(A/N: No job means more time to write fanfiction. Here comes the second round of the semi-finals)
"Ladies and gentlemen!" The announcer declared. "Are you ready for the second half of the semi-finals of this fine tournament?"
The crowd cheered and roared.
"Then permit me to introduce our next pair of competitors. Hailing all the way from Domino City, debuting in his first pro-circuit tournament after his placements at Duelist Kingdom and Battle City, please welcome the Domino Underdog: Joey Wheeler!"
"Underdog!" Joey cried out in indignation as he made his way to the stage.
"Sounds like the runner up champion doesn't like his nickname, but we love him anyway, right folks?"
The cheering crowd helped Joey gain his composure as he tugged on his denim jacket, making his way to the center of the arena. He could see signs crudely drawn that day. People were chanting "Joey! Joey! Joey!"
Well, whatdya know? Finally some respect around here.
"And facing him will be a truly famous pro-duelist. Please give a warm welcome to the one, the only, heir to the Togami Family: Byakuya Togami!"
Joey had to cover his ears from the screaming and shouting and shouts from girls of "We love you, Byakuya!"
And, just like Joey figured Kaiba would, Byakuya strode into the arena with nothing, but a serious expression on his face. It was like he was too cool for adoring fans.
"Remember, Joseph," Byakuya said as he stepped into the arena proper. "I want nothing, but your best, win or lose."
"Joey Wheeler gives nothin' but his best, rich boy," Joey said, slapping his bicep and curling his arm, fist clenched in Byakuya's general direction. "And I'm gonna take you and your leather pants to the cleaners."
Byakuya gave Joey a condescending look. "I sincerely hope your dueling skills are far better than your insults."
Joey growled.
The two young men shuffled their decks, cameras zoomed in to make sure that both of them weren't cheating with their shuffling habits. Both decks were then loaded and Byakuya and Joey activated their duel disks almost simultaneously, the hologram projectors lighting up with life.
"Four thousand life points!" The announcer declared as Joey and Byakuya's life points were set to 4,000 each. "The format is single elimination. Better hope you draw good opening hands, gentlemen."
"Hmph," Byakuya said with a self-satisfied smirk. "I have nothing, but good opening hands." The ladies cheered from the stands.
"Doesn't matter how good your hand is, I'll kick your butt either way," Joey responded.
The crowd cheered from the increased tensions brought from Joey and Byakuya's banter.
"As per tournament rules, the duelist to go first will be selected at random." The screen above flashed back and forth rapidly between Joey and Byakuya and then it slowed down until Byakuya's image was shown as confetti inside the screen rained down and the portraits of both men were shown to be represented on either side of the big screens, aligned with whichever side any spectator was facing.
"Looks like Byakuya is going first. All right then, Mr. Togami," the announcer said. "Whenever you're ready."
"Hmph, how disappointing. This duel will be over far too soon now that I am the one to go first," Byakuya said, drawing the top card of his deck. "I draw!" He looked at the cards in his hand. "I'll start by summoning Mother Grizzly in attack mode."
A growling, big blue water bear appeared on Byakuya's side of the field. It had 1,400 attack points and 1,000 defense points.
"Then I will set one card face-down onto the field," Byakuya stated. "Thus ending my first turn."
Joey paused. What the heck was going on? Byakuya left himself almost wide open. Was he banking on his trap card to help him? Was he testing the waters? That didn't sound like Byakuya.
"Hurry up," Byakuya stated to Joey, only to smirk. "Or perhaps you'd like to throw in the towel already."
"Yeah, you wish," Joey said. "I draw!" He pulled the top card of his deck to his hand. "I summon Gearfried the Iron Knight, in attack mode!" The iron clad knight of Joey's stormed the field. "Next, I'm settin' two cards face-down onto the field." The face-down holograms appeared behind Gearfried. "And now," Joey said, rearing a fist back and punching it forward, "Gearfried, carve up that oversized furball!"
Gearfried sprang to action and cut down Mother Grizzly to size. The monster was destroyed and Byakuya lost 400 life points, bringing him down to 3,600.
"Mother Grizzly's effect activates," Byakuya said. "When she's destroyed, I can summon any monster directly from my deck as long as it's a water attribute monster with 1,500 attack points or less in attack position. And I choose a second Mother Grizzly." A replacement blue bear was quickly summoned to Byakuya's side of the field.
What's four-eyes up to? Joey thought. I know Togami's got tons of powerful monarchs, so why isn't one on the field already. Did he change his strategy for this tournament? Or does he have something else in mind? Joey bit his thumb nail. Urrrgh, thinkin' about it s'not gonna get me anywhere. "I end my turn," Joey said apprehensively.
