Sdrive: Yay, the long awaited new chapter of Sky Top Duelists! Huzzah!
Audience: YAY!
Sdrive: Ok, I'll admit. I lost the thingy again, and I also knew what kind of deck I wanted Nine to have, I just didn't know how to build it so that it was good. Because let's face it, a while ago there weren't enough Dragon Cards to make a good Dragon Deck with. But thanks to a little think called YVD and the Japanese YVD Sets that I put into it, I found some VERY good Dragon Cards. So, If you don't recognize them, it's probably because they haven't come out in America yet. Also, Chaos Field is a card I created for this duel. So all creative credit goes to me. Yay. Anyway, enough of me talking about me. Now it's your turn to talk about me.
Audience: JUST GET ON WITH IT!
Sdrive: Alright alright! Rrr.
Disclaimer: Chaos Field is mine, however the card game I used to create the card is not mine. Neither is anything that Kazuki Takahashi created. If anyone doesn't remember it's Kai and Sprite. Domid, Hajime, and Nine are all based on actual peoples. And now I'm getting glares at the audience for an overly long disclaimer so I'm going to get on with the story now.
Sdrive: One final A/N. HA! And you thought they were over. I'm going to test out Italicizing thoughts in this chapter. I think it will be easier than constantly putting the half quotation that I usually do. I always find it awkward whenever I have to do that plus a regular speech quotation. So, Just wanted you all to know what it meant, though I'm sure you are all very smart people and could have figured it out for yourself…I hope.
Nine was making his way down to the South West Dueling arena. He was wearing his dragon hoody along with a black shirt underneath that had white Japanese symbols that meant 9. He had on black pants and his duel disk was on his arm. He was giving himself a small pep talk while on his way. He wasn't worried in the slightest, and he was sure to say that over and over again.
This whole thing is going to be a piece of cake. My dueling skills have never been stronger, plus I have my new Blue Eyes White Dragon in my deck. He remembered back to when he got his Blue Eyes and smiled. He loved dragons, and duel monster dragons were no exception. He then began to think about Hajime and the Red Eyes. I feel bad that I can't use the Red Eyes. It's a really good card, but I respect Hajime for his faithfulness to the Red Eyes. Poor Hajime, he's a great duelist, and really knows how to use a dragon, unfortunately he's not the dragon master in the group, though I'm sure he would argue that one till doomsday. He uses good dragons, and can work his way around them, but he also uses other tricks, where as I use all dragons, minus a handy dragon spellcaster.
He continued his walk down the street when something caught his eye. There was a card face down next to a table at an outside restaurant. Curiosity peaking his interest he went over to pick it up and got startled at what he saw. "Burst Stream of Destruction?" he asked out loud as he looked around to see if anyone was close enough to have seemingly dropped the card. Seeing no one was around to claim the card he shrugged and pulled his deck out of his hoody's pocket. He shuffled it inside, "This can help me and my Blue Eyes," he said as he put his deck back into his pocket. If anyone ever comes up to me with proof that they lost the card, I'll have to return it, but for now I don't see the harm in using it. He continued walking on towards the arena. I have to admit though, Hajime and I are a lot a like; we both have a great respect for the dragons with the different colored eyes. And I'll do what I need too to get those other Blue Eyes. But I won't lose sight of my other dragons. It was at that point that he was nearing the arena. He followed the crowd inside and went to the part of the arena reserved for the duelists.
The proctor went through the opening speech and then Nine went over to the to the screen to see where his dueling field was. His eyes widened ever so slightly when he saw that he would be dueling in field nine. He glanced over at his opponent's screen. His opponent had dark gray hair, borderline black. Dark glasses hid his eyes, but he seemed to be of Chinese decent. He couldn't tell too much about his physical feature. He saw that his name was Aranami Gekiryu. He waited before they were told to head out to their dueling arenas. Nine made his way out and went to field nine.
He didn't have to wait long before Aranami got to the field. Nine noticed that Aranami was taller than nine by a foot. Aranami was wearing a t-shirt, and although Nine didn't see any bulging muscles, he could tell that Aranami was strong. "Wow, I sure wouldn't want to pick a fight with you," Nine said joking.
"You shouldn't Kouryuu Nine, I've gone white water rafting in some of the worse places imaginable without even obtaining a scratch."
