Andre - Aquarius/Phobos Island
Tel. VI - Year 18 4AOS
After finishing his hour-long jog around the Fountains of Phobos Island, Andre stopped to catch his breath. He checked his watch and decided it was time to treat himself to a hot drink. But first, he needed to make some money. Luckily, he knew just the person to see. Andre walked to an ice cream shop where a cheery-nosed girl was selling her wares. Andre approached and handed the girl a handsome red ruby, to which the girl nodded.
"Outta coins again, Andre?" the girl said. "I'm surprised the higher-ups haven't come down on ya for spending so lavishly."
"This is an expensive city to live in," said Andre.
"All right. Since I like you so much, I'll give you a little more than usual." She handed Andre a polished mahogany case full of Aquarian Coins.
"That should get you through the semester so long as you take it easy with the spending. And it should also get Master Yugi off your tail for a while."
"I might have to find another place to live," said Andre. "The underwater hotel is starting to take its toll on me." He put the case of coins into his pack. "Thanks for the coins. You're an angel."
"And don't you forget it. Now get moving, Andre."
Aquarius sailed a little too far to the north over the weekend and the weather got a little chilly and windy. Luckily for Andre, there was a coffee shop by the lake that was mostly catering to young clientele, mostly students from the high school. Just as Andre made it to the door, a chorus of 'Hello, Sabrina!" "Hey, Sabrina" rang out from many of the girls sitting outside on the patio.
Andre stopped and turned around and saw the green-haired Sabrina coming towards the shop dressed in the elite attire of St. Augustus's honor students. It was black and gold, consisting of a skirt, long black laced boots, and a black and gold blazer underneath a black shoulder cape that went all the way down to the hips, covering all but the girl's legs. On her head was a black beret with a gold emblem on the center depicting the scales, textbooks, apple, and cross of stars of the school's coat of arms.
"Time to work?" asked a girl sitting on the patio outside the shop.
"Yup, time to work," Sabrina replied. "Excuse me," she said to Andre. He made way for her and she opened the doors inside the shop. Her shoulder cape gave a whoosh as she stepped inside.
Andre went into the cafe as well. It was awfully crowded in there. The orange and mahogany booths were separated by vine walls and soft jazz music played on the shop's radio. Andre saw Sabrina taking her messenger bag off her shoulder as she stepped into the employee lounge, where she came out moments later in her work attire. As she walked behind the counter, the doors to the shop opened. "Patty?" Andre said. He was sure surprised to see her here.
Patty walked past the boy and sat on an orange bar stool. "Hey, Sabrina," she said, taking off her backpack. "The usual."
"Salted caramel hot chocolate?" Sabrina asked. "Coming up. Do you want a chocolate donut to go with that?"
Patty smiled and slid a gold coin across the counter. "Sure, why not?"
"Got it. Don't worry. It's on me." Sabrina winked and opened a glass container containing donuts of many flavors. She then leaned forward and whispered: "How's Yuri? I heard he had another one of those nightmares last night."
Patty hunched her shoulders and blew out of the corner of her mouth, causing one of her bangs to bounce over her forehead. "Yeah, it was really bad. Tyson drove over to spend the night with him to calm him down. But...I don't want to talk about it here."
Sabrina nodded multiple times. "All right. Meet me upstairs. There's a booth over in the corner that's still vacant. We can talk about it a bit more. Tyson's there. He's playing billiards in the corner. Maybe he can tell us more about what's going on. I'm getting really worried about Yuri."
"Me, too," said Patty. She paid for her drink and headed upstairs.
More nightmares? Andre wondered. That meant Yugi or possibly one of his apprentices, Jaden, Yusei, Yuma, Yuya, or Yusaku paid him a visit. He went upstairs and saw Tyson playing billiards alone in the corner.
"Hey," he said to Patty and they hugged.
"How is he?" Patty asked.
"He's in bad shape," said Tyson. "He's been shivering all day. I don't know what he dreamed about last night but it must have screwed him up big time."
"Poor thing," Patty remarked sympathetically. She set her things in the booth and sat down. "So what happened?"
"I dunno?" Tyson said. He leaned against the pool table. "He said something about seeing the perspective of a knight fighting horrible monsters. Yuri could feel himself moving the sword, he could feel it taking his energy with each swing. The monsters...aw man, Patty, I don't know what he saw but it messed him up really bad. He felt like he was trying to fight his way out of hell."
"My God," Patty said.
Sabrina came up the stairs with Patty's order. She noticed Andre just standing there and wrinkled her nose.
"Hi," said Andre.
