"So, Prehistoric Park, Palomino Ranch, or Mountaintop?" Kyo asked.
Kisara wasn't listening.
"Kis? You in there?" Kyo queried, a little surprised.
"What?" Kisara turned, blinking.
Kyo snorted. "Looking for Jesse?"
That got her attention.
"How did you…" Kisara blushed.
Kyo raised an eyebrow, giving her a wry look. "A wild guess." She said with intense sarcasm, and Kisara's blush deepened.
"Sorry," She mumbled.
"You do realize you're going to have to introduce him to your father at some point, right?" Kyo pointed out.
"What do you mean?" Kisara squeaked a little, paling.
Kyo rolled her eyes. "Kisara, you have the most intimidatingly overprotective father on the planet. The longer you put it off, the worse it's going to be when he finds out."
"Finds out what?" She asked, blushing.
Kyo shook her head, giving up. "Forget it." She looked up, and Mahad materialized beside her. "What about you? Any ideas where you want to duel?"
He blinked at her. "Milady?" He queried, taken aback.
Kyo huffed and backed up. "Sorry. We're at Kaibaland, and we're trying to figure out where to go duel so we can win more cards. I didn't get as many cards as I wanted to last week, and I'm running low on reserves." She hadn't dueled at all last week; she had been a bit preoccupied.
"Why ask me?" He asked, puzzled.
"Because you're part of the group. In fact, you're the one on the field, so really, if anyone should be choosing which field we play on, it should be you." Kyo said.
He shifted. "I will be satisfied with whatever you choose."
Kyo pulled a face. "That's not what– fine." She gave up. "Then we're going to the mountains."
Kisara hadn't moved.
"Come on, Kis! The train's about to leave!" Kyo called back.
Reluctantly, she followed.
"Hey! Kaiba! Moto!"
Ugh. Great. Kyo grumbled as she picked up the pace.
Unfortunately, Sirius made the tram as well, hopping in just as the doors started to close.
"What do you want, Wheeler?" Kyo growled.
"T' duel you, of course." Sirius grinned back. "Check it." He raised his arm to show off a dueldisk. "An' I see you've both got dueldisks, so wherever you wanna do this is fine with me." He pointed at the roof. "We could even do it on the upper deck."
"We've got somewhere to be, Sirius." Kyo gritted.
"Sure ya do. You're here to win cards, right?" Sirius held up three cards. "I wager my Red-Eyes Black Dragons."
She stopped, startled. Even Kisara looked stunned.
"You what?" Kyo stared at him.
"You 'eard me. I'm puttin' my dragons up." He lifted his finger. "Because I'm gonna win."
Kyo frowned. Something's not right. "Why? Surely even if you have a new strategy to face me with, you would test that strategy before wagering your best cards."
"I know I'm gonna win." Sirius's grin was a little crooked. "You won't get away from me dis time."
"You've lost it." Kyo shook her head.
"I said–" Sirius seized her arm, his fingers tightening painfully. "You ain't gettin' away."
Mahad's eyes flashed, and Kyo felt a ripple of magic, but Sirius didn't release his grip. She felt a flicker of nervousness and shoved it down, trying to peel him off of her. "Get off me, Sirius."
"Not until you promise to duel." His voice was off.
Something's wrong. Kyo bristled, and Mahad stepped in, lifting his staff.
Sirius's eyes widened, and he gave them a monstrous grin. "Not this time, little fly." He hissed, and to their great surprise, Mahad yelped and fell back.
Chaos! Kyo thought in sudden horror. She jerked away, but Sirius's grip was too strong. "Let go!" She snapped.
People were starting to look around at them. Kisara was dithering, unsure of how to help. Mahad, recovering and now ready for chaos, stepped forward again, his staff glowing briefly.
This time, Sirius yelped, and this time, he was the one who had to step back.
We're on a tram, loaded with people, trapped with a mutated Egyptian God card possessing the body of a formidable duelist. Kyo thought fast. "All right." She said quickly, pointing up. "We'll duel on the second level."
The trams of Kaibaland didn't have dueling arenas, but they did have places where people with dueldisks could play on top of the tram. The tramways were all designed so that it wasn't dangerous, so long as you weren't too crazy.
"Kyo?" Kisara asked in a low voice, concerned.
Sirius smirked. "Sounds good to me." He said. His voice had lost its accent, and it sounded almost sibilant. "I'll rip you to shreds." He promised with pleasure.
"We'll see." Kyo turned, taking Kisara's hand as she headed for the stairs. Make sure he follows, She added to Mahad, who nodded.
"Kyo?" Kisara asked again, but Kyo just led her up to the second deck.
"You might want to summon Blue-Eyes." She said in an undertone as she turned. "Sirius is possessed."
Kisara started in alarm and looked over at him. His wide-eyed, predatory grin definitely looked wrong compared to his normally cocky expression.
"I'm going to rip you to shreds." He said excitedly as he started up his dueldisk.
"You said that already." Kyo said calmly as she loaded her deck. "How did you get to Sirius?"
"Huh?" He blinked, and for a moment, he looked confused. "Waddaya mean?"
She frowned. That almost sounded like… Sirius.
"Talk later. I'll go first." He said, reverting back to the sibilant tone. "I set four cards facedown and end my turn." He smirked. "Let's see what you've got, little girl."
Kyo drew her cards. This isn't going to be easy. Sirius's Red-Eyes strategy means he usually has a plethora of monsters on the field. It'll be hard to keep him from having enough monsters to sacrifice for Slifer, and even then, they'll probably just pop right back up again.
