Ch. 1: The Future’s Surprises

It’s been years since Shobu Kirifuda has learned from Knight (you should know from the first episode, where he first dueled him)… and most of the young people that were involved in Shobu’s life years ago are in the same place he’s in; college. Not just any college, it’s the Kaijudo University (or simply KU).

Dr. Root and last followers of the Master of the Temple established the KU; two years after the Temple fell. It is located on a solitude island in the Pacific. This island has five different landscapes; a mountainous area (half-alluvial and half-rocky) that appears to have been torn by means of battle and overheat (there was a volcano here once, now it’s half-safe and half-dormant), a small beach with a few very small islands and large lagoon or body of water, some beautiful plains at the low end with partially cloudy skies, swamps and bogs and marshes with constantly darkened smoggy skies, and a beautiful rainforest.

The main purpose of this university is to gather talent elites and create great ‘Duel Masters’ duelists, mature future generations, Kaijudo masters, and future game designers. In order to attend this school, high school graduate Duelists have to pass an ‘on-paper’ test and a duel test. The writing test ranks the candidates by number following their personality and knowledge test scores (1 is the best down to 100 numbers). After the paper test, the candidates have to duel against examiners. Although they win the game, they may not be approved if the total score is bad.

The K.U. contains around 1 point per grade or around 1000 points in total, and the cutoff to enter this place is only 600 points. Those who pass the test get rated into which of the five dormitories they belong in, as the tests are also personality suitability tests as well. It is divided into five main dormitories: Red Fire, Blue Water, Yellow Light, Black Darkness, and Green Nature.

Each dorm provides different facilities and types of civilization life and styles of clothing (each with their own logo (those similar to the civilization symbols in the game; red sprocket for Red Fire, blue test tube for Blue Water, yellow supernova for Yellow Light, black horned demon face for Black Darkness, and green markings for Green Nature)), but frequently go into disputes of several varieties.

The top rank is Yellow Light dorm where contains most of the world famous elites like Hakuoh (everyone would’ve wanted Shobu to be here). Knight has become the head of this dorm. The whole dorm is like a huge celestial citadel above the bright and cloudy plains that belongs to all students that live here! All students have angelic armor-like uniforms and garments with high-tech gadgets installed within, the teachers under this dorm wear the most seraphic garments. Many of the items and places indoors of this dorm are huge, shiny, symmetrically shaped, and hover in the air with other heavenly items nearby (imagine what the indoor hot tubs are like).

The second highest rank is Blue Water, just where Toru Kamiya is at. Kathy, Knight’s secretary, just became head of this dorm. Surprisingly, each Duelist that lives in this dorm lives in rooms that are more like high-tech and/or crystalline mansions at the beaches or underwater or islands (they’re lucky, you should see their beaches on the weekends (all those sweet beautiful young bikini bunnies (girls in bikinis))). They’ve got a whole network set up for them that leads up to the worldwide web and beyond, just like the other dorms. Each member of this dorm, whether he or she is a student or a teacher, has a chip installed into their blue waterproof uniforms that displays their identities.

The middle rank is Red Fire, just where Shobu is staying at (and he’s got a good reason too). Red Fire’s state of living is more like normal homes in the alluvial areas of the mountains. Shobu’s mother, Mai Kirifuda, is the head of this dormitory (his father isn’t found yet). Good part about this place is that this dorm has rich and super-fertile soil so each student could have his or her own personal garden, and plenty of hot springs to relax and re-energize a bit. Students here are allowed to wear their favored style of clothing as long as they have the logo of their dorm on them as well as some red pieces of battle-armor and some artificial battle damage. Detention or expelling here is considered only for those who retreat or give up, so they have to go throughout each their duels.

