Disclaimer & note: Firstly, I only own the words below nothing more. Secondly- Bah! I'll just leave the rest in a footnote at the end of this cause I doubt anyone's bothering with this header.
#Y#G#O#
As his sister, Luna had to admit that her brother had matured quite a bit as he grew up. Sadly, when it came to riding his Duel Runner however, he seemed to quickly de-age back to a twelve year old and forget about everything unrelated to speed, including her whenever she was his passenger like right now.
"SLOW DOWN!" She all but screamed into the built-in mic of her helmet as Leo swerved around a heavy hauler at speeds more suitable for Turbo Duel circuits than the highway. Even if it was relatively devoid of traffic, her twin was taking one too many chances and, as much as she loved him, Luna would much prefer he waited until she was no longer riding the death trap before going all Evel Knievel on the open road.
"Quit back seat driving, will ya? I got this" Leo's voice coolly replied over the headset.
Luna swore, if he started one of his 'Future Duel Runner Champ' spiels, she would punch him one in the kidneys the moment the Duel Runner came to a complete stop wherever it was they were going. Thankfully, her brother kept quiet instead focusing on the road ahead and their destination which was a detour in the opposite direction of where they should have been going.
They were supposed to have been on their way to New Domino City where the 5D's team were having a reunion after going their separate ways ten years previous. While most sensible people would have simply gone straight to New Domino via airplane, Leo had decided that they should catch a flight to a, relatively, nearby city and ride the rest of the way there much to his sister's protests claiming he would get them side-tracked which predictably had happened.
Not even ten minutes out of the airport, Leo had caught wind about an up and coming Turbo Duelist claiming to be the one to take out the Ride Ace Dueling Champion aka Jack Atlas, and had decided to track him down, duel him and put him in his place- again, without listening to his sister's protests. Sure, he knew that his role model could probably beat the guy within five turns but there was no way Leo was going to pass up the chance to take him one step closer to the level Jack and the others were on far above himself.
So, here they were: miles from their destination speeding towards some small diner where this supposed usurper would be waiting for them with one twin eager to beat him while the other just wanted to get to New Domino and see everyone again.
Sadly, it looked like Leo was not going to get his wish, at least not right off the bat by the looks of things.
Even before reaching the diner, the tell-tale signs of a duel could be seen as they drove up judging by the crowd and the solid light monsters from the centre of the mass. Unsurprised at Leo's impatience to see the duel, told by the facts that he had all but jumped off his Duel Runner once parked and did not bother to remove his helmet, Luna took her time walking over to the Duel to allow her the chance to observe the two Duelists.
While she could not see his opponent, Luna had a clear view of the man claiming to be the next Champion along with the three monsters on his side of the field: Sanga of Thunder, Kazejin and Suijin. If Luna's memory of Duel Monster history classes served correctly, all three were level seven Effect monsters with attack points of two thousand four hundred or higher respectively and had the ability to negate one attack per turn as well as combine to form Gate Guardian should he have the card in hand.
From the looks of it, the man had just successfully summoned the last of the three and had destroyed the last of his opponent's defences before ending his turn evidently not bothering to summon their combined form nor set any traps which was an amateur mistake even if it did look like he had the upper hand.
Seeing as she could not pick anything else up from the Duelist right now, Luna turned her attention to his opponent. Or would if not for the dark skinned man in front of her with an afro she swore was the diameter of the average Runner wheel. She was just about to ask if the man could move over if just a smidge so she could glimpse the other duelist when she felt someone grab her arm and nearly tear it off in the process of pulling her to the forefront of the crowd giving her an unobstructed view of the entire field.
Normally, Luna would have berated Leo for trying to pull off her arm, but her voice, her entire body for that matter seemed to freeze up as she finally got to see who the other Duelist was and understand why Leo had seemed so rough when dragging her.
Same red hat and matching Runner jacket, same duel disk, asides from the long sleeved, black T-shirt he now wore underneath his jacket, Luna could have sworn she had suddenly gone back in time to the day the WRGP and the WTGP were announced. The day she had first met Konami Mifune, an up and coming Duelist who not only managed to hold his own against Yusei and Akiza, but had been her tag partner, friend, older brother she never had and crush.
