Hey Guys, Akane here~
So, this is the start of the Fortune Cup! I've put the first two duels of the first round in this chapter, and the next chapter will have the remaining duels.
I split it up since I didn't want to have the entire first round in one chapter, as it would be rather long. And I wanted to keep the chapters around 4,000 words, at least until the Dark Signers Arc. Though this chapter is under that number, for some reason. And while I'm not entirely happy with how this chapter came out, as it's somewhat boring, I decided to post it anyway.
Also, thanks for all of the favorites, follows, and reviews this story has gotten! I never expected that this would gain a following, since it was just a random idea that popped into my head back in July.
Finally, sorry for the delay in posting this. I've had it finished for almost a month, but I got distracted due to watching Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, and playing Pokemon Omega Ruby and Super Mystery Dungeon certainly didn't help...
I twitched.
"Okay! How do I look, Yusei? Spitting image of Luka, and I right?"
The twins and I had met up with Yusei inside of the stadium once we had arrived, when Lua had proceeded to wander off, only to reappear wearing his sisters' clothes, along with blush and red lipstick. I didn't even think that I wanted to know where he got that make-up.
I turned my head slightly, only to see Yusei's normal blank face, though I could see that he was having trouble believing what he was seeing. I couldn't really blame him, as Lua looked ridiculous, especially with that make-up on.
"I wouldn't expect anything less from twins. I can't tell a bit of difference," Yanagi said, apparently not paying attention to the ridiculous make-up.
"I am right! I am right! I am right!" Lua exclaimed, jumping up and down before his sister kicked him in the ankle.
"I don't act like that," she told him calmly, blushing in embarrassment while she was disguised in an orange jacket that went down to her ankles with a yellow hat on her head.
Lua, once he recovered from getting kicked, waved her off. "Oh, c'mon, lighten up. I'll get it right, so don't worry about it!" He turned towards me. "What do you think, Sora-nee?"
"You look ridiculous with that lipstick and blush," I said flatly, grabbing a small napkin that I had brought with me and moving over to Lua so I could get rid of that make-up. "Besides, Luka doesn't wear that stuff anyway."
"Sora-nee!" he whined as I stepped back, holding the make-up covered napkin.
"Now you look like Luka," I told him as I walked over to a trash can to throw away the napkin, now that it had served its purpose. I walked back over to Yusei, so that I was standing beside him.
Luka pouted at me for a few seconds, before walking over to both Yusei and I like a girl would. Or at least he tried to, but it looked really exaggerated. "Now then, Yusei, Sora-nee, shall we depart?" he said in a girly voice. I cringed. That just sounded so fake, it wasn't even funny.
"Let's just go," I told him, before turning and walking down the hallway.
I stood in between Yusei and Lua, my right hand fiddling with the edge of the sleeveless dress that I had decided to wear. I was rather nervous, since I had never been in front of a giant crowd before, so I had no idea how to deal with it. Yusei must've noticed my fidgeting, since I felt a hand grab mine and move it away from my dress. I was slightly shocked as I looked up at him, but I realized that he was trying to reassure me, so I calmed down slightly and squeezed his hand back once before he let go. I felt the platform that we were standing on start to rise up, and I quickly schooled my expression into a calm mask so that the others wouldn't be able to see that I was still slightly nervous.
"Ohh! Here we go! Here we go!" Lua exclaimed as we neared the top. "Whoa, it's Red Demon's!"
As soon as the platform stopped rising, the crowd started cheering when they saw all of the contestants. I looked up slightly to see that there were screens all around the outside of the stadium that were showing the pictures of all of the duelists, but I had a feeling that the cheering wouldn't last.
"Hey, there's someone with a marker there!"
Yep, I thought to myself as I heard that. I knew it.
"You're right!"
I'd rather have them pick me than that guy!"
"He must have stolen someone's invitation!"
I clenched my fists when I heard the last two comments. Yusei didn't deserve this! Hell, no one deserved this!
"Pay it no mind," I heard Yusei say.
He must have the patience of a saint to ignore all of those hateful comments, I thought to myself as I looked at him from the corner of my eye. I was rather tempted to glare at the crowd, but I decided against it. After all, it wasn't their fault that they had lived with this prejudice for so long that it was like second nature to them.
"Ladies and gentlemen in attendance!" I heard come through the speakers, causing me to turn around only to see a tall, dark-skinned male with black shoulder-length hair who was wearing a rather interesting outfit. It was some kind of dark olive green armoured top that only covered the top of his chest, with belts that attached to the belt on his white pants. He had two gold armbands, one around each arm along with black fingerless gloves that had gold studded bands around his wrists, and his boots were the same color as his shirt with similar gold studded bands around his ankles.
"My name is Bommer. As a duelist here, I would like to ask exactly what it is you all see," He pointed to Yusei. "This man is undoubtedly a duelist, selected under the same conditions we were! If one has cards, marker or no marker, they are the same as everyone else! The people standing here should be ashamed of nothing! Rather, it is all of you, looking at him through your trivial rose-coloured glasses, who are nothing short of vicious!" He finished, turning around and walking back towards the rest of the contestants.
