****Author's Note: Before I continue to add chapters I would like to say
how much I appreciate all the comments and reviews. You guys are the best,
your comments, good or bad, are my encouragement for this story, and I
apologize for not updating in a long time****
****Disclaimer: I have failed so many times, regrettably, to say that I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of it's characters with the exception of Roux and Kale Tori. How many times I have forgotten to add this piece of information to my story is very embarrassing. ****
****Anyway, I'm glad you guys are enjoying my story, keep the reviews coming! I love the feedback! ****
Chapter Twenty
"Come on, Joey! Just today?" Roux begged Joey as they were finishing their breakfast early the next morning. "Please Joey?" I'll be super careful, I promise! And what's the harm, it's just a practice duel!"
"I dunno." Joey said rubbing his chin, for the first time that morning he wasn't stuffing his face with food. Roux had hoped that she could persuade Joey to let her go out and get in some practice duels now that she was back in the tournament. But Joey was being very cautious ever since she had snuck out to go to her hotel.
"Come on Joey, just one duel?" she pleaded to him, pulling on his shirt playfully like a nagging child. "Please? I'll be really careful. I promise!" Usually Roux wouldn't even consider asking Joey for permission to go out, she was able to take care of herself. But she had promised to be safe and she promised Pegasus that she would be safe with Joey. She had already disappointed them both, but she would not make the same mistake.
"It'd be okay, Joey." Piped in Yugi happily, who had joined them for breakfast that morning, and was halfway through his grapefruit when the topic of a practice duel came up. "It's only a practice duel, it's be out in the daytime and we'll be there with her. What could possibly happen?"
"Lots of things," Joey pouted, crossing his arms and looking at the table. "She could get kidnapped, her nail could get broken, the other guy could give her a hard time, she could lose her deck, she could run into flirty- face Duke or worse, Kaiba!"
Roux rolled her eyes. He was ridiculously overreacting. He probably knew he was too. Even though these things were each a risk, some more farfetched than others, part of the game of duel monsters was risk, whether it meant risking your best card or your life points, or something entirely different. Duel monsters was a game of risk. Risk was what made it interesting.
"Come on Joey, it won't be that bad." Roux chimed and when he looked at her she intentionally batted her long eyelashes. "What if we just dueled, you and me? Would that be so bad?" her eyes glimmered.
Joey let out a sigh and he seemed to think about it, as his brown eyes scanned the table, lost in thought. Everyone at the table watched him uneasily, intensely, especially Roux. She slipped her hand over his encouragingly, and Yugi saw the apple of Joey's cheeks go red. Joey finally sighed. "All right, all right, ya talked me into it." He grinned at her.
Roux threw her arms around him. "Yay! Oh thank you Joey!" she screeched happily, hugging him tightly, and as soon as she let go she went running off down the hall to the guest bedroom where all her things were. When she was safely gone, Joey sighed softly.
"Wow, she sure must love dueling." Yugi said with a big smile.
"Yea," Joey said, rubbing the back of his head and looking at the table with a disdainful look in his eyes. "I dunno about this, Yug. I mean what if the guys looking for that stone are here in the city?" he shrugged and looked at Yugi. "I don't want Roux to get hurt."
"None of us do, Joey." Yugi said confidently. "But don't worry. If they are searching for her and they are here in Domino, they won't be able to do anything, not in pure daylight and not with us around." Yugi smiled. "Trust me, it'll be okay."
Joey nodded at his friend and smiled softly. "Yeah.you're right Yug."
They left the apartment shortly and they continued down the sidewalk in the direction of Tea's apartment. Bakura and Tea were going to come with them. They all heard that Joey had fallen victim to Roux's charms and that she wanted a practice duel today, and they were both eager and curious to see Roux's strategies.
Roux was a bit nervous. She hadn't dueled in a long time, and from what she had heard from Yugi, Kaiba Corp had constructed virtual reality to make the monsters appear real and attack each other, right in front of your eyes. This had made her uneasy and nervous. Then again she hadn't really expected a whole tournament to be based around two people at a board game. She was getting excited to see the new virtual systems.
"Hi guys!" Tea waved to them as she spotted them coming down the street, and she, Tristan who had counted on joining them, and Bakura came running towards them, grinning widely. "Yugi called and said you were all going to the town square to get into some practice dueling. You don't mind if we come along, do you?"
Joey grinned. "Nah, of course not! The more the merrier!" he said anxiously.
~ The more, the less Roux is gonna get in trouble! ~ Joey thought to himself.
"I heard Roux beat you up to let her come out, Joey." Tristan said laughing. "Joey got beaten by a girl!"
Joey fumed. "Hey!" he said warningly to Tristan.
Roux giggled. "Actually Tristan I had to plead with Joey to let me come out. If I hadn't he wouldn't have let me out at all."
Tristan smiled. "Sounds like something a zoo keeper would do."
Joey snarled. "Zip it!" he told Tristan threateningly.
Tea rolled her eyes and pouted and pulled Roux away. "Those boys are always fighting, they're so obnoxious!"
Roux looked back at them and smiled. "Yeah. You'd think they were brothers or something."
"At least they're not like Tristan and Duke." Bakura said softly.
Yugi laughed. "Yeah, Bakura has a good point. Those two would kill each other if they had the chance."
They began walking into town with Tristan and Joey still bickering behind them, but they didn't pay any attention. They were walking along the sidewalk towards the Town Square.
"Wow, look at all these duelists!" Tea said rather amazed as they stopped and observed all the duelists who had gathered at the Town Square to practice duel. There will duelists young and old, big and little, men and women all gathered around, swapping cards, talking cheerfully and hoping that they would have a chance to get into the finals.
A dueling platform was set up just off to the right of the large fountain in the center of the square. People sat at the fountain and chatted and swapped cards, and many watched the practice duel that was in session.
Roux couldn't see very well past the heads of the crowd. She had hoped to get a glimpse of the virtual reality creatures before she had to use them.
"Hey guys!" came a familiar voice through the crowds, and when Roux looked over she saw Mai running over to them, waving her arm frantically and excitedly. Roux smiled when she saw her.
"Hey Mai." Everyone said cheerfully. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh you know, just the routine stuff. Swapping cards, looking good and practicing." Mai said happily, striking a pose, and then she looked at Roux with a big grin. "Well my, my. Someone has an incredibly good fashion sense for a duel!" Mai said gleefully. "You know I saw your last edition in the magazine store last night, and all of Osaka is totally rooting for you."