"Of course you do," Byakuya said. "I draw." He drew the top card of his deck to his hand. "And next, by sacrificing Mother Grizzly, I summon to the field Mobius the Frost Monarch!"
Here we go, Joey thought.
An icy clad warrior-like monster with 2,400 attack and 1,000 defense points stormed onto the field.
"And when Mobius is summoned by sacrificing a monster, I can target up to two spell and trap cards on your side of the field, and destroy them."
"Aw, no!" Joey exclaimed.
"Farewell," Byakuya stated as Mobius blasted a gale force of icy wind and blew up Joey's face-down cards.
"Now you are wide open for an attack from my monster, and I shall attack. Mobius, destroy Joseph Wheeler's Gearfried with Diamond Dust Destruction!"
Mobius blasted Joey's monster with a gale of frost formed from its arms and made Gearfried suffer the worst frostbite it had ever endured, turning turquoise as it eventually took a knee and then exploded into shards of light. Joey's life points then trickled down to 3,400, putting Byakuya in the lead.
"Next, I'm setting one more card face-down," Byakuya said, "ending my turn."
"My turn then," Joey said. "I draw." He pulled the top card of his deck to his hand. Man, Togami totally blindsided me. He completely set me up. Now I've got an empty field and he's got two cards face-down. Urgh, come on. Don't panic. You're better than dis, Joey. Joey looked at the remaining four cards in his hand. This'll do.
"I activate the special ability of my Thunder King, the Lightning Strike Kaiju, this lets me sacrifice one of your monsters in order to put it on your side of the battlefield."
Byakuya's Mobius was tribute and Thunder King was put in its place, giving Byakuya a gigantic thunder monster with 3,300 attack points.
"If your intention is to lose faster Joey, you may use my tie as a noose," Byakuya chuckled.
"Shaddup, I ain't done yet," Joey said. "Cause I'm activating this magic card: Energy Drain! This not only lets me draw a card, but it lets me put the attack points of one of the monsters on your side of the field ta zero!"
Joey drew a card from his deck, bringing him back up to three cards in his hand. "And next, I'm summoning my Hayabusa Knight, in attack mode!" Joey declared. A bird knight appeared on Joey's side of the field with 1,000 attack and 1,000 defense points. "And now, I'm gonna have him attack your useless Thunder King. Take 'em down, Hayabusa Knight!"
Joey's monster cut down the weakened Thunder King and brought Byakuya down to 2,600 life points.
"And now for the fun part, Hayabusa Knight can attack twice in the same Battle, and you look to me like you're wide open, Togami! Hayabusa Knight, attack!"
"Hmph, I don't think so," Byakuya stated. "I reveal my face-down card, The First Monarch!" A shadowy being sitting on a throne emerged from the artwork of Byakuya's trap card. Joey's Hayabusa's Knight had its sword blocked by the sudden appearance of Byakuya's monster. Its beefy 2,400 defense points was enough to block off Hayabusa Knight's 1,000 attack, forcing Joey to lose 1,400 points, bringing him down to 2,000, once again lower than Byakuya's.
"And that's not all, as your battle phase for this turn ends, I activate my other trap card. I'm sure you remember it well: Escalation of the Monarchs!"
"Aw, no," Joey gulped. He remembered that card. It gave him a real headache in Battle City.
"Now, The First Monarch's special ability, as a trap monster, allows him to become any attribute of monster I want and he can count as two tributes for a monster of that attribute. So I select dark and then summon out Caius, the Mega Monarch!"
A truly fiendish creature with smoke emitting from its joints, devil horns adorned atop its head, piercing red eyes and big black wings appeared on Byakuya's side of the field. It had 2,800 attack points and 1,000 defense points.
"And it only gets worse for you," Byakuya stated. "For now, Caius' effect activates. I can target any card you have on your side of the field and remove it from the duel entirely. As a result, you lose 1,000 life points."
"You gotta be kidding me!" Joey exclaimed.
He watched as Caius merely snapped its fingers and a shadowy flame consumed Hayabusa Knight, removing it from the duel entirely, the monster letting out its Aven cry as it disappeared. Joey's life points then fell to his last 1,000 points.
"Pitiful. Truly pitiful Joseph Wheeler. I came to this tournament expecting a truly awe-inspiring rematch from you, but it seems I have long since surpassed you. Or perhaps I misjudged you and you were never good to start with."
Joey smirked. "Or maybe I've just been saving another trick. Go, Monster Reborn!" Joey flipped up the iconic spell card. He whirled his arm like a roulette wheel. "And ladies and gentlemen, let's give a big loud return to my buddy Thunderking the Lightning Strike Kaiju!"