Nine was a little unsettled, no one ever really called him by his first name. Teachers always addressed him by his last name and to his friends it was more of a nickname. He usually forgot that people who weren't normally around him would call him that. Hell, even his parents had started calling him Nine. It wasn't that he wasn't proud of his name; in fact he thought it was great that his name meant Rain Dragon. It just wasn't something he was used to. "So, you've white water rafted?" he asked.
"Yes, and through it I've learned the harsh reality of the water, and the creatures that inhabit it."
Nine got a little nervous, I know where this is going, he thought to himself. This guy uses an ocean deck. Nine let out a sigh, Ocean decks are rarely ever a threat. The biggest threat is the Wall of Storm card. It can cause a duel to go on forever. He sighed and pulled out his deck. He began shuffling it and then slipped it into the Duel Disk. He ripped the disk and the top half unfolded as the ripped part burst to life. Aranami did the same.
"Well, how about we make this duel more interesting," Aranami said from the other side. "How about we use the Ante Rule?"
Nine was a tad startled by this, this kid actually thinks his Ocean Deck is that good? Wait a second, I don't even know for sure that he uses an Ocean Deck. Hmm, he does seem confident, but I didn't win the tournament back home by declining a challenge. "Fine," he responded. "Just what is your rarest card?"
"Well, I would say that that would ruin the surprises of my deck now wouldn't it? So how about we each tell the judge which card is our rarest, and then he'll know if we're cheating."
Nine nodded, "sounds fair." They both separately went to talk to the judge and the judge seemed startled at the names of the cards. Nine's was obviously his Blue Eyes. The other was still unsure. They headed off to their own sides of the field where Nine drew his opening hand. The Judge declared Nine would begin. Nine drew his sixth card and couldn't hold back the smile on his face. This hand gave me the same move I used to win the tournament that got us all here. Only this time it's at the beginning of the duel. This duel shouldn't take too long.
"Alright," Nine said, "I'm going to begin by putting Masked Dragon into the field out in attack mode!" he called out as the red dragon with white bones as armor appeared on the field. (1400/1100) "I'll finish my move with one card under the table," he said as he placed the card in the disk. "You're move Aranami."
"That's a pretty weak dragon Kouryuu," Aranami said pulling his sixth card. "So allow me to start with something much stronger than it. Abyss Soldier," he announced as suddenly a shark appeared on the field carrying a trident. (1800/1300) "I'll then set one card under the table," he said as the card appeared face down. "Next I'll put this card face down into the Field Zone," he said as his field slot slid open and he slipped the card into it."
Face down? Nine thought. What could he be planning?
"Now, Abyss Soldier, attack Masked Dragon," Aranami called out as the shark stuck its trident into Masked Dragon destroying it knocking out some of Nine's Life Points. Nine: 7600/Aranami: 8000
"My Masked Dragon's special ability now activates," Nine called out as suddenly a gray dragon with blue flames on different areas of its body appeared on the field. (1500/900) "Masked Dragon allows me to special summon a dragon from my deck with 1500 or less attack points," Nine said smirking. "And the dragon I've chosen is Divine Dragon-Excelion."
"Divine Dragon?" Aranami scoffed. "Please, monsters of the ocean are far superior. There are more mysteries surrounding the monsters of the deep, and thus due to their mysteries, they are feared and considered strong."
"Oh really?" Nine shot back. "If you remember, Dragons are said to be creatures of pure raw power. No normal human could ever beat them. The only chance a human had was if he were a conjurer. Why do you think the Blue Eyes White Dragon's greatest enemy is the Black Magician? Although the Blue Eyes is stronger, Black Magician can use its magical abilities to counteract the strength of Blue Eyes. Dragons are said to be the strongest creatures that ever roamed the earth, and I believe that."
Aranami shook his head, "think what you will. My monsters will rein superior, you will see."
"Well, if you're so confident then try stopping this," Nine said as his face down card reversed. "Go Generation Change! This Trap Card forces me to destroy one monster on my side of the field. Then I can move a monster with the same name from my deck to my hand."
"What good does that do?" Aranami asked him as he watched Divine Dragon-Excelion be destroyed and Nine search his deck for a new Divine Dragon.
"You'll see," Nine said as he reshuffled and placed the deck back into the Duel Disk.
"Fine," Aranami said stubbornly, "I activate the spell Different Dimension Capsule," he said as a blue coffin appeared on the field. "This card allows me to remove one card from play for two turns, on the second turn I can place it into my hand." He searched his deck and then took a card and placed it into his pocket. A face down card appeared in the coffin. It then closed and the coffin disappeared into ground again. "I end my turn."
