(A/N: Welcome back to the show, everyone. We are back with some Kaiba Tournament action. I kinda struggled to get through this one, but I also didn't want you guys waiting weeks and weeks again for an update so…yeah. Hopefully this duel is serviceable. Enjoy).
Looking at her hand, Celeste nodded to herself and began her first turn. "I'll start by playing one monster card face-down," Celeste said and then looked at the other five cards and nodded. "That ends my turn."
"Hey! You think you can taunt me?" Rex shouted, saliva spewing from his mouth.
"What? I have a bad hand," Celeste said, chuckling. "All my bravado and you might be able to wipe me out," she said and sniffed forcibly.
"There she goes again," Yugi stated. Yami could only nod in agreement.
"Grrrrrrr, I'll show you what happens to people who underestimate me. I'm gonna do to you what the Cretaceous period did to the dinosaurs and make you go extinct! I draw!"
Rex drew the top card of his deck and placed it into his hand. "I'm summoning Ancient Lizard Warrior in attack position!"
A green, scaly reptile with 1,400 attack points and 1,100 defense points appeared on Rex's side of the field.
"And then I'm activating the magic card Ultra Evolution Pill, sacrificing my Ancient Lizard to bring out a real tyrant! Say hello to Black Tyranno!" Rex shouted as a big, nasty, long tongued t-rex appeared. It had a massive 2,600 attack points and 1,800 defense points. "And with this card, I'm gonna take a big bite out of your life points!"
"Um, aren't you forgetting something?" Celeste asked, pointing to her face-down monster.
"Sorry, Celeste, but when my opponent only controls monsters face-down in defense position, Black Tyranno can attack directly."
Celeste actually looked off-guard. Oh dear. This will hurt.
"Black Tyranno, attack Celeste directly!" Rex shouted as his monster charged towards Celeste and picked her up with its strong holographic jaws before spitting her out onto her backside. Celeste hit the ground on her rear and elbows, knees tapping inwards towards each other as her life points plummeted down to 1,400.
"How's that Celestia Ludenburg?" Rex shouted. "You ready to take things seriously?"
Celeste stood up and fanned out her skirt, brushing the dust off it. "Quite. But I was already taking things seriously," she said, paying careful attention to make sure her clothing would not be stained in the wash and it was just a fine layer of dust coating her outfit.
"But," Celeste said, fist closed in front of her mouth. "In light of your assault, I have decided to go all out. Oh and you will be paying for my dry cleaning when you lose."
"You mean if I lose," Rex said, smirking. "I've got a huge lead and it's only my first turn, which I'm ending."
"No, Rex. When," Celeste corrected. "I draw," she said and pulled the top card of her deck to her hand. "I activate my Field Spell, Vampire Kingdom!"
A massive castle erected itself behind Celeste.
"Would you believe me if I told you this is less than half the size of the castle I want for myself one day."
"Knowing you? Yeah. I'd believe that," Rex said.
There was a notable pause before Celeste spoke. "Wow. You are dull-witted. So sincere. Well then, I'll just take fun out of your high pitched screams when you're staring down the fangs of defeat. With Vampire Kingdom now in play I sacrifice my face-down Vampire Familiar in order to summon Vampire Scarlet Scourge!" Celeste declared. From a window in the castle, a flurry of bats flew out and transformed into a humanoid figure kneeling on the ground. Celeste's monster stood up in its fashionable black cloak and white, ruffled clothes, carrying a red-jeweled scepter. It had 2,200 attack points and 2,200 defense points.
"Big deal, my monster has several hundred more attack points!" Rex shouted.
Celeste sighed. "I do so get tired of hearing that outburst," she said, twirling her finger around a ringlet of her hair. "I'm sending one vampire monster from my hand to the graveyard to put Vampire Familiar back in attack position."
"Huh?" Rex uttered, confused. He was even more confused when Celeste put the little, black, bat-like shadow back on the field in attack position, its measly 500 attack points on full display.
"And next, I'm paying 500 life points." Her life points dwindled to only 900
"T-to do what?" Rex asked.
