Good Day Readers and welcome to the sequel to The Lost Kingdom! Thanks to all of you for the support and I hope that you all enjoy this latest edition of the Hope sisters. This upload will focus on the Grand Prix/Grand Championship arc whilst next week we'll move onto Dawn of the Duel arc
Obviously I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh only Kylie and Katherine Hope along with the unique cards within their decks and whatever other OCs decide to crop up. Also italics symbolise a mind conversation. I would appreciate any responses that you have, please enjoy
Chapter 1: - KHI Grand Prix Begins
I took in a deep breath, tasting the sweet fresh scent of the air that whistled through the trees surrounding my current location, it tugged at my black hair and snapped up parts of my clothing. I was so happy to be out of – from what Kylie had told me – Geh's stomach and at risk of being swallowed by the Oreichalcos God; everything was peaceful now and I was savouring the sense of freedom that came from being able to breathe freely.
After we returned to the battle cruiser and got back to American soil, Seto and Mokuba along with my dad and Kylie had been whisked off in order to perform some expensive damage control due to Dartz's machinations against Duel Monsters. It had been a few days since then and all I knew was that dad – after taking back Hope Industries – had liquidated Paradias and proceeded to share the money out between the five Musketeers who were all doing stuff with it to help out people, apparently there weren't any other employees at Paradias, I'm not surprised by that.
"Good morning, Katherine-chan!" I heard Yugi call. I turned around and looked at the young boy standing there at the edge of the pond that I happened to be standing on; smiling upon seeing him I instantly crossed the water – using my magic to stay atop the surface – and climbed up onto the bank to stand beside the boy.
"Good morning, Yugi," I responded. Before either of us could exchange other words if we wanted to, two voices called out to the young boy; I looked over to see that Anzu and Rebecca were approaching us, Rebecca had changed her look having reverted back to having two pigtails instead of wearing her hair loose, she now wore a light blue top over a grey T-shirt and thigh-high socks to cover her legs with the same short skirt as her last outfit.
"We finished preparing breakfast-," Anzu began to speak. However, she cut herself off when Rebecca ran forward with a cheerful cry of 'darling' and tackled Yugi to the ground with a hug; I felt a small flicker of jealously burst to life inside of me as Anzu's eye began to twitch at the sight, yet Rebecca was completely unconcerned with the ire that she was causing to rise up.
"Geez! You disappeared again and had me worried!" Rebecca exclaimed. The blonde girl didn't seem to notice that Yugi looked distinctly uncomfortable about the affection that Rebecca was showering him with as he explained that he was just taking a walk; his wide amethyst eyes seemed to have become larger and were darting around as he seemed to be trying to find some way out of the situation.
"Breakfast! Let's go!" I seethed. With those words, I turned around and stalked off, immediately I sensed the presence of Hecate and Athena appeared beside me as they looked down at me. "Not one word," I mentally snapped. My beloved Monsters wisely kept their mouths shut as I arrived back at the caravan of the Hopkins that we were all currently staying at.
"Kat! Kat!" Yumiko's cheerful voice called. I relaxed slightly, seeing my lively cousin who was bouncing up and down and waving her arms as mum helped to set the food on the foldable table; with dad head deep in work and mum on break after the Atlantis fiasco, Yumiko had been brought to the Hopkins for some family time and relaxation which was deeply needed after the stress of the last few days.
"By the way, what are you all planning to do now?" Arthur asked. We were all sat down, the knuckleheads having just complained to Yugi about him being slow; at those words, Yugi stopped moving to eat and looked up at Arthur admitting that he wanted to get back to Japan as soon as possible which caused Rebecca to complain about him being in a rush and insisted that Yugi should take his time.
"That's right! You're still on vacation, aren't you?" Otogi asked. We hadn't been on vacation in the first place, we'd been on a mission. "If you need advice, I'll be your tour guide," Otogi offered. I swallowed the food that was in my mouth as I stayed silent, there was a suitable reason as to why we couldn't remain any longer, we'd only come here because of the stolen God cards and Doma's actions.
"Great idea! We did come all the way to America, after all," Honda commented. Jounouchi then added on that he wanted to try American food, I felt a tick mark form on my head as Anzu complained about Jounouchi focusing on eating, Jounouchi responded that he wanted to know what the brunette girl was going to do; suddenly Arthur's phone began to ring and he stood up to attend to it.
"Hey, Yugi… it'll be a big waste if we go back this soon," Jounouchi stated. I could understand his position but there was something else that was a bit more important, I could feel Yugi's uncertainty and concern pulsing through the Soul Bond which caused my lips to twist into a frown as I grew annoyed at how the others couldn't understand Yugi's position and feelings.
