Hello People! It's Jupie! I'm back with the new chapter! :D
This chapter is dedicate to the following people:
Cosmic Kiss who has inspired me in a lot of ways and is my online younger sister. She's the Queen of Writing Duels (no, seriously, she is)
Kohaku no Hime who has been my beta for this story. She is amazing and her stories revolving around the lines of everyone's favorite bikers) are phenomenal! She is pretty much the definition of the word awesome. Thank you Kohaku for being my beta!
And of course, my reviewers. You guys give me inspiration to work on this story and I'm grateful
Now time for the fun stuff, the disclaimer:
I, Jupie, do not own in any way, shape or form own Yu-Gi-Oh! I only own my OC's and the plot. The duel was written by Cosmic Kiss and edited by Kohaku no Hime
I'll see you at the bottom!
"I'm home," Skye called, walking through the front door. She was immediately greeted by Jasper and Raphael.
"Glad to see you back safe. Where did you two go in such a tearing hurry?"
"That's not your business," she replied airily, after giving him a quick peck on the lips.
"None of my business?" Raphael cocked an eyebrow. "I live here, you know, and last time I saw Lola she was claiming that men were...pendejos, I believe was the word she used."
Lola, who had come up behind Skye, looked somewhat apologetic. She still couldn't believe that Alister thought she was weak and fragile, but the other man had not done anything to her. "Sorry about that," she said sheepishly.
Skye turned to her and nudged her side. "Tell Raphael what we did."
"Huh?" Lola looked up confusedly at Skye. "You tell him. He's your boyfriend, not mine," she said.
"That reminds me. I know it's not any of my business, Lola, but I think you should talk to Alister," Raphael said, walking over to the dark haired girl. "There might be more to this than you know."
Lola shook her head. "I won't talk to him until he duels me," she said flatly, just as Alister chose that moment to walk into the room.
"I believe I made my point on that topic clear, Lola."
In reply the Hispanic girl held up a deck of Duel Monster cards. "And I believe I've made my own point."
Alister's face cleared and then he folded his arms over his chest. "You want a duel?" he asked. "Then you got one."
"Perfect," Lola smiled, walking out the door, "Meet me at the Kaiba Dome at six. Don't be late."
Once Lola had vanished from view Alister sighed, then looked at Skye. "Where did you two go?"
"Like we've told Raphael, it's none of your business," she said cheerfully, walking up the stairs. "By the way, it's five thirty. Better get a move on."
Alister repressed a groan. "Great."
The group arrived at the Kaiba Dome with only minutes to spare, and while Raphael and Sky made their way into the empty stands to watch Alister enter the arena; there was a chance that Yugi and Joey would arrive later, but that was not certain.
"You ready Alister?" Lola called to him as he took his place on the other side of the arena.
"When you are."
Lola's expression grew determined as the life point meter came to life.
Alister: 4000
Lola: 4000
"How about you go first, Alister?" Lola suggested.
Alister raised an eyebrow. Lola letting him go first? Something was up—he'd take his turn, but he'd exercise some caution. A glance at his hand showed KC-1 Crayton, with 1500 attack and 1200 defense. Perfect.
"I summon KC-1 Crayton in attack mode. Next I'll set one card face-down before I end my turn. Your move," Alister said as a dark green tank appeared on the field in front of him.
Alister is probably underestimating my dueling skills and that will be his downfall, Lola thought with a smirk. "I activate the magic card Graceful Charity. I can draw three cards as long as I discard two. Next, I set one monster and one face-down card to end my turn," Lola finished.
Lola's set a monster. That's either a strong defense monster or a tribute to summon a stronger monster. Alister thought. In either event, I'd better get rid of it.
"I activate my trap card, Tank Corp. This allows me to special summon three Tank Tokens as long as I control KC-1 Crayton, and they each give my Crayton five hundred attack points—making him a 2500 attack point monster. In addition it can't be destroyed by card effects. Now KC-1 Crayton, attack Lola's face-down monster!" Alister commanded as his tank shot at Lola's card.
The card flipped up to reveal a pink marshmallow-like creature.
Alister: 3000
Lola: 4000
"You just attacked my Marshmallon, and while it's pretty weak if you attack it while it's face-down you take one thousand points of damage. And thanks to your attack it can't be destroyed in battle," Lola grinned while explaining her monster's effect.
