He paused a moment, an old lecture coming back to him. He shook his head, his eyes going to the rare cards on the wall while he spoke. His hands sunk in his pockets as he stood up a bit straighter, his eyes a bit distanced as he recalls something....
"Nothing so noble, I'm afraid. I... I ditched my hometown. My Dad was the RD... Resident Duelist. S'what I call em anyway. Right, getting off topic... He... He had these huge dreams of passing his legacy on to me, including his deck... It was a really nice deck, full of Wind Monsters and traps to get control of his enemy's best monster... But that wasn't my style. Neither was risking my neck for a bunch of people who looked at me with disgust... EVERYONE in town used wind cards, right? And... I didn't like em. I didn't think I liked the game at ALL... until... There was a man who rolled through town one winter. Older guy, 30 something. This is back when I was like... ten? Ten. He brought a deck with him... And... A Bot showed up. A tough one. My Dad was worried about beating it... So the stranger took his place. Dueled like a champion. Til the Bot locked down his deck... It was 4000 to 400, in favor of the stranger. Then... The Bot pulled a player killer, and hit the Stranger for every point of LP he had. In that last moment... He activated a trap."
Ken pulls a card from his deck, showing it to Athena. "Rock Bombardment. Sent Gaia Plate from his deck to the graveyard, and managed a double KO. My Dad finished off the bot... But the stranger was no more. All that was left was his deck. And... I took it. I like to think I'd be able to be that strong some day. But I could never do it in that town. Not with everyone demanding I use Wind Cards and become the RD... So... I ran. And here I am."
He shrugged, looking to her. It was probably a lot to take in... and he waited for her reaction.