Yay, its my birthday! So a little pressie for you all!
The life point counter signaled that '0' had been reached. Mako Tsunami's appointment stared in disbelief that he had just lost the duel.
"The winner of the first quarter finals is Mako Tsunami!" boomed the commentator over the loud speaker. The crowd cheered as the dueling platform lowered and the holograms disappeared from arena. Mako crossed the arena to shake hands with his opponent.
"Good duel, my friend." Mako said happily has he nearly dislocated his opponent, Shawn Smith's arm as they shook.
"T-thank you." The loosing duelist bit out politely and once he was able to free his hand from Mako's grip he quickly departed the platform before the media had a chance to converge upon him. "Good luck in the finals." The boy called over his shoulder.
Mako smiled, waved at a few of the photographers, and left the dueling arena so that the next duel could start. He sighed, as he felt a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulder, he was over the first obstacle now, all that was left to do was to get through the semi-finals and then hopefully, he would have a spot in the final duel.
"Nii-san!"
Mako looked up to see Ronan fighting his way through the crowd to get to him. The taller boy came bounding towards his older brother, the aura of excitement that was radiating from him was almost smothering.
"Did you enjoy the match, Ronan?"
"Yes!" Ronan said almost shaking with excitement. "That had to be the coolest thing I have ever seen! The monsters looked too real!"
Mako smiled as he walked with his brother towards the hotel they were staying in for the first round of the tournament. "Yes, I know what you mean. I sometimes forget that they're just holograms."
Ronan nodded, "Brother, you duel so well! You wiped the arena with that other guy, you didn't even have to use you strongest monsters, and you put him out with what you had in your first two hands."
Mako grinned from the praise that he was receiving. It was nice that one of Ronan's best traits was idol-worship; and it was good to be Ronan's idol.
"Yes I did take care of him. But I am saving your strategy for a good duel. I didn't want to waste our secret weapon on that guy, he skills weren't worthy or good enough for me to need it. But any way," Mako said as he rubbed his muscled stomach, "I'm starving. Lets got get something to eat, and then we can pack up and leave for the second leg of the tournament. Its in Maui you, know."
Ronan nodded. "Yes lets get there as soon as possible so you have time to prepare your deck and rest for the finals, big brother. I want you to do your best and try to win."
"My, my, you're awfully eager to win this, aren't you?"
"I just want you to do well, nii-san."
Mako smiled, "Right. As my strategic analysis and mascot, I should follow your plan, right?"
Ronan smirked. " You better, bro."
Ronan walked shyly up to the counter of the hotel. He had to deal with the check in as Mako was having issues docking their ship."
"May I help you?" the desk clerk said in an overtly perky voice.
"Ah..er..yes," Ronan said softly regarding the pretty young woman. "I would like to check in please. The reservation is under 'Tsunami'."
The woman smiled flirtatiously, before turning to her computer. Ronan could feel his cheeks heating.
"Mako and Ronan Tsunami?" the woman said with a curious glance at Ronan.
"Yes, that's me and my brother. Thank you."
The woman smiled , "Aw you are so precious! Is your brother as cute and polite as you are?"
Ronan cheeks began to burn at the woman's comments, as he nervously tried to come up with a collected response. "Um…well…."
"Fish Boy has a brother?" a raspy voice snapped. Ronan jumped slightly, before turning to see a short boy with green hair and glasses. The boy was staring smugly at Ronan, and Ronan could tell he had the eyes of a bully. However, Ronan also noted the look of surprise that passed over that boy's features when he had turned around.
"Fish Boy?" Ronan asked in confusion. "Are you referring to my brother, Mako?"
The boy continued to stare at Ronan, the smugness in his voice almost gone, "uh..yea. I am, I am Weevil Underwood; I know your brother from past tournaments."
"Ah." Ronan said with an annoyed sigh. Brother had mentioned the insect duelist and his underhanded dueling tactics to him, "Brother has mentioned you. Your deck is predominately insect related.. Right?"
