A week later, Kyu is dressed simply in a black T-shirt, a black jog and a pair of basketball shoes, wearing his black Duel Disc on his wrist. He stands on a platform rising in front to bring all the participants to the center of the Kaiba Dome, he was paying attention to none of them except three people who catch his attention without even paying attention to him.
The first person is a young man who looks slightly older than he has brown skin, a medium-sized physique, black hair with golden highlights and royal blue eyes. He wears a long-sleeved blue jacket with a high collar and amber gems, over a black sleeveless shirt with a red symbol and wears gloves with amber-colored elbow protectors. The bottom of his body is black jeans with amber kneepads, a belt with two Deck cases hidden under his jacket, and motorcycle boots at the calf.
The second person seems to be a child with green hair wearing two tails of horses on the sides of the top of his head, and gray-gold eyes. She is wearing a pale pink short-sleeved jacket over a long-sleeved red shirt with gold markings. She also wears light purple shorts with a red belt and black and pink patterned sneakers and high socks.
And the third person, the one who retains most of his intention is a teenager seeming to be the same age as him. She has fair-skinned, brown-eyed and burgundy hair, styled so that it seems to be a bangs or wrap with what seems to be a hair curler on her head. She is wearing a high-waisted, low-waisted red corset with short, light green puff sleeves, worn under a magenta sleeveless trench that flattens behind her, being shorter and pleated. at the front, and black up to the elbow to the fingers. Gloves with gold bracelets on top of them; underneath, she wears high heels with red heels and black stockings at thigh height connected to a skirt by braces. And she wears a red choker and a gilt cross medallion with an emerald crest.
These three people for reasons that even he did not know the intrigued. She seems familiar to him, as if he had known them a long time ago. But he decided not to pay much attention to it so that the public where the competitors do not ask questions when their platform will be outside. And that's when the comment on the games begins to speak.
"Everyone, listen! The duel of the Fortnue Cup finally begins!" Says the commentator as the reigning champion's favorite monster appears in the air. "The Red Dragon Archdemon makes an appearance!" He said as a Duel Runner seemed to be composing a single wheel with round the mechanisms inside and where is the defending champion Jack Atlas.
A blond man with purple eyes wearing a white jumpsuit. And some seconds after pointing out his presence made a waterfall with the ramp part of the arena for the Turbo Duel for in order to land.
"There is only one King! And it's me! Who dares to challenge me?!" Jack said loudly.
"The duelists with the gold ticket, dreaming of fighting the King! Front in the center!" The commentator said as a hatch opens and the platform on which the participants of the tournament stands is revealing them to the public.
The faces of each participant appear on screens, and while the screens show the face of the young man who intrigued Kyu earlier, the spectators are silent when they see the yellow mark on his face. And when the audience starts to talk badly about him one of the participants who platform to take the microphone of the commentator.
He is a dark-skinned man with an important musculature, wearing a biker outfit whose top of his outfit highlights his abs.
"As a duelist, I would like to ask you exactly what you see there. This man is undoubtedly a duelist, selected in the same way as we have been!" The man said pointing at the young man. "If someone has cards, marker or not, he's like the others! People standing here should not be ashamed of anything! It is rather you, looking down on them with your prejudices that are flawed." He said before returning the microphone and taking his place.
Goodwin, sitting on a chair in front of a desk next to the stage where Jack is sitting, begins to applaud the man for his speech before being followed by all the spectators. He ends up getting up and talking in the microphone on the desk.
"Thanks for his encouraging words, Greiger. The reason I created this event is like the one you mentioned. I am Rex Goodwin, the man in charge of the Neo Domino City Security Maintenance Office. And I am the man who set up this dueling festival, in gratitude for the maintenance of public safety on a daily basis. For the duelists, there is no difference in social status or gap between the rich and the poor. True equality lies here." Goodwin said.
"Now, here is the draw of the first round!" Said commentator while on the screens is a diagram to restart playoff duels before the semi final.
When the draw was over, Kyu could see that he will be in the fourth match against the participant next to him. A middle-aged man with black hair cut almost flush with his skull and eyes hidden by a pair of sunglasses, wearing an outfit identical to his own but white with a tattooed dragon along his right arm. But he also learned through the screen the names of participants who caught his attention and that of his opponent.
The young man's name is Yuseil Fudo, the child's name is Luna, the teenager is Akiza Izinski, and her opponent Ryu Banjo.
Later in the room where the participants gather, Kyu saw that Akiza is alone on a large table, with a glass of orange juice. And after taking a bottle of water from a vending machine, he decided to go talk to him to try to understand the impression he had earlier.
