Akia yawned as the twins were on their way to school. "After all the crazy things we've been through, it feels kind of out of place to be casually going to school like that."
"You're just saying that because you don't want to go to school in the first place," Yugi called his twin out.
"Can you blame me? Do you know how boring it is?"
Yugi sighed in exasperation. His sister hadn't changed one bit. It was hard to wake her up that morning, just like every other morning. She was starting to get immune to the detention threat.
"Anyway, did you see how grandpa seemed upset this morning?" Yugi changed the subject.
"Yeah, but I didn't have time to ask," Akia replied.
"Well, I asked while you were getting ready. Apparently what's been upsetting him so much is that new game shop that opened a few blocks away."
"Oh yeah! I saw it. It looks pretty interesting, I might go check it out after school."
Finally arriving at school, the twins headed for their class.
"Mornin' guys," Jounouchi greeted them.
"Akia-chan, you really look like you don't want to be here," Anzu noticed.
"That's because I don't want to be here," Akia confirmed.
"Hah, same as always," Jounouchi chuckled.
Akia sat down on her chair. Bakura greeted her from the seat next to her.
"Well, I have some pretty exciting news for you." After everyone's attention was on her, Anzu smiled triumphantly, "I heard that there's a new transfer student coming today."
"In our class?" Akia asked.
Anzu shook her head, "no, in one of the other classes."
"Then let's go see what that transfer student's deal is during our break," Akia replied.
The teacher came in, bringing their conversation to a temporary halt.
The bell rang, signalling the end of morning classes and the start of the lunch break. Suddenly, all the girls in the class other than a few minor exceptions got up and bolted out the classroom door.
"What's up with them?" Akia asked.
"I bet they're going to see the transfer student," Anzu answered her.
"If he or she's creating such a fuss already, then let's hurry and go see. Judging by how it's only the girls that rushed out, I bet it's a guy." Akia remarked as she got up and dragged Bakura and Jounouchi along while Anzu did the same with Yugi and Honda. They easily spotted the whereabouts of the mysterious transfer student, due to the flock of screaming girls that were gathered around him.
"Can't see anything!" Akia tried to stand on the tip of her toes, but it was no use. She was shorter than almost everyone.
"There's nothing much to see, really. He's just doing a bunch of dice tricks to try and impress the ladies," Jounouchi sounded a bit bitter about that.
Akia gave up on trying to see and settled down. "What does he look like?"
"Just like any normal dude..." Her blond friend replied plainly.
Akia sighed. She wasn't about to get any decent answer from Jounouchi. Just as she was about to turn towards Anzu to ask her, she saw the girls making way for someone. Then he appeared: the transfer student. Anzu and Akia couldn't help but drool a little. The transfer student had his black hair tied in a ponytail. His emerald green eyes were mesmerizing. He had a tall and slender figure, putting to shame even the idols on Akia's posters.
"Well if it isn't the Duel Monsters Queen herself." Akia took a while to process that he was talking to her. Bakura and the Spirit of the Ring were watching the whole scene, feeling a bit annoyed at how she was acting.
"O-Oh! Me? Yes, well, you can say I am, haha," Akia answered him.
Yugi raised an eyebrow at his sister's behaviour. He'd never seen her stutter so much before.
"It's an honour to meet you. My name is Otogi Ryuuji." He then held up one of her hands in his and kissed it. All the girls around started to squeal. Akia's face was bright red by that point.
That was when the Spirit of the Ring snapped and took over. He slapped Otogi's hand away and stood between him and Akia, glaring daggers at the new transfer student, "hands off if you know what's good for you."
A lot of girls squealed at what was happening, since Bakura Ryou had also become one of the main heartthrobs of the school. A lot of them were jealous from the attention that Akia was getting, but they knew better than to mess with her, considering her increasing popularity among the guys of the school.
Otogi flinched a bit, feeling slightly intimidated by Bakura's sudden change. He however recovered quickly and smirked while twirling a bit of his hair between his fingers. Akia was also very surprised at how Bakura acted. She then realized that it was not Bakura, but the Spirit of the Ring.
"My, my, someone's on edge," Otogi scoffed.
Without another word, Bakura grabbed Akia's wrist and started dragging her out of there.
"Ah! Ryou!" No matter how much she called out to him, he kept going. Yugi and the others had stayed behind, apologizing for what had happened. When Bakura and Akia finally got back to the classroom, he let her go.
"What was up with that?" She asked him.
The Spirit of the Ring didn't answer. He just felt really angry seeing another guy get close to her. Before they could talk any further, the others were back in the classroom.
"Akia-chan! What happened?" Anzu went to check up on her friend.
"I don't know. Anyway, is Otogi alright?" Akia whispered to Anzu, making sure that Bakura wouldn't hear her.
