DISCLAIMER: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh.
Chapter 6
Bakura was busy looking through his cards when he heard Ryou come home. Curious as to how the date went, he jumped off his bed and ran into the living room to greet his brother. "Hey, Ryou. How was it?"
"Oh, fine," said Ryou, hanging up his jacket. "I also met some interesting friends of his."
"Really?" asked Bakura. "What were they like?"
"Strange. Very, very strange." Ryou then looked at the clock. "Wow, it's only seven o'clock."
"Yeah, you're home earlier than Dad." Bakura walked into the kitchen, getting out some leftover chicken for his dinner. He heard his brother sigh, and wondered what was wrong. "Ryou, what is it?"
"Bakura… I…" Ryou stopped, not wanting to continue. "Never mind. I guess I'm just really tired."
Bakura frowned. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah."
"Alright then… but please tell me if something's bothering you, no matter what it is."
Ryou nodded and went to his bedroom. He sat on the bed and looked at his cards that were lying on his desk.
/"We're going to be holding Duel Monster competitions to bring in customers," said Yami. "I don't really want to, but we need the money."
"Really?" was all that Ryou could think of to say at the time, and he mentally kicked himself for it. "I mean, I had no idea…"
"Don't worry about it." Yami smiled at him. "However, if you or your brother know how to duel you can stop by and try your luck."/
Sighing, Ryou laid down on his bed, thinking about what he had learned about Yami and Yugi. They were in some financial problems, and they needed some kind of attraction. Dueling competitions was a great way to attract potential customers. Maybe Bakura would help out, too… was his thought before drifting off to sleep.
Yami and Solomon were a bit surprised to see such a crowd the next morning, with challengers ready to try to take the teen down. "Well, Yami? Are you ready?" his grandfather asked him.
"As ready as I'll ever be, I suppose," the teen answered, going outside and setting up a few tables and chairs. Then Yugi announced, "We will now begin our shop's first Duel Monsters competition! All duelists, please sit at a table with an opponent. Once you lose one duel, you're out of the tournament. If you have any questions during a duel then try to get a judge's attention and we'll try to help you out. Everybody understand?"
"Yeah!" they all exclaimed.
"Okay, then… It's time to duel!"
Yami sat down at a table and got his brand new deck ready, a bit surprised when he saw that everyone raced to him first, but the person who ended up being his first opponent was a girl from another school. "Hello," she said politely, smiling at him as she took the seat opposite of him.
"Hello," he greeted back, shuffling his cards as she did the same. Then, they cut each other's decks and handed the cards back to their owner. "Ready?"
"You bet I am! I'll go first," said the girl.
(Yami: 8000 Girl: 8000)
She drew her cards and looked at them. "I place two cards face-down. Next, I summon Baby Dragon in attack mode (ATK: 1200). And now, I end my turn."
Yami nodded and drew his own cards. I could attack with Harpie's Brother (ATK: 1800), he thought, but I'm not too sure about her two facedown cards. I could be falling into a trap. He looked at his high-defensive monsters, Prevent Rat and Mystical Elf (DEF: 2000). He could place one of them down and lure her into attacking and thus losing LP, but there was no sure chance that she really would attack. In the end, he took his chance. "I summon Raging Flame Sprite in attack mode (ATK: 100)."
"Is that all?"
"She has a special ability that allows me to attack your LP directly."
"Shoot! I completely forgot about that!"
(Yami: 8000 Girl: 7900)
"And now, my Flame Sprite gains an additional 1000 Attack Points." (ATK: 1100) He looked back at his hand. "And with that, I end my turn."
"Okay!" said the girl as she drew her next card. She smiled. "I place one card face-down. Next, I activate the magic card Card Destruction."
No! Yami wasn't expecting such a challenge as he discarded his hand to the card graveyard. This girl knew what she was doing after all.
"And now… I activate Monster Reborn to bring back my Blue Eyes White Dragon (ATK: 3000)."
"A Blue Eyes White Dragon!"
"That's right. Mr. Pegasus made a few more in the past couple years. I guess I just got lucky. Now, Baby Dragon, attack his Raging Flame Sprite!"
(Yami: 7900 Girl: 7900)
"And my Blue Eyes will attack you directly. After that, I end my turn."
(Yami: 4900 Girl: 7900)
The teen male frowned. He wasn't doing too well, and this was just the first duel! Hmm… "I place two cards face-down, and place one monster card in face-down defense position. Your turn."
