A/N: Since a few people actually do like this little story, I may continue writing beyond this chapter. In which case, the chapters will be written in a "story arc" fashion. Just to clarify, the arc you are currently reading is "Your Thoughtless Words" and this is the second part. ^^

The usual disclaimers apply.

"I should have known that this would happen." Hotaru sighed as she stepped into the (until now) unused ballroom.

"I had hoped to avoid this." Rebecca mumbled. "Still, I guess this is the only way to solve everything. One final duel with nothing but pride on the line…"

"Sounds pretty epic." Hotaru commented off-handedly. "So, how long have they been at it?"

"I'd say half an hour – with no sign of stopping."

"Oh, boy…" Hotaru shook her head. This was going to take a while.

"I summon Blazewing Butterfly in attack mode. Then, I'll play the field effect card: Forest. This increases all insect monsters' attack and defense points by 200, which will allow my Jirai Gumo, already equipped with a Laser Cannon Armor, to destroy your Summoned Skull!" Though he never bothered to say it out loud in a duel, Haga couldn't help but find it irritating that Pegasus would have the gall to call a spider an "insect type" monster. That was like grouping a lion under "gazelle type", really. Predator and prey do not usually mix.

Nevertheless, Haga couldn't complain: Grouping all these monsters under "Insect Type" allowed for nice, flexible, strategy.

"Haga's updated his deck a little, I think." Hotaru noted casually.

"I don't think so." Yuugi said in response to Haga's actions (not Hotaru's) and then flipped over a card. "I activate a trap card: Armored Glass. It negates the effects of all equipment magic cards for the turn it's activated."

"So has Yuugi." Rebecca replied, nodding.

Haga's monster tried to attack, but was deflected. It returned to its place on Haga's side of the field and he lost 100 life points. The boy, as he had for most of the game, maintained a state of intense calm as he and Yuugi continued their duel. Normally, he would have been playing "The Ham" this whole time – speaking of his powerful monsters, building suspense, laughing and snickering, suggesting that his opponent just give up, taunting, and doing everything to try and seem bigger than he actually was.

But not this duel. He would not underestimate his opponent and would even pay him proper respect. After all, this was not the Pharaoh. Not the one that Haga had done everything in his power to mentally torture while under the influence of the Orichalcos. Perhaps, Haga had gone over the top with some of his actions during that duel, of course. That last joke had been particularly cruel, even for Haga. Had he been in the Pharaoh's place, with Rebecca in Yuugi's, the insect duelist had to admit to himself that he probably would have gone off the deep end as well.

Even still, no matter how extreme Haga's abuse may have become, it was always partially motivated by the treatment he had received during his first duel with the Pharaoh. By the end of that incident, Haga had been more than just beaten – ridiculed, laughed at, insulted, vocally dissected, labeled "weak", and without even feeling as if he had been taken seriously at all. This, despite the praise and compliments Haga had practically rained down on the guy from their first meeting, until the end of the subsequent game. Heck, the destruction of Exodia had practically been a compliment in and of itself! It was like saying, "I can't beat your monster with strategy. So, I'm going to reduce myself to this just for the chance to beat you." Haga had tried (and oh, had he! He would never make up those lost hours of sleep) to find a way to defeat Exodia "by the book" with strategy. But Exodia was called "Unstoppable" for a reason.

With a "Win by Any Means" attitude inspired by his older sister, Haga had done what he'd felt he had to do. It was just Yuugi's fault for letting a stranger handle his most important cards.

After all, tossing five pieces of paper into the water was a rotten thing to do, but did it really deserve such outright degradation for an opponent so clearly skilled? Others might have disagreed, but Haga thought he still deserved some form of respect. While under the Orichalcos' twisted influence, the boy really just wanted to give the Pharaoh a piece of his own mind-screwing. It back-fired, of course, and Haga ended up regretting it later.

Yuugi had not been in control of that squall of verbal abuse during the first duel, the insect duelist now realized. No. Not this polite, unassuming, guy. Therefore, Haga would give him due respect during this duel.

So long as he was treated the same way.

