"Sis, I got a new game that I want to play with you!" Jarod exclaimed from another room. I quit what I was doing at that moment and ran over to my brother. A new game? I wanted to play a new game!

"What is it, what is it?" I asked curiously, running to where my brother was in the gaming room. He was sitting down on the floor with some cards in his hands. I sat down on the floor next to him and whispered, "What is it?"

"It's called Duel Monsters!" my brother cried aloud. "It's a game that I've wanted to get into for so long now. So, now we get to play since I got enough money for cards."

"Duel Monsters?" I repeated. "I think I've heard of it before! Papa Ray said that there was a game called that and that I should learn how to play sometime."

"Well, it's time for you to learn then. Are you ready?"

"Yeah! I got a card already that I want to use."

"What card?"

"I'll be right back to get it!" I ran out of the room and went to my bedroom. I was super excited. I finally get to learn how to play Duel Monsters, sooner than I thought too. I grabbed the card that Northwemko was in from my little bed table and hurried back to the gaming room.

"What did you get?" Jarod asked curiously as I hid the card behind my back.

"It's a card that I've had ever since I was in Sector Seven," I explained. "It's really special to me, and Papa Ray told me that it was a Duel Monsters card. Can I show it to you?"

"Yeah, do it! You've already made me curious, so go ahead."

"Ok!" I revealed the card to my brother with a shout of "Ta-da!"

"Whoa, that's a cool card, Liz!" Jarod exclaimed in awe. "What's it called?"

"Her name is Divine Grace Northwemko," I explained. "She's so cool! If you're going to teach me how to play Duel Monsters, then I'd love to use her in the game."

"Okay, can I see the card?" I nodded and handed Jarod, who began to scrutinize it. I sat next to him again so that I could see him examining the card. Although he is my brother, I didn't want him to hurt my old friend. "It looks like it's a ritual monster."

"A ritual monster?" I said.

"Yup!" You have to have a specific card and a few monsters to summon her. She looks pretty rare too. Where did you find her?"

"I found her, and she's been my friend ever since! Do you want to meet her?"

"Uh...I mean, sure but you need the right cards to summon her."

"What do you mean? I've been able to do it all the time!"

"But how? The card says differently." Jarod began to read the card description. "This card can only be Ritual Summoned with the Ritual Spell Card, "Ritual of Grace". When this card is Ritual Summoned, select a number of face-up cards on the field (except this card), up to the number of monsters you used for the Ritual Summon. While many of the selected cards are face-up on the field, this card cannot be destroyed by card effects".

"So, once it's summoned," I began, "I get a certain number that was the number of monsters I used for the Ritual Summon. That tells me how many monsters on the field I get to choose and they won't be affected by card effects." I turned to Jarod for confirmation. "Did I get that right?"

"Yeah, you're right!" Jarod said with a smile. "Man, I need your reading comprehension for whenever I read."

"Thank you," I giggled. But then a realization hit me. "So, I can't summon Northy without the Ritual of Grace card then."

"Yup. I'm sorry, Lizzy. I don't even know if that card is rare or not. I mean, I didn't see it in the store, but we can look for it!" I frowned a little, not understanding how I was able to get her out of her card. Jarod seemed to notice my concern because he asked me, "Are you okay, sis?"

"I'm okay," I replied. "I'm just wondering how I've been able to get Northwemko out of her card."

"What?! But that's impossible. You've never played the game before, right?"

"Yup, I've never played it. But somehow I've managed to get my friend out of the card."

"Okay?...... Can you show me how you did it?"

"Sure, but I need the card back." Jarod handed me the card back, and I held out the card into the sky. "Come out and say hello, Northy!" The little, yellow spark appeared on the card and out came my card friend.

"Hello, my Mistress," Northwemko smiled.

"Hi, Northy! Have you met my big brother yet? He's going to teach me how to play Duel Monsters!"

"I do not think I have met your brother, but it is wonderful that you are learning to play the game."

"Yeah, I know!" I turned to Jarod, who was in complete shock. He's never seen her before because I've never told him about her. But now that I'm going to play Duel Monsters, I figured that it was time to tell him! "Big Brother, this is my friend Northwemko," I introduced. "Northwemko, this is my big brother Jarod!"

