By Your Side - A Challengeshipping story

Chapter 3~ Be Prepared

I had a nice cool shower when I came home, and as soon as I sat down on the couch, an intense wave of pain hit me full force. It didn't even hurt, it BURNED!

Around half an hour passed and the pain had mostly worn off, but I was still achy in my legs. It was around this time that a letter was dropped through my door decorated with fancy handwriting and a wax seal, which no one uses nowadays. I could only think of 1 writer that would do this... Mr Heartland, head of the Duel Carnival. What does he have to say now?

To the 3rd placer of the duel carnival, Shark                                         ,

I laughed at the fact that they knew my name as none other than "Shark". Obviously, I would use an alternate name to be known by. No one ever calls me Reginald... except my sister. Reginald lost at the nationals, but Shark will win the World Duel Carnival.

Well done for making it to the semi-finals of Heartland's World Duel Carnival! Everyone of us from the head operators congratulates you! As you may know, you have earned full access to all the facilities that are available in the City Tower up until the 30th floor. However, over the 2-week period you have to start preparations for the Duel Carnival semi-finals, we will be asking you to attend a series of events, we will go future into detail towards today, for around 11 days. Both the talk today and the series of events are compulsary- you will have to do it, unless you are willing to withdraw from the competition, in which case, the partner you've faced in the Duel Coaster would take your place. 

We will start our meeting at 10.30 and you will be expected to be there on time. We will be discussing this matter further then, so any further questions on the events that will occur over the next 2 weeks can be answered there. Until then, we'll hope to see you soon! 

~Mr Heartland, Head of the Duel Carnival

Huh... in 1 hr then? Guess I have to get ready for that then. I tried to get up, but my muscles said no, holding me down into the tattered leather beneath me. Guess this is going to be a long day!

Another time skip, brought to you by Number 61, Volcasaurus!

"Sponsership!" Really?! I went through all that pain and effort to learn about sponserships?! I groan and even felt Yuma's drop in normal enthusiasm. 

"YOU MADE ME MISS RICEBALL SUNDAY FOR SPONSERSHIPS?! WHAT THE-"

"I understand the misunderstanding," Mr Heartland cut Yuma's ranting short, speaking in a fake and plastic tone of happiness. "But the sponsers will give you the fame and support your needs. By advertising or even using their equipment will gain the World Duel Carnival more popularity and viewing. And with that you gain more supporters and more oppertunities to participate in dueling matches. Even if you lose, more people would watch, and naturally they would admire you for fighting for so long." Most of us stayed still, waiting for Mr Heartface to continue. I slouched against the wall, a normal bored look on my face, Yuma now looking a little more interested, Kite with a usual disgusting scowl and Vetrix... looking sinister and silent.

"Our main plan is to set you up with some basic training. You will all pick a partner to train with and will do an assortion of exercises across the next week. This will be a completely random selection, and you will either be training alongside a semi-finalist amongst you or one of our trainees. They are just some of the people who create the duelling defence system, so don't expect them to train easy against you. We have selected 3 to create a larger draw. Over this week, you may participate in stations that will strengthen either your physical, mental or tactical person depending on where you come in the roter. Is all clear so far?" he anounced in a sourly sweet tone as if speaking to the audience.