DISCLAIMER- I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!(cries) and do not own anything involving Yu-Gi-Oh!.
I do however, own all characters not made in the anime/manga/tcg involved in this story(excluding two others which I will tell at the end of the story). Read and enjoy! This is my second fanfic by the way, and I think I've grown to be getting pretty good at creating fanfics now. The Yu-Gi-Oh! characters may or may not be in this. Please R&R!
Delicate Crystals
Chapter 3- The Carnival
Ryoshin was never the type to go to carnivals much. He didnt entirely hate going to them, they just made him sick most of the time. As much as he didnt want to tell her, he DID just wanna sit on a couch all night, practicing Duel Monsters. If he were to at least, test out the new cards he got, he may be able to tell if the deck's cards are balanced or not. There was one card he was thinking about putting in his deck too; but he didnt think it may help as much as it could. Because of this, he believed it would slow down the deck.
Crystal noticed pretty quickly after 10 minutes of completely dead silence that Ryoshin wasnt saying a word. So she decided to pop in a question.
"So, whatcha thinking about?"
"Huh! Oh, nothing, nothing at all. Its just uhhh...the weather tonight. It seems unusally cold"
"Brrr, yeah you're right. It IS pretty cold, huh?"
Ryoshin didnt like the way she was looking at him though. Seemed like she was trying to hint at something, but it didnt hit Ryo, so he decided to ignore it.
"Well, its not that cold"
Crystal grabbed her Cell Phone out of her purse, and saw that the phone read 4:19 PM, April 12th, 2005, 68F. She put her Cell Phone back into her purse, then looked at Ryoshin, blushing a bit.
"Maybe you're right. I guess its not THAT cold"
Ryoshin looked at her confused.
"First she says it cold, then she goes back to saying that it isnt that cold? Maybe she's just having heat waves" Ryoshin thought to himself.
"Hey, look Ryo! There it is! There's the carnival!" Crystal pointed out to a fairly big carnival, which most equipment had red, white, or red and white stripes on the machinery. And of course, the one thing that stood out from the rest of it all, was the Ferris Wheel. Crystal immediately saw this and grew wide eyed, as she stared into space for a little bit.
"Ummm, Crystal? Are you alright? Hello?" Ryoshin finally waved his hand in front of her face, snapping her back into reality. Ryoshin sweatdropped, and replied with a "Okay...good"
"So, what are we waiting for!" Crystal grabbed Ryoshin around his left arm with her right, tugging him to the entrance.
"Slow down! You're gonna hurt me!" Ryoshin found himself constantly tripping and catching himslef before landing face forward into the cement. They finally came to a sudden stop, where Ryoshin almost ran right into the clerk.
"Two tickets, please" Crystal asked nicely, giving the peace sign.
"Ummm, alright. That will be $20.00 please"
Crystal looked into her purse and saw she had about $50.00 total, but she came up with another idea.
"Hey, Ryo? Do you think you could spare $5.00?"
Ryoshin was catching his breath from the constant tripping and running. Ryoshin wasnt exactly fit, but they had just ran 2 miles in less than 4 minutes. He couldnt keep up with that kind of stamina. He looked at her, as if insulted.
"What? Are you kidding?"
Crystal looked at him angrily then turned back to the clerk.
"Fine, I'll just use my mom's credit card" Crystal searched through her purse to try and find the credit card.
"What are you talking about? I invited you, so naturally, I'm gonna pay for this, arent I?" Ryoshin looked at her, in a state of inquiry. Ryoshin dragged himself over to the clerk, and pulled out a twenty dollar bill to hand to the clerk.
"Here...you go sir" Ryoshin handed the clerk the dollar before falling to the ground, panting.
"Are you ok, Ryo?" Crystal bent over to look at the collapsing, young man.
"I'll...be fine...just, need to catch...my breath"
Crystal blushed at this, then turned around to face the clerk again.
"Here are your two tickets. Oh, and here's another $5.00. Couples get 25 off the total amount"
"But we're not..." Crystal paused for a second to look over at Ryoshin. She found him to be sleeping peacefully, looking like he had not a single worry. Crystal then looked back at the clerk.
"Thanks, sir" Crystal took the tickets, then bent down on her knees to look at Ryoshin again.
"Ryo. Ryoooooo. Cmon, wake up, we gotta get to the carnival, remember?" Crystal said, as she shook Ryoshin gently with her arms.
"Huh? Wait, where am I!" Ryoshin quickly rose, panicking.