Roux smiled. "Really? That's good, I'm glad. I hope I don't let them down."
"Well you certainly won't let them down, even if you lose." Mai said. "I mean look at your fingernails, they're so perfect. They aren't chipped or unevenly cut or anything, I'm so jealous!" Mai said, observing Roux's fingernails.
Joey made a weird face. "Okay Mai, I don't think we wanna spend all day here listening to ya praise Roux's fingernails."
"Of course not," Mai smiled and released Roux's fingernails. "So who are you hoping to duel, Roux? I'm anxious to see what cards you've got."
Roux shrugged. "I don't know, anybody I suppose." She smiled.
Joey piped in. "Why don't you try dueling one of us? Just to get in a practice flow?"
Roux smiled. "That sounds like a good idea, Joey." She said sweetly, but she was truthfully feeling uneasy about it. These people were all her friends, and she would feel rather badly if she, an amateur duelist who had only by luck gotten into the tournament, won against one of these people who had been dueling their whole lives.
But before another word could be said, an eerie chuckle came from behind them, and the entire group turned around in wonder. They had to look down, and then they saw Weevil standing there, holding his deck and chuckling with his insanely high-pitched voice.
Yugi smiled. "Weevil!"
The boy named Weevil, with neon green hair and big eyeglasses, chuckled heartily. "Yes, we meet again Yugi." He said with his high-pitched voice.
"I never thought I'd ever see you again, not after duelist kingdom." Yugi said, who in experience hadn't liked Weevil very much in the past, and had lost some very great cards due to him. But that was a long time ago. Yugi wouldn't let that stand in the way of a possible friendship, if there was ever one destined to be there.
"Yes I know, must I say I was rather disappointed to be have been disqualified from duelist kingdom because of you." He grinned. "But that's all in the past. Tell me, what exactly are you doing here? Preparing for the Battle City tournament?"
"Sure are." Yugi said happily, nodding his head. "You too, I'll bet?"
"Of course. I would never miss a tournament." Weevil said sinisterly. "How about a practice duel? I'm gotten some better cards and a new strategy and I think I may be able to beat you this time, Yugi."
Yugi smiled. "Thanks, but no thanks Weevil. However there may be someone here you can duel, if you wouldn't mind."
Weevil's eyes perked in interest. "Oh?"
Everyone looked at Roux, who smiled down at Weevil. Weevil looked up at Roux and his smile was gone. He would be dueling her? No one had said anything about that. She was by far the most beautiful young woman Weevil had ever laid eyes on, and being the nerd that he was, Weevil hardly had much taste for girls, and certainly never met many of them.
Roux took a step towards him. "Hi. I'm not a very skilled duelist, not yet anyway, but I would like to get in a practice duel if you didn't mind.being my opponent." She gave him a sweet smile.
Weevil felt himself shaking at the knees, but he brought himself together. "Me? Duel you?" he smirked. "Sorry, beautiful but I am one of the most skilled duelists in the country, there would be no way that you could possibly beat me!" he said proudly.
Joey scowled and grabbed Weevil by the scruff of the shirt. "Hey you little twirp, is that any way to speak to a lady? She just wants to get in some practice, ya bum!"
"Joey, cut it out!" Roux and Tea said at the same time, and Joey let Weevil down, who was gasping for breath, and reached into his coat for his puffer.
"Okay, okay." He wheezed painfully. "Okay then, we'll duel." He said, and then he grinned up at Roux. "But you'll be sorry."
Roux smiled down at him, and pulled her deck from her purse. "We'll see who's the sorry one."
~*~
The day had been considerably better from the last few days for Kaiba. For one he didn't have any appointments until the afternoon, which was close to a blessing and two nothing was going wrong today, which was enough to get him in a good enough mood. If the day continued like this, Kaiba could have called it a good day.
By noon or so he had finished most of his daily upgrades for the company. With twenty minutes or so to spare until noon, he stepped away from his laptop and stared out the window down into the town square, which was visible even from his window, being at least 40 feet off the ground.
Kaiba observed literally the hundreds of people who had gathered in the Town Square at noon, especially on a Friday, he was surprised this many people would show up. He had scheduled the practice day, of course, he gave the suits the permission to set up a practice platform and let duelists practice, just to get warmed up. The tournament started on the Thursday of the following week.
For the most part he was looking forward to the tournament. He was eager to see new duelists and their strategies. He would become bored watching amateur duelists lose so easily in a duel, but there were few that were skilled, and it would be worthwhile to watch them closer.
Half of the purpose to hold the tournament was to attain your opponent's strongest card and learn to wield it's power. Kaiba's teeth clenched suddenly at the thoughts of yesterdays, how Yugi Moto had threatened him if he didn't allow Roux back in the tournament.
Kaiba would have been perfectly fine disqualifying Yugi from the tournament, had it not been for his Egyptian god card and the millennium puzzle. Frankly he would have been happy if both of them, Yugi and Roux, were out of his tournament. But he couldn't risk the Egyptian god card if, as Yugi had said, he wanted to reclaim his title as the world's greatest duelist.
Why would Yugi be willing to have himself disqualified for Roux, Kaiba couldn't understand it, no matter how hard he thought about it. What was it about her that made them all worship her?
It was because she was a model, Kaiba smirked to himself. The only reason why any of them were friends with her was because she could make them go stiff in an instant. Maybe there was an inside reason as to why Yugi was helping her. Kaiba wouldn't have been the least bit surprised if that were the case.
Kaiba guessed that they were all down there in the square. For a moment he thought he had seen Yugi's star-shaped head in and among the crowd. Kaiba thought it would have been worth it to go down there and find Roux, just to make her scared, just to see the look on her face. But he wouldn't. He didn't care about Roux or her problems, and frankly he would be happy if he never saw her again.
The intercom buzzed insufferably, making Kaiba jump and then wheel around in annoyance. He pressed the button with his finger. "What?" he asked firmly.
"Sir, Mokuba is here to see you."
"Send him in." Kaiba requested, and then he sat down gingerly on his chair and pretended to be preoccupied with something on his computer as Mokuba came casually in through the door, smiling widely. "Hi big brother!"
Kaiba gave his little brother a smile. "Hello Mokuba. You're going for lunch I see?"
