//------------------------------//
// Prologue: On the Eve of Destiny 
// Story: Yu-Gi-Oh! P†H 
// by moviemaster8510 
//------------------------------//

The city of Chicago was always as alive at night as it was in the day, and this couldn’t be truer during the evening on the precipice of summer. Navy Pier was bustling with locals and tourists as they shopped from store to store, the IMAX Theater especially packed with teenagers and young men and women clamoring to see the premiere of the newest Godzilla feature. The streets were bustling with cars, bicyclists, and walking citizens as they headed to their individual destinations underneath the shimmering starry sky.

Just south along Lakeshore Drive was the titular Soldier Field, its classic stone exterior being gate for the modern glass-and-steel structure that made up the arena. Inside, fans filled the seats as they watched and cheered for two men chasing each other about an immaculate medieval castle, almost as if it came from a regal fairy tale.

One of these men wore an ornate red t-shirt and custom jeans that clung snugly to his muscular body. On his left wrist was a brown-colored device with what appeared to be an Apple iPad of a matching color fastened inside of it, although it was slimmer and around an inch or two shorter than an iPad. On the right side of the device itself was a deck of cards with a light-brown backing with a spiral design in a darker brown in the center. The slot the cards sat in ran along the downward-right diagonal edge on the top-right side of the device.

Hovering close beside the long back side of the device and following its every move was a circular disk with bright, technicolor lights shimmering inside it. Two bright white strips of light were visible on the left and right sides of the disk. Coming from each side were two black blades with glowing jade-green edges of different lengths. The blade on the right was the shortest, containing three rectangular outlines upon it, while the left blade held four. Both blades had rounded triangular tips on their ends, the right blade pointing up and to the right, the left pointing down to the left.

On the rightmost zone of the right blade and the leftmost zone of the left blade were two cards, the top halves orange and the bottom halves green. The card on the right zone featured artwork of a small creature with brown, branch-like limbs and a body comprised of a bush, a pair of big, innocent looking eyes appearing from the center. On the left zone, a large, seafoam-green-colored insect with wings made up of pink flower petals was on the card’s art.

Hiding Bush
Pendulum Scale: 5

Garden Guardian
Pendulum Scale: 8

However, both of these creatures stood beside the man, the three of them looking up at their opponent in annoyance, who stood at the edge of the balcony of the high center tower of the castle, smiling down on them.

His apparel consisted of a black buttoned shirt, crumpled black pants, and a ratty black trenchcoat. He wore a similar device on his own wrist, complete with the bladed disk, albeit his was a sparkling black, as well were the edges of his blades. On the leftmost zone of the right blade was a purple card, whose artwork featured a detailed marionette of a green-haired girl in a purple robe and holding an ornate purple staff riding a hideous dark-blue wooden dragon puppet. The monster on the card perched itself upon the tower’s roof, being held up by glowing purple strings that faded away as the ascended to the night sky.

El-Shadoll Midrash:
ATK: 2200
Lvl.: 5

“What’s Jacob going to get out of this?” asked a black-haired emcee with a flamboyant white suit, standing inside the castle’s courtyard as seen from the numerous holographic screens inside the stadium. “How is he going to counter Rich’s monster?”

“Here’s how,” Jacob spoke under his breath, putting his fingers atop his deck. “My turn! Draw!”

The crowd cheered as Jacob whipped his arm out, a card held inside his fingers.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, approaching Soldier Field on Lakeshore Drive from the north was a black, armored truck careening through the streets as a pair of police vehicles followed its path, likewise attempting to avoid the traffic congesting the street. Keeping a close watch were a pair of helicopters from above, their spotlights trained on the fleeing truck. Leading right in front of the truck before both front tires was a biker in all black apparel, riding a matching Victory Cross Roads 8-Ball motorcycle. On his left wrist was a bulky device on his wrist that had a large, empty slot inside of it on top.

For as agile as the police were in their pursuit, the truck and the biker was just as, if not, more elusive through the traffic, not letting the police have an inch towards them as they began to fall back behind the criminals.

“Any nearby units on South Lakeshore Drive,” a male officer in the first car reported, “requesting back-up. We have two robbers, suspected to be armed, driving south on Lakeshore Drive and passing by Soldier Field.”

Further down south, at the McCormick Place, a lone man knelt down low on the walkway connecting the east and west buildings, directly over the southbound lane of Lakeshore Drive.

