[Note To Readers] 9/5/2024
Chapter 1, My first Day at CHS (Part 1)
It all happened two days ago, on my first day of high school. I have been enrolled in Canterlot High, or CHS for short. A lot of people have said many things in my younger years. Some say that I’m serious and quiet, but to me – and I may not show it – I’m scared of going to a new school. And then there's the issue of getting a new house, which in itself is no picnic.
"We're having a picnic? Why didn't you tell me we're having a picnic?" an energetic voice came from a pink girl who I had met at CHS. Her name was Pinkie Pie, and she knew exactly how to make us all smile. "I could have brought cupcakes, candy and cake! I should even bring chimicherry, or cherrychanga! And maybe—"
"Pinkie, you're not supposed to talk when i'm writing in my journal!" I exasperated before returning to my work. "So could you please not do that again?" I asked "It was just an expression, Pinkie, not an actual picnic. And I think having too much sugar is a bad thing."
"Oh, but it’s so fun to join in and when you eat sugar a lot too!"
"Touche. But promise me that you won't do that again, unless I let you."
"But—"
"Pinkie promise."
Pinkie huffed as she accepted defeat. "Oh, okay. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" she gestured with her hands as well.
Okay, now where was I? Oh, right!
I just moved into my new home: a spacious two floor house with bright walls and clean windows. It was no different from the rest of the houses in the neighborhood, but it was still my home nonetheless. On a Monday morning, I was still asleep in bed, having a nice cat-nap. As I slumbered, I felt like nothing could possibly disturb me.
When all of a sudden, I heard loud knocks on my door.
Struggling to stay asleep, I squirmed in my bed whilst groaning. It was a futile attempt. "So annoying." With no choices left, I got out of bed. "Who would bother—" I yawned —"to wake me in the morning?
I suddenly saw the clock timer saying 10:00 A.M. Staggered by it, I face-palmed. "Oh! That's why!" I was still mumbling and rubbing my eyes, trying to wake up from my nap.
I decided to get dressed up as fast as I could. Luckily, I had everything ready, so I wouldn't be any later having to find my stuff. I ran downstairs to the kitchen for some breakfast. Immediately after that, I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth.
The knocking came once again.
"I'm coming! Hold your horses!" I yelled. After that, I went to get my things and my cards. "I'd better hide these!" I stuffed them into the deck case on my custom-made belt. I walked up the door, but I suddenly felt a nagging suspicion at the back of my head. I stopped to check if I needed anything else. "Nah!" I shrugged, then opened the door to see someone standing on the other side of it.
A teenage boy around my age smiled to see me. He was leading me to Canterlot High. I found it to be a really generous and helpful thing for him to do, since I didn't really know my way around town just yet.
I'm sure that this guy won't be as bad as the others, I thought, recalling my previous experiences with navigators. Seriously, how can someone mistake Canada for Antarctica?
"Finally awake, Key?" the boy smiled as he stretched the word.
"Hay Drum!" I said. "And it's Kye, not Key."
I turned around to lock the door before leaving, strolling along to school with Drum leading. As we strolled along, my gaze constantly shifted from left to right as we passed by a number of buildings. I enjoyed each and every minute of my brief walk with him, until I finally caught a glimpse of the high school's rooftop flag.
Halfway there, Drum noticed my hands were shaking slightly.
"What’s wrong?" Drum asked me, even though I still wasn't looking at him.
"I’m... I’m scared." I whimpered.
"I didn't hear, but I have to guess that you're worried. Why?"
"I'm just a little anxious, that's all. Nothing more, nothing less. It's just that I won't know anyone at Canterlot High. This is my first impression, and I just don't want to mess things up!" my shaky hands were now practically flailing.
Drum put on a smile. "Don't worry. I know you can handle it. I only met you yesterday and you've already given me a nice greeting!" he reassured. "After all, you're a good person, even if it's in a weird way."
"Hey!" I thought he was being rude at first, but then I knew it was a joke and couldn't stop laughing with him.
