A/N: So, with the conclusion of the dueling in the Madison tourney, all that's left is to figure out the prizes that await our heroes. What will they get? And how will they affect the relationship of a certain two? Well, read ahead and find out.
Ankhutenshi: Well, Zack had confidence in Kyle and his ability to stand up to Jade. But sooner or later they're going to have their go-round – as you well know. Hee hee.
Pheonica: I think another one of those women with attitude will be showing up shortly. Just a premonition of mine.
Mira: Well, in the meantime, I hope you're not too bugged by the card effects going on in these duels I write. Just to reiterate – though I'm sure you understood the first time – the duels I write are real and genuine, so sometimes they can drag out without a lot of noticeable action... then suddenly spike with "bang" and "boom" as the characters get what they want. And truly evil, eh? Well, if the reviewers say it, it must be so.
Voakands: Heylo, new reviewer. I'm glad you like the personal touches I put in Kyle. I always try to avoid the Mary Sue genre because, after all, whoever wants to read about someone who does everything well? Kyle's got to be dysfunctional somewhere in order to make him "real". As to your request? I can only write so fast even at the height of my ability. As you noted, I've got other stuff IRL to take care of. But thanks for making the story feel wanted.
Monica: Gotta love reviews with such enthusiasm. Thanks!
Lumen: Well, sometimes things just end up being predictable, and that's unavoidable in a story as large as this one. But the real excitement, I think, lies in how the character manages to pull off his/her scheme, and not necessarily whether it's successful.
Eusine: Several people seemed to like the wink. I should do stuff like that more often.
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One of the burly security guards scaled the stairs below the booth, looked up at the two duelists, then said, "Mr. McCraine, Ms. Zocallos, if you both will please follow me..."
Kyle released another heavy sigh, then straightened up with great effort and gathered up his deck. Better go prepare for the deck to receive a few new additions. He turned to the stairway.
It was that moment that Monica chose to slowly wrap an arm around his waist. At that, he blinked. Wow. That's nice...
Theoris was amused. Did you not expect to receive affection from her?
From Monica? A few months ago I'd have thought she'd gone completely batty. Now, though... now, I think I kinda... like it. He gave her a smile, then placed an arm across her shoulders. "So. How did I do?"
She smiled back. "You did fine. Just fine."
"Guess you were watching, huh?"
They made for the stairway, led on by the guard. She nodded. "I wouldn't doubt if you had at least ten thousand other viewers, too. The signal broadcast throughout L.A., you know."
Kyle scoffed. "Great. Now everyone in L.A. will know I have one Labyrinth Brother and I just won a second one. And you know secrets like that won't be kept."
She shrugged as they stepped down. "So what? I have a Blue-Eyes White Dragon. I actually have someone looking for what I have because it used to belong to him. Now Madison Enterprises knows I've played it; no doubt Kaiba will come looking for me soon. You, you won Suijin fair and square – a surprising turn of events – and I can only assume you didn't trade in order to get Sanga."
"No, I won it in a duel, just like Suijin."
"Also surprising. But now your deck's going to be that much stronger."
"It'll be that much stronger, anyway, what with all the new cards I'll be introducing." He gave her a significant look. "You probably won't be facing a deck full of commons next time you face off against me."
"Hmm. I think I'll take the chance. Besides, it apparently isn't as full of commons as I'd thought."
The escort guided them into a large room that had one wall covered by a curtain. Inside that room were three people. One was Madison, head hanging surprisingly low for such an aged woman – Kyle wondered if she'd be able to pull it back up. The second was an official-looking gentleman, complete in three-piece suit, thousand-dollar stingray boots, gold-plated Rolex, and gelled Regis haircut, standing to Madison's left. He had a hand on her shoulder, and Kyle wondered if perhaps this was her husband... or worse – in her case, anyway – her boss.
Hell, maybe he's both...
The third person... was Chubs.
Kyle's eyes widened. "Whoa. Long time, no see!"
His friend grinned. "I'll say." He offered a hand. "How've you been?"
Kyle shook Chubs' hand firmly. "Well, right now, never better. What're you doing here? Were you the other semi-finalist?"
"Sure was. But a Fire-themed deck doesn't do too well against water." Chubs chucked a thumb at Madison. "Her Umi field card tripped me up."
"Obviously not before you got this far," Kyle noted. "Wow. So it's the three of us that get the spoils, huh?"
"You, the vast majority," Monica pointed out wryly. "How ironic. The one of us that started Duel Monsters the latest has won a tournament in which we all competed and gets better spoils than we do."
"Just goes to show I've taught him well," Chubs responded, grinning widely.
"Yeah, sure, and then I showed him how to handle the game with kid gloves off."
