"C'mon Raven!" Kaomi ran off the train, now wearing a dark blue t-shirt and matching blue jeans. Raven stepped off the train after her, wearing a black long-sleeved shirt and black pants. He also had on a dark gray vest.
"Right behind you!" he smiled. There had been no sign of Orlandu since their departure. Orlandu remained in his cloak, but his hood was now down.
"Lord Vaniver?" A man, in a white coat, blue shirt, and dark pants, approached. He, too, had a Duel Disk, but his was odd. It was a silver hemisphere on his arm, "I am Wesley Whyndam-Pryce. I am pleased to meet you. Lord Sevanos is eager to meet you as well. But he must first deliver his speech." Wesley led Raven and Kaomi to a crowded square. A man in a black trench coat stood in the center.
"Lord Vaniver?" Raven said softly to Kaomi, shooting her a puzzled glance.
-O-
"Duelists. You are the esteemed, the vengeance seeking, and the non-finalists of Battle City. I feel your pain. So, I gave you all a second chance. Welcome to the Stars of Destiny tournament in Sunnydale! Such a quiet, quaint town. The tower in the distance is our headquarters, where we will monitor all duels. Once you amass seven points for victory, your Duel Disk will notify you. The first sixteen to accomplish this feat will be allowed into our headquarters for the finals tomorrow. The others will catch the midnight train to Domino. Don't bother wagering, for each point you get three credits redeemable for packs at either our Star Game Shop in our headquarters, or the one here in the square. See you all either tonight here at the station or tomorrow morning at the Headquarters!" Sevanos, the man in the square, seemed kind, although his potential for intimidation was high. His white hair was slightly greater than shoulder length, and he had a scar running along his right cheekbone. His moderate figure was nothing overpowering, but his appearance could easily turn to downright evil.
"What an inviting fellow." Kaomi seemed a little surprised, "Nice people can host tournaments?"
"You'd be surprised!" Wesley smiled, "You know, I've decided to quit the Stars of Destiny after this tournament. Perhaps I'll quit now." Wesley rambled on, but Raven found it hard to focus.
The world seemed to slow as a ringing in Raven's head grew until he fell to his knees. Then, the ringing was gone. The world froze, except one man. A man with an odd giant key pendant and a turban.
"Lord Raven Vaniver." He spoke in a deep Egyptian accent, "I ask you to trust and believe me in this. This may sound quite odd. I am Shadi, guardian of the ancient Millennium Items, and I sense an imbalance of power here. The imbalance stems from that man, that Sevanos. In ancient times, a war raged between a great Pharaoh, and an evil sorcerer. A man named Tiamat, your ancestor, fought on the side of the Pharaoh against a man named Seros. That would be the ancestor of Sevanos. Seros tried to use the battle between the Pharaoh and the Sorcerer to kill both and rule Egypt. Tiamat stopped him by offering himself to the Gods to create a great dragon that consumed Seros. But before his severed head finally died, he vowed his return to consume the world just as he was consumed. That day is upon us!"
"And where's this Pharaoh?" Asked Raven, trying to 'keep an open mind'.
"He is on a quest to secure the power of the Gods." explained Shadi, "You can defeat Sevanos, as you have before, but not alone. No matter what you do, you must defeat Sevanos. If we wait for the Pharaoh, we may be too late. I see now that your fate is to defeat Sevanos."
"Alright then."
"You do not believe me." Shadi closed his eyes.
"You admit, it's a bit outlandish."
"Take this. It is a pendant like the one Sevanos has. You can use it to unlock power equal to his."
"What is it?"
"A shard of the God's Tear crystal. The crystal was used by the sorcerers of Egypt to commune with Shadow Realm easier and focus their power."
"Ah. I got a God's Tear Shard, now, eh?" Raven eyed his new pendant. It was a shimmering crystal about the size of a triple A battery, shaped like an elongated hexagon.
"Believe what you will, for soon that pendant shall prove all. Remember, it is your fate to defeat Sevanos." Shadi vanished and the world returned to normal.
Kaomi spun, "You OK Raven, you haven't spoken much."
