Chapter 9: Secrets and Startings: The Maiami Championships!
"...Ugh..." I groaned as a blurred mixture of colours appeared. "Wha..." I shook my head, and things became slightly clearer. "Where am I?"
"Elliot!" A familiar voice cried.
"...Y...Yuya?" Finally everything came into focus, and I could see my friend sitting next to me.
"I'm so glad your up!" He smiled. "Mum! Elliot's awake!"
"Really?" She quickly came in. "Oh what a relief, it's so good to see you awake."
I sat up and looked around, realising I was in the bed in my rented room. "How did I get here?"
"Don't you remember Elliot?" Yuya asked. "We found you passed out near the harbor, covered in injuries, and everything was on fire!"
"It's lucky your injuries weren't too severe." Yoko added.
I then had a recollection of that night, and Yuto, and when I...I gripped the covers as I remembered my loss. "Are you okay?" Yuya asked.
"Yeah, just a little rough." I lied.
"Do you remember what happened?" Yoko asked.
"...No, sorry." Why the hell did I do that!? I should have told them! Damn my lying weakness! And equally curse my weakness to correcting myself!
"Here, I saved some noodles for you from last night." She passed me a bowl.
"Arigatou." I thanked her before hungrily digging in. "So...I've only been out a day?"
"Be grateful it wasn't longer." Yoko said.
"I'm just glad your okay." Yuya smiled. "Everybody else will be happy too! I'd better call them."
I looked down in sadness at the thought of making everyone worry, and that made me think about what I'd been striving towards all this time, and that now that I've failed..."...Yuya..."
"Huh? Yeah?" He stopped mid-dial.
"I...lost in my sixth battle." I choked out the words. "There's no way I'll be able to get 6 more straight wins with only 2 days left. I'm sorry...I won't be able to compete in the Maiami Championships."
The duelist and his mother looked at each other. "Uhh, what are you talking about Elliot?" Yuya said. "You HAVE six wins."
"Huh?" I looked at him in confusion. "Why do you say that?"
He picked up my Duel Disk and brought up my win-lose ratio. "Look, it says here six consecutive wins." He gave me the DD and I saw he was right! I was registered as having six wins in a row.
'What? How is this possible?" I thought. 'I lost, hugely! Why is it registered as a win?'
"Maybe you lost track of the number of Duels?" Yuya suggested.
"Um...maybe." I said as looked at the record.
"Okay, c'mon Yuya, let's leave Elliot to rest." Yoko suggested.
"Right. Just get up when you feel like it Elliot." The two walked out of the room, closing the door behind them.
I sat on the edge of the bed, looking at the records. "This doesn't make any sense...why is it registered as a win? Did someone tamper with it?" I looked around, as if someone was spying on me. "Guess this means SOMEBODY wants me in the Maiami Championships..."
As I looked at my supposed sixth win, I flashbacked to the Duel with Yuto. How his dragon pierced through Trickster, the Phantom Fog blasting me, his Break Sword cutting Yavix in half.
"Damnit..." I gritted my teeth in frustration. "If I had attacked with Yavix the Imprisoned Warrior when I had the chance, I would've won! Damnitdamnitdamnit!...Ugh..." I flopped back in exasperation. "Only 50 points of damage...how pathetic."
I sat up and placed my head in my hand. "It looks like I'm nowhere near perfected yet...but I guess at this stage, it's no surprise." I looked out the window. "And if I know the Yu-Gi-Oh anime, things are only gonna get tougher from here."
I grabbed my Deck and fanned out the cards. "You Timestream's...your flexible, almost too flexible. I need to find some way to turn your strengths to my full advantage, and if that's the case, then I need to be as flexible with my Dueling as possible!"
I thought back to when I fought Katsu, and how I had used Trickster and Flare Resonator for a Fusion and Synchro Summon. "Like that...but If I'm to do that, I need to learn my Deck from the inside out. So far I've been going in not having a clue about my cards and just winging it. But it's time to learn my Deck, to bring out it's full potential!"
There was a knock at the door. "Hey, can I come in?"