Mokuba nodded. "Yup!" he smiled. "I'm going down to the square, they're giving out free hot dogs and pop for the practice duels. You wanna come?" Mokuba's eyes went wide with curiosity.
Kaiba shook his head. "Maybe later, Mokuba." He said encouragingly. "You go have fun."
Mokuba nodded, smiling happily, and he turned to open the door and leave, but before he reached for the doorknob, he turned around and gave his brother a sad, happy smile. "That was really nice of you, Seto."
Kaiba looked up questionably, frowning. "What do you mean?" he asked, folding his arms and resting them on the desk. He seriously had no idea what his little bro was talking about.
Mokuba turned around completely and gave a very sweet smile. "What you did for Roux. It was really nice of you."
Immediately Kaiba frowned and once again began to type at the laptop. "Humph, she was lucky." He spat angrily. "She wouldn't be in my tournament if it hadn't been for Yugi's Egyptian god card."
Mokuba blinked and his smile was gone. He obviously hadn't understood. "Um, all-right." No, Mokuba didn't understand, but he smiled nevertheless. "Well I still think it was nice of you to let her back in. It was important to her." He pointed out the window. "She's probably down at the practice duels, you want to go see her?"
"No." Kaiba insisted flatly, immediately.
Mokuba titled his head to the side. "Are you interested in her?" Mokuba pressed. "She's really beautiful, and nice, and smart."
Kaiba smirked. "Don't be ridiculous Mokuba." He almost snarled. "She's a model, interested in Joey Wheeler. I'd feel insulted and betrayed to be interested in her." And this was the truth. Perhaps Kaiba had been curious about her, but not interested. Never interested. He despised her entirely, nothing could ever change that.
Mokuba looked rather disappointed, and he turned to go. "It's too bad, I think you two would have been really cute together."
Before Kaiba could raise his voice in protest, Mokuba was already gone.
~*~
Many people had gathered around the platform, cranking their necks to look up and watch the two duelists on the platform, Weevil and Roux, begin their practice duel. They began at the opposite sides of the platform, as was usually done in the duels, and then they turned and face each other.
Weevil had a wretched smile on his face. He knew that beating this beauty queen was not going to be a problem. If he believed all the blonde jokes he had heard, and he probably did believe them, Weevil wouldn't be surprised if in the middle of the duel she bent over and asked someone what attack points were. He laughed to himself, this would be an easy duel.
Roux loaded her gaming disk, putting in her deck of cards, and she looked over at Weevil. He was grinning to himself, as though he were laughing at her. She swallowed softly. This kid had gotten to the duelist kingdom, as she had heard earlier. He must have been pretty skilled. But she wasn't afraid of him.
Down at the sidelines, all her friends were standing and cheering for her, which made her feel better. She was glad to know that they were there, and whether she won or lost, they would be there for her, no matter what.
"You can do it, Roux!" Joey shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Show that Weevil how it's done!" Tristan punched the air with his fist.
"Believe in your deck, trust the cards!" Yugi shouted out.
Roux smiled down at each one of them and nodded, and she waved to them. Then she turned towards Weevil.
Here it was, her first real duel. She sucked in a deep breath.
They each pulled five cards, and took a moment to look over them all carefully with detail. Everyone on the sidelines watched with patience. They wanted the duel to get started, they were anxious to see what would happen.
"Hey Yug," Joey said, tapping Yugi's shoulder but not taking his eyes off Roux. "Do you think she'll be okay up there?"
Yugi nodded. "I think so Joey. Weevil only uses insect cards, and with some of the new cards she got from the shop, she should be able to do just fine."
Weevil, having overheard their conversation, fought the urge to laugh out loud. He bit his lip and merely snickered to himself. Obviously, they had not been listening when he had said that he had gotten some new cards and some new strategies. He was no longer playing only in insect cards.
But he wouldn't say so. Not at this time.
"Okay then blondie, since you're a beginner, I'll let you go first." Weevil said slyly, snickered behind his wave of cards and watching Roux's eyes study her five cards.
"Hmm." Roux looked through her cards thoughtfully. She had pulled some very interesting cards. She had pulled Hibikime, the Armored Lizard and Uraby, in terms of monsters, and two magic guards. Her eyes fixed on Dian Keto, the Cure Master. With this card you could increase your life points by 1000 points. Roux held on tight to that one. She would need it later.
"All right then, I summon Hibikime the Warrior in attack mode!" Roux set down her Hibikime card on the disk, and right before her eyes the mystic creature from the card had come alive before Roux's eyes. She gasped at first, but realized there was nothing to be afraid of. It was only an illusion. She looked through the rest of her cards. "And I place one card face down." Nothing more could be done. "I end my turn."
Weevil laughed. "Well, it looks as though you've done your shopping. Though your Hibikime warrior is powerful, it is surely no match for this." Weevil placed down a card. "I summon the Dark Witch, in attack mode!"
The Dark Witch appeared on the playing platform, and Roux and her friends were all very confused.
"Hey Yug I thought you said this kid only plays insect cards." Joey said to Yugi, a rather testily.
"I thought he did," Yugi said, rather astonished. "At least.he used to play only insect cards."
On the platform Weevil laughed. "Surprised? Well you've seen nothing yet. Dark Witch! Attack her Hibikime Warrior!"
Roux's eyes went wide as she saw the Dark Witch deliver a fatal attack to Roux's Hibikime Warrior with a sharp spear. Roux gasped when the Hibikime warrior let out a cry, and then burst into shards. Roux's life points went down by 1450, leaving her with 2550 life points.
Roux suddenly felt as though a chuck of her energy had just collapsed out of her. She felt winded and breathed in for air.
"Oh no!" Joey said instantly. "Weevil's already got the lead! That little sneak, if he hurts Roux I'm gonna make sure he never sees the tournament!" Joey snarled angrily, and punched the air with his fists.
Roux straightened herself up. She felt better. She looked over at Weevil, who was snickering at her. "It's your turn now, sweet thing."
Roux pulled two new cards from her deck and looked over them. She gave a little smile. She had pulled the Darkfire Soldier #1 and the Peacock, both with extremely high attack point levels. She let out a little sigh of relief. Neither of these cards could take out Weevil's Dark Witch, but she had a plan.
"I summon the Peacock Winged Beast in defense mode!" Roux called out and laid down her Peacock card. The bird appeared magically on the field in front of Roux.