The second lowest rank is Green Nature, where Miss Betsy is head of the dorm. Mimi Tasogare and her twin brother Benny Haha stay here. The grounds of this dormitory are all natural (trees, ponds, etc., no indoor electricity) in the jungles, but somehow some of its students think of it as supernatural. The indoor areas they stay in are mostly tree houses. They don’t mind the wildlife or lush vegetations. They may go Tarzan in some areas, but they get excellent exercise in the treetops, the canopy, the rivers, and the rainforest floor. Their jungle-suited uniforms are constantly green and are designed for some great flexibility and full dexterity for the members of this dorm, some are allowed to have tattoos (but not a lot).

The lowest rank of them all is Black Darkness where is the resident of some of the lowest of the low Duelists, such as Jamira and Kokujo. It’s like the inside of a prison (the outside are the swampy grounds with dark skies), but Kokujo doesn’t mind it one bit for some reason. Although he was one of those who made the place, Dr. Root was forced to be the head of this dorm. All members of this dorm are dressed in striped uniforms, the white stripes looking more like bones, and small half-masks with night vision specs to see in the dark better. Most of the students here are mad (usually ‘mad’ like ‘insane – mad’), for they seek better lives for themselves all the time.

Inter-dormitory relationships and visits are generally allowed, whether they’re friendly or just to duel… or whatever.

Instead of regular Duel Masters tables, each member and student of K.U. is given a specialized belt that have card holders and slots that identify the cards, plus strange gem-like items that project the supposedly imaginary action into the field of view of the Duelists (almost like Duel Disks in “Yu-Gi-Oh!”). These are only used sometimes.

The dean was said to be a Kaijudo master once, but whoever it was he (or she) has never actually been seen.

Now Shobu’s grown to be a 21-year-old world famous Kaijudo master as well as a college student in Red Fire and has retained his power and good looks (he’s still got the pointy two-tone hair if you want to know). Shobu chose to be in Red Fire instead of Yellow Light because he feels more at home here, and because he mainly uses Fire Civilization cards.

Rekuta Kadoko is a Duel Master’s cards specialist, and travels with Shobu, helping his as much as possible. He’s been rated as a Red Fire student, for his ability to know cards and the possibility to defeat some of them, although he’s not so great at playing them still, he still has a great collection.

Sayuki is a Duel Masters’ cards strategist, and sometimes accompanies Shobu and Rekuta. She let her long red hair grow longer as she got older. Beginning to blossom in beauty, Sayuki decided to go wherever her fashion tells her what to do about it; she is generally placed into Red Fire. She decided to be Hakuoh’s girlfriend for a shot.

Hakuoh decided to go dating Sayuki. He refuses to participate in tournaments like Shobu, but he plays Duel Masters frequently. Thankfully for him, there haven’t been any tournaments placed onto this island since K.U. was built.

Surprisingly, Winstrum Kadoko (also known as ‘Pop’ or Rekuta’s father) has moved to this island since he suddenly went from small card shop to big time card seller at K.U.

Kintaro, is still short, works with Rekuta’s father at times when he doesn’t have class, he’s in Red Dire dorm with Rekuta.

Boy George grew up into a smart young man. He tried to pass for one of the really good dorms, but got as far as only the Black Darkness.

Mimi now has a virtually unlimited pile of Green Nature-suggested garments to go through, she generally comes by wherever the cleaners are available.

Knight is engaged to Kathy (do not ask) and has become Shobu’s manager (tough to juggle the three jobs, huh?).

Today, while Sayuki is dueling a Blue Water girl with golden hair named Ginny Ohara, she’s pretty; no mistake about that.

(Ginny Ohara; Shields: 5; Mana: 7 (Nature), 6 (Water), and 5 (Light); Creatures: 10; Hand: 4)

(Sayuki; Shields: 3; Mana: 7 (Nature), 6 (Water), and 5 (Light); Creatures: 3; Hand: 7)

Sayuki was startled, “two Syrius, Firmament Elemental cards (Power: 12000), Ladia Bale, the Inspirational (Power: 9500), King Triumphant (Power: 7000), Sea Slug (Power: 6000), and four Alek, the Solidity Enforcer cards (Power: 4000 + 6000 from other Light creatures Power: 10000)? It’s impossible for my Clobber Totem (P: 4000+), King Depthcon (P: 6000), and Ancient Giant (P: 9000) cannot win against them!”