"To put any vampire monster in my deck straight into my hand, of course," Celeste said, pulling the card from her deck and swiftly shuffling her deck with all the finesse of a rich and noble stage magician.
Rex started cracking up. "Oh, I get it! You've lost it! You don't want to admit that I've already beaten you so you're gonna suicide yourself to death!"
"Oh, is that what you think?" Celeste asked. "My, my, Rex, how did you make it this far into the tournament?" she added sarcastically. "Well, no time like the present to show off my strategy. Vampire Scarlet Scourge, go ahead and attack."
Celeste's monster flashed a deceptive smirk as it darted towards Black Tyranno. Rex watched as its attack points suddenly shot up to 2,700.
"Wait, what?"
"Vampire Kingdom increases the attack points of zombie-type monsters during battle only. And since my monster is now stronger than yours, well, you can pretty much guess what's going to happen next."
Vampire Scarlet Scourge let loose a scarlet flash of light from its cane and then dispersed into a horde of bats, striking Black Tyranno from all angles and destroying it.
Rex's life points ticked down to 3,900.
"And now, Vampire Familiar, you attack as well!" Celeste declared.
The tiny shadow bat swatted Rex across the chest with its whip-like tail, causing him to stumble back and bringing his life points down to 2,900.
"Next, since Vampire Scarlet Scourge destroyed a monster by battle, it becomes my monster now," Celeste said calmly.
"SAY WHAT?!" Rex shouted loudly, eyes bugging out.
Celeste didn't have to answer him. The holograms did the work for her. His beloved Black Tyranno now stood on her side of the field.
"Oh, and if you think you're going to get away with flattening my Vampire Familiar with a monster with 1,900 or more attack points, think again," Celeste said. "Two cards face-down. My turn is over."
"Wait, wait, what?!"
"What? Should I explain it in smaller words, or should I talk slowly?" Celeste asked.
"When the hell did you draw two face-down cards?!" Rex shouted.
Celeste sighed. "Fine, I suppose I'll spell it out for your feeble, peanut-sized brain." Her pupils shrank in as she leaned forward. "My hand was perfectly fine on my first turn. It was my intention to lure you into a false sense of security with Vampire Familiar since it can summon itself from the graveyard." She then stood up straight and twirled her finger through her hair again. "I wasn't expecting the Black Tyranno though. That was quite impressive. I must admit. But, well," she glared at Rex with an icy stare, fist in front of her mouth. "You're the one who asked me to take this seriously, so I am. Happy now?"
Rex swallowed. In one more Celeste had completely turned the tables. The state of the field gave her a tremendous advantage in spite of having fewer than 1,000 life points.
"What's the matter? Vampire cat got your tongue?" Celeste asked, smiling as she rested her chin upon her folded hands. "I told you, did I not? You could've spared yourself the embarrassment and thrust your hand on top of your duel disk when you had the chance." She stopped smiling and lowered her arms. "But now I'm going to have to crush you in front of all of these people."
"But…but you said you had a bad hand!" Rex exclaimed.
Celeste's gaze became sharp like her rapier wit. "I was lying, Rex. Did you forget what my second title is, besides the Ultimate Gambler?"
"The Queen of Liars," Tristan commented, gazing up at her from his seat.
"Well, look at that. The peanut gallery knows me better than you do," Celeste chuckled. "Well, I suppose that's to be expected. They are my friends after all."
"Celeste is so cool," Serenity said with a smile, clapping her hands together.
"I'm pretty sure Joey would be pretty upset if you started taking cues from her," Tristan stated. "Just a hunch."
"So, what'll it be Rex? I ended my turn almost a minute ago. If you're not going to play then shoo," she said flicking her wrist at him like she was get him to leave. "Other people would like to duel after all!"
"Hey! I ain't just gonna walk away! This duel's still on!" Rex shouted.
"Fine. Fine. Draw your next pathetic card and let's continue this farce I suppose. You've already lost," Celeste covered her mouth, trying not to laugh. "But it will be fun to watch you struggle."
Rex growled. "Nrrrrrrngh! I draw!" He pulled the top card of his deck to his hand. "I activate another spell card: Double Evolution pill! Now, by removing 1 dinosaur monster and one non-dinosaur monster from my hand, I can summon a level 7 or higher dinosaur monster directly from my deck! And I choose Super Conductor Tyranno!"
