Tornado: It's me again. This fic is either too boring or it really, really sucks. I hope it's boring because I can change that.
DT: It is rather boring, but it's getting more interesting.
Tornado: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh by the way, from the last chapter I own Tora, the pendant of Osiris, the Blue-eyes Black Dragon, and the Blue-eyes Mega Dragon. If there's a monster that you've never heard of, they're mine.
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I was up before dawn the morning of the tournament. It was three AM when that dream awoke me. I was covered in a cold sweat, and my heart was hammering uncomfortably. My hands were outstretched in front of clawing at the air. It was the seventh night in a row that I had the dream.
I'm thrown onto the bed with extreme force. The room is pitch black, but I can still see his pale face. He grabs my wrists, pinning them high above my head as his weight bores down on me. My legs were restrained and spread apart. There was nothing I could do. That same helpless feeling that I had felt many times before crept back into my heart. There was nothing I could do. The vicious assault began with merciless thrusts. There was nothing I could do to stop him. I lay there quiet, not wanting to give him another reason to make me regret even more that I was alive. My jaw was clenched tight to prevent a scream of pain from escaping my lips. I could taste the hurt in my mouth. It was a coppery taste, just like blood only there was no liquid. He finally climaxed, and rolled off of my searing body. He licked my ear before whispering: "Now you're mine, Tornado."
That dream would drive me through the tournament. The bitter taste of pain had never left my mouth. This was my reason to duel.
Dawn peaked over the rooftops of Domino, and I began to dress without thoughts. A black leather jacket covered my red sleeveless. Black combat boots were overlapping the legs of my baggy camouflage pants. My lips were painted a deep red, and my eyes were shadowed and lined in black. My Duel Disk was over one sleeve of my jacket, and my pendant was tucked underneath of the collar/choker of my leather shirt. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I was a girl that was ready for war. My eyes were set forward in a determined glare; there was a forbidding air about me. I tied my hair up in a ponytail to reduce the heat. I was ready. There was two more hours to kill before the tournament, but I knew how short the time would seem.
I strode out of the apartment, and rode the elevator to the lobby floor. It was quiet as was expected at six in the morning. I walked into the waking streets of Domino. A few cars were traveling to work, and a small child was already skipping rope on the sidewalk. The park lay ahead of me; it was my destination. Four motorcycles were parked at the east entrance, and four muscular punks were leaning against them. They looked up, and watched me approach before rising to greet me.
"What's up, boys?" I asked.
An extremely muscular guy with a bald head wrapped me into a short hug before saying, "How you living, Blue-Eyes?"
"Life sucks sometimes, Pyro, but what can you do?"
The rest welcomed me as well. It had been ages since I'd seen the other three. Josh still had these wild biceps, and untidy black hair. Matt's golden brown hair was short, giving me a clean view of his brown eyes. Ben was still the smallest member of the group muscle wise, but his blonde hair and brown eyes made up for every bit of the muscle.
"You guys going to be tagging along with me for the tournament?" I asked.
"But of course, we couldn't let our defenseless leader out here all alone now could we?" Ben asked.
"Whatever, Ice Man. Yo, Thunder, how's your girl?"
"Don't mention her name."
"Don't wanna know. New wit you, Cyclone?"
"Same old, same old."
"Pyro?"
"Nothin' new here. 'Bout you?"
"Dating a great guy."
"We know him?" Pyro asked.
"You'd better know him 'cause if you didn' you'd be the stupidest person on the face of the Earth."
"Who is he?" Ben inquired.
"Tell y'all later. Let's get walking. If we want to get down there before the tournament starts we have to leave like now."
We set off toward the center of town, hoping to arrive before most of the crowd got there. We stood around in the center for about ten minutes before we saw the first duelists arriving. Mai Valentine rushed up to greet me.
"Hey, girl, what are you doing here this early? And who are these?" she asked noticing the band of guys that stood beside me.
"Mai, this is Vin, Matt, Ben, and Josh. Guys this is Mai Valentine."
"Nice to meet you," the boys said in unison.
"So where's this cutie that you were talking about?" I asked.
"I don't think he's here yet, but when I find him I'll show him to you."
"You'd better. I promised a friend that there was no cute duelists here, and I want to stay true on my word."
"You ready to duel?"
"Have I ever not been?" I retorted.
"Just checking. With these new rules, people will have a hell of a time trying to duel."