"And what about Yami!" I exclaimed. Everyone turned to look at me as I firmly set the fork I'd been using down against the table as I stared hard at Honda and Jounouchi. "With the God cards back in our possession and the magic of Dartz gone, Yami had get his memories back after three thousand years. Isn't it cruel to make him wait any longer," I protested. Everyone fell silent at my words as they looked down, understanding what I was saying.
"Katherine-chan," Yugi called. I looked at the boy who was giving me a reassuring smile, a thankful pulse rippled its' way across the bond that I shared with him. "It's ok. Other Me is willing to wait a little longer to obtain his memories, so long as we have the God cards it's okay not to rush, let's enjoy ourselves for a bit," Yugi explained.
With those words, everyone cheered up and immediately started to make plans of where to go, whilst I started playing with Yumiko in order to keep the energetic young girl occupied given that she had gained tons of energy since Kylie sealed the Oreichalcos God. The sounds of everyone's plans swam over my head as I ran after Yumiko who giggled loudly as she fled from me, occasionally looping around mum who was reviewing some archaeological work; I stubbornly ignored the sight of Rebecca cuddling up to Yugi.
"How long can you stay here? Have you figured out how you're going to get back yet?" Otogi asked. I managed to grab Yumiko and promptly started to tickle her, causing the girl to writhe and squeal out laughter as tears began to appear within the corners of her eyes; but then sounds of shock erupted from mouths and my fingers stilled, causing Yumiko to fall silent as I looked over at the knuckleheads and Anzu who wore shocked expressions whilst Rebecca and mum were confused.
"That reminds me… how the heck are we getting home?" Jounouchi asked. Otogi jerked up from his position led down in a hammock as the two knuckleheads also bolted upright and stared at each other, Honda admitting that Pegasus had been the one to bring us, paying for our travel. "We never thought of how to get back home!" Jounouchi exclaimed. I allowed a deadpan look to form on my face as mum looked at me with a raised eyebrow, silently asking if these two were always so stupid which I nodded my head to answer it.
"What do we do?" Yugi asked. His worry and concern did pulse through me as the other three began to panic over the fact that they didn't have any money on them; mum put her work down and looked at me with exasperation written all over her face as she gestured at them, I nodded my head in understanding as Yumiko tilted her head in confusion at the chaos that was currently overriding the previously pleasant atmosphere.
"Yes. It isn't like you guys are good friends with someone whose family happens to own a private jet and I'm certain would be willing to let you use it to fly home," I commented. A thick tone of sarcasm filled my voice as I crossed my arms over my chest, everyone proceeded to turn around to look at me with shock. "Do you people seriously forget that I'm technically rich?!" I questioned. Disbelief clear in my tone as I stared at them, unable to believe they actually forgot such a thing, even if it rarely came up.
"PROBABLY!" A voice bellowed down. I jumped to my feet, upsetting Yumiko since I dislodged the young girl, and immediately looked up with the sight I saw causing my eyes widened in shock. "WE COULD DO WITH A LITTLE FAVOUR FIRST, THOUGH!" Kylie added on. A smile spread across her face as her hair was whipped about by the blades of the Kaiba Corporation helicopter she was leaning out from.
The helicopter settled down as we cleared everything up and Kylie hopped out of the vehicle with Mokuba soon following after her, we all took our seats at the table with Kylie sitting across from us with Mokuba joining her. I instantly knew that this wasn't my sister in front of me, it was the heiress to the Hope Industries and a businesswoman, which meant that this was strictly a business proposition.
"Given that you guys were involved, I don't need to explain that Dartz's machinations have kind of shone a negative light on Duel Monsters. So, in order to get some positive press, Hope Industries, Industrial Illusions and Kaiba Corporation have decided to host a Duel Monsters Tournament known as the KHI Grand Prix," Kylie explained. Even though she was dressed normally in a pair of jeans with a mint green shirt and black ankle high boots, her tone and face showed how serious this was.
"The tournament will be hosted at Kaiba Land as the grand opening instead of an opening ceremony," Mokuba explained. Drinks had been distributed as everyone hovered around the table watching the discussion that was going on. "Hosted at Kaiba Land, the game created by Industrial Illusions and with the participants personally selected by Hope Industries, its' the reason we've come to pick you guys up," Mokuba explained. I nodded my head in understanding, it perfectly divided up the parts of a tournament that needed to be sorted out before anything could be done.
