I know I know, I'm the most horrible person on the planet right now... I've been so busy with last minute things that I haven't nor had the motivation to write anything! My older sister graduated college, I'm in a summer class and the end of year performance is a few weeks away for work. I'm exhausted! But here is the next chapter!
I came up with the title right after I put up the previous one and I couldn't stop laughing! XD
*I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any other thing you recognize in this chapter. I only own Christine, my OC*
Bandit Keith yawned loudly as Jounouchi began to approach him. My mother would have been appalled at his manners as his feet were also settled on the table. Great, his manners were as bad as his attitude.
"Keith, you're a jerk!" Jounouchi huffed at the American. "Get your dirty feet off the table!"
"Ah?" Keith acted like he couldn't hear Jounouchi at all. "What? You, the amateur, really want to duel against me? Duel with me? Bandit Keith?"
"Seeing the bottom of your boots just reminds me of your dirty tricks… I'll never forgive what you did to my friends in that cave! You're the kind of guy who steps on dog poop!"
Bandit Keith didn't seem to be disheartened at the words, only chuckling at them.
"Jounouchi, if you lick the sole of my boots, I'll admit defeat!"
"I'll freeze him first." I muttered angrily. Bandit Keith was starting to wear on my last nerve. Yami, unfortunately, held me back with a light grip of my wrist.
Jounouchi had no such filter.
"You're a jerk!"
"Bandit Keith!" Yami called into the room. "This table is a Duelist's battlefield! I won't let anyone insult it!"
Bandit Keith glanced over to Yami and gave another laugh.
"This certainly is a place of battles." He agreed. "But, does that guy have the right to stand here?"
Jounouchi flinched so profoundly I thought he would pounce at his opponent.
"What did you say?" He growled.
From out of his pocket, Bandit Keith pulled a card out. Even from my distance, I knew that it was the Glory of the King's left hand. It made no sense to me how Keith could have it; he wasn't even a real participant of the tournament, how could he own that card….? Unless….
"This is the semi-final certification card. If you don't have this, then you have no right to sit at the dueling table."
"Of course I have…." Jounouchi froze after he stuck his hand into his pocket.
He then searched his other pocket without making a single sound. What happened….? "What happened?! I remember putting it into my jacket pocket….!"
"You didn't lose it, did you?" Anzu asked him.
Jounouchi searched frantically through his jacket but he came up empty. I glared lightly at Bandit Keith as he began to laugh.
"If you lose the card, you can't duel then!" Bandit Keith looked to the nearby Croquet. "Is it like that?"
Croquet nodded his head.
"People with no certification card will lose the right to duel!" Croquet agreed.
Jounouchi whirled around to confront Croquet quickly,
"You wait a minute!" Jounouchi shouted. "I do have the certification card!"
I noticed the small beads of sweat beginning to appear on Jounouchi's skin. Bandit Keith laughed again.
"Jounouchi, you have lost your spot!" Bandit Keith laughed.
I gave him another dirty glare but quickly turned to Jounouchi.
"Maybe you dropped it somewhere?" I suggested. "Your room?"
"That's the only thing I can think of!" Jounouchi agreed. "Probably fell out when I was putting on my jacket this morning."
Jounouchi began to run toward the door. "You three stay here! I'll go to my room and get the card!"
Before Jounouchi even got a number of steps away from us, Croquet called out.
"There's only five minutes left!" He simply told Jounouchi, who looked back with a slightly panicked look on his face. "If you don't show me your certification card within five minutes, you will lose your place in the semi-finals!"
Five minutes?! That was hardly enough time to get back to his room and back! Jounouchi raced out of the room at a faster pace without a second thought. Anzu tried to confront the butler about it but nobody listened to her.
Time seemed to go so slowly. Three minutes felt like five and I could tell that Bandit Keith was getting antsy as well, asking about the time before chuckling again.
"He's already lost his spot." He laughed out. "Jounouchi won't come back."
"What do you mean by that?" I retorted at him.
Bandit Keith glanced over at me.
"That guy is so weak at the area of Duel Monsters, doll. Even though he's stupid, he should kow that there's no way he could win against me, so he would think of all possible ways to escape from the battle against me. Now he finally found a reason not to duel. Maybe he's already escaped off the island."
Yami flinched at the words. I didn't like the jab at me by calling me 'doll' and I considered freezing him to his chair. Though, I would let Jounouchi handle him. I kept quiet, a simple glare as my response, and didn't hold Yami back from barking at the former American champ.