The massive Kaiju returned to Joey's side of the battlefield with its massive 3,300 attack points, stronger than any Monarch printed in Duel Monsters. All three heads roared triumphantly and the crowd roared with them.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Joey Wheeler has turned his greatest setback into his greatest opportunity. He now holds one of the most powerful cards in Duel Monsters to fight back against Byakuya's army of Monarchs!"
Byakuya smirked. "Now that is the Joseph Wheeler that I remember dueling. Of course, your little maneuver there has cost you greatly. Your shortsightedness will be your downfall."
"Whatdya mean?" Joey asked.
"You may have a very powerful monster on your side of the field," Byakuya pointed out. "But your combat for the turn is already over. Just in time," Byakuya said, going for the top card of his deck, "For my counterattack." He drew to now holding three cards in his hand. "And it's time to say farewell to your kaiju. I activate the power of my field spell: Domain of the True Monarchs!"
The battlefield shook as suddenly a holographic cathedral, devoid of all but a single gray light at the top. The hologram swallowed up both sides of the battlefield.
"What the heck's going on?" Joey asked.
A gigantic throne of stone erected under Byakuya as he stood atop the hard-light hologram. Wind from the air conditioning unit blew at him, giving him a menacing presence with how high he was looking down on Joey both literally and figuratively.
"This is a power and position that people like you, of the ninety-nine percent, could never hope to stand atop. The power of the chosen, the privileged, is three-fold. First, as long as this field spell remains in play, you cannot fuse any monsters together."
"Say what?" Joey gasped. That was bad.
"Second, once per turn, any of my level 8 monarchs in my hand, can be reduced to level 6, meaning I could summon any monster to cast them, or use a card like cost down to summon them at no detriment to my field."
"And finally," Byakuya stated as he raised a finger to the ceiling. Caius, simultaneously, reared back his arm, "Any monster of mine that attacks one of yours, gains an 800-point boost!"
"Nyeeeeeeh!" Joey screamed, panicking. This was not good.
"Caius! Attack! Rid the field of that eyesore of a kaiju! Wipe it out with Mega Shadow Fist Strike!"
Caius' fist became coated in shadow as its attack value skyrocketed to 3,500, just enough to wipe out Joey's kaiju.
With a powerful punch, and an echoing burst of explosive energy, Thunder King squealed like a reptile crossed with a chicken and fell to the ground, vanishing.
"No! No! No!" Joey exclaimed as his life points fell to a mere 800.
"You've put up a valiant fight, Joey. Your skill has gotten you this far." He pointed his finger forcefully at Joey. "Only one thing can save you now. Prove to me that you are as good as you claim. Show me the power of the Heart of the Cards."
Joey's eyes wavered. I get it. Byakuya's backin' me into a corner on purpose. He knows I'm not gonna beat him just straight up. He knows I gotta pull out all the stocks. That's why he's standin' up there lookin' down on me. He wants me to show him what I'm made of. Well, it's workin'. Joey thought, tugging at the top card of his deck. I'll show him what the Heart of the Cards can do. "Let's go!"
Putting his faith in his deck, Joey drew the top card of his deck with gusto. And, like a mini-miracle, he pulled the exact card he needed to turn this duel back to his favor.
"I activate Sword and Shield!" Joey declared, showing Byakuya the card in his hand. "This magic card will let me flip the attack and defense of every monster on the field. And thanks to you playin' enough of 'em, I know that every Monarch has exactly 1,000 defense points.
Byakuya's eyes flinched, but he also cracked a faint smirk. Yes, Joey had done exactly as he predicted. When backed into a corner, he drew to win, just as Byakuya knew he would.
Caius now only had 1,000 attack points and 2,800 defense points and no way to defend itself. Byakuya had two cards in his hand and hadn't the ability to use either of them last turn.
"And now, I summon Goblin Attack Force!" Joey shouted, putting the mighty 2,300 attack point four-star monster on the battlefield.
Byakuya's eyes shook even more. He not only weakened my monster, but he played a monster of his own that would ensure that he would not suffer any repercussions from my strategy. Even if I had a monster to swap out my weakened Caius, he could've simply played his monster in defense mode.
"Goblin Attack Force, attack!" Joey declared.
Joey's monster, or rather the group of monsters, darted forward and began wailing on Byakuya's Monarch in a comedic dust cloud until it had been completely beaten down and sent to the graveyard, causing Byakuya to lose 1,300 life points, effectively cutting his life total in half. The score was evened up once again with Byakuya having 1,300 life points to Joey's 800.
The members of Goblin Attack Force were now fast asleep, snoozing with 0 defense points.