The man was dressed in a tight black jumpsuit with large, metallic boots with large soles, black gloves with metal plates on the palms and front of the fingers, as well as a black jacket cut off at the middle of the abdomen. His hair was long and silvery, minus the slim black and red streak that ran down the right side that draped over his shoulder. His left arm was lifted close to his face as he observed a device on his arm with a large screen.

“…in possession of stolen cards and around one-hundred-thousand in cash,” the transmission statically sounded off on the man’s device.

“Kieran,” clearly called a woman’s voice from the device, the sound of a motorcycle distinctly in the background, “they’re coming.”

“Yes,” the man named Kieran answered, “I know. Question is, are you ready?”

“Yes. Just about to exit off of the Stevenson Expressway now,” she said.

“Good. There’s a biker among them. Take him out. I’ll handle the truck.”

“Copy that.”

“We have to go now. Best of luck, Alice.”

Without waiting for a response, Kieran pressed a button on the lower left hand side of the device, shutting it off. Standing up from his spot, he saw the red-and-blue flashing lights come towards him in the distance. Turning his body away towards the south, he closed his eyes and listened as the sirens and helicopter blades come closer and closer.

The helicopters trailing the truck and motorcycle suddenly spotted Kieran standing on the McCormick Place walkway, shining their spotlight on him.

“That’s…” commented one of the pilots.

Kieran’s eyes shot open as he took a running start towards the lane, following the traffic. Thrusting off the edge, he leapt off the building and towards the speeding traffic below. Falling closer to the street, Kieran kept a stoic face as he prepared himself for his landing. Right at the last possible moment, the motorcycle and truck were visible beneath him.

With the sole of his left boot hitting the roof of the truck and sticking with a magnetic clang, as well as his hands sticking to the roof, Kieran let out a grunt as the truck swerved to realign itself, nearly hitting a van beside it.

“Oh my god!” shouted a police officer. “It’s them. It’s the Guardiaboliques!”

Kieran kept his hold of the truck’s roof as he saw the headlight of a black Kawasaki Concours motorcycle merge onto Lakeshore from the highway, smirking as he watched its safe appearance. The motorcycle and its rider reduced its speed, managing to avoid the other cars while they maneuvered around it. Finally, the rider was right on the robber’s motorcycle’s right.

While the rider’s physical features were hidden by their black outfit and full-headed helmet, there was a patch upon the left shoulder was completely indistinguishable to the robber. It was a blood-red crest featuring a light-brown goat’s skull with bright, sparkling gold wings. She also wore a device on the top of her wrist that held a deck of cards, the bottom ends aiming to the right.

“You–” stammered the robber. “You’re–”

“You don’t need to remind me,” Alice’s voice interrupted through her helmet. “However, it seems you need a reminder of what happens when you cross the law.”

“A reminder? From you?!” the man laughed. “I think it’s you who needs to be reminded about–”

“Then let’s stop wasting time,” she said, pressing a brown card-backing icon on the bike’s electronic dashboard

Flipping face-up and enlarging itself upon the screen was a green card with an artwork featuring an empty stretch of racetrack with streaks of bright-colors running all about it.

“Speed World X,” she shouted, “set on!”

On the dashboard of the robber’s motorcycle, the Speed World X card appeared, much to his confusion and apprehension.

“Riding duel,” an electronic voice spoke, “standby.”

At both times, two thin slots opened up on both riders’ motorcycles’ gas tank as their headlights began to shimmer with technicolor effects. An aura spread out along most of the area, brightening the area and sharpening the colors of every object and thing that was covered by it.

“Fine,” the robber grunted, reaching into his front right pocket and pulling out a deck of cards, which were placed inside the device on his wrist. “The boss is going to love to see one of you guys in our custody anyway.”

“Not if you’re held by the police, we won’t,” Alice chided.

“Shut up! Let’s get this over with.”

“Yes…” she hissed.

Both decks inside the slots of both devices on both duelists’ wrists shuffled with unintelligible speeds, and once it was done, the two duelists drew five cards from the deck and slipped them into the sides of their devices, holding their hands firm.

“…let’s.”

“Riding duel,” the computer responded, “commence.”

“DUEL!” the both of them shouted.

================
Grunt:
LP: 4000

Alice:
LP: 4000
================
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Jacob looked up at Rich, the former sporting a determined grunt while the latter looked down on him with a smug, cocky grin.

================
Jacob:
LP: 400

Rich:
LP: 2000
================

With his new hand, Jacob held three cards. Seeing a card lying upon the ground with an ornate brown “A” for a backing, Jacob quickly somersaulted towards it, picking it up and looking at it, his eyes widening at the sight.

