Joey - Mellowfields
October 7 - Year 18 4AOS
Joey lay on the comfortable bed inside his pavilion tent unable to find sleep. It had been hours since Tristan and Duke had been gone. Pfft. Well, he was a participant and all-around favorite to win the tournament so he needed to rest.
They went on a monster hunt without him. And since his sister ordered the hunt, they were gone in an instant. They would fly up to the moon if she asked them to.
"Arrgh!" Joey smashed the ground with his fist. That was such an insult. The destroyer of the Dark Lord working retail! What madness. And he was not making enough to get the cards he wanted because Yuri was saving money for a car...a very expensive car. Buying booster packs was out of the question and if Yuri didn't get new packs to strengthen his deck, there was going to be a big chance he would lose.
What's worse is that Seto Kaiba approved the shipment of new cards and archetypes to Earth. If Yuri fell behind, he was in big trouble, even with the legendary Black Tyranno in his deck.
So now Serenity organized another expedition to get enough coin to sustain Yuri until summer when the Millennium Tournament began. He needed to qualify; Termnnia depended on it.
"Man!" Joey said. "Nothing's ever easy, is it?"
As he listened to the fire, he started to get bored. That was until he thought of the Seeing Stone. "Oh yeah!" he said aloud. He sat upright then dug into his knapsack to search for it.
What was Yuri and the gang up to today?
And did they get into any interesting Duels? Whether or not they appeased the Senate, it did not matter. Joey just wanted to see young Yuri in action in a game of Duel Monsters. Sure enough, Yuri did just that...
Earlier That Day
St. Augustus Senior High School - Yuri
"So, did you guys hear the news?" Nick asked his friends at lunch.
"About what?" Patty asked, biting into her hamburger.
"There's some bigshot insect duelist going around town beating up former participants of last year's regional championship. Word around the islands is, he's beaten them all."
"Someone clearly has a lot of time on their hands," Patty rolled her eyes at the ridiculousness.
"Can you blame him?" Tyson asked while dipping his fries in ketchup. "With the Millennium Tournament so close people are trying to get noticed. It's an invitational tournament where only the best of the best can be invited."
"Well, so long as he stays away from me I don't care," Yuri said with a shrug.
"You really think people are going to ignore the guy who defeated the regional champion and Pink_Dragon Layla are going to ignore you?" Carter asked.
"I hope so," said Yuri.
"Don't count on it," laughed Patty. "Like it or not, you've painted a huge bullseye on yourself with those impressive victories. Not to mention your Black Tyranno is something out of this world."
"He could be for all I know," said Yuri. "My dad is the creator of the game, and even he doesn't know where it came from."
"He's probably faking it to hide the fact he's covering for Yuri," said Nick. "Nothing but the best for daddy's little boy."
"Ha, ha," Yuri mocked him.
"Fat chance," said Carter. "Mr. Montgomery is not one to pull favorites, even on his own sons. Hell, Leon, even had to work his butt off to become world champion."
"Don't speak his name in front of me," Yuri growled.
Carter let out a gasp and slammed his hand over his mouth. "Sorry," he said.
"Why don't we see if bug boy is around," said Nick. "I'd like to take him on."
"Sure," said Patty. "Go get yourself killed."
"What!"
"Even if by some miracle you beat this guy, there is no guarantee you'll be noticed by Phobos Corp," Patty said with a conniving chuckle.
"You are so sexy when you're bitchy," Nick commented.
"Nice try," said Patty. "But I seriously doubt bug boy is going to want to take you on, Nick. If anything, he's going to be coming after Yuri."
"Come on, Yuri, take him on!" pleaded Tyson.
Yuri slammed his head on the table and groaned. He winced, smelling the sour smell of ammonia-ridden surface cleaner the custodians used earlier. He quickly raised his head and looked at his friends. "All right, all right. But don't expect anything miraculous. Not too long ago, they built a small-sized arena at the park. Maybe we can lure him out there. Of course, there's going to have to be some Duels in order to notice him."
"I'll take care of that," said Tyson. "My dad found me some cool new beast-types the other night. He won them in a dart game. I'm itching to try them out."