Byakuya looked at his hand. Both of my cards were spell cards. Joseph's deck is littered with weak 4-star monsters. All he had to do was draw one, and there's a rather uncomfortably high chance that it will be a monster that can wipe out the rest of my life points with a direct attack. A flash of insight went through Byakuya's glasses. In that case, I have no choice. Byakuya's hands dove at his deck, practically in slow motion. I must draw a monster of my own from my deck and turn this duel back into my favor. For I am Byakuya Togami!
Byakuya pulled the top card off the top of his deck and quickly looked at it. This is exactly what I need!
"I activate the power of my field spell! This will reduce the level of the monster I've just drawn in my hand from eight to six."
"Six? You need a monster to summon a monster with six level stars."
"You are correct," Byakuya said, "Which is why I play this spell card!" He said, throwing the spell card into the slot. "Restoration of the Monarchs! Now, I can bring back any Monarch monster in my graveyard back to the field, as long as I negate its special abilities by doing so!"
The shining artwork of Byakuya's equip-spell card returned Byakuya's Mobius the Frost Monarch to his field. The monster was grayed out in defense position due to having its abilities negated.
"And now, I sacrifice Mobius in order to play a card you may remember from our previous duel. Behold, Thestalos, the Mega Monarch!"
The fiery tyrant emerged clad in his red armor with a wicked 2,800 attack points.
Joey flinched, crossing his arms over his body in an X-pattern.
"Relax," Byakuya said, talking astutely, two fingers pressed to the rim of his glasses. "You have no cards in your hand and I didn't sacrifice a fire monster, so your life points are safe for now." How odd, he thought. I wanted to draw a game-ending card like Ehther, or Zaborg, but instead I drew Thestalos. Is my mastery of the Heart of the Cards incomplete, or did I simply draw that because I am who I am.
"Yo, rich boy! You attacking or what?" Joey asked him.
A hypothesis to test later. I must attend to the task at hand. He pointed at sleeping goblins. "Thestalos, annihilate them. Monarch Pyroclasm."
Thestalos held one arm out at its side and fire ignited in a wave from its palm, causing all of Joey's goblins to die screaming. Thank god they were in defense mode.
"What will you do now, Joey?" Byakuya asked. "Can you rely on the Heart of the Cards a second time to help you turn this duel around twice in a row?"
"You bet I can!" Joey said, growling and gritting his teeth in determination. "My little sister Serenity's watching me be a big star on live television. And I ain't gonna let her down! No matter how many walls you put in my way, Togami, I'm gonna knock 'em down! Set up the pins," Joey said, going for the top card of his deck, "And I'll keep getting strikes!"
Joey's hand flew out and away from his deck like lightning, the top card with it. Joey looked at the card in his hand. Yup, this would work. "I activate Roll of Fate!" Joey exclaimed. "This magic card lets me roll a die, then I get to draw as many cards as the number I roll, long as I then put that many cards in my graveyard."
"So, you pull for a game-changing win and your fateful draw has you leaving this duel up to chance. If you roll a one, you're no better off than when you started," Byakuya pointed out.
"I like those odds!" Joey declared. "Go Roll of Fate!" The dice tumbled out of the card artwork and bounced on the stadium floor.
Byakuya started to visibly sweat. Even Joseph did not pull out a decisive victory in just one card. Not that I expected him to. But even so, what does that mean for my thesis? If both of us can use the Heart of the Cards, what separates my use of it from his? What decides a victor? It can't be skill. I am superior. I have to be. I am Byakuya Togami.
The die came to a halt, revealing a number two. Not a full hand of six that could've really helped Joey out, but hey that was basically a Pot of Greed. Who could complain?
Joey drew the top two cards of his deck: two trap cards. Not the best hand, but it would have to do to save his skin. He then pulled the top two cards of his deck and sent them to the graveyard. Byakuya, even from his distance, could see the top of the two cards being Joey's precious Red-Eyes Black Dragon. For a moment, he wondered if that was somehow significant, and was such a turn of events bad luck or good luck?
When Joseph and I dueled, he didn't have his Red-Eyes Black Dragon. He'd lost it at the beginning of the tournament, but now he has it back.
"Yo! Togami!" Joey's shout jarred Byakuya from his thoughts. "You paying attention?"
Byakuya looked at the field, in the time he was lost in thought, Joey had placed the two cards he'd drawn face-down on the field in the spell/trap zone.
No monsters? What's he up to?
"Yes, I understand, Joseph. It's my move. I draw!"
Byakuya pulled the top card of his deck to his hand. Now he'd drawn Ehther. He smiled. "Heh. Hahahahahahahahahaha!"
"Uhhh, you okay?" Joey asked.