"Hey, calm down. Did you have a nightmare or something? We're at the carnival, remember?" Crystal replied, setting her hand on his back.
"Oh, thats right. I must've passed out"
"I guess so. Sorry about that Ryo"
"Its ok, dont worry about it. At least we got here, right? I'm sure they got some interesting games with some interesting shops as well. Lets get in" ryoshin said, and with that, the two walked through the gates, into the carnival.
As soon as they came in, Ryoshin caught an eye on a game where you throw a ball to try and knock over all 5 plastic glasses. You only got 6 balls though. Crystal smiled at this, and decided they'd both take a shot at it. Ryoshin went first, and found himself missing the first time. But if there was anything special about Ryoshin, he learned quickly. He hit 4 of the glasses, but found himself missing the last time. Crystal also tried taking a shot at it. She found herself hitting 2 of the glasses.
But for some reason, she seemed to be proud of herself.
"Funny, I suck at sports. I cant throw a ball. Yet, I still hit those two glasses" Crystal said, laughing a bit.
"I dont believe you" Ryoshin thought to himself.
The two moved over to another game which was exactly the type of game Ryoshin could actually put his eyes, ears, and/or brain to the test.
"Come one, come all! I have here, 4 cups! I place a dime underneath one of the cups, and constantly switch the cups. Find the coin! Get a prize if you win a perfect game! Nobody has ever won! Lets see if you can!" a carny spoke out. This, of course caught Ryoshin's ear, and he quickly turned to see how people played. After watching a few people get completely wiped out, he finally stepped up to try.
"I'll play you a game" Ryoshin walked up to the man, sliding his two hands together, as if lighting a campfire with a twig.
"Alright, youngin', if you can win three times in a row, you shall win a wonderous prize! Although,
be careful, as most people never get passed the first try" the man finished.
"Probably some stupid, stuffed tuddy bear" Ryoshin thought to himself. Ryoshin nodded at the man, and watched the man sit down. The man took a dime out of his front pocket and gave it to Ryoshin to examine. Ryoshin looked at it, and haned it back to the man. The man slowly put the dime under one of the cups, then set the other three cups down. The man immediately started shuffling the cups between each other, trying to ensure that Ryoshin didnt pick the right one. The man stopped, folded his arms,
and told Ryoshin to pick one.
"Hmmmm, I think its that one" Ryoshin pointed to the second white cup from the right.
"Is it the one?" The man slowly lifted the cup, revealing the contents underneath.
"Yes!" Ryoshin thought to himself.
"Amazing! This young man has actually picked the right one! This kid's got one heck of a pair of eyes! But how far can he go! This is where it gets more difficult kid! Now, I'm going to place a 5th cup down! Lucky boy, you are! Almost no one gets past the first one!" The man turned around to grab another white cup, and he placed it on the table. He once again took the dime, then placed it under another different cup. The man shuffled much quicker this time, almost like lightning. But it was these kinds of things Ryoshin loved. The challenge of it all.
"That one" Ryoshin pointed to the middle cup.
"Is that the cup?" The man pronounced, and to his own surprise, it was.
"Good going Ryo!" Crystal cheered from the small audience watching Ryoshin.
"Absolutely astonishing ma boy! Only two people I've ever met have actually gotten this far! But can you take on the third and final level? The rules change quite an amount here! You started with four cups, but you moved to five! You still beat that as well! But what happens when you have to look at twice the amount of cups!" the man announced proudly, turning around and placing 5 more cups on the table for the boy to pick from.
"TEN? THATS FREAKING NUTS!" Crystal thought to herself, and she was sure Ryoshin was going to win too. It seemed hopeless now. "Poor Ryo" she thought.
"So boy? Do you give up?"
"Of course not. This is what I live for" Ryoshin said, smiling confidently at the man.
"Uhhh...alright then! Here's the second twist! You get two shots at picking the right cup! Except, that if you miss the first time, the amount of cups is doubled again! So you'll be dealing with twenty cups boy!" the man finished, stroking his mustache.
"I wont need a second shot"
"Oh ho! Confident, are we! Well, lets see just HOW confident you are after this!" the man took the dime out from the cup Ryoshin picked and placed underneath another one of the cups. The man quickly started shuffling the cups at extreme speeds. Nobody knew how this man was so good at moving things around, but it seemed to be his one talent. The man stopped after exactly one minute of shuffling.
