Chapter OVA: Excited Two-Part Title! Sugihara Shinden!

(Adam Sugihara POV)

June 30, 2005

Macau, China

It was another busy night at the Golden Dragon Hotel. Normally, in order to be employed at a four-star casino in one of China's busiest cities, one had to be over 18, in possession of a high school diploma, and in possession of some kind of government-issued gaming license.

Adam Sugihara was allowed to cut a few corners though, mainly due to the fact that his father was part of the hotel's principal ownership. And so, he found himself waiting tables and dealing cards at the casino over the summer. Learning the strict regulations of the place rather reminded him of learning the rules of duel monsters.

"I wonder what the others are up to…" Adam thought as he weaved through the throng of people that comprised the Golden Dragon's patronage. Clad in a golden qipao top with black pants, a plate of drinks balanced on his shoulder. His work uniform reminded Adam unpleasantly of the garish Ra Yellow uniforms, though he found this more flattering. Thinking of school in general was more stressful than he would have liked. It had only been a little over a month since the defeat of the shadow riders, an event that Adam was lucky enough to stay out of.

"Adventure, battles, demons, and intrigue…talk about exhausting! Glad I didn't end up with one of those keys." Adam mused. Unlike most of his peers at Duel Academy, Adam did not seek glory or high adventure. He was perfectly content to sit back and quietly accumulate his fortune through his DuelTube channel, his gambling winnings, and any other way he could think of. Adam did not love money, per se, but he did love the idea of a life of comfort and luxury, and money was just about the only way to achieve that.

True, he didn't have the blithe charisma of Jaden, or the Kaiser's incredible power. He lacked Jamie's fierce pride and Bastion's academic prowess. But he was willing to bet he had more in his bank account than them combined. And isn't that what life is about anyways?

Of course not. Sometimes he envied the ideals of his peers, but he found his heart was not stirred by such grand designs. The simple pleasures in life suited him better. And yet, tonight would find him caught up in supernatural affairs once more.

The night proved ordinary at first. The patrons were well-behaved, and there were few cheaters. Father taught him some common tricks that the audacious would use to try and ensure profit at the game's expense, so those that tried rarely got far on his watch.

Adam despised cheating – the entire point of these games was to use one's skill and cunning against other skilled and cunning opponents. For him, the money was only a trophy, and the real triumph was using one's sharpened instincts and intuition. So he supposed he had some lofty ideals, in his own way.

The regulars did not share Adam's ideals. People would throw hands over ten dollar chips, risk heavy fines to cheat at five dollar blackjack, spend even more on shitty drinks to soften the sting of the losses. It was not a glamorous job, and Adam saw some truly ugly behavior from his fellow man.

"Li!" Father called him out by his real name over the din of the gaming tables. Wenge Sugihara was a tall, sharp-faced man with equally sharp, hawkish brown eyes. Dressed in a fitted white shirt and a red vest, Wenge strode through the crowd of brown and black clad patrons.

"It's midnight, your shift is done. Whang Zi will take over for you now." He said coldly. Things hadn't been the same since mom left. Father was never a warm man, but Adam remembered that he used to smile more when she was around. From what he understood, she gave him a choice between the casino and her. He called her bluff, only to find that it wasn't a bluff at all. Amazingly, he managed to get custody of Adam afterwards, probably because he could afford better lawyers.

"Sure thing, dad. When do you think you'll be home?"

"A few hours. No need to wait up. Oh, and here –" the father handed the son a few folded bills. "Go get yourself a good meal." He gave a wry smile. "That means something with vegetables and protein. No garbage."

Adam smiled sincerely back at him. "No garbage."

"Good boy." Wenge clapped him on the shoulder and nodded briefly before turning his attention to the concern of another floor worker.

Eager for some fresh air, as well as perhaps some peace and quiet, Adam quickly pocketed the money and made his way to leave through the hotel lobby. Though the city was too lit to see any of the stars, it was a beautiful, balmy night nonetheless. He could see it from the window, now all that was left was to get out of here before something else held him up.

"A well-fought game, sir. Now then, as we agreed." A strident, confident voice broke through the clamor and reached Adam's ears. A spike of curiosity turned Adam's head to a corner table near the casino's card shop. Although Duel Monsters was not quite as popular in China as it was in places like Japan, the Americas, and Western Europe, the game was still a giant, and any self-respecting gaming establishment had cards to peddle. Patrons waiting for the card tables to open could often be seen comparing binders and playing quick warm-up games before money was on the line. It was quite rare to see betting go on in the lobby, and yet here it was.