“Action card!” shouted Jacob, holding it out as it glew lightly. “Exhaustion!”

A much larger image of the card appeared before Rich on the tower, the art featuring a silhouette of a human figure squatting down and panting, causing Rich to step back in shock.

“This lets me target one monster my opponent controls,” shouted Jacob, “and negate its effects until the end of the turn, the only one being your El-Shadoll Midrash!”

Rich looked up to see as a green glow surrounded his monster, causing its grip on the castle to loosen as the strings holding began to lower lazily down. As the monster struggled to hold on, the crowd cheered as Jacob pulled two wholly orange cards from his hand.

“With my pendulum scales already set at 5 and 8,” explained Jacob, as a bright 5 appeared over his bush monster and an 8 above his insect, “I can special summon any number of monsters from my hand whose levels are six and seven.”

“Don’t tell me,” shouted the emcee and riling the crowd up, “is he going to–?”

“That’s right! Pendulum summon!”

With his declaration made, the area of the arena began to turn blue as the outline of a many-pointed star appeared in between two blue pillars that surrounded Jacob’s two monsters. Once Jacob placed his two cards on two zones on his blades, a red portal opened between the two pillars, allowing two orange auras to fly out of it and land on the ground. The auras took the form of two massive, gray-barked trees with a small, leafy moustache, three-braided vines for a beard, and a pair of glasses. 

“Come!” shouted Jacob. “My Sylvan Sagequoias!”

Sylvan Sagequoia
ATK: 2600
Lvl.: 7

“Can’t let that happen,” grunted Rich in a raspy English accent. “I activate my trap! Shadow Barrier!”

With a wave of his arm, a face-down card before Rich flipped up from the top and stood upright, showing the design of a robed man casting a translucent purple shield with his outstretched hand.

“This turn,” Rich explained, “one DARK attribute monster I control cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects!”

A purple sphere formed around Rich’s monster and the spire of the castle. With its balance almost lost, Rich’s monster pushed against the inner wall of the shield for stability.

“Now even if you attack me,” Rich declared, “I’ll still have more than enough life points to spare for the next turn!”

“Is that so?” Rich asked confidently.

“What!”

“Normally, I would not be able to special summon again because of your monster’s effect, but thanks to Exahaustion, I can. Now,” he yelled, throwing his right hand to the sky, “I shall overlay my two level 7 Sylvan Sagequoias!”

Both of Jacob’s monsters returned to a wispy aura form and danced towards the sky in a spiral before fall back towards the ground, a swirling red aura forming at the ground before Rich.

“With these two monsters, I construct the overlay network! Xyz summon!”

Both auras flew in, changing the aura to a bright, white circle. Flying from the circle was a massive jade-green bird with golden wings with red tips. Its tail was made from palms and its head was flowing with long blades of grass and branches with cherry blossoms blooming from them. Two lights also orbited around the bird at a slow and steady rate. With a piercing shriek towards Rich, the bird stood between Jacob and the tower, eyeing its prey.

“Here we go!” finished Jacob. “Orea, the Sylvan High Arbiter!”

Orea, the Sylvan High Arbiter
ATK: 2800
Rnk.: 7

A black card featuring the giant bird was set over Jacob’s two copies of his Sylvan Sagequoias on the leftmost zone of the right blade from the disk. Jacob ran up the bird’s tail, the avian bowing itself to level its back for him to mount it. Grabbing the flowery wreath that was wrapped around its breast, Orea flapped its wings, carrying itself and Jacob up to the top of the castle tower, where Rich was watching with sheer nervousness.

“I activate the effect of Orea!” declared Jacob, grabbing the last card in his hand, an orange card featuring an elf with golden, floral armor, and inserting it into a slot along the back end of his arm device. “By sending a plant type monster to my graveyard, I can look at cards from the top of my deck equal to the level of the monster I sent and return those cards to the top of the deck in any order. My Sylvan Flowerknight was level four, so I look at four cards.”

Jacob drew four cards and began to quickly rearrange them before fanning them back in and slipping them onto his deck.

“Next, I activate the other effect of Orea,” continued Jacob, sliding a copy of his Sagequoia out from underneath his other cards and putting it in the graveyard slot. “Once per turn, I can detach one xyz material from this card to excavate up to three cards from my deck. I choose one!”