A cybernetically enhanced, green saurian monster with a crane-game claw for a tail emerged on Rex's side of the battlefield with a roar. It had 3,300 attack points and 1,400 defense points.
"So you've got a plan to protect your little vampire bat thing, but can you stop me from destroying Scarlet Scourge? Cause that's what I'm about to do! I might not win the duel, but if you're gonna telegraph your strategy like that, then I'm just gonna take down your beloved Vampire!"
"You'll do no such thing," Celeste said. "I activate my trap card: Windstorm of Etaqua!" Celeste revealed her face-down trap card, showing off a bird with a glowing red eye in front of a spiraling green wind storm.
"Now, the battle position of every monster on the field, switches!"
"What?! No!" Rex shouted.
All of his monsters and Celeste's monsters were quickly switched to defense position.
"You see, Rex? It didn't matter which monster you attacked. I was prepared for anything."
Rex growled. "You sucker punched me."
"I did no such thing. You're dim brain just couldn't fathom my strategy. I am possibly one of the worst first round opponents for you, Rex, but that's what happens when you're born, in your own words, a chump."
"Why…you…I'll teach you to mess with me!"
"Pretty sure I already have," Celeste said. "Black Tyranno or Scarlet Scourge will wipe out Super Conductor Tyranno given its pitiful defense points and then my other two monsters will hack away at your life points to end this duel. And, unless you play something face-down, Black Tyranno will just attack directly. I told you, Rex. You. Can't. Beat me."
"Man, Celeste is vicious," Téa said.
"Jeez, I almost feel bad for Rex," Tristan stated
"You know, I was just about to say I almost felt bad for him, myself," Celeste said. "But, this is a competition and I will not coddle my skill to my opponents. I am Celestia Ludenburg, the Ultimate Gambler. If you want to face me, you can't have the intelligence of a boulder rolling down a hill. No, I take that back, boulders would feel insulted by the comparison."
"KNOCK IT OFF!" Rex shouted with such fervor that it actually shut Celeste up wholesale.
"Do you even get how I've been treated? Do you even know how much my life has gone downhill since Duelist Kingdom?! I was a famous duelist! People respected me! These days, if I leave the house and come home with 300 yen and the shirt on my back that's basically a win! I've had my bike stolen on multiple occasions, I get ridiculed at school, and I'm pretty sure I've been peed on by every dog in my home prefecture! And here you are just tossing insult after insult out at me! I came here to duel, Celeste! Not to get ridiculed and not to play head games!"
"Oh grow up," Celeste shot back, glaring. "Waaah," she said, mockingly. "My life sucks. People are mean to me. The world is unfair." She extended her arm holding the two cards remaining in her hand face-down at Rex. "I learned a long time ago that the world is cruel and unforgiving. If it's not giving with both hands, you have to make sure the unopened hand isn't hiding a knife behind its back! I know damn well the responsibility and hardship that come with standing atop a place of grandeur!" Celeste's hard trained French accent began to slip into native Kanto one. "Every stupid day of every stupid week," she said, holding up her index finger with her brace on it, "I'm watching my back for anyone trying to knock me off the foundation and pedestal I built for myself! No matter how high you get, you can always fall! And to prevent a fall, you've got two options, you either surround yourself with people who will take the falls for you and prop you up, or you look out for number one and cut yourself off from the rest of the world!" She cleared her throat and got her bearings straight, her French accent returning. "So, don't come to me and tell me life isn't fair and that you miss being on top because you'll get absolutely no sympathy from me. Instead of whining and complaining about my behavior, how about you try to make good on your threat and try to shut me up? Everything I do is to put on a show and entertain both myself and the audience. If my insults cut too deep and too personal then maybe you shouldn't have even accepted Kaiba's invitation in the first place!"
Rex pulled his hat down over his eyes.
"Celeste, that's enough!" Yami exclaimed, rising from his seat.