"Sure, Yuya." My friend walked in, carrying a small package.
"I just finished calling everyone, they're really happy to hear your okay."
"That's good to hear."
"Yeah. Oh, and someone dropped this off for you, doesn't list a sender, so be careful."
"I highly doubt it's a bomb." I laughed as I accepted it.
"Oh, right! Anyway, mum's made breakfast when your ready." He then clised the door.
'I haven't finished late dinner yet.' I sweatdropped. 'So...what's this thing?' It only said 'To Elliot Zekaki' on the front, and when I tenderly opened it I found a note inside: 'A little gift for the Miami Championships.'
"Huh." I said. "At least I can say whoever sent this got me my sixth 'win'." I opened the rest of the package, and my eyes widened at the content. "Woah! New cards!" I fanned them out, the majority being Timestream Cards, but with some other awesome Monsters, Spells and Traps as well.
"This is awesome!" I stated to myself. "With these, I can upgrade my Deck for the Championships! Right! Time to turn Timestream Force into Timestream Storm!"...What? Oh like YOU'VE never named your Decks!
Yu-Gi-Oh
On the first day of the Maiami Championships, me and Yuya got up at 5 a.m to go over each others Decks, before we headed off. We made it to the setting of the tournament where we met up with everyone else, I managed to see a few other people looking around too.
We all had to go out and wave to the crowd as Smiley introduced us and gave the openings, plus Yuya got to give a speech too! I could tell that he was setting himself a high bar, but I believe that he can make it easy, he's the main protagonist after all!
Turns out the Championship is split into three categories: Junior (which Ayu, Futoshi and Tatsuya were in), Junior Youth (me, Yuya, Yuzu and Gongenzaka) and Youth (...I've got nothing.).
We were each given a tournament ID to register in our Duel Disk's to match us up to our opponents, I was paired up with this guy named Nikara Uhige, but I wouldn't be facing him for a while. In the meantime though I got to watch Futoshi's match which he won, and I went off to get some food for us in victory.
"Alright, so what do Japenese eat during something like this? Squid? Is that too stereotypical?" I walked into a corridor as I thought aloud. "Rice balls? Maybe?"
"You having a fun conversation with yourself?" I stopped and spun around to see a figure standing in the shadows, his face concealed by a hood.
"Hey! Who are you!?" I demanded. "How did you get here!?"
"Not your problem." He stated. "I'm just here to watch."
"Then can you stop creeping on me?" I said with a half-lidded look.
"If you wamt me to stop 'observing', then no." He snapped.
"...Do you have a grudge against me or something?"
"Could say that." He shrugged, before pulling five cards out. "Here ya go, early birthday present, catch." He tossed the cards at me, and I caught them.
I looked at the front of the cards, and all I could see was white. "These are all blank."
"No shit, Sherlock. It's your job to put something worth using on 'em. Your heart will determine what those cards depict."
"What are you tal...king...about..." As I looked up, he had vanished, I ran forward and looked around both corners, but there was no sign of him. "Who was that guy?"
I looked at the five blank cards. "'Your heart will determine what those cards depict?', I don't understand. There are so many things I don't understand..."
I placed three of the blank cards in my Main Deck, and two in my Extra Deck, before sighing. "I just don't wanna be left in the dark...but for the moment, looks like I'm walking blind."
Yay! Another chapter!...Damn it's short...
I just thought I'd get this one out of the way, since I knew it was gonna be a bit on the small side. But character and mystery development!...Good, right?
Anyway, I've been planning ahead. Obviously I can't continue this story past the anime episodes, and I'm closing in on the latest episodes fast. So, if I ever reach the release limit, I was hoping to do a seperate Yu-Gi-Oh story set in 5D's or Zexal (I looked it up, there's not one FF that follows the main storyline with an OC, not one!), what do you guys think? Say so in a review!
Oh, and thank you for the Deck ideas! I'll try to use as many as possible (in context that is) and if you have any Action Field ideas too, don't hesitate to share them!
I think I'mma done here, so until next chapter, bye bye!