So, She decided as she looked through her hand. I'd better prepare for facing an Egyptian God card. She looked over at Sirius. Luckily for me, Slifer relies on the number of cards Sirius is holding, and his strategy usually empties his hand.
She frowned. That said, he's usually summoned at least something by this point, but I suppose it isn't exactly impossible to have nothing to summon on your first turn.
"I draw." She said, reaching for her deck.
"I activate Cloak and Dagger!" Sirius declared, lifting his arm. "Now your little fly can't join the fun. He'll be taken out of play instantly."
Kyo blinked, then folded her arms. "So who are you banishing?" She asked.
He blinked, then frowned back and pointed. "Your magician! That thing!"
"You have to declare a card name." Kyo said. "You can't just say 'that thing'."
"That… that… that fly!" Sirius snarled furiously. "You know who I'm talking about! Why do I have to say his name?!"
"Those are the rules." Kyo said with a smirk, lifting a finger. "I'm waiting."
He dithered for a moment. "TELL ME!" He bellowed, a wave of chaos erupting from him.
It wasn't anything like the energy he'd summoned during their fight, though, and Kyo wasn't impressed. "You'll have to do better than that, Phantom." She snorted.
Kisara! She looked back, suddenly concerned, but the Blue-Eyes Divine Dragon was crouched protectively around her, its teeth bared in the Phantom's direction.
Relieved, she looked back and grinned at his frustrated expression. "You can't ban him if you can't declare him." She said with finality, and started reaching for her deck again.
"NO!" Sirius snapped, bristling with rage, but there was nothing he could do.
"Howdy!" Jesse popped up from the stairwell. "I ain't interruptin' anythin', am I?" He asked.
"HIS NAME!" Sirius bellowed, before either Kyo or Kisara could react.
Jesse nearly fell back down the stairwell with the force of Sirius's demand. "Palladium Oracle Mahad," He said, dizzy. "Wha'… what?" He added in a stammer, looking mightily confused.
"Jesse!" Kisara ran over, and the Blue-Eyes darted between them and the threat.
But the Phantom already had what it wanted. "Palladium Oracle Mahad." Sirius declared with a smirk as he turned back to the field. "Cloak and Dagger will now banish him if he enters play."
"What… in the world…" Jesse managed weakly, looking around at the situation.
"I'll explain, just come over here." Kisara said, holding out her hand.
He took it slowly.
"Sorry to disappoint you," Kyo said, lifting a card, "But I'm going to have to disagree. I summon Breaker, the Magical Warrior!" She set the card on her dueldisk. "His special ability gives him a Spell Counter when he's brought to the field. And by removing that Spell Counter, I can destroy one of your traps."
"Sirius is someone we know from school, but he's sort of… gone crazy." Kisara started.
"Well, that much I figgered," Jesse muttered as Breaker tore through the Cloak and Dagger card. He looked up. "But wha's with th' see-through Blue-Eyes an' Mahad?"
Kyo and Kisara both started and looked over at him.
"You can see spirits?" Kisara asked, surprised.
He couldn't do that before. Kyo thought. She looked back around at Mahad. Is it just me, or are more people getting the ability to see spirits? Is it because of the Phantom?
Mahad shrugged. "That is not something I understand fully, Milady. If he has a strong enough bond with his monsters, it is possible he has learned to see them on his own. But your guess is also a valid one; the Phantom's chaos could just as easily be the thing responsible."
In which case, a lot more people might be able to see you and Blue-Eyes soon. Kyo mused, turning back to the field. "Say what?" She started, staring at a second trap.
"I activated Curse of Darkness!" Sirius grinned lopsidedly. "Now, any time either of us uses a spell, we lose one thousand life points!"
She stiffened. He didn't have those cards before. She felt a flicker of concern. I'm not sure Red-Eyes is even in his deck anymore.
No wonder he'd been so quick to ante them. It still felt very wrong – whatever Kisara might have said, Kyo knew he loved those cards. He wouldn't have given them up.
He started laughing. "I'm going to tear you apart."
"Sirius! Wake up!" Kyo snapped, but she wasn't sure she could get through to him. If the Phantom could take over Slifer –an Egyptian God– and completely alter it, then Sirius wouldn't stand much of a chance. "That Egyptian God card is poisoning your mind! You have to snap out of it!"
He just kept laughing.
This isn't good. She looked down at her hand. I have Secret Village of the Spellcasters, which restricts the playing of spells to people with spellcaster monsters. But playing it now would inflict a thousand points of damage… and from the sound of it, it won't be worth the cost.
I don't know what strategy he's using now, but based on the cards he's used so far, I'm facing a trap deck.
This is going to be tricky. She picked another card from her hand. But he still has to summon monsters to sacrifice, and Curse of the Circle should help delay the summoning of Slifer.
"I place one card facedown." She said, pausing. The other cards are probably traps too. But he doesn't have any monsters on the field, and I need to take the lead every chance I get if there's an Egyptian God around the corner. "Breaker! Attack his life points directly!"
The sword-wielding spellcaster launched forward with a shout, but a fountain of silvery slime burst up from the ground, resolving into a giant ferrous mace.
"I activate Metal Reflect Slime!" Sirius laughed. "It can't attack, but it's the perfect defense."
"Wait, Breaker!" Kyo called him back, and the spellcaster halted in his tracks.
"Hey!" Sirius snapped. "You can't do that!"
"A replay happens; you summoned a monster and he has a new target." Kyo reminded him. "So yes, I can. Breaker, come back."
He returned, settling down in front of her.
"I'll set one more card facedown and end my turn." Kyo said. "Your move, Phantom."