"Hold on! Aren't you guys just deciding that on your own? In this situation, shouldn't Kaiba and your dad come here bowing his head and begging us to join?" Jounouchi protested. I looked at Jounouchi and just about thumped him in the side for suggested such a thing, but then he yelped in pain and reached under the table for his leg as Kylie glared at the blonde knucklehead as her hands clasped together in a white-knuckle grip, as Honda stated his agreement with Jounouchi… he was stood up thus Kylie or Mokuba couldn't kick him.
"One: my dad would never do that, doing such a thing is shameful for a businessman. Two: do you actually believe Seto would do such a thing? Three: Both of them are head deep in preparations for the tournament and running a business. Four: Seto's too busy to even participate, hell I'm too busy to participate!" Kylie exclaimed. I froze hearing those words and stared at my sister in shock, my mouth opening a small amount since I never thought I'd hear those words.
"You and Kaiba aren't even going to Duel!?" Jounouchi questioned. Kylie nodded her head and Yugi exclaimed that things were probably worse than the two in front of us were letting on. "Now, I get it. He's afraid of losing to me, Kathie and Yugi, so he's not even going to show his face, eh? If he's beaten again, Kaiba Corporation's reputation will fall through the floor!" Jounouchi boasted. Kylie's deadpan expression showed how utterly unimpressed she was with those words as a hand moved to grip Mokuba's trembling shoulder.
"Jounouchi, I will kick you again if you don't shut up!" Kylie threatened. The boy flinched backwards and appeared frightened by the prospect of Kylie lashing out again. "We're genuinely busy, Seto has gone as far as to lock up his Deck to ensure he doesn't Duel. Besides… you lost to Seto the last time I checked," Kylie explained. Anzu immediately chastised the blonde for what he had said and Jounouchi apologised to us.
"Yugi, this tournament is putting the future of all three businesses on the line! We're aiming to hold the greatest Duels with the strongest Duelists chosen from around the world. That's why I'm asking you to join. As the Duel King!" Mokuba pleaded. Silence regained for a few seconds as I suspected that Yugi and Yami were having a quick mental conversation about entering the tournament before Yugi nodded his head and focused his eyes onto Mokuba once more.
"Duelists from around the world? Sounds exciting! I think we'll have fun Dueling there!" Yugi stated. Mokuba jumped from his seat as his eyes went wide with happiness and a smile broke out across his face, Mokuba thanked Yugi for agreeing to join the tournament, Jounouchi proceeded to state his agreement to participate.
"I'll do it too," I agreed. Rebecca insisted that she be allowed to enter as well, Mokuba stated that he had intended to ask her to participate anyway and Kylie proceeded to pull out four white envelopes all of which held the three insignia of the companies that were hosting the tournament. "Just leave it to us, sister, Mokuba. We'll show you the greatest Duels," I stated.
*Yu-Gi-Oh*
We made quick travel to Kaiba Land in the helicopter that the others had brought to us, all of us stared out the windows to look down on the sprawling theme park filled to bursting with all kinds of attractions. As Mokuba spoke about the theme park, the pride and joy within his tone was easily heard as all of us raked our eyes across the sight before us.
"Looks like fun. Right, Yugi?" I asked. Yugi turned to me and promptly agreed with my words, his eyes shining brightly and I felt a warmth start to grow within me; sadly the warmth was doused when Rebecca suggested that her and Yugi go on a date once the opening was over and she promptly wrapped an arm around one of Yugi's own.
I reigned in any negative emotions, I didn't want to accidentally frighten or worry Yugi with their appearance, even though I wanted to send time with Yugi… just the two of us. Soon the helicopter landed and we quickly disembarked as Mokuba immediately started to show us around clearly eager to show off his brother's achievement to all of us; a statue of Blue-Eyes was in the main shopping district and Jounouchi almost ran into it due to his gawking at the surroundings.
"Hey Kylie," Jounouchi called. My sister cast her gaze back over her shoulder at the boy. "Mokuba said that Hope Industries was inviting Duelists from around the world, right?" Jounouchi asked. Something told me I knew exactly where the blonde boy's thoughts were going with those words, he really was head over heels in love.
"Yeah, the very best and I already know what you're going to ask Jounouchi," Kylie answered. She stopped moving and turned fully to face the boy, a sad expression coming onto her face. "I'm sorry Jounouchi but Mai won't be participating, not because she's not good enough, but because no one knows where she is. After what happened with Doma, I think Mai needs some time to re-evaluate herself and her goals," Kylie explained. Jounocuhi's expression fell but he nodded his head.
"Huh? There's some people here already," Anzu pointed out. We'd kept moving and found ourselves in an area that was closer to some rides and there were people present, young children alongside their parents with the rides being active and some workers handing out balloons whilst dressed as Duel Monsters.