The standings read thus far:

Haga – 2400/4000, Yuugi – 2200/4000. Haga had a lead, but it was narrow.

"I have never liked Duel Monsters." Hotaru spoke quietly as she watched the duel with dull eyes.

"Hm?" Rebecca looked up and blinked questioningly.

"Too boring and convoluted for me." Hotaru responded with a shrug. "Plus, the circumstances aren't really equal for each player. Differing cards, for one thing. And different levels of access to those cards."

"Yeah…" Rebecca had to agree on that issue. Yuugi's grandpa owned a card shop and Kaiba owned a Duel Monsters technology company. This put them at significant advantages over everyone else, even though no one could deny that cards alone weren't what made them great.

"Too much luck is involved as well. Luck of the draw, luck of the dice roll," she continued, recalling a particular duel Haga had described – or rather ranted – to her at length. "Not to mention how seriously people seem to take this game in particular. I prefer chess."

"Actually, so do I," she admitted. Chess was a lot more mentally stimulating, with much less hype built up around it. That hype, after all, was part of what ultimately caused her dear friend Haga to become so upset…

"You seem pretty down, Rebecca," Hotaru commented, tilting her head to the side. "The intensity getting to you, hm?"

"I…I don't know who to cheer for," Rebecca whispered with wide eyes. "Yuugi is my friend, but so is Haga."

"If you do cheer, then cheer for Haga," Hotaru spoke evenly, the abruptness of this order (or suggestion? It was sometimes difficult to tell with her) causing Rebecca to look up at her in shock as the blue-haired woman continued, "No one else does. No one he knows, at least." Not that she would cheer. Hotaru was not really the "cheering" type…

Leaving that final thought for Rebecca's contemplation, Hotaru left the ballroom as quietly as she had entered.

Haga… Rebecca thought, feeling her throat tighten at Hotaru's reminder. He was always alone. Now, he has me. But, now Yuugi's alone as well. What should I do?

Not that her decision was exactly pertinent. In fact, it almost felt as if her very presence, along with Hotaru's, had been ignored the entire time.

Twenty minutes passed and the standings had shifted slightly:

Yuugi – 1400/4000, Haga – 1100/4000

Still pretty narrow, but a direct attack from any of the powerful monsters on the field could prove fatal for either of them.

The fact that Haga had been treating Yuugi with respect during this duel didn't mean that either duelist had been holding back in any way. On the contrary, both were attempting to royally tear each other to pieces without any sign of mercy. Haga had never been more focused, or more determined. In fact, he'd already managed to summon his Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth. It had killed off a few of Yuugi's monsters before, along with the field spell, getting destroyed by Yuugi's Black Hole, which had really been a close call. That had been a remarkably powerful monster, with 3500 attack points.

One more turn and Yuugi would have lost his life points. Haga's deadly combination: DNA Surgery (which turned all monsters into a sub type of whatever Haga chose – and he'd chosen insect type) and Insect Barrier were now in play. Yuugi had not been able to attack since the previous turn and Haga had been careful not to give him a chance to do so.

Likewise, Yuugi felt the need to defeat the insect duelist as well. This was a chance for Yuugi to prove himself – to prove that he was just as capable of beating Haga as the Pharaoh had been. It was time for him to prove that he, not just the Pharaoh, deserved the title of "King of Games". If he lost, then it would prove he had just been hiding behind the Pharaoh the whole time. What had started as reluctance in Yuugi's attitude had become a strong urge to win.

Two of the best duelists in the world were pulling out all the stops, letting loose volley after volley of strategies and counter-strategies to bring each other down.

With honor and dignity.

"I tribute my Blazewing Butterfly," which he had brought back from the graveyard the previous turn. "To summon Grasschopper in attack mode. His special ability allows him to attack every one of your monsters once each. And since none of them are as powerful…"

This particularly powerful monster (Attack Points: 2350) attacked and destroyed both monsters on Yuugi's field with a grand total of 350 life points lost.

"I'll place one card face down. With that," Yuugi had no more monsters on his side of the field. "I end my turn."

