4 months later.
Yugi was standing in line to get his luggage checked. He raised a hand to the pendant and rubbed
it nervously. He'd never been out of Suginami City before, let alone abroad.
He jumped when a hand clapped on his shoulder.
"Katzya!"
"Hey," his friend grinned. "Big surprise, huh?"
"Don't. You nearly gave me a heart attack." Yugi frowned. "What are you doing here?"
"Cheering you on, and," Katzya scratched his head. "I was thinking, I might enter this tournament too."
"You? But you're not invited."
"Actually, I checked with the management people and it turns out, I only need those star markers to
enter. I can enter the tournament if I can get someone to give me one of their markers. From what I've
seen on the SNS, I'm not the only one with that idea."
"Oh," Yugi thought the markers sent to him email. They had looked simple enough, but one look at the
raw data had told him that there were at least a dozen layers of security locks on it. It would be near-impossible
to duplicate them. "But how are you going to get one of them. It's 2 for each person, which probably means
that they're not just an entry qualification thing. There must be some other use for them in the tournament,
and everyone else probably figured it out by now."
"The thing is," Katzya said thoughtfully. "Not everyone invited is interested in actually participating.
With the special rules mean most types of beatdown decks are out, and they're the most popular
for duelists. Hence, a lot of them are coming to just watch, or trade. It's a great opportunity, after
all. This tournament's the first that's on a global level."
"Can't they just trade online?"
Katzya shook his head. "Nope. If you put out a card online for sale, you have to reveal all it's
effects. A lot of the advantage in this game comes from the element of surprise. So the serious
players trade rare cards during tournaments. Usually, someone comes up to you after a duel if
they think a card they have is one you'd want."
"So... you're going to trade a card for a star marker?"
"Yeah, I do have a few rare cards...somebody might be interested. If they don't, well," Katya slapped Yugi on
his back. "I'll still be around for morale support."
Yugi smiled. "Thanks, Katzya. Good luck with your trade."
Katzya grinned. "You know I don't believe in luck."
S
S
S
Katzya quietly made his way back from the bathroom. The plane was nearly silent, with a
occasional light snores from here and there. It disturbed him. He preferred noisy, even raucous
backgrounds. Quiet meant space, too much space got him thinking...
He was surprised to see Yugi sitting up and doing something on his phone.
"Hey, Yugi." He slid back into his seat. "Did I wake you?"
"No. I got up because I had something to do."
"What are doing? You need get sleep if you're going to duel properly."
"I'm rebuiliding my deck."
"You know, it's kind of useless to do that now. Changing a few cards now won't really matter.
You should watch them duel and then change your decks to counter them."
"I'm restructuring my deck entirely."
"What?!" Katzya yelped before he remembered to keep his voice down. "Yugi, you shouldn't
be doing that the night right before the game. You're supposed to have finished with that
long before."
"I did. I have changed my mind."
"Yugi-" Katzya started, but to his surprise, his normally soft-spoken friend cut him off.
"I need to do this." Yugi said, in a tone that brooked further arguments.
"Oh...just, finish quickly, okay?"
"I will. Thank you for your concern."
Katzya settled into his seat. He had an odd feeling. Something was off about his friend,
something-
His thoughts were interrupted by Yugi's words.
"Tell me," Yugi spoke. "Why are you so insistent on entering this tournament."
"Huh?"
"Your deck-type is beatdown. You already know that you would be at a great disadvantage. You
are not even the level of duelist capable of advancing in the higher tournaments. Trading your
rare cards for a star marker is likely to be a waste. So why are you so willing to take the risk."
"Oh, well... I don't think I'm at that much of a disadvantage. Everyone else would be going for
low attack point monsters, so if I go for beatdown, well, kind of like a niche market, see. And
battle is the best way to pile advantages in a duel. I know I'm kinda out of my depths here but..."
He took a breath. "I'll manage. The duelist tournaments always give some prize money to
people that make it to the finals, and a tournament this level, it's going to be a lot. I need that."
Katzya sat back up. "Sizka doesn't have good eyes. Some of the nerves got damaged during the...
accident. There's a treatment for it, but she's 8 now, and brain nerves don't heal well after 10, so
considering she also needs time for the new nerves to settle in, now's the perfect time to get the
treatment." He said it all in one breath.