Raven looked a bit startled, but shook it off. "I'm fine."
Kaomi caught a glimpse of the pendant, "What's that?"
"Err..." Raven shrugged, "Just a pendant I found on the ground. Makes me look awesome!"
"Right. Anyway." Kaomi picked up her conversation with Wesley.
-O-
Raven quickly separated himself from Wesley, Orlandu and Kaomi. He said he needed some 'personal time'. He searched the crowd, finding no sign of Sevanos or Shadi. Fate... was the word running through his mind.
"I hear some of the cards you can get at these shops are being debuted here!" a kid said, walking past Raven.
"Yeah, and these packs have ten cards! And two of them are rare cards!"
"Rare cards.... I love saying that." The two kids ran off.
Raven smiled. "New cards? Must be to keep things interesting." He looked farther across the crowd. A large warrior, the Sword Hunter, held a large axe in one hand and a chain wrapped around dynamite in the other. "Some battle. But what time is it" Raven looked at his watch. Three minutes past four. The tournament had begun only three minutes ago. This boy was impressive. Raven flipped open his deck, examined it briefly, and slid it into his Duel Disk. Last night Kaomi and he had stayed up most of the night trading, dueling, and trading some more, perfecting their respective decks. Of course, with these 'new cards' there would need to be a lot of changes. Raven approached the match, watching with interest as the boy launched the final blow. A total of a six-minute match.
"You, Sword Hunter Boy." Raven called.
"Name's Shuyin." The holograms before him vanished.
"Shuyin. I'm Raven. Let's duel!" Raven launched his disk.
"Fine. If you really want to get wasted too." Shuyin launched his Duel Disk.
"I'll go first. I play a monster in defense mode and two cards face-down. Go." Raven called as he set his cards.
"Summon my Little-Windguard! And for my tiny guardian, I play a new sword, the Wicked-Breaking Flamberg, Baou. Here are my two face-down cards. Windguard, ATTACK!"
"You fail to vanquish my Forgiving Maiden. Too bad, Shu." Raven drew as Shuyin's counter fell to 3900, "Sacrifice Forgiving Maiden, to summon my powerful Magical Marionette! And now, to power it up, here goes Card Destruction! Marionette, attack with Marionette's String!" Raven ordered. A string wrapped around Windguard, destroying it.
Shuyin's counter read 3500, "Here goes my Skull-Marked Ladybug in Defense Mode, and my Horn of the Unicorn and Yellow Luster Shield powering it up.
"Fool, that raises my Marionette's attack power. Attack!" ordered Raven. The string from the Marionette crushed the ladybug.
"Foolish one, you raise my Life Points to 4500, and my face-down trap, Michizure, destroys your Marionette." Shuyin drew, "Pass my turn."
"I throw a monster in Defense mode, and end my turn." Raven shrugged.
"Big mistake." Shuyin smiled as he drew, "Go, Gemini Elf! And I'll give my elf twins horns. Horns of the Unicorn to be exact, raising their attack power to 2600!" Shuyin laughed, "Attack!"
"Reveal Negate Attack!" he smiled, Thank you Kaomi! Was all he could think, "My move, and here it goes. Set one card and play Card Destruction!"
"Pointless, as I have no hand."
"But I do, Shuyin." Raven slid his hand into the graveyard, and pressed the Activation Key for the card he just set, "Reveal, Monster Reborn!"
"Reveal Big Burn!" Shuyin laughed as both Graveyard slots burst into sudden flame. "All monsters in our Graves were burned right out of play. So, that Monster Reborn is useless." He drew, "Perfect. I play one card face-down and attack!"
"Reveal Mirror Force!" The Gemini Elf monsters attacked one another, both shattering, "And, that Horn of the Unicorn returns to the top of your deck, so you don't draw next turn. And, since you can't do anything, and are lacking in the hand department, I'll go." Raven drew, "Set one card and play Graceful Charity!"
"Activating my trap, foolish one! Grave robber's Retribution! Each turn after this, you'll loose life points for those monsters I burned away."