"I'd advise sitting back down," Celeste said, turning her head away from him. "Sometimes the truths people need to hear have to come harshly or they won't learn. I absolutely can't stand people that think they're entitled to a lavish lifestyle. Even if you're born into a life of luxury, you can always strive to accomplish more. You should own up and be worthy of it, not get complacent. Kings, queens and others fell, died or both for these very reasons. I'm here to win, Pharaoh. And I will play the game as I see fit within the scope of the rules to do so. If my competition can't handle the banter, that's their problem, not mine."
Yami looked to Mokuba for advice. This was the Kaiba Corp tournament and while Celeste was clearly being prickly, it was ultimately up to the Kaiba brothers to decide if her attitude wasn't cut for the tournament.
Mokuba sighed deeply and pressed a button on his collar. "You get all that, Seto?"
"I heard it loud and clear," Kaiba said through the two way radio disguised as buttons on each brother's jacket. "And Ludenburg is completely right in what she says. A duel tournament is a battlefield and it's not a place for weaklings, dweebs or losers. Raptor has a choice to make and time is ticking or he defaults out for not taking his turn."
"Ouch. Harsh," Tristan said, he and the rest of Yugi's friends having heard that.
"It's Kaiba, what did you expect?" Téa asked.
"I mean, considering his history, it's no surprise Kaiba would agree with Celeste," Bakura said.
"Oh yeah, you think she's so special?" Tristan asked with a glazed look.
Bakura sweated, waving his hands rapidly in front of his face. "N-no, that's not what I was saying." He looked up at the duel. "But that doesn't change that some of what Celeste said wasn't exactly wrong. Rex needs to decide for himself right now if he's going to stand up to her or not."
"He's not just carrying his own career, but Weevil's too," Serenity said.
"Well, the clock's ticking so I hope he makes a move soon," Téa said.
"As do I," Celeste said, fiddling with a lock of hair. "I didn't drag myself out of bed this morning to be bored."
Across from her, Rex seemed to be contemplating the situation. He still felt so powerless. He had come all this way, and yet here he was about to be tossed out of the tournament in round 1 by the most obnoxious duelist in the tournament that wasn't Mai Valentine. He'd reinvented himself. He was a better person now. Goddammit, he was trying to make a comeback. So why was he getting his ass kicked like this and being treated like garbage?
"Don't lose hope now."
Makoto's words suddenly echoed inside Rex's head.
"Things may be really bad, but I have faith that you'll pull through. No, I want you to pull through."
Makoto… Rex thought of the brown haired kid, biting down hard.
"Kaiba's already invited me to his next tournament. I'm hoping to see you there."
Makoto Naegi… Rex thought about his…odd relationship with the now Ultimate Lucky Student at Hope's Peak Academy. In the break room, Makoto treated people like they were people. He smiled and said hello to pretty much everyone. Why am I think about that idiot now? Rex thought. But no matter how much he tried to get Makoto out of his head, four words kept coming back to him
Don't lose hope now.
They were simple. They were cheesy. And yet, before Rex realized it, he was muttering the words allowed.
"Don't lose hope now." He nodded to himself. "All right, Celeste. Let's do this! I'm not going down without a fight!"
"Well, finally. Found your second wind have we?"
"You bet I have!" Rex shouted. "I activate Tail Swipe! This magic card lets me select up to two monsters on your side of the field and return them to the hand as long as they're a lower level than one of my dinosaur monsters! So I'm gonna take back my Black Tyranno and send Scarlet Scourge right back to your hand! What do you think of that, Celeste?"
"I'd say that was an excellent move. Now kindly take back your foul-breathed saurian, I've no more need of it."
Celeste was left with only Vampire Familiar on the field.
"Not a bad move, I must say," Celeste said. "Unfortunately, it won't do much for you, but I congratulate you on at least trying." She smirked. "This duel just got a little more interesting and a little more memorable. Let's go! I draw!"
Celeste drew up to four cards now in her hand. "As you might expect, I'm sacrificing Vampire Familiar to put Vampire Scarlet Scourge back into play!"
From the magnificence of Vampire castle, Scarlet Scourge returned to the battlefield.