However, the man doing the betting was what truly caught Adam's interest. He had a distinctly European look about him, sandy brown hair framing his face while similarly bronzed eyes laughed. He wore a very familiar grey suit and vest with a russet bow tie that hugged his slim figure.

"Where have I seen that before?" Adam wondered as he edged closer to the small round table. A rather haggard countryman of Adam's was packing up his Duel Monsters cards. He wore a cheap blue button-up shirt with faded jeans, and his sweaty palms were currently depositing a rare card, along with an impressive wad of bills, into the waiting arms of the brown-haired gambler.

The winner coolly examined the card, an Ultra Rare first edition copy of Gilford the Lightning. "Hmm. Well, better than nothing. Thank you for your patronage." He said dismissively to the vanquished, who scurried off with his remaining coin tightly clutched. A few onlookers remained, trying to get the measure of this mysterious, but apparently successful duelist. "Would anyone else care to play? For my first night at this casino, I'm doing rather well!"

It was an obvious lie – first timers were never this brazen. But an onlooker wanted to try his luck anyways, and the two men sat down to play. Adam lurked behind a pillar, feeling invested in what would happen – he was always hungry for entertainment.

The game was indeed interesting, in a tragic sort of way. The brown-haired man seemingly made amateurish mistakes, but the errors cost him little in actual card advantage. His opponent was soon lulled into a false security, and he ended up making the true errors in play.

Furthermore, the brown-haired man was using cards Adam had never heard of before – and coin flip cards, no less! Adam made it his business to know about the card pool, as it was essential to his Dueltube channel's success. He had never seen these. "Must be counterfeit." He assumed. This guy was not only hustling people and taking their rare cards, but he was using overpowered counterfeit cards to do so! That rankled Adam something fierce. Pressing a button on the Bluetooth microphone near his shirt lapel, Adam contacted security and informed them of the situation. Adam moved out of the lobby to meet the guards in the gaming halls.

In the span of minutes, Adam linked up with two guards, sunglasses on their faces and heat holstered beneath their suit jackets. He hoped that such measures wouldn't be necessary, but more than that Adam wondered if bullets would even work against the Duel Spirit. After all, guns never worked on aliens in the movies.

After explaining the situation, the three of them moved to the lobby. Striding up to the brown-haired hustler, the two guards stood to his back and to his right, with a wall to the man's left.

"We've received a reports of illegal bets, counterfeit cards, and hustling, sir." One of the guards explained without preamble.

The vested gambler laughed. "Aw, I got snitched on! Which one of these fine men was it?" He gestured to the gaggle of onlookers, his playful tone belying a threat to the one who tattled.

"It was I." Adam made his presence known. "I saw you sharking these guys with cards that haven't been released yet. They must not have known that, but I do. My father owns this casino, and we don't want trouble anymore than you do. Go find some other marks, just keep it our of our halls."

This did nothing to cow the hustler. In fact, he looked upon Adam with odd curiosity. "Your duel energy feels familiar…in fact, it's a similar scent to the seven spirit keys."

Adam found that an odd thing to say. "Uh, must just be a coincidence. I never held any spirit keys, thank the gods." The light bulb went on in his head. "But speaking of familiarity, you look a lot like the card Sand Gambler."

The onlookers were being shooed out by security, but a few looks of comprehension dawned on the few that had lingered. "That's not good…" Adam thought. "The last thing I want is attention from the public…"

"You a cosplayer or something?" The Ra Yellow duelist added.

"No, though you may wish that I was. I am merely on leave, so to speak. This realm has many amusements, and it beats the dreariness of the frontlines. I was merely surprised to find someone clearly connected to the interstice here." He spoke cryptically, casually balancing a spinning coin on his index finger. The guards looked at Adam with a mix of expectancy and confusion. Adam was having a hard time piecing together what exactly this spirit was on leave from – he had only heard of duel spirits secondhand from the real warriors, none of whom were present to fight this seemingly inevitable battle.

"He's a duel spirit, and one who is familiar with the keys. I wonder if he was with Kagemaru. But he said he was on leave of some kind, so he's gotten recent orders, and Kagemaru's been dead for a month. So who does this spirit serve?" All he wanted was peace and quiet, but Adam wasn't sure he could brush this off much longer.

"Listen man, I have no clue what you're talking about. Like I said, we don't want trouble. Just walk away." The hopes of a peaceable resolution were thinning even as he said the words.

"I've been told to keep an eye out for those with unusual duel energy…you must go to Central Duel Academy. I was told that the accursed lion and Jaden Yuki were the only special cases, but there's something strange about you too, isn't there?" Sand Gambler stood opposite from Adam, squinting at him.