The duel was going so slowly, since both of them had been pretty cautious at times. Rebecca was actually starting to get worried. If they kept this up, someone was going to run out of cards.

This meant the end for Yuugi, whose deck was made up of assorted magic, trap, and monster cards. Normally, this would have been a nicely balanced deck. However, when it came to card conservation, it was quite inferior to Haga's deck – which was made up almost entirely of insects with special abilities, with just a few spells and traps added in. While Yuugi would have to play a monster and a few spell or trap cards to feel safe for a turn, Haga could play a single monster that could act with effects similar to traps or magic. He therefore didn't need to play as many cards per turn as one had to with a deck full of mostly regular monsters.

The result? Yuugi's deck was dwindling down to about ten cards, while Haga's was still about half-way full. And all three duelists in the room had noticed this.

"Please choose your next move carefully, Yuugi." Haga cautioned as he waited for his opponent to continue the game. His words had a deeper meaning. Yuugi couldn't afford to waste a single monster. And the last thing Haga wanted was for this to end on a "Win by Default."

Yuugi nodded with no words to reply with as he gingerly drew a card. It was Kuriboh. That would save him for the next turn, but after that…

The duel continued with a good spell card destroying the Insect Barrier and a few attacks being launched. The Grasschopper remained on the field and Haga and Yuugi reduced each other's life points further:

Haga – 800, Yuugi – 500

Five cards remained in Yuugi's deck, three practically useless ones (for the situation) in his hand. There he was, on the brink of defeat. Defeat by deck depletion perhaps, but defeat. Haga had proven to be a fantastic opponent in his prime, with judgment un-clouded by over-confidence, vengeful rage, or any other distractions. Pure willpower and lucidity of thought. This was indeed a "Haga" that the Pharaoh had never gotten the chance to face, let alone without friends cheering by his side.

Which brought up another issue that Yuugi couldn't help but think about: This was what it felt like to face an opponent in a duel completely alone. Anzu, Jounouchi, and Honda were not here – they didn't even know that this duel was happening. The Pharaoh was gone. Not just tucked away from Yuugi's reach, but gone. His opponent was indeed skilled. The one friend that Yuugi had in the room was noticeably silent and he couldn't blame her – Haga was her friend as well, after all. It must have been very conflicting for her. Silence had to have been the best option in her eyes.

It occurred to the King of Games at that moment that, every time Haga had had duels with the Pharaoh, or anyone else, the insect duelist had always been alone. Far as Yuugi knew, at least. No friends there to urge him on, to keep him strong and raise him up when he fell. If Yuugi was correct in thinking that Rebecca had been his first friend, Haga had never even had any friendship in his heart to keep him going. Even now, in this difficult duel, Yuugi at least knew that his friends were always with him whether he could see them or not.

Haga? He had never had any of that. All alone, except maybe his sister. But, even she didn't even seem too interested in this game. Every last duel and tournament, that guy battled it out by himself. No wonder he felt so desperate to win when it came to the most difficult duels, even cheating. With no one to support him, how could he even come to rely on his own skills? What was more, how could he suffer defeat at the hands of other duelists over and over again, and then just keep getting back up on his own? Really, after forfeiting against Kaiba in Duelist Kingdom, Yuugi and the Pharaoh had been put into such a slump that they would have just given up had it not been for Anzu and their other friends. But Haga practically seemed to bounce straight back to challenge the best duelists whenever he got the chance.

Where in the world did he find all that strength?

"I play Armageddon Knight in attack mode. His special ability allows me to place one 'dark' elemental monster from my deck in the graveyard." Yuugi searched through his deck to do so, choosing his Dark Magician. This move also gave him the chance to see what cards he had left to rely on. Unfortunately, most of his best cards had been used during the middle of the most intense part of their duel. He had been left with very few options. But, he would do what he could with what he had. "And now my Armageddon Knight will attack your face down monster on the right side of the field!" It was something he had to do. After all, the Grasschopper was too powerful for Yuugi to beat with what he had on the field and, if he didn't start to whittle down Haga's three monsters on the field at some point, he would surely be overwhelmed in the long run…

"You've just destroyed my Pinch Hopper." Haga grinned. "That allows me to summon one insect type monster from my hand."