"Hmm, with my current life points, I would only be able to use Vampire Familiar's ability one more time," Celeste said, stroking her chin, thinking aloud. "Well then, I suppose I'll just have to use this instead. I activate my remaining face-down card: Vampire's Domain!"
"Wait, but that isn't a trap!" Rex exclaimed.
"Quite. I believe in the industry we call that a "bluff"," Celeste said, snickering quietly. "And next, I give up 500 life points."
Celeste's life points dropped all the way to 400.
"…Okaaaaay," Rex had no idea where Celeste was going with this.
"And now, I can summon one additional monster this turn. So say hello to Vampire Lady!"
From another window, a blue-skinned, green-haired vampire appeared with 1,550 attack points and 1,550 defense points.
Scarlet Scourge raised the lady's hand and bowed to her, causing her to blush and send him butterfly kisses.
"Hey! Back off! He's mine!" Celeste snapped in a way that made it sound like she was pouting.
"Ummmm, they're cards in your deck," Rex said, sweating in confusion.
"And?" Celeste asked.
"You can't romance a card in your deck," Rex said, sweating more.
"Tell that to the internet," Celeste chuckled. "And to Kaiba. With so many Blue-Eyes White Dragon paraphernalia scattered throughout Kaiba Corp you'd think he'd want to marry it."
Celeste didn't need to be next to Kaiba to know he was gazing down at her from his suite with the most intense of glares.
"Anyway, let's not delay things for too long. Since your monster's defense points are so…pathetic, Vampire Lady, destroy Super Conductor Tyranno!"
With a swift lunge, Vampire Lady latched herself onto Super Conductor Traynno's back and began sucking its blood dry from the neck, causing the saurian to howl in pain as it was destroyed into shards of holographic light long before it had become nothing but an empty husk.
"And now, Scarlet Scourge attacks your life points directly!" Celeste exclaimed.
Scarlet Scourge's attack points spiked to 2,700 as he flipped his staff around and smacked Rex across the chest with the flat end, knocking him over.
Rex's life points tumbled down all the way to a mere 200 points as Scarlet Scourge's attack points returned to 2,200.
"And thanks to that little maneuver, thanks to Vampire's Domain, whenever a Vampire monster under my command deals damage to you, all of those life points become mine!" Celeste declared.
Her life points suddenly surged to a significantly higher 3,100.
"Well, Rex. What'll it be? The quiet surrender or the futile struggle?" Celeste asked.
"My struggle isn't futile!" Rex shouted.
"Oh please," Celeste said, fiddling with a lock of hair. "Spare me. You have 200 life points left only and the only card in your hand is the Black Tyranno you sent back to your hand with Tail Swipe. Unless you plan to top deck Monster Reborn and bring back Super Conductor Tyranno, you've basically lost. Assuming you built a forty-card deck and not a card higher, at best your odds would be roughly three percent. And at worst, you have a 1.9 percent chance. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't gamble with those odds."
"Yeah, well I got no choice but to gamble. If I'm gonna lose, I'm gonna go down like the dinosaurs, in a blaze of glory!"
Celeste smirked. That's the spirit.
Screaming, Rex went for the top card of his deck and held it up to the sky. I don't care what the odds are. I built this deck with the solemn vow that it would carry me to be a better duelist. Weevil, buddy, if you've got any power…lend me STRENGTH!
Rex practically crinkled the card between his fingers, almost bending it as he pulled it down to eye level to see what it was.
He looked perplexed at first. The card in his hand was decisively not Monster Reborn, but he wasn't out of the game just yet.
"Sorry, Celeste, but I'm not ready to go extinct just yet." He placed the card into the card reader. "One card face-down. That'll be all."
Celeste eyed the card suspiciously. So he's betting it all on a face-down, hmm? Well then, I'll have to be careful. She went for the top card of her deck. "I draw."
With three cards in her hand, Celeste looked at the state of the field. Either one of her monsters could knock Rex over simply by breathing on him. And, thanks to her last turn, she had more than enough life points to risk face-checking Rex's face-down card.
Decisions. Decisions. Celeste thought to herself. She looked at her hand. I'll exercise the best caution I can. "I switch Vampire Scarlet Scourge into defense mode," Celeste said as her monster took a knee. "And then, Vampire Lady attacks your life points directly!"