"That's if you make it one more turn. I remove the card I just discarded, my Dark Magician and my Sacred Crane from play to summon this. My mighty Black Luster Solder – Envoy of the Beginning. Now, all I have to do is raise his attack a bit, wait, I can just Normal Summon! Here goes my Autonomous Action Unit, giving 1500 of my Life Points to revive your Gemini Elf. Gemini attack." The two elves assaulted their master, "Envoy, OBLITERATE!"
"Good show." Shuyin watched the Envoy fly at him, "See you at the finals, Raven."
"See you there, Shuyin." Raven watched as the blade sliced away all the Life Points Shuyin had left.
-O-
Kaomi noticed a familiar face walk out of the card shop after the group had split up. "Aura!"
"Hey, Kaomi! Up for a rematch?"
"Sure." Kaomi launched her Disk.
Aura slid some cards into her deck, "That's thirty cards a victory, you know. Even one victory is profitable." She grinned, and launched her Duel Disk.
"I'll go first." Kaomi threw a monster in Defense mode, "Go."
"You'll see what I mean. No more Miss Defensive." She smiled, "Have a taste of my Obsidian Knight!" A large warrior made of black, smooth, rock took an offensive posture, "ATTACK, Dark Stone Blade!" The black blade sliced through a weird flying squirrel, "Oh, crap."
"That's right. I get two more. My turn?" Kaomi drew, her Life Points at 5000, "Sacrifice my two Momonga to summon my Dark Magician! Now, get ready for this. I ran into those magicians I won it from after I started wondering, and we decided to do a bit of trading. And I got this," she held up a card, "Dedication through Light and Darkness!" The Dark Magician began to glow. The intensity of the glow became so severe; the Dark Magician was obscured in the light. When the light faded, another Magician replaced the Dark Magician. "Say hello to my Dark Magician of Chaos" Kaomi grinned, "Attack with Ultimate Silence!" Kaomi ordered. From the tip of this new spellcaster's rod, beams shot at the Obsidian Knight, dissolving it, "Your move."
"Impressive monster, Kaomi." A small smile crept across Aura's face as her Life Points fell to 3000, "But I'm afraid I'm going to win this. I play four cards face-down and end my turn." Four Spell and Trap cards appeared before her.
"Dark Magician of Chaos," Kaomi shrugged, "Attack."
"Reveal my face-down Trap cards, two cards titled A Hero Emerges, bringing forth my Millennium Shield in defense mode, and," Aura smiled even wider, "My Millennium Sword." A sword, much like the red-and-gold shield, appeared. It had a long gold blade and a red hilt with an Eye of Anubis marking on the hilt.
"Millennium Sword?" Kaomi stepped back.
"I told you there were thirty new cards in my possession. Some were deck-worthy. It's amazing, the Millennium Shield and the Millennium Sword have reversed stats. Isn't that so madly interesting?" Aura smiled, "I take it you pass your turn?"
"No," Kaomi slid another face-down card, "Now go."
"Good. I play my Witch of the Black Forest and play my spell, Remote Detonation! I destroy my Witch, allowing me to get the great Polymer Beast, and my spell Fusion Sage will let me get Polymerization."
"AHH! All these new cards!" Kaomi screamed in frustration.
"You don't know the half of it. Here goes Polymerization! Combine Millennium Sword, Millennium Shield, and have my Polymer Beast become a Black Luster Solder, to create the Millennium Luster Solder!" The monster resulting from the fusion was similar to the Black Luster Solder, but in gold armor, and armed with the Millennium Sword and Millennium Shield. "Because these are still by Battle City rules, my monster can't attack you, so go."
"Great", Kaomi drew. Nothing... unless... she schemed, "I play Pot of Greed." She drew two more cards, YES! Let's rock and roll! She thought,"I switch my magician to defense mode and set three cards face-down. Go." She said, slightly despondent. She had plenty of Spell and Trap cards, but her acting was profound. She truly seemed hopeless.
"Millennium Luster Solder, ATTACK!"
"Reveal my trap cards, Mirror Force and Zero Gravity, returning my Magician to Attack Mode." The Millennium Luster Solder flew at the Dark Magician of Chaos, which pointed its rod, and the Solder disappeared. "And on my turn, Monster Reborn!" Kaomi grinned, "Millennium Luster Solder, ATTACK!"
