Hellowe!
...
Enjoy!
...
No, that was too short... uh, oh yes! We want to thank InsanityByDefinition and K5Rakitan for their lovely reviews. You make us really happy! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Merci beaucoup! Danke schön! Dank u well! Arigatou gozaimasu!
... That's every language we know, but we suppose you got the point. WE LOVE REVIEWS! Even the first one we got! It made us laugh!
Now, enjoy (for real this time) the fifth chapter of Heart to Beat!
Chapter 5
"You know, you'd think it'd be easier to find a duelist in a place called Duelist Kingdom.", Maya sighed as they walked through the woods in search of fresh starchips.
"Maya, it's only been 5 minutes.", Rose answered.
"...Really? Feels like an eternity to me..." Rose shook her head and they continued looking, heading deeper into the forest. A little later, they stopped at a peculiar sight.
"...Is that a flag?", Rose asked confused to make sure she wasn't just seeing things.
"Correction, it's an American flag.", Maya corrected.
"...", they stared at the flag and then looked at each other, before walking off. The best way to deal with strange things is to ignore them. It was of no importance as to why flags were randomly hanging around in trees. They had much more urgent business to attend to. However, not much further they came upon another one.
"...Maybe Pegasus really likes his country?", Maya guessed at the meaning of the flags.
"He has a very strange way of showing it."
"The man gave us owl for diner, of course he's strange!" Rose laughed and nodded in agreement.
"Hey, look, there are even more of them over there!", Maya said as she pointed towards the deeper, off-road part of the woods. "Perhaps they're meant to lead us somewhere."
"Yes, right into a trap." Rose answered, clearly against the idea that she was sure was forming in her friend's head.
"And where there's a trap, there has to be a duelist who set it!", Maya finished enthusiastically.
"Maya, don't even think about it.", Rose warned but it was already too late. "There's plenty of time, let's just look somewhere else for duelists."
"Easy for you to say. You already have 6 starchips. Come on, let's go! It'll be fine!", Maya said as she began walking in the direction of the next flag. Seeing as Maya had no intention of turning back, Rose had little choice but to follow her. She quickly caught up with her and they continued following the trail of flags.
"Oh don't look so worried. What's the worst that could happen?", Maya said, trying to reassure her friend.
"I'd rather not think about that...", Rose said as she carefully looked around while they proceeded. Suddenly she stopped. "Look, a cave.", she told Maya, who stopped as well and looked around until she spotted the cave. When she did, she noticed a figure moving at the entrance. He seemed to glance around until he looked straight in their direction and then headed inside.
"Okay, that was definitely suspicious.", Rose said, but Maya paid it no heed.
"I knew it! A duelist!" and she ran off towards the cave.
"Maya! Stop! I don't think it's a good idea to just walk into a cave like that! You don't know what could be in there!", Rose called after her, but Maya waved the warning away. "Ah, there'll just be a few cute bats!", she yelled back over her shoulder as she kept running.
"And spiders! And believe me, they'll show up! They always show up, Maya!", Rose tried one last time, but Maya didn't listen and entered the cave. Rose, worried for her friend's safety, ran after her.
Inside the cave it was pretty dark, as one would expect. Maya wandered through the tunnels, until she came upon one particular fork. The right path was lit with torches so she decided to follow that one. It led to a somewhat larger room with a duel platform. Maya smiled at the sight as it was even more proof that she had been right. However, the guy she had seen entering the cave was nowhere in sight. She scratched the back of her head confused.
"Where could he be?", as she was pondering this mystery, Rose arrived.
"Maya, are you okay?", she asked worried.
"Of course I am. And no spiders! ...But also no sign of that guy I saw.", she finished disappointed.
"Maybe that's for the best. Let's get out of here." Maya nodded and was about to follow her, when she noticed another flag on the duel platform. She walked over to it and climbed on the platform.
"Hey, look here's an- Woah!" Suddenly the lights sprang on and the platform moved up, nearly making Maya lose her balance and fall off. The holographic images projectors raised as well and became active.