"My move," Nine said drawing his card.
"Not so fast," Aranami said. "I'm about to activate my Trap Field."
"Trap Field?" Nine asked.
"Yes, activate Chaos Field!"
"Chaos Field?" Nine asked again. "Wait, so is it called Trap Field or Chaos field?"
"Why don't you look at the card?" Aranami said smugly.
Nine looked at the card and saw that it was a Trap Card. "Wait, so now I'm confused."
"It is a Continuous Trap that is placed in the Field Zone. Here, let me explain how it works. This card allows me to take one Field card from my deck and put it right side up and then reshuffle the deck. As long as the face up field remains in the deck Chaos Field takes on the name, and all the effects of the face up field in the deck. If the field card is ever drawn both Chaos Field and the Field Card are sent to the graveyard and any other copies of the field card in the deck are sent to the graveyard. If Chaos Field is ever destroyed, the same effect applies just like if the field card was drawn."
"So if I destroy it, all Field Cards of the same name in your deck also go to the graveyard?"
"That's right," Aranami said as he pulled A Legendary Ocean from his deck put it face up, and then reshuffled his deck. Suddenly the hologram of Chaos Field changed into that of A Legendary Ocean and all of field 9 was submersed in holographic water as a large palace appeared in the background. People in the audience were amazed at the realism of the holograms. "I'm now also activating Wall of Storm," Aranami smirked as suddenly swirling tornado's appeared on his side of the field protecting him. "Let's not forget that now Abyss Soldier is strengthened due to Chaos Field. (2000/1500) "I end my turn."
"It was already mine," Nine said a little aggravated.
"It might as well have still been mine," Aranami chuckled.
"Well, then let me show you that I'm not scared of your ocean or your strengthened fish."
"Technically it is an aqua monster," Aranami corrected.
"Doesn't matter," Nine said. "I activate Cost Down," he said. "I now discard Divine Dragon-Excelion so that all monsters in my hand are reduced by two levels until the end of the turn."
"Again with that Divine Dragon, what are you doing with it?"
"You're about to find out," Nine smirked. "Now that it has gone from a Level 5 to a Level 3, I will finally normal summon Divine Dragon-Excelion!" Nine shouted out as his dragon reappeared onto the field. (1500/900)
"So, mind explaining why this dragon is so divine?"
"I'd love to," Nine said chuckling. "You see, Divine Dragon-Excelion gains an ability for each Divine Dragon-Excelion in my graveyard whenever its normal summoned," Nine explained. "And it just so happens I have two in my graveyard, so it gains two of it's abilities, unfortunately I can't use the same ability twice, however it really doesn't matter, since I have two perfect abilities in mind for this situation."
"And what would they be?" Aranami asked smugly.
"Well, its first ability, also the first ability I'm activating, is to increase its attack by 1000 points." He watched, as his Dragon got stronger. (2500/900) "The second ability is that it can attack twice in the same battle phase if it has already destroyed a monster. However it's the final effect that I'm activating. An effect that states that any monster it destroys, you lose the equivalent of that monsters attack score. And since that is not Battle Damage, your Wall of Storm can't protect you."
Aranami looked a little worried, "That means I'm going to be taking 2000 points of damage this turn."
"Right," Nine said chuckling. "Go Divine Dragon-Excelion, attack Abyss Soldier! Divine Flame!" The Dragon blasted blue shining fire from its mouth that slammed into the Abyss Soldier destroying it. The fire then went right through the tornados and smashed into Aranami pushing him back slightly. Nine:7600/Aranami:6000 "That does it for my turn," Nine said smirking.
Aranami drew his card and looked down at it, "I set one monster on guard and end my turn," he said as his card appeared on the field horizontally.
"Not much you can do is there?" Nine asked drawing. "I summon Lord of Dragons," he announced as the spellcaster with the long purple cape, brown gloves, and helmet appeared on the field. (1200/1100) "I'm sure you already know that Lord of Dragon's protects all my dragons. So I won't bother with that. So for now, Excelion, attack the monster with Divine Flame!" The Blue Fire came from the Divine Dragon and blew away a small tadpole.
"You just destroyed T.A.D.P.O.L.E. (200/200) Its special ability allows me to take another from my deck and place it into my hand."
"Don't forget you lost 200 Life Points," Nine Pointed out.