I was surprised by Bommer's words, and I agreed with everything that he said. I heard the sound of clapping, and I turned towards the raised platform to see Director Goodwin was the source of it. Soon, the whole stadium was filled with the sounds of clapping. As the clapping settled down, Bomber turned towards Goodwin, and bowed slightly before walking towards the rest of the contestants, giving the MC back his microphone as he passed by.
Goodwin stood up and walked forward. "Thank you for those empowering words, Bommer-kun. The reason I provided such an opportunity was indeed for all the reasons you have spoken. I am Rex Goodwin, the man in charge of Neo Domino City Public Security Maintenance Bureau. And, I am the man who planned this whole grand duelling festival in appreciation for the maintenance of daily public security. To duelists, neither social status nor the gap between rich and poor matter," he raised his right arm into the air. "True equality rests right here."
Cheering broke out across the stadium, though I didn't join in, as I was more concerned about who my opponent would be. Luckily, I didn't have to wait long to find out.
The monitor behind the MC lit up, shuffling the pictures of all the duelists between four brackets. "Now, here are your match-ups for the first round!" The MC announced to the crowd.
His hair looks ridiculous, I thought, having just noticed his rather odd hair style. How on earth does he get his hair to stay like that?
The monitor stopped shuffling names, and the match-ups appeared.
Luka (Lua) vs. Bommer
Aki vs. deLauncebeaux (who was wearing armor, for some reason)
Yusei vs. the cloaked guy called Shira
Sora (Me) vs. Professor Frank.
I guess that isn't so bad, I thought. But I'm not sure I like going last.
And then I froze when I saw who I would go up against if I won my duel. Aki Izayoi.
Well, shit. I'm not really looking forward to that.
All of the duelists were led to a lounge where we could sit and wait for our time to duel. It was a fairy big room, and it had a coffee machine, which made me very happy. There were two long glass tables, and a few blue upholstered couches. Most of the duelists sat on the benches, though Aki and Bomber sat at the glass tables.
I sat next to Yusei and watched as Lua made the final adjustments to his deck before sliding it into his duel disk.
"Yusei, let's meet in the finals!" Lua said, determined to duel Yusei once again.
"Sure," Yusei said calmly.
"That's only possible if you beat your first opponent, Lua," I said, drawing their attention to me. "So you'll have to try your best."
"I know that, Sora-nee," he told me, before turning back to Yusei. "I remember what you said, Yusei. I won't duel in any way that's selfish anymore!"
Yusei nodded. "If you trust in your cards, they'll answer back."
"Lua," I said, drawing his attention once again. "Try to stay calm. That way you can change your strategies and adapt to your opponent if you have to."
He nodded, before standing up. "Mm-hmm! I'm off, then!" He said as he ran off. I watched him until I couldn't see him anymore, and then I sighed.
"What's wrong?" I turned to Yusei.
"I really hate to say this, but I think Lua's going to lose," I said quietly. "I just hope that he won't be that disappointed when it happens."
"What makes you think that?" Yusei asked.
"Lua's still a kid, and his opponent is not only older than him, but also has more experience as well," I started, looking up towards the ceiling. "Plus, the one time I duelled him, I won, and he didn't take it so well. He was rather upset, and didn't talk to me for a few hours afterwards." I turned towards Yusei once again. "I couldn't really blame him though. It was the first time he had gone up against a deck like mine, so he had no idea who to deal with it."
"'A deck like yours'?" Yusei questioned. I could tell that he was curious.
"Dragons," I said simply.
"Ahh," It was quiet for a few seconds before he spoke again. "Are you ok?"
"Huh?" I tilted my head to the side, confused by what he was asking.
"You were kidnapped by the Black Rose yesterday," he clarified. "Are you ok?"
"Oh," I gasped quietly, now realizing what he was asking about. "I'm fine. I was knocked unconscious by something hitting the back of my head, but the only side effect from that was a sore spot at the back of my head, which I can easily deal with."
Yusei didn't look convinced by what I said, but I didn't blame him. It did seem rather odd that the only injury I got after being pulled into a tornado and getting knocked unconscious was just a sore spot on the back of my head.
"I'm fine, really," I insisted. It was rather odd; having people worry about me. Especially since I had never really let anyone get close enough to me for them to actually worry. I mentally shrugged. I guess that I'll just have to get used to it.
I turned away from Yusei, and towards the monitor on the wall, only to notice that Lua's duel was about to begin. "It's starting."
I sighed as I watched Lua's Life Points hit 0. Lua's duel with Bommer hadn't gone well for him, but I was impressed with the fact that he had managed to get Bomber's Life Points down to almost half.
I stood up from the couch and began to head out of the room so that I could go find Lua during the interval between duels. I figured that he needed some cheering up, especially after what had just happened. I heard Yusei stand up and start to walk behind me, so I figured that he wanted to meet up with Lua as well.