Alister hummed. Interesting—Lola had been taught how to duel, and based on that card he'd be willing to bet Yugi had taught her. "I set one card face-down to end my turn," he said flatly.
Lola's grin grew wider. "I activate Change of Heart to take control of your KC-1 Crayton, but don't fret—I won't be keeping it for long. I sacrifice Marshmallon along your Crayton to summon Splendid Venus in attack mode."
A bright light appeared in the center of the field before exploding and leaving a person in its place. It was a woman with an ageless and regal appearance; she was dressed completely in gold with four beautiful white wings.
"Now Venus, attack Alister directly!" Lola ordered as her monster swing her staff and prepared to shoot a beam of light at Alister.
"Uh huh...sorry, Lola, I don't plan on losing any more life points at the moment. I activate Negate Attack." Alister could not help but look slightly relieved as a vortex appeared in front of him and took the attack away.
"I end my turn with a face-down," Lola said, looking slightly put out.
"Sorry we're late!" called a voice from behind Raphael and Skyler.
The two of them glanced behind them in time to watch both Yugi and Joey come over to the railing to join them. "Yugi," Raphael said, acknowledging the spiky-haired teen with a brief tip of the head.
"Traffic was murder. Did we miss anything?" Joey asked, looking to the field curiously.
"Nothing much. Just that Alister lost a thousand points," Skye said with a shrug. "He attacked Lola's face-down Marshmallon. Lola also has Splendid Venus on the field, but Alister used Negate Attack to stop her from inflicting direct damage."
Yugi nodded, his eyes drawn to the field. "Although Lola seems to be winning at the moment, I wouldn't underestimate Alister," he commented idly, not entirely addressing anyone. His attention was now focused solely on the duel—a typical reaction from the King of Games.
"I'll go ahead and draw," Alister said. A glance at the card he'd just drawn nearly made him smirk, though he managed to keep a straight face. "I set this monster and one card face-down to end my turn."
Lola could not help but smile. She was winning and if she kept it up Alister would lose! Do you think me to be weak and defenseless now?
"I summon Gellunduo in attack mode and I'll attack your face-down!" she called.
Gellunduo were two tiny (but adorable) monsters, which had rings of light surrounding them. They both joined hands before becoming a ball of golden light and began rolling over to Alister's face-down monster.
The golden orb bounced back to Lola's side of the field and reformed into Gellunduo, much to Lola's surprise. The adorable creatures were squealing in alarm—a red ball studded in silver blades had attached itself to Gellunduo and the monsters struggled to escape it.
"Tsk tsk, Lola. That's why we don't get excited when we're winning. I knew you'd be gung-ho to attack me, so that's why I set Blast Sphere facedown—any monster that attacks Blast Sphere ends up having my monster equipped to it," Alister explained.
"Is that all?" Lola asked in a sarcastic tone. "So you gave my monsters accessories? Great, now Gellunduo can go to the ball."
Alister rolled his eyes, "See, that whole impatience thing involving the crossword puzzle? What you just did there? Yeah, now you understand why I brought that up."
"Hey now!" Lola snapped back. "That was a hard question. It was a five letter word, the second letter was a, and the clue was H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O. Tell me, Alister, how was I supposed to know the answer?"
"H to o!" Skye shouted from the side lines. "The answer was water!"
Lola leveled a furious glare at the other girl. "Chica."
Skye shrugged. "What? I thought I would ease your mind about that question."
Alister cleared his throat. "Getting back to the duel. Because of Blast Sphere, Gellunduo will be destroyed on your next turn and you'll take damage equal to its attack."
Lola grimaced. She couldn't afford to wait anymore—Alister had made an excellent move. Time to end things with a direct attack. "Then I'll have to make this turn count. Splendid Venus, why don't you show Alister what you can do with a direct attack?"
Once more Splendid Venus made to attack, but much to Lola's surprise Alister did not look worried. In fact, he looked triumphant. "I was waiting for that," he said. "Activate Contagion of Madness. If your monster declares a direct attack, you take half of the attacking monster's attack as battle damage. Granted, it leaves me in a bit of a sticky situation, but believe me—I know what I'm doing."
He had barely finished speaking before he had to shield his eyes from the bright light of Venus' attack.
