Chapter 1

Alicia dreaded the first day of school. As her new academy came closer in view when her bus drew nearer, Her worries continued to swell; she'd tell herself that each year would be different, but she knew too well to lie to herself like that- she thought of herself as a magnet, attracting more and more bullies to harass her each year.

A traffic line of buses stopped in front of the large school that Monday morning; they swung their doors open, and not a single inch of schoolyard was left visible from the crowd of students flooding out of their transports. As her bus quickly emptied, the last to get off was poor Alicia, who straightened her white polo shirt tucked inside her black skirt ruffled from the ride. The chilling morning air pierced through her thin black thigh-high stalkings, and got under her skin; strands of her short purple hair, tied into twin pigtails by red ribbon, stood up from the wind's icy touch. She knew she should've brought her jacket.

She slipped passed the radar of the happy chatter of the crowd surrounding her as she headed straight toward the building- if there was one thing her past experiences taught her, it was: to try and keep invisible from the other students. Unless she wanted to be bullied.

The inside of her new academy felt different to her: the atmosphere took pride in educating its students, even more serious than her Junior High, yet it'll still find time to nurture her learning needs. But her expectations, born from bad past experiences, never lowered. She took out her pink deck case from the lower left pocket of her small back pack, searched through its contents like her brain searched through her thoughts.

One worry in particular dominated her mind, she couldn't stop skimming through her deck. "This school specializes in Future Card Buddyfight," she thought, "maybe I can become stronger through this school's teachings; maybe I'll be just as strong as my-"

Her thoughts disrupted, and her cards spilled out of her hand into a puddle of unorganized mess all over the floor when she ran into someone else without looking. "S-sorry, sorry, I'm so sorry!" She apologized as she scrambled for her loose cards.

"What was the big idea, running into me like that?!" The voice demanded bitterly, angered that someone as minuscule as Alicia even dared to touch him.

"I'm so sorry, I-I wasn't looking where I was walking!"

"Then you're either blind, or you need you're glasses checked." Alicia gathered her composure, along with her loose deck smothered across the tiled floor, and looked up to the boy: his long black bangs hid his left eye from contact, yet imbalanced with the rest of his otherwise short hair. Even with only one eye visible, Alicia felt his amber eyes pierce through her chest like spears, and then freeze the wound completely shut again. He refused to tuck in his white polo into his black pants, breaching a simple rule of dress code.

The boy took one look at the deck in Alicia's left hand, "Oh, I see- you bumped into me because you want a challenge!" He yelled while pointing at it.

"Heh? W-what do you-?" But the boy gave her no time to finish her question.

"You 'accidentally' bumped into me with your deck out so you can challenge me, the great Brandon Stark! Is that it, huh? That must be it!"

"What? N-no, I was just-"

"Whatever, I accept your challenge anyways. I'll tell you what- you beat me, then maybe I'll find the heart to forgive you for bumping into me."

"What are you talking about?"

"You must be a freshman if you don't know already: in the annex building, there are some fight fields free for the students to use during their free time. That's where our challenge will begin. Follow me." Brandon never looked back at her, he kept walking among the crowd of giants to the annex, assuming she'll follow.

Less than five minutes in my new school, and already I've been challenged to a Buddyfight, Alicia thought to herself as she picked herself up from the floor, is my year of being bullied already beginning? She couldn't resist the thought that answered her worry- Maybe if I beat this guy, I wouldn't be bullied this year! As far-fetched the idea sounded to her, she wanted to believe that was the case. The more she saw Brandon disappear in the crowd, the more her legs had the sudden urge to follow him. She had no plans of getting lost on the first day of school; Brandon was her only way of direction, as much as she hated it.

Alicia followed Brandon through the hallway- but as the crowd of students grew thicker, Alicia's ability to maneuver through without touching them grew slimmer. She'd lose track of the boy sometimes when she took her eyes off of him to avoid contact with the others. Brandon camouflaged so well into the crowd, he could be centimeters away from her for all she knew. D-dang it! I can't see him! Her heart raced, and her mind began to shut down as her personal space shrunk with each step. This...t-this isn't good- it's becoming harder and harder for me to breath with everyone closing in like this!

Alicia thought she'd get crushed in the growing crowd. But a light at the end of the hallway filled her with a little hope- the thought of getting out of this uncomfortable situation drove her to the end, as she carefully nudged herself out of that packed hall and into the annex. A breath of relief left her as she collapsed to her knees, glad she finally made it out of that nightmare. A quick scan of the area caused Alicia's stomach to become a little sick from its excessive space: the building could fit an aircraft carrier with tremendous ease, and still consider it a minor decoration. Her head spun while looking up and observing the countless stories of other floors, layered like the inside of a large mall. Indeed, this school dwarfed her last one like an ant compared to a boot.