"Why, it is a pleasure to meet you, Jarod," my card friend said, bowing a little.

"I-It's nice to meet you too," Jarod replied in shock. "I-I didn't know that you could do this, Lizzy. We all know that you can use magic, but I don't remember you telling me about this!"

"I know that I didn't tell you," I said. "I wasn't sure when to tell you. But I can tell you now since we're gonna play the game and you don't think I'm crazy!" My brother looked at me with some concern and asked,

"Since when did I think you were crazy?"

"Well, my powers make crazy things happen, right?"

"But it makes cool things happen! It doesn't mean that you're crazy. You're just different."

"And being different is a great thing, Mistress Fi," Northwemko added. "You should be proud of being different." Proud of being different? That was a weird thing to think about since I wanted to be like every other eight-year-old. But my magic powers were kind of in the way of being normal. Although, I do like my abilities and how I can show my friends what I can do. They thought it was cool, so why can't I think it's cool?

"Okay!" I smiled. "I'll be proud to be different." I then turned to Jarod and asked, "Can we learn how to play the game now?"

"Yeah, we can!" Jarod laughed. He laid out the game mat and a few cards. "Okay in the game, there are monsters, spells, and traps! There are different types of each, and they're going to be important in what type of card deck you make. The goal of the game is to lower all of your opponent's Life Points to zero, and you'll win!"

"Ok!... How do I do that?"

"By playing the right cards at the right time!"

"Huh? Where did you hear that from?"

"The store clerk, but I don't know what that means."

"But you said that you wanted to play the game! You even knew about how to summon Northwemko in the game!"

"Just because I want to play it, doesn't mean I know what I'm doing! Some of my friends play the game, but I've only seen someone actually play it once."

"But don't we have an instructional manual somewhere?"

"Yeah, and I haven't read it just yet! It'll take me too long to actually go through the manual."

"May I assist you?" Northwemko asked.

"You want to help us in a game that you were created from?!" my brother gasped. "How does that even work?"

"I am not sure. However, I am willing to try and help you as much as I can."

"Yay!!!" I cried in joy. "Northy's going to help us!"

"Now let us see," Northwemko said, getting the instructional manual. "It says that there are Normal Monsters and Effect Monsters that can be summoned. Monsters that are Level 4 and under can be summoned normally, but monsters that are Level 5 and above need to be Tribute Summoned, depending on their level."

"Their level?" I repeated, looking at the manual too.

"Yes. When a monster is a high enough level, one monster tribute will not be enough to make the summon possible. You may need two."

"Are there any monsters that don't have to have tributes and are a high level?" Jarod asked curiously.

"I do not think the manual says that," Northwemko replied, skimming through the little book. "This must be an easy manual then. It tells of Normal Summons, Tribute Summons, and Fusion Summons. But that is it."

"How can you lower their attack points?"

"I think it depends on what is done on the battlefield. If your opponent's monster is in attack position when you attack, then you will definitely do battle damage. But if your opponent's monster is in defense position when you attack, your opponent will not take any damage."

"That's a lot of things I have to remember," I said in surprise.

"Well, that is why you play the game and when you play long enough," Northwemko began, "I am sure you will remember all of the rules."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Jarod announced. "Let's start playing this game!"

"Yay!" I cheered happily, making Northwemko chuckle a little.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Duel Monsters. That's what my memory dream was about this time. My brother and I were learning how to play Duel Monsters. At first, I was a bit confused on how to play the game since I was able to bring out Northwemko a lot during my childhood, but my brother and I managed to learn how to play still. It was also the first time I introduced Jarod to Northy! I could tell that he was shocked, but he wasn't too surprised. Apparently, my magic powers produced different phenomena. I guess that's what makes me different from everyone else. I have magic powers.

Maybe that's how I was able to summon Northwemko into the real world. Who knows at this rate? Perhaps I can give it a try, using my magic powers. But what can I do with my magic powers?