"You sure, big guy?" Patty asked.
"Hell yeah. You give me the duels and I'll put on a show that will get our bug duelist to notice us."
The bell rang. They picked up their trays and then proceeded together to their class on American Literature. Natalya was in there too. She waved to them and they sat together.
"So, you're going make Yuri duel that bug duelist?" she asked. "I hope he kicks his ass. That bastard has no manners."
"You Dueled him, Natalya?" Yuri asked.
"Da," she replied. "He fought against my boyfriend who ranked tenth in the regionals last year. He was such a big mouth, I swear. I decided to teach him a lesson with my birds and he walloped me."
"I'm having second thoughts," Yuri whimpered, sinking into his chair.
Tyson patted his back. "Come on, Yuri. You've got one thing that no one else on this island has. Black Tyranno."
"Will he be enough?" Yuri groaned. "What am I getting myself into?"
"Don't back down, Yuri," Patty said chewing on her pencil. "If you do, that bug creep has already won."
"All right gang!" their teacher, Mr. Grossman, called out, coming into the class while the final bell rang. He sat behind his deck decorated with small pumpkins and ghost bobbleheads.
He slammed his ruler on the side of his deck. "Put a lid on it! Come on now, you guys. Patty, take the cap off, please. Mr. Martinez, settle down! Robert and Harrison, please put your cards away, it's time for class."
The students finally went quiet.
"Okay, first thing's first. A couple of announcements have been made in regard to the upcoming Halloween Dance. With the ongoing popularity of holographic technology on the rise, our school will be outfitted with its own Dueling Arenas within the next month."
The class let out cheers and gave a round of applause.
Mr. Grossman held out his hands to pacify his pupils and he continued. "There is a sign-up list for the school's very own Duel Monsters team. Tryouts will begin in the next couple of weeks once our duelists have their own facilities built, courtesy of Aquarius's own, Jacob Montgomery. However, the new arenas will be located near the gymnasium where the dance was supposed to take place. Therefore, the dance will be moved to the country club at the park. Tickets are on sale, so if you haven't already picked them up, do so now. And now for the fun part. Take out a pencil and a clean sheet of paper. We're having a pop quiz on the story Raisins in the Sun. I hope you've done your reading."
"Awww!" groaned the class.
Mr. Grossman opened his briefcase and took out the quizzes. He gave it to his students to pass down to each other.
"Hmm, the Halloween Dance, eh?" said Nick. "Who will I go with? Hey, Patty…"
"No."
After school, Yuri, Nick, Tyson, Patty, and Carter dueled in the cafeteria until four o'clock and it was time to pick up Sam, much to Patty's dismay. But she would tolerate Sam just for a chance to see Yuri in a duel and play Black Tyranno again. They took a bus to the park where the new arenas were being put to use. They were not of high quality like the ones in the Duel Dome, and for that Yuri was thankful. The holograms in that arena were just too real for him.
"Well, here we are," said Patty. "No sign of our bug duelist."
"He'll be here," said Tyson. "We just gotta show him there are better games to be had. All these little kids have no game."
"Wanna back that up with a match?" Sam asked, taking out his deck. He flipped his cap backward to show he was ready.
"Sure, show me what you got, little man," said Tyson. "C'mon, there is a vacant arena over here."
"Watch this, sugar cakes," Sam said to Patty with a click. "This is going to be epic."
"Augh, just go!" Patty grumbled.
Sam winked and went to take his place.
Yuri grinned. "You really need to stop wearing skirts and tops so short if you don't want him to bother you. You know we have to pick him up after school."
"I can dress however I want," Patty retorted. "It's who I am. I'm not going to stop dressing the way I like because of some perverted little twerp."
Nick didn't like what she said and scowled at her. "Hey! That twerp's my brother, Patty."
"Now I know why he is the way he is." Yuri sniggered.
"Duel!" Tyson and Sam called out.
Tyson drew first. "All right kid, we're trying to get the attention of a hotshot duelist, so let's make this game as epic as possible."
"Why not get Yuri to play?" Sam wondered. "Wouldn't it make more sense to just lure the guy in with Black Tyranno?"