"Your effort is just about pointless now," Byakuya stated, glaring down at Joey. "A shame, I expected more from you, but this duel is over. I activate the power of my field spell!" Byakuya then raised the card in his hand to the ceiling. "This will reduce the level of the monster in my hand from 8 to 6. And now, I sacrifice Thestalos to summon a Monarch that will seal your fate! Behold! Ehther the Heavenly Monarch!" The throne Byakuya was standing on shimmered with a bright white light as a being suddenly manifested upon it clad in divine silver and gold armor. It carried a magnificent scepter with its left hand and stood on the battlefield with 2,800 attack points and 1,000 defense points.
"Okay, so you swapped out your monster for a fresh coat of paint. What's the big deal?" Joey asked.
"The big deal," Byakuya explained, "Is Ehther's special ability. When its summoned, I can send two cards from my deck that are spell or trap cards with Monarch in their name, that have different names, and then I can summon any 6-star Monarch monster directly from my deck to the field!"
"Nygaaaaah!" Joey exclaimed, recoiling and freezing in an awkward kung-fu pose. "Two monsters?!"
"That's right! Now, behold the key to your demise! I summon Granmarg, the Rock Monarch!" A golden armored monarch with gorilla-like fists emerged on the battlefield. "You remember Granmarg, don't you? I used your First of the Dragons as an offering to summon it. And now, he will be your demise. Granmarg, destroy Joey's face-down card on the left, my left!"
Joey smirked. "You just had to pick that one, didn't ya?"
"Excuse me?"
"Go, face-down card!" Joey exclaimed. "Skull Dice!"
In response to Granmarg's effect, Joey flipped his card face-up. Granmarg's fist bounced off the face-up card.
"And since Granmarg's effect only works on face-down cards, now that my card's flipped face-up, your effect is negated and my card takes effect!"
"So you roll a six-sided die and divide the power of my monsters equal to the result rolled on the die. I don't see how that's going to help you survive. Even if you were to roll a six, the combined power of my monsters would still be enough to obliterate your remaining life points."
"Maybe, let's see," Joey said.
I'm not going to dignify his idiocy with a response. Unlike him, I can do math.
After a little bit of waiting, Joey's die finished rolling and landed face-up on 4.
"Awesome, your monsters' attack points are now a fourth of their original values!" Joey exclaimed, giving Byakuya thumb's down.
Ehther's attack power fell from 2,800 to 700 and Granmarg now had only 600 points.
"Unimportant," Byakuya said. Combined they have enough attack power to wipe out all of your life points. Ehther, attack! And thanks to the power of my field spell, it will only take one blow to completely wipe you out!"
As Ehther charged up its staff blast, its attack power rose from 700 to 1,500.
"It's over, Joey Wheeler."
"You're right, it is over," Joey smirked. "For you! I activate my second trap card!"
He what?! Byakuya started to panic. What in the world could Joseph possibly have at this point? I destroyed Magical Arm Chain with Mobius on my second turn along with Scapegoat. I saw what he sent to the graveyard. My victory is assured. My victory is—
Byakuya was struck speechless and thoughtless when Joey's trap card was flipped face-up revealing a trap card that Byakuya had no idea Joey even had. It was a trap card showing the artwork of a Red-Eyes on a background filled with light.
"I activate Red-Eyes Spirit!" Joey declared. "This trap card allows me to bring Red-Eyes Black Dragon from my graveyard straight to the battlefield at no extra charge!"
"And you sent Red-Eyes there yourself with Roll of Fate!" Byakuya exclaimed, face wide with astonishment. How?! How is possible?! He replayed the steps taken for Joey to reach this point vividly in his head. Ridiculous! He would've had to have correctly predict too many unknown variables. Drawing Red-Eyes Spirit with the same spell card that sends Red-Eyes Black Dragon to the graveyard! Could…could the Heart of the Cards have been an influence? No! That would overturn everything I know about it until now! It should be impossible to influence your deck to that extent! That's insane!
"Oh, Togami," Joey said in a smug sing-song attitude. "You should quit spacing out cause this is your fist time seeing my favorite monster in all its glory. Let's go, Red-Eyes Black Dragon!"
Byakuya gained his composure and adjusted his tie just in time for Joey's jet-black dragon to take to the field with its impressive 2,400 attack points.
"You see it here, folks! Joey Wheeler has just played his iconic monster: Red-Eyes Black Dragon!"
"Red-Eyes! Red-Eyes! Red-Eyes!" The crowd chanted.
"Red-Eyes, take out Ehther with your signature move. Inferno Fire Blast!"
Red-Eyes whipped its head back and forth as it charged up a glowing, black bolt covered fireball which it then launched from its mouth at the weakened Ehther.
