Street Brawl

Dinner could not come quickly enough for me. I knew a nice little place not far from the stadium where I could get some nice pork cutlets and soju, so I forgot about the day's duels fairly quickly. There was something soothing about going from the raucous crowds of a giant stadium to the cozy confines of a cheap restaurant that seats at most twenty people yet still serves the meat piping hot the soup extra spicy, and the drinks cold and filling. I wasted no time in placing my order.

The restaurant staff didn't seem to recognize me, which was just as well. I preferred blending in with the local tourists, since I had some idea of how the more well-known international competitors could get mobbed if they tried moving anywhere without a full security regiment. Thank goodness I was an American Duelist, not a Brazilian soccer player.

Dinner was good, but it wasn't as quiet as I anticipated. Halfway through, a group of teenagers in the restaurant recognized me. I had no idea how they found me, but they did. I could tell they knew why I was around because they wore World Championships tee-shirts with my picture on the front. I had a fan club.

They put me through the usual round of autographs and photographs, and they didn't make enough of a ruckus to completely ruin my dinner, but they did do something notable. One of them gave me a small box, wrapped up in shiny paper and tied with a ribbon. Apparently, my fan club wanted me to have a nice good luck charm.

I waited until they were gone to open the box. Inside, I saw pack of cards, some of which were rare and powerful. Some were useless, of course, but I wasted no time in beefing up my deck with my new additions.

As it turned out, I didn't have any time to waste.

XXX

I wasn't the only one done with my tournament dueling for the day. As I walked out the door of the restaurant, I found myself face to face with one of the most feared competitors in the world dueling circuit, Seto Kaiba.

"I'm here to test your mettle," he said. "Rookies like you don't belong in tournaments with the best."

My stomach full of a delicious dinner and my deck full of new surprises, I felt a burst of confidence welling up in me. "Bring it on. I'll show you how I earned my passage."

"Let's duel, rookie."

We found ourselves a picnic table in a nearby park to conduct our match, and we got down to business. Kaiba, of course, attracted a bit of a crowd. I didn't recognize anyone watching.

"I'll go first," Kaiba announced. "First, I'll play a card face down in defense mode, and then I'll play another card face down. That's my turn. Do you have the guts to take me on?"

I nodded. "Watch me as I play Red Sea Snake in attack mode. I now attack your face down monster!"

Kaiba flipped his monster over, revealing Witch of the Black Forest. My card beat his, easily.

"You may think you've made a good move, rookie," he said, "but now I get to summon one card from my deck with a defense rating under 1500. I choose Vorse Raider. Watch me slay your Red Sea Snake next turn."

"Not so fast," I countered. "My turn is not yet over. See, I now choose to play a magic card, Axe of Despair. This raises my Red Sea Snake's attack by 1000 points!"

Kaiba grumbled something to himself and drew his next card. "Watch yourself, rookie. I have something up my sleeve, starting with my magic card, Monster Reborn!"

Was he toying with me? I wondered. What kind of move was that? He must have been throwing the match to make me overconfident.

"Not waiting to summon your Blue-Eyes White Dragon, are you?" I sneered at him, if it was possible for me to sneer after such a lovely meal.

Kaiba ignored me. "I now play a card face down in defense mode and end my turn."

"Nice," I said. "Watch this. First, I put this card face down, for later."

Kaiba watched, unsmiling.

"Now, I play my ultimate trump, Cyber Stein!"

Kaiba's non-smile turned into an expression of horror. It was a fleeting look; Kaiba was not the type to be intimidated easily. Still, I caught it, or at least I thought I did.

"I activate Cyber Stein's special ability," I said. "That lets me sacrifice 5000 life points to summon any monster from my fusion deck. Do you know which one I choose?"

Kaiba didn't answer.

"I choose… Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!"

I tried hard to put my card on the playing field without any air of showboating, but I probably failed a bit in that regard. After all, I had 4500 attack points on the field, ready to rip Kaiba's defenses to shreds.

"Now, for my attack phase. My Red Sea Snake attacks your face down card."

Kaiba flipped his card over, revealing Sinister Serpent, and then moved it to his Graveyard.

"Next, Blue-Eyes attacks your Witch of the Black Forest. Off with her!"

Kaiba reluctantly removed his Witch and pulled another Vorse Raider from his draw pile.

"Now, I use Cyber Stein to attack your life points directly. Go, Cyber Stein!"

And just like that, Kaiba lost 700 life points.

"It's your turn to suffer, now," Kaiba said. "I summon… Vorse Raider! Prepare to lose life points, you silly rookie."

"Not so fast, Kaiba," I said. "As you summon your Vorse Raider, I play my trap card, Ultimate Offering. This lets me sacrifice 500 life points to summon a monster to my side of the field."

"Big deal," Kaiba said. "I still get to kill your Cyber Stein, and you lose almost half of your life points."

"Not quite," I said. "The monster I choose to summon is Jinzo!"

"Jinzo?"

"Yes, and to summon Jinzo, I have to sacrifice one monster on my side of the field. Of course, I choose Cyber Stein. This leaves your Vorse Raider with nothing to attack."

Kaiba glared at me.

"My turn, I see?" I said. "Good. I play the magic card Mystical Space Typhoon, and I use that to destroy your face down card."

Kaiba tossed away what turned out to be a worthless magic card.

"I then summon Mystical Elf in attack mode. Now, you have nothing to defend you except for your Vorse Raider, and I have 10500 attack points on my side of the field. I think that means you lose."

"Good match, rookie," Kaiba said. "I suppose I underestimated you, but don't think I'll come to play at the real tournament with a deck this weak."

"Oh, I know you were just trying to get a feel for what I had with me," I said. "Commendable strategy, and you gave me an opportunity to duel against the best. Thank you."

"See you in the tournament," said Kaiba.

Before I walked off, I caught my fan club out of the corner of my eye. Most of the crowd had been cheering for Kaiba, but they hadn't. They also hadn't stopped cheering since the match ended.