Lizzy wrote down that sentence and began to think about it more. "If I have powers," she thought aloud, "then what can I do with it?" She glanced at her hands and wondered more. "Maybe if I concentrate whatever I have to my hands, then I'll be able to see some results! Yeah, that's a good idea." She didn't find it weird that she was talking to herself. She actually found it to be relieving because she can think out loud about what to do next, instead of freezing up. She cracked her knuckles and held out her hands slightly, concentrating with all her might. She also looking at her hands, hoping that something will happen. Yellow light began to appear from her fingers, and Lizzy was delighted. "It's working!" I thought. "It's working, it's working!!"

She giggled happily as her hands began to glow too, but there was one problem that she soon realized. "How do I stop it?" she said to herself, glancing at her hands. The light began to glow brighter, and she started panicking. "How do I stop this thing?!" she yelled aloud. The light grew even brighter until it exploded, making Lizzy scream and fall off her bed. After a few minutes, she got up from the floor and sat on her bed again, panting softly.

"Everything okay, Liz?" James asked as he ran inside her room. "I heard you scream a few minutes ago.

"Yeah," Lizzy replied. "Just a little frazzled from what I just did."

"What happened?"

"I wanted to try out my magic, so I did and it kind of exploded! Is that normal?"

"I don't know..." James admitted, "Your magic power is something that is beyond anything everyone knows of. It's that unique."

"So, can I control it?" Lizzy asked curiously. "Or should I figure that out myself like almost everything else I've had to do so far?"

"I don't know that either. Whenever you have used your power in the past, you just used your imagination and come up with something on the spot, snapping your fingers to make it appear."

"Ooh, I wanna try that!" Lizzy thought of one thing that she wanted to see appear and snapped her fingers. Instantly, a book appeared into her hand. "Wow, cool!!"

"What book is that?" James questioned.

"It's a book I've been reading from my big shelf," she explained, pointing to the big bookshelf that hung along the top part of her room. "I don't know whose idea it was to have this big shelf, but I love it!"

"It was Mama Leilei's idea," James smiled. "Now are you going to be okay, since I'm sure you are going to be using your powers to figure things out."

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Thank you, James!" He nodded and walked out of the room, leaving Lizzy to think of all sorts of things she could do. "Hmm...I wonder if I could summon out Northwemko with a snap of my fingers?" She grabbed Northwemko's card and some other cards that were with her and snapped her fingers. In another instance, a light came out of the cards and began to take shape. However, it wasn't the shape of Northwemko but a shape of a four-legged creature. Lizzy's eyes widened, and she stepped back from the light, wondering what was happening. The creature finally took shape, and it revealed to be a creature that appeared to have two heads, with a purple-blue mane and had jewels attached to its body. The creature looked up at Lizzy and stared at her. "U-Um, hello?" Lizzy said shyly. "You're not Northwemko for sure. So who-" She couldn't finish her sentence because the creature jumped on her, licking her face. Lizzy was shocked but began laughing, trying to tell the creature to stop. "Northy, help! I'm under attack!" Northwemko came out of her card and said with a sweatdrop,

"My apologies, Mistress. It seems that Cerberus could not wait to say hello."

"Oh, its name is Cerberus!" Lizzy said, still trying to get off of the creature. "That's a wonderful name."

"Indeed," Northwemko replied. "Its full name is Mythical Beast Cerberus."

"I can see why it's mythical! I mean, look at the two heads." Finally, Lizzy sat up and held both of Cerberus' heads. "My, you two are just precious!" she squealed, kissing both of their foreheads. "It's wonderful to meet you again. I do not have all of my memories back yet, but I will soon. That's a promise!" One of the heads licked her again, making Lizzy giggle.

"I do not think they care," Northwemko noted. "They are just happy to see you, Mistress."

"Well, I'm glad to see them too!" the girl grinned. "I hope that I meet the other Duel Monsters I have to. I'm sure there's a few more in my deck."

"There are a few more. Quite a few, actually. So, would you like to meet all of the Duel Monsters?"

"Of course! I would like to have reintroduction to the monsters, please!" Northwemko smiled happily, and more light appeared from Lizzy's card deck. Lizzy was excited to meet all of the Duel Monsters in the deck and hoped that they would be friendly and pleasant to her once again.

That's the end of the chapter!! Thank you so much for reading and if you like the chapter, put a vote for it. See you on the next chapter of Sentimental Memories!! :)