Alister: 200
Lola: 2600
"Fine, then I'll end my turn," Lola growled. "You're stalling now!"
"Am I?" countered Alister pleasantly. "You'll have to wait and see about that, Lola."
"Who are you rooting for to win?" asked Joey, glancing at Yugi. Raphael and Skye glanced at them with identical curious expressions.
Yugi shook his head, his eyes locked on the field. When he spoke his voice was almost distant; it was apparent he was still focused on the duel below. "I couldn't tell you. You'd think Lola would win, given Alister's situation, but then again Alister's had longer to duel and has more experience. I wouldn't be surprised if he has something in mind to counter Lola's attack...after all, brute strength can be countered by strategy."
There was a noise behind them and the group turned around to see who was coming in next—and they received an interesting surprise.
"I went 'ome 'n' spotted a note tha' said you fellas were 'ere duelin'. Wha' did I miss?" Valon asked, walking into the arena. Behind him was a young auburn haired girl who was peering curiously into the arena; Valon was leading her by the hand, so Skye knew that this had to be Joey's younger sister Serenity.
Skye winced. They'd all warned Valon about seeing Serenity primarily because of Joey's reaction to anyone who flirted with her. Given Valon's former encounters with Joey, they'd all stressed how important it was to not anger the other teenager in any shape or form.
Joey's face promptly darkened. "Why are you holding my baby sister's hand, Aussie?" he growled.
Valon blinked, then grinned. "I wasn' aware there was a law forbiddin' it, Wheeler," he replied cheekily. "'n' 'sides, she's righ' cute 'n' I like 'oldin' 'er hand."
Skye face palmed. Raphael suppressed an exasperated groan.
Alister had noted Valon coming in but hardly paid any attention to him, instead studying his hand. He was impressed with Lola—for a first time dueling she'd been doing spectacularly well—but even so he was not going to lay down and let her win. He had already formed a new strategy...the trick was getting it to work.
"I activate the magic card Ante. We both reveal a card from our hand—the weakest monster gets sent to the graveyard and the owner of the card loses one thousand life-points," Alister explained, gesturing to Lola. "You first."
Lola took out a card from her hand to show Alister. "I reveal my level 7 Guardian Angel Joan," she said with a smirk. There was no way Alister had something higher in his hand...he would have played it by now.
Alister calmly lifted one card from his hand. "Level 8 Air Fortress Ziggurat," he announced. "You'll be losing those thousand life points now."
Alister: 200
Lola: 1600
"You just got lucky and activating a card like that shows your getting desperate," Lola sneered.
Alister's eyebrow rose. "Am I?" he asked. He pointed to Gellunduo, who was still equipped with Blast Sphere. "Did you forget about what Gellunduo's little accessory does on your next turn?"
Lola froze, her eyes widening in realization. She had forgotten about the Blast Sphere—Alister would not even have to play a monster at this point to win. She would be dealt seventeen hundred points of damage when Blast Sphere exploded on her turn...she would lose.
"I end my turn," Alister continued, "and that's game."
Even as he spoke Blast Sphere exploded and Gellunduo vanished with a squeal of alarm. Lola shielded herself from the smoke, wincing as her life points went to zero.
Alister: 200
Lola: 0
Lola grimaced and tried not to tear up at the sight of the empty field. She'd been so close...now Alister would not see her as anything but weak after all.
Seconds later, however, Alister had crossed the field and was directly in front of her. "Lola?"
"I lost. You probably still think I'm weak, don't you?" said Lola, not looking at him.
There was a brief pause and then Alister had taken her hand and was leading her wordlessly from the arena. Lola nearly tugged herself free until Alister said firmly, "I want to talk to you without an audience."
Skye started to go after them once she saw them leaving, but Raphael put a restraining hand on her shoulder. "Let them go. How they sort it out is their own affair and that's something neither of us should get involved in."
"But-"
"No 'buts', Skyler," he said, giving her a 'knowing look'. He paused, and then gestured behind him to where both Joey and Valon were glowering at each other. Serenity was looking lost, trying to decide which side she should placate. "Besides, we need to stop them from killing each other."
Lola had been expecting Alister to do many things once they were out of sight of the others—but the one thing she had not been expecting him to do was pull her into a warm and comforting hug.