"I'm not concerned with that," he said as he got his second T.A.D.P.O.L.E. Nine:7600/Aranami:5800
"My turn is over," Nine said.
"Good, I can begin then," he said as he pulled his card from his deck. Suddenly the Different Dimension Capsule appeared on the field and he smirked. "Looks like I get the card I took from my deck back now," he said as he pulled the card from his pocket and added it to his hand. "Now I set one monster on guard and end my turn," he said as the monster appeared on the field again.
Nine drew his card and smiled, "Pot of Greed," he announced playing it drawing two cards. "I activate Flute of Summoning Dragon, and now I can special summon Divine Dragon Ragnarok and Des Volstgalph," he announced as the two dragons appeared on the field roaring loudly. (1500/1000), (2200/1700) The first dragon was a long, thin, pink, spirit dragon. The second dragon was a large redish, blackish, dragon with two horns on its head, and large powerful wings. "Des Volstgalph, attack the face down monster!" he called out. The Dragon let out a blast of red fire that hit another T.A.D.P.O.L.E. "I figured that much. Whenever Des Volstgalph destroys a monster, you take 500 points of damage," Nine said chuckling as Aranami's Life Points fell even farther. Nine: 7600/Aranami:5300 "That ends my turn," Nine said.
Aranami drew his card and smirked. "It was really nice of you to summon all those Dragons for me to knock out at once," he said chuckling.
"I'd like to see you try," Nine dared.
"Very well Kouryuu," Aranami said. "I remove Abyss Soldier from play in order to special summon Aqua Spirit," he said a spirit girl wearing a white dress appeared on the field. (1800/1400) "Now I activate Mystical Space Typhoon," he said. "This card can blow away any card on the field I choose, and I choose to blow away Chaos Field!" he announced as a burst of wind came through the arena destroying the palace in the background causing the water to dissolve away and leave the arena just as it used to be.
Why would he destroy his best card? Nine thought confused.
Aranami pulled out his deck and searched for his face up field card and placed it in the graveyard. "Now that that is done, I tribute summon Aqua Spirit to summon Des Frog!" he announced as a large green frog appeared on the field. (1900/0)
"I don't understand what's going on," Nine admitted. "Why would you destroy your Chaos Field card?"
"Because, in order for Des Frog's ability to activate, I needed to tribute summon for it, and Des Frog is a 5 star monster, keeping the Ocean on the field would have turned it into a 4 star monster."
"So what's its effect?" Nine asked.
"For every T.A.D.P.O.L.E. in my graveyard, I can special summon another Des Frog from my deck or hand!" he said as two more Des Frogs appeared on the field. "Now," he said pulling a card from his hand, "I'm going to bring back my Legendary Ocean."
"But how?" Nine asked. "I thought you had to discard all Legendary Ocean's once Chaos Field was destroyed."
"Only ones in my deck, that's why I used my Different Dimension Capsule to protect my second Legendary Ocean by allowing it to be placed into my hand. So rise again Legendary Ocean!" He announced as suddenly the palace appeared behind him again and the field was flooded with water once more. People in the audience were fascinated by the masterful plays of the two duelists. There were actually some in the audience that were holding up signs reading Aranami's name.
"Who are the guys in the audience?" Nine asked.
"My White Water Rafting buddies," he said smirking. "What's wrong, jealous because you don't have a fan club with you?"
"My friends are all participants in this tournament just as I am."
"Sooner or later you will all have to face each other…" Aranami began.
"Don't even bother with that speech," Nine interrupted. "As long as all five of us make it to finals, then it won't really matter, because we'll have the best chance of getting what we want. We are the Sky Top Duelists, and our destination is the Sky Top Dueling Arena!"
"So you've come up with a name for your little friends?" Aranami asked. "Cute, but it won't win a duel. Especially since all of my Frogs are now 2100 point monsters," he smirked. (2100/200)
"The only monsters on my side of the field that you can take out is Divine Dragon Ragnarok and Lord of Dragons, the others are two strong for you to take out."
"You only wish," Aranami said smirking. "I activate Des Croaking!" Suddenly all three frogs began to start croaking all at once. All the dragons roared out in pain as well as the Lord of Dragons, which was covering its ears. Suddenly all of Nine's dragons and the Lord of Dragons were destroyed.
"Impossible!" Nine shouted.
"Afraid not Kouryuu, you see, Des Croaking can only be activated whenever I have three Des Frogs on the field. It then destroys every card you have on the field."