"Welcome to America!", a voice shouted. Rose and Maya looked over and saw a guy standing on the other side of the platform. He was wearing a bandanna that looked a lot like the American flag and even though they were in a cave, he still had a pair of sunglasses on.
"I'm pretty sure America isn't a cave on an island somewhere in the Pacific.", Maya answered. The man got a little angry.
"This island is owned by an American, therefore it belongs to America.", the blond man replied proudly.
"...What kind of reasoning is that...", Rose mumbled, just loud enough for Maya to hear, who nodded.
"Anyway," the man continued, "now that you're on the platform, you'll have to duel me, the great Bandit Keith!"
Maya's face lit up at those words. "Yes! Finally! Bring it on, Bandit!"
"...I don't think that's his first name.", Rose informed her.
"It isn't? ...okay then... bring it on Keith!", Maya repeated her challenge.
"This'll be an all or nothing duel.", Keith said, ignoring the discussion about his name. "Meaning we bet all our starchips. I have two and you?" He held up two chips.
"Two, but I'd rather just bet one."
"That won't do. All or nothing."
"Don't do it Maya!", Rose warned, even though she had ignored the same warning earlier.
"One.", Maya said, looking defiantly at Keith.
"Then it's no deal nor duel, little girl."
Maya's eye twitched. Not only was she being called little again, she was being underestimated and then there was the prospect of having come all this way just to turn down a duel. But the plan was to only bet one chip and search out the weaker duelists first. "But he looks familiar... he might be an actual big shot... Hmm, what to do?" Maya pondered, trying to decide what the best way to proceed was. "I'm over thinking this. If I want to be able to duel Seto, I can't afford to lose nor run away here!" She looked up with determination.
"Fine, I accept! Two starchips it is."
Rose felt like smacking her friend. "Maya, Caféjoenk!"
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing.", she answered as she took out her deck and put the two starchips down next to her. Keith grinned, as he got off the platform and walked over to Maya's side. They gave each other their deck and shuffled them.
"Duel!", Keith and Maya said, a bit off sync, after Keith had returned to his platform.
"Ladies first", Keith said.
"I always get to go first!", Maya answered. "DRAW!", she yelled as she drew her sixth card, the word echoed throughout the cave, making it sound like she had drawn 5 more times. "I'm beginning to really like this setting.", she laughed as she heard her own 'draw'. Rose sighed, "Just focus on the duel!"
"Right, right. Hmm... I place 2 cards face-down and summon Dark Blade(1800ATK/1500DEF) in attack!" A pitch-black warrior appeared on the field, brandishing his two scimitars, his blood-red cape swaying in the imaginary wind. His red eyes peered menacingly at Bandit Keith. "Turn end!"
"Draw.", Keith said calmly. He briefly looked at his cards. "I special summon Cyber Dragon(2100ATK/1600ATK)." A gigantic snake-like creature covered in some metal appeared. Its skin shone, giving it a well-polished impression.
"Pfft, you call that a dragon? Looks like a tin snake to me.", Maya scoffed at the poor excuse of a dragon. "Wait... special summon?"
"If you control monsters and I don't, I can special summon Cyber Dragon from my hand. Now, Cyber Dragon, attack Dark Blade. Evolution Burst!" A white stream of energy shot from its mouth and shattered Dark Blade. Maya's life points dropped to 3700. "Your turn, little girl."
Maya drew a card, loudly announcing she was doing so, for the entire island to hear. "Of course Pitch-Dark Dragon... I can't use him anymore now; maybe I should've saved Dark Blade after all? Too late now, I guess. For now, I'll see what happens."
"I set a monster and end my turn.", Maya said. Keith grinned and drew a card from his sleeve. Due to the fact that the lights only illuminated the field, it went by unnoticed to both Maya and Rose.
