Chapter 2
The ship ride to Brest went pretty smoothly. At least I couldn't fault Kaiba on his word. I had also put the red rose in my hair.
But I was nervous. Yugi and Yami were both very important people to me. They had helped me through tougher times. The whole cast of Yu-Gi-Oh had. Plus I had a lust after the latter. I was scared to death to actually meet one of them. I had chomped down a candy cane five minutes before we were scheduled to meet out of a nervous habit.
"Lucy, I present Prince Yugi... Last prince of Lancaster, a true Welshman and the hope of we who call ourselves Celts!"
"Simon, I don't know if I can do this. I get really nervous in social situations." I tried to explain.
"Nonsense. My lord, I present Lucy, the Rose Duelist." Suddenly, all eyes were on me. Shit shit shit! What do I say, what do I do?! Remembering one shred of common knowledge, I got on one knee and bowed. At least I could blush and no one would know.
"You serve us well, Simon. My mother was wise on summoning you from Scotland." Oh hot damn that voice! If sex could talk, it would sound like him. It didn't help that there were mysterious invisible saxophones playing sexy music somewhere. I heard wooden chair legs screech across stone and the clopping of shoes. I saw the tips of two black pointed shoes enter my field of vision.
"You honor me sire." Simon replied. The attention shifted back to me.
"Duelist, I am Yugi. Actually, Henry Tudor is my name. But I find it tiresome. You may call me Yugi." Every word sent chills down my spine. I felt a hand force my chin up and I looked him in the eyes. I blushed harder, and my breath hitched in my throat at his touch.
"Rise." He said. I did so.
"I'm sure Simon explained our situation. But it is only right that I request your services myself. I need you to return to England and put an end to the Rose Crusaders. Their White Rose cards form a protective barrier that prevents my armies from setting foot on British soil. Although we Celts have the Red Rose cards, we are but inheritors who are unable to wield their full power. In the hopes of reversing our fortunes, we gambled on a Druid legend that spoke of a Rose Duelist."
I stopped listening as Simon explained how to collect a Rose Card. I was still processing the dead sexy voice reaching my ears.
"I believe it is important that you keep this in mind. The cost of your deck should not exceed the cost of your opponents deck. I would like you to note that our resources gave been pressed to the limit, requiring us to invade England by August. My troops will land in Milford Haven, Wales and March on to meet the enemy at Bosworth Field. Having all the Rose Crusaders out of commission by then would be ideal. But as that might prove difficult, any reduction of their forces would be appreciated." I nodded.
"Right then! Let us part company and reunite in Bosworth. Simon will provide you with the details as to where and when we'll meet once more."
Anything for my king. I'll obliterate anyone in my path. And then I'll win you over...
I was still thinking about him on the way back to England. I could still hear his voice in my head... It must have been noticeable, because I caught more than one stare from Simon and multiple members of the crew. I hope they thought I was sick or something.
Eventually, we landed at Milford Haven. I had actually thought ahead and taken a coat I had found in the castle with me. Simon did a quick debriefing, and I was on my own.
My first destination was Chester. It was a long trek to the middle of England. I had gotten a cost estimate from Simon, he estimated my current deck to be around 850. A good start. I could add some more cards from wins and the card book I kept in my art kit once I win some Rose Cards.
At about noon, I stopped by the path and decided to do inventory. I wanted to know just how long I would last, seeing as my main source of power was sugar and the American dollar wasn't a currency in this time period.
When I finished inventory, I counted up a dozen candy canes, a ziplock bag full of tootsie pops and blowpops, two dozen pieces of saltwater taffy, a few bars of chocolate, and a half dozen of those tiny boxes of Nerds you get on Halloween. At my current rate of consumption, it should last me until Mid august. Right now, it was the second half of July. I had until August to clear the White Rose Duelists. That was two weeks.
I heard rustling in the bushes. I looked up and behind me, crouching over my pack. I scrambled to pack up my food, if you could call it that, and stood.
"Who's there?! Don't dick with me!" I said, slinging my pack over my shoulder. From behind a bush poked out a kid with the ugliest green bowl cut and thick glasses. God damn. It would take ten years for Levi to come along and make that haircut cool again. What was he even wearing? Some ugly pink overcoat? Geez. I'm not one for fashion, but he is hideous.
"Oh it's just a kid. What do you want?" I asked. "And shouldn't you have parents?"
"Kid?! I'll have you know I'm fifteen!" Oh god, his voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard!
"Whatever. Look, do you know the route to Chester? I'm going to battle a Rose Crusader."
"Yeah, you just follow this path, take a right, then-Wait a second! If you're looking for the Rose Crusaders, then you must be the Rose Duelist!"
"What gave you that idea?" I said sarcastically.
"Prepare to face the sting of my insect deck!" Pfft. I didn't have time for Underwood's antics.
"Sorry kid, but unless you're a Rose Crusader, my time is better spent elsewhere." I turned and walked down the path.
