Solo flew through the sky on his large dragon. Occasionally, he looked down seeing many of the sights in Past. Most of them consisted of forests and mountain ranges. He passed over a large volcano and even a village that appeared to be floating on the water. He had also passed over several small camps. They had small huts surrounded by large wooden stakes most likely to keep people out.
The next one he flew over was one of the larger ones. While the others had been neutral to him, he was met with a barrage of arrows from this one. Solo swerved to the side descending slightly. The arrows kept coming followed by Harpies flying up to attack his monster. His descent became much faster as he crashed into the center of the camp. His monster disappeared; spears were being pointed at him.
"How dare you fly over the Harpie camp." One of the girls spoke jabbing him with her spear.
"I didn't know." Solo mumbled. He was on his knees at their mercy.
"Let me see him." A girl shoved through the crowd and took one look at him.
"Aisha." Solo recognized her.
"You." She growled swiping him with the claw gloves on her hands. Solo fell over; his chest now had open claw marks on it. Solo cringed feeling the intense burning pain. "Take him to my quarters and patch him up. I'm dealing with him myself."
Solo found himself being dragged to one of the larger tents within the camp. The girls left and another walked inside with a shoulder bag with a medical symbol on it. "Just lay back on the mat over there, and I'll get you patched up." He complied laying back on the mat. The girl opened the bag pulling out a vial with some sort of liquid in it and a roll of cloth bandages. Solo removed his jacket and his shirt revealing the open wound. "Aisha must like you." The girl smiled putting a dab of the liquid in her hands rubbing it over Solo's wound.
"What makes you say that?" He asked watching her unroll the bandages. He held one end against his chest while she wrapped them around and compressed them so that they would stay.
"She brought you to her private quarters and she asked me to bandage you up. I'm the top medic in the camp. She doesn't usually have others bandaged up, and if she does, she certainly doesn't have the top medic doing it." She finished packing up her supplies. "All done." She walked to the exit seeing Aisha enter. "He's all patched up."
"Thank you." Aisha said watching her leave. She walked over to Solo sitting beside him. "Tell me why you're here."
"I didn't mean to be here. Your friends attacked me from the sky."
"It's just a precaution. Attack before you're attacked."
"Okay, well I need to get going." Solo stood up only to be pushed down by Aisha.
"I can't let you leave. Technically, you're my prisoner."
"That's not okay, I have places to be."
"Like where?" Aisha crossed her arms waiting for an answer.
"I'm looking for a real challenge. The tournament wasn't enough for me."
"Five hundred million credits wasn't enough for you?" Aisha glared at him angrily. "I know a lot of people who would have killed in the real world for that kind of money."
"I gave most of it back."
"Why?" Aisha looked at him confused.
"I didn't earn it. That guy destroyed himself."
"So where's your real challenge?" Aisha asked.
"I was told that there's a castle to the far north with a powerful duelist in it."
"He sends his victims to the shadow realm, and he has a perfect record." Aisha typed on her duel disk until the rankings screen came up. She pulled up Ice King's record. "He's also had a lot of shadow games. Almost all of his duels have been shadow games."
"He's going to lose to me. Now, I need to get going."
Aisha glared at him. "I don't think that you've been listening. You're a prisoner here. I'm going to be nice though. You'll serve here for a week and I'll let you go."
"I'm leaving sooner than that." Solo mumbled.
"If you try to leave early, I will have no problem hunting you down and dragging you back here to serve me for as long as I want."
"Then how about we duel for my freedom. If you have a conflict, settle it with a duel." Solo said powering on his duel disk.
"I'm not dueling you. There is no conflict. You trespassed, and now you need to pay the consequences. You can rest now, and I will call you when I need you." Aisha stood up and walked out of the tent leaving Solo alone. He found his shirt and jacket and got dressed and grabbed his bag off the floor.
He walked to the exit only to be met by two guards who pushed him back inside. It's actually going to be hard to get out of here. He walked over to one of the chests and opened it. Inside were several knives, swords, and axes. "This isn't going to work." Solo closed the chest deciding to continue his search for something that might help him escape.
Hours passed, Solo had found nothing that would help him escape. He sat on his mat looking up at the ceiling wondering about his fate.
Then Aisha walked into the tent. "Get up." Solo stood up and looked at her. She was covered in armor in the style of her Harpie monsters. "Let's go." She opened the flap of the tent and walked out behind him.
"Where are we going?" Solo asked looking back at her.
She hit him on his head. "Look forward and don't talk."
"Your attitude changed."
Aisha hit him again. "I said no talking." Solo got the message and remained silent this time. They walked on to a large wooden stage surrounded by other members of the Harpie group. She positioned him in the center of the stage. "Harpies, this is our new prisoner, Solo." All of them were glaring at him. "Anything to say?" Aisha asked. Solo was looking down. "Your attitude changed." She smiled. "Now take off your shirt and jacket." Solo hesitated. "Now!" Aisha's shout rang out through the whole camp. Solo sighed pulling off his jacket and his shirt tossing them to the ground. "Boots too." Aisha said looking him over. Solo complied kicking them off and to the side. "Now, let's have a real Gladiator Duel." Aisha said strapping on a pair of claws. "In a Gladiator Duel here, we can use real weapons." Solo watched her admire her claws running them up her legs. "You can take your pick." Two of the Harpies walked over carrying a chest with them. They set it down in front of Solo and opened it. Several weapons were sitting inside clearly not of the same quality as Aisha's claws.
Solo picked up a small gladius sword and held it in his hand. It was not perfect, but it felt balanced in his hand. The blade was well used. The edge seemed fairly dull and it was stained a brownish-red color from the old blood on it. "I'm ready." The two Harpies closed the chest, picked it up, and walked away. "This doesn't seem that fair."