One of the orbs of light melded into the bird's beak, and it let out a piercing shriek that emitted a light aura like a ripple from its mouth. Drawing a card from his deck, he revealed it to his anxious opponent, revealing an orange monster card featuring a trio of cartoony, anthropomorphic peas inside a pod that hung from a tree branch.

“Since my Sylvan Peaskeeper is a plant type monster, I must send it to the graveyard, but for every plant type monster sent to the graveyard by this effect, I can return that many cards from the field to the owners hands.”

“That means…” growled Rich.

“That’s right,” Jacob answered. “Orea, return El-Shadoll Midrash back to his extra-deck! Sylvan Gales!”

With its golden wings glowing, Orea flapped its wings at the draconic puppet, the sparkling wind blowing it off the tower where it disappeared in a shrinking ball of light that popped like a light bubble. Rich seethed, his field wide open now.

“Let’s end this!” Jacob shouted. “Orea, attack Rich directly! Timber Talons!”

Throwing its wings up, Orea descended upon the tower. Rich looked left and right, searching for an action card, only to find none. Orea’s talons crashed into the castle, sending brick, rock, and even Rich flying backwards. Rich yelled out in pain as he landed on his back and slid to a stop.

Rich’s Life Points: 2000 -> 0

Jacob wins

The crowd began to cheer as a holographic display of Rich’s depleted life points as well as one of Jacob’s victory spread throughout the stadium, the audience cheering wildly as a result. Suddenly, the castle and the other scenery began to fade into gold sparkles. Before the castle where Rich was lying could fade, Orea grabbed him in its talons and flew down as the rest of the castle disappeared.

Orea landed to the ground, which also faded away to reveal a massive glass surface with a titanic machine featuring two orbs shining magenta beams of light held by a blue, fluorescent beam suspended underneath. Upon letting go of Rich and letting Jacob slide off of it, the machine slowly powered off, causing Orea to fade away.

Jacob removed his monster from the zone on his blade, allowing both blades to fade into the disk as it too powered down, the light inside it dimming until it turned completely off. Placing his hand on the disk, Jacob pulled it away and lifted it up, using it to wave to the thundering applause of the audience.

“And there you have it folks!” shouted the emcee, walking over and holding up Jacob’s other arm. “Jacob comes out of this outstanding duel the victor. Come on everybody, let’s really give him a hand!”

The crowd cheered louder as Jacob continued waving to the many, adoring fans.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Kieran managed to make it to the roof over the driver’s side of the truck, still struggling to hold on as the vehicle swerved to both avoid traffic and the policemen trying to catch it.

================
Grunt:
LP: 800

Alice:
LP: 4000
================

Up ahead, the Alice was behind the robber, but a monster was floating right between them. It appeared to be a massive praying mantis clad in bronze, oriental armor and a matching red headdress.

Cao Cao, the Mantis Warlord
ATK: 2800
Lvl.: 9

“Strong…” the robber stammered. “So strong…”

“Cao Cao, attack!” shouted Alice, pointing the robber out. “Take out his remaining life points! Red Scythe Slash!”

The giant insect lifted its armored and bladed forelegs up and brought them down upon the robber as he barely managed to keep control of his bike as it wobbled from the blow, grunting in exasperation as he did.

Grunt’s Life Points: 800 -> 0

Alice wins.

A jet of steam burst out from the sides of the motorcycle, reducing its speed significantly. As he pulled over to the shoulder of the road where his bike finally stopped, Alice and the truck went speeding by as a police car parked behind him. As a male officer got out, the robber banged his fist against the fuel tank of his bike in defeat.

Up ahead, the truck finally kept a straight and steady course, allowing Kieran to grab the edge of the roof and swing into the window, shattering it and kicking the driver in the face, sending him flying into the passenger side door. With swift reflexes, Kieran fell onto the now occupied seat and grabbed the steering wheel, preventing it from ramming another car on his right.

With the other driver unconscious and the biker having been arrested, Kieran began to shift towards the right lanes near the shoulder. Alice, observing this, stayed close to the left side of the truck’s door. At that moment, the door swung open, forcing Alice to juke out of the way while Kieran held the door open.

“You got this?” shouted Kieran.

“Not if you don’t hurry!” she responded.

Without a word, Kieran shifted the truck into neutral gear and pulled the handbrake on the car. As the truck reduced in speed, Alice reduced her speed as well, staying in line with the truck. Pushing off the step to the truck’s door, Kieran leapt off and landed perfectly in the passenger’s seat behind Alice.