Adam froze. "Nope, not me. I do know about the keys, and the key keepers, but I don't want any part in someone else's war."

Sand Gambler nodded, growing solemn in the face of a kindred spirit. "Too often it is a few that guide the hands of history, not the many. There are those with unbreakable spirits and incredible dreams that dredge up us smaller folk in their wake. I serve at one such person's command, and it is their command that I must follow."

"You don't have to do anything. You're on leave." Adam practically pleaded. Really, he could scarcely follow anything this dude was saying.

"In this instance, my action or inaction means a great deal. The success of my master's cause rests on the capture of Jaden Yuki and the death of the one known as the lion. There is risk in pursuing them, but there is risk in doing anything, or nothing – the man who does nothing is also taking a risk. If my master finds out that I tarried in this mission, I will die painfully."

Adam was swarmed by confusion. "Who in the hell is your master? And who is the lion?" Jamie Lancaster was known in their class as the Lion of Obelisk, but that was just a silly schoolyard nickname, right?

"Yubel. The most powerful of the duel spirits, now that the old gods lie dormant." Adam could not believe that the gambler was talking honestly, but it was only a week ago he heard tales of duel spirits attacking Jamie, Bastion, and Jasmine at some KaibaCorp party. Jasmine spoke of the name Yubel, that it was the master of the spirit she had defeated. Jamie had been silent on his battle, but Adam could only assume the attacks were related.

If the army of spirits truly sought Jaden and Jamie, then surely they had no business in Macau. Unless Adam were to accidentally run across one by happenstance…he cursed his own nosiness. He should have left this man alone, but it was too late for that now.

"I suppose this was bad luck, then."

Sand Gambler smiled ruefully. "I suppose it was."

"I cannot help you with what you seek. And whatever you think is special about me, you're mistaken."

"I don't believe that. And I know that if I let you leave, you will stand against us later. Unless you choose to join us. A human joined our ranks recently, you know." Sand Gambler was immovable. In truth, it reminded Adam of Jamie's relentless drive against his own enemies. Adam didn't think he could muster up that kind of resolve, but he would fight if needs be. He was many things, and he had quite the past, but a coward he was not.

Adam looked to the security guards. "Please lock down the lobby. Quietly." He added. "I don't want to worry my dad. And I'll need a duel disk."

XXxxxXXxXxxXXXxxxxXXXx

One of the men saw to locking down the exits and entrances, escorting any lingerers or employees to safety – Adam knew that these shadow games could get ugly. The other guard appropriated a duel disk for Adam to use from the hotel's card shop.

All the while, Sand Gambler waited patiently. Adam wondered what the guy's deal was. At first, his manner seemed easygoing and snarky, but when speaking of his duties he was resolute. "Is it possible that this Yubel person actually engenders genuine loyalty?" Sadly, there was little time to ponder this further, as the battle was beginning.

Unlike Jamie and Jaden, Adam knew better than to always pick rock during the beginning roshambo. His scissors sliced through the Sand Gambler's paper, earning Adam the first turn.

He knew that this opponent was going to play cards of chance as well, unless he dueled differently than he played other games. But Adam rarely saw such cases – most people could be characterized by the way they played Duel Monsters in this world. It was a common theme he oftentimes found tiresome, though it was useful in predicting his opponent's overall strategy and behavior. The only opponent his intuition had ever failed to peg was Jamie on the few occasions the two boys practiced against each other. He was definitely a strange one.

"I'll start by playing the continuous spell Second Coin Toss, and I assume you know what that does." Adam began. Sand Gambler gave a smirking nod. "Then, I'll set a monster and another face-down to end."

"There is a certain element of chance to Duel Monsters, none can deny that. But my master has granted me cards from the interstices where the walls between dimensions are at their weakest. You are at a greater disadvantage than you realize." Sand Gambler explained, drawing his first card.

"So, you like to play with loaded dice, huh?" Adam shot back, although the spirit's words were odd the more he thought about them. He gathered that there were different dimensions from the battles with the Shadow Riders, but what was causing the safeguards separating them to weaken over the past year?

"I'll start by playing Sacred Sword of the Seven Stars – by banishing a level seven monster from my hand, I get to draw two cards!" Sand Gambler banished Barrel Dragon to cover the cost. "Next, I'll set a card and summon Jack Wyvern (1800/1000)!" The emerging creature was a dark green machine of war in the shape of a wyrm, green lighting glowing underneath the plating.

