Aster walked out the back entrance with Antosson. Two burly guards in black suits and sunglasses parted the sea of eager fans who were willing to stand out in the freezing December rain just to get a glimpse of Aster. The two guards held out their arms and the fans split, making a path for Aster as he made his way to Antosson's Karlmann King, the most expensive SUV in the world. Antossson opened the door and let Aster in before he waved to the fans and got inside. Once the door shut, he shivered and rubbed his hands together.
He looked at Aster and grinned. "Here you go, my boy," he said handing Aster his check. "Well done, well done. That's another four million for you. Uh, minus twenty percent for me, of course."
"Of course," Aster said, using his phone to tune in to a radio station playing Christmas songs. It fit the look of the city outside. The rows of trees on the sidewalk were wrapped with bright gold Christmas lights and giant wreaths hung from the walls of the mall in the city center.
"How can there be cold weather when we're by the ocean?"
"Paradise City isn't tropical, dude," said Aster. "We're pretty close to the north so we can get some snow every now and then."
"In this case, I praise global warming. Hopefully, the world gets so warm it never snows again."
"You are such an idiot," Aster said, leaning back in his seat. He noticed that driver was taking them to another part of town. "So where we going?"
"The colosseum's manager wants me to head downtown to an independent dueling circuit to look up some talent for the show. Well, when I say talent, I mean no names with decent skill. Heh, we need some jobbers to make you and the other champs look good, you know."
"Whatever," said Aster. "Just don't keep us there all night, will you?"
Aster kept glaring out the window, watching as the bright lights of the city center turned dark and the buildings started looking more and more decrepit. The SUV then pulled outside of a warehouse where a large crowd gathered around flaming barrels and grills, smoking with ribs and steak. A vendor truck was parked near the entrance to the warehouse. Aster could already smell the fattening foods despite the windows were closed.
"You'd best keep that championship belt in the car," said Antosson.
"I'm not afraid," Aster said. He got out and slung the belt over his shoulder, causing a few heads to turn. The craftsmanship and the artistry of the belt were divine. It was made of platinum and gold and had glowing blue accents around the centerpiece, which was a roaring lion with a brilliant crown glistening with rubies, diamonds, and sapphires. The Kaiba Corp logo shined brightly at the bottom in diamonds outlined with gold. Aster pressed a button on the back of the belt that activated the holographic blue ornamentation hanging over the surface of the belts, adding a layer of transparent plates.
The players oohed and ahhed at the sight of the belt. Antosson walked behind Aster proudly as the crowd gathered around him. After taking a few pictures and signing some autographs, Aster and Antosson made it inside the warehouse to watch the duels.
When Aster saw who was dueling in the makeshift arena in the center, he was overcome with shock. He almost dropped his belt upon seeing Alexis Rhodes standing up there, taking down a duelist.
"I activate Polymerization!" she shouted. "I fuse together Blade Skater and Etoile Cyber to create, Cyber Blader!"
The two female monsters jumped into a swirling vortex, which fused their souls together to become a tall, slender, woman with long dark blue hair, wearing a tight bodysuit colored black and red. She had blades underneath her feet and a transparent tutu around her waist. A red visor covered her eyes. Cyber Blader spun around two times and posed as her ATK/DEF was displayed for all to see.
ATK/2100 DEF/800
Her opponent laughed. "Is that supposed to scare me?" he said. "My Garnecia Elefantis is far stronger than her. And you're supposed to be the top duelist here in this circuit, huh? Man, I guess I've been wasting my time trying to make it to this subpar circuit."
"You don't like it here?" said Alexis. "Then allow me to kick you out. I activate the spell, Fusion Weapon!"
Cyber Blader's arm morphed into a crossbow with a photon bolt. Her attack increased to 3600, forcing the cocky opponent to shut up. Alexis ordered her monster to attack, and then Cyber Blader launched the bolt at the elephant warrior's chest, blasting it to pieces and reducing her opponent's Life Points to 0.
"Oh noooooo!" he shouted, slapping both palms on the side of his head.
