Akia was lying down on her bed, lost in her thoughts. Battle City was officially starting the next day. Before it even started, Jounouchi had already lost Red Eyes. To top it all off, Marik was now back in her life somewhat. However, it's not the way she wanted them to reunite. He was now her brother's enemy, which meant he was her enemy as well. Ishizu had asked her to save Marik. Even though she wanted to, she didn't have a clue as to how she would do such a thing. There was also the issue with Bakura. She felt like she had no right to fall in love with anyone except Marik.
"Is that what they call an inescapable fate...?"
She mumbled to herself. She then got up from her bed and went to check her cards. She had bought some new packs on their way home from the hospital. She knew that she needed a stronger deck if she wanted to stand a chance in this new tournament. She needed to get to the finals. She couldn't let Ishizu down.
The next day, Akia was up early and ready with her Duel Disk and cards. She had her millennium scale in her cute leather backpack to match her outfit. She had the same cropped leather jacket she wore on the date she had with Bakura. She wore a flared highwaisted red miniskirt and a white turtleneck sleeveless crop top with a heart cutout at the cleavage. She went to Yugi's room to see if he was ready to go as well.
Yugi: "Let's do this."
Akia nodded. They were both aiming for the finals and it was necessary for them to make it.
The twins met up with Jounouchi, Honda, Anzu, and Bakura and headed to where the Battle City was announced and where it was also supposed to begin. As soon as Kaiba announced the beginning of Battle City, everyone started to scatter in search for a duel. Yugi let the spirit of the puzzle take over.
Yugi: "Our first step is to find the ones who took Jounouchi's Red Eyes."
"We'll probably have to win it back."
Jounouchi: "Those bastards will pay..."
Not long after they started looking around, Jounouchi shouted while pointing at someone.
Jounouchi: "There he is!"
Akia and Yugi look towards the direction that Jounouchi is pointing at. It was a pale man with white spiky hair and long arms. He was calmly sipping a cup of coffee and looking at the group with a creepy smile on his face.
"He was easy to find."
Yugi: "It's as if he wanted us to find him..."
Jounouchi walked up to the man to confront him,
Jounouchi: "Hey! You! I challenge you to a duel to get my Red Eyes back!"
The man chuckled.
"I'm sorry, but I have nothing to gain from battling again against a weakling like you."
Jounouchi: "What did you say?!"
Yugi: "Then I'll do it."
Just as Yugi was starting to walk up to the man also, Akia put out her arm to stop him.
"No. I'll do it."
Yugi: "It's too dangerous. You don't know what he's capable of."
"Neither do you. But this is getting personal for me now. He's got Red Eyes. I can't just let someone like him have it."
Akia felt as if Red Eyes was calling out to her. She couldn't just leave it be.
Marik, who was the one controlling the man, frowned. Even though he had brainwashed the man, he was not controlling him directly. He was only seeing and hearing what was happening through his pawn. He would only interfere if he deemed it necessary.
Marik: "Personal? What does she mean?"
Marik then closed his eyes.
Marik: "No matter. This will be a good chance to see what she's capable of and what her intentions are."
The man then smiled at Akia.
"Now this should be interesting. You also seem to have a rather rare card. Golden Homunculus is it?"
Akia chuckled.
"Sure. If you actually think you can beat me. I guess according to the rules we'll also be wagering our puzzle cards too right?"
"That's right. And if you win, I'll give you back the Red Eyes Black Dragon."
"That's all I need. Who are you anyway? And why did you target Red Eyes?"
"Me? I am a part of the rare hunters. Our goal is to gather rare cards from around the world."
"I'm sure this is not your actual goal now, is it..."
Rare Hunter: "Maybe not, but this is all I am allowed to divulge."
'Allowed? So he's probably getting orders from someone above him...'
Everyone who was around started getting hyped up since this was the first duel happening during the Battle City tournament. Due to the commotion and the crowd that was forming around the two duelists, Anzu, Honda, and Bakura were able to easily reunite with Yugi and the others.
Bakura: "Akia-chan is already dueling?"
When Akia heard Bakura's voice, she turned her head towards him and smiled brightly.
"Ryou!"
Bakura smiled brightly at her too.
Bakura: "Good luck, Akia-chan."
Akia gave him a thumbs up before activating her duel disk. She then looked straight into her opponent's eyes, her smile completely disappearing.
Marik, witnessing the whole scene, couldn't help but feel a bit irritated. He didn't know why, but he really didn't like how Akia and the one called Ryou looked at each other. He tried to brush off the feeling and pay attention to the duel that was about to unfold.
Jounouchi: "Akia, be careful. This guy has-"
"Jounouchi, don't tell me anything about his strategy. It'll be much more satisfying and exciting to win if I go in blind."
Jounouchi: "Geez... Fine, then you better win this."
"Trust me, I will."
The rare hunter and Akia both draw five cards each. According to the new rules of the Battle City Tournament, each of them starts with 4000 Life Points.
"My turn, I draw."
'Alright, I need to figure out his strategy as quickly as possible to prevent him from catching me off guard. First, though, I should summon my Banisher of Radiance(1600/0) to start off my deck strategy.'
"I summon Banisher of Radiance(1600/0) in attack position. His special effect makes it so that any card that would otherwise go to the graveyard is removed from play instead."
Jounouchi: "She's already starting off her main strategy."
Akia didn't stop there, though.
"Time to know for sure what your strategy is. I use the magic card: Confiscation. By paying 1000 Life Points, I can look at your hand and choose one card that you must discard."
The rare hunter, unperturbed, showed his hand to Akia. As soon as she saw it, her eyes widened in surprise. She was not the only one who was surprised. Yugi was just as surprised.
Yugi: "Exodia?"
The rare hunter had two pieces of Exodia in his hand: The Right Arm and the Left Leg.
"How can you have Exodia? These are really rare cards!"
Rare Hunter: "Do you want to know something even more interesting? I don't just have one copy. I have three copies of each card. Even if you get rid of one, you still won't be able to beat me."
"Watch me."
Akia then chose the Right Arm of the Forbidden One as the card she wanted her opponent to discard. She then looked at the four cards in her hand.
'Card Destruction... This makes us both discard our hand and draw the same number of cards we discarded. He has four cards in his hand. So even if he's lucky and gets four pieces of Exodia from this, he needs five of them to win. It's worth the risk. At least I'll be rid of another one of his Exodia cards. I think my best chance is to make him discard enough Exodia cards to make it impossible for him to win using it.'
"I use Card Destruction next!"
The two players discard their hand and draw the same number of cards they discarded.
Jounouchi: "What? You're helping him get the parts of Exodia like that!"
Yugi: "It is quite a risky strategy..."
Akia looked at the three new cards she had in her hand. She still had cards to use.
"My turn is far from over. I use Pot of Greed. It allows me to draw two cards from my deck. I'll then use Hand Destruction. This forces both of us to discard two cards and to draw two new cards."
The Rare Hunter, who had three parts of Exodia in his hand and one Graceful Charity, was forced to discard one of them along with his Graceful Charity. It didn't bother him though, since it was a duplicate of another part that was also in his hand.
"I'll place a card facedown and end my turn."
Rare Hunter: "Time for the counterattack."