"Actually, a lot of things happened..." Anzu told Akia about how Jounouchi called out Otogi's dice tricks as lame, causing Otogi to challenge him to figure out how one of his simpler tricks worked. Of course, Jounouchi couldn't figure it out and was, therefore, made a fool out of in front of everyone. Pissed off, he challenged Otogi to a Duel Monsters game. Otogi agreed but only if they used new cards from new Booster Packs.
"And Jounouchi agreed..." Akia sighed.
Anzu nodded in exasperation. "They both even bet on what would happen to the loser and the winner."
"What did they bet on...?" Akia was almost afraid to ask. Jounouchi was playing right into Otogi's hands, but his stubbornness wouldn't let him see that.
"If Jounouchi wins, Otogi would be forced to close his shop. If Otogi wins, Jounouchi has to be his personal servant for a week."
"When's this duel supposed to happen?"
"Otogi said tomorrow, since it's our day off of school."
Akia couldn't help but facepalm.
The next day, Akia woke up at her own leisure, since she had the day off. She knew that they had to go to Otogi's game shop for the little showdown between him and Jounouchi. She got ready, wearing her usual white flared mini-skirt, with her turquoise tube top and oversized white and blue flannel shirt which was falling off either one of her shoulders all the time.
Jounouchi, Anzu, Honda, and Bakura met the twins at the game shop. Bakura, now in control of his own body once more, blushed when he saw Akia in her everyday outfit. It had been a while since he saw her in something other than her school uniform.
They all greeted each other before heading to Otogi's game shop, the Black Clown.
"Welcome to my humble game shop," Otogi greeted them when they arrived.
"Humble...?" Akia almost choked on her words. It was anything but humble. It was much bigger and fancier than the twins' grandfather's Kame Game shop. It even had multiple storeys. Otogi led the group to an elevator that comfortably held all of them. There was even a huge box in there that contained a bunch of booster packs.
"This is what we'll be using for our game, Jounouchi-kun," the game shop owner explained.
Jounouchi's eyes couldn't help but sparkle at the amount of booster packs that was in front of him. "Hehe, you chose the wrong game, buddy. I'll annihilate you no matter what cards I use," he was greedily opening the packs as he said that.
"Jounouchi-kun... You shouldn't play with cards you're not used to playing with," Yugi warned his friend.
"Relax, Yugi," Jounouchi reassured him, "someone needs to beat some sense into him."
They finally arrived at the floor where the dueling arena was. Jounouchi and Otogi finished up making their new decks and went up to the platform. The others stood close and observed the duel. They then noticed a bunch of fangirls cheering for Otogi in some cheerleader outfits. They kept praising Otogi and provoking Jounouchi.
The duel started.
"Since you're probably not as good as me, I'll let you start first," Jounouchi said.
"Oh, how considerate of you," Otogi replied sarcastically. "As you wish, then. I draw! I summon Oni Tank T-34 (1400/1700) in attack position. I end my turn at that."
"That's all you can manage? Alright, I draw! I summon Sword Hunter (2450/1700) in attack position," the blond teen mocked his opponent.
All of the spectators were wide-eyed at the strength of the monster. Jounouchi attacked Otogi's monster with his own, bringing Otogi's Life Points down to 950. Due to Sword Hunter's ability, the monster it destroyed is equipped to it, raising its attack power by 200.
"Maybe we were wrong to be worried about Jounouchi. He's doing just fine," Anzu said.
It was now Otogi's turn. He drew his next card and summoned Dark Bat (1000/1000) in defence position and set a card facedown.
"Now you're backing down, huh? You can't stay on the defensive forever! I draw! I summon Mad Sword Beast (1400/1200) in attack position. I'll have it attack your puny bat. And guess what? Due to piercing damage, you lose life points equal to the difference between my monster's attack and your monster's defence! How do you like that?" Jounouchi started acting smug.
Otogi grunted as his life points went down to 550. "Well, I activate my trap card: Michiruze. When one of my monsters is destroyed by your monster, it will drag along one of your monsters with it to the grave! And I choose to destroy your Sword Hunter."
Jounouchi's Sword Hunter was subsequently destroyed due to the trap card, causing him to only shrug. "Whatever, I end my turn."
Otogi drew a card from his deck. He set it on the field. He then summoned Spikebot (1800/1700). He then attacked Jounouchi's Mad Sword Beast, bringing Jounouchi's Life Points down to 1600.
"This is one pretty simple and straightforward duel." Akia observed as she didn't find much strategy to it. Of course, that wasn't surprising since they had to make brand new decks just before the duel.