"I never said it would be." Aisha powered on her duel disk and pulled out five cards. Solo did the same sighing looking down at his old sword. "I should mention that this field gives a 500 attack and defense boost to Harpies. Not like I'm going to need them to shred you." Solo started setting cards as soon as the duel started. Aisha leapt at him raising a claw about to strike.
"Negate attack!" Solo activated the trap card and sent Aisha back.
"Same tricks as the tournament. Harpie's Feather Duster." She activated the trap destroying Solo's other facedown. She ran at him again and reopened the wound she made earlier. "Don't worry, we can fix that!" She struck him again only making the wound wider. Solo's breath starting speeding up. He was still gripping the old sword in his hand and Aisha was leaning over him with vengeance in her eyes. He knocked her off him striking her with the sword. It left a shallow cut near her shoulder, but it was enough to make her recoil. "First, I summon Cyber Harpie, then I play Elegant Egotist, and I summon Harpie Lady Sisters. Girls, teach him some manners." The harpies descended on Solo clawing and scratching at him until he blacked out.
…
Solo woke up seeing the familiar furnishings of Aisha's tent. He looked down. His chest was wrapped in bandages along with parts of his arms and legs. It hurt to sit up. He groaned loudly taking a deep breath.
At that moment, Aisha walked into the tent. "That's how a real gladiator does it." She smirked at him.
"It's not. That's how you gang up on someone." Solo spoke weakly struggling to find the energy.
"Shhhh, you lost." Aisha said smugly holding up a cup of what looked to be juice inside to his lips. "Just rest now." Solo sipped the sweet tasting juice slowly not having much energy to do anything else. She held the cup until it was empty. "Feeling better?" Aisha asked. Solo nodded his head laying back to rest again.
Aisha waited until he was asleep again before she walked out of the tent. Her head medic was waiting. "He should be better by tomorrow if you want him to start his physical labor."
"He needs tasks with close supervision. He will try to run, any chance he gets, he will take it." Aisha walked away to go and train.
The next morning, Solo woke up to shouting. "Get up!" He sat up rubbing his head. His wounds felt better. The drink he had earlier must have been some sort of healing potion. "You have a nice nap, princess?" The same girl asked continuing to berate him.
"Will you shut up!?" Solo shouted punching her. She fell to the ground.
She stood up slipping a piece of metal over her knuckles and punching him right back. "I can hit hard too." She said dragging him to his feet.
Solo got a better look at his assailant. It was a short girl with short hair. Her eyes were painted over black along with blues and greens on her face and arms. "You need to chill out." He shoved her to the ground. She stood up only for him to do it again.
"Stop it!" Her voice was a bit more shrill this time like a whiny child. "I'm in charge of you. You need to listen to me!"
"I don't." Solo grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her back. He pulled her close and grabbed a knife off the table. "I'm leaving this place, and I will do anything to do it, so you better do as I say."
"I'm listening." Her tone changed seeing the situation.
"First, my clothes." Solo grabbed them and stuffed them into his bag which he threw over his shoulder. Then he pulled out a card from his extra deck and placed it facedown on his duel disk. "Let's go." He shoved her forward out of the tent. It was still early in the morning. The sun was not even rising, but everyone in the camp was awake and moving. "Keep your answers short and smart if you want to keep living." She nodded her head walking forward to the rear entrance to the camp.
"This is the least secure part of the camp. There are a lot of blind spots with all of the buildings."
"Let's not waste time then." He walked behind one of the buildings leaning against the side and peeking out behind the corner. He waited for the guard to move before continuing. Then there were two at the gate. "Any other way out?"
The girl looked down. "Yeah, but it's kind of secret."
"Tell me."
"You can't tell anyone. It's how I go out when I'm not supposed to."
"It won't be a problem." She nodded her head walking over to the fence wall. She started pressing on one of the panels until it gave making an opening. Solo looked at her. "Thank you." He squeezed through the hole while the girl closed it up.
As soon as he was out, Solo broke into a sprint heading into the nearby woods. He ran deep into the woods hiding behind a tree as he redressed himself. Need a more discreet card mount. Solo opened up his trunk from his duel disk and started going through his available cards. He sighed realizing that Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon was his best card for riding. He ran to a clearing and summoned the monster. "Time to get out of here." He jumped on the dragon and started flying away heading for the Ice King once more.
Later that evening…
Aisha stood in her tent confronting the small girl she had put in charge of Solo. "I told you to keep an eye on him!"
"He overpowered me." She said weakly.
"How are you ever going to be a Harpie if you let boys like him push you around like that?"
"I don't know. Maybe I don't want to be." She spoke her second sentence in a whisper.
Aisha heard her anyway. "It's your choice, but do you really want to give up all of your sisters?" She pulled the girl into a hug. "Krista, you had so much spirit when you joined the Harpies, and I was excited to have you part of my camp." Aisha did not let her go from the hug. "Take some time to think about it. Right now, I need to go and hunt down that boy." She broke the hug and strapped on her claws. She walked out of the tent and someone handed her a pre-packed bag. She summoned her Harpie's Pet Dragon and gave Krista one more look before taking off to the sky.
…
Solo continued flying deep into the night looking for a place to rest. He flew downward once he saw a cave. He removed his card from his duel disk when he landed and walked inside. The air smelled like mildew from the moisture and every now and again, a cold breeze would hit him. He walked behind a large rock and sat down. A wave of hunger hit him. He sighed closing his eyes to rest. Sleep would be all that could distract him from his hunger.