"You don't think we thought of that already?" said Patty. "Besides, if Yuri plays that Black Tyranno out here, everybody in town's going to want a piece of him."
"You make a good point," said Sam. "Can't afford to have all those men coming down here and taking my girl."
"Augh," Patty scoffed, lying on the grass and putting her gloved hands behind her head to cushion them. She crossed one leg over the other and swung it back and forth. Her legs, concealed behind fishnet tights, caused Yuri, Nick, and Carter to go red. Natalya laughed at the sight.
"Aight, I'm going first," said Tyson. "Bam, I'm summoning Wolf in attack mode!"
A white wolf, a recolor of Silver Fang to be exact, howled onto the field.
Wolf ATK/1200 DEF/800
"Is that puppy all you've got?" Sam sneered. "I thought you wanted this duel to be epic. Well, I'll show you. Go, Bean Soldier!"
He summoned a green bean with skinny orange arms with hands covered in white gloves. His skinny legs went into feet in orange pointed shoes. He carried a steel sword with a red Japanese symbol on the blade.
Bean Soldier ATK/1400 DEF/1300
"Slice and dice his Wolf!" Sam commanded, holding up his fist ever so dramatically. Yuri sniggered at the drama Sam displayed. It was very cringe-worthy.
The Bean Soldier let out a strange cry and charged at Wolf. He slashed him across the chest. Wolf whimpered and then shattered to pieces.
Tyson cringed when his Life Points went down to 1800.
"Not bad, eh Patty?" said Sam. "Wasn't that cool?"
"Yeah. Sure. Whatever."
"In time, she will love me," said Sam. "I place a card face down and end my turn. Your move, Tyson."
"All right, that was deliberate," said Tyson. "But I'm going to turn your little Bean Soldier to paste when I summon this bad boy, Togex! (ATK/1600 DEF/1800) Attack his monster!"
"I think not," said Sam. "I activate my trap, Reinforcements. Now, my Bean Soldier gets an additional 500 attack points."
The Bean Soldier leaped towards the oncoming horned monster and cut him with his sword.
Tyson-1500 LP
Sam-2000 LP
"So far, the only one making this duel epic is me," said Sam. "Now it's my turn. I summon Masaki the Legendary Swordsman. Your turn!"
"Playtime is over!" said Tyson. "I drew Polymerization. And I use it to fuse my Silver Fang and Darkworld Thorns to make Flower Wolf!"
Flower Wolf ATK/1800 DEF/1400
"And I'll boost his power with the Mystical Moon, which increases my Flower Wolf's attack by 300 for a total of 2100 attack points. Say goodbye to your Legendary Swordsman!"
"Oh no!" cried Sam.
The Flower Wolf summoned a swarm of flower petals that shredded the samurai swordsman. Sam lost 1000 Life Points.
Tyson-1500 LP
Sam-1000 LP
Sam couldn't keep his eyes off the scoreboard. He was so confused and embarrassed. Patty smiled victoriously as she lay on the grass, loving the sight of Sam learning his lesson.
Sam tapped on the board, hoping there was some mistake. "It can't be! But…but I was in the lead. He took me down to half my Life Points with one powerful attack!"
"Such is the power of combining your monsters with magic and traps," said Patty. "I bet that Reinforcements combo is the only thing your little noggin could come up with."
"I hate Spell cards," said Sam. "They're so confusing. I like to pit beast against beast."
"Raw power is not the only way to win, Sam," said Yuri. "I should know. I've faced monsters that are twice as scary as that Flower Wolf, but it was because of my trap and spells that I was able to overcome them and steal a victory."
"He speaks the truth, young Sam," said Natalya. "Combining cards is an important aspect of the game."
"But the game is called Duel Monsters!" pouted Sam. "Why can't the monster with the strongest points just win?"
"Because the game won't be as fun," Patty scoffed. "Sorry if your little brain can't comprehend how to use spells and traps. And you think you can impress me with a mindset like that? I like brains, not brawn."
Sam put a finger to his temple. "The square root of an isosceles triangle…"
"Just make your move, kid!" Patty groaned. "God, you're pathetic."