"Didn't the government compensate you for the accident?"
Katzya shook his head. "It wasn't the system that went wrong. We had the car on self-pilot mode,
so, we were the ones that had to pay compensation. And... it took a lot. Nearly all my parents
savings, and that was a lot to begin with." He smiled bitterly. "My parents were so sure they could
afford raising Sizka. She's a second child, so she only gets the basic government support... but my
parents belong to the generation when doctors still made a lot of money, so..." He stopped. "Sorry.
I don't even know why I'm gushing to you about this."
Yugi was quiet for a moment before he spoke again. "This is the reason you used to participate in
streetfighter tournaments." It wasn't a question.
"Yeah, well, I expect when Sizka gets older, she'll want to get out more, hang with friends, go
shopping, and stuff. And she might want to go to college too. But I'm done with that crowd. That
time, I thought I was going to get a few bones broken at least. I still don't know why they walked
away. I can deal with getting broken, but it's no use if the hospital bill's heavier than the money I
earn."
"Tell me," Yugi said. "Why have you never spoken of this before?"
"You never asked, that's all. " answered Katzya. "It just didn't occur to me to tell you. " He turned
to his friend. "Why are you asking now? It's not like you-I mean, it's okay, but you never ask."
"It occurred to me to ask you this time." Yugi touched his phone's screen a few more times. A
second later, Katzya's own phone let out a hum.
"I've sent you one of my star markers. Keep your cards."
"What? But Yugi-"
"My motive for this tournament is pure curiosity. Obviously your cause is much more important."
"Oh, Yugi..." Katzya felt bad, but if he could keep those cards, his chances of reaching the finals
would be a lot bigger. "Thanks, really."
"Like I said, my goal isn't important."
"Yeah, but still...Hey, I said that it wasn't like you, but...this was kind of nice, you know?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean we hang around a lot, but we never talk like this, about important stuff."
"I apologize if you felt slighted. I believe I was trying to respect your privacy."
Katzya chuckled. "Well, you don't need to be so careful. And stop that formal tone. It's
enough that it took 6 months to get you to call me Katzya instead of Tenjoin kun."
He lay back down, swearing that he was going to pay his friend back one day. For everything...
S
S
S
Katzya stretched as best as he could. "Come on, Yugi. Let's get out of here. I'm just dying to get
off this thing." When no response came, he looked around. Yugi was staring at his phone. Was
it just the lighting, or was his friend a shade paler?
"Um, Katzya?" Yugi asked. Katzya could hear the tension in his voice. "It's supposed to be hard
to tune in with your deck if you don't have a theme for it right?"
"Yeah, most people choose something close to their heart, make their decks reflect themselves...
Something wrong?"
"No." Yugi shook his head quickly. "No, nothing's wrong. Let's go."
Before Katzya could say anything else, Yugi got up and made for the exit.
It took another long ride on the shuttle to reach the Magic & Wizard building. When they got
off, they weren't alone. Apparently half the people on the shuttle had been duelists, though
Yugi couldn't have guessed it by looking at them.
"Why are they dressed like that?" He asked Katzya in a whisper. "Nobody dresses like that in real
life."
"You're noticing now?" Katzya grinned. "Duels are done with 2 people sitting still on a stage, you
know, with a lot of people staring, so some duelists decided that they might as well look good
while they were at it, then others began doing the same... and well, now it's become something
like a fashion contest."
They were in the lobby now. There was a large crowd, and Yugi looked around to guess how
many there were. To no avail. 168cm at the age of 16 was short even by Japanese standards,
and most of the people here were well beyond that.
"How long do you think we'll have to wait?" He asked Katzya.
"I don't know." Katzya was frowning. "This isn't the way they usually do things, crowding everyone
in one place." He looked at his phone to check the time. "There's still time before noon, but it's
not like them to leave everyone just standing around. Actually, I don't even get why we're in the
company building. They usually borrow large performance halls-"
Katzya fell silent as a clear bell-like sound rang. The large screen on the lobby wall flickered to life.
"Greetings, Duelists! It's rather early, but the sensors tell me that all 204 star markers are already
in this buliding, so I might as well start the tournament."