Weevil smirked, "You're smart. Looks like someone got the brains of the Tsunami gene-pool."
Ronan growled. "He also said you are a dirty cheater with no honor in dueling."
Weevil's face turned bright red, "WHAT DID YOU SAY YOU-"
"Knock it off, Weevil." A voice on Ronan's left said. "The kid's right about you."
"Shut up, Dino-brain." Weevil snarled. "Tsunami doesn't care for you either."
Rex Raptor shrugged and stepped in between Ronan and Weevil. "He may not like me, but at least he respects me in the fact that I don't cheat like you do, bug-breath."
Weevil fumed and Ronan could see that the veins on Weevil's forehead were possibly on the verge of bursting. Rex turned towards Ronan, ignoring the other duelist and extended his hand, "Heya kid, I am Rex Raptor, the Dinosaur Duelist."
Ronan took his hand, "Ronan Tsunami. Mako's younger brother." Suddenly Rex's grip grew tighter, and Ronan was yanked closer towards the other teen.
"You and I haven't met, right?" Rex said studying Ronan's face. "'Cause I could swear I've seen you before. You ever come to any of Mako's other tournaments? Didn't see you at the Kingdom or the City."
Ronan shook his head. "No, we're never met before. This is my first tournament. I've always had to stay behind for the other tournaments."
"Pity." Rex said absently as he continued to stare at Ronan, keeping the taller boy in a slightly hunched position.
Weevil pushed Rex aside, "He does look familiar to me too. You sure you've never been to anything duel monsters related?"
Ronan tugged his hand backward, hoping that Rex would take the hint, "Positive."
Rex released Ronan. "Sorry. Its just you look awfully familiar to us."
"No harm done. No if you'll excuse me, I have to go help my brother to our room. I'll see you at the tournament."
Rex and Weevil watched as Ronan walked quickly away, shrugging on a long raincoat. The coat billowed outwards for a moment before falling slowly. As the boy departed the coat tails continued to flare out as the boy walked.
Rex and Weevil stood dumbstruck in the middle of the hotel, their eyes watching the retreating figure step out into the rainy night.
"Well, well, if it isn't Dino Dork and Weasel Underwood!" A good-natured voice boomed from behind, and two strong hands clapped them strongly on their shoulders.
"T-tsunami." Weevil said half in surprise and still from the shock.
"Heh," Mako grinned leaning on their shoulders, "You should both drop out of the finals, my little brother cooked up an awesome strategy that's going to blow you both away. Might as well save your selves the humiliation."
The two duelists continued to stare, ignoring Mako's friendly competitive banter.
Mako spun them around. "Whets wrong with you two? You should be snarling and gnashing your teeth after what I just said."
"Your brother." Weevil said quietly.
Mako stared, "Yeah, about him. Have you seen him? Tall fella with longish brown hair, wearing a bandana like mine?"
Rex pointed in the direction that Ronan had left, "He's your brother."
Mako followed Rex's finger to where it seemed to point to a vase of flowers by the exit. "Well unless Ronan, learned to turn himself into a bunch of flowers, that isn't him." He said sarcastically.
"HE LEFT A MINUTE AGO, YOU DUMB WHALE! OUT THAT DOOR" Weevil screeched.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING DUMB YOU-"
"Mako shut up." Rex snapped. "Are you serious? That guy is your brother?"
Mako stared back at the other duelist. "Yeah."
"That guy," He said pointing to the retreating figure. "That guy with the white rain coat, brown hair, and blue eyes, over there. He's your brother?"
Mako growled at Rex's disbelief, "Yeah, he is. What's wrong with that?"
Rex and Weevil stared up at Mako with serious expressions.
"Mako…" Rex began, but Weevil cut him off.
"Tsunami, are you really THAT blind?"
Mako stared back the two duelists, not responding to the question.
"You don't see it?" Rex said softly.
"See what?" Mako growled.
"You don't see who that is?" Rex said.
TBC