With a nod, Sand Gambler ordered his beast to strike, the wyvern swooping gracefully though the lobby to reach an optimal vantage point before firing on Adam's defense. The boy's monster was revealed to be Dice Jar (200/300), an anthropomorphic cup with a bizarre, wacky face (not the strangest creature in the game, perhaps, but close).

Sand Gambler was surprised, but smiled. "I see. You're wasting no time jumping into the games of chance."

"It's kinda my thing." Adam replied. "And I have no choice." Dice Jar was the only real option his shit starting hand afforded him. The fact that he was fighting for his life and only had his competitively unviable fun deck with him was starting to sink in. He could only hope the odds were in his favor.

"Dice Jar's flip effect activates! The both of us roll a die, and whoever gets the lower roll takes damage equal to the opponent's roll times five hundred!" Adam grinned.

"Except if the winner rolls a six. If he does, then the loser takes 6000 points of damage and automatically loses as a result. Rather daring." Sand Gambler added. The duel disks handled the dice rolls by generating two holograms of the dice in question. The actual mechanism was just a random number generator set from one to six – the dice were just for visual flair.

The dice were as big as basketballs, allowing the both of them to clearly see their results. After a second's pause, the dice were thrown up, falling agonizingly slow. Each man stared intently at their pieces, mentally willing them to land on six. Adam's heart was already pounding in his ears, and his breath was bated.

The dice stopped at the same time, each showing fives. The two duelists let out startled laughs – it was clear Sand Gambler was equally as nervous as Adam. "We roll again if we get the same number." Adam barely had time to say before the dice were launched again.

Both dice were perilously spinning on their corners, ever so slowly settling. "Come on you bastard, daddy needs a new set of card sleeves!" Adam mentally cursed at the dice, his eyes wide and stressed. Sand Gambler looked much the same.

Sand Gambler's die stopped first, landing on five again. Adam sharply breathed in through his nose. Sand Gambler smirked.

After another moment, Adam's stopped on six.

Sand Gambler's composure immediately disappeared, understandably. "No….no….nooooooooo! You have got to be kidding me! My new deck should destroy your pathetic garbage! This cannot be!"

"….hah….ha…hahahahahahaha!" Adam's breathless chuckle soon bloomed into full-on cackling as the adrenaline rush of a successful gamble overtook him. "What's good now!? It looks like my so-called disadvantage wasn't so crippling after all, wouldn't you say? Dice Jar's effect activates!"

The wicked cup turned around and unleashed a tremendous, wave-motion blast that distorted the very air itself as it engulfed Adam's unlucky opponent. (Adam 4000/Sand Gambler 0)

Sand Gambler was thrown back so hard his feet left the ground. Bills and coins left his coat pockets, along with several of the rare cards he won from the chumps earlier. He slammed into the far wall, breaking the drywall in one spot. His duel disk broke, one of the wings splashing into the lobby fountain while the rest of the machine clattered to the floor. His momentum halted, he slumped the ground, defeated.

This was a surreal experience for Adam. He had always had a knack for games of chance, though he had his fair share of losses as well. But this…he couldn't help but feel as though he had used up a year's worth of luck on this night.

"How close was I to death just now? What would have happened had that dice roll didn't go my way?" Adam did not find much use in dwelling on the past, being more practical and future-oriented by nature. But in matters of life and death, he had to wonder…

Sand Gambler tried to rise, but with the breath knocked out of him, he stumbled and fell again. "This is absurd…I shouldn't have lost! That Dice Jar was bullshit!" Instead of trying to catch his breath, he wasted oxygen on curses.

"Why speak as if you are owed something? We both agreed that the winds of fortune guide our sails. Today, mine led me to a swift victory, and for you a swift defeat. We could play a hundred games and perhaps you would win ninety-nine of them, with these new cards of yours. You won all of those games against those chumps using thrift store cards, picking off their best wares. Your luck was bound to run out sometime." Adam shrugged. Life is chaotic and full of ebbs and flows, but amazingly some people never learned that.

"I'm not giving you the chance to start another lucky streak though." Adam said coldly, the two guards moving into position with pistols at the ready. "Tell me about this Yubel person, and everything you know about all the crazy shit that's been going on lately."

Sand Gambler's breathing finally normalized, and his face became calm. "You are an odd one. What is your name, duelist?"

Adam knew better than that. "Chazz Princeton."

Sand Gambler let out a hitched laugh. "A wise move. I cannot fault you your caution. But I am wounded, still. Would you not do a dying man that small courtesy?"

"Oh knock it off, you're not dying." Adam rolled his eyes.

Another hitched laugh. "This is the way of a shadow game. In return for invoking godly powers, the gods demand payment. The loser dies, by the ancient laws."