"You're an unlucky one.", Keith started, "I activate Polymerization to fuse together Cyber Dragon and these two Machine-type monsters from my hand." He held out Slot Machine and Machine King, before discarding them to his graveyard along with Cyber Dragon, who vanished from the field. "And Fusion Summon Chimeratech Overdragon(2400ATK/2400DEF) in attack." Another snake-like metal creature appeared, only this time its neck split up, leading to several heads. All of them growled threateningly.
"This one is even worse than the last!", Maya exclaimed, expressing her dislike for the design and the fact they had the nerve to call it a dragon.
From the side, Rose watched the duel a bit confused. "He really uses Machine-type monsters, so then why did he lead us to a graveyard field? I'd expect him to use zombies. This is suspicious..." ,she thought but said nothing of it.
"Now, when I summon Chimeratech Overdragon I have to send all other cards I control to the graveyard, but seeing as I don't have any, we can skip that part. Also, its attack and defence are equal to 800 times the number of monsters I used for its fusion. In this case 3, so that makes 2400."
"That's not so bad.", Maya remarked.
"Oh, but here's the best part. Chimeratech Overdragon can attack the same number of times as the number of fusion materials used. In other words, it can attack 3 times each turn."
Maya and Rose's eyes both widened in shock. "But that means...", Rose started.
"That means this duel is mine!", Keith finished and ordered his Overdragon to attack Maya's set monster. Pitch-Dark Dragon briefly appeared on the field before shattering. "Now, direct attack! Evolution Result Burst!" All of its heads turned towards each other and together they formed a ball of energy which they then released right at Maya. She closed her eyes out of reflex to block out the blinding light, as her life points dropped another 2400.
"Doesn't she have a good face-down? She only has 1300 life points left! I knew this was a bad idea!", Rose thought panicked.
"And now my third attack. Overdragon, finish her off!", Keith ordered and the monster powered up another ball of energy. Maya took a step back. The shot was fired and she dramatically screamed.
"...Just kidding!", she laughed as she activated one of her reverse cards. A small circular shield appeared before her and absorbed the attack, leaving Keith and Rose dumbfounded.
"What's that look for? I just activated Draining Shield to change all that damage into life points, is all.", she explained. Rose blinked, realizing she had been worried for no reason. "Now my life points are back up to 3700. It's like nothing happened this turn!"
Recovering from his shock, Keith grinned. "But I still hold the advantage, so I'll end my turn now." "And I always get all the cards I want. All my combo's are already prepared." He mentally added.
"Great! My turn! DRAW!" Maya smiled when she saw the card. "Perfect, all I need to do is hold out one more turn." "I put one card face-down and set a monster. That'll be all."
"You're just delaying the inevitable.", Keith said as he drew a card.
"Are you that eager to lose?", Maya taunted confidently.
"Hahahaha! You'd suck at poker kid! I can see straight through your bluff.", Keith mocked, but Maya remained unfazed, which successfully pissed the American off. "Damn arrogant brat..."
"I activate 7 Completed and equip it to Chimeratech Overdragon. I choose to raise its attack by 700. That makes it 3100. Maybe this'll be overkill, but you deserve it." Keith's irritation grew when he saw the bored look on Maya's face. "I place two cards face-down and attack your set monster!"
"Wait a sec, I activate my trap Xing Zhen Hu. I select the two cards you just set and now they can't be activated anymore. This is continuous by the way.", Maya calmly explained while two wooden boxes tied to two jars dropped down on Keith's set cards.
"But my attack still goes through.", Keith replied slightly annoyed.
"Of course, go right ahead." The words had barely been uttered or the mechanic multi-headed snake released another deadly attack. Key Mouse flickered on the field, but immediately disappeared into the graveyard. "And with that you activate Key Mouse's effect. When it's destroyed by battle and send to the graveyard, I can add one level 3 or lower Beast-type monster from my deck to my hand."
Maya searched her deck and took out a card, before shuffling again. "I choose The Fabled Catsith, a level one Beast-type monster.", she held out the card so Keith could see she wasn't cheating.
"Such a weak monster. Not that it matters, because I still have two attacks left. Go, Evolution Result Burst!" Another shot was launched, but again stopped short. This time by three maidens, who looked like they were praying. "Waboku...", Keith growled.