"That's her way of saying she loves me, guys!" Sam called out.
"Like brother like brother," chuckled Yuri.
As Tyson was decimating Sam, Patty couldn't help but hear a commotion coming from the next arena. There was a little girl on the ground crying as two boys were looking down at her. They all seemed to range from ages nine to ten.
"Hey, Yuri, can you help me out?" Patty asked. "Looks like there's trouble."
"Yeah, I've been keeping my eye on those three for a while."
"Hold on, guys," said Patty. "Yuri and I are going to step out for a moment."
"Sure," said Natalya. "I'll hold down the fort."
"Good, keep an eye out for our bug duelist."
"Will do," Carter replied. "Hey, Tyson! I call the next game!"
Yuri and Patty approached the three youngsters.
"You can't play with us and that's final!" shouted a boy in a green shirt and khaki pants.
"What makes you think you can play Duel Monsters?" asked his friend, young lad with a cap and two missing front teeth. "You're a girl! Girls can't play!"
"Then explain to me why the United States champion is one!" Patty scolded the two boys, who gawked at her good looks. "You two are a bunch of creeps, you know that!"
"Well, Crystal Anderson has dragons!" said the boy in green. "She can play a good game."
"But she's a girl, you're just condescending yourself at the moment."
"I'm not condimenting!" shouted the boy. "I don't even like ketchup!"
The little girl kept crying.
"What's wrong, sweetie?" Patty asked. "Did they hurt you?"
"No, but, nobody will let me play," the girl sobbed. "They said my cards are useless."
"There is no such thing as a useless card!" Patty said. "I'll prove it by beating these creeps with your deck."
"What? I'm not dueling you!" said the boy in the cap.
Yuri scoffed and folded his arms. "What's wrong, tough guy, scared of being beat by a girl?"
"Don't cry, baby," Patty said, fixing the girl's pigtails. "What's your name?"
"Patty," the little girl replied, wiping her tears.
Patty grinned and gasped with joy. "No way! That's my name, too!"
"Really?" Little Patty asked. Her cute face lit up.
"You know who this guy is?" Patty asked, jerking her thumb towards Yuri.
"A glowing green eye!" Little Patty cried out. She gave a timid gasp. "You're Yuri!"
"Guilty as charged." Yuri patted her head.
"YURI!" the boys shouted.
"I wanna play you first!"
"No, me!"
"If you want to duel me, you're going to have to duel her first!" said Yuri. "I'll play the winner of the match."
"Huh?"
"Hey, she's a girl using useless cards, right?" Yuri shrugged. "It should be a quick game for a real 'Pro' like yourself."
"All right," the boy in the cap said, puffing out his chest. "But if I'm going to duel Yuri next I'm going to need an edge, so Patty, you're going to have to put up your rarest card."
"Sure," Patty said, reaching for the deck box strapped to her right calf. "See this?" she said holding out her card.
"Zera the Mant!" cried the boy in the green. "She's got Zera the Mant bro! You have to win this."
"You sure about this, Patty?" Yuri asked. "That card means a lot to you?"
"I can handle this," said Patty. She jumped onto the blue platform while the boy in the green took the red one. He introduced himself as Wilson, though, Patty didn't care.
"Duel!"
"I'll start first," said Patty. "I summon LaMoon in attack mode!"
The fairy gave a soft melodious hum while she rendered on the field through a display of sparkling lights.
"This is going to be so easy!" said Wilson. "I summon Goblin Attack Force!"
He summoned a band of green goblins wielding spiked clubs. Their attack points were 2300.
"Woah, I wasn't expecting something that powerful on the first turn!" Patty grimaced, seeing the green band of brutes wave their clubs in the air and holler, ready for their turn to do battle..
"Of course, I didn't expect you to," sneered Wilson. "Attack!"
The Goblins charged at La Moon and pulverized her with their crude melee weapons. She groaned in agony and shattered.
"Oh yeah!" Wilson said, doing the dab.
"Fuck!" Patty muttered. Her Life Points falling to 900.
Wilson's friend cheered. "You devastated her with one powerful attack! Her Zera the Mant is as good as ours."