"That's what I was hoping you would do! Reveal face-down card!" Rex exclaimed. "Go Fossil Excavation!" His trap card flipped face-up. "By discarding one card from my hand, I can summon any monster from my graveyard back to the field, and I choose Super Conductor Tyranno!"
Celeste's eyes shrunk in. Oh, this was going to hurt.
Vampire Lady's attack points increased to 2,050 thanks to the effects of Vampire Kingdom, but as it neared Rex, the lumbering, massive Super Conductor Tyranno rose from the grave onto the field and smacked it into the ground with its gigantic fist. Celeste's monster exploded, leaving her with only 1,850 life points left.
"Heh, how do you like that Celeste?"
Guh, I was careless, Celeste thought, wincing. Of course, an idiot like this wouldn't have something as potent as Mirror Force. Now Scarlet Scourge is directly in harm's way and there's nothing I can do to protect him.
"Done yet?" Rex asked, feeling smug.
"Unfortunately for me, yes," Celeste admitted. "It's your move."
"Heh, don't mind if I do," Rex said. "I draw!" He grinned almost like he was sneering. "I activate Pot of Greed, letting me draw two cards!" Rex exclaimed, drawing the next two. "And now I summon to the field, Trakodon in attack mode!"
The blue, tiger-stripped raptor normal monster appeared on Rex's side of the field with 1,300 attack points. "And just in case you think you can knock him out to take out the rest of my life points, I put one card face-down onto the field as well. And now, Super Conductor Tyranno destroys Vampire Scarlet Scourge!" Rex's monster charged up its fist with lightning and smashed Celeste's favorite monster to bits with one swipe of its claws.
"And now, Trakodon attacks your life points directly!"
Rex's monster charged at Celeste and bit her on the forearm. She winced as her life points fell all the way to 550, barely above Rex's, and hardly putting her in a good position.
"That's game over for you Celeste," Rex said. "Looks like I'm the one with the advantage this time. My dino cards are gonna stomp you flat!"
Celeste took a deep breath, and then she started clapping…slowly. "Bravo, Rex. I must admit, I underestimated you. "Dull-witted though you may be, you have proven quite entertaining." She smiled. "It seems I will not have to pay someone to kill you."
"Excuse me?" Rex asked, blinking.
"But, as I said, it was never a question of if I could win, only of when. Rex, you've given me a good show, but this duel is over. I will win on my turn."
"Oh yeah? How are you going to do that?"
"Simple, you simply left me with too many life points," Celeste said as her right eye flashed. "Draw."
Celeste pulled the top card of her deck to her hand. "I activate the special ability of Vampire Familiar in my graveyard!" Celeste declared, fanning her open palm out to the battlefield. "I will send Vampire's Domain from my field to the graveyard in order to summon Vampire Familiar back to the field!" Celeste's little bat familiar returned to the field under her control. "Next, I give up 500 life points," Celeste said, coming down to just 50, "Allowing me to add any vampire monster from my deck to my hand. And now, I sacrifice Vampire Familiar in order to summon the classic Vampire Lord!"
The very first Vampire monster appeared on the battlefield with its iconic 2,000 attack points and 1,500 defense points.
"Vampire Lord might be powerful, but if you're thinking of fighting Trakodon to win, think again!" Rex declared. "I activate a trap card: Compete for Dominance!" The trap card showed two different colored raptor monsters facing off as though circling each other. "This trap card forces both players to attack with their strongest monsters first against their opponent's strongest monsters. And that means unless you can rid the field of Super Conductor Tyranno, you won't be getting anywhere near my weaker monsters!"
"A feat easily accomplished!" Celeste exclaimed. "Behold: Vampire Madama!"
"Vampire what now?" Rex asked calmly, sweating.
A dark power emanated from Celeste's field as a massive female vampire emerged, stomping her foot onto Vampire Lord, destroying him in the process. "I'm sure all of you watching at home are familiar with Vampire Genesis. Well, this is his female counterpart: Vampire Madama!"