These sickening feelings overwhelmed the poor girl, she at least wanted a little time to soak all of it in. But a familiar voice hooked her by the right ear, and demanded she not relax just yet-

"What took ya' so long?" Alicia looked behind her, Brandon perched himself across the white wall, arms crossed over his chest, with a devious smile stretched across his face. "Ya' know what, don't answer that; I'm just happy to see my first victim of the year show up for their demise."

"S-sorry for taking too long, but I'm here, now!" Alicia told him while catching her breath. "You might think that I'll lose to you, but I-I'm stronger than I look!"

Brandon did nothing but chuckle to himself after hearing her, "Hehehe, someone's being awfully confident. But no matter, it's still not enough to help you. Do you see those chainlink gates over there?" Alicia looked where he pointed: from what she could make out,in the distance, a chainlink gate formed around a tennis court sized area. "That's where we'll fight. Follow me." He lifted off the wall, and showed Alicia to the field, happy to himself all the while as if he already knew the outcome.

Something about this guy gives me chills down my spine. Alicia thought following Brandon. As much as I want to tell him that this is all just a misunderstanding, I'm afraid he wouldn't listen at this point; I don't think he'd listen at all if I told him earlier, really. Hopefully our match won't last very long.

Not long afterwards, the chainlink cage had Alicia and her opponent in its metallic protection. The field hummed in a soft tone as it booted up its hologram software; a prism of bright blue and white light danced inside the contours of the field, marking every usable zone. Something about the sound always comforted the shy Alicia for some reason- if it were up to her, she'd get lost within the hums of the field; but a little voice in the back of her head reminded her of her task at hand, and told her- now's not the time to loosen up.

A feminine robotic voice shocked her out of her own hypnosis, "Please place your deck on the deck core." Alicia looked about in a frenzy where it came from: she peered down her right side, a large grayish diamond floated beside her hip. Strange, she didn't remember bringing it in with her, let alone actually having it, whatever it was.

"W-what's this thing?" She asked Brandon.

"That's a generic core gadget," he answered her as he unfit his deck core from its belt holster, "They are for the students and players who don't have one of these bad boys-" what he shown Alicia in his left hand struck her curiosity: his metal deck case was colored pitch black, the color of nothingness accentuated the large Sapphire stone placed in its center and the shimmering gold tribal decals covering all its corners.

"How did you get that?" She asked him.

"Pfft, like I would tell someone like you. Now put your deck in that deck core right there, and let's get this match started!" Brandon had no more patience for words; only a constant thought of beating a freshman noobie drove him to figure out its conclusion.

Alicia placed her deck as gentle as she could on top of the diamond. To her own surprise, her deck sunk inside the thing like a rock sinking to the bottom of a lake. The diamond fully engulfed the deck, a light shaped like a card appeared where the deck used to lay.

Brandon's left hand became engulfed in a small whirlwind; as it dissipated, there was no sight of his core gadget in hand- a black, fingerless glove, sharing the same blue Sapphire in the center of his hand, took its place, hugging his hand. "Alright, now let's get this party started!" Finally Brandon had his chance to show this newcomer who's boss. "The sound of metal-on-metal fill the air, my vicious army begins its march to shatter the wills of the weak! Luminize- Armorknight Onslaught! Raise the flag- I fight for Danger World!" Brandon shouted. A red triangular flag flew over Brandon, a yellow safety line covered its borders, with an imprint of a roaring yellow lion head.

"Fire burns within every heart! Luminize- Magic of Fire! Magic World!" Alicia shouted. A purple banner floated far above Alicia's head; a light-blue magic circle occupied the center of it, glowing from its strong magic.

The field responded to the chants of its inhabitants, spawning six cards in front of them, and two more by their left sides, even giving the players 10 life points. A roar broke through the annex, and a thousand eyes focused on the match from every story of the building- spawning behind Brandon stood a three-headed dog, fur as white as as snow, able to rival a semi-truck in its sheer size. A tank's worth of armor and weaponry wrapped around the ferocious beast like a metal jacket.

"I have to say, I wasn't really expecting my first match of the year to be this early," Brandon stated smugly, "and for that, you put me in a really good mood. How about I let you go first, I want to see what you can do."

