NOVEL NEXT Trade(1)
'Thoughts'
"Speech"
Jack has gotten himself a bit of a reputation around the area as the kid who you can go to if you're looking for an obscure card that isn't in the archetype packs. After months of trading and opening Wild packs, Jack has managed to get a wide variety of cards in his collection. With most people only opening packs of their favourite archetype, they tend to be missing cards that can only be found in other packs. So rather than opening packs just to find one specific card, they would go to a trader.
Jack didn't mean to become a trader, he didn't even know what a trader was at first. It all started on his 7th birthday, when some neighbourhood kids, Annie and him were in his room duelling. They decided to host a small tournament, so while two people duel the others would watch and commentate. During one of the duels, one of the kids asked to see Jacks' collection. Seeing no reason to refuse he grabbed his binders and showed them to the other kids. When the kids who were duelling finished they noticed the others kids huddled around Jack and went to see what was going on.
"What's going on?" The winner of the duel asked.
"Jack's showing us his collection." Answered Annie who despite already seeing his collection weeks prior was curious about any new cards he could have gotten since the last time she seen them. When the winner looked at the page that was open, something caught his attention.
"Is that a copy of Living Fossil?"
"Yea I got it from a Wild pack."
"Are you willing to trade for it? I kinda need it." Jack looked at the card, and after reading its effect decided that he probably won't have a need for it any time soon,
"Sure what do you have to trade for it?" The winner took out a card he thought Jack would like. Once they finalized the trade, the other kids started to ask if they can trade for cards they wanted in his collection as well. Not caring for any of them he agreed to trade them away. Ever since then people started to go to him if they were looking for a specific card. It was mostly kids, but there was the occasional teen who couldn't find what they wanted at DM stores and tried their luck with Jack. It was also during this time Jack learned that traders were people who made careers out of trading for and away cards that others might want. Making profit by getting rare cards for people who are willing to spend a lot of money to acquire them.
'Hmm becoming a trader at the side while I being a duelist might help me in the long run. Who knows what cards can help me in a pinch, take Trap Stun for example. I probably won't use it in my deck, but if I ever face someone whose deck revolves around traps. It can be a useful card to have.' Most of the time people go to him looking for a card, however, there are times when he begins the trade. One example is when he got the Elemental HERO Neos. He learned from one of his clients that their brother had a copy of the card, so Jack decided to trade for it.
Usually, clients looking to trade would go to Jack to trade, but this time the client asked him to go to them for the trade. They asked if he can meet them at the hiking trail at Sylvans park. It took a lot of convincing, but he finally got his parents to agree to let him go to the park. So after putting everything, he might need in his backpack, and putting on his Duel watch he walked to Sylvans park. Only to be greeted by a grinning Annie also wearing her backpack and Duel Watch waving at him.
"What are you doing here?"
"Your parents asked me to accompany you to whatever you're doing here?"
"So you don't even know what I'm even planning to do?"
"Nope," Annie replied, popping the p.
"So why did you agree then?" Annie shrugged.
"Can't have my rival go on adventures without me."
"This isn't an adventure."
"Then what is it?"
"It's a trade, someone asked me to meet them here to finish a trade."
"Really? That sound so cool! Like a hero meeting someone to gather intel."
"-Sigh- Well you are already here, you might as well come with me." Walking past Annie he started to walk towards the park's trail."Let's go, this shouldn't take long." As they walked remembered something that was bothering her.
"Why did they want you to come here anyway?"
"Who?"
"The person your trading to." Jack shrugged.
"Don't know, but this client always gives me great trade deals. So I figured that even with the extra effort it takes to meet them here, it still will be worth it." Annie nodded. As they walked toward the trail they would talk about various things. It didn't take long for them to reach the start of Sylvans park trail. "We're almost there, along the trail should be a sign that points to a view that overlooks the park."
"Won't it take us a while to get there?"
"Not really, but we better get going. My parents would be mad if I'm late for dinner and I bet your dad wouldn't like you to stay after dark either." As they walked along the trail path they would admire the view. Occasionally taking pictures on their Duel Watch. Before long they reached the sign pointing towards the overhead view. What greeted them when they reached the opening was a teen wearing a brown coat.
"Who are you? Your not my client."
"Ah, don't worry about that lad." Annie tensed at his answer, glaring at the teen she yelled,
"What did you do!"
"Ah, that is one set of lungs you have there, kid. Don't worry I didn't do anything to them, all I did was convince them to allow me and my friends to meet you first."
"Freinds?" Before Jack can ask what he meant he heard rustling behind him. When he turned around he noticed two teens emerging out of the bushes, blocking the path back to the trail. Frowning he turned back to face the teen in the coat. "Who are you and what do you want?"
"Ah, how rude am I not to introduce myself. My name is Dante." He gave the kids a bow. "And I was told that you're the weird kid that collets random cards." Jack frowned at the comment.
"I wouldn't call myself weird. But my collection does contain a variety of cards."
"Ah I don't mean weird as an insult but more of a compliment. There is nothing duller than a normal person." Dante shook his head. "Well back to the earlier topic, do you have the card I'm looking for or not?"
"It would be useful if you tell us what card you're looking for." Annie stepped forward, Duel Disk ready to protect Jack. Dante frowned as he tilted his head.
"You don't know? I was told that you were informed of what I'm looking for." Jack shook his head.
"Would it be the Chicken Game my original client asked for?"
"You really don't know, huh." Dante frowned. "It seems like I will have to pay someone a visit after this." He murmured. "No, I was informed you have a copy of a Forbidden One card." Jack frowned, not remembering owning any cards named Forbidden One. He took off his backpack and grabbed one of his binders. Flipping through it he eventually found a card that has Forbidden One in its name.
"I do have a Forbidden One card, but I'm not sure if this is the card you're looking for." Hearing things Dante smiled.
"Oh, I'm sure it is, but why don't you tell me its name." Jack looked at the card in confusion.
'Why would he want this card, I can't see anything special about it. Is Forbidden One an archetype?' Jack shook his head, deciding he shouldn't focus on that at the moment. "It's called Left Leg of the Forbidden One, a normal, level one, dark spellcaster monster." Dante's smile widen.
"AH! You do have one! It's even one he's missing, splendid! Well, name your price." Jack frowned, not sure what to ask. Seeing his trouble Dante decides to give Jack an offer. "How about this, I can tell both of you are duelists. So one of you can duel me, and if you were to lose I'll give you a little something for the card. If you win, the reward will be bigger."
"That doesn't sound fair." Annie spat back to Dante, who only replied with a chuckle.
"I'll guarantee that both rewards would be worth your while. I'll even use my weaker deck to even up the odds, so how about it?"
"How can we know we can trust you?" Annie gave Dante a glare.
"Ah, I have a reputation to maintain. If they learned that I bullied kids for that card, then I'll be a laughing stock. So you can trust me in that I won't cheat you for the card." Jack and Annie huddled together.
"What do you think Jack, should we do it?"
"Either way I'm getting paid for the card, so we might as well go for it." The kids stood back up and faced Dante. "We have a deal."
"EXCELLENT! Which one of you will I be facing?"