Duel 32 – The Beginning

Maya spent the next hour breathing heavily, her chest feeling as if weighed down by a ton. She lay sprawled on her hotel bed with her prizes, struggling to soak it all in. It was just as much of a shock to her as it was to Matthew when she sicked his very own monsters on him. She couldn't accept it in all at once but had to take it in little increments, like she was a diver returning from the deep, not wanting to suffer from the bends.

It was such a bright afternoon today, a bright blue sky, free of all clouds, so different then the day she faced Matthew for the first time. Fortunately, she forgot to close her door, so Yukio and Jolene could sneak in. When Maya could fully take it all in they all gave each other big hugs. They jumped in celebration, even jumping on the bed like little children. Jolene even brought her special brownies, so they spent the evening watching TV, unwounded and high.

Yukio suggested they go out to celebrate tomorrow, when there was more of the day, so they did. They went on their own little tour of Chicago. They went alongside the shoreline, taking a ferry, enjoying the fresh wind. Yukio said he loved the sea, because it was so wide and limitless, yet its depths were so scary at the same time. To him, it was what playing music was, a journey into the unknown and boundless place called the Sublime.

Yukio asked Maya what writing music was like. Maya agreed to Yukio's metaphor. It was apt, for when she got lost in her mind she also felt carried away within what felt like tides, inexorable pulls. However, she admitted that before Yukio put it that way she never thought of it that way. When she composed she saw sounds and heard visions, but it wasn't as simple as feeling your heart beat with a drum or tasting the wild fruit of a viola. It was more like opening a window into new dimensions, and as you drifted in the wild currents as Yukio put it you somehow saw things you otherwise couldn't see, know things you otherwise would never have known. Maya couldn't explain it, so she abandoned it, but she knew Yukio still understood her.

Next they went to the Shedd Aquarium. It was really fun. They got to see way too many different sea creatures, from the tiny seahorses in tanks no bigger than Maya's new briefcase to the giant fish in the giant cylinder tank, one of the aquarium's best attractions. They even got to wave at a diver who fed the giant fish and did some maintenance. The sea show was also a lot of fun. The dolphins did plenty of nice circus tricks with a couple of balls and rings. They were even lucky to pet one of the sweet animals.

A walk around the city followed next, where they even passed by the Opera Theatre. Maya didn't expect Yukio to be interested in classical music but she underestimated him. She was actually impressed with the insights be provided for the genre. She was even more impressed when he told he was classily trained in his early years. His mother made him play the piano two hours a day, he said. It was terrible, but the knowledge he learned proved invaluable when he picked up the guitar later on.

Maya felt a twinge of disappointment in Jolene. Never in their friendship did she see Jolene have any real passion in anything. How could Jolene or anyone else live like that? She never felt from Jolene anything near the fire that was in Yukio, that force as if it shook and erupted from somewhere deep in the earth, a burning sun that never died, that burned and tormented and deluded every waking hour, but was a delirium no strong person would ever want to be cured from.

It was almost like being possessed, like there was a great beast within you that compelled you with its indomitable force to do her bidding, where you follow the inner voice and compulsively do what it "says", what feels right to it, what led you closer to the light. It was also like a seed, a set of values or aesthetics that could crystalize over time but also change to new inspirations, but was also harder than steel. The seed knew it was made of, what it "wanted", and it would ruthlessly expel anything that didn't fit, and like all seeds, it grew to be a plant, and always grew towards the light.

This was the content of the conversations Maya and Yukio had with each other as they wandered through the city in their long walks. Occasionally Jolene and Yukio would talk together, letting Maya turn towards thinking about how to tame the currents of the ocean, the ferocity of the beast, and the direction the seed grew. So far, no answers.

It was nightfall, so they in a bar, in a table in the corner. Yukio used a fake ID to order three drinks for himself, and then gave two of them to Maya and Jolene.

"So you got of high school, cher, and you too, Yukio my love." She kissed Yukio in the cheek. "What are you guys thinking of doing?"

Yukio shrugged. "I hope maybe I can do some gigs in the underground scene, and maybe release an album. I want to do more than just rock really. I was also looking into modern music and performance art." He sipped his Blue Moon deeply and put it down.

Maya gave a similar nonchalant look. "Since I won a shitload of cash I'll use it to support myself as I go to college. I'll have to be a professional duelist to make it through college. Where I go depends on which college I get accepted to."

"What majors are you going for?" Yukio asked, taking another sip from his beer.

"Urban studies, but I want to evolve my music skills also. Maybe both." Maya took a huge gulp of her own beer. She'd rather not think about it for now.

Jolene had to go to the bathroom and excused herself, leaving Yukio and Maya alone. Maya heart quivered anxiously, because a door opene for her to tell him how she felt, or even more. No. She wouldn't betray Jolene. Did Yukio feel the same thing?