Byakuya covered his perfectly combed hair with his arm and turned his head to the side as dust and holographic shards blew in his face, his monster utterly blasted to bits. As he swung his arm down and turned back to face Joey, his life points dropped from 1,300 to only 400, putting Joey in the lead.
Byakuya took a deep breath and, though rattled, he simply adjusted his glasses and held his duel disk at the center of his chest. "It…it's fine. At the end of my turn, Granmarg's attack power returns to normal and his power is equal to Red-Eyes," Byakuya stated.
Byakuya's Granmarg let out an echoing growl from within its armor as it faced down Red-Eyes and its high-pitched roar, each sporting 2,400 attack points.
"So, what you're saying is, all I gotta do is draw a monster," Joey replied with a calm smirk.
"Excuse me?"
"Your Monarch field spell only works on your turn, and if the card in your hand was a Monarch monster, you woulda played it a long time ago," Joey said. "I'm not usually good at dis deductive reasoning stuff, but even I can tell that much."
Byakuya sighed. "You aren't wrong, no."
"Then dat means any monster will do. Red-Eyes and Granmarg can just blow each other up and any monster I can draw, long as I can play it, can win da duel!"
"You'd sacrifice Red-Eyes to win?"
"Well, I mean, sure, I love my Red-Eyes, but I'd be an idiot not to see that I'm about to win," Joey said. "Here goes, I draw!" He pulled the top card of his deck. "Well, lookie dat." He held up his very niche card Dragon Nails. "Looks like I don't need to sacrifice my Red-Eyes after all."
His bond to his monster… The world was on mute to Byakuya as Joey played Dragon Nails. I see. He looked at Granmarg. I have a bond to my deck, but they've always been tools to me. Byakuya actually smiled as Red-Eyes' Inferno Fire Blast rocketed towards Granmarg, and not in a pompous way either. It seems the road to perfecting the Heart of the Cards is longer than I thought.
"GRAAAAAAAAGH!" Byakuya screamed as he was hit by the remnant of Joey's Inferno Fire Blast and it knocked him onto his back, head drooping down onto the highest stair of the small staircase at the back of the center arena. "Ugggggh," He groaned.
A buzzer sounded as the announcer shouted, "UNBELIEVABLE! Against all odds against the renown duelist, Joey Wheeler pulls out another win! Is this the birth of a brand new champion? From Duelist Kingdom, to Battle City and now our very own Canadian Nationals, Joey Wheeler is unstoppable!"
"Wheeler! Wheeler! Wheeler!"
Byakuya expected Joey to be soaking in the fame, but instead he heard. "Yo, Togami."
Byakuya craned his head up to see Joey reaching down for him. Ordinarily he'd swat the hand away of any peasant thinking he needed to be pitied or looked down upon, but Joey, to him, was no ordinary peasant. The very fact made him want to hurl, but Byakuya knew it was only sporting to take Joey's hand. It was greasy and uncomfortable, but it only lasted a short while. And, upon standing, Byakuya immediately adjusted his suit jacket.
"You all right?" Joey asked him.
"I'm fine," Byakuya said, looking up at Joey's bust shot on the monitor with a big WINNER at elbow level. "I've already learned quite a bit more about the Heart of the Cards and what I'm missing," Byakuya said. He chuckled. "I got so competitive, I forgot the real reason I was here for a moment, and my true intentions with this tournament." He looked at Joey with an analytical gaze. "I never expected to beat you today. You're skill with the Heart of the Cards is superior to my own."
"Togami, you got it all wrong. The Heart of the Cards isn't somethin' you can quantify. It's not a skill. It's a feeling. It's got heart and emotion. It's about trusting your deck and the bonds to your cards."
"Indeed," Byakuya chuckled, smiling, though this time it was pompous. "I know what you're going to say. I have a lot of powerful monsters, but I don't have a strong bond with any of them."
"Yeah…wait, how'd you know that?"
"I'm a fast learner," Byakuya said, staring straight ahead at the wall, arms folded, not facing Joey directly. He then turned his head towards Joey. "Don't you dare lose this tournament. My comprehension of the Heart of the Cards is imperfect. If you don't win, I won't ever be able to comprehend it properly." Byakuya chuckled. "No. That's incorrect, isn't it?" He fully turned to face Joey. "It's more accurate to say, that since you believe so much in your cards and the bonds to them, that you cannot lose. Isn't that right?"
"Yeah, see?" Joey asked, giving Byakuya a playful smack on the shoulder. "You got it!"
Byakuya glared at Joey. "Please refrain from touching me. Your hands are covered in sweat and dry cleaning is expensive." Byakuya then turned to walk away. "I'll be watching your duel with Celeste very closely. Do not disappoint me."
