Chapter 34 : Gearing Up
As Yuko and Jack entered the Arcadia, they instantly noticed that the building was filled with security police. Yuko's eyes widen at the sight while Jack maintained a straight face, and the two friends began to steadily walk down towards the receptionist.
"Stop right there you two!" yelled a deep and unwelcoming voice from behind, causing both Yuko and Jack to spin around, and find Officer Trudge glaring at them.
"What do you want, Trudge!" grunted Jack, his arms crossed as he glare back with his ice cold eyes.
"What are you two doing here? There's a police investigation taking place", he stated in a suspicious tone.
Suddenly, Sayer stepped in from behind Trudge and patted the officers left shoulder. "It's alright officer...these two are with me. They've come to pay me a visit", said Sayer smoothly, having interrupted the previous conversation.
"Oh really!? And why would Yuko, or even Jack want to come and visit you, let alone set one foot in this building", asked Trudge, in a frustrated manner.
Sayer smirked. "It's a private matter, just like your investigation in finding that criminal, who I believe escaped from prison a few nights ago".
Trudge narrowed his eyes. "How did you know that?"
Sayer's smiled widened. "Easy. Ever heard of a newspaper?"
Yuko began to smile lightly at the comment, but tried his best to keep a serious face. Trudge huffed, a little embarrassed and eyed Yuko and Jack carefully as the two were escorted away by Sayer.
Yuko was the last to enter Sayer's office, who had now taken a seat behind his desk, which was piled with paper work. When his head lifted to face his supposed friends, he seemed very happy and smiled creepily (as always), as he then served Yuko and Jack with two cups of black coffee.
"So Yuko, Zane came to visit me today. Unfortunately, he told me that he won't be able to see you today, so he told me to explain everything that he had wanted discuss with you instead", said Sayer cheerfully.
Jacks eyes tightened as he sipped on his coffee. Yuko sighed, a little disappointed. "Why not?"
Sayer smiled. "Something came up apparently, he didn't bother to explain the details! So I suggest that we get this conversation over and done with", he stated, and reached into his back pocket to take out a small folded cheque, which he then placed in front of him.
Jack smirked and reached for it, quickly snatching the cheque and opened it up to read the number written on it. He blinked in amazement and gave it to Yuko. The number written was 40,000 Dp (enough to buy a shop!).
"Th-thank you", said Yuko breathtakingly.
Sayer continued to smile. "Your welcome, you deserve it, after all the trouble you went through", he continued, indicating the injures all around Yuko.
Jack huffed. "So that's it? Can we go now?" he asked grumpily as he stared at Sayer, still not appreciating him, nor his appearance.
"Well, you can if you want, but I believe that I also owe Yuko an explanation about the information Zane transferred to me", said Sayer casually.
Jack chuffed and decided to turn around to grab two seats, pulling them close to Sayer's deck. He then placed one down for Yuko and sat on the other one, while finishing his cup of coffee. "I'm staying. Now explain yourself".
Sayer took a deep breath, and brushed his hair back with his robotic arm.
"Alright...now listen closely. This has all to do with that duel disk", began Sayer.
Yuko blinked. "Duel disk? You mean Zane's psychic duel disk?"
Sayer nodded. "You see, it possessed more power than you think."
Jack cleared his throat. "Ok fine, so it's a powerful weapon. So what?"
Sayer faced Jack mysteriously. "I never said it was a weapon..."
Jack chuffed and placed the empty mug over on the desk.
"Yuko, it appears that you have been experimenting with it lately. What did you find out?" said Sayer grinningly.
Yuko hesitated before answering, a little surprised that Sayer knew he had been testing it. "Well, I've found that some cards can have a sort of...special ability?"
Sayer nodded. "I assume you've tried the Time Wizard?"
Yuko nodded back.
"Well, it's not the only card...there are many more."
Jack grunted. "What are you two on about?"
Yuko was about to answer, but Sayer cut him off. "Yuko possesses a duel disk which holds great power, therefore attracts powerful, but dangerous people who are looking for it. It has the ability to make duel monsters real, which can make their abilities real as well!" he explained, a little annoyed by Jack's distracting voice.
Jack went quiet and looked as Yuko confused. Yuko tried to ignore his judgmental glare and stayed concentrated on Sayer.
"Dangerous People? Like who?" asked Yuko nervously.
Sayer shuddered his shoulders as if to say "I dunno" and sighed. "However, they'll be looking for you, now that Zane is out of prison. You see, those dangerous people are trying to win him over and convince him to join their side, since he is one of the best duelists in the world!" stated Sayer, and stood up from his seat. "You'll be needing to train yourself for what's coming".
There was a long silence, which was then disrupted from the pitter-pattering of the rain that began to fall, and tap against the windows. Yuko scratched his head in confusion and looked at Jack, who was now smirking.
"Bring it on, I'll stand by Yuko 24/7 and beat up any pip-squeak duelists that even thinks about threatening him!" boomed Jack, and stood up proudly.
Sayer smiled. "I'm afraid that it's not so simple. You see, the people now coming for Yuko will all be very powerful psychic duelists, they will not be wanting to duel, but to attack using a few prototype duel disks of the duel disk which Yuko now possesses", he declared, causing Yuko's eyes to widen.
"Wait, they have psychic duel disks too?" shouted Yuko, a slight fear-filled chill running down his spine.
Sayer nodded. "However, they are only prototypes. The duel disks which they will be using will not be able to summon monsters with more than 2000 ATK points. That's why those people want to get their hands on Zane, the creator of its real power, but if that fails, they will be going for you, Yuko. Therefore, you will need to training yourself up!" Suggested Sayer, a tone of sprouting happiness in his voice.