"Reveal Trap Card, Regulation of Tribe! Warriors may not attack."
"Dark Magician, hurt her, just a bit."
"Reveal Mirror Wall!" Aura smiled as her Life Points fell to 1600. She could not pay to keep the Mirror Wall, so it went poof, "Come on, luck!" she drew, "I play the De-Fusion spell card, destroying your Solder, and I place a monster in defense mode. Go."
"Attack."
"Reveal my Millennium Crusader One, getting a Millennium Crusader Two from my deck." The one Crusader shattered, and reformed into a slightly different one, "Here goes my Millennium Shield and Sword spell card, allowing me to return Millennium Shield to my hand, and I sacrifice my Crusader to play it. Go."
"Sorry, Aura. Reveal Curse of Fiend." Kaomi pressed the activation key.
"Not again."
"And sacrifice my Magician for my Ryu Kokki." A mass of skulls rose out of her magician, "And I play Scroll of Bewitchment, making your Shield a Fairy so my monster can deal damage to it. Kokki, attack!" The mass' fist crashed into the shield, sending prices flying across the street.
"Perhaps you should trade in those credits you just earned. "Aura suggested, closing her eyes.
"Hey Aura," Kaomi outreached her as the holograms disappeared, "You're good. Let's work together. We cold do a lot of damage here."
"Okay..." Aura smiled thinly.
-O-
A woman in a silver robe ran up to Alan-Tax, "Sir, first finalist, Xavier Dyson."
"Send a confirmation request to his Duel Disk, then send a hit." Alan ordered.
-O-
Sevanos smiled, "Only a matter of time now. Perhaps I should go earn my victories." He walked down the street.
-O-
Raven, now having accumulated three of his seven points, searched for his next challenge. "Yo! I saw you at Battle City; you took out my friend, Willow. You got a card of hers, and I want it back."
"Your intentions are noble, but I'm in no mood to trade." Raven shrugged, apologetically.
"I'm not ax'in ya to trade. I'm tellin' ya I'm gonna take it from ya in a Duel!"
"Fine, you're welcome to try." Raven launched his disk.
"And I will, yo." The man launched his, "I'm Mike, Willow's friend."
"Raven Vaniver." He drew, "I'll lead with my Polymerization, combining my Forgiving Maiden and Marie the Fallen One. Since I've really nothing to loose and perhaps a lot to gain by this, here comes De-Fusion!" Marie and the Maiden combined, then separated, "Because instead of Saint Joan, I sacrifice my monsters for the Guardian Angel Joan." The tow monsters were replaced by another Joan, this one in a white and gold angelic garment, with wings of light on her back and long gold armbands flapping in the wind.
"Ehhh," 'Mike' drew. "Right. Here goes a monsta in defense mode. Go!"
"I play my Sacred Crane in attack mode." A bird flew from the card on Raven's disk. "Joan, attack his monster" Two beams of light shot from Joan's hands and straight through the Giant Solder of Stone. Raven's Life Point counter soared to 5300.
"Wha? How?" Mike stood, dumbfounded.
"My Joan adds your destroyed monster's attack power to my Life Points." Raven explained as his bird pecked Mike's Life Points down to 2400.
Mike drew, "Oh, you good."
"I take it you do nothing?"
"I'll do somethin' all right." Mike shut down his disk and charged at Raven.
"Stop." Raven ordered in a deep, commanding tone. Mike did not heed this warning, and as Mike sent his fist at Raven, Raven's hand met ti and held it, "To loose by such a margin is disgraceful, and doubly so when dueling for a friend's honor, but that does not justify your actions. Learn this lesson, vile being." Raven pushed away Mike, "Mind Shatter!"
Mike grabbed his head. He felt intense pain, and fell to the ground, "What the hell are you?"