"Indeed, my turn?", Maya asked. Keith cursed. "I'll take that as a yes. DRAW!"
"I activate Graceful Charity, allowing me to draw 3 cards but I have to discard two."
"Ha! So in the end, you really are just stalling.", Keith scoffed. Maya smiled as she discarded her two cards. "Now, The Fabled Catsith's effect activates. When it's discarded to the graveyard, I can select and destroy one face-up card on the field. Guess who'll I choose?", Maya smirked. Behind his sunglasses, Keith's eyes widened. "Bye-bye Chimeratech Overdragon!", she waved as the gigantic metal monster shattered before the cute power of a little purple cat that briefly appeared on the field, before returning to the graveyard.
"Now I'll show you what a real dragon looks like! I summon Luster Dragon(1900ATK/1600DEF) in attack!" A medium-sized dark blue dragon appeared on the field. Its body was covered in sapphire, which sparkled beautifully in the light. One could wonder if it still had its ability to fly, as its wings seemed crumbled together. "Luster Dragon, direct attack! Breath of Fire!" The dragon lazily got up and almost reluctantly walked over to Keith before releasing a scorching stream of fire. "That's 1900 down, 2100 to go! Turn end!"
"Celebrate while you can." Keith laughed under his breath as he secretly took another card from his sleeve.
"I summon Twin-Barrel Dragon(1700ATK/200DEF)." Another mechanized monster appeared, this time it looked like a velociraptor or a small T-Rex, without its front claws, and with a head that had transformed into a twin barrel, as its name suggests.
"Oh come on! That looks more like a dinosaur than a dragon!", Maya once again commented on the design.
"Please, my dino's are a lot cooler than that thing.", Rose called back.
"Hmm, that's true."
"...With Twin-Barrel Dragon's effect, I can flip a coin twice and if both results are heads, I can destroy one card you control.", Keith carried on. He searched his pockets and pulled out a coin, showing it to Maya, who nodded in acknowledgement.
"Another gambler?", Rose sighed, remembering her duel with Joey and his unworldly luck.
"Not that it's a gamble for me. Hehehe..." Keith flipped the coin twice and both results were heads. "Twin-Barrel Dragon, use your effect on her dragon! Headshot!" The barrel glowed green as it charged. A mere second later a green laser shot out, hitting Luster Dragon clean on the forehead.
"And now your field is wide open for a direct attack." Maya cringed as Keith attacked her directly, dropping her life points to 2000. "But I'm not done yet. I activate the spell card Tribute Doll." Maya shivered at the name, she wasn't a fan of dolls. A somewhat silly looking doll appeared on the field.
"It allows me to summon a level 7 monster from my hand by tributing one monster. I tribute Twin-Barrel Dragon to special summon Launcher Spider(2200ATK/2500DEF)." A gigantic dark green spider filled Keith's side of the field. It wore a red mask and had a pair of rocket launchers on its back. They were connected to its neck by hard red metal armour. Maya backed away until her back hid the metal bar behind her. On the ground Rose stepped back a little as well.
"I warned you! They always show up!", Rose yelled at Maya, who swallowed hard and repeated to herself that it was just a hologram.
"Are you afraid?", Keith asked, obviously enjoying Maya's reaction to his new monster. "Well, don't worry. It can't attack... for now that is. I place one face-down and then it's your turn. If you can still go on that is. Do you want to surrender?", he mocked. Upon hearing those words, Maya got a hold of herself again.
"Surrender? Me? To you? Ha! Don't make me laugh! My turn right? DRAW!", she yelled even louder than before, burning with determination. "Just don't look directly at it... Hmm, Decoy Dragon? Hehe, I knew discarding Darkblaze was a good idea! Let's see, it's a bit risky, as he might special summon, but... nah, it'll be fine."
"I put two cards face-down and summon Decoy Dragon(300ATK/200DEF)! Behold its cuteness!", Maya shouted as the small blue dragon with yellow belly flew over the field. It blinked its shiny red eyes cutely at its master first, before facing its opponent. "Turn end!"