A few minutes later, we finally reached the school ground. I wanted to say goodbye, but I heard some noise to my right. There were lots of people cheering and applauding, most likely to celebrate something. I said my farewells to Drum before I ran inside to investigate. I was unaware on what was happening, until the sounds gradually got louder and louder.
When I got to the origin of the noise, I was in shock. I heard the crowd jeering and booing from all corners. Peeking in, I found two people wearing custom duel disks, one standing victorious and the other one kneeling on the floor in defeat.
Looking at who won, it was a girl that had white, curved hair and light blue skin. Wearing a wizard-like outfit and a smug grin on her face. On her skirt was an emblem shaped like a purple wand touching a yellow star.
The victorious girl smirking at her opponent with so much lust in her eyes. From that alone, I could see that she desired for lust, fame, riches, and power.
"If that's all you have to offer The Great and Powerful Trixie, then I'm very disappointed in you," she said, pointing at her opponent's face. Out of nowhere, fireworks shot out and erupted, grabbing everyone's attention. "Come, and be amazed by my fantastic skills!" she boasted all over her recent victory. She looked around after reveling, only see the defeated duelist; "I expected more from you."
Shaken from his duel, the loser merely blacked out and dropped his deck, causing the cards to scatter all across the ground
"I can't believe it," said a girl with curved, purple hair and white skin. She looked down and pinched the space between her eyebrows.
"At the very least, Trixie played the game fairly and honorably," another girl wearing a country hat and jeans said. She was blonde, and looked at the disk on her own arm. "But the way she began to act all savage during that last turn and ultimately turn the game around, it's like Trixie was almost an entirely different person."
"I can agree with you on that, Applejack," a girl with yellow skin and fiery hair spoke next. "Call it a miracle that she turned the duel around like that, but the way she went from terrified to monstrous at the drop of a hat actually sent a shiver down my spine."
"Now Trixie is constantly boasting, on how great she is, all because she beat a boy who didn't even know how to play this game, yet somehow got the upper hand when it started!" a girl with rainbow hair and cyan skin said as she watched the victorious boast buster doing another victory pose with fireworks.
"She's stricter than a western sheriff hopped up on booze!" the western girl grunted and crossed her arms.
While everyone is chatting away, I started to examine on the duelist who lost. To my dismay, he wouldn't wake up or pick his deck.
Due to my family's history, my eyes are in two different colors: yellow and red. I used to have dark blue eyes, but over time, they changed due to the cursed artifacts that my mother and father had collected over the years. My Yellow eye has an unusual power: It reveals things in otherworldly planes of existence. This is more for hunting Sin Seeds, as their dark energies mask them from the naked eye! It’s my job to eliminate as many of these Sin Seeds as possible, so that their power can never be used for malicious intent.
I saw a Lust seed: a seed that made people want things on unnatural levels. It’s already at third stage! I have to step in and quick! I thought before charging in.
"Is there anybody who is more then capable of giving me a challenge?!" she questioned the crowd, looking for a new opponent to face. Her gaze turned towards a girl with red hair and yellow skin wearing a pink bow. "How about you?!" she pointed towards the girl, but retracted it when the teen stepped backwards. "Two bad." Trixie huffed.
"Okay, that's it!" I yelled out and readied my duel disk. Charging through the crowd, I locked gazes with Trixie and pointed right at her. "You want it, you'll get it!"
Everyone fell silent and turned to see me issue the challenge to Trixie.
She slowly started to grin. "Are you challenging me? Pu-lease!" She waved her hand mockingly.
I merely stepped back and helped the boy who had just been defeated, waking him up and picking his deck back up.
He looked at me as I knelt down to his level. "Why, why are you doing this?" he asked after he had finally got back up onto his feet. "She got really vicious during her duel with me. You could very well suffer the same fate as me!"
"I'm just doing what I think is right," I said to the boy.
"If you were there, you might have seen a black and white aura or something. It was only visible for a second, and only I could see it, almost like Trixie had been taken over by a force from another dimension!"
