NOVEL NEXT Resolving Doubts
'Thoughts'
"Speech"
The night after the duel with Dante, Jack has been thinking about his plans for the future. He is sitting in bed, laptop on his lap, researching some things that have been troubling him. 'Why would Dante want that card? All I can find are other Forbidden One cards for each arm and leg. I can't even find cards that mention them, at first I thought it would be like Dark Magician. A standard card with lots of support, but I can't find anything like that.' Frowning he opened up a notepad app and looked over his notes. 'What weird is that it looks like there should be something, why are there the arms and legs but no card for the body?' Going back to the browser, he opened his tab of the official card database. A website with basic information on all cards, he looked up the Forbidden One archetype.
'An extra rare Wild pack exclusive archetype that contains 4 cards. "Right Leg of the Forbidden One", "Left Leg of the Forbidden One", "Right Arm of the Forbidden One" and "Left Arm of the Forbidden One". They are all level one dark normal spellcaster monsters. There has been rumours of plans of printing a fifth card for this archetype, but no such card has ever been released. ' Jack sighed as he reread the article. 'No matter how I see it, they are just collector fodder. The only notable thing about them is their rarity.' Jack rubbed his eyes. '-Yawn- Maybe I'm overthinking things, from how Dante was talking he was getting the card for someone else. So the most likely explanation is that he knows a rare card collector that asked him to get it.'
Jack opened up his nightstand and grabbed the deck that Dante gave him. Looking through it he thought back on what he read about how a card's worth is determined. 'A card's worth is determined on 4 aspects. The first one is how rare a card is, this includes if it can be found in an archetype or support pack, or if it can only be found in Wild packs. Wild pack exclusive cards are generally rarer than cards that can be found in the other 2 types of packs. Second is the card's usage, can it only be used in one kind of deck or can it also be used in other decks. Take Dark Magician, for example, it typically can only be found in decks focusing on its archetype. Meaning for traders, it would be scored less for its usage.' Stopping for a bit, Jack placed the deck back down and opened the website where he found his information.
'The third aspect that traders look for is the card's strength, stronger cards are worth more than weaker ones. The last aspect is the most important for traders. The value that the client gives the card. People give more value to cards that work with their deck than cards that don't. Most of the time all the value that a card holds depends on this aspect. So it's important for traders to learn about their client and what cards they value more.' Frowning Jack looked at the deck box. 'Is this considered a good trade or not?' This problem has been annoying him for a while. 'The deck seems strong, but I never used anything besides EVOs before. So I have no idea how much value I should give it.'Sighing he closed his laptop. 'Well, let's just say it was a good trade, a single card I randomly got from a pack for a Deck.' After he thought that he perked up. 'Yea, it doesn't sound that bad when I put it like that.' He was knocked out of his musing by the ringing of his Duel Watch. Tapping it he saw that it was from Annie.
"Hello, Annie what is it?"
"Jack! I want to trade decks." He frowned.
"What? "
"-Cough- I mean, can we trade decks please?"
"Why? What's wrong with your HERO deck?"
"Nothing is wrong with it, why are you asking?" Jack facepalmed.
"-Sigh- Then why are you asking to trade decks?"
"AH! I mean can be trade decks that the Dante guy gave us."
"What's wrong with the one he gave you?"
"The one he gave me isn't cool at all."
"Really what is it?"
"You know the shiny card I have?" Jack's eyes widen.
"Really?"
"Yea, the whole deck is full of them. I was so excited to have a new cool deck, only to find out it contains nothing cool." Jack snicker. "So how about it, you want to trade?"
"Sorry, Annie I'm happy with the deck I got, and look at the bright side. You finally have a place to put that shiny card you love so much. I also think this is a great opportunity to branch out to different decks."
"I guess." She murmured. "-Sigh- Well good night, and sorry to bother you."
"No problem, and good night." After the call ended Jack couldn't help himself from laughing a bit. "Ah, well I should finish my research before I get to bed. Now what can I learn about Dueling Schools". Having his mood improve, Jack spent the next hour researching before falling asleep.
Meanwhile, after her call, Annie lay in bed. Looking through the deck she was given. "I guess he has a point." She sat up and took out her prized shiny card. She looked at it before she started to smile. "You finally have a place you belong." With her mood improving she slid the card into the deck box. "There, finally with others of your kind. It's kinda like a lone alien hero finding they weren't the last of their kind." Smiling she placed the deck down on her nightstand and took out her HERO deck. "But I still prefer my HERO deck, nothing is cooler than a hero saving the day." She thought back to what Jack told her. "I don't know why he said I should branch out, there's nothing wrong with HEROES. Well, I'll just ask him next time I see him." With that thought, she put her deck away and laid down. Falling asleep with thoughts of HEROES saving the day.
During the middle of the night when both the kids were fast asleep, the decks they were given by Dante started to glow. Annie's deck gave a warm brownish glow, as chirp-like sounds emitted from it. While Jack's deck gave off a light blue glow, what sounds like the clashing of swords can be silently heard. Before it can wake up the kids the light and sounds from the decks slowly decreased before disappearing. Leaving both rooms dark with only the sounds of the kids breathing that can be heard.