"Yeah, sure," Sabrina said, finding him quite odd. That was the second time she bumped into him just standing there staring into the void. "Here you go, Sweets," she said to Patty. She set her donut and latte on the table then turned to hug Tyson. "How is he?"
"I was just telling Patty it was really bad. I didn't want to say anything cuz y'all are stressed enough as it is, but...when I got there, Yuri was pouring pills or something onto his palm."
"What!?" Patty almost shouted.
"Oh, goodness no!" cried Sabrina. "This is awful. He needs to see some serious psychological help."
"I've been sayin' that to him, but he keeps saying he doesn't need to. Heh, he's tough, I'll give him that."
"Or playing tough," said Patty. "These nightmares of his are getting worse. Weirdos with strange hair, now knights fighting monsters and feeling physical pain after each dream? This is serious stuff."
"And I feel so helpless," said Sabrina. "What are we going to do?"
"I don't know," said Tyson. "My grandma thinks an evil spirit is bothering him or something. She asked if he wanted to join us at Church on Sundays."
"I hope that helps at least," said Sabrina. "Wanting to take pills? That doesn't sound like the Yuri I know."
"This really is getting outta hand," Tyson said, leaning even tighter against the pool table. " I see him dozing off in class a lot. And sometimes, he'd be so scared that he wouldn't even watch a duel, let alone touch his cards."
"Was he feeling that way at all today?" Patty asked. She knew Tyson left school early to check up on Yuri earlier that morning and was eager to here more.
Surprisingly, Tyson smiled and let out a soft chuckle. "Oh, he's doing better all right. He was laying in bed surrounded by hot food. Friends of Mr. Montgomery's came by and left him jello, cakes, chicken, you name it. Heh, Darla Deets, even sent him a package when she heard he was sick."
Patty rolled her eyes. "I'm not surprised."
"Darla Deets?" Sabrina said in surprise. "The daughter of the President of the United States! Really? Yuri knows her, too!"
"Heh, is it really that obvious?" Tyson asked with a chuckle.
"I can't stand that harlot!" Patty said in disgust at the mere mention of the girl. "Ever since her mother took office, all she's ever done was try to get into his pants. And she thinks she's a good Duelist, too, believing her fancy knights can woo her way into his heart. She's coming to the party next month and is bragging that she's got a 'special' surprise in store for him."
"Wow, sounds hot," Sabrina giggled.
"Pfft, she has to get through me and Zera the Mant if she wants to get an inch of my friend."
Sabrina giggled. "Damn, she's pissed. "So, I take it Yuri's okay, then?"
Tyson nodded happily. Yup, that's why he loved his group. No matter how dark or grim things got, they always found a way to lift each other's spirits. "He has a little chest tightness, but all's good. I know that once Crystal Anderson begins her Duel, he will feel a lot better."
"Crystal Anderson is Dueling today?" Sabrina asked. "What?"
"Yeah, in fact, I think her match starts pretty soon. Check it out!" he showed Sabrina a picture of the girl on his phone. "She got a new outfit for her match tonight."
Crystal's Dragon Queen Dress
"Ooooh!" Sabrina hooted with awe. Crystal was in her new outfit, posing elegantly by her bed in her palace-like bedroom. "What a pretty dress. What's the occasion?"
"That hotshot, MJ Pac, from The Hurt Factory wants to challenge her for her dragon deck. Lemme tell I don't want to be him right now. Crystal Anderson is a Master Duelist. She has a deck of the best dragons in the game and she knows how to use them. They don't call her the Queen of Dragons for nothing." He checked his watch. "I should be heading out now. The mid-card matches are over and the main event Duels are about to start."
"Nonsense, we can watch it here!" Sabrina fumbled through her apron until she found a remote, which she used to change the channel of the TV hanging over the pool table. "Oh good!" she cheered, relieved that the Duel Exhibition event was still on a commercial break. "We didn't miss it guys."
"I would have preferred that we did," said Patty. "I can't stand Crystal Anderson. She's so overhyped."
"She ain't overhyped," Tyson retorted at once. "I told you before, her dragons are the rarest and most powerful in the game."
Patty scoffed again. "Let's how tough she is when she faces me."
"You really think you can take on Crystal Anderson?" Sabrina asked, trying to suppress a giggle.
"You bet I can. Once I bring out Zera, I'll send her and her overrated bubble butt back to the mainland where she belongs."
"Someone sounds jealous," Sabrina said with a giggle. "Oh, hey! Did you hear? Some boys from that Duel Gang, the Lords of 18th Street. They were found knocked out on the beach."
"The Red Sparrow strikes again, huh?" said Tyson.
"Him again?" said Patty, referring to the mysterious Duel vigilante that was aiding RAPTOR in hunting down Duel Gangs causing trouble in the streets. "Well, nice to know someone out there is keeping those punks in check. Oh, hey, the match starting!"