"Oh, no." Yuugi's eyes widened. This could not be good.

"And now, I summon the Insect Queen in attack mode." Haga's potentially most powerful monster appeared on the field. Thanks to there being two insect type monsters on the field (including Yuugi's monster affected by DNA Surgery), the Insect Queen's attack points rose to 2600. "Finish your turn."

Yuugi did so, placing one card face down.

"Now," Haga drew a card. He had nine cards left in his deck. Therefore, he would be careful to give Yuugi no more chances for victory. "First of all, I flip over my last facedown monster: Swarm of Locusts. When flip summoned, they allow me to destroy one trap or spell card on your field. And, since you only have one…"

Yuugi's trap card was destroyed. He felt sweat drip down his forehead. That had been one of his last hopes of winning.

"For my Insect Queen to attack, I must sacrifice one insect type monster on the field. So, she will devour my Grasschopper, allowing her to attack and destroy your Armageddon Knight, reducing your life points to zero!"

"Not quite, Haga. I play the equipment card: Amulet of Ambition! And I equip it to my Armageddon Knight, increasing his attack points by 500 times the difference of levels between your attacking monster and my defending one…"

"Which means," Haga did the math and grit his teeth. "A 1500 attack point bonus?"

"That's right. And that makes my monster's attack points 2900 for this battle!"

Haga's Insect Queen's attack was deflected and her master lost 300 life points as a result.

They were now equal in life points: 500, each.

"Well then," Haga seemed fairly irked, but was doing his best at keeping his anger under control. "I'll place one card face down, and end my turn. Your move."

It struck Rebecca, as she watched, that these two were both absolutely magnificent. The justly named King of Games was up against the most underrated duelist in the history of the game. They were both such excellent strategists and, yet, Haga received comparatively no credit for this. Just because he had lost to the King of Games and his runner-up (mostly by dumb luck), as just about everyone else did.

That didn't seem fair at all, to Rebecca.

"All right." Yuugi drew from his deck, which now contained no more than three cards. A bit of confidence showed in his eyes from what he'd drawn. "First, I'll play Monster Reborn and bring my Dark Magician to the field."

"Wait! You never-" Haga blinked confusedly, and then frowned. "Oh."

"That's right. That was the card I sent to my graveyard by using my Armageddon Knight's special ability." Yuugi's Dark Magician appeared, outmatched by the Insect Queen, but still powerful. Haga's Queen, meanwhile, had her attack points raised to 2800 when DNA Surgery turned the Dark Magician into an insect type. "And now, my Dark Magician will attack your Swarm of Locusts, ending this duel!"

"No." Haga flipped over his face down monster to reveal Desert Protector. "If an insect monster of mine would be destroyed, then this monster is destroyed instead. And, since it's in defense mode, I lose no life points."

The Desert Protector intercepted Dark Magician's attack, and was destroyed.

"Now, continue." Haga said.

"Then, in that case, I'll have my Armageddon Knight attack and destroy your Swarm of Locusts." The Swarm was destroyed and Haga lost 400 life points while the Insect Queen's attack points were reduced to 2600 once again. "I'll switch Armageddon Knight to defense mode. And that will end my turn." Yuugi sighed. This next one was going to be brutal, with Haga's Queen still ruling stronger than the Magician.

The standings:

Yuugi – 500, Haga – 100

Haga could not afford to lose even one more monster to battle.

"Now," He drew a card. "I will play Leghul face up in attack mode. Then, I'll have him use his special ability to attack your life points directly." Yuugi's life points were reduced to 200. "And now, I will sacrifice Leghul to allow my Insect Queen to destroy your Dark Magician!"

Dark Magician was indeed destroyed, leaving Yuugi with his Armageddon Knight and 100 life points. They were now equal.