"Oh, t-thank you. I charge and draw" Alicia's gauge to her left grew by one as she threw a card towards it, while drawing again. "First, I'll pay 1 gauge to play Gunrod, Bechstein [Magic World/Item/Weapon/power: 3000/crit: 1]-!" a card in her gun turned to but a glimmer, landing gently into Alicia's grasp. A bright light flashed, and the simple glimmer turned into a more frightening form- Alicia now held Bechstein, a magical blaster in the shape of a wand. "And once per turn, I can activate Bechstein's skill to deal 1 damage to my opponent's life points!" She took aim at her opponent, Brandon, and fired at him with the Gunrod. Its laser hit him spot on in the chest, dealing him one damage [Brandon's life points: 9]!"

"Gaaaagh!" a solid shock went through Brandon's chest like a rogue hammer going through a window.

"Then, I'll activate Trans-flame [Magic World/Spell/Magic Power/Fire Power], dealing one more damage to your life points!"

"GYAAAAAAGGHHH!" Brandon's field became engulfed by a raging wall of blue fire, with him caught within it's burning touch. The extreme heat alone burnt away his life points [Brandon's life points: 8]!

"That's not the end of it, because I have another Trans-flame [Magic World/Spell/Magic Power/Fire Power]!" The raging fire never ended, and Brandon's life points suffered under its burning wrath [Brandon's life points: 7].

"I call- Fire Starter, Ganzack [Magic World/Wizard/Fire Power/Size: 2/Power: 4000/Defense: 3000/Crit: 3]- to the center area!"

A wizard appeared before Alicia amidst a bright flash, filling the field with intense heat from his aura alone. His blood red robe danced like the fire he learned to weaponize as a result from his powerful staff. "Ganzack [Crit: 3], attack the fighter!" He did as his mistress commanded; a large serpent-like dragon born of complete flames was summoned out of his staff, and slithered its way to its prey for a fearsome strike.

Brandon found himself just inches away from entering the beast's mouth, looking down the fiery vortex in shock before being completely engulfed in flame. "AAAAGGHH-AHAHAH!" Three of his life points turned to ash [Brandon's life points: 4], the intense inferno silenced Brandon's screaming from spectating ears.

The blaze grew weaker, until it became just a dying ember. The thick black clouds of smoke cleared revealing the smug fighter, barely cooked and standing. Alicia felt nothing good from the soft chuckle of delight her opponent had. "Heheheh, I have to admit, I wasn't expecting any of that." He told her, a wide grin broke across his face. "But sadly this is the limit of your turn, correct?"

"U-uhm, y-yes, it is." Alicia's turn passed to brandon, though the creepy feeling still latched on to her. Brandon was planning something, and whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

"I draw! And then I charge and draw!" As the number of his gauge grew, so did his smile. "I see how your deck works, now- you burn away as much life points as you can, so that your monsters will have an easier time taking your opponent apart. A weak strategy fit for a weak player, like you."

"How can you say it's weak when it worked?" Alicia questioned him, though it only gave him something to laugh at hysterically.

"You think that 'worked'?! I'll show a strategy that truly works! I activate the spell- Crimson Slash [Danger World/Spell/Battle Aura]-!" a card in his gauge turned piping hot red, and jumped straight out of the gauge zone, turning into a fiery slash as it struck Ganzack straight down his middle, destroying him.

"You destroyed my monster!"

"I call to the center area- Armorknight Tiger [Danger World/Armorknight/Size: 0/power: 1000/Defence: 1000/Crit: 2]!"

Quicker than the flash signaling its summons before it, Brandon summoned a tiger, armed to the teeth with heavy armor and dangerous laser guns. It's prideful roar blared throughout the arena.

"Next I pay 2 gauge to call to the right- Armorknight Demon [Danger World/Armorknights/Size: 3/Power: 9000/Defense: 8000/Crit: 3]!"

The remaining 2 cards in his gauge disappeared, devoured by the horrendous monster Brandon called. The beast crashed down from the ceiling and shook the ground where it landed, causing Alicia to fall on her behind from the immense trembles. She wished the smoke hadn't cleared: just from gazing into the armored Demon's gold, soulless eyes broke her will to fight, little by little, with each second.

"Whenever Demon enters the field he gets so awfully angry, I have to take out one of my own monsters just to appease him-" Brandon pointed towards the sacrifice for Demon, Armorknight Tiger. When the purple behemoth opened fire on the jungle cat with the tri-cannon attached to his left arm, Tiger knew what it felt like being at the bottom of the food chain. Armorknight Tiger perished inside the storm of energy blasts, ripping and burning through its armor, and beautiful black and orange striped pelt.

Alicia watched the massacre in horror, covering her mouth with both hands to block whatever unsettling event in her stomach from covering the floor; H-how could he do that? To his own monster?Replacing the sacrifice, another Armorknight Tiger [Danger World/Armorknight/Size: 0/power: 1000/Defence: 1000/Crit: 2] appeared in Brandon's left area.