"I am Raven Vaniver, Solder of the Pharaoh." Raven turned away, "Soon the light of justice will penetrate the hate that clouded your judgment and forced you to attack me. I apologize for the painfulness of it all, but such a drastic change cannot be done without a little pain, you know." Raved drifted away. He struggled to understand the force that took over, and how he knew these things. Then he remembered what Shadi said:
"Take this. It is a pendant like the one Sevanos has. You can use it to unlock power equal to his. It's a shard of the God's Tear crystal. The crystal was used by the sorcerers of Egypt to commune with Shadow Realm easier and focus their power."
"Holy God! That was the power inside this little jewel?" Raven eyed his pendant closely.
-O-
"Lord Barbas!" the girl from earlier had obviously been running about the headquarters. "Have you seen Lord Alan-Tax? I must report to him."
"I'll take him a message. What is it."
"The present finalist count is up to five. The most recent; one Shuyin Beolve." She reported.
"Thank you. Is Lord Sevanos one of the five?" Barbas inquired.
"Yes sir. All seven in less than an hour and a half!" reported the girl.
"Good. What time is it?"
"Approaching eight, sir. It's darkening on the streets now." She reported.
"Eight? That leaves only four hours to get nine more finalists. We'll cut it close." Barbas shook his head, "I'll go report this to Alan."
-O-
Night was falling. The cries of duelists trying to be among the top sixteen rang thought the city. Summon, sacrifice, activate, trigger, reveal! Some residents no doubt were a bit annoyed, but Raven, now needing but one more win, disagreed. The passion and conviction and determination of other duelists kept his spirits high. "Hey!" he shouted, recognizing someone, "Kid! You're Arkith, aren't you?"
Arkith smiled back, "Well, well, well, if it isn't Kaomi's little friend. How have you two been?"
"Fine." Raven scowled.
"You don't like me much, do you?"
"Can't say I do."
"Heh, can't say I like you either. So let's settle it."
"I needed some foolish person to suggest that so I could get along to the finals. This is a breeze."
"You think so, eh? Then let's duel!" Arkith launched his disk. As did Raven.
"I'll go first." Raven drew, "I play a monster in defense mode. Go."
"Heh. Here goes move one out of the twenty moves you have to defeat me. Begin the Final Countdown!" Arkith smiled as above him twenty balls of fire appeared, and on his Life Point counter, the display changed to 2000. "And for good measure, a monster in defense mode."
"The difference our monsters is, Arkith, I had a plan when I played mine." Raven watched one go out as he drew, "I play Soul Exchange and cross-sacrifice our two monsters to summon my greatest monster. What always has been and always will be my best, my greatest, my soul card. Go to, Tyrant Dragon! By my card's effect, I cannot attack, so go." Another fireball vanished. Eighteen.
"I play two cards face down and send in Swords of Revealing Light." Swords flew at Raven's monsters, and the seventeenth extinguished
"Blast!" Raven drew. "I'm bound. I'll throw this in defense mode-"
"Trigger trap card, Pyro Clock of Destiny!" Arkith smiled. Sixteen and fifteen vanished. "Which will trigger my other Pyar Clock!" Fourteen and thirteen vanished.
"Go." Number twelve vanished. Eleven remained.
"Sadly, I timed things poorly, and caused my own Swords to extinguish, or did I?" he grinned, "As you ponder that, I'll defend and set my third and final Pyro Clock, so you can go." That eleventh fireball vanished.
"Tyrant Dragon, ATTACK!"
"Revealing my Apprentice Magician. I believe you can attack my new monster, too, correct?"
"I will. Attack!"
"That was Magician of Faith, getting my Swords back. Thank you. It'll also trigger Pyro Clock." Ten, nine, and eight vanished. "I defend, play Swords, and end my turn." Seven vanished. Only six of the twenty fireballs remained. Unless the Swords were destroyed, Raven would not be able to win.
"Here goes nothing, Card Destruction!" he gladly tossed his hand, and milled, "Get ready for this one Arkith. I may just finish you sooner than you think. But for now, I end my turn." Six vanished.
"I pass. Only two more cycles, Raven." Five vanished.