Maya had no idea what to do or say. She didn't know the "rules", the complex dance, or card game if you think about it, where men were persistent and women coy. Coyness in sex was loathsome to her. So she just blurted it out. "Yukio I like you."

He looked at her quizzically, as if she just wanted to mix coke with her beer to see how it tasted. "I'm glad you do, but, you know." He pointed to the bathroom. "Girlfriend."

"Do you like me at all?"

"A bit. You have a strong personality, which combined with your dark looks gives you an allure, but I don't think that's every man's taste. I like it, but I have a girlfriend."

Maya sipped the last of her beer, her cheeks blushing red. "Pretend I never asked."

"Why?"

"You just rejected me and you probably think I'm a terrible friend."

"No, you're just being honest with what you want."

Jolene returned from her bathroom break. With the night in full reign they retired back to the hotel to use an Internet café. "Look at this!" Jolene pointed to an online news article, the Duel Daily News

National Championships Come to a Fiery Close: Zarathustra Defeats PallasAthena

Newcomer Zarathustra brutally defeats old champion PallasAthena for the crown. In the worst sportsmanship imaginable she barrages him with his own monsters even when he already lost and then burned his best cards with a lighter. Zarathustra dueled in team DarkDuelists, a team that focused strongly on antimeta to beat duelists with more money and prestige than them. PallasAthena was the leader of team ShiningCrusaders, a team that strongly supported the current metagame and wanted everyone to do the same.

The two duelists have a long rivalry. Zarathustra was beaten by PallasAthena himself and rejected from entering Duel Academy, so she wanted to take revenge. The ShiningCrusaders strongly believed in the duelists' honor of honesty, bravery, and standing true to yourself. Team DarkDuelists didn't and wanted to be about glory to the self no matter what the cost. In the ensuing squabble DarkDuelists undermined the ShiningCrusaders through underhanded tactics before self-destructing due to infighting.

"My God." Yukio gave a bewildered, wide-eyed look. "It's funny how people like Matthew whine about 'liberal bias' and the 'left-wing-anti-white-feminazi-homosexual agenda' when we have this steaming pile of pigshit."

"We might as well take it as a compliment." Maya navigated to her email and opened it. Her eyes shone with an eager, bright light and a big smile burst on her face. "Guys! Guys! Look I was just accepted to the University of Chicago!"

"YES!" The team gave each other high fives, really high tens, in jubilation.

The team then went to eat some nachos at the hotel bar before going to Yukio and Jolene's room to play card games, which weren't Duel Monsters, and watch some movies. It was their last night so they made it last.

But it wasn't over for Maya. She had one last thing to take care of, one think that bothered the back of her mind since her first duel in the Nationals; JC. She spent the next two days searching everywhere in Chicago for him, worrying where he could be. She hoped he found a place to stay, a job to hold. She didn't want him to end up without a home. Too many of them ended up like that.

On the second day she tracked his cell phone to the downtown area, and by noon she met him face to face, taking a break from his job at a deli.

He glared at her like he was ready to snap her neck. "What?"

"I wanted to see you were ok, strange as it sounds. Do you work here?"

"Yes, I do." He said to Maya, distain filling his voice. "Don't worry about me, you sad little Oreo, lil' Rufus Jones be stayin' off the streets and workin' nine to five. He ain't shootin' it up in gangs and ain't got no baby daddy from outta' wedlock or none of dat bullshit."

"I hate your fucking guts but I still care about you." Maya growled. "If you want me to not give a shit I can leave right now."

"Then go." JC waved his hand at her.

An awkward silence filled the space between them as heavy and thick as the hot air. Maya broke the silence by offering him a smoke, which he grudgingly accepted.

"I take it can't go back to New York even if you wanted to because of Dupre." Maya tactfully said after she lit her own cigarette and took a smoke. "If it makes you any better I can't go back either. I left dad for good. I was tired of his shit. I can't go back."

"So what will you do with your future, hmm?"

"I won the Nationals and was accepted to the University of Chicago. I hope dueling will help me pay tuition. I may need to take other jobs."

"Huh." JC nodded, carefully contemplating the idea like a cow chewing its cud. He took a deep smoke. "Good luck. Don't get killed out there." He smirked. Maya could still hear the distain in his face.

"Touché." Maya took a deep smoke of her own before throwing away her cigarette. "I need to get a dorm room and find another job in case the dueling fails. Goodbye."

She left JC to his uncertain future in order to face her own. The light of her recent triumph burned brightly as a star but it did not illuminate much of the vast cave she was in. She would need her new skills, smarts, and resolve to conquer whatever new monsters lay ahead, no matter how difficult and frightening.