they’re all fake, right? He can just print a whole new deck to beat up kids with.”

“Hey.” Joey turned to face me. “I appreciate the help and all, Lady, but I ain’t no kid.”

“Tell me that the next time you don’t get mugged by strange men in an alley.”

“That can happen to anyone!” he shouted.

“This fucks me over, though,” I continued. “No information on their little group, and I don’t even get a consolation prize.”

“Yeah, he don’t even have a locator card,” Joey said.

“A locator card?” I looked up from the pile of glossy fakes in my hand. “Is that important?”

“How’re you in the tournament if you don’t know what locator cards are?” He shook his head. “Ya need to get six of ‘em to get to the finals! That’s the whole point!”

I sighed. It was just cards, what was so complicated about that? I took one last pass through the deck, pausing at the rippling green of a spell card. “This one looks different though.” It was the card he’d used to sacrifice my own card, I thought.

This game didn’t really make sense, but I felt like that Anfel guy must have been…quite bad to lose to me with a deck full of powerful fakes.

“Yeah.” Joey took the card, running a thumb over it. “This one looks real. I’d still get it checked though.”

I pulled a face. Of course I found the one card that still fit with my theme. “That wraps this up.” I slotted the fakes back into the empty box. It took some doing, but I managed to get my own cards all back in the duel disk, and my prosthetic back beneath my cloak.

Responsive and clunky in turns, the thing had already started earning my hate.

“Go report those fakes to someone, yeah?” I told Wheeler. “Maybe the people running this show will find some of those Rare Hunters.”

“Yeah, Kaiba would come down like a ton a bricks on yahoos like this,” he replied. “Wait, where are you goin’?”

I turned, already a few steps from the alley. “I’m going to see if I can’t find any more of these ‘rare hunters’ tonight.” I flicked my new card over my fingers, before slotting it into the deck. “With this, I think I’ll have an easier time dealing with their overpowered fakes.”

“Wait a sec! It don’t feel right letting you just wander off like that.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Can we remember, for just a moment, who saved whom tonight?”

“Whom I might be.” I blinked at Joey’s reply. “But it still don’t feel right. Their leader was way stronger. If yah got hurt, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.”

“I didn’t know I needed your blessing to walk around,” I said.

“Gah, why are you shady types always so stubborn!” He grabbed his head with both hands. “Just…let me buy yah something to eat or somethin’!”

“That—” My stomach picked that moment to growl. Loudly. I paused, looking away. “That would be fine.”

“There we go, that wasn’t so hard was it?” Joey grinned. “I was just about to pick up some chow before heading home anyway, you can come and meet my sister.”

“I agreed to a meal, not to hear your life story,” I said.

“Nah, forget about me. Serenity’s great, you’ll love her,” Joey replied. “C’mon before more a’ those rare weirdos show up.”

A sigh slipped between my lips, but I found myself trailing after Wheeler for lack of anything else to do. It had been over a day since I’d had a meal, and despite my desire to keep going, I could recognize self-destructive behavior in myself a bit better these days.

Something about men in black cloaks, spouting off about predators and prey, I don’t know, it just made me so mad…

“So anyway, what’s your name, Lady?” Joey asked. “Less you want me to keep calling you that.”

“Should I drop something mystical and edgy sounding?” I tilted my head back. “You can call me Taylor.”

“Taylor, huh? So, what’s our next move?”

“Our?” I asked.

“About these hunter dudes! Hang a left up here.” Joey pointed, before clenching his hand into a fist. “Running around, using fake cards to steal duels? That ain’t right! Someone’s gotta put a stop to it!”

“And where does ‘we’ come in?” I replied.

He snorted, coming to a stop in front of a store with Pizza Duelist written in neon over the door. “Look, you can brush me off if yah want, but those guys stole my Red Eyes. You better believe I ain’t gonna rest until I get it back!”

I sighed for about the hundredth time that night. “I guess together is better than you running off on your own.”

“That’s the spirit!” Joey pushed the door of the pizza place wide. “Now let’s get some grub. Man…Serenity is gonna be on my case for eating so much junk food.”

“What did I say about your life story, Wheeler.”

Joey laughed and ordered the pizza, before we walked all the way back to his place.

To my utter chagrin, I did love Serenity.

Discarded

Worm/Yu-gi-oh!