Nine looked worried, I'm in trouble now.
"Go Des Frogs, attack the player! Des Croaking!" The three frogs began croaking once more and Nine had to cover his ears as he was forced down onto his knees as he lost almost all of his Life Points. Nine:1500/Aranami:5300 "That ends my turn," he said smirking. "Next turn, I win."
"I think not," Nine said standing up. "I didn't win the tournament to get here out of pure luck," Nine said. "Granted, this next move will require a lot of luck, if I don't pull the right card, then you're right, it will be all over. But I'm a firm believer that you get lucky because you knew how to construct your deck to begin with, so if I get lucky, it will be because of my decisions to put in the card that will save me."
"Well then by all means, let your decisions save you," Aranami mocked.
Nine drew his card and smirked, "You know the old saying, 'be careful what you wish for because you just might get it?'"
"Yeah so?" Aranami asked.
"I activate the spell card Dragons Mirror!" Nine called out as a gold mirror with small dragon wings on the side appeared on the field. "This card allows me to remove cards from either my graveyard or my field that are listed on a Dragon Type fusion monster and then I can special summon that monster to the field. So I remove Lord of Dragons and Divine Dragon Ragnarok…" he began as the two monsters appeared on the field as he said their names. They then swirled into the mirror and out came a monster with an upper torso consisting of the Lord of Dragons with the exception of wings on its body, and the rest of it was the long body of the Divine Dragon Ragnarok except that it was now more brown than pink. "…to summon King Dragun!" (2400/1200)
"I don't believe it!" Aranami said appalled. "That has got to be the luckiest draw ever!"
"I told you, luck only had so much to do with it. Go King Dragun, Dragon Claw Strike!" he called out as King Dragon brought its claw down onto one of the Des Frogs destroying it. Nine:1500/Aranami:5000 "It's your move," he said crossing his arms.
Aranami cautiously drew his card, "Pot of Greed," he announced drawing two cards. "I set one monster on guard and then switch my two Des Frogs on guard as well," he said as his monster appeared on the field and the two frogs switched to a defensive stance as their cards appeared underneath them.. "Then I end my turn."
Nine drew his card, and smiled when he saw it, "prepare yourself Aranami, I'm about to summon your worst nightmare. I use King Dragun's ability," Nine said as King Dragun brought its horn to its mouth and began blowing on it. "Using his summoning ability I summon Blue Eyes White Dragon!" he announced as suddenly the vicious white dragon appeared on the field baring its fangs and roaring loudly. Though some would argue that the audience was roaring louder. (3000/2500)
Aranami gasped suddenly, "No way! It's not possible."
"I'm afraid it is," Nine said mocking him. "Now, Blue Eyes White Dragon, attack his Des Frog with White Lightning!" he called out as the dragon charged up it's attack and then let it loose blasting away the frog. "King Dragon, Dragon Claw Strike!" he announced as it brought its claw down on the last frog. "It's your move," he said crossing his arms.
Aranami drew his card and smirked. "Fine, if you want to take this duel to the dragon extreme, I told myself I wouldn't play this card unless necessary, but I can see that it is truly necessary now. I remove one Des Frog from the game to summon Aqua Spirit. I then sacrifice Aqua Spirit and the face down T.A.D.P.O.L.E. in order to summon my own Blue Eyes White Dragon!" he called out as suddenly his own ferocious white dragon appeared on the field. (3000/2500)
"How the hell did you get that!" Nine exclaimed.
"The same way you did, I'm the winner of the Duel Monster Test that was sent out. You are looking at the Blue Eyes from China.
Nine just growled a bit, "I thought you said that the monsters of the deep were the best."
"They are," Aranami replied smirking, "I'm only using this as a tad bit of insurance. Plus it will get people to put up the others that are out there, then I can sell them all to the highest bidder."
"That's sick," Nine growled. "You should treat the Blue Eyes with respect!"
"You mean with as much respect as I treat your King Dragun? Go White Lightning!" Aranami's Blue Eyes let out a surge of lightning destroying the King Dragun causing some of Nine's remaining Life Points to fall. Nine:900/Aranami:5000 It was then that Aranami began laughing really evilly. "I have 5000 Life Points, you only have 900. Both our monsters are matched in attack scores. All it will take is one strong enough monster; I'll suicide the Blue Eyes' then attack for the game. Make your final move."