"Four turns left, all bound by swords, only have to do 2000 points of damage. Odds of success low. Really low. I like it." He drew, and smiled, "Cause I work well under pressure. Here goes Heavy Storm!" The Swords vanished, "And sacrifice my monsters to summon Barrel Dragon. This dragon can destroy your monster without ever attacking it. Charge up for Plasma Burst!" One cannon came to power. Another failed to activate. The final cannon was hesitant. Both duelists watched the gauge intently. Finally, after a pause that seemed like years, the gauge turned red. A failure. "I set one card and end my turn."
"Same here." Four and three vanished.
"Try again!" ordered Raven "Charge for Plasma Burst!" This time, all three gauges seemed eternally slow. Raven knew if he failed this time, it was over. One green light. Arkith watched, knowing if the next light turned green, it was over for him, save his back-up plan. Gauges Two and Three light together. The colors were a unanimous green. The cannons were charged. "Go, Plasma Burst!" The three cannons fired, crashing into the defending Mask of Darkness. "Now, Barrel Dragon, Attack!"
"Reveal Negate Attack!"
"Reveal Seven Tools of the Bandit!" Raven's Life Points fell to 3000, "OBLITERATE!" Two and one vanished with the other holograms. "Not bad Arkith."
-O-
"Sir!" the girl ran to Alan in quite a hurry, "Raven Vaniver. He's the eighth finalist. Only eight more before midnight."
"Raven, eh? Send our esteemed guest's disk a hit."
"Skip the confirmation procedure?"
"Yeah. Skip it."
-O-
Arkith stepped back, and if it weren't for the fact it was on his arm, Raven would have too. Raven's disk began to glow. A holographic Sevanos appeared before Raven.
"Congratulations Duelist. You are one of the Top Sixteen. Please report to the headquarters of the 108 Stars of Destiny just outside of town. A map will now be provided for you, constantly projected onto the central Monster Zone of your Duel Disk. Our Orbital Tracking System will show your location in comparison to Stars HQ. Please report there in a timely manner, to get a room for the night and trade in your Victory Credits." That hologram vanished, and the map appeared on his disk.
-O-
Raven walked the half-hour to the headquarters in a futile attempt to clear his mind. But, what surprised him was the number one thing on it wasn't fate, or Sevanos, or Duel Monsters. It was Kaomi. As he approached the enormous building, his mind was filled with questions. Was she already there? Would she show up? Was she safe? These flowing through his mind, he walked into the Grand Hall. Two men in blue robes greeted him, handed him a map and keycard, and turned to walk away. "Wait." Raven halted them, "Where are other Finalists hanging out?"
"The V.I.P Conference Room, the 'Rose Room', on the fifth floor. The card shop is on this floor, and Duelist Suites are on the twelfth floor. The first round will commence tomorrow morning promptly at eleven. Those will be held in a special arena on Basement Level Three. All Operations Floors and offices, those are floors seventeen all the way up to thirty, are restricted. The Information Office is the office right next to the elevators on this floor. If you have any further question, ask them there." The one on the left said. They both left.
"Okay. That was more than I cared about." Raven sighed, and proceeded to the elevators. The doors of the elevator slid open, and he quickly pressed 'Floor 5'. The elevator hummed slightly. It rose at a decent speed. Raven was pleasantly surprised by the lack of crappy music, or music altogether, in the elevator. It have him the ability to think. He made note of doors on both sides of the elevator, but this did not concern him. He wanted to see who was here. The doors he had entered, the front doors of the elevator, slid apart. Fifth floor. He proceeded through a hall of conference rooms. The Lavender Room, The Oak Room, The Green Room, the Blue Room, et cetera. This continued for some way until he found some red-carpeted stars on the right side of the hall. The Rose Room. The doors were made of pure oak, with gold handles. This room seemed luxurious, and he hadn't even opened the door. He, almost timidly, did. The room was lavishly decorated in crimson, gold, and other hues of majesty. The chairs were downright regal. Seven of them were filled. He saw Sevanos, and shot him a dark glare, then, he continued to scan the room, which fell silent as he entered. Most he did not recognize.
Before he could create descriptions, Shuyin stood and walked over. He extended a hand, "Congratulations, Raven."
"Have you seen a woman by the name of Kaomi Itat?" Raven asked, shaking Shuyin's hand.
