“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,” The deep, booming voice resounded throughout the entire audience, “Welcome to the greatest show in the world!”

The drums, my favorite part, started hammering, sending beats that harmonized with my pounding heart. The stomping of the audience, the blaring of the orchestra, my smile was so big, my cheeks were beginning to ache!

Suddenly, the tumblers came running out onto the sandy performance pit, flipping and rolling expertly in a group as they broke the tension of the air.

The roar of a lion, tempered by the familiar snap of a whip, scattered the tumblers, the acrobats flipping and cartwheeling away from the sound and back to their spots!

Mom’s hand tightened around mine, “Are you ready, dear?”

I nodded, my throat dry. Tonight had to be perfect, it had to be.

“But are you totally super ready?” Dad asked with a chuckle in his voice.

A little ball of something loosened in my chest as I giggled, “I’m totally super ready!”

As the lion was directed away from the crowds, Mom let go of me, her eyes glittering with excitement, “Remember! Stumble, trip, and be ready for the hop!”

I’d heard it a thousand times, but I never got tired of being reminded.

The sounds of horns and honking suddenly replaced the drums as I nodded and rushed out from behind the curtains, my arm expertly getting tangled in the curtain as I twisted around.

The audience laughed, the laughter of children filling my soul, but I finagled my way out of the curtain, taking a stumbling step, before making an exaggerated fall onto the sand.

I could hear Dad run over, an exaggerated frown underneath his painted frown and crying makeup, and I looked up to a sympathetic hand lent out to help me up.

I smiled, taking it innocently as I made to stand, before I felt Mom’s grip on my shoulder, my spritely mother pushing me back onto the ground and leapfrogging over me.

Face full of sand, I laughed, rolling forward back onto my feet, Mom and Dad helping pull me up and we all did a quick bow before excitedly waving goodbye, our short introduction over.

“That was great, little Jam!” Dad gave me a big hug as we ducked back behind the curtains, “We got a long show ahead of us, so go get some rest. Arnie’s on first so we have a bit of time.”

I was worried about my makeup melting from my blush, “Dad! This isn’t my first rodeo.”

Mom bumped my hips with hers, “Oh, so you’re a rodeo clown, now?”

I bumped her back, “Yeehaw, partner!”

“No daughter of mine is gonna be a rodeo clown!” Dad crossed his arms, growling. “You get anywhere near a bull and you’ll be dealing with my horns, young lady.”

I made a big shocked face, “Wow, Dad, you have horns?”

Mom danced over to him, but before she could continue the bit, the announcer came over, his flowing dark cloak and gray-striped pants only slightly slimming down his larger gut.

“Ok, ok, wrap up the family skit,” Hambden rumbled, “You got 10 minutes before Arnie’s done, so get your cards straight.”

As the ringleader, it was his job to announce the different performances, so his word was basically law during a big show like tonight.

I nodded, feeling light and free as my parents smiled at each other. I couldn’t wait to see what kind of fun performance they’d have this time with each other. I never got to watch them practice except for our smaller routines!

And what would Uncle Arnie be pulling out from his collection to eat tonight?

As we stepped outside for some fresh air together, I looked up at the huge sign that had been planted when we’d arrived here on the outskirts of Echelon a few days ago.

The First Draw World Traveling Carnival & Circus, the home of my family since I was born. Not just Mom and Dad, but every member of my family here at the carnival. I’d been traveling across the world forever and it was weird to know…to know it’d all be ending soon.

“Cheer up, Jam Pie,” Mom wrapped her arms around me. “You're following your dreams aren’t ya? Ain’t that the most important piece of the puzzle pie?”

“Ew,” I stuck out my tongue, “Puzzle pie sounds disgusting.”

Dad poked me in the cheek, “How about some custard pie?”

I blanched. Custard pie was disgusting! One little taste of it after my first gag trick and I was gagging for an entirely different reason!. It was really funny though! I’d done it a thousand times after, but ugh, what a horrible taste!

“I’ll take the puzzle pie,” I giggled, trying to restrain my memories of custard.

Mom nuzzled into my puffy hat, barely constraining my pink hair, “Don’t worry, Jam Pie, you’re gonna love my sister. She loves practical jokes and laughing! As much as I do!”

“Why isn’t she a clown, then?”

Dad shrugged, not looking too concerned, “Not everyone’s made for the road, Jamboree. Some people wear their clown makeup on the inside, you know?”

“Dullard pies,” I didn’t know why I said it, pies were on the brain, but I laughed at the inane comment and they quickly joined in with me. How was I gonna laugh this hard away from the circus? How could anywhere be better than this?

It felt like I could laugh about anything here.

I’d seen some of the people that came from Echelon and…Iunno, the whole city just felt so big and yet so, well, small? Confined? Why did all the people feel so lifeless?

It's a big city, not a jailhouse! How'd ya get so sad!? The world was a stage and you decided to just not enjoy yourself while you could!? Where was the sense in that?

As my parents continued to laugh, I slowly stopped and simply watched them. Mom was a tiny woman, like me, and had long, black hair that she decorated with bright pink flowers and other colorful accessories. Her bright and happy make up went so well with just how full of life and fun she was.

Dad was a bigger man, one of the largest clowns I’d ever seen, and he moved with a gentle, sad energy that belied the teasing, whimsical man underneath his frowning clown persona. I got my pink hair from him, his twirly pink locks a soft pink compared to my bubblegum.

“You gonna be ok, Jam Pie?” Mom wasn’t laughing anymore, a more serious look on her colorful face.