Everyone's attention was on Trixie now, and they knew very well why. "Why do you need to know? It's not going to change the fact, that you're going to lose!" she reached for another duel disk and offered it. "Here, you might want this to play."
"Don't worry about me." I slid my bag off my shoulders and reached in, pulling out a large piece of metal with an arm strap. "I have my own duel disk!"
Everyone gasped when I strapped it to myself and initiated the duel function.
Trixie, however, was surprisingly calm as she turned hers on.
Trixie duel pad is colored light blue like the new models. Mine was a black gauntlet with red lines and had a large, computer tablet. Once she had put her disk on her arms, a line of rainbow lights activated, initiating the holograms that allowed the monsters to come to life. There was a part on mine that was similar, but it slid out automatically. We took our stances as the sky, walls, and ground changed color to accommodate the augmented reality effects.
Everyone jumped as out of nowhere, someone asked, "Are you both accepting the duel?" a sign showed if Trixie would accept it, she used her finger to press yes and I did the same with mine. "Duel mode engaged. Initiating auto-shuffle shuffle decks," both duel disks did as the voice said, "Draw your cards," both players drew their five cards.
"Duelists locked in battle!" Trixie shouted.
"Kicking the earth and dancing in the air alongside their monsters!" I said in response
"They storm through this field!"
"Behold! This is the newest and greatest evolution of dueling!"
"ACTION..." the audience cheered in suspense.
"Duel!" both duelists yelled out as counters came out of nowhere, revealing their life points both starting at eight-thousand.
"Ladies first," I humbly bowed to Trixie.
She nodded whilst drawing her sixth card and added it to her hand. "First things first, I think that a stage is needed for such a bedazzling performer like the Great and Powerful Trixie," at the end of her duel blade, a slot opened up and she put in a green card, causing the whole area to become consumed in a blast of white light as the slot closed. "I play the Field Spell, Wizard School Stadium!"
She threw her hand skyward as the light died down, revealing a castle in place of Canterlot High School. It had archaic markings all across the walls and a whole A.I. audience cheering both duelists on to victory. The grass was so real that we could both touch it, and it felt more like a duel due to the absence of the crowd from earlier.
"Next, I set two cards face down and end my turn." She put them in two empty slots, with giant versions showing up briefly before they vanished. "Your move!"
"I draw!" I put my fingers on top of the deck and pull out my sixth card. I put it in my hand and began to strategize. I have to focus on winning before that Sin Seed gets stronger... I pulled out a monster card and place it face-up on the disk. "I summon Mark-12 Armored Dragon!"
A less powerful flash of light emanated from my duel disk, but when it stopped, a large metallic quadrupedal dragon with golden eyes appeared, staring down the CHS student. The disk then went on to project the monster's level, which was four; and its attack points, 1800. This was only temporary.
"Before I attack, I'll place two cards face-down as well!" I said, throwing two cards into two slots on my disk. They also appeared briefly before disappearing. "Now, Mark 12 Armored Dragon, cut that wizard's magic act short!"
The dragon roared in fury before taking in a massive amount of flame and breathing it towards Trixie.
Right as the flames got close, Trixie grinned and pressed a button on her duel pad. "Nice try," one of her face-down cards flipped face-up, revealing a trap card. There was a picture of a massive explosion engulfing everything in sight. "You activated my Trap Card, Widespread Ruin! This card can destroy the monster on your side of the field with the most Attack Points!" she laughed briefly before snapping her fingers, causing the very same destruction on the card to engulf the attack and the dragon that it came from.
After the flames died down, nothing but smoke stood in its place. There was silence from the crowd for half a minute until the smoke vanished, revealing a glass copy of Mark-12 Armor Dragon.
Trixie stumbled backwards when she caught a glimpse of the shimmering copy of the dragon that had just been destroyed. The glass then shattered, and the dragon let out another massive roar.
"But how?!" In her thunderstruck state, she had failed to notice that a green card was now face-up on my side of the field. It showed an image of a glass person, but half of its face was turning into human flesh.