"You know I'm not doing this for you," Joey said.
Byakuya glanced back over his shoulder already in the shadow of the entrance.
"I told you, remember? My little sister is watching," Joey said. "I gotta make her proud of me. If I win dis tournament, all the money's going straight to her college fund I started for her."
Byakuya looked at Joey in surprise. He was certainly a strange individual. A bond to a sibling. The very thought tugged at a heart string Byakuya thought he'd long since ripped out and cut himself. He turned his back on Joey. "Is it nice…having a sibling, I mean?"
"It's the best thing in the world. My little sister means everything to me," Joey said.
"I see," Byakuya responded, casting his head to one side, two fingers against the rim of his glasses.
"Togami?"
But Byakuya didn't say anything back to Joey. He simply walked away. He walked all the way out of the convention center and took out his cell phone, finding a number on his phone belonging to none of his business partners, parents, or servants. Byakuya had sworn when he became the heir that he would never dial this number or the 13 others like it, but he hit the send call button anyway and put the phone to his ear. "Hi, Shinobu. Yes, it has been a while since we ever talked. What are you doing these days?" Byakuya listened to the person on the other end. "Journalism in the Netherlands. I see. Tell me more."
Back inside the convention center, Celeste was busy shuffling her deck nervously as she finished her third cup of tea. It was simply boring waiting for news about the duel. For the sake of fairness, she wasn't allowed anywhere near the main hall or anywhere where she could hear it.
How long has it been since I was this bored for this long of a time? She wondered.
However, her boredom was cut short by the door being pushed open and one Joey Wheeler striding into the room. "Yo, Frenchy!"
"Oh, Joey, you made it!" She put down her tea cup and smiled sweetly. "As I knew you would. I hope Byakuya wasn't too much trouble."
"Heh, it was pretty back and forth. I'm sure your duel with Mai was much the same."
Celeste chuckled. "Ahahaha, that it was. So, does the tournament staff want to speak with us?"
"Nah, they said we get an hour to arrange our decks, get something to eat, that kinda thing."
"I see," Celeste said. "Then I have just enough time for a proper shower."
"Nyeh?"
"Oh, Joey, I knew you would win, so I already took time to modify my deck to beat you."
"You…you did. I…I mean, of course you did!" Joey exclaimed, trying to show as much confidence in himself that Celeste had. He barely noticed her get all the way parallel to him.
"Don't puff out your chest like that, it makes you look positively brutish."
"Hey!"
Celeste walked past him and out into the hall. Joey followed and the two eventually found themselves in the lobby. Celeste stopped. Joey stopped behind her. "Are you following me?" she asked.
"No, food court's that way," Joey said. "Why'd you stop?"
"I said. I thought you were following me. I wanted you to cut it out."
"Well, I'm not."
"Well good, I'm…glad we cleared that up." Celeste said and then gave a fake cough elegantly into her fist. She then turned around to face Joey and gazed up at him. So long…so long I have waited for this moment and now…why can't I think of anything to say to him? This silence is maddening.
"Look, I don't wanna be rude and walk around ya. You got something to say?" Joey asked her, hands in his pockets.
Celeste internally twitched. D-rank, she thought angrily. D plus rank at best! She daintily took one big step to the side and smiled so wide it was clearly sarcastic as she said. "Oh my prince, your food court awaits."
Joey laughed in a mocking fashion and walked past her. He didn't go very far and the two now stood back to back, though several paces separated them.
Words failed them for the moment, and then, Joey just kept walking.
An hour went by faster than Joey or Celeste expected. They were called to the main arena, both entering at the same time.
While words had failed them an hour ago, they all started spilling out as the two stood across from each other. "Frenchy, if I get to face anyone in the finals, I'm glad it's you."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, I mean, it coulda been either you or Mai, cause I know that you'd both make me work really hard for a victory. I gotta do this, for my little sister. I don't want her ta worry about me. I want her to see that I can do this. And all that money I'm going to add to her college fund."
"Oh, right. I remember you telling me about that."
"I already beat Togami. And now," Joey said, giving Celeste a serious stare, "I'm going to beat you."
Celeste chuckled. "So you think."
"Tell me, Frenchy, what brought you all the way to Canada?"
Celeste played with a lock of her hair. "Well it certainly wasn't to duel you. That's for sure. I didn't even know you were competing until I saw you in the hotel the other day. I wanted to try dueling in bigger, more professional tournaments like Battle City. If you could give me a thrill, who's to say there weren't others like you out there. The well of the underground was drying up in competition."
"Okay, so why Canada?"
"Fewer background restrictions," Celeste stated.
There was a slight pause before Joey asked. "That…that's it?"
"I never said it was a long explanation. That's my answer. Got a problem with that?"