Weevil only snickered. "You're foolish, I see you didn't learn anything from my last attack. Dark Witch attack her Peacock!"
But before the Dark Witch could strike the peacock, Roux smiled. "You plainly forgot about my face down card." Roux raised the magic card. "I use the Reliable Guardian to increase my peacock's defense points by 300, thus outranking your Dark Witch's defense points."
Weevil's life points remained the same, and he snickered. "I see you're beginning to use magic cards. Nicely done. But you're still no match for my Dark Witch."
"We'll see." Roux said, and pulled another card. She gasped. She had pulled the Rude Kaiser. It could safe her life points.
"I summon the Rude Kaiser in attack mode, and I use it to attack your Dark Witch, and send it to the graveyard!" Roux pointed to the Dark Witch, and the Rude Kaiser delivered a heavy blow with it's big axe.
Weevil's life points went down to 2200.
"Aw right!" Joey said shouting out cheerfully. "Now Roux's got the lead! This is great!"
Yugi studied the match very carefully. Weevil didn't look at all concerned. Yugi wondered why, this was very suspicious.
Weevil shrugged. "Well, I can't say that wasn't a stroke of luck." He pulled another card, studied it and then grinned wickedly. "But not lucky enough." He put down his card and snickered. "I play Sparks, once this magic card is played, it inflicts 200 points of direct damage to your life points!"
The sparks flew towards Roux, and almost knocked her down. She gave out a small startled gasp, and looked down at her dueling disk. She had 2300 life points left.
"And if that isn't enough for you, beautiful, I summon the Thousand Dragon!" Weevil burst out into an evil laugh that echoed throughout the square, and as he laid down his card a massive dragon appeared. It's attack points were 2400. Roux could hardly breathe.
The crowd had burst into shocked gasps and odd hushes. The gang at the sidelines all gasped. "Oh no!" Yugi cried out. "With that dragon Weevil could take out Roux's life points in a single turn!"
Joey bit down on his lip, and then he angrily scowled. "Weevil you dirty rotten cheat! I know you cheated somehow!"
Weevil didn't pay any attention to Joey. He was far too amused at the look on Roux's face. "Well girlie, got anything to say?"
Roux stared up at the dragon nervously, and she swallowed tightly. She looked down at the cards she had in her hand. She placed down Dian Keto, for she would need him now. She kept her Rude Kaiser on the playing field, and discarded of the Darkfire Soldier. She pulled a card from her deck.
A magic card. Dragon treasure. It was only useful if she had a dragon. And she didn't have a dragon. Roux was hesitating. Nothing good could come from this. She was finished.
Then again it was only a practice duel. But something inside her had told her she had to win, perhaps to prove herself. She had to show them all, everyone watching, that a super fashion model wasn't ditzy or stupid as some people stereotyped. She had to win.
She reached for another card, and suddenly without warning, the stone on her ring flashed a deep red colour, blinding her for an instant, and then it was gone. She let out a startled scream and looked at the ring intensely. What just happened?
"Well?" said Weevil impatiently. "I'm waiting. Did you run out of good cards, doll face?"
Roux scowled over at Weevil, and she reached for her deck, and pulled a card. She examined the card, and she was sure her heart had stopped for a whole couple of seconds, as she stared at the card in her hand.
The Red-Eyes Black Dragon!
Roux blinked. A red eyes? She didn't remember ever getting that card, unless somehow she hadn't seen it when she had bought the deck or traded it. She looked at the two cards in her hands. The Red-Eyes Black Dragon combined with the Dragon treasure card.she could easily take out Weevil's Thousand Dragon easily.
She couldn't believe it. She seriously couldn't believe it.
Roux grinned, and she looked at Weevil. "Okay Weevil, I see what you're playing at here. So I summon the Red-Eyes Black Dragon in attack mode!" she threw down her card on the disk.
The crowd had gone deathly silent as the enormous red-eyed black dragon appeared, ferocious and terrifying. Weevil's eyes went so wide they looked like they would fall out of the sockets. His jaw was shaking. "No-no it can't be!"
"A red eyes!" Tea shrieked suddenly. "How did Roux get a red eyes?"
"I don't remember seeing it in her deck when I looked over it." Yugi whispered to himself, and then very slowly he looked over at Joey, who was grinning. He was glad to see Roux winning, but Yugi knew that Joey had done something. Like putting the dragon in her deck so she would win. He wouldn't let her lose and be humiliated.
Weevil wasn't dropping dead yet. "Humph! Nice try blondie, but your dragon and my dragon's attack points are equal. Whoever were to attack first would be knocked out clean." He grinned, and before Roux could open her red lips he shouted out. "Thousand Dragon! Attack her Red-Eyes Black Dragon!"
The Thousand Dragon was about to attack, but Roux was ready.
"You forgot about my face down card!" she said slyly. "I play Dian Keto, the Cure Master, and boost my life points by 1000 points, leaving me with 3300 life points!" she grinned. "And if that isn't enough, I summon Dragon Treasure, which increases my dragon's attack points by 300!"
"Wow!" All of Roux's friends said at once.
The Red-Eyes Black Dragon now had 2700 attack points.
The match was done. Weevil was finished.
"Red-Eyes Black Dragon, attack his Thousand Dragon!" Roux commanded, and the fearsome black dragon let out a mighty roar, and launched a deadly attack on the thousand dragon, disintegrating it to shards.
Weevil's life points went down to 0.
Roux let out a long breath. The duel was over. She had won.
Cheers came from the crowd, and the monsters all disappeared. The platform lowered slowly, and once it had touched the ground, all her friends ran to her and hugged her tightly. Joey was the first. He grabbed her tightly and wouldn't let go.
"I knew you could do it!" he told her, laughing. "I knew ya could!"
Weevil stepped off the platform slowly, wondering how on earth he could have lost. He blinked a few times. "How could I have lost?" he kept repeating to himself.
Roux shook his little hand. "Good match. Thanks very much."
Weevil scowled tightly. "You cheated! I know you did somehow!" he was shaking his head in disbelief. "I never lose.I never do."
He walked off slowly with his head hanging low. Roux watched him and suddenly she wished she hadn't won. She didn't want him to lose confidence in himself.
"Meh, I liked the kid better when he dueled nothing but insects!" Joey remarked, and that had brightened Roux up a bit.