After three minutes of hype and promotional material, the match between Crystal and MJ Pac finally started. Loud heavy metal music thundered in the arena. It was the theme song of the Hurt Factory, an elite faction of Duelists in the Pro League circuit (one of many on Aquarius) called Elite Championship Dueling. MJ Pac came out of a stage with giant LED screens for walls.
He was surrounded by the other members of the Hurt Factory. Their leader, a pompous-looking boy in his late teens came out to personally oversee the match.
"Man, you know this match is important when Randall Lawson comes out to play," Tyson said, laughing at how over-the-top Randall and his Hurt Factory faction looked as they slowly marched out of the stage toward the arena.
Their music died down and a familiar pop song boomed on the speakers across the arena, causing the crowd to stand up and cheer. The Queen of Dragons had arrived.
"Here she comes!" Sabrina said shivering with joy.
MJ Pac's girlfriend gave him his deck and he stepped onto the platform as Crystal walked up the stage and placed her deck on the pod.
"This is truly the end of an era, Cotton!" said one of the commentators.
"That's right folks, this will be the last time the incredible Duel Screens will be used for pro league Duels and main events such as this. Enjoy it while you can folks."
"Stop sticking to the past, Cotton! Come on, the new Duel Monsters tech is incredible! Out with the old, in with the new! You know what they say!"
"New tech?" Patty wondered.
"You didn't hear about the Tournament of Champions that took place on Mr. Montgomery's private island last summer?" Tyson said.
"No."
"I'm not surprised. It was a very exclusive invitational tournament. Only the fifty best players from around the world could attend and it was not televised. When I say exclusive, I mean exclusive. No press, no media, nothing. Nobody knew what went on in the tournament. Word on the street is Mr. Montgomery unveiled a new technology for Duel Monsters that he promises will change the game. But each of the players had to swear in blood never to tell what they used. My girl, Crystal, won the whole thing as you can see by the belt one of her Dragon Sister teammates is holding up for her."
"Ugh, look at the size of that thing," Patty muttered in disgust. "Talk about pretentious."
"Man, Crystal, you just love to nag, don't you?" Tyson snickered.
On the screen, the two Duelists shuffled each other's decks and took their seats on the massive Duel Table. The members of the Hurt Factory stood below and cheered for their companion.
"Is the little princess ready?" MJ Pac sneered.
"I sure hope you are," Crystal said sitting down.
"Nice dress," MJ Pac commented, studying Crystal from top to bottom. "I see you cleaned up nice for the ass-kicking I'm about to give you. Brett is soon going to see you're not all that."
LP 4000
"I have a party to get to," said Crystal. "So can you stop yakking and begin your turn?"
"You're letting me go first? Heh, fine by me. I draw! Check it out, Crystal. Pot of Greed."
"I know, draw two cards already."
MJ drew a card and laughed. "Quit trying to act all cool, Crystal. Not now when it's time for me to heat things up. Tremendous Fire! This card will deal 1000 points of damage to you. Sure, I take 500 points as well, but it's a small price to pay to watch you burn!"
Crystal shielded herself with her arms as a wall of fire surrounded her.
"What the!" Patty shouted. "Are those real flames?"
"No, those must be holograms!" said Sabrina. "Right? Right?"
"They are holograms," Patty said when her shock died down. "Wow, those looked too real. I would have crapped myself if I was in that situation."
Crystal - LP 3000
MJ Pac - LP 3500
MJ pointed his finger at Crystal and laughed. "Feel the heat yet, Crystal? No? Well, how about I heat things up even further with this spell card? Polymerization! I fuse together Invasion of Flames and Cyber Falcon to create the all-powerful Blaze Fenix, the Burning Bombardment Bird!"
A giant falcon made of fire and metal burst from an explosion on the Duel Screen. Fans of MJ Pac cheered and raised their fists.
"And MJ Pac summons his ace monster, ladies and gentlemen! The Burning Bombardment Bird has made ashes of many of MJ Pac's opponents. Will the Queen of Dragons be his next victim?"
Crystal drew. "I activate Ancalagon's Delight!" Crystal said activating a spell that caused a great jewel to appear behind her.
"What this does is let me discard a Level 8 or higher Dragon monster from my hand and then, I can add two Level 8 Dragons to my hand. And, of course, I shuffle my deck. Then, I'm going to set three cards face-down and summon Infernal Dragon in attack mode and end my turn."
A green dragon with red wings and a golden trident on its tail took form on the screen beside their table. A round of applause from Crystal's fans rang loudly.
