Yugi opened up the door to the Black Clown game shop and walked in as the bell dinged his arrival. The store was less busy than it normally was, but it was also early in the morning on a Saturday. The normal customers were probably still asleep at home. Yugi actually stifled a yawn, himself. Looking around, he didn't see Duke anywhere, but he heard a female voice promptly greet, "Welcome to Black Clown, can I help you find anything?"
He turned and smiled at a short woman who was around his age, sporting a very long, auburn braid pinned up in a bun, and large, green eyes. It amused him that she'd finally convinced Duke to let his female employees wear something other than mini-dresses, yet she still chose to wear one on occasion. As for today, she was in her steely-blue work slacks, a white blouse, and a black apron with the store's logo on the breast. She looked up from whatever it had been she was doing, and she returned the smile.
"Oh, Yugi, hey." She straightened up and leaned against a display shelf, blowing and popping a bubble with her chewing gum. "What's up?"
"Nothing much." He scratched the back of his head and peered around. "Oh, you've got new cards in for Rose Dueling. Did you set any aside for yourself, Inari?"
"Yep." She picked one up that was still nestled in a plastic case and flashed it to him with a wink. "I just bought one of these today. Cost me an arm and a leg. Thank God for employee discounts."
He took it from her hand, looking it over. "Mirror Wall… wow, they made it a permanent trap! That's going to be a tough one to beat."
She laughed. "Figured it would give me an edge for the next time I fight Atem." Raising an eyebrow, she looked down at the Millennium Puzzle around his neck. "He asked you to come check up on me, again, didn't he?"
"Hey!" Yugi protested nervously, slapping the card back down on its display, "Maybe I just wanted to see if Duke had any cards my grandpa isn't carrying!"
"Mmhm…" Inari slipped a clipboard under her arm and shoved her pen behind her ear before walking up to the front desk, where Duke was doing something on a computer. "Tell him you're going to start charging ten bucks an hour for being used as a babysitter."
"I'll keep that in mind…"
"Oh, Yugi!" Duke had just noticed him and set down the phone he'd picked up. "I was just about to call you."
"Oh? Why, going on?"
Duke took out his cell phone and started texting away like a mad person. "You'll never guess what Pegasus had sent out to the shop! It's so cool."
Inari broke in fiercely, "Hey, I called dibs on the first round!"
Her boss waved her off with a playful eyeroll, and he continued, "It's the new stadium for the Rose Dueling game! He asked ages ago if he could use my Dungeon Dice Monsters tech to build off of it, and I gave him the go-ahead."
"Wow, how cool!" Yugi beamed. "So it's ready to use?"
"Well," Inari added, going over her clipboard absently. "It turns on, anyway. We haven't actually tested it out, but Mr. Pegasus said it works."
Duke's phone started buzzing, and he grinned. "I invited the others over for our first test duel, so they should be here in a little while."
"Pleeeeeaaaaase can I play the first duel?" Inari batted her eyelashes at Duke, giving him a sweet smile. "I'll pick up any extra shift you want, I swear."
Duke sighed irritably, running his fingers through his bangs. "If it'll get you off my back-"
"Yay!" Inari bounced up happily, pulling a deck of cards from her belt. "Good thing I'm always prepared~"
Yugi laughed and teased Duke, "Do you ever wish you wouldn't have hired her?"
"Only twice a day."
It didn't take long for the rest of their friends to show up: Joey, with Serenity in tow, Tristan, and Téa. The girls hugged Inari and dove into a conversation about her new apartment and a great place to find some cheap furniture that Serenity just knew she would love. Duke, after getting another employee to cover the store for him, led them all into the back dueling arena, where he'd once fought Joey and Yugi with his Dungeon Dice Monsters game. Except, instead of that particular stadium, a new one stood impressively in its place.
"Alright," Inari chirped excitedly, eyes bright as she stared at the massive contraption, "Who wants to fight me?"
"Ah, no thanks," Joey balked, "I'm still smartin' from the last time you kicked my ass."
"I'll do it!" Tristan offered, raising his hand. "I haven't played a game in a while." Since the Battle City tournament and their adventures in Noah Kaiba's virtual world, Tristan swore he'd try to get better at dueling, which he had. After hearing the stories, Inari figured he just didn't want to chance being turned into a robot monkey, again.
The two stepped up and into the stadium. In front of each player was a large screen that mimicked the playing field. Turned off, it was merely a mess of grey squares, each big enough to hold one card. But once Duke flipped the switch, each tile started randomly shifting through various terrain pieces. Inari started going through her deck, looking for something.
"Hope you don't think I'm going to go easy on you," she called out to Tristan, who smirked.
"Wouldn't want you to."
"Yugi, mind if I watch?"
He blinked, then remembered the voice was coming from within him—Atem. He smiled a little with a nod, and let the spirit take over his body. Atem's eyes immediately went to Inari as he and the rest of the group took seats in the empty arena.
"You need to stop fussing over her," Yugi admonished within their mind. "She's going to kill you."
In fact, Inari glanced over and did a double-take, then scowled when she saw it was Atem watching instead of Yugi. Her cheeks went red, and she turned away to focus on the game at hand. She'd yell at him later. Atem had been the first person she'd met that she could remember, and ever since, he was always making Yugi tail her, making sure that she was doing alright. It was obnoxious. She knew he was happy for her for finding her new apartment, but, now that she wasn't crashing on Yugi's couch every night, it seemed to have fueled Atem's protective nature even more.
"Alright, everyone," Duke yelled, making himself the game's MC, "Let's get started!"
Author's Note: Hey, everyone! Thanks for reading the first part of my latest fic, Frozen Memories. This one's going to be a bear of a story, being set in two different worlds, so I'm splitting it up into two parts. The first, "The Rose Duelists," is going to focus on the Yugioh world, and the sequel will move on from there. The Rose Duelist is going to be very dueling-heavy, which is something I've never written before. I'm using a gaming program to help me out with it, though, so hopefully it'll go okay. As always, I'll strive to make it better every time!
Thank you again! Love, WolfMoonSinger