"Alright." She drew a card. "I summon Celtic Guardian in attack mode (ATK: 1400). Next, my Blue Eyes attacks and destroys your face-down monster card."
Yami chuckled. "My Wall of Illusion may be destroyed, but now your Blue Eyes White Dragon goes back to your hand thanks to its effect."
"Oh great… No matter, I attack your LP directly with Celtic Guardian."
"Not quite."
"What!"
"I activate my trap card, Waboku. My LP are safe."
She frowned. "I end my turn."
Yami nodded and drew his next card. I have to decrease her offense, otherwise I'm done for. Then he thought of something. Sure he may lose some LP, but it was well worth it. "I summon Harpie Lady 3 (ATK: 1300) and attack and destroy your Baby Dragon."
(Yami: 4900 Girl: 7800)
"I end my turn for now."
The girl frowned as she drew her card. Crap, I can't summon my Blue Eyes again. What am I gonna do? She ended up summoning Fox Fire to the field (ATK: 300). Then she attacked Yami's monster with her Celtic Guardian and destroyed it.
(Yami: 4800 Girl: 7800)
"Now your monster cannot attack for two turns thanks to my monster's special ability," he informed her.
"It doesn't matter! I can't do anything anyway! Arg; I end my turn."
Yami drew his card, placing a monster on the field in facedown defense position. Next it was her turn again.
Drawing her card, the girl smiled. "Finally, my Blue Eyes returns to the field after I sacrifice my two monsters. I attack your face-down monster!" Please don't be another Wall of Illusion, she thought frantically. She ended up losing 1000 LP due to the monster's effect.
(Yami: 4800 Girl: 6800)
I just have to keep strong, Yami thought, going through the same old process of drawing a card. He placed another monster in facedown defense position and then patiently waited for the girl to finish off her own turn. She summoned Wolf Axwielder (ATK: 1650) and used it to attack his facedown card, allowing him to add a monster card with 1500 DEF points or less to his hand. "I attack your LP directly now with Blue Eyes."
"I activate Kuriboh's special ability to make sure I don't lose any LP," Yami countered, almost desperately.
"Tsk. I end my turn then."
"I place one monster face-down on the field and end my turn."
"Blue Eyes, attack!"
She attacked the monster Newdoria. "And now, your Blue Eyes is destroyed also."
She gaped. That wasn't supposed to happen! "Wolf Axwielder, attack!"
(Yami: 3150 Girl: 6800)
Then she had ended her turn. Yami once again set a monster. She once again attacked, but this time she in for a big surprise. Yami's monster was Spirit of the Harp (DEF: 2000)
(Yami: 3150 Girl: 6450)
She ended her turn. Yami drew his next card, and grinned at her. "I activate the magic card Monster Reborn to bring Blue Eyes White Dragon back from the grave," he declared. She gasped in shock. He was using her own monster against her! "Now, Blue Eyes White Dragon, attack Wolf Axwielder. And then, Spirit of the Harp attack your LP directly."
(Yami: 3150 Girl: 4300)
"I end my turn."
"Fine! I summon Fox Fire and end my turn!"
"I summon Dreamsprite to the field (ATK: 300). Next, I attack your Fox Fire with Spirit of Harp.
(Yami: 3150 Girl: 3800)
Next, I attack with Blue Eyes White Dragon.
(Yami: 3150 Girl: 800)
Finally, I attack with Dreamsprite and end my turn."
(Yami: 3150 Girl: 500)
Fox Fire came back to her side of the field. "I… surrender," she said sadly, putting her hand on her deck. She smiled at Yami, though. "I'm glad I was able to duel with you."
"Same here," said Yami as his next opponent sat down.
The duels continued on for almost two hours, the number of duelists decreasing after each duel. Finally, it was down to two duelists. Yami sighed as he looked at his opponent sitting across from him. "Well, Bakura, I'm surprised to find you here."
"Oh really?" the white-haired teen sneered. "For your information, I've been the champion of a few tournaments back at my old neighborhood. I know what I'm doing."
"I don't doubt that at all."
The decks were shuffled and the hands were drawn. "Just so you know," Bakura said, glancing at each card in his hand, "I've never used this deck yet. Don't know if that gives you an advantage or not. Still," he looked up, his eyes locking onto Yami's, "I plan to defeat you."
"I'll make sure that doesn't happen," said Yami. "Let's duel."
TO BE CONTINUED