"To finish off the main phase, I equip the weapon- Boulder Piercing Spear [Danger World/Battle Aura/Weapon/Power: 3000/Crit: 2]!" The card he held high in his right hand took its true form, a purple three-pronged spear, seeping with evil energy. Brandon leapt from the safety of his player zone to join his monsters in their assualt against the enemy!

Let's see: the combined criticals of Piercing Boulder Spear, Tiger, and Demon are 7, not enough to deplete my 10 life points to 0. Alicia thought to herself, analyzing her opponent's plays. If I can survive this, I think I can make a comeback next turn!

"And now, my battle phase: first, Armorknight Tiger [Crit: 2] attacks the fighter!" The wild jungle cat had its prey in sight, and pounced! It brought down its claws as sharp as steak knives onto Alicia, cutting through 2 of her life points [Alicia's life points: 8]!

"Agggghhh!" The hologram looked and felt so real to Alicia up close, a focused sensation of needles and pins ran down Alicia's chest, where Tiger's claws made a connection.

"Now, I'm coming in to attack the fighter [Crit: 2]!" Now came Brandon's turn to get up close and personal. He made a mad dash for Alicia, before plunging his spear into her stomach.

"Gyaaa~h!" The three prongs of the Boulder-piercing Spear went through her like butter, tearing away at 2 of her life points from the inside [Alicia's life points: 6]!

"Armorknight Demon [crit: 3], attack the fighter!" The behemoth took pleasure in hearing that command from his master, aiming his tri-cannon at the girl. The humming coming from the devastating machine grew louder, while the bright purple energy gathering at the front of the barrels grew larger.

Alicia braced herself just in time before the Demon fired its blast, shielding herself with her arms. She hadn't realized she wasn't touching the ground in the heart of a fiery explosion, until suddenly she bounced off of a solid surface. When she came to her senses, and the ringing in her head ceased, she tried to get herself off the ground, despite the ache all around her body. But 3 of her life points perished in the attack [Alicia's life points: 3].

"Oh, you don't look too well." Brandon teased her.

"Yeah, my head's just...hurting a little right now."

"Well, I guess it just has to hurt a litle more, 'cause my turn isn't over yet!"

"W-what do you mean? You've already made all your attacks. Your turn should be over right now."

"You'd be right, if Armorknight Demon didn't have a special ability!"

Something didn't sound right to Alicia, "What are you talking about?"

"Armorknight Demon has an ability called [Double Attack]- meaning he can attack not just once, but twice during the same battle phase! Show her what I mean, Demon [Crit: 3]! Finish off the fighter!"

Alicia's legs gave way, and she crumbled to the ground. She kneeled there, watching Brandon's field being engulfed in the blinding aura of Demon's final attack. The beast released the plasma blast from his tri-cannons, and it screeched across the field, tearing a path of destruction it its presence! As the ball of death inched closer, the weakened girl could only think- I...I couldn't beat him. He's too strong.

She became one with the blast, succumbing to her loss as her remaining life points burned away into dust [Alicia's life points: 0].

Alicia – Brandon

0 -life points- 4

2 -hand- 2

2 -gauge- 0

Empty -left area- Armorknight Tiger

Empty -center area- Empty

Empty -right area- Armorknight Demon

Gunrod, Bechstein -item- Boulder-piercing Spear

Winner: Brandon Stark

The game was brought to a close. Whatever damage turned the field into a rigid, mountainous terrain became deleted, welcoming back the nice, smooth, clean floor. Alicia clenched herself tightly, shaken by her failure to stop her worst fear from starting again. "W-why?" She asked herself as tears began to roll down her cheeks. "Why wasn't I strong enough?"

"Because a weakling like you has no right to walk amongst the strong." Alicia's teary eyes looked up and saw a smiling Brandon towering over her. "You don't even deserve to fight, let alone carry a deck."

"No! You're wrong!" Alicia snapped back.

"Oh, am I? If I was wrong, then I would've lost. But I didn't, so I'm not."

"Winning doesn't determine anything!" Brandon never heard a reasonable fact, only another reason to laugh.

"Hahahaha, easy for you to say. Weak players always made me laugh with their ridiculous belief systems!" With a final laugh Brandon walked out of the cage, leaving Alicia to sulk.

As Brandon left the stage, so did the spectating eyes of the students all around. The feeling of being watched might've left Alicia's consciousness, but her heavy heart never let go of her loss; she knew too well about how school works, she isn't going to hear the end of this.