The Psychic Duelist

8: Meeting the Tribe Sages

The weekend had come around once again. Grey had been spending his time after school working with Sugar at Maximum Choice. He and Mr. Cheese had been helping her with her cards, trying to teach her as best they could. Mr. Cheese learned that teaching was not one of his string suits and decided to stick to running the shop. After while, it seemed like Sugar Sweet was starting to get the hang of it.

Grey, however, was ready to move on. It wasn't that he was tired of helping her, but he was itching for a good match. Magenta and Heath were both scheduled to come by later on Saturday after Grey's parents had left for work. He hoped they were up for a few rounds of dueling, because he was certainly in the mood.

Sitting in his living room, Grey was poking at his watch as he waited for them. Time passed by slowly, numbing his mind. Soon, however, a knock came at the back door. Jumping off the couch, he rushed through the house and opened the back door, stepping into the warm air. Magenta and Heath were both there, waiting for him.

"Hey guys. Ready to start?"

They remained silent. Heath's face didn't look right. His normal upbeat smile had been replaced by a firm frown. Even Magenta's normal looking straight composure seemed a little off.

"Is... something wrong?"

"Can you... come with us?" Magenta asked.

"Sure... where?"

She stepped back and held out her hand. A glowing door made of ornate wood appeared from it. Heath stepped through it without saying a word. Grey naturally assumed he had been replaced by an alien double. Magenta ushered Grey through next, following him as the doorway closed, vanishing from his backyard, leaving no trace.

The world around him had become dark. Grey stepped out onto a cool stone floor. A few torches hung from the walls, giving of enough light to see. He was in a wide cobblestone hall. At the end of it, he could see a faint blue light where the tunnel ended. His friends stood behind him, just as cold as the floor beneath his sneakers.

"Come," Magenta said, walking towards the end of the hall.

Grey walked the length of the hall to the end. He looked around in awe as he entered a huge circular room. It was like a stadium. All around him, several rows of seats wrap around the length of the room, filled with people. In front of Grey sits a large platform. Five people sit on large chairs, staring him down. The Tribe Sages. They watched him closely as he stepped up into the center of the large open area.

Magenta and Heath left to go stand in front of the large podium. Beside them stood three other people he recognized. One was a taller woman in a long purple dress. The other was a shorter girl with long green hair. The last was a man covered in dark ragged robes, peering out with two red eyes. Sera, Daisy, and The Fiend. At first Grey thought they had planned the whole thing, but they looked as monotone as his friends. One of the people sitting at the top, the one in the center, stood up and stepped forward. It was tall woman with flowing blonde hair dressed in red armor. She looked down at him and spoke.

"We are here to assess the situation," she said in a booming voice. "Our rules have been violated by the ones before you, and they all have sited the same person as their reason."

She looked down at the group.

"Magenta of the Dragon Tribe; you have moved into another dimension more than once. The first was allowed to stop an invader, but you continued to go there even after your mission was over."

Another person on the platform stood up. A man in long blue robes who moved up beside the first lady.

"Sera of the Spell Tribe; you have moved into another dimension. You did battle there and threatened one of the residents."

A woman in a pink dress stepped up next.

"Daisy Green of Spirit Tribe; you have moved into another dimension. You did battle there and threatened several of the residents with your actions."

A man in red leather clothes was next to stand.

"Heath of the Warrior Tribe; you have moved into another dimension more than once. Your mission was to recruit any duelists, and yet you never made any reports to your superiors."

A man in a black jacket and black leather pants moved up next.

"The Fiend of the Rogue Tribe... you have moved into another dimension. You did battle there and threatened one of the residents..."

The all sat back down accept for the first woman.

"You all have been found guilty of these charges. There will be punishments for your actions, however, there are more problems to deal with. Each of you have been found with unknown cards from this new reality, and each of you has sited this boy and his dimension as the cause."

She pointed at Grey. He could feel the eyes of everyone in the on him.

"New summoning methods. New rules that reshape our entire world. You sought to use these new cards before we even deemed them appropriate."

The woman looked Grey straight in the eye, making him squirm in his shoes.

"What is your name?"

"I... I'm Grey Adams. What's this-"

"Grey Adams, you have cards that our dimension does not. We understand that your world has the game and have developed these summoning methods on their own, yes?"

"That's right."

"Then by your standards, these summoning methods are all common place."

"Yes... but you don't have those. You only have Fusion."

"That is correct. Please try to understand, our people have been using the game in one way for many years. To have new cards and methods introduced so suddenly and to a select handful of duelists is giving an unfair advantage."

"I get it," Grey responded.

"From this point, we must make a decision. We must choose whether to accept and learn these new tactics... or to remove them from our system. Naturally, if we choose the latter, we would not ask you to stop using your cards... but you would be prohibited from dueling any of our people in special combat."

"Special combat?... I see..."

"There is something else we want. Before we make our decision, we want to see these methods in action... from the duelist who introduced them to us."

Grey clenched his fist, knowing that he was in for a fight.

"I accept the challenge... and I'll prove that these new cards are worth your while."