"And you're out here!" shouted the MC/manager, Wade Wilkinson.
"Wait! Wait! Gimme a chance! I didn't mean what I said."
"Man, get your ass outta here! You ain't good enough to be here!"
"I don't believe it," Aster said. He stood on the tips of his toes to get a better look at the girl in the arena, trying to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him. "No way! What...how?"
"You know that girl?" Antosson asked.
"Uh...yeah. She went to Duel Academy with me years ago. She was one of the best students in school. What in the world is she doing playing in a dump like this?"
"All right folks!" shouted Wade. "As y'all know. It's open fight night here in the Warehouse. Do we have any tough, confident duelists in the house tonight! If y'all here, make some noise!"
The duelists up for the challenge held up their fists and cheered.
"Now that's what I like to hear. Well, boys, tonight I've got a special treat for you. Anyone ready to put their money where their mouth is?"
A round of shouts answered him.
"All right. Allow me to announce the 1000 dollar challenge! Pay a thousand bucks and duel our queen, Alexis!" —There were a few groans and confused murmurs— "Ah, but why would I pay a thousand bucks to play against our darling Alexis, you say? Well, if the lucky winner manages to beat her, not only will they keep their money, but they'll also win Alexis's state of the art, generation 3 Duel Disk Series X"
Ooooh! The challengers said, looking at the Duel Disk on her arm. Alexis backed away, trying to keep her treasure away from their gaze.
"Hey! You can't put my Duel Disk up on the line!" said Alexis. "Do you know how much this cost?"
"And that's not all!" Wade said, completely ignoring her. "The winner will also have the privilege of taking our Alexis out on a date!"
"WHAT!?" Alexis shouted over the excited roar of the crowd. "Bastard! That's not in my contract! You can't do this!"
Wade lowered his head to look at Alexis over his sunglasses. "Sorry babe, finances are low. We gotta make money somehow. Hey, keep your chin up. It's all part of the business."
Alexis stamped her foot on the ground. "No, it's not! You can't put me up as a prize like that! Who do you think you are? I'm going to report your ass!"
Wade walked toward Alexis and flashed his teeth at her in an angry grin. "Go ahead, do that. Just so you know, I have powerful friends. After your little report fails, I'll fire your ass. And then what, Alexis? You're gonna lose that apartment of yours and live off the garbage for the rest of your life, that's what. Is that what you want?"
Alexis pursed her lips. Her balled fists shook, both urging for the opportunity to take a shot at her boss's jaw. She really wanted to. Too long had she been forced to undergo ridiculous gauntlet matches or duel with stipulations. Sometimes her deck was one the line or one of her dear Cyber Angel cards. But this? Surrendering her expensive Duel Disk to the one who beats her AND going out with them on a date?
No. Now he had gone too far.
Alexis's fists were ready to swing and break the man's jaw before storming out. But she found herself taking a deep breath and calming herself. She needed the money and she was confident in her abilities. She surrendered to the terms but had the fierce look of a lioness when staring at Wade. If she was going down, she was going down fighting.
"Someday, Wade, I'm gonna move on from all of this. I'm going to be bigger than you! And you're going to wish you never did any of this to me!"
"Well until then, your ass is mine, Alexis. You want to quit, but that would mean the death of you, wouldn't it? You've got nowhere to go. After that big loss months ago, your mommy and daddy won't even take you back. I'm all you got. Now put a smile on that pretty face and duel, bitch." He walked forward and held up his arms to bask in the admiration of the fans. "Anyone up for the challenge!" he shouted. "Come on, step forward!"
"I'll fight her!" a young man shouted, stepping down from the stands and taking one of the loner Duel Disks on the table next to the arena.
A holographic interface appeared over Alexis's face. With a few taps of her finger, she switched her decks. "Desperate times call for desperate measures," she whispered. She slipped her headset on, which then displayed a holographic lens with blue circles. The first opponent walked up. He wasn't much of a challenge, to say the least.
"Man, I'd hate to be her," said Antosson. "It looks like there are a lot of hungry challengers out there tonight if you know what I mean." He nudged Aster on the shoulder. "Eh? Eh?"