"It’s all thanks to my spell! Glass Substitution!" I said, "Thanks to this, I can protect one monster from being destroyed by battle and card effects for this turn!" I pointed at my dragon, who was ready to continue the attack. "Not only that, but its Attack Points increase by 500 for each Spell and Trap on your side of the field until the end of the turn!
"I activated this just before your Widespread Ruin hit, so that still counts as a Trap on your side of the field, even though it's now in the Graveyard. That, combined with the other cards makes three. Three times 500 equals 1500 more Attack points for my dragon!" I explained, as the projection of my dragon's stats reappeared, but with the ATK number rising to 3300. "Now! Mark-12 Armored Dragon, give Trixie the roasting she deserves for being such a great sport!"
The dragon resumes its fire-breathing, but this time, the flames engulf Trixie. She screams as the virtual flames singe her body, and her Life Point counter drops down to 4700. When the flames dissipate, it looked like her face and hair was covered in ashes.
"I end my turn. And because I did, my dragon's Attack Points go back to normal," the counter went down as I spoke. "Your move."
"Yeah! Go, Kye!" a talking dog with green eyes cheered from the sidelines. He had green soft floppy ears, a bushy tail, and a soft short Mohawk, covered in purple fur. "This new kid's pounding Trixie today," he looked at a lavender girl with long, dark blue straight hair with purple and pink stripes. "Right, Twilight?"
Twilight was dressed in light blue button shirt, a purple skirt with two ribbon strands hanging down on the back, purple boots that reach up halfway to her knee, and a purple cape with dark blue and pink stripes from top to bottom. Aside from that, she had magenta eyes.
"Yes. But I still don't understand how this game works, aside from the holograms projecting those monsters," she blushed as she watched the game unfold. Yet whilst she was watching Kye and Trixie clash, she couldn't help but think that there was something else about the duel that she wasn't seeing.
"Draw!" Trixie growled before looking at her card. A devious grin crossed her face as her brows lowered "I activate the effect of my Wizard School Stadium!" she announced. "One per turn, I can Special Summon a Spellcaster-Type from my hand and ignore the summoning conditions, as long as I have no monsters on my field." As she explained, she placed a monster on her duel blade, causing the image on the card to take a physical form. "I summon The Sorcerer of Dark Magic!"
The monster that appeared on the field was a wizard garbed in black robes and holding a trident-esque scepter with a jade gem in the middle of the three points. Just like with the dragon I had summoned, a projection showed its level, which was nine; and its ATK, which was 3200.
"However, in order to use this effect, I have to send two monsters from my hand to the graveyard." She took two cards and slid them into a little slot that went into her disk. She then pulled another card from her hand and slid it another slot underneath her disk. "Now, I'll give my magical friend a little boost by equipping it with Mage Power!" another green card showed up, with two wizards praising a shrine. "This little card allows me to increase the attack and defense points of my monster by 500 for each card in my Spell and Trap card Zones, including this one, and my field spell. Just as you raised the points of your dragon by 1500, I'll do the same with my Sorcerer of Dark Magic!" The counter returned, showing the points escalate to 4700 in an instant. "Attack that dragon with Demi Spell!"
The sorcerer attacked with a spherical spell and hit Mark-12 Armored Dragon. The beast roared from impact before being caught in another explosion and shattering like glass.
My Life Points went down to 5100 when the chaos died down.
"Then I reveal my face-down card, Fireworks Barrage!" A picture revealed a number of fireworks launching towards something. "When I destroy a monster in battle, you take damage equal to the original Attack Points of that monster!"
All of a sudden, multiple fireworks shot out of the card and exploded at my feet. The force of the explosions was so powerful that it sent me crashing against the wall, where I tumbled down like a rag-doll after hitting it. The counter returned once again, showing my LP count was now at 3300.
"I end my turn!" Trixie's smiled had returned as she made a peace sign with her hands before a wicked grin on her face appeared. "And soon, I'll end this duel!"
I can't lose to her. I have to win, before it’s too late! I thought. If I don't win the Sin Seed will become physical, and this world will be thrown into total chaos!