~*~
****Yay! Well thank goodness that's over. I hate writing duel scenes, they're so confusing! Anyway I hope you liked it, and I should be updating fairly soon as I have a nice long weekend here. Please R&R! ^_^ ****
****Disclaimer: I have failed so many times, regrettably, to say that I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of it's characters with the exception of Roux and Kale Tori. How many times I have forgotten to add this piece of information to my story is very embarrassing. ****
****Anyway, I'm glad you guys are enjoying my story, keep the reviews coming! I love the feedback! ****
Chapter Twenty
"Come on, Joey! Just today?" Roux begged Joey as they were finishing their breakfast early the next morning. "Please Joey?" I'll be super careful, I promise! And what's the harm, it's just a practice duel!"
"I dunno." Joey said rubbing his chin, for the first time that morning he wasn't stuffing his face with food. Roux had hoped that she could persuade Joey to let her go out and get in some practice duels now that she was back in the tournament. But Joey was being very cautious ever since she had snuck out to go to her hotel.
"Come on Joey, just one duel?" she pleaded to him, pulling on his shirt playfully like a nagging child. "Please? I'll be really careful. I promise!" Usually Roux wouldn't even consider asking Joey for permission to go out, she was able to take care of herself. But she had promised to be safe and she promised Pegasus that she would be safe with Joey. She had already disappointed them both, but she would not make the same mistake.
"It'd be okay, Joey." Piped in Yugi happily, who had joined them for breakfast that morning, and was halfway through his grapefruit when the topic of a practice duel came up. "It's only a practice duel, it's be out in the daytime and we'll be there with her. What could possibly happen?"
"Lots of things," Joey pouted, crossing his arms and looking at the table. "She could get kidnapped, her nail could get broken, the other guy could give her a hard time, she could lose her deck, she could run into flirty- face Duke or worse, Kaiba!"
Roux rolled her eyes. He was ridiculously overreacting. He probably knew he was too. Even though these things were each a risk, some more farfetched than others, part of the game of duel monsters was risk, whether it meant risking your best card or your life points, or something entirely different. Duel monsters was a game of risk. Risk was what made it interesting.
"Come on Joey, it won't be that bad." Roux chimed and when he looked at her she intentionally batted her long eyelashes. "What if we just dueled, you and me? Would that be so bad?" her eyes glimmered.
Joey let out a sigh and he seemed to think about it, as his brown eyes scanned the table, lost in thought. Everyone at the table watched him uneasily, intensely, especially Roux. She slipped her hand over his encouragingly, and Yugi saw the apple of Joey's cheeks go red. Joey finally sighed. "All right, all right, ya talked me into it." He grinned at her.
Roux threw her arms around him. "Yay! Oh thank you Joey!" she screeched happily, hugging him tightly, and as soon as she let go she went running off down the hall to the guest bedroom where all her things were. When she was safely gone, Joey sighed softly.
"Wow, she sure must love dueling." Yugi said with a big smile.
"Yea," Joey said, rubbing the back of his head and looking at the table with a disdainful look in his eyes. "I dunno about this, Yug. I mean what if the guys looking for that stone are here in the city?" he shrugged and looked at Yugi. "I don't want Roux to get hurt."
"None of us do, Joey." Yugi said confidently. "But don't worry. If they are searching for her and they are here in Domino, they won't be able to do anything, not in pure daylight and not with us around." Yugi smiled. "Trust me, it'll be okay."
Joey nodded at his friend and smiled softly. "Yeah.you're right Yug."
They left the apartment shortly and they continued down the sidewalk in the direction of Tea's apartment. Bakura and Tea were going to come with them. They all heard that Joey had fallen victim to Roux's charms and that she wanted a practice duel today, and they were both eager and curious to see Roux's strategies.
Roux was a bit nervous. She hadn't dueled in a long time, and from what she had heard from Yugi, Kaiba Corp had constructed virtual reality to make the monsters appear real and attack each other, right in front of your eyes. This had made her uneasy and nervous. Then again she hadn't really expected a whole tournament to be based around two people at a board game. She was getting excited to see the new virtual systems.
"Hi guys!" Tea waved to them as she spotted them coming down the street, and she, Tristan who had counted on joining them, and Bakura came running towards them, grinning widely. "Yugi called and said you were all going to the town square to get into some practice dueling. You don't mind if we come along, do you?"
Joey grinned. "Nah, of course not! The more the merrier!" he said anxiously.
~ The more, the less Roux is gonna get in trouble! ~ Joey thought to himself.
"I heard Roux beat you up to let her come out, Joey." Tristan said laughing. "Joey got beaten by a girl!"
Joey fumed. "Hey!" he said warningly to Tristan.
Roux giggled. "Actually Tristan I had to plead with Joey to let me come out. If I hadn't he wouldn't have let me out at all."
Tristan smiled. "Sounds like something a zoo keeper would do."
Joey snarled. "Zip it!" he told Tristan threateningly.
Tea rolled her eyes and pouted and pulled Roux away. "Those boys are always fighting, they're so obnoxious!"
Roux looked back at them and smiled. "Yeah. You'd think they were brothers or something."
"At least they're not like Tristan and Duke." Bakura said softly.
Yugi laughed. "Yeah, Bakura has a good point. Those two would kill each other if they had the chance."
They began walking into town with Tristan and Joey still bickering behind them, but they didn't pay any attention. They were walking along the sidewalk towards the Town Square.
"Wow, look at all these duelists!" Tea said rather amazed as they stopped and observed all the duelists who had gathered at the Town Square to practice duel. There will duelists young and old, big and little, men and women all gathered around, swapping cards, talking cheerfully and hoping that they would have a chance to get into the finals.
A dueling platform was set up just off to the right of the large fountain in the center of the square. People sat at the fountain and chatted and swapped cards, and many watched the practice duel that was in session.
Roux couldn't see very well past the heads of the crowd. She had hoped to get a glimpse of the virtual reality creatures before she had to use them.
"Hey guys!" came a familiar voice through the crowds, and when Roux looked over she saw Mai running over to them, waving her arm frantically and excitedly. Roux smiled when she saw her.
"Hey Mai." Everyone said cheerfully. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh you know, just the routine stuff. Swapping cards, looking good and practicing." Mai said happily, striking a pose, and then she looked at Roux with a big grin. "Well my, my. Someone has an incredibly good fashion sense for a duel!" Mai said gleefully. "You know I saw your last edition in the magazine store last night, and all of Osaka is totally rooting for you."