"Now, now, don't you two start in on each other," Kyle admonished, issuing them a little smile of his own.
It was at that moment the well-dressed gentleman cleared his throat. "Good evening, duelists, I'm Benjamin Madison, CEO of Madison Enterprises. I'd like to congratulate you for your accomplishments during this tournament, which certainly has proven spectacular. In particular, Mr. McCraine, you are to be commended for your expert self-control during the finalist duel in the face of such..." He turned to Abigail, whose head ducked lower, if that was possible. "...petty insolence. Let me assure you our opinions are the same as yours, in that all duelists are to be treated as equals when they play their game."
Chubs leaned over to Monica and whispered, "Is there still a TV camera around here or something?"
Monica only shrugged in response, though the response going through her mind was, I wouldn't be at all surprised.
"Meanwhile," the gentleman continued, "your rewards are well-earned for a day's hard work. In the interests of privacy, Mr. Smith, Ms. Zocallos, if you would please step outside for a few moments while Mr. McCraine selects his prizes..."
The two semi-finalists nodded and left the room, leaving Kyle alone with the Madisons.
"You know," Mr. Madison said, amusement in his tone, "usually I simply have checks printed with the amount intended for the recipient, but since you made that little wager with my wife..." He shot her another glare, to which she didn't respond. "...I had to hand-write this one. I hope you'll pardon the sloppiness of the actual handwriting but the number ought to be clear enough."
With that, he pulled a check out of an inner pocket in his sport coat and handed it to Kyle. Kyle inspected the check; indeed, the handwriting was somewhat choppy, but nevertheless legible.
Pay to the order of: Kyle McCraine
In the amount of: Fifteen thousand and 0/100 $15000.00
The teen couldn't help but grin. "Wow. Thank you, Mr. Madison, I appreciate it."
"All in a day's work, my boy. You also have something else coming to you." Upon this statement, Mr. Madison looked meaningfully at his wife, and though she didn't react at first, she nevertheless began to wither under his stare and finally pulled her deck out of her purse. She grudgingly flipped through it and plucked a card from its depths, then shoved it in Kyle's direction as if it carried the plague.
"I... apologize," she ground out. "You... deserve more respect... Mr. McCraine."
Kyle chose not to laugh at this, although that was his first instinct; they both knew she didn't mean a single word of it, that she thought he was just an amateur with an incredibly lucky break in a duel that would have been all hers otherwise.
"Accepted," he answered briskly, and he took the card she offered. She had passed it to him face-down; he was already sure of what it was, but after flipping it over, it was confirmed... Suijin, just as she had agreed to.
"And thirdly, of course, the rare card collection," said Mr. Madison, and he gestured grandly at the cloaked wall. Upon the gesture, the man that had escorted Kyle and Monica to the room pulled a rope, and the curtain drew away to reveal a wall that looked somewhat like...
"A cigarette dispenser?" Kyle asked quizzically.
Mr. Madison gave a hearty laugh at that one. "Good one, my boy," he guffawed. "That wasn't, as a matter of fact, the original intention of this wall's appearance, but the comparison was made by several of those who helped build it."
The wall was inset with 128 glass cases – 8 columns and 16 rows – each one containing a separate rare Duel Monsters card. Above each card was a small red button, while beneath them there was a slot – presumably where the card was ejected after touching the button.
"Abigail, please leave the room," Mr. Madison instructed. She did so hurriedly, as if wanting nothing more than to simply be out of his sight. That done, he turned back to Kyle. "Now, Mr. McCraine, as this tournament was privately sponsored, I feel it's only fair to let you know that any of the choices you make here will remain in the strictest of confidence. The system has been set up so that even I don't know what all is in those cases – I don't have my glasses on right now, so I could barely tell a green card from a blue one."
"Well, that's not a problem glasses would be able to fix, sir," Kyle quipped.
Mr. Madison issued another loud guffaw. "No, I suppose you're right. Anyhow, for all I know, we might be holding one of Mr. Kaiba's Blue-Eyes White Dragon thingies in there and I'll never know, long as you don't tell anyone. What kinda damn fool would put one of them in there in the first place is a mystery to me, of course, but..." He shrugged. "What can I say? People are desperate to compete."
"That they are, sir."
"Well." Mr. Madison gave Kyle one last smile. "I'll be leaving you alone now. Just let Mr. Henley over here know when you're finished making your choices, and he'll make sure the rest of the cards are distributed randomly to the semi-finalists. Remember, you get 96 cards because Abigail forfeited her second place winnings of 32 cards to you."
"Yes, sir, I'll keep that in mind."
"Right. I'll be out of your way now." The older man turned and exited the room.