"I'm a Rose Crusader! I even have the card to prove it!" I stopped and looked back. Sure enough, he held a White Rose Card in his hands. I sighed. I didn't want to duel Underwood for two major reasons. One, he's a pathological cheat, just like my brother. Second, I wasn't too fond of insects. But he held a Rose Card, therefore, I must duel him.
"Ugh, fiiine!" I groaned. "But pull any tricks, and I'll break your limbs." He paled. I got out my deck.
My deck has little theme to it. It was a mix of everything. But one thing ran through all my basic monsters. My deck was designed around the principle that you will pay for destroying my monsters. If you destroyed my monsters, you either lost life points or a better monster would be summoned in its place.
Of course, my strategy had little meaning in this version of the game. Summoning laws were still in the Duelist Kingdom phase, so I had no idea if sacrifices worked or not. I needed to sacrifice to summon my greatest monster.
Not that I would use him against the likes of Underwood. He's something I would probably save for someone like Kaiba. No, the Interplanetarypurplethorny Dragon would most likely be enough to deal with Underwood, and I had three of them in my deck. They were really easy to summon too.
We both set down our deck masters. His was a big insect.
We drew our hands. Mine consisted of Splendid Venus, Muzurythymn the String Djinn, Maldicion de Dragon, Reptilianne Naga, and Schwarzchild Limit Dragon.
"You can take the first turn." I offered. He sneered, and put down a card. I studied what he did, and I think I got it. You start out with four star counters, and those are used for summoning monsters. For every star a monster uses, you need to spend one star counter to summon it. You got 3 star counters each turn. Since I had skipped my first turn, I had seven star counters now, more than enough to summon Maldicion de Dragon. I put her down in faced down attack position and moved her one space in front of Alector.
"Your move." I said, ending my turn.
"That's it? I overestimated you, Rose Duelist!" Underwood jeered. He put down a monster in face down defense position, moved his deck master, and attacked my Maldicion. I flipped it face up and a battle engaged.
"Maldicion de Dragon?!" Underwood balked.
"Better known as Curse of Dragon in English! Your Basic Insect doesn't stand a chance." I replied. Curse of Dragon fired a ball of black energy at the ant, incinerating it. -300 life points from Underwood. I moved Maldicion forward a bit more and Alector to the left. My plan was to trap him in a corner and just wail on him. He set down one more card, moved it forward, and moved his deck master into the corner.
I put Reptilianne Naga face down. She was weak as balls, but she couldn't be destroyed by battle. I set down the magic cards Remove Trap and Bait Doll, just in case. Actually, let's use Bait Doll now.
"I activate the spell card Bait Doll! I force the activation of one Trap. If it is not the designated time, it is destroyed. Once this card is used, it is sent to my Deck and my Deck is shuffled."
A Negate Attack flipped face up and disappeared. Bait Doll went back to my Deck and I shuffled.
"I end my turn." I looked at Underwood. He had a horrible poker face, and was obviously disgruntled with my maneuvers. My star counters were now at four. Underwood attacked Reptilianne, hoping to cut into my life points. He was blissfully unaware of my Naga's effects as his Hunter Spider sunk its fangs into Reptilianne.
At first he chortled, but once he realized my monster hadn't been destroyed, he panicked.
"What's going on?! That snake should be dead!"
"Tut tut. Reptilianne Naga has two effects. One, she cannot be destroyed by battle. Two, any monster that battles her loses all it's attack points." Reptilianne grinned, and sunk her fangs into the Hunter Spider. It writhed, losing its power.
"My turn!" I said, drawing. Ha ha! Bait Doll again! But I had a different plan in mind this turn.
"I activate Graceful Charity! This lets me draw 3 cards and discard two." I got The Tricky, Mystical Space Typhoon, and Trap Master. I discarded Trap Master and Muzurythymn The String Djinn. I moved Maldicion in for an attack on his Deck Master. -2000 Points for Underwood.
"Turn End." I said. He moved his Deck Master and put a card in between us. Unfortunately, he was still open to his diagonal right.
I drew, and got the card I needed, the Mountain field spell. This would increase my Maldicion's attack by 200 points, but more importantly, he would lose his 500 point field advantage and I could kill him in one shot!
"I activate the Field Spell Mountain! Not only do your monsters lose their field advantage, but my Maldicion gets a 200 point boost! Maldicion de Dragon, attack!"
-2200 points for Underwood, end game. Victor: Lucy Miyako
"No! I...I lost?! This can't be happening!" He groaned.
"Believe it. Now hand over your Rose Card." I said. Reluctantly, he did, along with another card, Negate Attack.
"This isn't mine." I said, trying to hand it back.
"Yes it is. Along with a White Rose Card, you get a card from my Graveyard." He grumbled. I raised my eyebrows.
"Whatever." I said. "Thanks for the directions, but I guess I don't need them anymore. Hey, where's Rex stationed?"
"Rex? He was in charge of Tewksbury. It's directly south of here. Just follow the signpost up ahead."
"Can't believe I'm saying this, but thank you." I took off on the path and came across a signpost two hours later. Ten miles to Tewksbury. I could walk ten miles, right?