At least, he looked like the aforementioned person. It was his face, or what could be seen beneath his hat, that prevented her from truly assuming such. Back then, Konami's mouth always seemed to curve upward on one side whether when duelling or hanging out with her and the others. This Konami looked bored, disappointed even, despite the odds stacked against him.
"Time to end this. I draw!" Konami declared the firmness in his voice telling both Luna and Leo that he meant it even if everyone else did not. "I'll start by playing the spell card Pot of Avarice! This allows me to choose five monsters in my graveyard and return them to my deck then draw two more cards!"
Watching on as Konami collected and added his chosen five monster cards from graveyard to deck, Luna had a strong suspicion of the combo he was about to unleash even before he drew twice more from the reshuffled deck.
"Next, I'll summon to the field Lock Cat in attack mode! And when successfully summoned, I get to special summon a level one beast monster from my graveyard in defence mode. And I choose Key Mouse!" Konami declared summoning first a white cat with an abnormally large collar with an equally large padlock attached to where a nametag would be followed by a white mouse with a tiny lock and key attached to the collar around its neck. "Its ability is negated but it'll still help in activating my Chain Dog's ability from the graveyard. If I have two Beast-Types on the field, I can special summon him from the graveyard so, Chain Dog, take to the field!"
As the bull terrier wrapped in chains materialised, most of the crowd were assuming Konami was going to use the three in a Synchro Summon. Even if he did, the ability held by all three of his opponent's monsters would stop him in his tracks when battle commenced. At least, that would be the case if he was to Synchro Summon.
"Now, I'll activate from my hand the spell card Double Summon allowing me to summon one more monster from my hand" Konami continued activating the spell card before reaching for the last card in his hand. "I sacrifice all three of my monsters on the field to summon Beast King Barbaros!"
Everyone, including the twins despite having seen the aforementioned monster before, gazed in awe as the intimidating half man half beast warrior materialised onto the field unleashing a guttural roar that shattered Sanga of Thunder, Kazejin and Suijin much to Konami's opponent's surprise.
"By using three monsters to summon him, Beast King Barbaros can destroy all cards on your side of the field leaving your Life Points wide open" Konami provided before pointing at him. "Now, Barbaros, let's end this! Tornado Shaper!"
In a single bound, the monster had closed the gap and thrusting its spear at the wailing opponent. Even if it were just solid light, going from having the advantage to suddenly losing the Duel in a single turn was still quite the blow.
"I'd work on my deck if I were you. You can't even remove my boredom let alone Jack from his throne" Konami scoffed walking off to where his Duel Runner was parked.
Luna felt like she had to re-evaluate her statement from earlier about Konami: it was not his face that was different rather she was now looking at a shadow of the Duelist she had come to admire, respect and crush on as she had gotten to know him. He was the main reason she had been so excited to see everyone again but now, seeing what he had become, she was starting to have doubts about whether he cared for her any more if he even recognised her, for that matter.
Leo, as usual, was either oblivious of this or had chosen to ignore the change in Konami as he called out the Duelist's name getting his attention.
Evidently surprised to hear his name being called out, Konami merely glanced over his shoulder to the masked person obviously not recognising Leo with his helmet still on. The moment the helmet came off, Luna could have sworn that a switch had been thrown somewhere inside of Konami as his entire being seemed to do a complete one hundred and eighty.
"Leo?! That you?!" Konami exclaimed happily clasping the boy's shoulders as he looked at him from head to toe before pulling him in for a hug that Leo quickly reciprocated. "You've changed so little, I swear you've just been stretched!"
"I've changed plenty! I've grown better and stronger!" Leo protested although his smile dimmed not an iota. "And I'll prove it to you right here and now in a Duel if you want!"
"There's the proof that you're still the same!" Konami laughed playfully ruffling up Leo's hair before looking around and locking eyes with Luna.