Nine drew one card and then set it under the table, "I end my turn," he said as his card appeared on the field.
Aranami drew his card and summoned it, "I summon Devil Frog," he said as a frog that was black with red lines around its body appeared on the field. (1200/800) "This monster gains an additional 300 attack points for every T.A.D.P.O.L.E. in the graveyard," he said snickering. "Plus the 200 from my ocean making it more than enough to take you out." (2300/1000) "Blue Eyes, attack Kouryuu's Blue Eyes with White Lightning!"
"Not so fast!" Nine called out. "I have a trap, and it's called Blast Held By A Tribute! This card activates when you attack with a monster that was tribute summoned. It destroys all monsters on your side of the field and causes you to take 1000 points of damage!" The Blue Eyes on Aranami's side of the field exploded also taking out the Devil Frog. Aranami shielded his eyes as the explosion caused the holographic waves to slam into him. Nine:900/Aranami:4000
Aranami looked up at him and simply smirked. "I set one card under the table and end my turn," he said as his card appeared on the field.
Nine drew his card when suddenly the water began to swirl around Aranami forming tornados. "Wall of Storm," he said annoyed. "Well, for now I'll play this, Seal of Sucession," he said. "This can only activate when I have three monsters with the same name in my graveyard, I can then special summon on of them. So I'll bring back Divine Dragon-Excelion," he said as his gray dragon with blue flames appeared on the field once more. (1500/900) "That ends my turn."
Aranami drew his card and summoned it, "Catapult Turtle," he said as his monster appeared on the field. (1200/2200) "Now, offer yourself for your effect!" he called out. The backs of the turtles mechanical feet turned into rockets which caused it to swim right into Nine knocking him backwards as his Life Points fell. Nine:300/Aranami:4000 "Just one more of those and I win. It's your turn."
Nine drew his card and smirked, "too bad you won't get another chance for one of those. I activate Stamping Destruction!" he announced. "This card will destroy one of your spells or traps and do 500 points of damage as long as I have a dragon type monster on the field, and it just so happens I do!" Blue Eyes flew over and stomped on the Legendary Ocean card causing the palace behind Aranami to crumble and the water to dissolve away. Nine:300/Aranami:3500
Aranami drew back in fear, "No!"
"Go Divine Dragon-Excelion, Divine Flame!" he called out as the dragon let out a stream of blue shining fire that hit Aranami pushing him back. Nine:300/Aranami:2000 "Blue Eyes White Dragon, finish this with White Lightning!" Nine called out as the Blue Eyes charged up its blast and let it loose on Aranami who was thrown backwards as his Life Points were depleted. Nine:300/Aranami:0 Divine Dragon-Excelion and Blue Eyes White Dragon roared loudly once more before vanishing as the audience cheered loudly for Nine's victory.
Nine looked over at the judge, "So, what card do I get from him?"
"You have won his Blue Eyes White Dragon," the judge said.
"Just as I hoped," Nine said walking over to Aranami. Aranami stood up and scowled at Nine. He took his Blue Eyes out of his graveyard and tossed it at Nine.
"It was cramping my decks style anyway," he said smugly as he walked off.
Nine pulled his Blue Eyes off of his Duel Disk and then held both of them out in front of him admiring them. He then pulled his deck back together and shuffled it before walking out of the arena, the audience still cheering for him.
He walked out of the stadium, a little surprised at how bright it was. "So, I get whatever time it takes for the rest of the duelists to finish, then an hour, I guess I have enough time to find the others," he decided as he headed off.
Up in the northern area of the island, Kai and Sprite were sitting at an outdoor restaurant. The tables were small since it was only meant to sit one or two people, but it was fine for the two of them. They had a jumbo chocolate milkshake in the middle of the table and two straws on each side. The milkshake was already halfway gone. They had talked for a while before silently watching people pass by here and there.
"I wonder how much longer it will be until the next round," Sprite finally said breaking their silence and their people watching.
Kai shrugged, "I imagine they have a PA system that they will use once a stadium finishes it's duels to announce when the actual hour of break begins."
"I guess it would make sense," Sprite said. She watched, as he just seemed to stare at the other people who passed by. "Is something wrong?" she finally asked.
He turned to look at her and sighed, "I suppose I'm just worried about the champion of the previous 2004 championships," he admitted. "He's in our arena, and chances are he's only gotten better since last summer. I guess I just kind of wish he were in Nine's or Hajime and Domid's arena. They would have better chances than I would."