"What have I gotten myself into?" said Patty. "Shit, I really put my foot in my mouth this time."
She looked down at little Patty. She started to cry.
"See," she sniffed. "My deck is useless. It's only the first turn and already she's losing."
"Don't worry," said Yuri. "She can turn this around."
"Draw," said Patty. "Oh, nice. I play Pot of Greed allowing me to draw two cards." She drew her cards and smiled. "Someone has been reading up on her new set," Patty said looking down at little Patty. "I'm impressed."
Little Patty hunched her shoulders and blushed.
"I play two cards face down and summon Eldeen!"
Patty slapped her card onto the field and summoned a beautiful woman with blue hair and robes the color of cream. She carried a beautiful golden wand as her weapon.
Eldeen ATK/950 DEF/1000
"What good will that weak monster do?" laughed Wilson.
"Oh, you'll see," said Patty. "Remember, Goblin Attack Force goes into defense mode after it attacks and his defensive power is…Nothing. Nathan. Nada. Zip!"
"Zero defense points!" cried Wilson. "Oh no, I just messed up!"
Eldeen gave her wand a twirl and blasted the goblins into nothing.
"Yay!" Little Patty cheered going up and down. "Hooray!"
"I told you," said Yuri.
"It doesn't matter!" said Wilson. "I'm still in the lead. And I'll wipe away your little witch with my Rude Kaiser! With an attack power of 1800 he'll destroy your Eldeen and win me the duel."
"Wanna bet?" Patty laughed when she activated her Trap Card.
"It's a trap!" shouted Wilson.
"Damn right it is Admiral Ackbar," laughed Patty. "Well, two, to be exact. My first card is called Ready for Interception. This will flip one Warrior or Spellcaster to face-down defense position. So Eldeen will defend my Life Points!"
Rude Kaiser cut Eldeen in half. She was destroyed, but Patty's Life Points were unharmed.
"And my next card, Enchanted Javelin which will increase my Life Points by the attack power of your attacking monster."
"NO!" Wilson cried grasping both sides of his head. He slammed his elbows on the table, eyes on the board, searching for solutions to get out of the mess he put himself in with his arrogance.
"Not in the lead anymore," Little Patty teased when she saw Patty's Life Points increase to 2700.
"Be quiet!" shouted Wilson. "This doesn't concern you!"
Patty clicked her tongue and put her hand on her hip, challenging the pompous opponent with a stern scowl as well as her physique, which did more than enough to shut him up. "Oh, this is her deck," she said, "and it's kicking your sorry butt, so I think it does! Her cards aren't so useless now, are they?"
Wilson stuttered and looked at his hand, looking for just the right card to turn the tables against Patty and perhaps guarantee him the game. "Well, to make sure you don't have any more surprises in your hand, I'm using Card Destruction which forces us to discard our old hands and draw a completely new one."
"I know what it does," Patty said, tossing her card to the Graveyard. "Well, it's my turn now. Hmm, I end my turn."
"Got nothing huh?" said Wilson. "Wait till you see this card. Wolf Axewielder with an attack power of 1650! Can you beat that?"
"Let's see," said Patty. "I have only one monster in my hand. I think she'll be all I need to take out that overgrown wolf. I summon Dancing Elf."
Patty summoned a beautiful, winged elf with silky blonde hair the color of molten gold. She wore a revealing bluish-green gown and her wings were sixteen feet long. The feathers were razor-sharp blades.
Dancing Elf ATK/300 DEF/200
Wilson and his friend laughed at the weak monster.
"Keep laughing, twerp, because she's going to kick your sorry little butt! I play the Field Spell card, Rising Air Current. This will increase the power of Wind monsters by 500 but decrease their defense by 400.
ATK/800 DEF/0
"She's not strong enough yet," said Patty. "But I'm equipping her with Silver Bow and Arrow, boosting her strength to 1100. I'm not finished yet; Winged Trumpeter will give her another 500 attack points!"
"They're almost tied!" said Little Patty.
"Yeah, but my friend's Wolf still has fifty more attack points than your puny elf!"
"Well, I've got one more card up my sleeve," said Patty. "Malevolent Nuzzler."