I walked out into the hallway and headed towards the bathrooms, since I figured that he wanted to change back into his own clothes instead of wearing his sisters for the rest of the day. Both Yusei and I came to a stop in the corridor that was rather close to the bathrooms when we heard footsteps heading towards us. Soon enough I spotted Lua and the others walking towards us, with his shoulders slumped. I walked over to him and knelt down, looking him in the eye.
"You did really well, especially for getting your opponent down to almost half their starting Life Points," I said with a small smile on my face.
"All you need to do is win your duels later on. The experience you got from losing will always prove useful," Yusei said wisely, leaning against the wall.
Lua sighed slightly, but quickly picked himself up. "Just make sure that you don't lose, Yusei, Sora-nee! We'll be cheering you on from the stands!"
"I'll do my best not to, but I'm not going to make any guarantees," I responded, standing up as I did so.
The sound of clicking heels coming from down the hallway caught my attention, so I turned around only to see Aki walking down the hallway towards us. I noticed that when Aki made contact with Yusei that she glared at him, while he just stared back at her normally. She then kept walking, and Lua, Luka and Tenpei had to get out of the way so that they wouldn't trampled.
"What's the deal with her?" Lua asked angrily. I looked in the direction that Aki went before turning back to the others.
"I'll be right back," I said, before I ran off after Aki.
"Wait, Sora-nee…!" Lua and Luka called after me, but their voices faded away as I ran down the hall.
"Aki!" I called to her, causing her to turn around in shock before she schooled her expression back into a neutral one.
"What do you want?" she asked, and I cringed at the blankness in her voice.
"I know that we're not on the best of terms, considering what happened yesterday. And while I know that you won't need it, I just wanted to say 'Good Luck'," I told her, holding out my hand and I watched her eyes widen slightly. "Just… be careful, ok?"
She looked at me seriously for a few seconds, before she glared at me and walked away. I watched her walk away and lowered my arm so that it was by my side once again. You truly are like me when I was younger, I thought sadly. But where I was able to put the hatred I had for others behind me eventually, you take your hatred out on others instead…
When I got back to the lounge, the screen was showing the arena once again, and I could see that the people were shouting. Yusei was sitting on one of the couches again, so I went over and sat next to him. While he didn't say anything, I had a feeling that he knew I was there, though he didn't take his eyes off Aki.
"Why are you staring at her?" I asked him, though I already had a feeling that I knew.
"It feels like I've seen her before our meeting in the hallway," he replied, not moving his eyes away from the screen.
That's because you have. You just don't know it yet, I thought, staring at the screen intently.
Shortly after the beginning of the duel, Aki managed to summon her signature monster, the Black Rose Dragon. The second she did, both Yusei and I felt pain in our arms again, so we both grabbed them. Yusei took his eyes off the screen to look down at his arm, while I kept looking at Aki's dragon that had appeared on the screen.
"So she summoned it…" I muttered quietly to myself.
"Black Rose Dragon…" I heard Yusei say as we heard footsteps walking towards us, before blocking my view of the screen.
"It's a dragon of ill omen that brings forth destruction. It seems that the two of you are familiar with it," Bommer said as he looked down at us.
Of course I am, I thought to myself as I watched the duel. I had to live near her for most of my life at Arcadia, and I had to watch many of her duels end in wins because of this dragon.
deLauncebeaux had just nearly wiped out all of Aki's Life Points with one attack, leaving her with just a meagre 50.
"I figure the match is over," Bomber said when he saw the life point difference between the two of them.
"Yes it is," I said calmly. "But Aki will be the victor, not deLauncebeaux."
"What?" Bommer said, looking shocked.
Then, Aki used Black Garden's effect to bring back her Black Rose Dragon to the field.
"Just watch. It's going to be over in a minute," I frowned slightly, knowing what Aki was going to do. She had beaten me the same way, mostly because I never used Clear Wing against her.
Aki was standing, while deLauncebeaux had fallen. I was frowning when I saw her emotionless face as she looked at the burn marks she had left on him. It looked like Divine had gotten to her more than I thought. I was still holding my arm, and Yusei was doing the same thing.
"Wretched mark, huh?" he said, staring at the screen.
"What's wrong? Not feeling well?" Bommer asked the both of us, but I ignored him as I listened to the crowd start shouting and screaming at Aki, calling her a witch, along with telling her that she should get out of the city.
"Aki…" I muttered, tightening the grip on my arm as I looked at her emotionless face. I knew that she was paying attention to the horrid things that the crowd was shouting at her, and I knew that it was only fuelling her hatred. I wasn't entirely sure what I could do to try and help her, since I had a feeling that she wouldn't change unless someone reached out to her. I really hoped that someone would do that soon, as she didn't deserve this...
This chapter's kinda short, but it would've been even shorter had I not combined the first duels into one.
At least Sora revealed the reason that she doesn't hate Aki, since Aki is very similar to a much younger Sora, at least in terms of behavior and emotions.
Sora's duel is up next, and hopefully I'll get around to editing it soon, in between working on the next few chapters so that I can finish this arc.
Well, until next chapter,
Akane~
