This chapter literally just provides a brief introduction to the other characters competing in the tournament. There are some new faces, and some familiar ones. Some really familiar ones.
Chapter TwoScoping Out the Competition
“This is it,” I said, smiling, looking up at the number above the gate, “this is where the Kaiba Corp. jet is waiting for us.”
“Good,” said Max. “After an hour and a half getting through customs, I could really use some time not getting through customs.”
Karen punched him in the arm and gave him a stern look. He replied by producing a sound that can only be described as a growl.
I smiled. Max might seem like a jerk, but I knew that deep down, really deep down, he was a good guy, and a friend.
“I just hope that I get to fight smoky the hothead over here,” said Sarah, looking up at Tucker, who had recently grown seven inches and towered over all of us.
“I’d burn you up,” Tucker replied, taunting her playfully.
“No way!”
We handed our tickets (which had been waiting for us at the airport when we arrived) to the attendant at the gate and stepped through onto the airfield outside. We carried our small bags onto the plane and found our seats. We were the only ones on board. It was pretty cool, though it wasn’t the first time that something like this had happened to many of us.
The voice of the captain came over the intercom and he gave his well-rehearsed speech about our flight plan and the safety crap. I didn’t really pay attention. I was busy thinking about the tournament. Who would be there? How strong would they be?
And I couldn’t help but think about how cool it would be if I actually won!
But most of all I was hoping to meet my hero: the original King of Games, Yugi Muto. I know it's a little cliché to be a Yugi fan, but it's true, I am, even more so since I've learned...certain cool things about him. He hadn’t been seen at a major tournament since the last Grand Championship, however, so I didn’t expect to see him at this tournament either, but I could hope.
“I hope I get to face you in the tournament,” said Karen, laying her head on my shoulder.
“Yeah,” I said, “me too.”
“You’re thinking hard about something,” she said. It wasn’t a question.
“Yeah,” I said absentmindedly.
“What?” Karen asked.
“What, what?”
“What are you thinking about?”
“Oh, well I was just thinking that I’d like to duel Yugi.”
Karen sat up and looked over at me, “You mean the Yugi? The King of Games Yugi? Trust me, we’ll be lucky if Yugi isn’t there. If Yugi competes there’s no way you’ll win, and from what I can tell you’ve got a better chance than anyone of winning this thing.”
“Still, even if it means I’d lose, I still want to fight Yugi. I mean, who can say they’ve fought Yugi?”
“I don’t expect to get far,” she said, laying her head on my shoulder again.
“Even if you don’t,” I told her, not believing for a second that she would do poorly at all, “I’m sure you’ll do great.”
She smiled, and the two of us sat together for the rest of the flight in silence.
Tucker
I spent most of the flight goofing around and bragging about how strong I am. That’s what I do. But the entire time I was worried that I’d cave under the pressure and let John down. He’d done so much for me in the past.
Alright John, I decided, I promise that either I’ll fight you, or I’ll make it to the final round, no matter who I have to get through.
And I really meant it, too.
Max
I’ve never been the kind of person to open up to people, especially since my first real friend Randy was killed by Yami, or I guess Marik. I’d made some pretty good friends recently, but none of them compared to him. He had been like a brother. As hard as it was living without him around, I’d managed to come to terms with it, but the entire length of the fight, for some reason, I felt like Randy was waiting for me at the end.
John
The plane landed at about six-o-clock. There were KC cars waiting to pick us up and drive us to the Kaibaland Resort. We arrived and I looked around in awe. The resort was awesome, with twenty-four semi-circular stories wrapped around a courtyard with a huge stone fountain, topped with a statue of the legendary Duel Monster, the ‘Blue-Eyes White Dragon’. Inside, on the lobby floor, was a huge pool, a smoothie bar, an open bar, artificial waterfalls, and diving boards. The building was beautiful and spectacular, both inside and out.
We were directed to our rooms, one for each of us. We were on the top floor, for special guests. The rooms were placed in the ends of the half circle structure. There were twenty or so rooms total, with a lounge in the middle. We left our bags in our rooms, which were huge and amazing, and then headed back out to the lounge and waited for more competitors to arrive.
“This is boring,” said Tucker.
“For once I agree with Hothead,” said Sarah.
“Oh, come on!” I said. “This is great! Waiting to meet the ultra-strong Duelists that we’ll be fighting. The suspense is awesome!”
Tucker, who was sitting right next to me, punched me hard in the arm and shot me a dirty look.