The fiendish woman appeared behind the Dancing Elf. She wrapped her arms around her neck and whispered a spell into her ear before vanishing. Dancing Elf started growing more powerful because of the enchantment. She charged up her energy and screamed when she reached full power. She grew six more wings and the feather-blades grew to the size of longswords and they started to glow. The attack boost from the Malevolent Nuzzler increased the elf's attack by 700, increasing her to 1800 attack points.
"Wow!" said Little Patty in amazement. "I didn't know I could do that with my monsters."
Five turns went by and all Wilson could do was go defensive. Then he drew the card he needed to destroy Dancing Elf. During that time Patty activated two Hinotama spell cards which inflicted 500 points of damage.
"I play Heavy Storm!"
"Aw crap," said Patty. "Now all our spell and trap cards get destroyed."
"No!" cried Little Patty. "Now, Dancing Elf's attack goes back down to 300."
"Now to finally get rid of her!" shouted Wilson. "Here comes my Dice Armadillo!"
He summoned a mechanical beast with a hard blue shell and a mouth with sharp teeth and long claws for scratching his opponents. With a strength of 1650 he attacked and destroyed Dancing Elf. Patty's Life Points went down in half.
Wilson 850- LP
Patty-1350 LP
"Your turn!"
"So be it," said Patty. "First, I activate my third and final Hinotama reducing your Life Points to a mere 350 Life Points. Then I summon Neo the Magic Swordsman in attack mode!"
She set the card on the field. The holograms conjured a dashing blonde swordsman in green and gold armor and a blue cape. He was wielding a giant sword with blue runes circling around the blade.
"Attack and destroy the Dice Armadillo!"
Neo enchanted his blade. Then he quickly charged for Dice Armadillo, raised his sword, and cut the beast in half revealing wires and spilling oil, for it was a Machine-Type monster.
"Hey, is he the only male monster in your deck?" Yuri asked. "So far all the monsters Patty has played are female."
"Well, I wanted to add him in any way," Little Patty said going pink in the cheeks. "Neo's really handsome."
"I draw!" Wilson declared his turn. "Polymerization!" he shouted, holding up the card. "Now I fuse together my Ancient Brain and Tainted Wisdom to become, Skull Knight! (ATK 2650)."
The fusion monster he summoned was a fiendish beast in armor that looked like a giant skull and his shield looked like a skull. He used his long curved sword to slash Neo across the chest and reduced Patty to 400 Life Points.
"It's over!" shouted Wilson. "You've got no hope in beating my Skull Knight."
"I do actually," Patty smiled and revealed her card to Wilson.
"What the? Is that Unhappy Girl?"
He bellowed with laughter when Patty summoned a sad-looking girl with a torn blue dress and long orange hair.
(ATK/400 DEF/300)
Wilson gave annoying squeaky laughs while he slapped his forehead. "Look if you want to lose so badly, just give up."
Patty smiled. "I won't lose, because I'm equipping her with this card. Buster Rancher."
An oversized energy rifle appeared on the field. The Unhappy Girl's tattered dress turned into hi-tech futuristic armor. A scanner appeared over her eye and she took a seat at the weapon's control systems. Using a newfound strength, the Unhappy Girl picked up the rifle.
"This Spell Card only works on monsters with 1000 ATKor less," Patty explained. "And when attacking a monster with 2500 ATK or more it increases the equipped monster's attack by 2500 points."
Wilson dropped his cards in disbelief.
The Unhappy Girl aimed, charged up the weapon, and fired blasted Skull Knight away leaving Wilson standing with a mere 50 Life Points. But instead of going on, he wailed out loud, picked up his cards, and ran away.
"I'll take that as a surrender," Patty laughed. The platform lowered her onto the ground.
"You did it!" Little Patty said, greeting her.
"See," said Patty handing the little girl back her deck. "Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do anything because you're a girl. You have a good deck here. Use it well. Now go find an opponent and have some fun."
"Thank you," said little Patty and she scampered away to play.
"Damn, she had a good deck," said Yuri.
"It was shit, to be honest," said Patty. "They're still young. They'll learn how to really play when they get older."