"Hi..." Kyu said grabbing Akiza's attention. "Tell me, do we know each other?" He asked.
Akiza just ignored her and began to drink a little while Kyu decided to use a pretext for her to talk to him.
"Excuse me, that sentence was a little flirty with two bullets. I just felt like I had seen you before the tournament started. And I just wanted to start the conversation because, as we are likely to be an opponent after our respective duels I thought we could get to know before." He said before taking a sip of water in his bottle.
"I don't want to talk to you." She said coldly.
"I see. So I will leave you." Kyu said before getting up and leaving Akiza alone. "Well the attempt to fail... I will have more chance to learn about it during our duel if we win those quarter-finals." He thought before leaving the halls to stretch his legs before seeing one of the security guard men standing in front of him. "What is it?" He asked.
"I recognize your Duel Record, Dragon Mage." The security guard said, pointing at him with his weapon.
"What did I hurt you in the year when I started cracking down in the city?" Kyu asked without the least embarrassment.
"I was there when you assaulted my little brother for several days when you appeared. And you will pay for what you did to him." Said the security guard ready to shoot him.
"It's just some superficial injury." Kyu retorted.
"He lost the use of his legs!" Shouted the security guard.
"If he lost to me at a Duel it will be more logical for you to avenge him because of the same thing that made him lose his legs?" Kyu said subtly subduing his opponent.
"… All right." The security guard agreed as he pulled out of a broom cupboard a bag containing a Duel Disk that he placed on his wrist.
"So you had to think about this eventuality." Kyu says.
"Once I've won I'll make you suffer the same fate you did to my brother." The security guard said, placing a Deck in his Duel Disk.
Kyu placed his in his Duel Disk and once they are equidistant, both Duel Disk is activated.
"Duel!" Say the two Duelists initiating the duel before they draw five cards each.
Kyu: 4000 Life point
Security guard: 4000 Life point
"Seen that I want to finish quickly, I'll start." Kyu said before drawing a card. "To begin, I send a card from my hand to the graveyard, especially to summon The Tricky." He said before doing the action he said.
A monster resembling a yellow jester with black stripes, a black and blue cape, and a red question mark on the face. This is The Tricky (LV05, Type: Spellcaster/Effect, Attribute: Wind, Atk: 2000 Def: 1200).
"Then I put a card face down, and I'll let you go." Kyu said finishing his turn.
"Too kind." Said the security guard with Irony as he draws a card initiating his turn.
"I play the Beckoned by the World Chalice, in attack mode." He said placing a monster card on his Duel Disk showing the monster on the ground.
It is a black haired wearing a fancy outfit, and armed with a spear. The Beckoned by the Chalice (LV04, Type: Warrior, Attribute: Earth, Atk: 1800 Def: 0).
"I put a card in front of me and I finish my turn." Said the security guard as he places a card in his Duel Disk.
"I will move up a gear. I will summon the Toy Knight in attack mode." Kyu said picking a card before summoning her monster.
It was then that a little knight appeared to look like a toy boy for a toddler. The Toy Knight (LV04, Type: Machine/Effect, Attribute: Earth, Atk: 200 Def: 1200)
"And thanks to his ability, I can summon another Toy Knight from my hand." Kyu said invoking another Toy Knight. "Now The Tricky is going to attack your monster." He said as The Tricky prepares to attack.
"And I activate my trap card, Compulsory Evacuation Device. This card allows me to return one of your monsters in your hand. So The Tricky can not destroy my monster." Said the security guard as The Tricky returns to his card that Kyu puts back in his hand.
"Fine, then I'll send a card from my hand back to the graveyard to summon it before finishing my turn." Kyu said before invoking The Tricky again and leaving his opponent behind.
The security guard drew a card and thought for a second before playing.
"I summon the Fire Princess and place a card face down." Kyu said as her monster and map pose appear.
Her monster is a white-haired woman wearing a red dress and armed with a stick. This is the Fire Princess (LV04, Type: Pyro, Attribute: Fire, Atk: 1300 Def: 1500).
"Now, my monster is going to attack one of your Toy Knights." Said the security guard as the Fire Princess gets ready to attack.
"Not if I play my card face hiding. The Scrap-Iron Scarecrow." Kyu said revealing his card face hiding. "This card allows me to cancel one of your attacks each turn." He explained.
"Not if I play my trap card. Interruption of Raigeki. By discarding a card I can destroy one of your cards on the field. And I choose your trap card." The security guard said while the Kyu trap card was destroyed allowing the Fire Princess to destroy a Toy Knight.