Roux smiled. "Really? That's good, I'm glad. I hope I don't let them down."
"Well you certainly won't let them down, even if you lose." Mai said. "I mean look at your fingernails, they're so perfect. They aren't chipped or unevenly cut or anything, I'm so jealous!" Mai said, observing Roux's fingernails.
Joey made a weird face. "Okay Mai, I don't think we wanna spend all day here listening to ya praise Roux's fingernails."
"Of course not," Mai smiled and released Roux's fingernails. "So who are you hoping to duel, Roux? I'm anxious to see what cards you've got."
Roux shrugged. "I don't know, anybody I suppose." She smiled.
Joey piped in. "Why don't you try dueling one of us? Just to get in a practice flow?"
Roux smiled. "That sounds like a good idea, Joey." She said sweetly, but she was truthfully feeling uneasy about it. These people were all her friends, and she would feel rather badly if she, an amateur duelist who had only by luck gotten into the tournament, won against one of these people who had been dueling their whole lives.
But before another word could be said, an eerie chuckle came from behind them, and the entire group turned around in wonder. They had to look down, and then they saw Weevil standing there, holding his deck and chuckling with his insanely high-pitched voice.
Yugi smiled. "Weevil!"
The boy named Weevil, with neon green hair and big eyeglasses, chuckled heartily. "Yes, we meet again Yugi." He said with his high-pitched voice.
"I never thought I'd ever see you again, not after duelist kingdom." Yugi said, who in experience hadn't liked Weevil very much in the past, and had lost some very great cards due to him. But that was a long time ago. Yugi wouldn't let that stand in the way of a possible friendship, if there was ever one destined to be there.
"Yes I know, must I say I was rather disappointed to be have been disqualified from duelist kingdom because of you." He grinned. "But that's all in the past. Tell me, what exactly are you doing here? Preparing for the Battle City tournament?"
"Sure are." Yugi said happily, nodding his head. "You too, I'll bet?"
"Of course. I would never miss a tournament." Weevil said sinisterly. "How about a practice duel? I'm gotten some better cards and a new strategy and I think I may be able to beat you this time, Yugi."
Yugi smiled. "Thanks, but no thanks Weevil. However there may be someone here you can duel, if you wouldn't mind."
Weevil's eyes perked in interest. "Oh?"
Everyone looked at Roux, who smiled down at Weevil. Weevil looked up at Roux and his smile was gone. He would be dueling her? No one had said anything about that. She was by far the most beautiful young woman Weevil had ever laid eyes on, and being the nerd that he was, Weevil hardly had much taste for girls, and certainly never met many of them.
Roux took a step towards him. "Hi. I'm not a very skilled duelist, not yet anyway, but I would like to get in a practice duel if you didn't mind.being my opponent." She gave him a sweet smile.
Weevil felt himself shaking at the knees, but he brought himself together. "Me? Duel you?" he smirked. "Sorry, beautiful but I am one of the most skilled duelists in the country, there would be no way that you could possibly beat me!" he said proudly.
Joey scowled and grabbed Weevil by the scruff of the shirt. "Hey you little twirp, is that any way to speak to a lady? She just wants to get in some practice, ya bum!"
"Joey, cut it out!" Roux and Tea said at the same time, and Joey let Weevil down, who was gasping for breath, and reached into his coat for his puffer.
"Okay, okay." He wheezed painfully. "Okay then, we'll duel." He said, and then he grinned up at Roux. "But you'll be sorry."
Roux smiled down at him, and pulled her deck from her purse. "We'll see who's the sorry one."
~*~
The day had been considerably better from the last few days for Kaiba. For one he didn't have any appointments until the afternoon, which was close to a blessing and two nothing was going wrong today, which was enough to get him in a good enough mood. If the day continued like this, Kaiba could have called it a good day.
By noon or so he had finished most of his daily upgrades for the company. With twenty minutes or so to spare until noon, he stepped away from his laptop and stared out the window down into the town square, which was visible even from his window, being at least 40 feet off the ground.
Kaiba observed literally the hundreds of people who had gathered in the Town Square at noon, especially on a Friday, he was surprised this many people would show up. He had scheduled the practice day, of course, he gave the suits the permission to set up a practice platform and let duelists practice, just to get warmed up. The tournament started on the Thursday of the following week.
For the most part he was looking forward to the tournament. He was eager to see new duelists and their strategies. He would become bored watching amateur duelists lose so easily in a duel, but there were few that were skilled, and it would be worthwhile to watch them closer.
Half of the purpose to hold the tournament was to attain your opponent's strongest card and learn to wield it's power. Kaiba's teeth clenched suddenly at the thoughts of yesterdays, how Yugi Moto had threatened him if he didn't allow Roux back in the tournament.
Kaiba would have been perfectly fine disqualifying Yugi from the tournament, had it not been for his Egyptian god card and the millennium puzzle. Frankly he would have been happy if both of them, Yugi and Roux, were out of his tournament. But he couldn't risk the Egyptian god card if, as Yugi had said, he wanted to reclaim his title as the world's greatest duelist.
Why would Yugi be willing to have himself disqualified for Roux, Kaiba couldn't understand it, no matter how hard he thought about it. What was it about her that made them all worship her?
It was because she was a model, Kaiba smirked to himself. The only reason why any of them were friends with her was because she could make them go stiff in an instant. Maybe there was an inside reason as to why Yugi was helping her. Kaiba wouldn't have been the least bit surprised if that were the case.
Kaiba guessed that they were all down there in the square. For a moment he thought he had seen Yugi's star-shaped head in and among the crowd. Kaiba thought it would have been worth it to go down there and find Roux, just to make her scared, just to see the look on her face. But he wouldn't. He didn't care about Roux or her problems, and frankly he would be happy if he never saw her again.
The intercom buzzed insufferably, making Kaiba jump and then wheel around in annoyance. He pressed the button with his finger. "What?" he asked firmly.
"Sir, Mokuba is here to see you."
"Send him in." Kaiba requested, and then he sat down gingerly on his chair and pretended to be preoccupied with something on his computer as Mokuba came casually in through the door, smiling widely. "Hi big brother!"
Kaiba gave his little brother a smile. "Hello Mokuba. You're going for lunch I see?"
Mokuba nodded. "Yup!" he smiled. "I'm going down to the square, they're giving out free hot dogs and pop for the practice duels. You wanna come?" Mokuba's eyes went wide with curiosity.