Celeste's monster had the same stats as Vampire Genesis: 3,000 attack points and 2,100 defense points. However, her monster was gigantes among vampires, standing at over 18 feet tall with blue skin, wrapped in black silk all over her body, with a butterfly feeler-like crown atop her head. Her ruby red nails matched her piercing red eyes and mouth of sharp, fangy teeth, like a shark.
"By sacrificing a Vampire Lord on my side of the field, Vampire Madama storms to the battlefield. And, if Vampire Castle is on the field, she gains an additional 1,000 attack points."
Vampire Madama's attack points surged to 4,000.
"You wanted to compete for dominance?" Celeste asked. "Don't be absurd. As you know, the female is always the deadlier of the species. Vampire Madama, rid the battlefield of that eyesore of a lizard and end this duel!"
With a powerful punch the likes of which could be felt by the first few rows of the audience, Vampire Madama didn't just defeat Super Conductor Tyranno, it utterly annihilated it and sent Rex hurtling backwards off the arena and landing on his back, life points at 0.
"And that is what some may call the coup de grace," Celeste said, bowing.
Vampire Madama, Trakodon and Vampire Castle disappeared as the duel ended.
"We have a winner!" Mokuba exclaimed. "Celestia Ludenburg wins the duel and advances to the next round!"
Rex groaned, getting up. "Ow."
Celeste approached him. "To be honest, you're not bad, Rex. You're not lacking in skill or powerful cards. What you lack is form. You're trying so hard to carry Weevil on your back that you're not letting yourself shine. Free advice: instead of trying to bring that repulsive insect with you wherever you go, why not push yourself as yourself? If you make it and stand on your own two feet, you could at least show that his death meant something to you. People respect someone already in power, not someone struggling to get there." She chuckled. "Bring about the second coming Rex Raptor and not the first coming of Reevil Underaptor. Don't you think that would be better?"
"…What's the difference?"
Celeste sighed, massaging her temples. "Right. Stupid. Forgot. Well then, if you'll excuse me." Celeste walked towards the break room.
"Celeste, wait," Rex said, getting to his feet. "I want to duel you again sometime. If you can beat me, then I gotta be able to get good enough to beat you once."
Celeste turned her head over her shoulder and smirked. "Try as you might, but you will always be like the fox reach for the grapes. I'll always be just beyond your grasp." She then disappeared into the shade of the hallway.
Emerging into the break room, she declared, "You may all rest easy now, you're champion has arrived."
"All right, Frenchy! Way to go!" Joey exclaimed. "I knew dino brain wasn't gonna be a challenge for ya! Up high!" Joey went to give Celeste a high five. She, in response, simply poked his palm with her finger, chuckling.
"Aren't you in the midst of boning up on your skill while you have the chance? Do you really have the time to be committing to friendly gestures?"
"Jeez, if a high five ain't your thing, just say so," Joey said, taking his same hand and rubbing the back of his neck.
"So, second round, huh?" Mai asked, approaching.
"Quite. Anything you can do, I can do better after all," Celeste snickered.
"Oho, is that so?" Mai asked. The two women exchanged competitive glances and Joey thought it was a good idea to return to his seat right about now.
Poor Rex, Makoto thought. I hope he's doing all right.
"Three jumbo chili dogs please," Rex said to the guy running the concession stand. Nothing could perk him up like lots and lots of food.
Makoto was not alone with his thoughts for long. The next duel was soon announced. "Will Miaka Senri and Rebecca Hawkins please report to the arena now?"
"That's my cue!" Rebecca said, getting up from the table and stopped as she passed by the table Joey was sitting at. "Wish me luck?"
Joey held up his fist for Rebecca to bump. "Go get 'em, squirt."
Rebecca bumped his fist and then jogged her way to the arena. Miaka was already there, waiting for her.
From the stands, Ibuki called out. "What?! Is this tournament not big enough for two glasses wearers?!"
"Pretty sure Byakuya also wears glasses, Ibuki," Mahiru stated.
"And don't forget about that Williams guy too," Kazuichi said. "Though, uh, he's already bumped out of the tournament, but still…"
"Miaka, huh?" Nekomaru said. "I wonder if she'll be okay."
"What do you mean?" Peko asked him.
