Dueling was becoming a problem. A terrible and annoying problem that tested the power of his patience. Well… not dueling perse since dueling was a hobby he enjoyed. His life-blood at this point. No, but rather the Pro-Dueling Circuit that was grating to his skin. There was always some new height to reach, some new fad that each duelist decided to follow the trend of. Granted, Zarc was the one who often created the trends and everyone else copied him.
When he decided to make the crowd involved, so did the other Pro-Duelists.
When he accidentally roughed up an opponent, violent duels became the new fad.
When he had shown mercy and made a grand spectacle of it in order to stop the further escalation of violence, suddenly compassion was the name of the game.
Everyone was just a bunch of conformists. Well… everyone except one.
And unfortunately, she was the problem.
Ray The Speeding Diva Akaba, or as the rest of the circuit and the audience liked to declare her, the one and only rival. Whenever she had duels against him, the tickets were sold out almost instantly. They had the best charisma, the best chemistry. Whatever he dished out, Ray had no trouble thinking on her feet and keeping up – besting him. The crowd ate it up, the battle of wits… the taunting… the stunts of flying through the air.
Him catching her in his arms in their most recent duel.
The ultimate culmination of his problem with dueling.
"Don't fall for me too easily now, sweetheart." Zarc winked at her, keeping a cool and flirty demeanor while his heart was pounding – he hoped he wasn't blushing. The problem wasn't dueling or the circuit or even his opponents, only one opponent and supposed rival, Ray Akaba. Ironically, he was the one to take a drastic fall for her and with each duel, it had gotten so much worse.
Ray did not find his comment as funny as the audience did and pouted – Zarc did his best to resist swooning.
"I'll try to remember that." She tried to wriggle out of his arms but he held firm. Ray groaned. Again, he was making everything difficult. By keeping her in place, she couldn't get the action cards nor activate cards or anything of the like.
But he didn't have another attack… she was safe.
"Odd-Eyes effect activates!"
Or not.
"Let go of me!" Ray screamed, pushing at his face and kicking – nothing making a real substantial effect. She could hear the roar of the monster under them and her eyes widened, realizing she didn't have time to waste. Taking a deep breath, Ray took hold of her goggles at the top of her head and put them on – the world now rose-colored. Rather than using brute strength against her stubborn opponent, Ray somehow leapt out of his arms. The panicked look on his face when he saw her fall again, the gasp of the audience as she was heading toward the ground only fueled her need to bring joy to them. "Trap, activate!"
A cloud appeared under her suddenly, saving her from a rather steep drop.
The crowd cheered as she was saved, this time by her own cards rather than Zarc running toward her on his dragon and catching her. In another moment, Zarc would've jumped after her if it meant saving her from actual harm. But she put herself in danger… leading the crowd and him on with a feat of danger and saving herself in the last second. Truly heart-pounding.
"With this, I can summon a level four or lower monster from my graveyard."
How enthusiastic she was. Zarc could only describe her as adorable, even with the idiotic pink goggles that were too big for her face.
"Hey, focus on the duel!" His monster chastised, not the first time he had to be told this.
But how could he focus when she grinned and laughed as her monsters danced around her. Zarc knew she couldn't understand what they were saying, but he could perfectly hear them. It was chanting, singing a taunt.
"Zarc and Ray sitting in a tree…"
His face reddened and he forgot for a moment that no one else aside from him and his monsters could understand. Only thinking how her monster winked at him, taunting him – a mirror of Ray and her mannerisms.
"All effect damage is negated!"
"First comes love, then comes marriage…!"
Zarc gritted his teeth, barely suppressing a growl. The audience thought he grew frustrated from Ray dodging his attacks once more, saving herself by the skin of her teeth. But no, he could care less about that. No, it was her monster and the taunts. "I end my turn…" Zarc muttered. He just had to ignore the puffball.
"My turn! Draw!"
"Oh, no wait, that can't happen at all!" Her monster giggled, twirling around Ray as she continued with her combo.