"The ancient laws." Adam snorted, still disbelieving. "Stay ready." He glanced at his guards. "Does anyone have these ancient laws in writing somewhere or what? And don't say in the spirit realm or some stupid shit."

"Okay, I won't." Sand Gambler gave him a cheeky grin, and Adam was sorely tempted to let the guards shoot him. "But they are true all the same. And one day, your luck will run out as well." Slowly, mist began to furl from his body, and soon parts of him began to disappear, returning to the form of pure duel energy.

"Hey!" Adam ran up to him. Shaking the spirit, the Chinese duelist yelled, "At least tell me who Yubel is! What does Yubel want with us?"

"Words cannot do it justice. You will know Yubel when every last card in this world is burned, and you arrogant humans will no longer be able to enslave duel spirits as you please. You will know when Jaden Yuki sits the throne of darkness and takes the true title of king from these pretenders. Chazz Princeton, Jamie Lancaster, Aster Phoenix, Seto Kaiba, Yugi Moto, all of them will be destroyed. When you humans are lead by our yoke, that is when you will know Yubel." With that, the Sand Gambler once more became pure duel energy, the light particle shooting skywards to some unknown destination.

Adam stamped down the fear that was rising within him. Surely that was all nonsense…it had to be. And to think that this truly was a duel spirit, and that there were more to come…the thought was chilling.

"A foe vanquished…a demon killed." He couldn't believe he had survived the encounter. Turning to the guards, he called them over. "Please reopen the lobby, quietly. I don't want my father worrying needlessly. And speaking of him, I don't want a word of this to him."

If Adam's father found about duel spirits and all of this other crazy shit, he might pull him out of Duel Academy and send him off to a real boarding school. Adam trusted the guards, but for good measure he arranged a few payments to be made to them in small installments over the next three months. Chances were for games, not for matters such as these.

Adam did not feel the exhilaration a warrior was supposed to feel from a victorious battle. He only felt tired, and a bit queasy, just like he did after watching Banner die. "This is the glorious duel that Jaden and Princeton, Zane and Jamie speak of? A children's game, perverted into a form of warfare, is glorious now? Does any of this fighting even matter? Is there any end to the duels?

One of his examples did not fit. Jaden loved dueling in the pure way a boy loves his favorite toy, while Zane seemed to see it as some affirmation of his ridiculous honor. Chazz Princeton fought selfishly, to put others beneath him and to raise himself up, far and away from the shadow of his brothers.

"Jamie…I wonder what spurs you to fight on?" He could tell that his friend had lost something dear to him at some point in his past, but he would never ask about it. He was relentless, but Adam couldn't tell what exactly he wanted out of life, or why his eyes were often so sad. Adam didn't care much for sentimentality, and he doubted Jamie would talk to him, or frankly anyone, about these feelings. And Adam would never speak of these thoughts, for the feelings were too strange and uncomfortable for him as well. The pallor of death dredged up the emotions from the back of his mind. With effort, he pushed them back down. "The future is full of opportunities…I must did allow this to weigh me down."

"Say…" He walked over to the empty space where his foe once stood. His duel disk remained, as did the cards, the very things that drew him into this battle. They weren't counterfeit, since they clearly worked with the duel disk. But they were one of a kind, and if Adam had learned nothing over the past year, it was that one of a kind cards were powerful things, keys that realize a duelist's desire.

"I might be able to make a lot of money off these." Adam Sugihara thought, his aims paradoxically grandiose and yet so very mundane.

A/N

Hope you all enjoyed. Although this neither official, nor a video animation, I couldn't resist the chapter title lmao.

I hope you found this deviation from the norm refreshing. I felt that Adam could use some more fleshing out, as he is more of a background player. Ironically, the character prefers things this way lol. By design, he likes to say low-key, but even he's got some adventures under his belt. Though he might embellish the story somewhat so that the duel is a bit more of a pitched battle.

Having the "duel" if it can be called that play out this way illustrates the chancier aspects of the game. Sadly, not every duel in the real game is dramatically satisfying, and Dice Jar has always been a pretty hilarious card to me, so I hope you don't mind too much. Of course, the big battles will continue to bear resemblance to the anime as we go on.

I thought about writing this in the First Summer Arc like seven chapters ago but I thought this merited a fuller exploration. Furthermore, I wished to move on to some season two material at the time. Still, from here we can see how Adam would go on to make the deal with Industrial Illusions allowing him to use the Barrel Dragon cards we saw in his duel against Syrus.

We'll return to the main storyline next chapter, where we will see what exactly is going on with this explosion of light. Catch you next time!