His Queen, having destroyed a monster this turn, laid an egg that allowed her attack points to remain at 2600. "Now, I'll place that egg in defense mode." He had learned his lesson, in his duel with Jounouchi, not to leave those things defenseless, lest he lose a huge amount of life points. "With that, I place one card face down and end my turn." Haga now had seven cards in his deck and two in his hand.

Yuugi, on the other hand, drew a card and only had two cards left in his deck afterwards. The turn after this would be his last and he would have to make everything he did from now on count. What he had in mind would take a bit of finesse…

"Keeping my Armageddon Knight in Defense mode, I'll summon Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress." It wasn't a very powerful monster, but then again, that would come in handy… "And I'll use that monster to attack your Insect Queen's egg!" The egg was destroyed and the Insect Queen's attack points, which had previously been increased by the addition of Yuugi's Winged Dragon, went back down to 2600. "With that, I place one card face down and end my turn."

"Very well." Haga drew a card. "Then, I'll summon Shield Worm. And I will sacrifice him to have my Insect Queen attack your Winged…er…actually, no." Haga blinked and shook his head, as if realizing something. "This is…weird."

Yuugi tried to keep all emotion out of his face as he asked, "What is it, Haga?"

"That's, that's what you would want me to do, right?" Haga's eyes narrowed, not in anger, but rather in scrutiny. "You put up such a weak monster, had him attack a target that wouldn't help you at all, and then put a card face down right afterwards. Now, why would you do that?"

Rebecca listened pensively to his words. He did have a point.

Yuugi remained silent.

"And, what's more, why did you have to say, 'Keeping my Armageddon Knight in Defense mode'? It was like you were purposefully reminding me of that. You expect me to go for the kill." Which he certainly would have done, were he in as much of a blood-thirsty rage as he had been during his second duel with the Pharaoh. "If I attacked a monster in defense mode, your life points would be okay by the end of it. But, you don't want me to do that!" Haga smirked. "Which means that you've got a trap card on the field right now and, my bet, it's going to cause me some problems if I attack the monster you want me to." But, then the boy blinked and rubbed the back of his neck uncertainly. "Or maybe you're just expecting me to think that way so that I'll attack the monster that I think you don't want me to attack, but that you actually do want me to attack. Eh. Tough choice, now that I think about it."

It took everything in Yuugi's power to keep from smiling. This had been a nice duel.

"So, I won't attack your Winged Dragon." Haga continued with a shrug. Yuugi managed not to let out a sigh of relief, which he would have choked on at what Haga next said, "Not that I need to, in order to beat you right now."

"What?" Yuugi frowned.

"Insect cards are fascinating, aren't they, Yuugi? You have to admit it." Haga grinned in his usual devious way. "All the special abilities…There are practically endless possibilities! Perfect for a strategist like me. And no insect card is useless either. I can draw any five cards and develop a strategy just by looking at them. Every insect has a special use, a role to play. Like my Shield Worm, for example…A plain summoning method and only 800 attack points. However, his special ability allows him to send one card from the top of my opponent's deck to the graveyard for each face-up insect on my side of the field."

Yuugi did not respond. His thoughts could not seem to organize themselves in some coherent sentence.

"I have two insects on my field, Yuugi. You have two cards in your deck."

And, like that, it was over.

"Well, finally!" Hotaru shook her head once Rebecca told her the news ten minutes later. "I thought that duel would never end."

"It took a really long time." Rebecca nodded. "And you know…Don't tell them this, but I'm really glad that Haga won. I just don't want to tell them, because I'm worried about what Yuugi will think."

"That's understandable." Hotaru nodded. "It's also understandable that you would be glad about Haga's victory. Now that he's won, maybe he'll be in a better mood. Happy enough to apologize, you think?"

"I hope so!"

"So, what are those two doing now?"

"I don't know. We all sat around in the living room after the duel. The two wouldn't talk much. So, I decided to leave them alone for a little bit. I have to admit, I wonder what's going through their heads right now."

"Who knows?" Hotaru shrugged, though she had a few ideas herself.

"Well, at least Haga wasn't glaring at Yuugi when I last saw them."

"That's a good sign. It means that he's probably just thinking."

"I wonder what he's thinking about."