MJ laughed, as did his companions. "What? That's it? Is that thing supposed to scare me? Come on, Crystal put up a fight! Where are these big fancy dragons I keep hearing about? I wanna face them! I wanna take them down."
Crystal wrinkled her nose. "You'll see them soon."
"When?"
"I dunno, whenever I feel the need to. Right now, you don't pose any threat so my bigger dragons don't need to come out."
"Oh, is that so! What am I not worthy enough to go against them, huh? Is that it? Cuz if that's what you truly believe, Crystal, then you seriously underestimate the Hurt Factory. My turn. And since it's my main phase, I can activate my Bombardment Bird's effect. For every card on the field, you take 300 points of damage!"
Again, Crystal was engulfed by flames that suddenly burst all around her. Fans from strategically placed in certain parts of the stage blew and her hair whipped over her shoulder. Her Life Points were reduced to nothing...they were exactly the same. Not a single point went down.
"Hey, what happened!" MJ shouted. "How come you didn't take any damage!?
"I activated my trap card, Damage Polarizer. I can activate this trap when an effect that inflicts damage is activated. It will negate the effect and we both can draw one card."
"Lucky move," MJ grumbled.
Crystal giggled. "Oh, I'm not done. Since I used a Counter Trap to counter one of your cards, I can special summon this big guy from my hand. Go, Van'Dalgyon the Dark Dragon Lord!"
BOOM! On the screen appeared one of Crystal's signature dragons. A humanoid dragon with dark purple armored flesh glowing with fiery red patterns and blue orbs. He smashed his fist into the ground as he landed, forcing the arena to shake.
"And here's one of Crystal's most vicious dragons!" said one of the commentators. "Van' Dalgyon, who can be summoned upon the activation of its master's Counter Trap Card."
"That's right, Cotton! If Van'Dalgyon gains an effect depending on what kind of effect Crystal negated. And since it was a monster effect that was negated...eh...that's not going to be good news for MJ Pac."
"Oh, indeed," said Cotton. "If Crystal used a Counter Trap to negate a monster effect, she can target one monster in her Graveyard and summon it. Let's not forget she discarded a pretty powerful dragon to activate her Ancalagon's Deligh spell card."
Flames burst from the ground and from them flew out another powerful dragon. Tyrant Dragon — a colossal-sized dragon with 2900 ATK points. Crystal's fans cheered even louder, so loud that the boos from the Hurt Factory's fan base could barely be heard.
"AAAAH!" MJ screamed.
"Be careful what you wish for, MJ," Crystal teased and removed Infernal Dragon from the field since Tyrant Dragon could not be resurrected without offering a Dragon monster.
Andre, watching the game from where he stood was also impressed. "Wow, that girl is good."
Those watching the match downstairs broke into applause. Whistles, claps, and cheers all around. A little girl watching the match with her mother and older sisters rushed out of the booth they were sitting in and jumped for joy. "See mama! She's the best! Wow! I wanna be just like Crystal when I grow up. I wanna have a deck full of rare dragons like her!"
Her mother laughed. "I'm sure you will dear."
"Holy shit..." Patty mumbled. "Two high-level bosses! And on her opponent's turn!"
Sabrina clapped as she laughed. "Well, he did say he wanted to see her dragons."
"Now you know why the Pro Leagues don't let Crystal into the main events of their shows," Tyson said. "She ends games way too quickly. High-level monsters like them are tough to summon without the right cards. And Crystal...heh! She's got all the cards she needs to summon these high-level boss monsters with the greatest of ease."
MJ Pac recovered from his awe and continued with his turn. "Pretty impressive, Crystal. But all for naught. I'm going to boost my Bombardment Bird's attack with Salamandra! This will increase my bird's attack by 700 points, making it the strongest monster on the field. Now, which one of those badass dragons should I take down first?" He played eeny-meeny-miny-moe to taunt Crystal and chose Tyrant Dragon. Now that Blaze Fenix was at 3500, he was more than a match for Crystal's Tyrant Dragon. Or so he thought.
"I reveal my face-down card!" Crystal shouted. "Flying Dragon Whirl! I send four Dragons from my deck to the Graveyard and then Tyrant Dragon's ATK points will increase by 300 for each Dragon I sent away."
Tyrant Dragon roared as his ATK increased to 4100. On the screen, a great battle took place. Blaze Fenix and Tyrant Dragon were locked in combat. They flew all over the sky, blasting each other with their fire breath attacks or clawing at each other with their talons. The battle was finally over! Blaze Fenix exploded and plummeted into a canyon.