Yuko's eyes tightened. "What do you mean by training?"
Yuko and Jack were now outside the Arcadia, walking down a small path around the Arcadia building, closely following Sayer. Sayer bought them over to a rather large, square building, with solid steel walls on the outside and a large automatic door as the entrance. It was situated right next doors to the Arcadia and no students seemed to be inhabiting it from the time being because of Officer Trudge's investigation.
Sayer stopped Jack and Yuko just outside the locked entrance of the large, square building and held out from his back pocket, a small sort of plastic card with a small bar code on the back of it. He passed it over the side of the automatic doors, over a small machine which beeped and turned green as it accepted the bar code.
Suddenly, the automatic doors slid open, providing access for Sayer, Yuko and Jack, causing the interior ceiling light to turn on, providing a clear view to a very widen, very high and very long grey metallic room, bigger than a usual gym.
Yuko and Jack blinked in astonishment, and heard Sayer close the steel doors behind them, causing the two friends to turn round, and were immediately handed two duel disks, which Sayer had collected from one of the modern, white tables, close to the entrance.
Yuko recognized the design of the duel disk. It looked very similar to the one from Zane, but instead of 4 Spell and Trap card zones, it only had two which were parallel to each other. Jack looked at his duel disk with a blank expression.
"There's only one monster card zone!" he complained childishly.
Sayer nodded. "I know. I'll explain why later, but right now, I want you to attach these duel disks to your arms", he said in a calm commanding tone.
Jack huffed and the two friends attached quickly attached the duel disks.
Sayer smiled. "Ok! From now on, you will both come into this training room every night to practice your...Combat dueling! By the end of this training period, I will give you both full clearance to this place and you will prepare yourselves for what's to come!"
Jack's expression angered. "Whoa whoa whoa! You do realise that I'm the top duelist in the world, right!"
Sayer chuckled. "That may be, but not in Combat dueling!"
"Combat dueling?", asked Yuko curiously.
Sayer sighed. "Yes. It's a duel where the actual duelist needs to fight with a single monster which they summoned, and in order to win, you must kill your adversary!"
Yuko and Jack stared at Sayer wide eyed, unable to believe what Sayer had just explained.
Yuko gulped. "We...need to...kill?"
Sayers scratched the back of his head. "Ahh...well, yes. Otherwise, you'll probably be killed instead. There is no mercy in these duels".
Yuko didn't know what to say. This all seemed too surreal. At one point, he was back home, talking happily to Stephane and all of a sudden, he needs to train himself against psychic attackers. It felt so weird how so many things could happen in the short space of one day.
Yuko took a deep breath. "Can't I just hide the duel disk? Or give it back to Zane?"
Sayer shook his head. "The enemy will still come after you. Whether you have the duel disk or not, their target is you first".
Jack scowled. "How do you know all this? Surely, Zane can't have explained to you all this!"
Sayer didn't reply for a few moments, and walked back to the tables where he had collected the duel disks. He then grabbed hold of a deck that was neatly placed on the table, in front of him and after having skimmed through it, he limped back (holding on to his crutches firmly because of his robotic leg) to hand the deck over to Yuko.
"Let's just say, the less you know about me, the better", he replied evasively. "So are you two going to fight or will you hide?"
Jack flashed Sayer a cold, hate-filled glare. "I never hide and neither does Yuko! We'll fight if it's to stop those psychic goons from ever getting their dirty hands on the duel disk and from attacking New Domino City!" he yelled, and Yuko agree hesitantly. The two friends then turned to study through the deck of cards given to them.
After having briefly searching through the cards, Jack was the first to notice that the deck was only filled with "Equip" Spell cards.
"Hey, what's this? How are you supposed to win with a deck filled with only Equip Spells!" said Jack, now frustrated about Sayer mysterious personality.
Sayer chuckled. "That's not a deck! You both need to pick one of these cards to use for your training! They will be your own personal weapon which you will both use in the Combat duels", he stated, causing Yuko's expression to enlighten. "Now both of you, go ahead and pick one!"
Yuko nodded and started to look through the deck of cards more carefully. Half way through the deck, Jack stopped Yuko and snatched a card he had seen. "Ah ha, then I'll pick this one!" he blurted and reveal the card proudly to Sayer. It was "Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade".
Sayer grinned. "I thought that you might".
Yuko smirked at the comment. "I guess that card does suit Jack in a way", thought Yuko mockingly and was almost at the end of the pile when particular card caught his attention. He took it out of the pile of cards and read it quickly. The cards name was "Salamandra".
Yuko smiled, then revealed it to Sayer as he gave the deck of "Equip" Spells back to Sayer. "I pick this one!"
Akiza: Psssst...Yuko...Carly...
Yuko and Carly: (Carly lying on Yuko while on the couch) zzzzzzzzzz...zzz...zzzz...
Akiza: Yuko...wake up! If Jack see's you and Carly like this...he's gonna think that...
Yuko: zzz...zzzz...huh what?
Carly: zzzzz...(yawns) Oh hey...what's up Akiza?
Jack: What's going on here!?
Yuko: (Rubbing his eyes and notices Carly leaning against him) What! Oh this is just...we were just...
Carly: (Realizes that she's leaning on Yuko's chest and sits up straight quickly) I was just...about to conclude this chapter! To all you readers who like this story, please Review and Follow and stuff... :P
Yuko: (Face palms himself) How professional -_-