"No…I…I guess not."
"Good," Celeste stated sharply. There was another awkward pause. "Honestly though, I'm glad I ran into you. I've thought about it a lot, our duel. You said this duel was for your little sister. Well this duel," Celeste said, covering her mouth with her fist, "This duel is for me. Ever since this tournament started, I could only think about one thing: dueling you again. I'm not challenged often enough, Joey. And I know, that in a grandiose tournament like this, with prize money, and your sister's faith in you on the line, you'll give this duel your all."
"So…what, the prize money doesn't interest you?"
"Joey, I have enough money in my bank account to more than double what you won at Duelist Kingdom. I duel for one reason and one reason only: the thrill. The heart pounding sensation of not knowing the next turn after the last. Everything decided by luck and skill combined. Money's nice, but I can make easy money with my talents anywhere, but dueling…" she chuckled. "Dueling is the ultimate gamble. No matter what you do, you can never guarantee the outcome. As the old, tired cliché saying goes, it takes two to tango. You could gamble at solitaire. You could gamble at Freecell, you could gamble at poker, but the cards are always the same and so are the rules. But in dueling, the cards decide the rules, and the cards themselves are never the same. It's never boring, not to me.
"You may not understand it, how I feel. The sound of my heart in my ears, the rush of blood to my feet when I feel backed into a corner. It's…exhilarating. But for the longest time I could never find an opponent that could make me feel that way. Then you came along." Celeste fiddled with her finger brace, glancing to one side, "In my duels with you and Yugi, I admit I thought my heart was going to burst out of my chest. With Yugi, it's to be expected, but with you…you're just…so strange. You look like nothing, act like nothing, you are completely unremarkable, and yet…you can stir such feelings within me. And I must. Have. More. So if you even dare to make this duel boring. I will skin you alive and feed you to my cat."
Joey laughed, but Celeste's stare was serious. He gulped. "Well, this duel ain't gonna be boring. You know why? Cause I'm dueling you and you're a great duelist. And I know you can give me a great duel too."
Celeste smiled. "Then it appears the time for words is over. These people came here to see a duel." She closed her eyes and widened her lips to give Joey her signature sweet smile. "Why don't we give them what they all came here to see?"
"I hear that," Joey said.
"Then let's do this."
The two shuffled their cards and loaded their decks. The lights were all focused on them as they activated their duel disks. Life points were set to 4,000. The stage was set. The curtain was up. And as the randomizer to pick who would go first shifted back and forth between Joey and Celeste's images, the final duel of the Canadian Nationals tournament was about to begin.
(A/N: Next time on Dueling Trigger finger, the Canadian Nationals finale. Now I know I'm going to get a lot of comments about this outright so let me just answer this in the only way I know how: NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! Danganronpa: Togami is not and will not be canon to this story. For those of you that recognized Shinobu when Byakuya was on the phone, that's all it was for: recognition. It's that little extra special oomph to make it clear that he called up one of his siblings who he tells Makoto in canon that he rolled over like oats and never bothered to glance back at.
I thought, with how the scene was going, it would be touching to show that Joey sort of kind of got to Byakuya on an emotional level. I know Byakuya says he has no regrets and that he's proud to have defeated all of his siblings, but when you stop and think about it, he never really had the choice to get to know them as siblings or share a special emotional bond with them as siblings. And as the heir to the Togami family that door has been closed forever. I thought it might be amusing to show that Byakuya does have a heart somewhere under that suit jacket, shirt and tie, no matter how microscopically sized it may be. We know this from canon's 4th case where he tries to hide that Sakura's sacrifice really got to him.
Additionally, DRT doesn't even really make sense since only one character should ever have the surname Togami in Byakuya's generation as per his FTEs and so if we ever do see Shinobu—and as of right now I have no plans to ever bring her up again—it'll be a reference in given name only…with a side of her interests as a journalist. I'm not even making her an ultimate so everyone calm down before you write angry comments.
But anyway, next duel, ooooooh boy, Joey Vs Celeste. A rematch that, 70 chapters ago, I never thought would even be a thing this soon, but (shrug) here we are. Place your bets folks. Who will win this duel? Will it be the Ultimate Underdog, Joey Wheeler? Or the Red-Eyed Gambler, Celestia Ludenburg? [Note: For those of you wondering, the reason Joey isn't called the Ultimate Underdog in the fanfic is because I don't want to give the wrong impression that he's a potential ultimate. I mean WTF kind of talent is underdog. Not to mention, if he was called it, it's removing the impact of the word within the fanfic itself]. …I'm blathering.
So, from all of me, to all of you, let your hearts stay human and your wrath draconic. Ja ne!)