Kyu: 2900 Life point
"Then I put a new face-up card and finish my turn." Said the security guard.
"So I will be able to finish with you." Kyu said picking a card. "I will first summon the Junk Synchron." He said, placing the card he had just drawn on the ground.
His monster looks like a small orange robot wearing an orange metal chimney cap with a motor in the back. Junk Synchron (LV03, Type: Warrior/Tuner, Attributes: Dark, Atk: 1300 Def: 500)
"And next I'm tuning my Level 3 Junk Sync with my Level 4 Toy Knight." Kyu said as the Junk Synchron and Toy Knight flew into the air, the Junk Synchron turning into a three green circle while the Toy Knight breaks into four stars after entering the space formed by the circles .
"Spread those wondrous and beautiful wings, and strike down your enemies at the speed of light! Synchro Summon! Appear now! Level 7! Clear Wing Synchro Dragon!" Kyu said invoking the monster.
It is a white dragon with black stripes, having a pair of translucent green wing and a long tail with black stripes. The Clear Wing Synchro Dragon (lv7, Type: Dragon/Synchro/Effect Attribute: Wind Atk: 2500 Def: 2000)
"Now The Tricky is going to destroy your Fire Princess." Kyu said as his monster starts to attack.
"You just activated my trap, Slip of Fortune. It allows me to cancel your attack provided that my monster is removed from the game to turn." The security guard explained as The Tricky canceled his attack and the Fire Princess disappeared from the field.
"All you did was gain some time but my dragon can still attack." Kyu said while the Clear Wing Synchro Dragon is about to attack the Fire Princess.
It was then that a ray of energy came out of the Dragon's mouth and touched the Fire Princess. Destroying it and losing health points to the security guard.
Security guard: 2800 Life point
"And that's how I let you go, with 100 Life Point less than me and two very strong monsters that you'll have to fear every move." Kyu said as security guard begins to shake. "Tell me, why are you trembling? Is it because you will lose your revenge will fail? Where do you take the risk of ending up in the same state as your brother?" He asked in a threatening mix of tone and amusement.
"No, the joy of getting revenge." Said the security guard with a lip smile despite his tremors by drawing a card while the Fire Princess reappears on the ground. "I sacrifice the Fire Princess to summon the Bounzer Phantom." He said as the Fire Princess disappears to make room for a new monster.
This monster looks like a golem pretending to wear armor with an animal jaw. The Phantom Bounzer (LV6, Type: Warrior/Effect, Attribute: Dark, Atk: 2400 Def: 1200)
"Now he's going to destroy The Tricky and help me get revenge." Said the security guard as the Phantom Bounzer destroys The Tricky.
Kyu: 2500 Life point
"I'm finishing my turn." Said the security guard.
"You're tougher than I imagined." Kyu said picking a card. "I place a face-back monster and finish my turn." Just say. "I'll take the opportunity to play a little with this idiot." He thought with amusement.
"Very dirty monster!" The security guard said in a tone of venom. "Bounzer Ghost, destroys his face-back monster." He ordered to his monster.
The Phantom Bounzer attacked the face-down monster, which turns out to be a kind of pink marshmallow with eyes and an upside-down mouth.
"Bad luck. You attacked Marshmallow. It can not be destroyed in combat, but on top of that the person controlling the attacking monster loses 1000 life." Kyu explained.
Security guard: 1800 Life point
"I'm finishing my turn." The security guard said bitterly.
"I'm not even giving you 3 laps before losing." Kyu said picking a card. "For starters, my dragon will destroy your Ghost." He says as his dragon performs the task assigned to him with great ease.
Security guard: 1700 Life point
"Then I put a card face hide and I finish my turn." Kyu said.
The security guard draws a card and looks at the cards he has in hand with disappointment.
"I put a monster face down and I let you hand." Said the security guard.
"So I will try to finish quickly." Kyu said picking a card. "I'm going to use Monster Reborn first, which I just picked up to bring back The Tricky." He says as he performs the described action and sees the surprised look of his opponent. "Now he's going to attack your monster face-down while my dragon is going to take care of your hit points." He said as his monsters attacked causing the security guard to lose the duel while he ended up wounded by the dragon's attack.
Security guard: 0 Life point
"You know, you might have surprised me if you did not use the same game as your brother." Kyu said, looking hard at his opponent.
"You remember it?" Asked the security guard with surprise.
"I never forget a duel. I would like to forget some but my memory has enough room to remember. And instead of blaming me for his disability, you should complain about the hologram bug on my Duel Disc." Kyu replied before turning her back on the security guard and returning to the room where the participants are gathering.
