Okay, yeah, this isn't Reaper, which means another week without Reaper (unless I get the third chapter ready sooner than I expected). I apologize, this chapter is just being difficult.
Instead, here is the next Epic Battles duel, a rematch between John and Yugi, something that I wanted to do since the second that I first posted the old Book Five duel between John and Yugi where John wins against Yugi with magic. Still, I was limited by my "no Yugi without a super-good reason" rule, so I used Epic Battles as an excuse. I'm clever that way. This time John is much more skilled, but he doesn't have Hiro with him, and he doesn't plan to use Destiny Draw, as (I'm pretty sure) he does in that duel. In other words, this duel is as fair and even as can be.
Duel Two
John vs. Yugi Muto, Part One
I'm not one to brag (okay fine, I actually am), but I'm pretty good at games. Sometimes I even have a little glimmer that I'm the best, or at least very close to it. That, my good readers, is called arrogance, and if I were a Greek mythological figure, it would be listed on Wikipedia as my fatal flaw. I am not the best, I'm just lucky enough to be naturally talented at games, and I'm thankful for that. It's just that sometimes I allow my talents to go to my head.
Lucky for me, this particular story has very little to do with that. I just wanted to introduce myself a bit. I'm John. I'm twenty-one, and I'm an ex-member of a Team Duel team of Duelists from North America (the only part of the world that really plays team duels, really) known around the country as the Duel Force. Even though we only competed a few times in an actual Team Duel (it only just now occurs to me that I've only written about one of those times), my friends Tucker, Kimi, Rocky, Monty, and Lawrence, my girlfriend Karen, my sister Sarah, and my cousins Jen, Kris and Amanda managed to retain our status as a Team Duel team by entering in tournaments around the U.S. under the team's mantle.
In case you care, I have brown eyes, no fashion sense, and brown hair that wouldn't stay in place if I glued it.
Apparently I'm the best known member of my team, because after I disbanded my Duel Force and allowed my sister to carry on in my place, I was invited by Seto Kaiba and Maxamillion Pegasus to attend a school that they were creating for Duelists. From there I managed to earn a place on a Team Duel team being assembled by Pegasus.
I'm glad for my success, but deep down I know that it all stems from one event; during the second Grand Championship held by Kaiba Corporation, I defeated Yugi.
This bothers me for one simple reason; I didn't defeat Yugi.
It's a whole thing. A whole thing that I've already written about once and don't plan on writing about again here. Let's just say there were...unique circumstances. I also had the Egyptian God cards in my deck once for a while. That's not really important to this story, I just think it's cool.
Anyway, this particular story takes place during a rough patch in my life. I was still in school, at Duel Academy. It was just before my second year, so i was nineteen. Karen and I were in the middle of the worst fight we'd ever had. One of the first fights we'd ever had. Needless to say, I was depressed, but when I was offered entry into a tournament in Japan, sponsored by a subsidiary of Pegasus' company, Industrial Illusions, along with round-trip plane tickets, I accepted. At the very least it would give me a chance to blow off some steam.
I got on the plane and rode in complete silence. Then I rode in a company car to the arena in complete silence. Once I arrived I defeated my opponents with as few words as possible until I finally got fed up and let myself be eliminated. I was leaving the arena, planning to roam the town until it was time for me to catch my plane home that night. But before I could get very far, my self-loathing was interrupted by a voice.
"I don't mean to talk down, but when I heard that you were going to be in this tournament, I expected more."
"Sorry to disappoint you," I snapped, turning toward the source of the voice, "but-."
And then I paused, because where I'd expected to see a random fan, of which I have far too many, I instead saw my hero, the greatest Duelist of them all, Yugi Muto.
"What-," I began, but I was too surprised to continue.
"Sorry," Yugi said, "I didn't mean to startle you."
"No," I said, "that's fine. What are you doing here? Not that you shouldn't be here. You can be here if you want."
I was rambling, and I stopped when I realized that Yugi was blushing. For the first time ever, it occurred to me that Yugi didn't enjoy all of the fame.
"Well," Yugi said, answering my previous question, "I was in town. Some guys at Industrial Illusions wants me to let them send my tournament deck on tour for a few months each year, to give my fans a chance to see it for themselves. I was in town to discuss it, and I saw that there was a tournament going on. I decided to watch."
"Not compete?" I asked.
Yugi looked thoughtful, "No. I like to wait for something big to come along before I duel these days."
I nodded. I could understand what he meant. The last time I'd met Yugi, he'd suggested to me that he, like me, used to fight darkness, using Duel Monsters as a weapon. I could understand how something like that could make relatively small tournaments like this seem insignificant.
"That's why you only ever really compete in big name events now?" I asked.
Yugi nodded, "That's right."
By then the shock was wearing off, and I recalled what Yugi had said to me to start this entire conversation, "Wait, what do you mean you 'expected more'?"
"Well," he answered, "I just expected you to be stronger. When we fought at the second Grand Championship, you were clearly a formidable Duelist. You were able to handle the Egyptian Gods, after all."
"To be fair," I interjected, "that was a unique situation."
"Still," Yugi continued, "you were strong enough that you worried me, to a point that only a few Duelists ever have. You should have won that tournament."
"I'm sorry," I said, turning again to walk away, "but I don't care who you are, you don't get to say things like that to people."
"Wait," Yugi snapped. "I'm sorry. There used to be someone to be forceful for me, but he's not around anymore. I have to be forceful for myself now. I can't just sit and watch such a strong person break down like this. Maybe if you tell me what's wrong, I can help."
I didn't want to, and I was angry at this stranger for suggesting that I would. I turned to tell him just that, but when I met his eyes I saw a sincerity there that I'd never seen on anyone before, and behind that, a wisdom that could only come with great experience.
This guy had been through a lot.
So I said, "Fine. I'm having girl troubles."
"Oh," Yugi responded, laughing a little, "I don't know much about that."
"Not only that," I continued, pacing back and forth and gesturing wildly as I ranted, "but I keep going through more and more Duel Monsters related crap. Life and death stuff. I used to be able to get through it by remembering that I really love dueling, but lately I just don't know anymore!"
"Now that I know about," Yugi replied, a smug look on his face as he adjusted the Duel Disk on his arm. "How about this," he proposed. "You duel me, and we'll see if you still aren't sure about dueling by the time the duel ends."
"You want to duel me?"
"Sure," Yugi replied. "You did say you'd duel against me again, after our Grand Championship match. Why not right now?"
I considered it, grumbling to myself until I came to a decision.
"Fine," I said, stepping back from Yugi and standing to face him,"but if we're gonna do this, let's do this right."
I brandished the Duel Disk on my arm, and in a flash of deep violet light my Duel Disk changed shape and color, turning black, and elongating until it looked like a blade.
"Impressive," Yugi taunted, "but flashy tricks like that won't matter once our duel gets started. Oh, and just so you know, I'll be using my real deck today."
"Real deck?" I asked.
"The deck you and everyone else knows," Yugi explained, "was built with the help of a good friend. It's powerful, but it isn't really me. Let me show you what is."
He drew his cards (LP: 8000), "I begin my turn with the monster card 'Toy Tank', in attack mode!"
Yugi's monster, a small tin tank reminiscent of a Roid monster, appeared at his side (ATK: 1600). It looked harmless, but when I saw the look in Yugi's eyes, when I saw the fierce determination there, I knew that I was in more trouble than I could possibly imagine.
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