The hero archetype. One of the most popular archetypes to come out of Duel Monsters. It became so popular that comics were made for the Elemental Heroes in almost no time. As well as a popular tv show and toy line. And in respect to the Japanese inspiration for the Masked Hero archetype, a manga and anime series soon came into existence. These archetypes wound having great influence on two young duelists at CHS. Flash Sentry, who is known for his mastery of the Elemental Hero archetype. And Blueblood, who uses the Masked Hero archetype. And it is with these two duelists that our story begins.
"Hey Blueblood.", Flash asked. "I've noticed you keep calling Burst 'master.' Why is that?"
"Simple. When I was first defeated by him, I was nothing more than a selfish, arrogant duelist. Too eager to dismiss any card that I deemed 'useless.' But when Burst defeated me, he gave me advice that's stuck with me ever since. To play with a deck that I have a bond with. No matter if I achieve victory or defeat. That's why I call him master. He helped me discover the meaning of bond between a duelist and their deck. That led to me finding my old Masked Hero deck. I never won much with it in my younger days, but it was a deck that I loved to play."
"Nice. Kind of like how I feel about my Elemental Hero cards. Hey! Why don't we form a club for the hero cards? The hero cards are pretty popular. I should know. I'm a big fan of the Elemental Hero comics that Industrial Illusions makes!"
"Yes! We'll call it the Masked Hero Club!"
"Uh, I think you mean the Elemental Hero Club."
"Masked."
"Elemental"
"Masked!"
"Elemental!"
"Alright, let's stop for a moment. We're not going to get anywhere going back and forth like this. There's only one way to settle this!"
"Anytime, anyplace.", Flash said boldly.
"Lunch period. We'll settle which hero archetype will be the true focus of the club!"
Duel 2: Stuck in the Middle
Burst was going about his day at CHS when he noticed a huge crowd had gathered in the hallway. 'Wonder what's going on?' As Burst got closer to investigate, he noticed Flash and Blueblood were glaring at each other. Both of them had a large crowd behind either of them. "Would someone please explain to me what's going on between these two?"
"Master!", Blueblood nearly jumped at hearing Burst. "Nothing that concerns you. Flash and I are just having a disagreement on which hero card archetype our club should focus on. I'm on the side that's pushing for Masked Heroes."
"And I'm with the people who stand with the Elemental Heroes! They should be the focus because they actually have powers!"
"Masked Heroes have color costumes! AND they're easier to summon!"
"E-Heroes have cooler monsters!" Soon, Flash and Blueblood turned their gaze to Burst.
"Well Burst? Who are you siding with? I know you're a fan of the Masked Heroes anime and manga like me.", Blueblood said.
"No way Bluebrat! Burst's an E-Hero fan through and through! I know because he told me he liked the E-Heroes movie that came out this year!" As the two went back and forth, Burst decided to make his stance on the issue known.
"ENOUGH! I'm not joining either side of this! Both of you are acting like total fanboys! And I'm also not joining because I like BOTH of these archetypes and the media they've been represented in. Can't we all just come to a compromise where we're all happy?"
"No master. We can't . There's only one way to settle this! We're dueling the second lunch period hits!"
"Your Masked Heroes are going to need those masks to hide their shame from my Elemental Heroes beating them!"
Burst face-palmed as the insult war began once again. "So much for diplomacy. Well, at least it'll be like the crossover comics Industrial Illusions started. And it all begins with the Elemental Heroes and Masked Heroes fighting. I hope Flash and Blueblood don't make things escalate to the point where I need to step in."
The whole cafeteria was silent as Flash and Blueblood faced each other. Each one's gaze telling the other that they weren't backing down.
"When this is all over, only ONE hero archetype will be the focus of the club.", Blueblood said flatly.
"May the best hero series win.", Flash said. "I can't agree with your decision, but I respect you're this willing to back it up."
"I must say the same in regards to you." Both of them activated their duel disks and the duel of the heroes began!
Flash: 8000
Blueblood: 8000
"Since the Elemental Heroes came first, I've got the first move! I summon Elemental Hero Sparkman! Then I'll equip him with Spark Blaster and end my turn."
"My move then. I summon Elemental Hero Bubbleman! Now I'll activate the spell card Mask Change! I can target a monster I control and send it to the graveyard! And by doing this, I can special summon a masked hero with the same attribute! I summon Masked Hero Acid! And once he's on the field, I can destroy all spell and trap cards you control and all monsters you control lose 300 attack! Attack Elemental Hero Sparkman! Hydro Blast!"
"You're all wet Sparky!", Acid boasted as Sparkman was washed away from a shot from his blaster!