Bandit Keith drew a card. "Let's finish this."
"You're really going to attack something that cute?", Maya asked taken aback.
"In a minute, first I summon Mechanicalchaser(1850ATK/800DEF)."
"Yeah, no. Trap Hole!" A large hole opened up underneath Mechanicalchaser and despite having wings, it still fell in, off to join its beloved king in the graveyard. Maya smiled satisfied.
"Launcher Spider'll have to do then. I activate another 7 Completed and equip it to Launcher Spider, raising its attack to 2900. Attack that weakling, Shock Rocket Attack!" The spider bent its legs as the hatches upon its back opened. With a blast ten to twelve rockets flew out. They flew a bit through the air, seemingly at random, before all diving down to hit Decoy Dragon.
Maya smirked, "Like I said, you can't hit something this cute. Decoy Dragon's effect activates! Whenever he's chosen as an attack target, I can special summon a level 7 or higher Dragon-Type monster from my graveyard and switch the attack to that monster. Darkblaze Dragon(2400ATK/2000DEF), it's your turn to shine!" A black dragon standing on its hind legs appeared. Its long black tail swishing back and forth, while it held its two pair of wings perfectly still. Decoy Dragon winked at it, making it roar. As if by magic the rockets flew back up in the air, readying their assault on their new target.
"Normally he only has 1200atk and 1000 def but they double when he is special summoned from my graveyard."
"When did you...?"
"He's quite graceful, isn't he?", Maya smiled.
"I see... but its attack is still lower.", Keith replied smugly.
"Now that you mention it, I knew I was forgetting something. I activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your 7 Completed. There, now I win." Darkblaze hit back the rockets with its biggest pair of wings and then released a burst of hellish fire, completely incinerating Launcher Spider.
"Math isn't your strong point is it? I only lost 200 life points."
"Oh, did I forget to mention Darkblaze's second effect? When he destroys a monster and sends it to the graveyard you take damage equal to your monster's attack. -2200 I believe."
Darkblaze let out another burst of fire. Keith quickly activated his set card. "I'm not done yet! Emergency Provisions! I send the two set cards that you locked to my graveyard to recover 2000 life points." Xing Zhen Hu shattered as a result as well while Keith's life points dropped to 0 before rising to 1700 again.
"Now who's stalling?", Maya taunted.
"Let's see how you like this. I activate Monster Reborn to special summon Launcher Spider(2500DEF/2200ATK) back in defence mode. Your turn."
"...oh you gotta be kidding me! I just got rid of it...", Maya mumbled. "DRAW!"
"Double Summon? Useful, but I don't have a monster with more than 2500ATK in my hand. No choice but to wait then."
"I switch Decoy Dragon to defence and place one card face-down. Turn end."
Bandit Keith drew another card from his sleeve and discreetly placed it in his hand. "I sacrifice my Spider...", Maya let out a sigh of relief. "...to summon Blowback Dragon(2300ATK/1200DEF)."
"...This is getting more and more ridiculous...", Maya remarked as a being that can best be described as a red gun with legs and a tail appeared before her.
"Once per turn I can flip a coin thrice and if at least two times the result is heads, I can destroy one card you control.", Keith proceeded to do just that. Three times heads.
"Another addict with a lot of luck.", Rose sighed. "Where are the real duelists in this tournament?", she mused as the duel carried on.
"Your face-down.", Keith said and Blowback Dragon replied by shooting at it. "Now, attack Decoy Dragon.", he continued. The red gun glowed and a lightning fast shot was fired at the small dragon, which was completely defenceless. Luckily he was in defence though. Maya was puzzled; she had expected him to destroy Darkblaze with the effect.
"I bet you're wondering why I left Darkblaze alive. Remember this?", he asked as he played a card. A silly looking doll appeared.
"Tribute Doll again?" That meant another level 7 monster was coming.
