[center][h2][color=Red]Tobias Westen[/color][/h2][/center]

Toby was almost tempted to just leave after he was eliminated. He didn’t, though, not wanting to be rude to the game store owner or to the other players. But watching Aile win again and again, eventually even taking the final match? That made him burn and seethe even more than he already had been. He still thought back to that aggravating turn, where he drew Felgrand Dragon from his deck. It was the worst possible thing that could have happened. Felgrand Dragon could only be special summoned from the graveyard, and even then only after it was sent there from the field. Ideally it was supposed to be equipped to one of his Felgrand warriors directly from the deck so that it could be sent to the graveyard via their effect and summoned from it later. But drawing it to hand like that? With no Paladin or Guardian to equip it to right away? Of all the absolute rotten luck. Aile won because she had a bunch of powerful cards she bought. But she also won largely because of Toby's abysmal luck of the draw.

Bah! Who was he kidding? Everyone in this tournament was able to summon a bunch of powerhouse cards from their extra deck. And here Toby was with his barely-functioning structure deck that had no extra deck monsters of its own to use. He had to face it, there was no way in hell he was winning this thing. Not really. But finally, it all ended and Toby could get out of there without looking too much like a sore loser. But before he did, one of the judges slipped him something on his way out. It was some kinda envelope, with its only note being to not open until he was alone. Seemed weird, but Toby took it anyway, once again not wanting to be rude and do or say something that would get him banned from the shop.

Toby eventually did open the thing once he was back home and sulking in his bedroom. Cemetery? Midnight? Alone? This had “suspicious” written all over it. In fact Toby was pretty sure he’d seen a horror movie once that started out kinda like this. Any sane person would toss the invitation and forget about it. And for a while he did just that. Toby actually crumpled the note up and tossed it in his trash bin before he went to bed and fell asleep.

Toby ended up cutting school the next day. He had no desire to risk running into Aile and dealing with her, especially after having lost to her for the second time in a row. Instead he spent almost the entire day at the Old Domino Batting Cage. Toby had a habit of spending a lot of his free time here, especially when he wanted to vent his frustrations into hitting homers or if he just wanted to think. Not only that, this was the only way he could even play baseball anymore after being cut from the team at school.

If Tobias was being completely and totally honest with himself, then between baseball and duel monsters? He loved baseball just a little bit more. He played this sport for far longer than he ever played any card games. Whether it was little league when he was a kid, or with the Tigers on the high school team. He had more fond memories of playing ball than playing cards. But these days, the cards were the only thing he could actually competitively play. Or what passed for competitive play, given his lousy excuse for a deck.

Later that evening, after Toby made it back home and heard an earful from his mom about skipping school, he found himself sulking in his bedroom once again. The cards of his dueling deck were spread out on his desk, him having spent a bit of time looking over them and trying to figure out which ones he should eventually replace. Unfortunately, his knowledge of this game was still pretty lacking, and so in the end he frustratingly decided to leave the deck alone for the time being. And that was when he remembered the weird invitation he was given yesterday.

[color=Red]”Tch, geez…”[/color] he muttered to himself, [color=Red]”I must be out of my freaking mind.”[/color] With no more time left to think this over, Toby hastily dug the crumpled up invitation out of the trash bin and stuffed it into his jacket pocket. Then he gathered his deck and snuck out into the chilly night. From there, it was a matter of making his way to Old Domino Cemetery. The note said there would be further instructions at the gate, so that’s where Toby stopped and waited.

Until he saw [i]her[/i], that is.

[color=Red]"Oh come ON!"[/color] Toby groaned with frustration, [color=Red]"SHE'S here too? As if I don't have to deal with the pampered princess enough at school during the day..."[/color] he added, his voice trailing off into incoherent grumbling.