Ginny laughs, “I think I hear the expel bells ringing, a Red Fire member shouldn’t give up that easily.” That’s when Ginny saw Sayuki suddenly grin with mischief written allover it, she stops laughing at her opponent and realizes, “Unless you thought this whole cowardly act as a trick to throw me off guard!” Sayuki draws a card and says, “Bingo.”

Sayuki taps a thirteen of her mana on her belt, starting with a green one first, “I play Invincible Unity to power up my three creatures by 8000 and make each of them a Triple Breaker!” Her mystery totem, leviathan, and giant joined forces. (Clobber Totem (P: 14000 (8000 + 4000 + 2000)), King Depthcon (P: 14000 (6000 + 8000)), and Ancient Giant (17000 (9000 + 8000)))!

Sayuki calls to her Totem, “Clobber Totem, attack Ginny! Ike!” Clobber Totem charged in, Ginny was too surprised to block with any of her creatures as the Totem smashed right through three of her shields!

Sayuki calls to her Giant, “Ancient Giant, attack! Ike!” Again Ginny couldn’t block as the gigantic fist smashed through her last shields!

Sayuki calls to her leviathan, “King Depthcon, end the Duel! Todome Da!” Ginny was washed away by the tsunamis sent from the tail of the leviathan!

Ginny sighs, “Deception can be such a dangerous motive, I can’t believe I was overconfident!”

Shobu came by, adjusting his left large metallic red shoulder guard (above the purple T-shirt), “That used to happen to me sometimes, that was a nice move though, caring for your creatures. Of course, that wouldn’t have been a wise choice from that start; the moment I saw Sayuki’s Invincible Unity in her hand when you when breaking her shields, she had this Duel in the bag from the start.”

Rekuta (having thick lenses and a red bow tie with tattered clothes and some medium sized metallic pieces of battle armor) retorted, “Yeah, but even with that she still couldn’t win against you, as she did lose several times in the past.”

Hearing that, Sayuki reared up a fist and shouted, “WELL, A DUELIST CAN GAIN MORE EXPERIENCE THE MORE TIMES HE OR SHE LOSES THAN WINS SOMETIMES!” BAM! She sent Rekuta flying with one punch! Rekuta sighs on his way up, “I like air travels, but this is ridiculous!”

Ginny asks the two Fire Reds, “Is he going to come back soon?” Sayuki exhales, “You heard him.” Shobu said, “Well, his father and mine loved to travel, that was back in their glory days.”

Later that afternoon, as Rekuta returned, he asked his closest friends, “When will things go normally for us?”

Ginny asks Rekuta, “Could I duel you, Mr. Rekuta?” Rekuta smiles and blushes, “Sure.”

The two Duelists shuffled each other’s decks of Duel Masters cards then placed them into their personal Deck Zones on their belts.

Rekuta says to Ginny “Ikuzo, my Shields are set, Ginny.” as he placed in the top five cards of his deck into his Shield Zone pocket on his belt. ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! Appearing before Rekuta is a wall made up of five neon blue rectangular Shields.

Ginny placed hers in and responded, “Koi, bring it on.” ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! Her own Shields formed before her.

(Ginny; Shields: 5; Mana: 0; Creatures: 0; Hand: 5)

(Rekuta; Shields: 5; Mana: 0; Creatures: 0; Hand: 5)

Rekuta said to her, “Ladies first.”

Ginny said to Rekuta, “Thank you, I’ve personally changed my deck.” She placed a Nature Mana into her mana zone pocket on her belt. A ball of green light appeared beside her, representing the Nature Mana she’s placed in.

(Ginny; Shields: 5; Mana: 1 (Nature); Creatures: 0; Hand: 5)

Rekuta responded, “Long time ago, so did I.”