"Bandit Keith…" He hissed out. "Jounouchi isn't the type to escape and hide. He'll definitely come back! Then... He will duel against you!"
Bandit Keith gave another smile as Croquet announced that there was only a minute left before Jounouchi was disqualified. It was barely even a minute before the door slammed open and Jounouchi appeared.
"Jounouchi!" Yami and Anzu cried out.
"Did you find it?!"I gasped to him.
Jounouchi kept a determined face as he stomped into the room, holding out a card to Croquet. The blond was panting having run the whole way from here to his room and back.
"Look carefully!" He demanded. "This is the card. You don't have anything to say, right?"
Bandit Keith's face paled considerably at the sight of the card in Jounouchi's hand; it was almost like he was surprised that Jounouchi had come across it.
Croquet allowed Jounouchi up to the table and the blond gave a harsh glare. "Take your dirty feet off the table! Jerk!"
"Che!" Bandit Keith huffed in reply. "Looks like I'll have to battle against you. But… at your seat: Hell is waiting for you."
As I figured, Jounouchi wasn't scared of those words.
"Then let me defeat you in Hell!"
Jounouchi settled himself at the table and prepared their decks. I clenched my fists over the jacket in my hands, hoping that no one could see my nervousness.
"The second semi-final round: Bandit Keith versus Jounouchi Katsuya!" Croquet announced as the two duelists shuffled their decks.
"Duel!" They both cried as they drew their first hand of cards.
Bandit Keith used Machine cards, which had nasty effects. Jounouchi figured that out the hard way when he attacked with a magic using Giltia the Dark Knight and nothing happened.
"My machine deck monsters are equipped with fullmetal anti-magic armor!" Keith laughed. "Magic attacks won't do shit to them!"
I would have called 'bull shit' as that excuse really couldn't be used later in time but I didn't say anything.
Keith continued with his turn and summoned a normal dark monster called 'Zoa'. It struck me as slightly strange why Keith would have it in his deck. Next to me, Yami stiffened as he realized something. I didn't have time to glance at him so I kept my eyes on Jounouchi as he summoned Flame Swordsman and attacked. Oh no!
Bandit Keith did have a trap to protect his Zoa and I understood why Yami flinched when it was summoned. Metalmorph transformed Zoa into a machine type monster and powerful enough to defeat Jounouchi's Flame Swordsman. It didn't end there. Keith then played 'Stop Defense'and was able to destroy the now in attack position Axe Raider. If the attack went through, Jounouchi would lose the duel!
If I was standing next to Jounouchi after he played his next card, I would have strangled him. Chasm of Spikes was able to ensnare and destroy the Metal Zoa.
"That was great!" Anzu cheered out. "Jounouchi's holding his own against the Ex- U.S Champion!"
"Card games have a rhythm…" Yami seemed to be saying to himself. "An ebb and flow. Those who can direct that flow are the ones who win!"
I gave a laugh despite of the circumstances.
"Leave it to Yugi to get philosophical on us." I giggled out.
I was quickly elbowed in the side. I made a very dramatic gasp of pain and looked to my brunette friend. "I've been wounded, Anzu!"
"I think you deserved it, though." My friend admitted with a smile.
"Did I? Ah…." I giggled again before looking back to the duel.
Jounouchi had continued with his turn and Bandit Keith quickly summoned a monster that attacked Jounouchi's Garoozis. To Keith's dismay, Jounouchi had another trap card and I rolled my eyes. With the many times my friend and I played a Yu-Gi-Oh game in my world, this card was the complete bane of my existence. Thankfully it was being used for a good reason.
(I watch Cubi Studios on Youtube play Millennium Duels and he absolutely loses it when Joey plays Kunai with Chain and I relate to that. This is the reason why Christine acts this way when Kunai with Chain is played.)
Keith's lifepoints dropped to 1100, only 50 points lower than Jounouchi. He could still win this duel!
Though, I couldn't help but glance up at Pegasus then. I couldn't see hm clearly but he was staring quite intently at the two duelists below him. What was he doing way up there?
I looked back to the duel when Bandit Keith began to laugh.
"What're you laughing about?!" Jounouchi barked in question.
"Kid…" Keith began slowly. "Have you ever risked your life before?"
Jounouchi seemed confused until Keith began to speak again. "I'm asking you… Have you ever seen Hell? You don't care who you have to kill, as long as you save your own skin. That's what Hell is! This 'Duelist Kingdom' is the same thing! There's only one way out of my hell… And it's right through Pegasus! I'll do anything to get there!"