"Correct, you little brat. I tribute Blowback Dragon to special summon Barrel Dragon(2600ATK/2200DEF), which happens to have an effect similar to that of Blowback Dragon."
"..." A black monster standing on its hind legs appeared. Its arms and nose were long brightly coloured gun barrels. "...Oh come on! Are the people naming these cards blind or something?", Maya exclaimed incredulously, waving her arms around franticly for dramatic effect.
"Just give it up already.", Rose told her.
"But...! But..! Just look at it!", she yelled pointing at Keith's newest monster.
"I now activate that effect.", Keith continued, ignoring all other conversation. He flipped the coin thrice and once again all the results were heads.
"Huh? What? It worked again? How lucky are you anyway?", Maya asked as her dragon shattered before her eyes.
"Your turn."
"DRAW!" Maya looked from the card she had drawn to the field and back to her card. She smiled, "Final turn!", she announced, making Keith curse her again.
"First, I summon Lock Cat(1200ATK/1000DEF)." A white cat paraded across the field before sitting down. The base and end of its tail were a pinkish red. It sat calmly, seemingly unperturbed by the huge golden lock around its neck.
"When Lock Cat is normal summoned, I can special summon a level 1 Beast-Type monster from my graveyard, but its effect is negated. Let's see, who will I choose? Oh why not. I special summon Key Mouse(100ATK/100DEF)." A very small white mouse scurried between Lock Cat's legs, eventually settling down. Its ears and tail were purple and at the end of its tail there was a small key. It wore a collar, from which hung another small key and lock. "It would seem he really became my key to victory in this duel.", Maya laughed.
"Anyway, I activate Double Summon so that I am allowed another normal summon this turn. I tribute my cute Key Mouse to summon White-Horned Dragon(2200ATK/1400DEF)!" A large red dragon with a huge, sparkling silver horn appeared.
"Now this one has a fun effect. When it is summoned I can select and remove from play up to 5 spell cards in your graveyard and he'll gain 300 atk for every card removed from play by this effect. You have more than enough! I select Polymerization, 2 7 Completed's and 2 Tribute Dolls to let my dragon gain 1500 extra atk, giving him a total of 3700 atk." The dragon led out a mighty roar as its attack points went up. Bandit Keith stared, completely shocked. For all his cheating, there was nothing he could do right now. He had no face-downs and only had Barrel Dragon to defend him.
"White-Horned Dragon, destroy that poor excuse of a dragon! White Lightning!", Maya ordered. The dragon's horn began to shine ever brighter until it released a great stream of white lightning into the air. It stopped and scattered, raining down on Barrel Dragon.
"And now, Lock Cat! Attack him directly with Fury Swipes!" The white cat slowly, but elegantly, got up and calmly walked towards the blond American. Once there it swiftly jumped up, baring its claws and scratching him a couple of times, dropping his life points to zero.
Meanwhile outside, not that far from the cave.
"Pegasus, sir. There seem to be even more the further we go. I believe someone is trying to lure duelists.", Croquet reported through his phone.
"Oh my! Could it be...?", the voice on the other side of the line answered.
"I don't think so, sir, but I'll investigate just in case. It is, at any rate, quite suspicious."
"Good, Croqu-boy! Report back to me when you know more. Bye!", a click could be heard. Croquet put the phone away and ordered his three men to follow him. They headed deeper into the woods, led by a strange trail of American flags.
"YAY! I did it! I won!", Maya jumped up and down with joy. From the ground Rose cheered as well. The platform lowered again and Maya quickly grabbed her starchips before climbing down. Bandit Keith still hadn't moved a muscle.
"I can't believe this! I lost to someone as insignificant as her? How is this possible? I'd prepared everything so carefully! How...how..."
"Mister Keith, my starchips, if you would.", Maya asked politely as she outstretched her hand to him. He then noticed she was still holding her own in her other hand. A sinister idea struck him and, putting up a smiling front, he got off the platform as well.
"You're not bad for a little runt.", he 'complemented' when he stood in front of her. Maya merely raised an eyebrow at him, too happy with her victory to even bother being annoyed or angry.