Kyle began perusing the wall. Let's see... what do I want? Each of the different types of cards had been segregated into the appropriate categories: normal monsters, effect monsters, fusion monsters, ritual monsters, magic cards, and trap cards. May as well just start from the left.
Mostly the rare monster cards were dragons, which didn't take him by surprise. But what did take him by surprise was the fact that, as Mr. Madison had seemed to predict there would be, there was a Blue-Eyes White Dragon in one of the card slots.
At this, Kyle went wide-eyed. Whoa. Who would have been dumb enough to enter this thing into the tournament?
I know not, Kyle. I have several theories, of course, the most prominent of which being that Abigail Madison is responsible for that one.
Kyle blinked. Come again?
It would make sense to me. She was required to abide by her own rules. She did not wish to wager any of her best cards. Therefore she wagered a card that she would never have played in a duel, instead.
How would she have gotten hold of a Blue-Eyes?
How did Monica acquire hers?
...Good point. So should I take it?
I have an idea. Take it, but do not keep it. Give it to Monica, instead.
And why would I do that?
To deepen the bond you share with her. You wish to be her friend; at this time, after your victory in this tournament, she seems to regard you as an equal on the battlefield. Beyond that, she is a valuable person to have by your side, and offering such a gift would prove to her once and for all that you mean to have an enlightening relationship with her.
And beyond all that, she'll owe me a huge favor.
...True.
Kyle grinned and pressed the slot for the Blue-Eyes card. In that case...
The card dropped into his hand, protected by a plastic sheath. His grin widened. One down, ninety-five to go.
--
His tour through the cards afforded him some valuable choices, indeed. He'd picked up Black Dragon Jungle King (2100/1800) for a dragon of his own, as well as the high-powered and low-level Gemini Elf (1900/900) and Vorse Raider (1900/1200) from the normal monsters.
As for effect monsters, particularly intriguing were Penguin Soldier (750/500), an aquatic monster that, when flipped, could send up to two monsters on the field back to their owners' hands; Maha Vailo (1550/1400), a spellcaster that gained a 500 point bonus to its attack power if an equipment magic card were attached to it; Slate Warrior (1900/400), another high-power low-level monster that could either power itself up or power down the monster that was foolish enough to attack and destroy it; Big Shield Gardna (100/2600), the most powerful low-level defender of Duel Monsters and incapable of being targeted by magic cards while face-down; and, most especially, Total Defense Shogun (1550/2500), a level 6 warrior capable of attacking an enemy while in defense mode. I wonder how well that one would work. That's going in my deck, for sure.
There were several magic cards that proved to be irresistible, including a Raigeki card, capable of destroying all opposing monsters on the field; Tribute to the Doomed, able to destroy any one monster on the field; the equipment cards Axe of Despair and Black Pendant, able to power up any one monster by 1000 and 500 attack points, respectively; Confiscation, which allowed a player to look at his opponent's hand and send one card in it to the graveyard at the cost of 1000 LP; Nobleman of Crossout, meant to destroy and remove from the game one face-down monster; and, of course, the Premature Burial card he put up for grabs, able to bring back one of his own monsters for the sum of 800 LP.
Meanwhile, there were several essential trap cards, including Mirror Force, meant for destroying all attacking monsters; Imperial Order, capable of knocking out all magic cards continuously for 700 LP per turn; Jar of Greed, meant for drawing an extra card; Negate Attack, able to force an end to an opposing Battle Phase; Monica's Solemn Judgment card, able to stop practically any kind of play by paying half a player's current Life Points; and Magic-Arm Shield, a trap for replacing a player's own attacked monster with an opposing monster.
Kyle chose all these and many others, though he gave great consideration to each. I'm probably not going to be using all of these, he thought. As good as they are, I don't think I'll want a lot of them in my deck. I have to have some kind of individuality in it. I want my personality in it, not the personality of a beatdown bully.
That is, of course, your decision, Theoris responded. Then he sent a wave of amusement. Who knows? Perhaps others may benefit from your possession of those cards.
"Others" like who?
For example, Monica, with the Blue-Eyes card. You could also give some to Chubs; I am quite sure he would appreciate a nice power boost to his deck. Consider them thank-you gifts for helping you to come this far.
True enough. Kyle grinned, then put the stack of cards he'd chosen in his pocket and nodded to the man called Henley, who simply nodded back and pressed a blue button to the side. Half the remaining cards ejected halfway from their slots, waiting for either Chubs or Monica to take them.
Kyle left the room and nodded to his friends. "All yours," he said.
--
The three decided to head back to Kyle's room to celebrate their victories. On his way out the door, Mr. Madison had given Chubs and Monica each their checks for $2500 and his congratulations.