"What about me?" Sprite asked. "Don't you think I would be able to beat him?"
"It's nothing against you," Kai said. "I'm just worried because I know that there is always a possibility that I will have to face him, and if he were in a different arena, I'd be much happier because it would mean I wouldn't have to worry about that until the end."
"I can understand you being worried," Sprite said. "But remember, we have more to go for than he does, so we have an advantage. We have a cause for being here."
"I guess that's true," Kai said, even though his voice told Sprite he thought otherwise. It was then that she got up, walked over to him, and gave him a hug. He was a tad startled but when she pulled away and looked right into his eyes he didn't feel anything but comfort.
"Kai, I'm here for you. Even if you do face him and lose, the others and I won't stop fighting for you. We'd go in there and each one of us would beat him, no matter the odds. And we would beat the rest of the finalists too. We aren't going to let you suffer," she said with a slight tear falling from her eye, "not anymore. We should have worked on getting you out of that apartment long before you got kicked out. That was our mistake, but we won't make it again. Kai, you have the best friends in the world, we'll never leave you, and we'll always be there for you. This I promise to you."
Kai looked at her and smiled, it was his turn to hug her. "Thank you Sprite," he said as she put her arms around him as well. "Thank you for everything." After they let go she wiped away her tear and went back to her seat. The began to drink the milkshake again, and after very few moments of silence, they were back to talking about anything and everything.
"So, now what?" Domid asked Hajime as they were walking down at the southern part of the island. Domid narrowly avoided a swat on the head from Hajime.
"You know better than to mutter those words in front of me," he replied.
"Geeze! What is up with that?" Domid asked getting defensive. "I mean seriously, what are we supposed to do until the next round? There isn't really anything to do other than walk around and get lost. It's not like we can go hang out in the hotels since we are both in different hotels."
"Alright, this time I'll give it to you and admit you're right. But seriously, stop saying that."
"Well sorry, but you think of something to say when you want to figure out what to do next."
"How about, nothing. No one ever asks anything like that question, and everyone gets along fine."
"Kill joy," Domid said dryly.
"Aren't I?" Hajime said giving a wide smile and a thumb up.
"So, I wonder how the others did."
"It was the early elimination rounds," Hajime replied. "Although these guys are some of the best there are, duelists like us who have made it past this round, are only going to be stronger than the opponents before. So in other words, Sprite should have had no problem, Kai probably made it through, and if Nine lost then we all just give up now."
"You're kidding right?" Domid asked.
"No, I'm completely serious," he said with a serious face. Domid looked at him funny before Hajime rolled his eyes, "Yes I'm kidding."
"Kai does have the least experience in all this," Domid admitted. "I mean, sure none of us have ever been to a world championship, but he's had the least practice. He hasn't had any real time to practice his dueling, other than what we did right before the tournament."
"Kai does have something going for him though," Hajime said. He waited for Domid to respond but he didn't so Hajime continued, "He doesn't want to feel like he owes us. So no matter the odds, he's going to keep fighting, so that he can say that in the end he won the prize, and he was the one who paid us back, instead of us just taking what we needed out of the prize and giving it over to him."
"You don't think that will make him un-accepting of the prize money if one of us wins do you?" Domid asked worriedly.
"Even if it did he isn't in a position to say no," Hajime said completely truthfully. "However I don't think he'd turn it down. He understands we all came out here for him, I was simply pointing out that Kai has the motivation to make it to the top. Or at least the finals, and when you think about it, the finals are really the only thing we all have to make. Because it puts the five of us in the winners spot, with only three others who we would have to beat. Once those three are out of the way, it won't matter which of us wins. I think in all honesty, if that's what it came down to, Kai would be happy enough knowing that he made it to the finals of his first real tournament, and knowing that the prize was going to one of us at that point would be enough for him to accept it whoever won."
"Just remember, numbers aren't always everything," Domid said. "Just because it would be three against five, if one of those three are super skilled, they could take us all down. Also, if those three beat three of us, it will be one of us versus three of them, since one of our own will have had to take out the final one."
"True," Hajime said. "But it's better than if only one of us had to go up there to face seven. I'm just saying the best chance we have is if all five of us make it, and I believe Kai will make it due to motivation and cleverness. Let's face it, he's got the best luck out of all of us."
"True, everyone else has skill, he has severe luck," Domid said laughing. The two went on, waiting for the next round to begin.