"Admission's free for today because it's the opening. You guys can play around all you want later as well," Mokuba explained. The knuckleheads were way too excited about that as Yumiko cheered happily alongside them at the prospect of games; Mokuba took us to what was probably the most important part of the theme park, a massive Duel Stadium that was going to be used during the tournament and – quite obviously really – shaped like a Blue-Eyes' head.
Everyone was kind of shocked by the appearance and Jounouchi wondered if normal people called this going too far, I shook my head in exasperation at the crazy amount of love that Seto had for his beloved white dragon. Mokuba ignored the shocked state of our group and brough us inside where a massive circle of rising seats coated the wall and in the centre of a large floor ground was a state-of-the-art Duel Arena.
"This is the main Duel Stage. The entire Duel will be broadcast around the whole world!" Mokuba revealed. Jounouchi was stunned by this revelation as we descended the steps and approached the Duel Arena. "You have to be careful not to embarrass yourself out there Dueling," Mokuba added on. A Duel was currently in process on the Duel Arena as the boy fighting had his monster attack and destroy Blade Knight.
The opponent was a machine and in retaliation it utilised Scapegoat as the boy ended his turn, Honda wondered if the machine could actually Duel and our questioned was soon answered. The computer used its' face down known as DNA Remodelling Surgery to turn all Monsters on the field into Dragon types, this was combined with Fusion to Summon out Five God Dragon which had been redesigned recently to be a Fusion Monster instead of a Ritual Monster, I still shivered upon seeing the Monster.
The kid pretty much lost the duel as Mokuba explained that the computer had a data bank that covered the Decks of basically every well known Duelist with varying levels of difficulty; a comment from Honda about Jounouchi's luck based tactics got the brunette boy put into a hold by Jounouchi. The possibility of enjoying a Duel against yourself was also something that could be done and I was a bit fascinated by the prospect and it seemed Yugi was as well from the pulses I felt.
Eventually the inevitable happened and we were spotted, having the Duel King and Queen in our group garnered attention and the children who had been gathering for a turn quickly rushed over to us. Rebecca and me also ended up being recognised as they ran over to us and asked for autographs, although poor Jounouchi wasn't recognised at all.
"Umm… would you mind looking at my Deck?" A voice called in English. All our us turned to see a young boy with short brown hair, brown-green eyes holding onto a deck, he wore a black shirt underneath a red jacket; because of the language I quickly translated for Yugi as unlike me, Kylie or Rebecca the boy didn't speak Japanese. "I always lose… how can I be as strong as you, Yugi?" The boy asked. I quickly translated the sentence as Yugi held out his hand for the Deck.
"Hand it over and we'll take a look," Kylie insisted. The boy did and Yugi quickly fanned it open, allowing us to see that a few of the cards and I frowned slight upon seeing it; the Deck was completely chock full of Monsters cards, not even a variety of Monsters at that, instead they were all of a single type of Monster; I looked at Kylie and saw her wide eyes as she stared at the Deck with Rebecca and Jounouchi also looking over it.
"What's this? They're all Dragon-types," Jounouchi commented. The boy explained that he liked dragons so had traded other cards to his friends in order to get so many, I quickly informed the boys of this little quirk as Yugi shuffled through all of the cards, revealing Monster after Monster after Monster; it was a crazy kind of Deck in my opinion.
"I understand that you like them, but the balance here is terrible," Rebecca admitted in English. The boy was surprised by this fact and Rebecca jerked herself back, perhaps realising the way her words could have been heard. "That's not what I meant," Rebecca insisted. She seemed ashamed of her words, but she had been honest, there was nothing wrong with honesty.
"Katherine please translate for him?" Yugi asked. I nodded my head to show him that I would. "It's alright. Liking your cards will only make them stronger! Your cards will respond to your thoughts. I'll give you this," Yugi spoke. I translated for him as Yugi reached down to his pouch and pulled out a card holding it out to the boy who took it gingerly and with great reverence, although he was confused when he saw it wasn't a Dragon. "But that card is sure to help your Dragons out," Yugi stated. Everyone was fawning over the boy getting a card from Yugi.
"Hey Yugi, what card was it?" Jounouchi asked. Yugi didn't answer him as he seemed to be flustered whilst the boy rushed over in order to try out his new card, good luck was wished and a warning not to set the level too high was given; the boy decided to try his best at Level Two and the platform was risen into the air.