Jounouchi only gave a smile.
"Then I'll kick you back down into Hell!" He replied. "Get ready, Keith!"
It would be a little while coming until that happened as Bandit Keith summoned one of his strongest monsters, Barrel Dragon. It had a nasty effect that made it much like a Russian roulette machine. If any of the barrels oriented correctly, Bandit Keith could destroy up to three of Jounouchi's monsters! We all watched as the barrels spun wildly until two of the three guns were able to shoot at Jounouchi's monsters, pretty much leaving him defenseless.
Jounouchi was quick to counter with his own gamble, summoning the Time Wizard. Also summoning Baby Dragon so that he had a monster that would easily crush the weakend Barrel Dragon.
I was tired of gambling by the time Time Wizard's wand stopped on a time machine. Baby Dragon had transformed into Thousand Dragon but there was soon something else that took shape. After Jounouchi attacked, Keith activated a Trap card, bringing back his Barrel Dragon with maximum points.
"When one of my monsters gets killed, this Trap Card can bring it back from a turn ago!" Keith explained while laughing. "In other words, the worn out Barrel Dragon becomes a decoy and the original Barrel Dragon come from the past to kick Thousand Dragon's ass! And it's not weakened any more because I went back in time before the Time Roulette!"
Jounouchi's combo was a complete bust then… As much as I hated to say it, Keith was a pretty impressive opponent. Though his attitude could use some work as he continued to pester Jounouchi as he blasted most of his monsters straight to the graveyard. Keith played more machine monsters in defense mode to build his defenses up.
My blond friend smiled as he pulled his next card, setting it facedown, before summoning Red Eyes Black Dragon. Jounouchi smiled when Bandit Keith attacked.
"I've been waiting for this!" Jounouchi laughed out. "Check out my face down card!"
Jounouchi picked up the card with a bright smile on his face. "Copycat! I'm gonna copy one of your cards! And I choose Metalmorph!"
The card quickly took effect and Red-Eyes went through the same treatment that the Zoa did a few turns ago. Its attack increased to 2800, enough to destroy the Barrel Dragon. The dark blast blew the machine into scraps as Keith gave a growl in the back of his throat.
"You…. Copying my Metalmorph to power up your Red-Eyes Black Dragon…" Keith growled out before he took his turn, which only consisted of him keeping his Slot Machine monster in defense mode and putting a card face down.
Of course, Jounouchi attacked and Bandit Keith activated the face down card. Seven Completed was a completely annoying card, especially when it was suddenly activated like this. It seemed strange to me that Keith also had another one in his hand when it came back to his turn, wouldn't he have played it a while back? I couldn't think about that long as Keith then played Blast Sphere and had it attached to Red-Eyes. If Jounouchi didn't do something quick, his only chance for victory would be gone!
Just after Jounouchi drew his next card, a large explosion rocked the table. I jumped but said nothing, staring intently at the smoke that covered the field. I smiled when Red-Eyes was still on the field and with a nice new attachment to his claws. Jounouchi had drawn Dragon Nails and it saved him a good hundred lifepoints or so.
Bandit Keith somehow pulled another Seven Completed and increased his Slot Machine's attack points up to the same level as Red-Eyes.
"You better not be thinking you can still beat me…" Keith taunted.
Jounouchi simply gave him a dark look, not giving Bandit Keith the satisfaction of making him mad. "'Cause if you are, I'll open your eyes with this! Pillager!"
Oh boy… Bandit Keith could now look at Jounouchi's hand and take whatever card he wanted! Hopefully he didn't…. He did…. Bandit Keith took the Sword and Shield magic card and I immediately paled. Slot Machine's attack became 3000 while Red-Eyes' became 2400. The American was quick to call an attack but I noticed Jounouchi flip a card over before the explosion hit.
When the smoke cleared once more, a time machine was floating overhead, making Anzu and I both cheer wildly. Bandit Keith's Time Machine went back in time to get the Red-Eyes that was at full strength. There was a single attack and it was all over.
"And the winner is… Katsuya Jounouchi!" Croquet announced and everything went wild.
The three of us all ran over to Jounouchi as he jumped to his feet in celebration. Bandit Keith remained in his seat, looking utterly furious.
"I did it, you jerk!" He exclaimed. "I won!"
We reached his spot and the blond turned to us with a large smile. He then gave us a large group hug, though we were all separated enough so that Jounouchi didn't need to whisper to not hurt our ears. "Thanks… I couldn't have won without you guys…"
Anzu and I both beamed while Yami's expression remained stalwart but caring.