"Shut up," Aster said coldly. He then muttered: "Come on, Alexis. You got this."
"All right!" said the opponent. "I set two cards face-down and summon Opticlops in attack mode!" The giant tan-skinned cyclops was rendered quickly after a rain of blue cubes flowed in front of the duelist. The monster flexed its muscles and roared as it thumped its chest like an ape. "Your move, Alexis!"
"Not at all impressed. I activate Preparation of Rites!" Alexis shouted, holding up her spell card. "Now I can add a Level 7 or lower ritual monster to my hand. Next, I summon Cyber Petit Angel in attack mode!"
The opponent laughed at her monster. "Ha! Is that supposed to scare me? That thing isn't strong enough to take on my Opticlops!"
"Keep your mouth shut and take this loss like a man, will you?" said Alexis. "Using my angel's effect, I add the spell, Machine Angel Ritual to my hand. And I'll activate it, sacrificing Cyber Petit Angel and Cyber Angel Idaten to ritual summon Cyber Angel Izana!"
An arcane circle formed over Alexis and from it emerged a four-armed woman with periwinkle skin, wearing revealing and translucent armor. Her lower two arms held a massive golden javelin and her upper right arm clutched a jeweled battle-ax.
The upper left arm had no weapon but could shoot beams of light from the palm of Izana's hand, which she used to pop one of the opponent's face-down cards with her effect.
"And since I used Cyber Angel Idaten as a sacrifice, Cyber Angel Izana's attack points will increase to 3500! Attack his Opticlops!"
Cyber Angel Izana lept into the air and raised her javelin, ready to strike down the cyclops. The Javelin went right through the monster. It growled in agony and exploded.
"I end my turn," said Alexis.
"You think you're so tough, huh? Well, I've got something that will change this duel around. I activate my trap, Call of the Haunted. Now my Opticlops rises from the dead. But he won't stay for long, cuz I'm going to sacrifice him. But first, I use the spell, Cost Down. I discard a card from my hand and reduce the level of a monster by two. Now, goodbye Opticlops, hello Tri-Horned Dragon!"
Opticlops turned into blue flames, which then formed into a blue stubby dragon, whose head was crowned with three very long horns. His claws were just as long and flashed in the fluorescent light of the warehouse.
"He's not strong enough to take on your Cyber Angel, but wait until I activate this card. Offerings to the Doomed. At the cost of my next draw phase, I can destroy your Angel and leave you wide open for a direct attack!"
Two long golden stands with red candles burning bright on top of them rose out of the ground on either side of Cyber Angel Izana. But she didn't care, for she knew her master was too cunning to let a move that simple take her down.
"I don't think so," said Alexis. "Since you've targeted my Cyber Angel, I'll banish Machine Angel Ritual to protect my Izana from being destroyed. And that's not all, because you targeted Izana, she allows me to shuffle a ritual monster from my hand back to my deck so I can pick a card and destroy it. So say goodbye to your Tri-Horned Dragon!"
The opponent was so stunned by what just happened that he dropped his cards. "But...but that just isn't fair."
Alexis commanded Izana to attack him directly and the game ended.
"Oh, tough luck there Romeo!" said Wade. "Anyone else out there think they're tough enough to accept tonight's $1000 challenge! Who among you has what it takes to bring down our circuit's dueling queen!"
"I'll take her on!" another challenger said. He came rushing toward the ring with his own custom Duel Disk, colored orange with red accents. "Ready to go on a date, dueling queen?"
"No. Now make your move!"
They started at once. The player was skilled, dueling with a Gladiator Beast deck. But he wasn't good enough.
"I shuffle Gladiator Beast Andal, Laquari, and Bestiari to fusion summon the mighty Gladiator Beast Nerokius!" Dark storm clouds formed over the dueling arena and purple lightning flashed. Thunder shook the arena as a giant, hulking, beast in black armor slowly descended from the clouds. The glowing purple orbs on its body illuminated through the clouds.
"Solemn Strike," Alexis said with a yawn.