"My turn!" Crystal said. "I activate Pot of Avarice. I can return five monsters from my Graveyard and then draw two cards." She drew, then looked at MJ and giggled. "I'll send away Tri-Horned Dragon, Seiyaryu, and Grandtusk Dragon to special summon Montage Dragon!"
"Well, that's the end of the match," said Tyson. "That's another one of Crystal's most powerful dragons. It gains ATK equal to the Level of the monsters Crystal discarded to the Graveyard to summon it."
"Hmm," said Sabrina. "Two Level Eights and a Level Seven. So that's..."
"That's 6900 ATK points!" Patty exclaimed. "Wow!"
Andre, still standing by the stairs, admitted the girl was indeed a force to be reckoned with. But now that the match was all but over, thanks to that Montage Dragon, the group stopped paying attention. Now that they weren't busy, Andre moved in. Ever since he got here, he had been hearing about Yuri's nightmares. He wanted to get to the bottom of this as best he could.
"Tyson, Patty!" he said.
"Hey, it's that Andre guy," said Patty. "What the hell, man? You stalking us or something? Everywhere we go we run into you."
"Don't worry about it. I just heard some weird stuff at school. They say Yuri stayed home because of a nightmare."
"Why do you say it like that?" Tyson asked, not appreciating the grin the boy had.
"I mean, he's been hyped to be this strong and amazing guy but yet he stays home from school because of a few nightmares? What's with that?"
"You got something to say, Andre?" Patty asked. "You calling Yuri weak or something? Because if you are, Tyson here would like to introduce you to his fists."
"Whoa, easy there, girl, I'm not insulating anything. I'm just saying is all."
Tyson shook his head. "Dawg, you're new around here so I'll cut you some slack. There's stuff about Yuri that you don't know about. Nor will you ever understand since you're not his friend."
"So help me understand. How often has Yuri been having these dreams?"
"I don't even know why that's any of your business," Tyson replied. He continued to play pool. Smack! The balls bounced around, hitting one another closer to the holes. He managed to get three solids in with one hit. "Nice," he said to himself. "I shouldn't even have answered this question. My friend's business is his own. You know, I should just walk home right now. I don't even know you, dawg."
"So let's get to know each other. I don't want to be enemies here. I want to help. Yuri's an important guy here on Aquarius, I get that. I know you and the rest of his posse feel the need to watch over him and take care of him but..."
"Damn right we do!" said Patty. "You don't know what he's been through his whole life. You think it's easy being the son of a multi-trillionaire? It's not exactly the life of luxury."
Andre laughed. "He doesn't need a life of luxury to be good a Duel Monsters."
"Man, you don't know nothin'!" Tyson made another shot and landed two more solids. He gave Andre a stern look and went to the other side of the table to aim at an orange solid close to the left pocket. "This isn't about Duel Monsters. Yuri's the only child Jacob Montgomery has that wants to take over the family business. Since he was a little kid, Yuri's been groomed for a life of great responsibility and wealth. I don't expect some new kid to understand. Stop acting like you know everything about him, cuz you don't."
"Then help me understand. I want to help him. I really do."
There was a long pause. Tyson looked at Patty, who finally nodded. "Tell him," she said.
"He's been having them since January of last year," Tyson finally said. He was looking through his phone to avoid making eye contact with Andre. "Again, it's really none of your business but this thing's been bugging me for a long, long time. If you think you can help, I'm all ears."
"And so am I. Keep talking."
"Well, the dreams have actually been starting back on December 16th. Yuri has some falling out with an old friend."
"I see. Is this friend around here?"
"No, she's from Greece," said Patty.
"Oh, she's a chick!? Well now. If he's getting nightmares because of this fallout with her, it must have been a tight connection. How would describe his relationship with her?"
"We flew out to Greece last year to visit her," Tyson replied. "They looked like really good friends. I think they met on a Dueling forum or something back when we started high school. They became close ever since. But after spring break their friendship took a turn for the worst."
"What happened?"
"I don't know. It all started when she came into possession of some dragon. A Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon, I think it was called. She started to become pro with it."
"Galaxy-Eyes, you say? Did you ever see her play the card when you visited her?"
"We sure did. It was a Normal monster of the dragon-type with 3000 attack points. I saw her play it when we were at a local Dueling event in Santorini. That was the last time any of us saw her. She said he had to take the ferry back home to Athens cuz something came up. When we got back home from our trip, Yuri tried contacting her. But she never answered. Even if she did, it was scarce. Dry and short replies. And she only messaged him every few weeks. Eventually, she started telling him she couldn't speak to him for a month cuz she had a lot of work to do or something. And that's bullshit. I don't care how busy you are. There's always time for your friends when they just wanna talk. And there was more to it."
"Like what?"
