Dueling Blind 4

Yusei sidled along beside Kalin, keeping an ear out for any more unsavory characters that might be interested in them.

Kalin, for his part, was totally relaxed. Within twenty minutes, Kalin was dueling in an upper bracket, Yusei listening in on the sidelines. As the duel progressed, Yusei grew edgier and edgier. He fidgeted silently with his stun-pistol, knowing full-well that trouble was about to start. And indeed, as soon as Kalin's opponent's life-points hit zero, the man roared in fury and made to attack him.

"Not so fast!" snapped Yusei, jammning the end of the gun into the man's back. The jolt of electricity incapacitated him easily, and Kalin burst out laughing at the man left twitching on the floor.

"I'd give my deck to have that on film!" he wheezed.

Yusei chuckled softly, giving him a crooked smile. "Well, I couldn't let him hurt you."

Kalin gave him a one-armed hug. "Thanks."

Yusei just smiled.

"Hey, you wanna duel?" Kalin asked suddenly.

"Um, you?" asked Yusei uncertainly.

"If you'd rather. I was thinking I'd start you in one of the brackets."

"Oh, yeah," agreed Yusei, nodding. "That'd be pretty cool."

"Alright!" Kalin cheered. "Okay, I'll get you set up."

In fifteen minutes, Yusei was standing in one end of an arena across from a burly, tattooed man that kept growling like a feral beast.

Unfazed, he disposed of the man in a one-turn kill.

He did the next two the same way, and a few after that only took three or fours turns. By the time he reached a higher bracket, quite a few people were following his duels.

"I'm going to crush you like a bug!" sneered the man across the arena.

Yusei just snickered.

"My turn! I draw!" The spirit of the card fluttered against his senses, and he smiled. "I play the Angel of Discord(2/600/600)!"

With the jarring sound of crushed harp, the angel burst from the field.

"Next, I place a facedown, and end my turn."

"I'm up! I'll summon up a Wicked Spider!(3/900/500)"

Yusei shuddered in disgust, but said nothing.

"Wicked Spider, attack that bird-brain!"

"I play Urgent Tuning, and sacrifice my Angel on the field and my Dark Tuner, Chaos Synchron, to synchro-summon Chaos Angel(5/2000/500)!"

"No!" he snapped, angry. Wicked Spider burst in a shower of yellow light. (4000-1100=2900)

Yusei waited.

"Fine, I play a facedown and end my turn!"

"I draw." Yusei set the card in his hand, recognizing it as being of no use at the moment. "Alright, I use my Chaos Angel's one-time ability. By sacrificing 100 life-points, I can draw again."(4000-100=3900)

Running a hand over his cards again, he made his move. This would be over quickly.

"I also play my Pot of Greed. I summon Little Cacophany! (1/450/500)" Yusei made one last check of the field. "Alright, Dust Tornado destroys your facedown."

Mirror Force was blown away in an instant. "Oh, that could have been bad," Yusei observed mildly. "Hm... For now, I'll just have my Little Cacophany attack you directly."

"Ow," the man hissed as the little puffball of musical notes blasted him with a sound wave. (2900-450=2450)

"Hm, no trap," Yusei muttered. "I actually expected more fight. Okay, Chaos Angel, attack him directly."

The man cursed and staggered as the blast of red and black light struck him. The Angel shrieked in triumph, and beat its wings. (2450-2000=450)

"Alright, your turn."

"I draw," muttered the man, scowling darkly.

Yusei memorized the three cards in his hand as the man wavered pathetically over his choices.

"Uh, I summon Taurus(4/1000/750)!" The bull stormed out onto the field with as bellow. "And I play Minotaur's Axe!" he continued, gaining confidence. "Which boosts my monsters power to 1500 points! Attack Little Cacophany!"

Yusei stood calmly as his monster was destroyed, only acknowledging its demise with a soft 'thank you' to the card. (3900-1050=2850)

"Is it my turn, now?" he asked curiously, utterly disregarding the loss in points.

"Uh, yeah," blustered the man. "Make it count, punk."

Yusei's eyes narrowed a little at the insult, but he drew his card. Four cards were in his hand now.

"Hm. Does your Axe wear off now?"

"Y-yeah..." answered the man, starting to look worried.

Yusei blinked slowly. "Chaos, finish him off."

And that was that.

The next few duels continued in the same manner, Yusei tearing through the competition without any apparent effort.

In the end, they left late that night, winnings hidden in secret pockets.

Kalin continued to chatter at Yusei, hyped up from all the dueling and more than a little impressed by the blue-eyed teens skill.

"You're so awesome!" he blurted, throwing his hands up in the air. "Awesome, you hear me?"

Yusei laughed. "I hear you, Kalin. I'm awesome," he parroted back.

"Yes, yes you are," agreed Kalin firmly. "Hey, wanna pick up some food, or..."

"Sure," Yusei agreed easily. "Where's the district dealer?"

"Just a little up the street from here," Kalin explained, "-is a pretty nice deli. The guys that own it also deal weapons, which is why it's still here."

Yusei hummed thoughtfully. "That's cool," he decided. "So, tired of eating sugar?"

"Yeah," Kalin groaned. "You and Bruno are insane; I don't know how you function off that stuff."

Yusei shrugged. "I've no idea," he answered truthfully. "In any case, I'm kinda wanting some real food anyway. Ramen is really hard to make when you're blind."

Kalin sighed. "Yeah, I know. How've you been doing?"

"Honestly?"

"I'd like that."

"I think pretty well," answered Yusei quietly. "It bugs me that I can't see the programs, but Bruno's really cool about explaining things aloud, and keeping his tools off the floor. Jack's a grouch, but I kinda like him," he laughed. "He's pretty over-protective, I noticed."

Kalin snorted. "Jack's a softie," he agreed.

"And Crow's really fun to duel with," Yusei continued. "He's like the irresponsible uncle, you know?"

"Yeah, I think I get what you mean," Kalin snorted dryly. "He gives that impression, doesn't he?"

"Yeah," sighed Yusei. "I think- I really like it here, with you guys. You're all really nice people, no one's trying to hurt me, and I'm warm, dry, and fed. I... don't want to leave."

"Good," stated Kalin firmly. "'Cause you're like totally not allowed," he joked.

Yusei laughed. "Good to hear."

Grinning, Kalin slung an arm over Yusei's shoulders and led him inside.