For her part, Luna remained rooted to the spot too busy trying to keep from blushing and wishing that she had left her helmet on so as he could not see her blushing as he approached her. He was like a whole different person now.
Not different Luna scolded herself. It was more rather he had returned to the Konami she and Leo remembered from their childhood the moment he had recognised Leo. Or was because Konami knew that, wherever Leo was, she would surely not be far away and had reacted to that?
Luna quickly scolded herself again for thinking such a thing. Even if she did manage to pluck up the courage to tell Konami that she liked him, she was only twelve years old at the time and, while he had hidden it well, Luna could tell that he had been uncomfortable with her declaration- he was in his late teens at the time after all.
"Well, how about that. 'Cute Little Girl Luna' is now 'Pretty Young Lady Luna'" Konami could not help compliment bringing the girl out from her musings. "You going to hug me or, at least, say hello?"
As if his words had been a trigger, Luna found herself in control of her body and immediately threw herself into his arms wanting nothing more than to be held in his embrace while she attempted to squeeze the life out of him like in the old days whenever he comforted her.
"Been holding it in, have you?" Konami teased as the two finally parted much to the relief of his now bruised ribcage.
"Saving up for ten years now" Luna replied easily her cheeks gaining a pink hue as memories of past hugs he had given her flashed before her eyes suddenly feeling happier than she had since graduating from Dueling Academy with highest honours in her class.
More would have been said if not for the ever observant and tactful twin brother of Luna's inserting himself into their conversation.
"So, did you have the same idea as us?" Leo inquired referring to the man who had once claimed to be the next 'King' before being trounced.
"Us? You were the one who wanted to seek him out!" Luna corrected her brother clearly irritated by his interruption and lumping her in with his idea despite wanting nothing more than to just reach their destination.
"Nah, I had just stopped for a quick bite when he showed up" Konami shrugged off. "Wouldn't have even duelled if he had had the smarts to accept my apology when I bumped into him- heck, it wasn't even that and he nearly went ballistic on me"
As he talked, Luna could not help but notice he was starting to revert back to the shell of the Duelist she had witnessed earlier.
"Sounds like Leo when someone tries to look at his deck without permission" Luna smirked knowing it would get a rise out of her brother and change topics at the same time.
"Funny. I was reminded of you that time when that guy commented on Kuribon being a 'lame monster' as he put it" Leo countered sparking off an argument between the two.
The twins were too occupied with suddenly trying to one up each other that they failed to notice that Konami had fallen behind a few steps and was now watching them with an amused expression on his face.
"And here I was thinking the two of you had grown up" He chuckled receiving synchronised glares and offended exclamations from them which only made him chuckle more. "Come on. We can catch up on the road. Maybe even meet up with the others en route if we're lucky"
Almost instantaneously, Leo's offended expression morphed into one of excitement and realisation at the thought of getting the chance to meet up with Crow or Jack. Better still, if he was fast enough, he might even get a chance to battle Yusei before everyone else arrived. With full tunnel-vision engaged, it was a miracle he had had the common sense to toss Luna her helmet before jumping onto his Duel Runner and roaring off leaving his sister to call after him furiously.
"And this is why I tell him he's not on the same level as Yusei and the others!" Luna huffed furiously resisting the urge to throw her helmet at the shrinking form of her brother.
The roar of a familiar Duel Runner as it pulled up beside her nearly had her heart jumping out her mouth.
"You coming?" Konami asked from the seat of his midnight blue Duel Runner.
"Just…promise that you won't go too fast" Luna replied swiftly donning her helmet so as to hide the blush at the thought of riding with her old crush.
"Only if you promise not to crush my ribs" Konami countered suddenly feeling grateful that she was now sitting behind him so as not to see his own red face at the feeling of her body pressing against his.
Roaring off down the highway after Leo at a safer speed, Konami could not help but wonder over whether or not it was seeing both twins that had him feeling alive again.
#Y#G#O#
It was supposed to have been a oneshot but, it kept becoming more elaborate so I'm just gonna stop it there for now.
Watch this space & keep Duelling!