(Rekuta; Shields: 5; Mana: 1 (Fire); Creatures: 0; Hand: 5)

Three of Rekuta’s turns later…

(Ginny; Shields: 5; Mana: 2 (Nature), 1 (Light), and 2 (Water); Creatures: 0; Hand: 5)

(Rekuta; Shields: 5; Mana: 1 (Fire), 1 (Water), 1 (Light), 1 (Darkness), and1 (Nature); Creatures: 0; Hand: 5)

Ginny said, “Wow, you’ve got the Mana to summon almost any card you need. Here I go.” She places in another Light Mana in, “Let’s start things off with Razorpine Tree (Light/Starlight Tree/Cost: 5/Mana Number: 1/Power: 1000+)!”

She touches five of her glowing orbs, which suddenly went yellow before becoming faint (meaning she tapped them). Then a huge golden pine tree appeared; Ginny’s Shields began to send off illuminating energy streams, feeding it (P: 11000). Ginny explains, “Since I have all five of my shields, I get to power up my tree by 2000 for each Shield I still have. Now for Marine Flower (Water/Cyber Virus/C: 1/M: 1/P: 2000).”

She tapped the last of her glowing Mana Card orbs; a Water Mana, which suddenly went to a brighter blue before becoming faint. Then a blue crustacean-like flower appeared. Ginny explains, “This is a Blocker.”

Rekuta said, “I’m not too worried.” And placed a Mana in his belt.

(Rekuta; Shields: 5; Mana: 2 (Fire), 1 (Water), 1 (Light), 1 (Darkness), and1 (Nature); Creatures: 0; Hand: 5)

Rekuta said, “Now to summon Rumblesaur Q (Fire/Rock Beast-Survivor/C: 6/M: 1/P: 3000)!” He taps all six of his glowing Mana Card orbs, which each turned into glowing red balls of light, energy streamed from the faint orbs and brought out a gigantic block-like dragon statue with a glowing yellow orb on its chest, emitting a strange wave.

Ginny was curious, “What’s with the vibrating crystal orb on your stone dragon’s chest?” Rekuta answered, “Two reasons; one he’s a Speed Attacker, meaning he can attack the same turn he was summoned, and he’s a Survivor.” Ginny didn’t get it yet, “Survivor…” then it finally sunk into her, “That must mean–– your whole deck must be full of Survivors, each one able to empower its partners!” Rekuta finished “And every Survivor has at least one of these special crystal orbs on them.”

Ginny asked, “Aren’t you going to attack?” Rekuta replied, “If I did, I’d lose my Rumblesaur Q on your upcoming turn.”

Ginny’s turn started, judging from he Mana Card orbs beginning to glow again. She placed in another Mana card…

(Ginny; Shields: 5; Mana: 3 (Nature), 2 (Light), and 2 (Water); Creatures: 2; Hand: 3)

Ginny started, “Okay… I play Elf-X (Nature/Tree Folk/C: 4/M: 1/P: 2000) to lower the cost of my creatures in the next few turns.” A small brown elf decorated in red flower petals appeared. “And another.” Another Elf-X appeared. “Tree attack, Ike!” The Starlight Tree shot sharp spikes at Rekuta’s center Shield breaking it!

Rekuta was amazed at the Shield, “I was wondering where this one went.”

Rekuta starts his turn by drawing a card, and placing one in his Mana zone pocket.

(Rekuta; Shields: 4; Mana: 2 (Fire), 1 (Water), 1 (Light), 1 (Darkness), and 2 (Nature); Creatures: 1; Hand: 6)

Rekuta starts off, “Now I play Ultimate Force (Nature/Spell/C: 5/M: 1), to take the two top cards of my Deck and place them in my Mana Zone!” He tapped five mana balls; turning them green light balls and does what he was going to do with the Spell he played.