"Here, you deserve THIS.", he shouted as he punched Maya hard in the stomach, who bended over in pain. He quickly grabbed her by the front of her shirt, ripped her starchips from her hand and then threw her against the dueling platform. Rose, who had been too stunned to intervene sooner, snapped back to reality and rushed over to help, but Keith shoved her aside and ran away.
"Maya! Are you okay?", she asked worried.
"I'm...fine...", she winched a little in pain as she tried to get up. "That...Ugh! He took my starchips!"
Maya got up to chase after Bandit Keith. Rose did the same, but she was a lot faster so she went on ahead. She managed to overtake Keith just as he exited the cave.
"Stop, you thief! Give those starchips back!", Rose yelled at him once outside. Said thief stopped and laughed. "Foolish girl, did you really think I would listen?", he mocked before calmly walking further away, believing Rose to be no threat whatsoever. Rose gritted her teeth in anger. Just as she was about to try to stop Keith, Maya came out of the cave and ran past her, heading straight for the American. She jumped him, demanding her starchips back. Keith violently shook her off and Rose hurried over to help.
"Mister Keith, you again.", a voice suddenly spoke. All three looked over to see Croquet with three other men, each holding their fair share of flags. "I should've known. You never learn, do you?"
Bandit Keith started to panic when Croquet's men surrounded him.
"Croquet, sir, mister! This man stole my starchips and the ones I just won from him!", Maya informed him.
"Why am I not surprised? Men, seize him.", he ordered. Keith tried to dash out of the encirclement but to no avail. The three men easily overpowered him and to smooth his 'transportation' they knocked him unconscious. Maya smiled happily as Croquet handed her the four starchips.
"I believe these belong to you, Miss De Wolf."
"Thank you! Thank you so much!"
"Just make sure not to fall into anymore obvious traps, please.", he warned as he signalled his men to carry Keith away. Maya scratched her head sheepishly, while Rose merely sighed.
"Miss De Wolf, Miss Lieben.", he nodded to each respectively before leaving as well, Maya waving him goodbye.
"Well, that went well.", Maya said. She looked at her chips proudly before putting them on her bracelet.
"Well? I told you it was trap! I just knew it!", Rose exclaimed.
"Aw, come on, all's well that ends well.", Maya said, waving all worries away, making Rose shake her head in disbelief.
"...Are you hurt?", Rose checked again.
"My back hurts a little, but it's nothing really. Don't worry!", she reassured her friend, knowing full well Rose was going to worry anyway. "Let's go look for more starchips. I'm still two behind after all."
"Okay, but don't just run off so recklessly again or I might have to consider putting you on a leash.", Rose said as they continued their search for duelists.
Rex: Hey! Where are we in this chapter?
Rose: Yes! Where is Rex in this chapter?
Maya: How am I supposed to know?
Rose: You wrote it!
Maya: Well, do you want to be in a cave filled with spiders?
Weevil: Yes!
Maya: But they're no Joltiks...
Weevil: Still yes!
Maya: ...
Kaiba: Stop whining little twerps! I haven't been in this fic since chapter 2! This is a stupid fanfic!
Maya: Seto, no! Don't say that! Look, you're going to be in it soon. (Hands over the script for Kaiba to read.)
Kaiba: Rmm, rmm, rmm, ...
Rex: Kaiba is making strange noises.
Rose: Maybe he's broken.
Maya: He's not like the owl.
Rex + Weevil: ... What?
Rose: Not this again.
Kaiba: WHAT?
Maya + Rose + Rex + Weevil: Aaaaaahhh! What?
Kaiba: What am I doing?
Rex: You were making a strange noise. Are you hungry?
Kaiba: No! But this script... why am I...
Maya: Shhh! Seto don't! People musn't know just yet!
Kaiba: Grlmbl.
Weevil: What?
Rex: Weevil, you're not just blind, you're deaf as well.
Weevil: What?
Maya + Rose + Kaiba + Rex: ... Never mind.