"Miaka's an introvert, hardly leaves her room unless she's in costume, or so I hear often from her classmates. Standing out there as herself, I wonder if she can handle it."
"All right, Miaka! Let's go!" Kotomi shouted from her seat.
However, in spite of everything, Miaka seemed…just fine. No smile. No frown. She seemed focused and ready. She took a deep breath and then nearly blushed when Rebecca took the stage. Her eyes darted everywhere from the twin tails, to her glasses to her diminutive size. "Wow, check all the boxes why don't you?" Miaka muttered aloud.
"Hey there, nice to meet you," Rebecca said. "I'm Rebecca Hawkins, the United States Junior National Champion of Duel Monsters!"
Miaka took another deep breath and slapped her cheeks. "Hi! Miaka Senri! Duel now please!" She squeaked loudly.
"Yup, that checks out," Aiko said from her seat.
"Ever the slave to her impulses," Matsuda said, turning the page of his manga.
"Is she okay?" Mahiru asked Nekomaru.
"Miaka may suffer from the same problem I do," Peko said.
"You mean the ability to hog a bathroom stall for thirty minutes?" Hiyoko asked inquisitively, yet intentionally as an insult.
Peko ignored her. "Miaka suffers from Bellusophilia, or so is the term Matsuda coined."
"So, what? She likes bells?" Fuyuhiko asked.
"Bellus is latin for cute," Mikan quickly explained. "And philia is the suffix for having an abnormal love for something."
"Oh, so in other words Nekomaru would be scatophilic," Hiyoko said, trying not to laugh.
No one wanted to comment on how that was technically true, even if it was rude.
"So…what? She has an obsession with cute things?" Nekomaru asked and then got a better look at Rebecca. "Oh. I get it."
"Uh, are you okay?" Rebecca asked.
"Me? Fine! Toooootally fine," Miaka stated, blushing profusely. "You totally aren't my worst possible opponent or anything! That has absolutely nothing to do with it!"
"I see her sarcasm is still at maximum level," Matsuda commented without bothering to look up from his manga.
"Do you like need a minute?" Rebecca asked. "Cause like, I can wait. I want to have fun, you know?"
"A minute? No, like gimme a sec." Miaka then closed her eyes and took a big deep breath, standing there silently. She opened one eye every few seconds, only to close it just as quickly, still blushing. "Okay, no. I'm not okay, but I'm…I'm gonna duel anyway! Let's do this!"
"All right! Hope you can at least make this fun, I am a junior champion after all, but just cause you've not acclaimed doesn't mean I'm going to go easy on you."
"Oh, by all means be as vicious as you like," Miaka said, holding up her duel disk in the ready position. "I might enjoy that."
The hologram projectors were fired out of the duel disks and the duel was about to begin. Each duelist was given 4,000 life points. Each duelist drew five cards. The big projector flipped back and forth between the two girls to decide which one of them would duel first and, ultimately, it was decided that Miaka would take the first turn. The 10th duel of the first round of the Kaiba Corp Grand Prix was about to begin.
"Let's duel!" Both girls exclaimed at the same time.
(A/N: Charmer user versus Dragon user this ought to be interesting, no? Miaka versus Rebecca might seem like an odd matchup…because it is XD. When you have a bunch of duels that absolutely must happen sometimes you end up with matchups like this that are just leftovers. That doesn't make the duel any less important, nor will it be any less fun! Fun fact: Rebecca was originally slated to duel Monaca in round 1, but then I…simply had a better idea. When Monaca's duel is announced, I'll explain then.
As for Celeste vs Rex, I considered giving Celeste Vampire Genesis straight up at the end there, but then I decided to save it for when we get the GX era since it's like Camula's iconic card. So, I came up with a distaff counterpart for it as it were.
Not sure when the next chapter will be finished. This chapter was supposed to come out last Sunday, but then I got caught up playing Titan Quest and I only finished this chapter because I brought myself to an okayish stopping point and I've already gone back to it while you're reading this. Once that game is done though, you can expect a new chapter of Dueling Trigger Finger very soon. Until then, as always, from all of me, to all of you, let your hearts stay human and your wrath draconic! Ja ne!)