Kaiba shook his head. "Maybe later, Mokuba." He said encouragingly. "You go have fun."
Mokuba nodded, smiling happily, and he turned to open the door and leave, but before he reached for the doorknob, he turned around and gave his brother a sad, happy smile. "That was really nice of you, Seto."
Kaiba looked up questionably, frowning. "What do you mean?" he asked, folding his arms and resting them on the desk. He seriously had no idea what his little bro was talking about.
Mokuba turned around completely and gave a very sweet smile. "What you did for Roux. It was really nice of you."
Immediately Kaiba frowned and once again began to type at the laptop. "Humph, she was lucky." He spat angrily. "She wouldn't be in my tournament if it hadn't been for Yugi's Egyptian god card."
Mokuba blinked and his smile was gone. He obviously hadn't understood. "Um, all-right." No, Mokuba didn't understand, but he smiled nevertheless. "Well I still think it was nice of you to let her back in. It was important to her." He pointed out the window. "She's probably down at the practice duels, you want to go see her?"
"No." Kaiba insisted flatly, immediately.
Mokuba titled his head to the side. "Are you interested in her?" Mokuba pressed. "She's really beautiful, and nice, and smart."
Kaiba smirked. "Don't be ridiculous Mokuba." He almost snarled. "She's a model, interested in Joey Wheeler. I'd feel insulted and betrayed to be interested in her." And this was the truth. Perhaps Kaiba had been curious about her, but not interested. Never interested. He despised her entirely, nothing could ever change that.
Mokuba looked rather disappointed, and he turned to go. "It's too bad, I think you two would have been really cute together."
Before Kaiba could raise his voice in protest, Mokuba was already gone.
~*~
Many people had gathered around the platform, cranking their necks to look up and watch the two duelists on the platform, Weevil and Roux, begin their practice duel. They began at the opposite sides of the platform, as was usually done in the duels, and then they turned and face each other.
Weevil had a wretched smile on his face. He knew that beating this beauty queen was not going to be a problem. If he believed all the blonde jokes he had heard, and he probably did believe them, Weevil wouldn't be surprised if in the middle of the duel she bent over and asked someone what attack points were. He laughed to himself, this would be an easy duel.
Roux loaded her gaming disk, putting in her deck of cards, and she looked over at Weevil. He was grinning to himself, as though he were laughing at her. She swallowed softly. This kid had gotten to the duelist kingdom, as she had heard earlier. He must have been pretty skilled. But she wasn't afraid of him.
Down at the sidelines, all her friends were standing and cheering for her, which made her feel better. She was glad to know that they were there, and whether she won or lost, they would be there for her, no matter what.
"You can do it, Roux!" Joey shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Show that Weevil how it's done!" Tristan punched the air with his fist.
"Believe in your deck, trust the cards!" Yugi shouted out.
Roux smiled down at each one of them and nodded, and she waved to them. Then she turned towards Weevil.
Here it was, her first real duel. She sucked in a deep breath.
They each pulled five cards, and took a moment to look over them all carefully with detail. Everyone on the sidelines watched with patience. They wanted the duel to get started, they were anxious to see what would happen.
"Hey Yug," Joey said, tapping Yugi's shoulder but not taking his eyes off Roux. "Do you think she'll be okay up there?"
Yugi nodded. "I think so Joey. Weevil only uses insect cards, and with some of the new cards she got from the shop, she should be able to do just fine."
Weevil, having overheard their conversation, fought the urge to laugh out loud. He bit his lip and merely snickered to himself. Obviously, they had not been listening when he had said that he had gotten some new cards and some new strategies. He was no longer playing only in insect cards.
But he wouldn't say so. Not at this time.
"Okay then blondie, since you're a beginner, I'll let you go first." Weevil said slyly, snickered behind his wave of cards and watching Roux's eyes study her five cards.
"Hmm." Roux looked through her cards thoughtfully. She had pulled some very interesting cards. She had pulled Hibikime, the Armored Lizard and Uraby, in terms of monsters, and two magic guards. Her eyes fixed on Dian Keto, the Cure Master. With this card you could increase your life points by 1000 points. Roux held on tight to that one. She would need it later.
"All right then, I summon Hibikime the Warrior in attack mode!" Roux set down her Hibikime card on the disk, and right before her eyes the mystic creature from the card had come alive before Roux's eyes. She gasped at first, but realized there was nothing to be afraid of. It was only an illusion. She looked through the rest of her cards. "And I place one card face down." Nothing more could be done. "I end my turn."
Weevil laughed. "Well, it looks as though you've done your shopping. Though your Hibikime warrior is powerful, it is surely no match for this." Weevil placed down a card. "I summon the Dark Witch, in attack mode!"
The Dark Witch appeared on the playing platform, and Roux and her friends were all very confused.
"Hey Yug I thought you said this kid only plays insect cards." Joey said to Yugi, a rather testily.
"I thought he did," Yugi said, rather astonished. "At least.he used to play only insect cards."
On the platform Weevil laughed. "Surprised? Well you've seen nothing yet. Dark Witch! Attack her Hibikime Warrior!"
Roux's eyes went wide as she saw the Dark Witch deliver a fatal attack to Roux's Hibikime Warrior with a sharp spear. Roux gasped when the Hibikime warrior let out a cry, and then burst into shards. Roux's life points went down by 1450, leaving her with 2550 life points.
Roux suddenly felt as though a chuck of her energy had just collapsed out of her. She felt winded and breathed in for air.
"Oh no!" Joey said instantly. "Weevil's already got the lead! That little sneak, if he hurts Roux I'm gonna make sure he never sees the tournament!" Joey snarled angrily, and punched the air with his fists.
Roux straightened herself up. She felt better. She looked over at Weevil, who was snickering at her. "It's your turn now, sweet thing."
Roux pulled two new cards from her deck and looked over them. She gave a little smile. She had pulled the Darkfire Soldier #1 and the Peacock, both with extremely high attack point levels. She let out a little sigh of relief. Neither of these cards could take out Weevil's Dark Witch, but she had a plan.
"I summon the Peacock Winged Beast in defense mode!" Roux called out and laid down her Peacock card. The bird appeared magically on the field in front of Roux.
Weevil only snickered. "You're foolish, I see you didn't learn anything from my last attack. Dark Witch attack her Peacock!"