"Social media, duh?" said Patty. "She said she was too busy studying and doing homework and shit. She was no friend to Yuri. I could tell she didn't roll like that anymore. If you ask me, I think she was letting the fame she got with that Galaxy-Eyes card get to her head."
"The beginning of the end was on spring break," said Tyson. "She said she needed to use that time to study. Again, Patty showed me proof that it was bullshit. She was partying with her friends, taking trips to Rome, and Monaco. Staying in cool hotels during invitational tournaments and things like that. Didn't look like she was too busy. Then Yuri saw her in some club during the European championships in Italy and he freaked out."
"Freaked out?"
"Wouldn't you? Seeing a dear friend of yours in a wild and crazy environment? Yuri didn't like that. I guess he never saw her as that kinda girl."
"Come to think of it, neither did me or the gang," said Patty.
"No?" Andre asked.
"Nope. She's a Tolkien nerd like Yuri is, an excellent mathematician, a philosopher, charitable, a skilled duelist, and she came off as really shy. Anyway, he confronted her about it and she didn't get back to him until about two weeks later. But it was too late. Yuri blocked her for good and they never spoke again."
Andre sipped his latte until it was empty. "And you think Yuri's nightmares are a result of that breakup?"
No," said Patty. "He's a guy full of demons. He got kidnapped and almost raped by pirates when he was a little kid, was bullied a lot at school, and had to experience a lot of bad rep because of what happened to those two kids he scared half to death. But the breakup with her could be a contributing factor," said Patty.
"No shit," said Tyson. "Those two were close. Really, really close. They bought each other gifts; they talked until the sun went down, and dueled on Dueling Network for long periods of time. Yuri often called her his mentor when it came to Duel Monsters. I mean, she was pretty good. And they sparred online for hours, so I guess some of her skill rubbed off on him. Yeah, so, when the friendship ended, Yuri became so depressed. And that's when the nightmares started happening. Stress can do that. Especially the stress of losing someone you really cared about. Or in this case, finding out they never cared all that much about you in the first place. Yuri sobbed until he threw up and he cried so much his head hurt. He said he never felt pain like that. Not even the pain of losing his grandmother hit him that hard. That's how much he cared for her."
"Hmm. Poor guy. It's a shame you guys lost contact with that Greece girl. I would have liked to chat with her."
"Forget it, dawg. She's not worth it. Any friend who can put you off for weeks without a word is no friend. And no one does that to my pal and gets away with it. So what's this all for? If you're gonna help, help."
"With the information you've provided for me, Tyson, I think I have everything I need. Yuri just needs to get his mojo back."
"Mojo?" Patty asked.
"I know what it feels like to lose a friend. Granted I haven't had nightmares that made me sick but losing a best friend is the equivalent of experiencing a death in the family."
"I know how that feels, too," said Patty.
"Hold on, Patty, you said something about 'demons' that Yuri is confronting. Can you care to tell me about those?"
"Those are private, so no. If you wanna know about what Yuri did in the past, you should talk to him instead. Yuri is my friend and his life is not for me to discuss." She checked the time on her phone. "Well, I need to get going. Bye, Tyson. See you at school."
"Same. Oh, I'm gonna need those notes you took on Chaucer if you don't mind."
"I'll send them when I get home. See ya, Andre. Oh, and if I were you, I wouldn't poke around with matters that don't concern you. Especially when it comes to Yuri. You might not like what you find. Smell ya later, boys."
She blew Tyson and Andre a kiss and went downstairs to leave the coffee shop.
Later that night, Patty watched the city from her cab, high up on the Ferris Wheel perched on the city docks. It was raining heavily as it usually did when Aquaris sailed past Florida's waters. Thankfully, it was nice and warm in her cab. She bit into a cheeseburger and sighed. Patty made it a habit to sit on the Ferris Wheel before she went home and reflect on the day's events. Reflect on her mistakes. Cherish the memories she made today. And most of all, think about Yuri.
Just as she was about to get on, Andre walked out of the crowd, a hot dog in hand. "Patty!" he called. "Hey, Patty."
"Good lord, you again?"
"Don't worry. I'm just getting a bite to eat. You?"
"I'm just...I just wanted to take a walk."
"Well, I'm not doing anything. Do you want to get something to eat?"
"I just ate, thanks."
"You don't look very happy. Something on your mind?"
"It's Yuri. He's been scaring me lately with all this talk about dreams and stuff. He says some guy with pointy hair is haunting his dreams. Dueling him and stuff."
Andre stopped chewing for a moment. He swallowed and rubbed his chin. "Really, huh? Interesting."
"You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"
"Only what little I've heard from word of mouth. But I have a theory. If Dueling is on Yuri's mind, I have a feeling it will do him some good. He needs practice. I offered him my help but...he just doesn't want it."