To be honest, Ryoshin had lost it at the very end. He accidently found himself blinking, which caused him to look track of the cup with the coin inside. However, he DID know it was in one of two cups,
but this is what worried him. If he didnt pick the right one, the man would bring out another ten cups for him to deal with. The man seemed tired though. He swore though, that the coin was hidden under the 8th cup. Ryoshin slowly moved his hand, with his index finger out, and started to go towards the cup he thought contained the coin. The man put his hand on the cup and looked Ryoshin in the eye,
and started slowly lifting the cup.
"OH WOW. HOW DID HE DO IT?" were the first thoughts that came to Crystal's mind.
Everybody around Ryoshin was very quiet, and very qide eyed as they looked at what had just happened. Ryoshin, had in fact, picked the right cup. The dime sat there, glistening in the carnival lights. The man looked at Ryoshin, then bowed, taking his top hat off. Everyone just stared for a few moments, then went into an ear shattering applause. Ryoshin wiped off some sweat from his forehead with his right hand, then smiled at the man.
"You've got some REAL talent. I havent had a nice challenge like that in a long, long time" Ryoshin said proudly. He walked up to man, and shook his hand.
"Boy, you're the one with talent. Never, have I encountered a person who could see through every one of my tricks. You truly are good" the man said, putting his top hat back on.
"Thanks. Nice trick you did there with switching the coin between the cups. That requires quite some maneuver"
"Heh, old trick my father taught me"
"Hmmm, so where's my teddy bear?" Ryoshin asked, but was surprised at the man's reaction.
"HAHAHAHA! Teddy bear? Not quite, ma boy! For getting past me you get a choice between two doors!
Each contains a truly magnificent prize! One contains a very rare, unique Duel Monsters card! While the other contains a beautiful Diamond Necklace!" the man said, pointing his cane to the doors.
"There's only one card that I can think of that MIGHT be little needed in my deck. But I dont really require it. Becides, that card is a little too rare for someone to just give away" Ryoshin thought. Ryoshin walked up to the doors and stood in front of them for a little bit, pondering.
The man walked up to Ryoshin and whispered something in his ear. Ryoshin chuckled at this, and right after, he picked door number two. The man stared blankly, but smiled friendly.
"Thats all folks! This boy has done it! He now has a beautiful Diamond Necklace! Maybe there will be a lucky girl out there!" the man said, chuckling at his own comment. Ryoshin smiled, and shook the man's hand one more time before moving to the back of the crowd.
"That was awesome Ryo! You did perfectly! I wouldnt have stood a chance against him! But you! You just" Crystal was interrupted by Ryoshin's right arm on her shoulder. "Ryo?" she asked, confused.
Ryoshin moved behind her and tossed her hair to her chest. He put something around her and tied it to at the back of her neck.
"You can have it. Its not like someone like me needs something like that, unless I were that kind of person, but heh heh heh. You know what I mean" he simply said with a smile. Ryoshin moved back to face Crystal and saw a tear form from her eye.
"This is so nice of him. I love this necklace, its so beautiful...but" Crystal thought to herself.
"Are you ok Crys?"
"Maybe he does care, maybe he does feel the same way about me. He nicknamed me!" she thought to herself again.
"Hey" Ryoshin didnt seem to be getting much luck out of her though.
"I cant...accept this" she simply replied, wiping the tear from her face.
"But it looks so beautiful on you! You look great with it on!" Ryoshin paused for a moment, looking at her, then thought of something else. "Ah, I know. We'll go on the Ferris Wheel just like you wanted, ok? You think about it up there, alrighty?" Ryoshin finished, with wide, open arms.
Crystal nodded weakly and slowly, putting her arms up to her chest, she walked over to Ryoshin, as he closed his arms around her, giving her a warm hug.
"NOW...lets go get on that Ferris Wheel, how bout it?" he asked her, looking down at her.
Crystal nodded, while still embraced in the hug, then parted from him as they started to walk towards the Ferris Wheel.
Ryoshin and Crystal finally got to the Ferris Wheel and Ryoshin paid $2.00 for them to both get on the Ferris Wheel. Ten minutes passed without a word, and there were only two minutes left before the Ferris Wheel would stop. Ryoshin just smiled at this though. He started tapping his index finger and middle finger on the metal cage, encasing them both inside, in a rhythm that sounded like a song.
"I like that song" Crystal quietly said.
"Yeah, its a good song, isnt it?" Ryoshin replied and watched as Crystal slowly nodded.
"Ryo?"
"Yeah, what is it?"
The Ferris Wheel was coming to a stop soon, as their cart was next to stop.
"...Thanks"
"You bet Crys"
End Chapter 3