"Ky, Kat, can I Duel some day?" Yumiko asked. She was looking back at us with her wide eyes, I hugged my cousin as Kylie ruffled her hair with affection and we voiced a positive confirmation that she could do what she wished. "Yay! Thanks!" Yumiko cheered. She couldn't bounce due to my hug so instead clapped her hands in excitement.
"Duel!" The boy and the computer declared. However right as those words were said, the lights suddenly went out and the Duel Arena suddenly died as well; I was immediately set on edge and tightened my grip around Yumiko as panicked voices were heard, I recognised Anzu but some must have been the children as Yumiko let out a small cry as she turned to cuddle up to me.
"Everyone, it's dangerous, so don't move!" Kylie called. Her voice easily projected through the darkness, steady and firm which would only reassure everyone; I managed to make out Mokuba as he ran forward and started to fiddle with the Duel Arena controls whilst insisting that everyone stay calm, he pulled the phone off and tried to make an emergency call as he claimed the power would come back soon.
Right after saying those words, the power did come back on and the Duel Arena burst back to life, but none of us could relax as squealing and clanging soon filled the air and I spun around to look at the source. Shutters were closing over the openings that led into the Duel Stadium as Mokuba panicked slightly at the scene.
"It's no use, it won't work! This is impossible!" Mokuba exclaimed. Quick as flashes, Kylie and Rebecca were behind Mokuba and moved the boy aside as Rebecca hooked her laptop up and both of them looked at the screen, hoping to get some answers about our situation, I passed Yumiko to mum who gently lifted the scared young girl into arms as I walked over to the two computer individuals.
"It's no use. The program has been locked and the entire system has been connected to the Duel Computer. If we don't stop the Duel Computer, we can't open the exits," Rebecca answered. That was seriously bad, we were trapped in here and most likely completely cut off from the outside world, Mokuba was close to panicking as he asked how such a thing could have happened since the computer shouldn't have been tied to the main system due to its' Dueling only nature.
"Someone hacked the system from the outside and rewrote the programming," Kylie explained. Mokuba looked at my sister who had narrowed her eyes at the screen of Rebecca's laptop, the younger Kaiba asked who could have done something like this. "We can't figure out that much, but I do know it took some serious skill," Kylie admitted.
"So… we have to destroy the computer, right?" Jounouchi questioned. Honda told us to leave it to him and nearly took off until Otogi stopped him since destroying it might mean that we'd never be able to get out of the Stadium and Honda demanded to know what they were supposed to do if we did want to escaped from this place.
"Rebecca already said it! We've got to beat the Duel Computer!" I exclaimed. Everyone one else caught on to what I meant and promptly began to panic as the boy looked down at us in complete confusion whilst the other children seemed scared from their expressions; the Duel Computer announced the start of the Duel and I sucked in a deep breath.
KC Robot – LP: 4000
Rick – LP: 4000
"My turn! Summoning Berserk Gorilla in Attack Position!" Duel Computer declared. Pixels streamed up from a spot on the Monster zone and soon the massive ape appeared on the field. "I also set one reverse card and end my turn," Duel Computer stated. The face down card also appeared on the field as the lot of us moved over to stand with the children, mum set Yumiko down and began to calm the group as best she could.
Berserk Gorilla – Attribute: Earth, Type: Beast, Level: 4, ATK/2000, DEF/1000
"It's Dueling him, what's the level?" Rebecca asked. We looked up, only to see that the level had been set to the highest one possible and everyone got really concerned upon seeing this since Rick didn't have any Magic or Trap cards in his Deck from what we had seen and that put him at a serious disadvantage against the highest level of the computer.
"I'm scared!" Rick cried. He couldn't Duel against the Duel Computer in this state and Anzu freely admitted this, unfortunately Mokuba stated that we couldn't possibly change the Deck now with Jounouchi summarising the likelihood of that Deck beating the level as being impossibly lowly; I looked over at Yugi and saw the strained expression on his face.
"Yugi! We need a miracle! That's you and Yami! Please help him!" I mentally pleaded. Yugi turned to look at me and nodded his head, determination shining in his eyes and he then quickly switched places with Yami; the ancient spirit proceeded to charge over and quickly jumped up onto the Duel Podium with Rick.
"Calm down!" Yami insisted. Kylie rushed up to stand by the side of the podium Rick and quickly translated the words for Rick. "I'm with you. Rick, you put all your feelings into that Deck. Please let me borrow it!" Yami requested. Rick agreed to the request as everyone began to encourage the ancient spirit, although they wisely used Yugi's name instead of Yami to avoid spilling the secret. "I'll be your opponent! I'll get everyone out of here!" Yami declared.
'Good luck you two.' I thought.