"I believe I owe you an apology," he said quietly. "I never intended to make you feel weak or fragile."
Her eyes widened in surprise. Why was he...? No. No, he would not do this to her. He believed he owed her an apology?
She shoved him away from her and planted her hands on her hips angrily. "Do you have any idea how pathetic you made me feel?" she snarled.
"Lola-"
"I'm the same age as you and yet you're still treating me like a child. You won't let me do anything that you think could hurt me, but you're wrong! Was your mother this protective or something? Is that why you're so determined to—Alister?"
Lola's anger faded to be replaced by a look of genuine concern and her arms dropped to her side. One look at the man and she knew instantly she had crossed a line.
Alister's eyes had gone wide at her words and a look of raw pain flashed across his face. Even as she watched, however, his expression vanished behind a familiar emotionless mask; the only indication of his current state of emotions was his darkened and angry gray eyes. When he spoke, his voice carried only the slightest tremor.
"I'm sorry if you feel like I'm treating you like a child," he said icily. "Someone I cared about died because I wasn't careful."
Lola found that she could not speak. She did not know much about Alister's past; it was a topic that was rarely brought up, even with the other bikers. Had Alister been with another woman before Lola? No, that couldn't be right—Skye had assured her that Alister had not been romantically involved with anyone else before her.
This wasn't just about card games and learning how to drive motorcycles, she realized now. Alister would show the same amount of protectiveness for her, no matter what she chose to do...and she was certain that it stemmed from the loss of this "someone" Alister referred to.
"Alister," she began timidly, but then she trailed off.
"I lost my little brother, as well as my mother and father. I will not do anything to endanger you, Lola," he continued. "Call me overprotective if you like, but I won't lose one more person I love if I can help it!"
Lola let out a small gasp as she realized what Alister had just said. Alister's expression cleared, and he studied her for a moment before he came to the same conclusion she had and he stiffened with visible surprise.
"You...you love me?" she asked slowly. "Is that what you just said?"
Alister turned his eyes away from her, looking over at a nearby tree. After a long moment, he replied with, "I don't say things idly, Lola. I also mean what I say—you know that."
There was a long pause, but Alister kept his focus on the tree. He should have paid attention to Lola, however, because in the next second something tackled him and he was nearly knocked off his feet. He managed to keep his balance and, realizing he was holding Lola, loosened his grip.
"You aren't weak, pathetic, fragile, or whatever else you're thinking," he continued quietly. "I never meant for you to think I did."
Lola shook her head gently. "I didn't understand why you were being so protective," she said. "I should have asked you why, instead of losing my temper...I guess I do get impatient, don't I?" she added with a small laugh.
"Regardless, Lola, I'm sorry," he said gently. "Am I still a pendejo?"
Lola looked up at the redhead, shook her head, and then smiled. "Not anymore."
A small smile tugged at the corner of Alister's mouth. "Good—I don't like being one," he said, leaning in to kiss her.
"Come on, you," said Raphael, his voice lowered to avoid being heard by Alister or Lola. He gently began leading Skye away to allow some privacy for his friend; the two of them had been uncertain as to how events would unfold and (at Skye's insistence) had followed after them, but now that they were assured everything would turn out all right he decided Alister needed some alone time.
Skye, in the meantime, was barely repressing her excited giggles and waited until they were back inside the building before she began gushing. "He did it, he did it, he did it! He finally admitted it," she squealed, hugging Raphael tightly.
"I'm guessing you've been waiting for that to happen," he replied, wrapping an arm around her waist to bring her closer to him. "I don't blame you. I was in the same boat."
"It's soooo cute!" Skye giggled.
"Um, guys?"
The two of them turned and noticed Serenity alternating her gaze between them and a point behind her. "I don't mean to interrupt you, Raphael, but it seems like you could stop Valon and Joey before they kill each other and I'm sure you're able to stop them before it gets to that point."
Raphael sighed. "All right. I'll see what I can do," he said. "Come on, Skye."
He waited a moment to look over his shoulder, where he could see Lola and Alister coming up the path, and then smiled. "Way to go," he said softly, and then he was following after Skye to separate the two quarreling teenagers.
I hope you enjoyed the Alister and Lola fluffiness ( I did).
Like I said above, Kohaku and Cosmic are amazing and I highly recommend reading their stories
Please Review!