“It would be nice if some of the other competitors would actually show up,” said Karen, putting her feet up on the table in the center of the room.
“Did someone say something about meeting the other competitors?” asked a strange voice from behind me. We all looked and saw that someone had just stepped off of the elevator. He was wearing a gray suite with brown slacks, and highly reflective round-lens glasses.
“You must be the competitors who have already arrived,” said the man. He walked over to each of us in turn and offered a hand to shake, and we each stood in turn and took it, except for Max and Lawrence.
“I am Doctor William Crabtree,” the man said, smiling. Judging by the wrinkles on his face he was in his mid-forties. His eyes were too hidden to tell for sure, but his smile seemed very false. Not evil, but sinister. I didn’t trust him for a second.
“I’m a surgeon,” said Crabtree, “and a Gold Ranked Duelist.”
“I’m John,” I told him, “and these are Karen, Sarah, Jen, Lawrence, Max and Tucker. We’re the Duel Force.”
You obviously have something up your sleeve, Doc, I thought, so how will you react to that?
“Ah, yes,” said Crabtree thoughtfully, sitting down in an armchair across from me. “I’ve heard of you of course!” He leaned forward and folded his hands, still wearing that awful smile.
“You, John, are Gold Rank. Your signature cards include ‘The Fiend Megacyber’, ‘Great Maju Garzett’, and ‘Dimension Fusion’. You, Lawrence, were once a student of Seto Kaiba, and you are only one of two Duelists known at this time who possess three copies of the ‘Blue-Eyes White Dragon’. You, Karen, were once a student of Maxamillion Pegasus and hold a set of Toon monsters. And Max, you used to be a very well-known Duelist in this region, but fell off the radar until you recently re-emerged displaying the mantle of the Duel Force.”
“What about me?” asked Tucker.
“You,” said Crabtree, “are not even worth mentioning.
“Now,” Crabtree continued, “if you don’t mind, I’m going to turn in.”
With that, he stood up and strolled briskly to his room.
“I don’t know if you guys noticed,” said Tucker, “but that guy’s up to something.”
“Yeah,” said Lawrence sarcastically, “we all got it.”
It was another twenty minutes before anyone else arrived. This time we already knew him. Sarah saw him first, jumping up from her seat and growling, “War Ruler!” Even though I’d never met the member of the evil Dark Duel Force, I knew from my friends how dangerous he could be. I jumped up, along with Tucker, Karen, Lawrence, and Max. The others rose moments later, and the spirit being Hiro, a resident of my Soul of Darkness and a strong ally, appeared at my side in his invisible spirit form.
I’m here if you need me, Hiro told me in my mind. I nodded and then took a step toward our old foe.
“Why are you here?” I demanded.
“I’d guess for the same reason as you,” War Ruler replied.
“You can’t expect us to believe that you’re only here to compete,” said Tucker.
“No,” he answered, “but I’m also not looking to convince you. If you see anything suspicious from me, respond in whatever way you see fit. I’ll see you tomorrow at the tournament.”
And he too walked away.
It was dark by the time the next competitor arrived. We knew him too, though the others were paying too much attention to the TV mounted on the wall overhead to really notice him. He was the master of one turn kill tactics, “King of O.T.K.” as he was often called. He and I smiled at each other as he walked past me and toward his room, our expressions somewhere between friendly and ultra-competitive, if that makes sense.
Looks like it’s finally time for us to settle things, Christopher Johnson.
The next competitor to arrive was a kid about my age with dark hair, darker than mine, spiked pretty much straight up. He wore a dark red vest, the collar turned up, over a dark navy blue long sleeve t-shirt. I stood up and extended my hand, “I’m John, nice to meet you.”
The kid walked past me, stopped, and looked back over his shoulder.
“I’m called Evo,” he said. “You don’t interest me.”
“Well I’m gonna turn in,” said Jen, standing up and stretching. “Obviously the other Duelists don’t plan to show up until tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” said Tuck, “I’m gonna turn in too.”
Just then the elevator door opened and two familiar figures stepped into the lounge. Familiar not because we knew them, but because we knew of them.
“Hey,” said the shorter of the two figures, in very good English, despite that I knew it wasn't his first language, “you must be the other Duelists competing in this tournament.” He shot us a friendly smile and I rose to my feet in shock, unsure how to react.
“Nice to meet you all,” the young man said, continuing with his introduction, “I’m Yugi Muto.”
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