"It might have been nicer to walk away with $15 thousand," Chubs commented dryly, as they moved into the hotel room. "Kyle, my friend, you have a lot of balls to try pulling that off."
"And look what I got for it," Kyle noted. "Now, let's call room service and order up some junk food."
The three of them laughed, and Monica nodded, saying, "Sounds good to me!"
Half an hour later, the room was littered with wrappers, soda cans, and empty potato chip bags. Needless to say, everybody's eyes were bulging out of their sockets.
"I doubt I'll be able to get any sleep tonight," Chubs muttered. "In fact I doubt I'll even be able to get off my fat ass and get myself back to my room. You mind if I just conk out on the floor or something?"
"No, go right ahead," Kyle chuckled.
"Mm. I'd best get back to my room," said Monica. "We're supposed to be on that plane by 8:30 tomorrow morning and it's already 1 a.m. I'm about due for some shut-eye."
"If you can even shut your eyes," Chubs mumbled, as he laid out on the floor. "I'm hyper-wired."
"No doubt. I'll see you tomorrow morning." Monica got up and headed for the door.
"Oh, hey, Monica," Kyle said, also getting up. "Hang on, I'll take you there."
She gave him an amused smirk. "You're not spending the night in my room, McCraine."
"Huh? Me?" He blinked, having not even thought about that. "Hardly. Just something I wanted to talk to you about."
"Ah. Well, in that case, I'll take you there, and you can talk to me on the way."
He rolled his eyes. "Always the critic."
"Got that right." She winked. "Coming?"
"Yeah." Kyle touched his pocket, which still held the considerable stack of Duel Monsters cards, then caught up with Monica in the hall.
"So what's this all about?" she asked.
"Well," he said, "it's about… us, I guess."
She quirked an eyebrow. "What about 'us', Kyle? You worried that I'm mad at you for winning?"
"No, it's not that. But what I want is to make sure that we're on the same page."
"The page I'm on is that we're both friendly acquaintances. What about you?"
"Same page. But I'd like to make sure that we stay that way."
"And how do you intend to do that?"
He pulled the stack out of his pocket. "By doing this." He shuffled through the stack – it didn't take long, the card he was looking for was just a few cards down – and offered it to her. "I want you to have this."
She frowned, then took the card and looked at it. Immediately she gasped, and her gaze flicked back up to him. "You're not serious."
"Perfectly serious," he said. "I have the cards I want. I've got more than enough. Plus I've got Suijin now, which is just as rare."
"What the hell was this doing in the lottery?"
"Dunno. Maybe Madison got hold of it and was just planning to take it right back and use for a bargaining chip for whatever scheme she had going against Kaiba. Maybe some idiot duelist out there didn't realize how rare it was. I think the former theory is the more plausible, but whatever the reason, it was there, and I picked it out specifically so that I could give it to you."
She narrowed her eyes. "There's a catch here somewhere, I know it."
He shrugged. "All I'd ask in return is for anything you know regarding where a Gate Guardian card might be hiding."
"Okay, I thought you weren't serious before, now I think you're flat-out crazy. You're actually wanting Gate Guardian?"
He shrugged again. "Why not? It's a powerful card. Among the elite, and that's where I want to be. Plus I already know of someone who has Kazejin. Maybe I could get her to duel me so that I'll have all three Labyrinth Brothers."
Monica shook her head. "Even if you do, do you think I'd know anything about how to even go looking for Gate Guardian?"
"Not asking you to go looking, I'm just asking you for any info you might have on the card and the whereabouts of a copy… or that if you happen to come across one, you let me know."
She emitted a sigh and looked at the card he'd just given her. "I guess I could do that. It'd be the absolute least I could do to return the favor." She glanced at him again. "Was that the plan? To do a favor for me so that I'd return it?"
"The plan was to give you something that might help further stabilize our friendship," Kyle answered. "And I hope you'll accept it."
She nodded vigorously. "Oh, yes, yes, of course I'll accept it!" She looked up at him and suddenly grinned. "You know, Kyle… you're not nearly as bad as you look."
"Oh, right, I look bad," he chuckled. "After winning a Duel Monsters tournament that the revered Monica Zocallos was a participant in, causing a huge upset and re-defining the realm of elite duelists…"
"Kyle?"
"Yeah?"
"Shut up."
And then she hugged him.
His arms wreathed around her as he returned the gesture, and a smile spread on his face. Well, well… things just might turn out all right, after all.
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Thus concludes this more action-filled segment of the story, but Kyle still has many trials ahead. Coming up, a mysterious man approaches Kyle, much to Theoris' dismay, and challenges him to a duel... the stakes being the very thing that helped Kyle turn his life around. Stay tuned!