Original Yu-Gi-Oh Series
Parallel
Chapter 027
Originally Written: Monday, April 11, 2022 606PM to 714PM
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"Get on with it already, ya old geezers!" A rare hunter yelled at Solomon.
Solomon took his time preparing his deck even slower on purpose. Beside him, Pegasus examined the duel disks that had been given to both of them.
"Are you really going to duel or fight over something like this?" Tea spoke, struggling. Another rare hunter held her arms uncomfortably behind her back. Next to her stood Mokuba, also held by another rare hunter. Arkana wasn't captured, but everyone there knew he wasn't leaving.
"You want the alternative, bitch? That's just killing you and keeping it moving." The rare hunter holding her leaned close to her ear. "Luckily for you, boss wants you alive, and we want our fun."
Tea gagged in disgust.
"Solomon dear." Pegasus held a duel disk out in front of him while giving it a look of distaste. "These duel disks aren't just unregistered, they are counterfeit. They should work mostly as claimed, but who knows what other side effects they may have. They certainly won't connect to the Duel Academic's satellite. No one but us will know this duel has taken place." He held it out for Solomon to take. "Very shoddy work for a counterfeit, I might add."
"I'll take the risk." Solomon took it and put it on his arm. Pegasus was an old adventuring colleague of his, and Yugi was…Yugi was very dear to his heart. As were Yugi's friends, because though he didn't say it, they were dear to Yugi too. "I told myself if I ever lost a game, I'd stick to my store, but I can make an exception for pieces of scum looking to cause trouble like these buffoons."
"You won't be speaking so tough after we beat you, old man." The rare hunter inserted his deck into the duel disk. "It'll be a tag team duel." He glanced at the female next to him, also dressed in purple robes.
"Battle city rules, but the winner takes the loser's top three rarest cards. In addition, you lose and girlie and the boy are coming with us. We lose and we'll let you call the cops on us." The girl spoke.
"Oh please." Solomon scoffed. "We both know you will try to take them, win or lose. And you'll both be gone before the authorities arrive. My mind may not be as sharp as it used to be, but I know how gangs work. Up the ante. Winners will take the losers' entire deck."
"Holy shit." Mokuba muttered. "He bets like Noah."
"Oh ho ho!" Pegasus chortled as he put on the duel disk. "I've always liked the way you play Solomon!"
"Mr. Solomon," Tea looked at him in surprise. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"Of course I am!" Solomon scowled, "Monsters like them shouldn't be allowed to ruin a perfectly good game with their evil shenanigans. Attacking people and stealing their hard earned cards to make a quick buck." Solomon pointed to them, "Go back to school and get a real job like a decent human being if you can't play fairly. College professors turn idiots like you into somewhat acceptable individuals all the time. Someone like you might have a chance."
Mokuba snorted, holding in a laugh. The rare hunter shook him in anger. He knew a dig at him and the boys when he heard one.
"How much are these cards worth?" Tea wondered in disbelief.
"You really don't play do you? Sell the right ones and you can pay off anything from utility bills to medical bills, Tea." Arkana answered. He tapped his foot impatiently, and in worry. Win or lose, he was a traitor to the Ghouls, and would be taken out like one. He needed a plan of action before the duel finished.
Tea looked over to Arkana. "They're pieces of laminated paper."
"I do agree, things like this weren't what I was expecting when I first created my beloved game." Pegasus bemoaned. "But, I should have expected it. Evil people do evil things. At any rate, let's duel, shall we?"
"Terms accepted." The girl smirked.
"Let's duel!"
The duel played out as normal. Pegasus went first, then Solomon, then the male rare hunter, and lastly the female rare hunter. Repeat ad nauseam. Until the first blow to an individual's life points. Then everything slowed to a stop. No one save the rare hunters were pleased when Solomon's first attack on the female rare hunter dropped her to her knees, shaking.
"Damn." She muttered, brushing strands of brown hair from her face. "How intense did you make it, Gear?"
"I might have tweaked it a little more." Her partner replied with a smirk.
"Ah, and there's the catch." Pegasus frowned, but looked more bored than anything. Their strategies were suited for tag team duels, but nowhere near on his level.
"What did you do to these duel disks?" Solomon asked, holding up his as though he were trying to keep it away from him.
Gear laughed. "You feel any and all damage received with a taser-like shock from our specially crafted duel disks. Hope your pacemaker can handle it, old man."
Solomon looked at the hunter. Not even Mokuba could deny that Solomon and Yugi were related or at least spent a good deal of time together. Yugi clearly got his glare from Solomon, and both were glares that were entirely something else.
"Do you want to take this, Max?" Solomon asked.
Pegasus waved a hand, "I haven't had this much entertainment in a while, dear Solomon. Do take it away."
"Alrighty." Solomon looked at both rare hunters with a frown. The kind of frown that usually preceded a parent scowling, and delivering a long winded lecture and month-long grounding. "With that level of skill in hacking and modifying electronics, you could have had a degree in engineering or at least a job in the computer and electronic repair industry. Instead you chose this terrible profession. So, when we're done defeating you in this duel, I'm going to put you over my knee and beat you like an Egyptian slave for being an idiot. You'll be crying out 'Marik, Master Marik! Come save me please!', but then and only then will you realize, you're so low on the totem pole, Marik expected you to lose and so encouraged you to cheat."
Silence filled the area. Everyone looked at Solomon in a range of various expressions from awe to disgust to shock and everything in between.
Slowly Pegasus' laughter broke the silence. "Oh dear. You need to leave some to defeat in the duel, old friend."
"Hmph. I end my turn. Your move, little boy." Solomon waved his duel disk arm towards the male rare hunter diagonally from him.
A/N: The "Egyptian Slave" comment is two-fold: (1) To goad and anger Marik, who they know is Egyptian, and (2) Solomon truly views the rare hunters as idiots who don't realize they're essentially being treated like slaves.