He wanted to destroy that thing, have Odd-Eyes tear it limb from limb and then revive it only to tear it apart once more. Maybe bringing back violent duels wouldn't be such a bad idea – Zarc was up for a little torture. It'd definitely stir up excitement from the audience.
"You're not besting me!" He shouted to her monster, Ray and the audience assumed he was talking to her, attempting to make banter. She scoffed, such weak banter meant he was losing his edge.
"But it's true. After all-"
"Battle!" Ray declared.
Zarc didn't hear. He didn't hear anything aside from the taunts.
"That would involve you telling her you like her and you're too much of a baby for that."
The puffball continued and he was losing circulation of his arm from how tightly his fists were balled up. Maybe he could physically fight the monster and champion a new era into Duel Monsters like gladiator fights. "You stop that…!"
"Baby! Baby!"
"Zarc, focus! Don't listen to that pipsqueak!"
Along with the monsters overlapping and the crowd cheers, he couldn't concentrate on anything. Instead, Zarc gripped tightly onto his head and his fingers dug into his scalp, a headache erupted from the noise and stress. Who allowed this? Why was this happening? When would they all shut up?
Ray noticed.
Did the possibility of losing stress him out that much? What a brat.
"Zarc!" Somehow, her voice ascended above the crowd. "Pay attention, you big baby!"
A final nail in the coffin. "Don't call me a baby! Just because I like you, don't mean you get a pass either!" His eyes were finally open and with that, his words were an echo across the stadium. Zarc realized where he was and the sort of predicament he was in. He was dueling.
Against Ray Akaba.
His crush.
And he yelled at her. Well, screamed mostly, his feelings.
To top it all off, there was an audience just as stunned as she was. And worse yet, he forgot that it was a duel with a final attack launched toward him. Before he could react properly, the attack reached him and knocked him off Odd-Eyes. His monster disappeared and his life points depleted to zero. Zarc fell none too gracefully to the ground, groaning as he laid there.
The audience cheered as the holograms went away and Ray ran up to her fallen opponent. She had never seen Zarc react like that before, become so frustrated with battle that he lost his concentration. Was it just the battle?
'Just because I like you…!'
Her cheeks tinged pink as she crouched down. She couldn't help but be worried. He had yet to move. Was the fall terrible? Did she need to call the ambulance? What if he messed up his legs or his back or even his head and was never the same afterwards? "… Zarc, please say something." She couldn't panic, she needed to stay calm. Ray laid her hand atop of his, nearly shaking in place.
"… nner?"
He mumbled something but it was hardly audible, not while his face was against the dirt like that. "D-Don't say anything, I'm gonna get you a doctor."
She almost got up but instead, Zarc lifted up his head abruptly and took hold of her hand that was on his, trying his best to keep her in place. He imagined he didn't look all too great, not with the fall. And he was definitely feeling something wet on the side of face and his skin irritatingly warm. Worse than he imagined, Zarc saw his face on the giant screen. He was bleeding and blushing. But Ray… Ray was a vision, with her pink goggles pushed up and her eyes wide and glistening with tears.
He wanted to cheer her up.
"Do you… wanna go out to dinner with me? Loser pays…"
"Dinner? You're super injured!"
"… hospitals don't have food?"
"Zarc!"
"Take-out is an option…"
"Are you hearing yourself?!" She was ready to bop him over the head. Of all the things, how could he think about dinner? Food! How could he think of such trivial things at a time like this?
"So we duel for dinner, got it. I win, we get seafood." She nearly snorted and he continued, slowly lifting himself off the ground with great difficulty. "And you win, we get… I don't know, hot pockets. What do you even eat?" The more he rambled, the harder it became to try and keep her smile at bay – laughter bubbling up and she placed her free hand over her mouth trying to stop herself.
"… you're so stupid." Zarc smiled and tried to remove himself from all fours before collapsing, his head falling on her lap. She didn't become irritated by his clumsiness, it was only natural he was unsteady after a fall like that. Ray placed her hand down on his head, patting his hair gently in slow strokes. "Don't fall for me too hard, sweetheart."
"Too late."