"I have an advantage, then."
"You suck, you know that. I tried to get acquainted with the rules before this started, but I don't know if it's perfect yet."
"I didn't get that much time to practice either, so we're on the same playing field."
"Look, I got to go. I'll show you that cutie when I find him," she called over her shoulder.
"She was pretty," Pyro said.
"Stay away," I told him.
"I will."
Eight o'clock soon rolled around the corner, and I waited patiently for the announcement to commence. The boys and I were leaning against the fountain in the center square. The plaza had become packed with duelists of all statures. Duke Devlin was chatting with an unknown when he spotted me.
"Well, it's been a long time, Tornado. I haven't seen you since the Duelist Kingdom tournament," he said.
"Yes, Duke, it has."
"It's a shame that you couldn't make it to the finals. I heard they were fantastic."
"No need. This tournament is going to make Duelist Kingdom look like a joke. We actually have bathrooms and restaurants."
"Duelist Kingdom didn't need those. If you came prepared it was simply a great time."
"There weren't any beds."
"How spoiled we are in life."
"Well, I hope you studied the rule book because it only complicates matters even more."
"Oh, I have, and I'll be waiting to duel you."
"How about you and me? Right here after the announcement."
"You're on!"
"I'll put my Blue-eyes up for grabs, what about you?"
"I'll wager my Dice Phantom. One locator card as well."
"Come on, Kaiba, when's the damned tournament going to start?" I asked the air.
"Greetings, duelists," Kaiba's voice said from the middle of nowhere.
"Where's his voice coming from?" Duke asked.
A shadow fell across, causing me to look skyward. A large blimp carrying the face of my boyfriend floated over the city. The image freaked me out a bit. For one thing he looked like he had woken up on the wrong side of the bed, and for another he was just plain excited about something.
"I hope you didn't expect friendly competition. Battle City is going to be an all out war."
"Damn right," I muttered.
He went on to explain how the locator cards worked. It was all a bore to me because I had designed the damned things in the first place, but I pretended to listen anyway. A few business people standing on the sidewalk looking rather confused.
"All this for a card game?" one asked.
/Simpletons. It's not just a card game any more…/
"If anyone is stupid enough to challenge me, I'll be participating in the tournament as well. I'm looking forward to dueling a certain person," Kaiba finished.
In my mind I could see Yugi standing on a rooftop saying, "You're on Kaiba."
"All of this and more can be found in my duel manual. Now let the tournament begin!" he said before disappearing from the screen.
"He sure knows how to make an entrance," Ben said.
"A bit obsessive if you ask me," Josh agreed.
"Try working with him," I grumbled. "Ready to duel, Duke?"
"You bet!" he said.
"Time to duel!" we yelled as our holographic projectors shot out to the sides.
/Damn, Seto. These things are cool./
"Ladies first," Duke said.
"Then by all means," I replied.
"I mean girls first."
"You'll see how girly I am after this move. I play Sheatan the dark horse [atk 600/def 1500] in attack mode."
"Oh, please, is that all you got? I play Taurus the bull [atk 800/def 900] in attack mode. Go Taurus, Horn of Bull!"
"Damn!" I yelled as my life points dropped. (4000/3800)
I drew a card. /Hmm, not bad, it'll wipe out his bull, but I won't lay it yet./
"I lay one card face down; then I'll play the Light Magician [atk 600/ def 700] in defense mode." /Attack it Dukie./
"I won't attack this turn, but I summon my Panther Warrior [atk 1750/ def ????] on the offense as well."
/What's he planning? Obviously he's going to sacrifice the monsters to summon something, but what?/ "I draw." /Nothing good, but another face down won't hurt/ "I play another card face down on the field."
"I sacrifice my two monsters on the field to summon the Dice Phantom [2400/ 2700] in attack mode! Dice Phantom, attack the Light Magician with your Dice Roll!"
/Perfect…/ (4000/3800) "Thanks, Duke, you played right into my hand. First I'll summon the Shadow Ninja [1500/1800] in attack mode."
"It's not strong enough!"
"Who says I'm done yet? Reveal magic card, Graceful Dice! If it lands on a two or higher, your monster's done. Let's see those odds. 1 in 6, or 16% chance that it'll and on a one."
The dice hit the ground, and rolled over a few times. Three dots were face up.