"It's not that he doesn't want it. He just...Look, I know you mean well. But you just jump into things without knowing anything. You don't even know us and already you're charging in white-knighting for us. Sure we've Dueled a couple of times, but that doesn't make you our friend, you know?"
The look of hurt on Andre's face made her feel bad. "Sorry if that sounded harsh. But you need to stop and think about the situation first. You expect Yuri to get good because of some motivation. That's not how things work in the real world. How do you expect Yuri to get better if his cards aren't all that good?"
"If his deck is trash, how come you have so much confidence in him?"
Patty didn't know how to answer that. "I just do," was all she could say.
Andre rubbed his chin. "I'm confused. If Yuri's the son of the game's creator, how come he doesn't get any cards or use his money to get some on his own?"
"Are you kidding? Mr. Montgomery is very strict when it comes to his kids earning money. Yuri's brother, Buzz, started his own company not too long ago. And his older sister, Kat, is going to be a Hollywood celebrity pretty soon. She and her friends are on par with the Kardashians right now. Yuri hasn't made any advances, sadly, since he's all that's left to take over for Mr. Montgomery. I mean, there's his little brother, Andrew, but he's too young. The point is, Yuri can't get a cent of Mr. Montgomery's money. He's got to earn money himself. Why do you think he's sweeping floors and cleaning windows at his uncle's card shop? It's not easy being Yuri, Andre. But he's trying his best."
"I understand. Still, I hope I can earn your guys' trust. I can help you guys, you know."
"I appreciate it, Andre. I really do. If we need your help, believe me, we'll call you. I'm sure the guys are warming up to you, too."
"You really think so?"
"Yeah, Yuri says your cool. Well, I really need to get going. So, talk to you later?"
"Wanna exchange numbers?"
"Not right now. But see you at the card shop next time."
"I'll be there. I hope you and I can have a rematch. Wanna put any stakes on the line?"
Patty cocked her hip to the left and placed her hand on it. The lights of the Ferris Wheel flashed brightly in her eyes, making them twinkle with color and radiate with mischief. "Well, I see you want to make things interesting. Well, what do you have in mind?"
"Loser buys lunch."
"Pfft, either way, you're making it so I spend an afternoon with you, huh? You cheeky bastard. But if those are the terms of your match, I guess I'll accept. But to make sure you don't get any ideas, we'll have lunch in the Ruby Dragon's cafe."
"All right, I understand."
"Not a guy of many words, are you? Well, I need to get going. So long, hotshot."
She left him standing bewildered behind her. She bought her tickets to the Ferris Wheel and got on. She stretched her arms over the seat and looked out to sea. It was pitch black out there. The lights from ships in the distance flashed and the floating guard towers shined like beacons.
"What could his dreams mean?" she wondered. "The same guy. They're always Dueling. I get that Yuri's important around here, but could there be more to him than I thought? Maybe he's meant for more than being the future president of his father's business."
She looked at the tower looming over the island. The top half was concealed in the clouds.
"What does this Mr. Hairdo guy want with my friend? If he was real, I mean. He's not, but Yuri has had that dream far too many times for this to be pure coincidence. And he's getting more and more frightened."
She looked at her Zera the Mant card at the bottom of her deck. "You have answers. I know you do. So...talk to me."
Down below, Patty was being stalked by a hunter. A boy stood at the foot of the Ferris Wheel, waiting for Patty to come down and Duel her. He was from a small faction of troublemaking Duelists called Ghost Hunters. These mischievous boys stalked the city streets digging up information on every Duelist in town. And if they had a Ghost Rare card in their collection, they were their next target. Tonight, Patty was theirs. They were after her Ghost Rare Zera the Mant.
"I'm in position," said the boy. "Her card's as good as ours."
Unfortunately for him, Andre spotted him. He heard every word and rushed to go after him. But as soon as he reached the spot where the boy was, he was gone. Just like that.
"What in the world?" Andre said. He ran around the pier looking for him. He was determined to find him. Guys like him did whatever it took to claim their quarry and he hated what he might do to Patty if she didn't fork over Zera the Mant. All of a sudden, he heard something coming from a small hut on the beach. A scream of fright, followed by a column of fire that shot off into the night.
Andre ran in the direction of the flames and saw the boy lying on the ground in front of him with smoke billowing off his clothes and thousands of embers flying through the air. His cards fluttered through the air alongside them. What he saw next, stunned him beyond belief.
A Volcanic Doomfire. Standing there as though it had been summoned for real. And there was only one person he knew that specialized in such a beast.
"Andre," said the dark-skinned Duelist. "Long time no see."