Yuri grimaced from Patty's brutal honesty. But he agreed that the kids were still you. He rubbed the back of his neck. "For a second there, I thought Zera…"
Patty looked at him and interrupted. "Did you really think I'd put Zera the Mant on the line, Yuri? It will be a cold day in hell before I give my monster up. Any sign of that bug duelist, Nick?"
"Nope, there's nothing," said Nick. "Look, it's getting late and I have to help Consuelo with the restaurant."
"Yeah, I've got to head home too," said Yuri.
Patty placed her hands on her hips. "If I didn't know any better, Yuri, I'd say you're relieved that this bug duelist didn't show up."
"Ha, ha, ha," Yuri. "There will be other days."
They packed up their things and walked out of the park. And that's when the image faded. Joey smiled despite his heart shrank knowing that the image was over for the day. He set the Seeing Stone back in his pack and laid back down on his bedroll.
"Man, Yuri, you and your friends sure are getting strong. Heh. Maybe things will turn out all right."
He closed his eyes and went to sleep. The Seeing Stone, however, failed to show him Andre who was approaching the group.
"What are you guys doing here?" he asked.
"What's it matter to you?" Nick asked.
Andre frowned. "Nick, what's going on?"
"Forget about him," said Tyson. "All he wants to do is cause trouble. Why did you chase us all the way out here? Wanna use the new arenas?"
"Yeah, I'd love to. Why don't we all have some squash matches or something?"
"Fat chance," said Nick. "We don't need to spar with you."
"Nick, stop!" said Sam. "Show some respect. He is one of your school's Duel Kings."
"So what? He thinks because he wins a few matches and impresses the most overrated group of Duelists in school he can hang with us?"
Andre stepped forward. "Look man I'm trying to be friends here. The only one who's giving me a hard time is you. Why? is it because of my deck? is it because I live up here like the others or is it because you just hate me for no reason outside of your ego and think outside of Yuri and yourself as being the best on the island."
"Not now we're not. But we will be soon. Yuri and I are evolving day by day. We don't need your help."
"Well here's a news flash, Nick!" said Andre. "There's always someone that's gonna be better eventually you'll get better than me and then I'll push hard to be better than you it's a cycle because I acknowledge Patty as being a better duelist than me. I just outsmarted her that time. She has the skills to bust my ass in two. I had to figure a way around her strategies. So why don't you do the same? Build the best warrior deck you can, Nick I don't care if I have to fund it for you..."
"Fund it!" Nick shouted. "What do you think I am some kind of charity case!? I can get cards on my own. I don't need you and your daddy's money."
"Fine whatever. But that doesn't excuse the things you say. You want to talk all this crap! You want to prove your better and don't want me around your friends then beat me."
"Is that a challenge?"
"Damn right it is! So what will it be Nick duel me or keep your mouth shut man because there's only so much someone can take before they snap and this is me holding back my anger, man!"
Nick backed away acting as though he were quaking in his boots. "Oh, look, guys. This is him holding back his anger." He wriggled his fingers around. "Ooooo!"
"You going to Duel or not?" Andre asked. He took his deck out of his pocket and showed him the Dark Magician. "Here. I'll even throw down my Dark Magician. If you win, you can have him."
Nick spit at the ground. "Keep your stupid magician, I don't want it. If you want to Duel, then we'll Duel! There's no need to add any stakes. Why don't we settle things in the new Dueling Grounds that are going to open soon downtown on the central island?"
"Sure thing. If I win, I expect you to stop talking trash about me. Got it!"
"That depends on how well you play. Pfft, even if you do beat me, I won't back down from calling you out. You're just some poser from out of nowhere looking to be popular. That's why you scouted our group in the first place and started running around the place looking for opponents. See you soon, Andre."
Nick said goodbye to his friends. As he left, he gave Andre the finger and headed home. "Yuri's evolving," he said, storming up to his room. "That means I have to as well. And there's only one thing in here that can help me do that."
He reached under the bed and pulled out a safe from underneath his bed and opened it. There was a single card inside. "I swore I'd never use you until she and I came together again. But I have to break my oath. I need you. Lend me your strength buddy. I need to win this next match."