Original Yu-Gi-Oh Series
Parallel
Chapter 033
Originally Written: Wednesday, April 13, 2022 530PM to 621PM
. . . . .
"Joey." Mako said as he played an ocean field card, Umi. "It truly feels wrong dueling you, after what happened."
"Don't give me none-a-that." Joey frowned. He still had a few days to get enough locator cards. He was gonna do it if it killed him. No one took over Jumping Jounouchi Katsuya's mind and lived. "You feel bad, give me a goddamn challenge."
Mako did. He lost, but he did. He clasped Joey's wrist after handing over his locator card and a rare card. "Joey."
"Nice duel, Mako." He nodded. The group had split up because Mai still needed to grab enough locator cards, and it wouldn't make sense for her and Joey to go in the same areas, considering the dwindling number of duelists. So Yugi, Tea, Tristan and Serenity stayed with him, while Duke, Bakura, and Mokuba went with Mai. Seto, for some reason, turned around and left the groups to their own devices. Joey had the terrible feeling that he was headed right back to Kaiba Corp. Amane would sniff the betrayal out of him in moments.
"How fitting would it be for the ocean to defeat this Marik, as he tried to force it to do with you." Mako handed him another locator card and another rare card. "On me."
"I'll make 'im squeal." Joey clasped Mako's wrist. "Have ya seen Weevil around?"
Mako didn't know, but he apparently let Weevil know, because the short bug duelist ambushed him. "I want a duel with you, Joey Wheeler! I'm paying you back for what you did in Duelist Kingdom!"
"You can try, but you gotta ante up a rare card." Joey folded his arms, careful of the new bandages wrapped around his torso. In the ocean, Seto had touched him, and barely held on before fainting afterward. He didn't know what he did, but he wasn't in nearly as much pain anymore.
"I've been eliminated! I don't need to do that!" Weevil whined.
"Two rare cards now," Joey gave him a side-eyed glance, "or no dice. I gotta make it to the finals, and I searched you out as a courtesy. Move it or lose it bug-boy."
Weevil accepted, but lost both Insect Queen and Parasite Paracide. He turned red in rage. "You're a third rate duelist! How did I lose!?"
"Because you're a fourth rate duelist with a fifth rate deck and the attitude of a six year old. Beat it, shorty." Joey stared him down. "Go practice some more."
Weevil glared at him. "You cheated."
Joey sighed, "I'm sicka people tellin' me that when they lose. Yug', ya got a better memory than me. Can ya run the play-by-play?"
Yugi groaned, but he recounted the duel. He went so far as to point out mistakes Weevil made and what he would have done instead if he was using Weevil's deck. He also added in cards that Weevil should try to find and put in his deck to make his deck stronger. "You took notes, right?"
Weevil looked at them like they were nuts. "W-why would you do that?"
Yugi frowned. "Nope. How come Seto's the only one who takes notes? Blue eyes." His duel disk lit up. "Send what I just said to Weevil Underwood."
"Detecting messages...Message Sent." His duel disk replied.
Weevil drooled in jealousy. "You got one of the duel disks Seto Kaiba built!? No fair! There's only like ten in the world! The rest were just factory mass produced." Weevil's cell phone rang. For some reason, Pegasus let him keep the phone, despite telling him he needed to continue paying the phone plan himself. So far, he was able to. The phone notified him he now had voicemail.
"This is a children's card game. We're supposed ta be having fun." Joey emphasized. "Not tryin' ta kill each other over cards and rankings."
"You're just saying that because your sister's standing right there." Weevil whined. Somehow he managed to make his voice sound even more nasally.
"What?" Serenity frowned. "No he's not. Joey says things like that all the time."
"Of course that's-" Weevil started to reply.
Joey glared at him and cut him off. "-Take your free duelin' advice from da 2nd best duelist in da world, an' go kick Raptor's ass in a duel fo' darin' you ta do somethin' so stupid back in Duelist Kingdom. He ain't even try ta go down wit ya. Da fuck's wit that? Anyway, when ya done, go ta da arcade or burger world or whatever, and be glad you and your friend ain't almost die over a game."
"Joey…" Tea whispered.
"C'mon man. People hear what they wanna." Tristan pulled him away. "You gotta focus on getting to the finals, not playing counselor."
"Don't worry. I'ma pay him back." Joey cracked his knuckles.
Yugi scowled, and turned away. He adjusted the jacket Pharaoh somehow turned into a cape. "Look at your phone already, would you Weevil? It's too cold for this."
"Put your jacket on the right way then, Yug'." Joey laughed.
"I don't know how he did it. if I put it on right, I won't be able to get it back this way." Yugi whined. "It looks so cool." He put his hands on his hips and stood dramatically like a comic book hero. A soft breeze passed through the area, fluttering Yugi's jacket. "See? Even the wind agrees." He mimicked a movie commercial's voice announcer. " 'Yugi Moto, Bakura Ryou, and Joey Wheeler starring in 'Duelist Kingdom 2: Battle City.' In theaters now. Are you ready to duel?'"
The group laughed. They left Weevil standing there, staring at his cell phone in confusion.