Maximilian J. Crawford was looking down at them. He was wearing another 19th century-looking
suit, and Yugi wondered if it had anything to do with the fashion contest going on amongst duelists.
"Let me remind you of the new rule. The usual battle damage between monsters does not apply.
Whenever a monster in attack position is destroyed, either by effect or battle, half of the original
attack points of the destroyed monster will be taken from its summoner's life points. The same
goes for any monster's control wrested and then destroyed, used for tribute or material."
"There are 12 stages, each in a separate room. The star markers serve as entry passes. Each stage
is set with a different Field Spell. You are not allowed to use your own Field Spells. It is up to you
to choose which room to duel in. However, you must leave after you achieve 3 victories in a room
and go to a new stage."
"Your ultimate goal, will be to collect 24 stars in total. There is no time limit, though I expect that
the finalists will have been decided after 6 hours or so. You are free to decide on the number of
stars to use as stakes, but you are not allowed to duel without using them."
"I should also warn you that aside from the official participants, there are also Player Killers that
will walk amongst you. They are people that have been given certain advantage to help them
defeat you. You will not know who they are until the duel starts. If you manage to win against
them, you can either receive stars from them, or-
The screen blanked, and then the image of two cards appeared. The one on the left showed an
picture of a pile of golden treasure. It read 'The glory of the King's left hand'. The other card was
blank, and read 'The glory of the King's right hand'.
"-you can choose to receive either one of these cards. However, they will have meaning only if
you make it to the finals, so choose well."
The cards disappeared and Pegasus's face returned.
"The location of the rooms, and the names of the Field Spells set in them have just been sent
to you. Now, let the battle royal begin!"
At once the crowd seemed to come back to life.
"There wasn't anything about Player Killers on DM webpage." Katzya said. "Wonder what the
advantages are."
"Maybe the cards." Yugi suggested. "Maybe they can use more than 1 high level card of the same
type in their decks, or even banned cards-what's wrong?"
Katzya was staring at one of the elevators, looking aghast.
"No way," he muttered. "Or maybe I'm just seeing things. He looks different-"
"Katzya," Yugi said. "What is it?"
"I think I just saw Kaiba Seto."
"Who?"
"Kaiba Seto!"
"Who's that?"
Katzya stared at him in disbelief. "Don't tell me you've never heard of him. Kaiba Seto, the Prince
of Cards?"
Yugi shook his head.
"Don't you know who the head of KC, Kaiba Corporation is?"
"I thought that was Kaiba-um, Gozaburo?"
"You're 2 years behind... Good grief, Yugi, what do you do in your life?"
"If he's such a famous duelist, why don't I see people talking about him on net? I know I looked
enough. There aren't any video clips of him dueling, either."
"Apparently most of the his dueling that people see, are basically useless for analysis material. I
heard he only duels seriously in the finals, and all finals are close-door. And, well, he hasn't
made an appearance tournaments for 2 years, so people won't be talking about him so much.
Must be busy, running a company."
"But he was here?"
"I don't know, really. It was only for a second, and it's 2 years, so his appearance might have
changed-he's, what, 18 years old now?"
Yugi stared. "He became CEO at 16?"
"The guy's supposed to be a genius, after all. He's the one that made the VR technology KC's
selling now."
"Wait a minute," Yugi said. "That- I'm sure it had to do with photoelectric wave resonations and
Even if the AIs do the calculations, he'd still have to understand stuff like quantum mechanics to
direct the programs..."
"Told you he's a genius. Come on, we're going to miss on the first duels."
NOTE: I could never get why Jonouchi used gamble decks and trusted so much on luck, when he
knew that stuff was what ruined his dad. He should know better. And in my story, his
parents died in a car crash because of a malfunctioning AI, which is a very rare occurrence and
very unlucky. So he won't be using gamble decks here. I prefer to preserve the decks of the
main characters, but let's face it, his deck was basically trash, even by DM standards.
And yes, his new name is Tenjoin Katzya, instead of Jonouchi Katzya. Guess why. You must
have realized by now that I'm planning to make some major changes in characters. No Anzu,
no Honda. But I assure you that none of the main characters will be OC.
By the way, during the conversation at night on the plane...you do know who was talking
with Katzya, don't you?