But before the Dark Witch could strike the peacock, Roux smiled. "You plainly forgot about my face down card." Roux raised the magic card. "I use the Reliable Guardian to increase my peacock's defense points by 300, thus outranking your Dark Witch's defense points."
Weevil's life points remained the same, and he snickered. "I see you're beginning to use magic cards. Nicely done. But you're still no match for my Dark Witch."
"We'll see." Roux said, and pulled another card. She gasped. She had pulled the Rude Kaiser. It could safe her life points.
"I summon the Rude Kaiser in attack mode, and I use it to attack your Dark Witch, and send it to the graveyard!" Roux pointed to the Dark Witch, and the Rude Kaiser delivered a heavy blow with it's big axe.
Weevil's life points went down to 2200.
"Aw right!" Joey said shouting out cheerfully. "Now Roux's got the lead! This is great!"
Yugi studied the match very carefully. Weevil didn't look at all concerned. Yugi wondered why, this was very suspicious.
Weevil shrugged. "Well, I can't say that wasn't a stroke of luck." He pulled another card, studied it and then grinned wickedly. "But not lucky enough." He put down his card and snickered. "I play Sparks, once this magic card is played, it inflicts 200 points of direct damage to your life points!"
The sparks flew towards Roux, and almost knocked her down. She gave out a small startled gasp, and looked down at her dueling disk. She had 2300 life points left.
"And if that isn't enough for you, beautiful, I summon the Thousand Dragon!" Weevil burst out into an evil laugh that echoed throughout the square, and as he laid down his card a massive dragon appeared. It's attack points were 2400. Roux could hardly breathe.
The crowd had burst into shocked gasps and odd hushes. The gang at the sidelines all gasped. "Oh no!" Yugi cried out. "With that dragon Weevil could take out Roux's life points in a single turn!"
Joey bit down on his lip, and then he angrily scowled. "Weevil you dirty rotten cheat! I know you cheated somehow!"
Weevil didn't pay any attention to Joey. He was far too amused at the look on Roux's face. "Well girlie, got anything to say?"
Roux stared up at the dragon nervously, and she swallowed tightly. She looked down at the cards she had in her hand. She placed down Dian Keto, for she would need him now. She kept her Rude Kaiser on the playing field, and discarded of the Darkfire Soldier. She pulled a card from her deck.
A magic card. Dragon treasure. It was only useful if she had a dragon. And she didn't have a dragon. Roux was hesitating. Nothing good could come from this. She was finished.
Then again it was only a practice duel. But something inside her had told her she had to win, perhaps to prove herself. She had to show them all, everyone watching, that a super fashion model wasn't ditzy or stupid as some people stereotyped. She had to win.
She reached for another card, and suddenly without warning, the stone on her ring flashed a deep red colour, blinding her for an instant, and then it was gone. She let out a startled scream and looked at the ring intensely. What just happened?
"Well?" said Weevil impatiently. "I'm waiting. Did you run out of good cards, doll face?"
Roux scowled over at Weevil, and she reached for her deck, and pulled a card. She examined the card, and she was sure her heart had stopped for a whole couple of seconds, as she stared at the card in her hand.
The Red-Eyes Black Dragon!
Roux blinked. A red eyes? She didn't remember ever getting that card, unless somehow she hadn't seen it when she had bought the deck or traded it. She looked at the two cards in her hands. The Red-Eyes Black Dragon combined with the Dragon treasure card.she could easily take out Weevil's Thousand Dragon easily.
She couldn't believe it. She seriously couldn't believe it.
Roux grinned, and she looked at Weevil. "Okay Weevil, I see what you're playing at here. So I summon the Red-Eyes Black Dragon in attack mode!" she threw down her card on the disk.
The crowd had gone deathly silent as the enormous red-eyed black dragon appeared, ferocious and terrifying. Weevil's eyes went so wide they looked like they would fall out of the sockets. His jaw was shaking. "No-no it can't be!"
"A red eyes!" Tea shrieked suddenly. "How did Roux get a red eyes?"
"I don't remember seeing it in her deck when I looked over it." Yugi whispered to himself, and then very slowly he looked over at Joey, who was grinning. He was glad to see Roux winning, but Yugi knew that Joey had done something. Like putting the dragon in her deck so she would win. He wouldn't let her lose and be humiliated.
Weevil wasn't dropping dead yet. "Humph! Nice try blondie, but your dragon and my dragon's attack points are equal. Whoever were to attack first would be knocked out clean." He grinned, and before Roux could open her red lips he shouted out. "Thousand Dragon! Attack her Red-Eyes Black Dragon!"
The Thousand Dragon was about to attack, but Roux was ready.
"You forgot about my face down card!" she said slyly. "I play Dian Keto, the Cure Master, and boost my life points by 1000 points, leaving me with 3300 life points!" she grinned. "And if that isn't enough, I summon Dragon Treasure, which increases my dragon's attack points by 300!"
"Wow!" All of Roux's friends said at once.
The Red-Eyes Black Dragon now had 2700 attack points.
The match was done. Weevil was finished.
"Red-Eyes Black Dragon, attack his Thousand Dragon!" Roux commanded, and the fearsome black dragon let out a mighty roar, and launched a deadly attack on the thousand dragon, disintegrating it to shards.
Weevil's life points went down to 0.
Roux let out a long breath. The duel was over. She had won.
Cheers came from the crowd, and the monsters all disappeared. The platform lowered slowly, and once it had touched the ground, all her friends ran to her and hugged her tightly. Joey was the first. He grabbed her tightly and wouldn't let go.
"I knew you could do it!" he told her, laughing. "I knew ya could!"
Weevil stepped off the platform slowly, wondering how on earth he could have lost. He blinked a few times. "How could I have lost?" he kept repeating to himself.
Roux shook his little hand. "Good match. Thanks very much."
Weevil scowled tightly. "You cheated! I know you did somehow!" he was shaking his head in disbelief. "I never lose.I never do."
He walked off slowly with his head hanging low. Roux watched him and suddenly she wished she hadn't won. She didn't want him to lose confidence in himself.
"Meh, I liked the kid better when he dueled nothing but insects!" Joey remarked, and that had brightened Roux up a bit.
~*~
****Yay! Well thank goodness that's over. I hate writing duel scenes, they're so confusing! Anyway I hope you liked it, and I should be updating fairly soon as I have a nice long weekend here. Please R&R! ^_^ ****