"Next I'll set a card face-down and end my turn."
Flash: 6900
Blueblood: 8000
"Not a bad start. I draw! This should help! I play the Warrior Returning Alive! This revives Sparkman from my graveyard! Now I play Polymerization to fuse Sparkman on my field with Bladedge in my hand to summon Elemental Hero Plasma Vice! Now I'll use his effect! I can discard one card and destroy one attack mode monster you control!"
"Acid!", Blueblood cried as Masked Hero Acid was destroyed by a bolt of plasma!
"Attack him directly Plasma Vice!" Plasma Vice pounded his fists together and unleashed a blast of lightning that struck Blueblod directly!
"I end my turn."
Flash: 6900
Blueblood: 5400
"I play the Warrior Returning Alive I set last turn to special summon Elemental Hero Bubbleman from my graveyard! Now I play Double Summon to bring out Avian and Burstinatrix! Now I'll play the two copies of Mask Change in my hand! I send Avian and Burstinatrix to the graveyard to special summon Masked Heroes Blast and Goka! Now I'll activate Blast's effect! When he's special summoned, I can halve the attack of one monster on your field! Also, I pay 500 life points to return your face-down card! Now that Goka is on the field, I can use his effect! he gains 100 attack for each hero monster in my graveyard! Blast, destroy Plasma Vice! Goka, attack Flash directly!"
"Time to blow you away Plasma!", Blast said as he fired a gust of wind that destroyed Plasma Vice!
"I'm gettin' fired up!", Goka said as he fired a jet of flame from his fist that hit Flash directly!
"Now I'll play Mask Charge to return one hero monster and one Change card in my graveyard to my hand. I end my turn."
Flash: 3500
Blueblood: 4900
"Looks like I'll have to go on the defensive. I play Swords of Revealing Light! This blocks you from attacking for three of your turns! Next I'll set a card face-down and summon a monster in defense mode! I end my turn."
"I'll set a card too. Next I'll summon Clayman! Then I'll play Mask Change and send him to the graveyard to special summon Masked Hero Dian! Next I'll activate Blast's effect! I'll pay 500 life points to return Sword of Revealing Light to your hand! Now Dian attacks your monster! I'll hold-off on attacking with Goka and end my turn. And since Dian destroyed your monster by battle, I can special summon a level 4 or lower hero monster from my deck! I special summon Shadow Mist! I end my turn."
"I'll activate my swords again. But you've helped me a bit by destroying Wroughtweiler! I can add one hero card and one polymerization from my graveyard to my hand! I'll call it a turn for now."
"My turn then. I play Mask Charge to return Avian and Mask Change to my hand! Next I play Form Change! I return Dian from my field to my extra deck so I can special summon another masked hero with the same level! I special summon Masked Hero Koga! Now I'll play Mask Change and send Shadow Mist to the graveyard to special summon Masked Hero Dark Law! That's all for my turn."
"My move then! I draw! Perfect! I'll fuse Sparkman with Beast King of the Swamps as a fusion substitute to fusion summon Elemental Hero Shining Flare Wingman! And now that he's on the field, he gains 300 attack for each elemental hero in my graveyard! And last I checked there were two! This boosts him to 3100 attack points! I'll attack Masked Hero Blast! And since he was destroyed by battle, you take his attack points as damage!"
"Ngh!", Blueblood winced as he took damage!
"I end my turn."
Flash: 3500
Blueblood: 1000
"I've got to admit. I'm enjoying this duel a lot!", Blueblood said with a smile. "But I'm afraid I'm ending this now! I play Fusion Sage to add Polymerization to my hand! Now I'll use it to fuse Koga and Dark Law to bring out Contrast Hero Chaos! Now I'll use his effect! I can negate the effect of one face-up card on the field until the end of this turn! Attack with Contrast Blast!"
"Not so fast! I activate Battle Fusion! When a fusion monster I control battles one of my opponent's monsters, they gain attack equal to your monster's until the end of the damage step!"
"In that case, I'll activate my own Battle Fusion!"
"I activate my trap card! Final Fusion! Since we both control fusion monsters, I can target both and negate the attack! But we both wind up taking their attack points as damage.", Flash said with an exhausted smile. "You know, I had fun with this duel too." Both boys braced themselves as the negated attack wiped out the last of their life points.
"You fought with great courage and honor Wingman.", Contrast Hero Chaos said with a small bow.
"The same goes to you Chaos.", Shining Flare Wingman said with a salute.
"You know Blublood. If our monsters can get along, I don't see why we can't make the club about both hero archetypes."
"Flash. Something tells me that's a really good idea. And that we should have thought of that earlier.", Blueblood said with an exhausted smile.
