ALL NOVEL Companion Cards(3)
'Thoughts'
'Sign language'
"Speech"
After grabbing his things, Jack was planning to go straight to his room to do some studying. However, a tap on his shoulders caused him to pause. Turning around he saw Crimson grinning at him. "What's up Crimson? Do you need something?"
"Yup! So I heard that you're a trader, is that correct?"
"Uh, yea, why you ask?" Crimson started to sway back and forth on her feet.
"Well, a friend of mine is looking for a card but is too shy to meet other traders. So are you up with trading with them? You might even get a new regular client out of them." Jack thought for a bit before nodding.
"Sure."
"Great! Meet you at the trade center at 5, see you later!" With a big grin, Crimson thanked Jack and dashed out of the classroom, leaving Jack to gather the rest of his things. After putting his school supplies away, and grabbing his cards Jack went straight to the trade center. When he reached the trade center he found Crimson chatting with what looked like a girl around their age. Noticing Jack, Crimson smiled as she waved at him. When he got close, Jack noticed that what he assumed to be Crimson's friend slightly hiding behind her back.
"Great you made it! Hope it wasn't too much trouble meeting us here." Jack shook his head.
"No problem at all on my part."
"Wonderful! Well, let me introduce you to you, my friend." Crimson to a step to the side, causing their friend to stumble as they tried to stay out of sight. "This is Taylor, I don't think you share any class with them, so this might be your first time meeting them." Jack looked at Taylor and tried to recall if he had ever seen them before. Taylor has curly short hair with hazel eyes, they're on the slimmer side with them being a head shorter than Jack.
"Yea I don't think we do. It's nice to meet you." Jack smiled as he extended his hand. Taylor shook his hand with a smile of their own. "So what card are you looking for?" Jack tilted his head when Taylor started to move their hands.
"Ah! I forgot, Taylor here can't talk. And from the looks of it, you don't know sign language?" Jack took a glance at Crimson, then looked at the blushing Taylor.
"I can't say I do, sorry." Jack rubbed the back of his neck.
-That is fine.- Jack stumbled a bit when he heard the robotic voice. When he looked at Taylor, he saw them moving their mouth, but the voice was coming from their Duel Watch. -Most people do not know sign language-.
"Well, I guess that works. Well, let's get inside and find a room." One thing Jack found interesting about the trade center is that trades are done in private rooms. The rooms are soundproof and designed to be pleasant to be in. People can even order food and drinks while they trade. He even heard that many people book rooms for other occasions other than trades, like how people book these rooms for classic table duels. Or how some couples have dates in the rooms with T.Vs. At first, Jack was confused about why a room for trading has so many features, but he later learned that the reason is that using the rooms for other purposes makes more money.
The trio booked a room and sat down at the table in the middle. "So what card are you looking for?"
-Do you have El Shaddoll Fusion?- Jack took out and opened a binder labelled Archetype 5. Flipping to the Shaddoll section, he stopped when he saw the card Taylor was looking for. Taking the card out of the binder, he placed it in the middle of the table.
"What are you trading for it?" Taylor blushed and started to shake. When they looked at Crimson with pleading eyes, she decided to encourage her friend.
"You got this! You have nothing to fear, Jack is a great guy!" Taylor glanced at Crimson and started to sign at her. Crimson rolled her eyes at what they signed. "Your overreacting, yes Jack is a trader. But unlike other traders, you don't have to worry about him trying to milk everything from you. Jack even likes to call himself the Garbage Collector!"
'Is that an insult or a compliment?' Both Jack and Taylor thought. Steeling themselves Taylor looked at Jack and presented a card from their collection.
-Are you willing to trade the card for a Pot of Avarice?- Jack nodded.
"Yea, you got yourself a deal." Taylor beamed as they shook hands. The trio spent the next 30 minutes trading before leaving the trade center. "Bye you two, it's been great trading with you both."
"Bye! See you tomorrow!" Crimson yelled as Taylor waved goodbye. Once Jack was out of sight, Crimson turned to Taylor. "You up for some dinner?" After Taylor nodded, the duo went to grab some food. "See that wasn't so bad, was it?"
'Your right, thank you for helping me.'
"No problem! I'm always happy to help a friend! And now you have Jack as a friend you can rely on!" Once they finished their meal, the duo separated at the dorm entrance. "Night! See you tomorrow!"
'Have a good evening.'
Entering her room, Crimson started to hum as she put her cards away. She passed when she took out a white card with golden borders out of her pocket."AH! I completely forgot about this. Hmm, what did Romach say these cards are called again? Friend card? No, uh monster cards? Definitely not, hmm. I'll figure it out later." She placed the card down on her bed with the rest of her things and left to freshen up. Once she was gone, symbols and circuits on the card started to appear. The symbols rotated on the card as if it was trying to find something. However, after a few minutes, the symbols stop rotating and disappeared, leaving only the circuits.
A black blob appears on the card, it started to shift into many different shapes. After a few minutes of this happening, Crimson entered the room wearing comfier clothing. When she saw the white card with circuits, her eyes widened. "AH! Companion card, that's what Romach called them." She picked up the card and noticed the black shape in the middle. "Hmm, what did he say? A companion card takes a form suitable for the owner. Or was it the owner who chose a suitable form for the card?" When she picked up her deck, she noticed how it felt like it was trying to pull itself to it. That gave Crimson an Idea, taking four of her favourite cards. She placed them face-down on a table in a diamond shape, and then placed the companion card down at the center, making sure it was equally spaced from each other card.
Activating the camera feature on her Duel Watch, Crimson started to record the card slowly inching towards one of the cards. "Come on folks! Take your bets on which card will be chosen to win! So far card four seems to be winning, but it's impossible to tell which will win!" Eventually, the companion card reached one of the cards and started to shine, which caused Crimson to reflexively close her eyes. Once she opened them up again she saw a feminine humanoid wearing metal armour and a long red cape. Seeing this she couldn't help herself from saying.
"Where is your horse?" The creature tilted its head. Seeing its confused expression, Crimson flipped the card and showed the creature it. The creature did an 'Ah!' motion and tapped the companion card with its foot. Soon it started to shine again, and the light formed into a white horse wearing gold and red armour. Once the light died down, the creature hopped onto the horse and did a 'That better?' motion. Crimson smiled and laughed at the sight.
"Yea that's better. So I'm guessing you're my companion?" The creature shrugged its shoulders, before eventually nodding. "Great! Well nice to meet you, uh Fleur?" She said as she extended a finger. Fleur nodded as they grabbed the finger and shook it. Crimson's smile grew at the scene. "I have a feeling we are going to be great friends."