Jounouchi drew a card on his turn and summoned Goblin Attack Force (2300/0) in attack position. He destroyed Otogi's Spikebot with his monster, bringing Otogi's Life Points all the way down to only 50. Goblin Attack Force's effect activated, due to it attacking, switching it to defence position until Jounouchi's next turn.
"Way to go, Jounouchi!" Honda cheered.
"You're done during my next turn, Otogi!" The excited blond exclaimed.
"I wouldn't expect less from one of the runner-ups of the Duelist Kingdom," Otogi commended his opponent.
"It's too late now, Otogi! You should've thought of that earlier."
Not answering to Jounouchi's boasting, Otogi drew his next card. "This duel has gone on long enough."
Jounouchi didn't even pay attention to that, thinking that Otogi was obviously bluffing.
"I summon Gradius (1200/800) in attack position. Now this will come in handy," the green-eyed teen played his turn.
Everyone's attention was directed towards Otogi as he reached out for his facedown card that he set during his last turn and activated it, "I activate my spell card: Limiter Removal. Until the end phase, it will double my Gradius' attack points (2400/800). Of course, it comes with a downside. My Gradius will be destroyed at the end of my turn. However, there will be no next turn, because I will equip my Gradius with Fairy Meteor Crush! Thanks to that equip spell card, my Gradius will be able to inflict piercing damage. You know what comes next, don't you, Jounouchi-kun?"
Jounouchi's eyes blinked worriedly at the realization. "W-Wait a minute! How's that possible?!"
"You just underestimated me, Jounouchi-kun. I attack your monster with my Gradius!" Gradius destroyed Jounouchi's Goblin Attack Force, bringing down his Life Points to 0. Defeated, Jounouchi's head hung low.
The platform went down and his friends looked worriedly at him.
"Now then, I suppose you will be keeping your end of the bargain, correct?" Otogi reminded him.
"...Yeah." Jounouchi's pride was hurt and everyone could see that. To crush it even more, however, Otogi told one of his fangirls to give Jounouchi a dog suit.
"What...?" Jounouchi was taken aback by this.
"Obey your master like a good little dog and wear the suit," Otogi ordered.
Honda couldn't stand it anymore. "Hey, don't you think that's going too far?"
Otogi looked at him with disinterested eyes. "He's the one who agreed to this."
The Spirit of Yugi's Millennium Puzzle then took over, prepared to fight for Jounouchi's sake. "Then let's make another deal. I will duel you to free Jounouchi."
Otogi snorted. "I have nothing to gain from that. However..." His gaze slid to Akia. "I'll let him go if Akia wins against me."
"Me? What's in it for you?" Akia asked.
Otogi calmly walked towards her. Bakura tensed, not liking how he got closer.
"If you win, then I will let Jounouchi go. But, if I win..." Otogi started explaining. His eyes grew cold as he glared at Akia. "If I win, you will give up your Duel Monsters Queen title, as well as completely stop playing the game."
Akia looked at him, puzzled at how these terms benefited him. "Why?"
"You're in no position to ask questions." His voice was unfriendly. Otogi then turned around and headed for the elevator.
"We're not playing here?" Akia inquired.
Otogi paused and turned his face to look at them. "Oh. Did I forget to mention that we will not be playing Duel Monsters?"
"What? Why not?" Akia was taken aback by the sudden revelation.
"You... I'm sure you cheated to get your win against Pegasus. Whatever tricks you used, you won't be able to use them when playing a game that you've never played before."
"I never cheated!"
Otogi furiously turned completely in her direction. "Spare me your lies! It's obvious you cheated! Pegasus was unbeatable, but you beat him!" He then took a deep breath to calm himself down and proceeded in a controlled tone. "We will be playing a game of my creation. It is called Dungeon Dice Monsters. When I introduced it to Pegasus he beat me so easily, as if he had been playing it all his life. He didn't even want me to explain the rules for it to him first. He was going to market my game and make it a success that rivalled Duel Monsters in popularity. Since you beat Pegasus, I assume you won't have any problems playing this new game and defeating me. Unless, of course, you cheated playing against him, which is the only explanation!"
Akia clenched her fists. She looked at Jounouchi, who had just finished getting dressed in the dog outfit. She didn't like that. It was basically a form of bullying, and she hated bullying. Then she realized, "so this whole show you put with Jounouchi is so that you can get revenge for Pegasus by playing against me?"
"Revenge for Pegasus? No," Otogi retorted, "it's revenge for me. Pegasus haven't been answering any of my calls since his defeat. The chance of my game's success just plummeted to the ground because of you defeating him. I'm going to defeat you and expose you as a cheat in front of everyone!"
Akia frowned. Otogi was clearly driven by his anger. He wanted to find someone to blame, and she was the obvious target. For Jounouchi's sake, she had to win. She was going to win and wake Otogi up from his delusions.