Yu-gi-oh/RWBY Chapter 3
Lies and Denial
To say that Cinder's house was fancy didn't do it justice. The mansion was downright fantastical. Yanagi couldn't believe his eyes that all of this was real. Tanner wasn't as starstruck but was certainly impressed. Blake wasn't. She figured someone like Cinder Fall would be in the height of luxury while the rest rotted in the dust.
At the top of the stairs opposite the entrance was a lady one would expect in a place like this. High heels supported her slender weight as brown pants keep her legs from being exposed. A white jacket adorns her corset like a crown upon a brow, with white gloves around her hands. In one of those hands is an intricately designed umbrella resting upon the corresponding shoulder. Finally, and strangest of all, her hair is brown, but with pink on her right side, as though the two colors were vying for territory on her head.
"Welcome, most honored guests." The lady announced with a bow, clearly practiced yet elegant enough to show the results. "I am Neo Politan, Ms. Fall's right hand lady. Ms. Blake, if you would please allow me to escort you. Ms. Fall would like to talk to you." Turning to the other two, she said "If you two would wait for me, I will give you a tour of the premises." Yanagi beamed up at the thought of a tour of this wonderful place. Blake thought to herself Let's get this over with as she walked forward to follow Neo.
Neo led her up the stairs and past some hallways to a small room where Cinder was waiting. "Ah, Ms. Belladonna, come sit." She said as she motioned to the seat next to the table. Blake, steadily running out of patience for her host's games, nonetheless sat where Cinder indicated. Cinder turned to Neo. "Thank you, Ms. Politan. You are excused." Neo bowed and turned around to begin that tour she promised.
"And thank you for accepting my invitation, Ms. Belladonna." "It was either that or prison." Blake stated plainly. "What's the point of all this?" As she said this, she crossed her arms to signal that she wouldn't play Cinder's games. "Well, it's quite simple. Do you know about the Fortune Cup coming in a few days?" Cinder asked. "That tournament everyone's talking about? What of it?" Blake answered.
Cinder pulled from her suit-coat a letter with an engraving on it and passed it to Blake. "You are cordially invited to attend. Before you refuse, you may want to take a look inside." As Blake did, she regretted it. Inside was a picture of her friends from Satellite. The signal was clear. "If you dare hurt them…" Blake began before Cinder interrupted. "Well, of course no harm will come to them. You know better than to do something that would endanger them, don't you?" Blake ground her teeth together. This snake of a woman seemed to have everything in the palm of her hand, and there was nothing she could do about it. She looked at the picture again, hoping it wasn't the last time she'd ever see her friends again.
"Besides, there is an incentive to do your best. The winner will get to have a match against Yang Xiao Long." With this, Blake perked up in interest. That was what she came here for in the first place, after all. "If I'm going to attend, I'll need my cards and duel runner back." She demanded. "Done." Cinder replied. "You'll find your deck and duel disk in your room and your duel runner in the garage, along with a variety of tools to repair, maintain, and improve it while you wait for the tournament."
Cinder stood up and motioned for Blake to do the same. "Come, let's show you to your room now." Blake, once again feeling like she had no choice in the matter, acquiesced. They left the room and walked through the hallways again, returning to the entrance.
Ruby happened to be entering the room at the same time, so when she saw Blake, now with a criminal mark on her cheek, following Cinder along, it took her as a great surprise. She immediately ran up the stairs to try to greet Blake, but Cinder got in between the two. "I appreciate this surprise visit, Ms. Rose, but I'm afraid my guest will not be having any visitors before the Fortune Cup." This sparked Ruby's interest. The Fortune Cup. Blake is attending that, too? She remembered when she got her own invitation. At first, she thought Roman would refuse to let her go, but to her surprise, he thought it was a great opportunity to let the world know about the message of the Arcadia movement.
Cinder and Blake started to resume their journey, but Ruby grabbed Cinder's arm. "Wait. I wanted to ask you a few things." In a bright flash, Ruby suddenly felt something pressing against her neck. As she looked to her left to investigate its source, she saw that Neo was holding that trick umbrella of hers, with a blade sticking out of the end, threatening Ruby's neck. Where did she even come from? Ruby wondered. "It would behoove you to get your hands off of the good Cinder Fall." But Cinder gave a gesture to Neo. "It's alright, Ms. Politan. I wasn't in any danger." Neo thought a bit, and slowly took the umbrella away from its target.