"WHAT!?"
Gladiator Beast Nerokius was struck by lightning and was gone.
"But….but…"
"My turn," said Alexis. "I activate the spell, Merciful Machine Angel. Now I send Cyber Angel Natasha from my hand back to the deck to draw two cards. Oh, I am so good. Now, I summon Cyber Egg Angel, which lets me add Machine Angel Ritual to my hand. And I'll use it, sacrificing my Cyber Egg Angel and Cyber Angel Izana for Cyber Angel Vrash!"
The entire warehouse went silent as Alexis's most powerful Cyber Angel materialized on the field. Her opponent was wide open with only 2800 Life Points. Cyber Angel Vrash had 3000. It was all over. Cyber Angel Vrash's dragonfly-like wings turned bright green and the golden halo on her back shot a beam of energy at the challenger's chest.
"Aw, nuts!" he said, going down on one knee in defeat.
Another challenger stepped up. The first few turns went in Alexis's favor, for she summoned Cyber Angel Dakini quickly. But the challenger made a slight comeback on his next turn.
"I use the spell Shooting Star Bow - Ceal, and give it to your Cyber Angel, lowering her attack by 1000. Next, I summon the mighty Karate Man!"
He summoned a dark-skinned martial arts master with a yellow jacket and black slacks. A red bandana held up his afro.
"I'll equip him with this card. Unstable Evolution. If my Life Points are lower than yours, it will make my monster's attack 2400. Karate Man, take down her Cyber Angel!"
Karate Man sprinted across the field and punched Dakini in the stomach. She grunted and then exploded, blasting Alexis's Life Points with damage. She looked away and held up her arm to protect her face from the debris.
"Good try, but not good enough," she said. "I discard Cyber Angel Izana to special summon Drytron LTA-DELTA from the graveyard."
The floor flashed with a purple light and a robotic space dragon jumped out and hovered by Alexis.
"Then I activate its effect. I reveal Meteoris Drytron and I can draw a card. It's Cyber Angel Vrash, and I'll discard her to special summon Drytron AL-ZETA to the field from the graveyard. Now I have all I need. I activate the ritual spell, Meteoris Drytron, sacrificing my two Drytron monsters to ritual summon Cyber Angel Vrash from the graveyard."
"No way! I've never seen those cards before!"
"Pfft, you must not follow the game very well if you haven't heard of the Drytrons before," said Alexis. "Another reason why you shouldn't be up here. Cyber Angel Vrash, attack and destroy Karate Man!"
BOOM! Karate Man was vaporized and the opponent's Life Points fell to 0.
"Aww, come on. Best two out of three?"
"Get lost," Alexis said, chugging a water bottle. "Huh. And to think I had something to worry about a while ago. All right, Wade. Who's next?"
"That's my girl! Come on! Our dueling queen thirsts for a challenge. Anyone bold enough to take her on!"
Another duelist approached. He got cocky when he used Raigeki to destroy Alexis's duo of Cyber Angel Natasha, then summoned Hunter Dragon to attack her Life Points directly.
"I've almost got you beat!"
"Even if you did beat me, I can tell it's going to be a lame date," said Alexis. "I bet those thousand bucks you used was all the money you had."
"Huh...well…I…"
"Not that it matters. We're not going to be doing anything tonight. I use the spell, Merciful Machine Angel, sending Benten from my hand to the deck to draw two cards. Yeah, now we're talking. I activate the spell, Meteornis Drytron. I tribute two Drytron monsters to summon the mighty Drytron Meteonis Draconids!"
The roof of the warehouse digitized to reveal the cloudy, cold, night sky. All of a sudden, a bright blue light filled the warehouse. Descending from the deep reaches of space was a colossal mech built to resemble an angelic dragon. Its body was made of sleek metal painted bright blue with gold accents.
ATK/4000 DEF/4000
"I don't remember that in Alexis's deck," said Aster. "Where did she get a card like that?"