"Lady Itai has yet to complete her seventh victory. I will have you notified when she does. Even better, Alan-Tax, my personal assistant, will go pick her up in my car." Sevanos grinned.
"Thank you." Raven said, reluctantly.
"I understand your lack of trust, given what a certain turban-wearing meddler told you. But the girl will not be harmed. So do not fear." Sevanos stated. "I will go speak with Alan-Tax."
Raven sat at the table. It was hardwood. Oak, he guessed.
"She'll make it." Shuyin nodded, "Don't worry."
Over the next while, others arrived. Cid, his old friend Alexander, Arkith, Some Aura girl who claimed to have been separated from Kaomi, an odd fellow named Lios who was an apparent acquaintance of Cid and Alexander, Willow arrived although Quinn never showed, and there was a long break once eleven o'clock hit. Who would be the final two?
-O-
Kaomi stood on the darkened street, her Seiyaryu shining brilliantly before her. "Mystic Flame!" she ordered. Seiyaryu's fireball destroyed the defending Celtic Guardian straight off. "Your move."
-O-
Eleven fifteen. Sevanos burst through the doors into the quiet room. No one spoke; some held their breath for friends to make it.
-O-
The Dark Hole in the sky absorbed Seiyaryu. Kaomi's eyes narrowed, "You'll pay for that."
-O-
Raven had gotten up and began to pace. Two spots left. Both had to win by midnight. He checked the clock. Half an hour remained.
-O-
Kaomi felt this duel drag on. She wasn't quite sure of the time, but she knew there wasn't much of it. She drew. Her Life Points were down to 2750.
-O-
Eleven forty. Raven stopped when Sevanos' cell phone rang. He ran to Sevanos with a great speed.
"Thank you, Barbas." He addressed the group, "We have fifteen."
"The newest?" asked Raven, nervous and eager.
"Illarya. We don't have a last name for her, but it isn't Itai." Sevanos said, with a hint of pity, "She still has twenty minutes."
"Nineteen." Shuyin corrected him.
"Yes, so it is."
-O-
Kaomi and her opponent were both down to 2000 now, both their fields clear. Kaomi examined her hand; she had nothing, "Card Destruction." She threw her hand in the Graveyard and drew a new one.
-O-
Eleven fifty-three. No reports.
"She's never going to make it." Aura said.
Raven shot her the coldest glance he had ever given, "She'll make it."
-O-
"Dark Blade, destroy the defensive monster" Kaomi ordered.
-O-
Eleven fifty-six.
-O-
"My Turn" Kaomi drew, "Although you have one monster, my Dark Blade can't finish this even if I manage to destroy it. So here goes my Monster Reborn! Come back to me Seiyaryu!" Kaomi called.
-O-
Eleven fifty-eight.
-O-
"Dark Blade, eliminate the defensive monster!"
-O-
Eleven fifty-nine.
"God, tell me she'll make it." Raven sat down, his head in his hands.
-O-
"Seiyaryu, OBLITERATE!"
-O-
Midnight.
"She didn't make it..." Raven choked back tears.
Sevanos' cell phone rang again.
Raven looked up.
"Yes." A pause, "Understood. I'll go give the farewell speech to those who didn't make it and round up our people who failed to make it back here, Mister Pryce, for example. You go take care of Number Sixteen."
"Sixteen?" Raven said, with a hint of excitement.
"At exactly eleven fifty-nine and fifty-nine seconds, Kaomi Itai defeated her seventh opponent." Sevanos reported to the group with a smile, "Congratulations again, Lord Vaniver."
Raven sighed with relief, "She scared the hell outta me." He forced a laugh; "I gotta go trade in my credits. How many packs do we get? Twenty-one?" He drifted out of the room.
"See how tore up he got about her?" Aura smiled when Raven and Sevanos were out of earshot.
"Yeah..." Cid shrugged.
"Well, it's sweet, is all." Aura closed her eyes.
"You don't think..." Shuyin looked oddly at her.
"Nah." Arkith sat back.
"Yes, I think so. I think it's perfectly reasonable to assume..." Aura explained calmly.
"I'm going to bed." Alex left, followed by Willow.