"Axel?" Andre said. "Axel Brodie?"
"Damn right," Axel said, summoning back Volcanic Doomfire. "Don't worry about the girl. She's gonna be all right. The Lancers and I are taking care of those Ghost Hunter thugs."
"Lancers?"
"An elite force of young Duelists created by your boss, Declan," Axel replied, showing Andre the badge which was made of gold crafted to resemble a knight with a lance riding a valiant steed.
"I would like to say Master Yu-Gi-Oh is the one in charge, but we all know the one pulling the strings of a mercenary dog like you is Declan."
"Declan sent you guys here?" Andre asked. "What for?"
"He is most displeased with the way you've been handling things. Or aren't handling things, should I say? There are hundreds of Duel Gangs in this city, Andre. And all of them have their eyes set on Prince Yuri and his friends. Well, mostly his friends since they seem to have the best cards. That girl Patty is their highest priority since she has the biggest collection."
"I can take them on," said Andre.
"All of them? I think not. We're here to mop them off the streets and keep them off Yuri's back until he improves as a Duelist. What exactly are you doing here, Andre?"
"I'm here to help Yuri. That's why I'm here. And what about you? How could you summon Volcanic Doomfire and hurt that guy like that?"
"I didn't really summon him, fool. You think I wanna spend the rest of my days in prison? It was just a Solid Vision Hologram from Leo Corp."
"Are they allowed here?"
"There are some in this world who are beta-testing them. Pretty soon, Duels are gonna be much more than a tabletop card game with a lame screen beside it. Thanks to Seto Kaiba and Declan, these folk from the Standard Dimension are gonna know what Dueling is all about."
"Kind of overdid it there, did you?" Andre asked.
"He got what he deserved," Axel replied, placing his foot on the defeated Duelist's chest. "Stealing that card was not all he and his boys had in store for Patty."
"Oh man, thanks for watching out for her."
"That should have been your job. Instead, you're getting all buddy-buddy with her and using lame stakes to get her to spend more time with you. You got no feelings for her, do you?"
"No, of course not. I figured since she's Yuri's closest friend, she could give me information on Yuri's dreams. It is my job to monitor them after all."
"No, genius. Your job is to monitor the effects they're having on him. Not why they're causing him. It's obvious Yugi, Jaden, Yusei, Yuya, Yuma, and Yusaku are the ones causing the dreams."
"No, there's something else."
"Something else?"
"Yeah, he's been talking about having dreams about a knight or something and..."
"All right, that's enough, Andre. Those dreams and what takes place in them are not your business. You just need to report if Yuri is improving or not."
"It's my job to protect him."
"Leave that to the Lancers. You're here to file reports on his progress. Nothing more. Nothing less."
Andre felt his blood boiling. "Wait? That's it? Who said that?"
"Declan did. And he's in charge of the operation to keep Yuri safe."
"So I'm nothing but a glorified babysitter? Master Yugi..."
"Has too much confidence in you. Seto Kaiba, Declan, and myself included, don't share the same enthusiasm about you. Not with that crap you pulled that got Jaden Yuki's friend to lose everything she had and vanish from the face of the earth."
"I didn't have anything to do with that."
"Maybe you did, maybe you didn't. That doesn't matter. We're here now. And Yuri is our task. If you want to help, then help. There are plenty of Duel Gangs in this city to take out. It's hunting season. Make yourself useful." He put his hood on and disappeared into the darkness.
Lore: Duel Gangs
With Duel Monsters being known as 'The Money Maker of all Card Games' making cards that can fetch mouth-watering prices in the market, it came as no surprise to RAPTOR Security that gangs involving these card-collecting troublemakers would soon infest the streets of Aquarius. If you have what they want, they will hunt you down and take it from you. And they're not very keen on asking politely. They roam around in packs like wolves, surrounding their prey and forcing them to fork over their rarest card, gold coins, and other valuables. You only have two options when encountering these hooligans. You either fight their best player in a Duel or fight for your life. Even if you do win the Duel, they'll still knock you senseless and take your belongings.
There is no low the members of these Duel Gangs won't stoop to. They have sent people to the hospital, burned street-side card vendors, rob card shops in the night, and in rare cases, murder winds up becoming a consequence of running into them. They mostly patrol the industrial island of Enron and will stalk the streets of the harbors around various parts of the city fighting for dominance like a pack of hyenas. They've even been known to delve into the slums of Los Angeles Rojas and harass the Stowaways there, not fearing any reprisal from RAPTOR since the city's security forces always turn a blind eye to their calls for help. All agree that something must be done about them soon. Traveling the streets of Aquarius does not seem safe anymore.