Swerving sharply out of the truck’s way, Alice sped off down the road, taking a sharp right at East Hayes before disappearing into the traffic. Further behind, two police vehicles parked behind the stopped truck while two more went on in search of the two vigilantes. Two officers from one car ran to the truck’s passenger side door, handcuffs in their grasp, while one officer from the other walked towards the back with a crowbar and a pistol.

The officer put his ear to the door gently, hearing no signs of life inside. He then tried the handles on the doors and gave one a turn, seeing that it was unlocked. Swinging the door open, he aimed his gun inside, but the inside was empty, save for the few stacks of bills and a briefcase lying inside.

As the other two police officers dragged the still unconscious robber away, the last officer looked to the sky, unsure whether to thank the Guardiaboliques for their help, or curse them for obstructing their justice.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Alice and Kieran sped up to the front what appeared to be an abandoned factory, the brown brick walls, towers, and chimneys cracked or even partially crumbled away. Not a soul was inside the parking lot save for the two of them. Once Alice parked her bike and set the kickstand, she and Kieran dismounted.

“Great work today, Alice,” Kieran spoke.

“Thanks,” she responded, twisting the screws holding her license plate with a pair of coins.

“You’re off tomorrow, I take it?”

“Yes,” she answered as the plate fell to the ground with a clatter, revealing another one underneath. “I have… school tomorrow, and one of my friends is performing in the school musical tomorrow, and then we’re going to an after party at a nearby park.”

“…Interesting. This is that Yurik kid you like to talk about, right?”

“Yeah,” she said, removing her helmet to reveal a head of medium, black hair and slight freckles on her cheeks. “He’s playing the Emcee in…”

“Cabaret? Hm. I wish him the best of luck.”

“You know,” she pressed on, unzipping her body suit and shedding it off along with the wrist device holding her deck, revealing a forest green t-shirt and thick blue jeans, “you’re supposed to say, ‘Break a leg.’”

“…Yes, I know.”

Picking up her suit and her fake license plate, she folded them up roughly and handed the pile to Kieran, who grabbed them in both hands.

“Have a good time,” he said, almost as if it were an instruction.

“I always tend to,” Alice replied with a shrug.

Kieran bid her farewell with a nod and walked to the doors of the entrance to the factory. Alice clicked open the right case along the back end of her motorcycle. She pulled out a leather jacket and quickly slung it on.

Placing her helmet back on her head, she mounted her bike and turned it on, watching from afar as Kieran walked inside the factory, disappearing behind the large, metal doors. With a turn of the key, the Kawasaki came back to life and allowed Alice to leave. Circling around, she headed back to the road that would take her back home.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Alice quietly rode through the suburban streets of Naperville, knowing full well that children as well as adults were sleeping for the next day of school or work. And with a warm pre-summer breeze flowing through the air, she could assume that some peoples’ windows would be open and hearing her motor. However, she finally made it to her driveway, scooting her and her motorcycle up towards the garage.

Pulling a small remote from her jacket pocket, Alice pressed a button and watched the metal door lift open. The sound of rolling tires came up behind her, making her instinctively look behind her. A black car slunk up the street, passing her house and moving a couple more down before parking on the opposite side of the road.

Alice looked curiously at the car, only to see someone stepping out of it. Whomever it was looked to be a man who wore a black suit coat, a pair of black slacks, slick black shoes, and a fedora hat. Curiosity soon became suspicion as the man pulled out a small wooden box from his inner pocket and gently dusted it off with his hand.

Stopping before the door, he reached into his inner pocket again and produced a small envelope. Kneeling down and placing the envelope on the mat before the door, he weighted it down with the box, standing back up. Alice watched the man look down at the box for several seconds before he turned around and walked back to his car.

Fearing being seen, Alice turned back her gaze to her long-opened garage and walked her motorcycle inside. Neither seeing nor suspecting Alice, the man stepped back into his car and unceremoniously drove back down the street, leaving his mysterious package behind.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Within a bedroom, lined with posters of various bands and musicals, namely those of Peter Gabriel and The Talking Heads, as well as a red dueling wrist-device with a deck inside, a matching red iPad detached from the device and plugged to a charging chord, a red-and-silver blade disk on his desk, and an acoustic and electric guitar both on stands beside the desk, an older teenager slept snugly upon his back on his bed.

His long brown hair was strewn across his pillow, the long bangs on the right and left side of his hairline draping over his ears. While only his shoulders up were visible past his covers, he didn’t appear to be wearing a shirt. The late-spring night’s air didn’t seem to bother him, and neither did Alice’s bike, nor the man who dropped off his package at his door.