"Unfortunately, your questions will have to wait. Until the Fortune Cup starts, I can't have the contestants talking with each other." With that, Cinder and Blake departed, with Neo following along. Ruby was left incredibly confused. She had entered that house to get some answers, but seemed to only get more questions.
"EVERYBODY LISTEN!" The red-clad announcer yelled. The crowd responded with a mighty cheer, as though a wave came in from the sea. "IT'S TIME FOR THE BIG MATCH! YANG XIAO LONG, THE DUELING QUEEN!" Yang burst through the entrance with a big explosion of fireworks, her duel runner, the Phoenix Burning, carrying her through the runway. "AND HER OPPONENT, MERCURY BLACK! HE HAS LOST TO YANG BEFORE, BUT CAN HE HAVE HIS REVENGE?" Mercury raced in on his own duel runner, stopping right besides Yang. He gives a smirk. "Your little winning streak ends here. I'm gonna be the top dog!" Yang didn't even look at him. Her mind was elsewhere.
"RIDING DUEL, ACCELERATION!" The two began their race, with Mercury managing to just barely cross the corner before Yang. "I go first. I draw!" Hunter looked at his hand, but he already had a strategy in mind. He didn't want to waste any time. "I activate Skull Conductor's ability. By discarding it, I can bring out 2 zombies with 2000 or less attack combined." A spectral conductor appeared, waving a baton forward to cause two portals to appear. "Come on out, my two Burning Skull Heads!" Two flames lit with crimson flames appear, one from each portal. (Level 3/1000). "When they are special summoned, they deal 1000 damage to you." Both skulls shoot out blasts of fire that hit Yang, (Yang 4000-3000-2000). "Next, I tribute both of them to bring out Skull Flame." Two purple portals with a black center appear below the skulls. They both enter their portals before another portal appears revealing a skeleton adorned in a purple robe with a red cape. (Level 8/2600).
"Hehe. Once per turn, Skull Flame lets me bring out another Burning Skull Head." The skeleton takes off its skull and tosses it out, revealing another skull underneath. "And that means another 1000 damage to you." The skull spits out another ball of flame, burning Yang (Yang 2000-1000). "With Skull Flame's ability, I can skip my next draw to add a Burning Skull from my graveyard. This duel is already over! I set a card to end my turn" Yang looks on, disinterested. The crowd's rancorous cheers that she once lived for could be on another planet for all the effect it had on her. She could only think back to her time with Blake, and that look on Ruby's face when Yang grabbed her. That was stupid, she must have scared Ruby so much with that dumb temper tantrum. Whatever. "I draw." Yang finally broke her silence (Yang 0-1, Mercury 0-1). "I summon the tuner monster Ember Dragon." A yellow dragon appeared next to her (Level 4/1000). "If I have less life points than you when I do so, Ember Dragon summons an Ember token." The dragon calls, causing another, smaller dragon to appear (Level 4/1000). "I tune my level 4 Ember Dragon with my level 4 Ember token." The first dragon bursts into 4 green rings that surround the second dragon, who turns into 4 white stars as well before vanishing in a pillar of light. "As life inches ever closer to death, the heart beats stronger and stronger. Synchro summon! Celica Burst Dragon!" A dragon appears that easily eclipses the previous two, with yellow scales and 2 great horns (Level 8/3000).
"While my life points are below 4000, Celica gains attack equal to the deficit." A yellow aura appears around Celica, (Celica 3000-6000). "Celica Burst Dragon, crush Skull Flame. Heartbeat Burst!" Celica readies a claw into a fist and charges towards Skull Flame. "Idiot! I activate my face-down-" Mercury starts before Yang interrupts. "Too bad! If Ember Dragon is used to synchro summon Celica Burst Dragon, it gains 1000 attack and you can't use spells or traps when it attacks." (Celica 6000-7000) The attack continues and Skull Flame is knocked over before shattering. Mercury is blown away while shouting "Damn it all!"
"AMAZING! YANG MANAGES ANOTHER STUNNING VICTORY! SHE DEFENDS HER CROWN YET AGAIN!" The crowd cheers on, chanting Yang's name. The whole world seems to love her. So why can't she care?