The gauntlet went on and on. Sometimes the same challenger came back time and time again, throwing away thousands just for a chance to take Alexis's state of the art Duel Disk. Hours went by and she was beginning to grow exhausted. When she collapsed on the ground on her knees, the challengers began to crowd around the arena hungrily like sharks smelling blood in the water.
"Wade…" Alexis gasped. "Please. I need to rest. I can't...I can't play another match."
"Are you kidding! Look at all this money we're making. I'm buying you steak tonight, Alexis! We've hit the jackpot. Look at all these suckers tossing us all this cash just for a chance to take you out on a date. This is gonna be a permanent theme."
"No...you can't."
"Hey, Wade, stop!" shouted Vivian. "You've got to stop this man, she needs a break."
"All right! Who's the next challenger ready to take on our queen?"
Aster decided that enough was enough. He pushed and shoved his way through the crowd and stepped up to the arena. When the crowd saw his championship belt, they all gasped and stared at him in wonder.
"Aster?" Alexis gasped. "What...what are you doing here?"
"Whoa!" said Wade. "You...you're Aster Phoenix. The colosseum's grand champion. You here to take on the thousand-dollar challenge?"
"No, I'm not. And I'm not going to stand around and let you treat this girl like this. What the hell is the matter with you, asshole?"
Wade growled and flashed his teeth at Aster before crossing his arms over his thick chest. "What are you going to do about it, Phoenix?"
Aster reached into his jacket and pulled out a checkbook. "I'm going to buy her contract from you, that's what."
"Aster, what are you doing?" Alexis asked.
Wade scoffed and let out an explosive laugh. "Really, boy? Really? You don't have enough money to buy Alexis —" Aster ripped the check out and handed it to Wade. Wade said nothing as he read the number of zeros Aster wrote on the check. "Well, Alexis, it was a pleasure having you here. We wish you luck in your future endeavors."
Aster walked to Alexis and held out his hand. She was hesitant at first but she took it and was yanked back up on her feet.
"How much did you give him?"
"Enough that you don't have to worry about him anymore. I'm in charge of your dueling career now, Alexis."
"You serious?"
"Yeah. Your skills are too good for this place. I'm taking you to the top. I mean, if you want to, that is."
Alexis nodded a hundred times. "Yes! Yes, of course, I want to. I'll go!"
"Well, that was fast. Alright, grab your things and meet me outside. Now, because I'm starting to wonder just what in the hell I just did."
Alexis said nothing and hopped off the arena back into the motorcoach to change into her casual clothes. Once she was done, she slipped her duffle bag over her shoulder and walked out. Vivian was running towards her.
"What just happened?" she asked. "Aster Phoenix just handed Wade a check and you just left. What is going on, girl?"
"Aster said he just bought my contract from Wade," Alexis replied. "I guess...I guess I'm out of here."
"Big leagues?"
"We'll see," said Alexis. "I doubt Aster would by my contract if he didn't have big things planned for me. My question is why? This is just so sudden and….so random."
"Well, didn't you two go to school together?"
"Duel Academy? Naw, that was a long time ago. Besides, we didn't even know each other that well. But I guess now we're going to be working together. Hopefully, this will take me to new heights."
Vivian's lips trembled. "You're a skilled duelist, Alexis. You can go anywhere you want to if you set your heart to it."
Alexis saw tears of hurt sparkle in Vivian's eyes. "I'll come back for you. I promise."
"You just do what's best for you," Vivian said, grabbing both Alexis's hands and holding them tightly. "Besides, I'm sure Aster must have given wade something big if it made him give you up like that. Maybe we'll get the finances we need to turn this place around."
Alexis laughed. "With the way Wade runs things, I doubt Aster's check is going to help. You know I'll never forget you. If I make it big, I'm coming back for you, okay."
"All right, ma'am. I'll be waiting," said Vivian. She hugged her friend and patted her back. "Take care of you."
"Take care of you," Alexis replied, rubbing her hand up and down Vivian's back.
They both exchanged kisses, then Alexis walked to the front of the parking lot where Aster was waiting inside the luxury SUV. Alexis shivered with excitement. It was the start of a new chapter in her life, and she couldn't wait to get it started.