(Rekuta; Shields: 4; Mana: 2 (Fire), 2 (Water), 2 (Light), 1 (Darkness), and 2 (Nature); Creatures: 1; Hand: 5)

Rekuta then said, “I also play Balloonshroom Q (Nature/Balloon Mushroom-Survivor/C: 4/M: 1/P: 2000) to make sure, even if you send any of my Survivors to the Graveyard, I’ll have more Mana.” The large green Balloon Mushroom sprouted out the ground; with a green glowing crystal orb emitting waves everywhere, towards Rumblesaur Q!

Ginny said, “Okay.”

(Ginny; Shields: 5; Mana: 3 (Nature), 2 (Light), and 3 (Water); Creatures: 2; Hand: 3)

Ginny said, “I end my turn now. I’d like to see every one of these Survivors power each other up.”

Five of Ginny’s turns later…

(Ginny; Shields: 5; Mana: 4 (Nature), 5 (Light), and 4 (Water); Creatures: 4; Hand: 3)

(Rekuta; Shields: 4; Mana: 3 (Fire), 3 (Water), 3 (Light), 2 (Darkness), and 3 (Nature); Creatures: 7; Hand: 5)

Rekuta now has a team that can instantly attack (Rumblesaur Q: Speed Attacker), be placed into his Mana Zone instead of being destroyed (Balloonshroom Q), become untapped at the end of each of Rekuta’s turns (Ballus, Dogfight Enforcer Q (a shuriken like spacecraft)/Light/Berserker-Survivor/C: 5/M: 1/P: 3000), break two shields instead of one (Bladerush Skyterror Q (a red dragon with twin lethal flying helicopter blades on wings)/Fire/Armored Wyvern-Survivor/C: 7/M: 1/P: 5000), unable to be blocked (Spikestrike Ichthys Q (a gross blue sea creature)/Water/Fish-Survivor/C: 6/M: 1/P: 3000), block attacks (Gallia Zohl, Iron Guardian Q (a purple spacecraft)/Light/Guardian-Survivor/C: 5/M: 1/P: 2000), slay any monster that comes successfully destroys them (Gigaling Q (a brown mummy-like dinosaur/scorpion crossbreed)/Darkness/Chimera-Survivor/C: 5/M: 1/P: 2000 (Slayer)), and power up (Smash Horn Q (a horned animal)/Nature/Horned Beast-Survivor/C: 3/M: 1/P: 2000+)

(Rumblesaur Q; P: 4000)

(Balloonshroom Q; P: 3000)

(Ballus, Dogfight Enforcer Q; P: 4000)

(Bladerush Skyterror Q; P: 6000)

(Spikestrike Ichthys Q; P: 4000)

(Gallia Zohl, Iron Guardian Q; P: 3000)

(Gigaling Q; P: 3000)

(Smash Horn Q; P: 3000)

Ginny sighed, “My mistake.”

Rekuta’s turn started, “Spikestrike Ichthys Q, attack, Ike!”

“Bladerush Skyterror Q, attack, Ike!”

“Smash Horn Q, attack, Ike!”

“The final blow, Gallia Zohl; Todome Da!”

The first three monsters broke all of Ginny’s Shields without difficulty and Gallia Zohl just fired a beam down at her with ease. Rekuta won.

Shobu woke from the nap he was taking during the Duel, “Why were you sparing your creatures, Ginny?” Ginny sighs, “I see them more as extended family members, kind of like beloved pets.” Rekuta was amazed by his friend’s recent actions, “And how are you able to sleep and observe a duel at the same time?” Shobu answered, “My mom had to make me work overtime last night. Besides, have you ever hear of sleep-hearing?” Sayuki responded, “Nope, just sleepwalking and sleep-talking.”

Rekuta’s father saw everything, “Hey, Miss. Ohara!” Ginny saw him and responded, “Yes, Mr. Kadoko?” He asked her, “How about you work part-time in the card shop on this island? I can give you a few tips and understandings of the game.” Ginny says, “I guess it won’t hurt.” Rekuta sighs, “You’ll soon regret it.”

To be continued…