"Rebecca," Hotaru chuckled. "it's Haga. That guy's head is as tight as a locked safe. Everyone is great at making judgments and observations about that safe, but no one can really open it."

"Hmm…Really? What about you?" Rebecca tilted her head to the side.

"I've gotten pretty close," Hotaru admitted. "Broken most of the locks. But, to be honest, I don't think that guy is even going to open up fully to his wife."

"Wife?" Rebecca went bug-eyed.

"If he marries, of course." Hotaru grinned in a way eerily similar to Haga. "Not that he's ever been on a date. At least…" She quirked a brow at Rebecca. "not an official one…"

"What are you getting at?" Rebecca asked, her face turning pink. She knew exactly what Hotaru was getting at.

"Oh, nothing." Hotaru waved it away. "So, are you excited about college?"

"Haga told you, huh?" Rebecca smiled, happy for the change of subject. "Yeah! I am. I can't wait."

"You don't sound too happy." The elder Insector sighed. "Are you sure you're ready?"

"Er…huh?" Rebecca blinked.

"Well, Rebecca," Hotaru knelt down to see her at eye level. "You're extremely intelligent and studious, but awfully young for someone heading to college. Haga told me that you turned thirteen just yesterday. Are you sure you don't want to just…wait a little?"

"But, why would I want to do that?" Rebecca asked. "It's great to go to college so early! It means I'm going to be able to start working that much sooner." She spoke the words as she'd heard them said by a high school guidance counselor. She didn't quite understand why, but Hotaru bit her lip and her eyes seemed to widen.

"Rebecca, when did you first start going to high school?"

"About four years ago." When she was nine years old.

"How did it feel?"

"Really scary," Rebecca admitted after some thought. "Everyone was so tall and intimidating. I didn't feel like I belonged at all…but I eventually got used it." That, of course, wasn't to say that she'd made any lasting friends. Some people were really nice to her, but they still tended to treat her like a child. Others just made fun of her. That was okay, though. Because, as long as Rebecca did the other kids' homework, they stayed around and she was never really lonely…

"I think that you should think about this decision a little more." Hotaru smiled weakly, resting a hand on Rebecca's shoulder. "It's your life, but you are still a kid. And that's a great thing! Do you really want to rush through your years like they're a race track?"

"But…" Rebecca shifted nervously. "Isn't Haga heading off to college this year?"

"Yes." Hotaru nodded. "But, guess what – he technically could have gone last year."

"So, he waited?" Rebecca blinked. He hadn't told her that.

"Exactly." Hotaru laughed. "That was why he was able to head off to fifty or so tournaments, run around in forests, take a plane to the U.S., take a plane back, and do whatever he wanted for such a long time!"

"Wow…I could do that?" she asked with enlightened eyes. "I'll think about it, then."

"You should." Hotaru stood up. "College is tough. Even Haga's not so confident about it. Feel free to talk to him if you feel you need to. I think he'd be glad to get a few things off of his chest about it."

"Thanks, Hotaru! You've been really helpful." Rebecca brightened up.

"No problem." Hotaru gave her a pat on the head. Rebecca didn't mind. She'd seen Hotaru pat Haga on the head as well. So, she wasn't just reserving the "kiddie" treatment for Rebecca. "Just don't forget that it's your life to live. Don't let schools play pinball with it, hm?"

"Of course." Rebecca laughed. "I'm going to go see how Haga and Yuugi are doing. It was nice talking to you!"

"You too, Rebecca. You're Haga's friend, which makes you my friend."

Hotaru didn't have too many friends.

Thank you for reading! This was originally meant to be longer, but I noticed that it was getting too long. So, I'm putting the rest in the chapter after this one.

As for the duel, I know that readers may have their doubts about the outcome. But Haga really is an underrated duelist. He came so close to beating the Pharaoh in the couple of times they dueled – even when his game was thrown off by overconfidence and rotten luck. This did not come out of nowhere.

If the outcome of the duel really bothers anyone that much, I would encourage you to message me with questions. I will be happy to explain my thought process behind the game.

Happy reading!