"No, Jounouchi." He corrected. "You had the courage of a duelist. You fought alone and were victorious!"
"Yeah!" Anzu cheered. "You won without any help from anybody! You can be proud of it!"
I was pretty sure that he had help from someone, namely a blonde busty woman who cared even though she said she didn't, but I didn't say anything. I beamed again but Jounouchi didn't smile in response. He turned back to Yami.
"Sorry… Yugi." He began. "I know I'm not out of Duelist Kingdom yet but for me, that felt like the final battle…"
That was definitely a problem.
"But you guys are both in the finals." I spoke up. "You two will need to duel to see who can go to Pegasus!"
"That won't be necessary." Yami intoned.
"And why is that?"
"Our objective was to beat Pegasus! Now that we've come this far, he's finally within our sights. If Jounouchi and I fought in front of him, we'd only expose more of our tactics."
That made sense… I nodded to his words and watched Yami turn back to the blond. "Jounouchi! Will you leave the rest to me?" Jounouchi seemed conflicted for a moment. Pegasus must have been having a field day with all the thoughts running between us.
"Yugi…" Jounouchi sighed out. "I know you're the only person who has a chance of beating Pegasus. I knew that even before we came to this island… But still! Can I really weigh you down with my baggage? You're already fighting for yourself and your grandpa! Do you really want to fight for me?"
"Of course!" Yami replied immediately. "I'll win because I fight for you! Just like you fought for your sister…"
Jounouchi only hesistated for a moment before pulling The Honor of the King's Right card out of his pocket and handed it to Yami. The spirit took it and held it up towards Pegasus, whose eyes narrowed slightly.
Pegasus stood, spoke to one of his employees, and then talked down to us.
"Very well, Yugi-boy!" He cheerfully cried out. "Let the final battle of the Kingdom begin!"
Pegasus had promptly walked away and we were all escorted to the other part of the castle where Pegasus and Kaiba had dueled yesterday. My mind was finally able to wander elsewhere, far away from the duel arena. Were Honda and Bakura ok? They hadn't shown up the entirety of the morning and I was beginning to get worried about them. It also wandered to Bandit Keith, where had he gone? I then remembered his fate from reading the manga with my friend, blasting his own brains out via Penalty Game. I knew it had happened also from the twinge in my stomach as we were walking. I forced myself to keep walking so that no one noticed the discomfort; I didn't want to take people's minds off what was coming.
We stopped at the door leading in and waited with Yami as he searched through his cards. I peeked over his shoulder to see the familiar monsters be looked through.
"Good, my cards are in order." He was saying aloud.
Yami then pulled out the camcorder with Grandpa's soul inside and the old man was quick to give him advice. I didn't interfere, this was his conversation. My ears instead caught onto footsteps running towards us and voices calling our names.
"Yugi!" One cried out.
"Jounouchi!" Another cried.
We all turned around and I was ecstatic to see Honda and Bakura rushing towards us. They were smiling which calmed me down but they didn't have either Kaiba or Mokuba. "All right, Yugi!" Honda exclaimed. "You made it!"
Jounouchi huffed and got right into Honda's face, which his friend didn't seem to like at all.
"Where the heck were you guys?!" Jounouchi growled out.
Honda pushed him away and spoke with a similar huff.
"We spent all night looking for Mokuba. He's resting in one of the rooms. Seems like Kaiba's locked up in a different tower so we couldn't rescue him…"
Honda's face became painfully serious. "Yugi… Mokuba's soul was sucked out… Only you can save him and his brother…"
"Well if that doesn't put stress on a guy, then I don't know what will." I huffed out to which Honda gave a dirty look.
"Beat him for Mokuba, Yugi! Kill him!" Bakura exclaimed out in a very uncharacteristic fashion.
Honda broke his dirty look with me to give a confused look to Bakura. Something did seem odd with him, I just couldn't put my finger on it.
"Well, I know you can do it, Yugi!" Honda once again turned to his friend.
Yami nodded and Croquet's voice suddenly pierced the air, breaking the conversation.
"It's time." He announced. "Will Yugi Motou please step forward and take a seat at the Dueling stage!"
Yami nodded and walked silently up to the Dueling platform. All of us called out encouragements and watched as it began to rise up to the level where Pegasus would get on.
It was finally time. Let's get this over with and go home.
I hope to not be as bad with the next update. My summer class goes until the 21st of June so I should have a bit more writing time then.
Thanks for your understanding and reading!
RobynHood3