I shrugged, “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Just gonna miss you guys and everyone else. I’ll be, uh, kinda lonely, you know?”

“You’ll make great fri-”

“Hey! Butlers! Get out there!”

“Woops! That’s our cue! Come on, dear!” Mom cartwheeled away towards the tent as Dad picked me up and put me up on his shoulders to set up for our next skit.

I took a deep breath and smiled brightly. There was too much to enjoy in this world to get myself down about things! Life was better when you just stayed happy!

“And now, to finish this up,” Hambden made a grand gesture of his hand, a card in his hand for all to see, “I play Cage Bearer from deployment by spending 1 Rune!”

Born from the magic of Runesouls, the Cage Bearer, a monstrous man with a huge iron cage carried on his back, leapt out into reality from the card, its physical form fueled by the power of the duel.

I made a grand gesture of watching, hyping up the crowd with my parents as we dashed along the edge of the pit stage and basically lost our minds over Hambden’s big play. It was the carnival’s big finale duel performance and it was always a big hit!

Dueling was always fun, but it was even more fun at a carnival! Like everything else!

Tocker Mick, one of the carnival’s other Duelists, took a dramatic step backwards, “No, but how!?”

Mick looked worriedly at his two Tick-Tock Knights on the field, both of whom had been letting him handily deal damage to Hambden for the past few turns.

Ignoring him and giving an excellent finger point at his opponent, Hambden laughed, “Now, Cage Bearer’s effect activates, letting me cage one of your Tick-Tock Knights for all of eternity!”

The Cage Bearer’s cage opened, an all-consuming vacuum suddenly pulling the left-most Tick-Tock Knight into it.

“I don’t get it, Mommy.” I heard the small little voice right beside me, glancing over to see a young little girl with her mother.

The mom, looking a little frustrated, said, “Dear, we’ve been over card effects before. Is it really that confusing?”

“Um, I guess not,” The little girl seemed discouraged, looking away from her mom.

I jumped over the side of the stage, ignored by most, and skipped over to the little girl and sat down with all the subtlety of a colorful clown, “I don’t always get it either.”

The little girl startled as I came over, but she giggled, before looking over to her mom, who didn’t seem to be paying attention at all to our conversation, instead devoting her time to something on her phone. She wasn’t even paying attention to the show?

Pointing up at the Cage Bearer floating in mid-air on the intangible battlefield between Hambden and Tocker, I smiled, “Ya see, Cage Bearer gets to take a unit and basically take it off the field for as long as it’s still around.”

“Then why did he say, ‘for all of etah…eternity?’” The little girl’s face scrunched up at the weird word.

I held up a finger, “It’s more fun that way. Of course, with how the duel is going, I’d say he’ll be gone long enough that it won’t matter."

“And now, Cage Bearer, attack Tocker directly!” Hambden thrust out his hand again, the monstrous Cage Bearer lumbering forward in the air between them and slamming Tocker with the caged Tick-Tock Knight.

Tocker made a pained scream, but rose heroically, not looking to hurt even as his Life dropped dangerously close to 0. It was a good thing losing Life only really hurt if your opponent wanted it too and who would ever be heartless enough for that?

“How did he attack directly? Mister Tocker has another knight, doesn’t he?” The little girl looked adorable and I giggled.

I shook my head, “Unless your opponent has a card that stops you from attacking directly, you can do it if you want! You saw that Tocker likes destroying Hambden’s units, right?”

She nodded, a glint of recognition in her eyes. Tocker had taken out Hambden’s Flame Bearer and Rock Bearer earlier on in the duel pretty quickly.

“That’s his style. Hambden goes straight for the throat, though!” The highest level Duelist at the carnival, it was no surprise that Hambden won most of the duels he participated in at the end of a show.

Mostly because of his Duelist Skills.

“And now,” Hambden struck a cool pose that looked funny on a man of his weight, “I activate my Duel Skill, Strike Again! I’ll spend 10 of my Duel Energy to have Cage Bearer attack you again!”

Tocker fell to his knees, his hand of cards scattering across his dueling platform, “Noooo!”

Cage Bearer descended upon him and with another slam of his cage, the duel was decided. Tocker’s Life hit 0 and he didn’t have any more Duel Energy to save himself with his Duelist Skill.

“And that’s game,” I said, pulling out a little horn to honk at the bright-eyed girl. She laughed, before her mother looked up from her phone and noticed me, giving me a glare.

Sticking out my tongue, I flipped away back onto the sandy pit within our performance circle and bowed with my parents as all the other performers joined us, Hambden included.

The ringleader stepped up, a bit of magic on his tongue as he amplified voice to the entire audience, “Thank you for enjoying the show and please come again to the First Draw World Traveling Carnival & Circus! You'll never have more fun than you've had this night!”

The standing ovation we received was nice, my heart filled with the adoration of the crowd. And yet, my mind wandered to Hambden.

As a [Level 12] Duelist, he was the best Duelist I knew! And yet, would they be as friendly as him? Would they be scary? I wanted to be excited about meeting new, fun Duelists, but...

It kinda made me a little nervous. Could I really protect myself like I was right now? Absently, I looked at my own Duelist stats and wasn't super thrilled about what I saw.

Jamboree Butler

[Level 3 Duelist]

Duel Energy: 3/6

Current Deck Archetype: Carnivally

Duelist Skills

The Show Goes On [Destined; Rank 2]: Every “Show” card played by the Duelist increases their Life by 3 after it resolves.

Would that be enough?