"Oh too, bad. Now my monster has the attack strength of forty-five hundred, which is more than enough to clear the field of your phantom, and put significant dent in your life points. Shadow Ninja, shadow blade!"
My ninja sliced its sword right through the opponent, sending Duke's life points from four thousand to nineteen hundred in one swipe.
"Oh, no! I lost over half my life points. I play the Mystical Elf [800/2000] in defense mode to protect my life points."
"Duke, did you forget my other face down card? It was there for a reason. Reveal trap card, Defense Paralysis! Now your life points are wide open for my attack. Shadow Ninja, attack with your shadow blade! That brings your life points down to zero," I informed him triumphantly.
"How could I lose in the first match? I'm out of the tournament now!"
"You shouldn't have dueled me first. How many cards did it take me? Five? I never even had to sacrifice a monster to summon my high levels. That was pretty pathetic. You need a new a strategy."
"Here's my Dice Phantom and my locator card. Take good care of it."
"It's going in a collector's case, Duke. I have no use for it in my deck, but rest assured, it'll be locked away."
"You're a good duelist, Tornado. I wish you luck in the tournament."
"Look on the bright side, you can go back to working on Dungeon Dice Monsters."
"Too true. I'll be looking for you to make to the finals, or are you too girly to make it?"
"I'll be there, Duke. You just wait and see."
I watched as he walked away. /It was a good warm-up, but I need something more challenging. I'm saving Seto for the finals in case he does beat me. Who can I challenge that will be a worthy opponent?/ I turned to the stunned boys behind me. Their faces carried an expression of shock and amusement. I had a hint of suspicion that they were planning on digging me out of a few holes.
"Do you think defenseless now?"
"I think we'll just leave. We're cramping your style," Pyro said.
"That you are," I agreed as I hugged Pyro. "You'll be watching me on the internet right?"
"Of course we will. See you, girl, be careful who you challenge."
The band strolled away, leaving me alone to stand there. I was relieved to see them go. I hadn't really intended on having them tag along for the entire tournament. They had planned that they would need to dig me out of my grave, but I just proved that I could rescue myself.
I felt a hand rest on my shoulder. I grabbed it, yanking its owner to my front. Mai Valentine stood in front of me with a look of astonishment.
"Oh, it's you. I thought you were someone else," I whispered sheepishly, letting go of her wrist.
"What's with you? You treat your boyfriend like that?"
"No, but I treat my ex like that."
"Which ex?"
"Keith."
"You want to see something cute?"
"Do show!"
"This way."
She led me a few streets over to a spot where a duel had just ended. There was a large crowd standing there commenting about the duel. Mai and I pushed past some people until we were close enough to see two people standing in the center of the crowd. Both of them were wearing Duel Disks. One I recognized as the tri-colored Yugi Moto, the other was a tall blonde with muddy eyes. He was very cute indeed, but I could place my finger on why he looked so familiar.
"That is Joey Wheeler," she informed me dreamily.
I knew where I had seen him before. The name had struck home too. Joseph Wheeler the runner up at Duelist Kingdom, the owner of a Red-eyes Black Dragon, and brother to Serenity Wheeler who was currently in the hospital for an eye operation. /I thought Seto rated him really low on the scale? What was it like one star? How did he get in?/
"Your boyfriend's not too fond of him," Mai told me in a hushed whisper. "I don't think that he was supposed to be in this tournament, but I didn't ask."
"He wasn't," I replied in the same whisper. "His resume looked good though, so I'm not going to say anything. Let him duel. We'll see if he makes it to the finals."
"I'm not sure. If he runs into Kaiba, who pisses him off, I don't think we'll be seeing him in the finals."
"Let's wait and see."
"We're going to have to. I'll catch you later."
I stared at the boy for the longest time. His face was kind, and he had a soft aura about him. He was the kind of guy that I would have dated in an instant. Not quite mamma's boy, but not over the edge in rawness. Seto was like that. Sure he had frigid exterior, but he was far from raw, or at least towards me. I didn't know why, but there was something familiar about him. /Of course he's Serenity's brother, but why does it seem to run deeper than that?/ I shook the feeling off, and went to find another challenger to conquer.
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Tornado: What did you think?
DT: Definitely much better. More action!
Tornado: Thanks to Ryu no Oni, Xenocho for reviewing.
DT: There will be more action than this in future chapters. For the record, this is going to be a long-ass story. R&R.
