Chapter Forty-Two

42

Epiphone

It had been days upon days since Chazz left Duel Academy for good...

He had lost count of the amount of days it had been since he set sail on his family's yacht only to find himself stranded and ship wrecked in the middle of a misty sea.

"Lousy scrubs..." he muttered to himself,"This is all their fault." he groaned," ...Bastion...Jaden..."

"Hey Chazz! Come on! Let's go! Get your game on!"

"Quiet!" Chazz snapped at the memory of the brunette spazz.

Great.

As if being stranded wasn't enough, now he was hallucinating.

"Princeton~"

"Wha-Connar!?" he gasped as he searched around his wrecked yacht for the source of the quiet voice that was never there.

"Princeton...do your best!"

Connar...

He sighed as he closed his eyes to the memories of Duel School Prep...

xxxxx

"Princeton! You're the best!"

"Heh...yeah...I know it~" she had always looked at him with favor. They spent time together within school walls. Exam preparations. Walks down the halls. Talks in the courtyard. And free time dueling in their lunch hour. It wasn't too uncommon...

After all they were both from big name families...They had to make nice anyway, right? What better way to move things forward than this...

"Looks like I lose again..." she gave an awkward smile.

He should have noticed then that it was forced. But of course...he never did...

"You're strategies are improving. It's good to see you trying new things." he would state,"Still...I'm getting tired of beating you all the time...try something new why don't you~" He teased her as he shuffled his deck once again.

"Maybe I'm just not good at dueling." she stated softly.

"Well that's a bold faced lie." said Chazz,"You always score perfect on written exams and your dueling exams are ace. Don't get me wrong...I know I'm good." he stated,"But considering who your father is, there's no way I can believe that you, Connar R. Kaiba, are 'not good at dueling.' "He said as he shifted his onyx eyes upwards onto hers,"In fact...I think you're holding back on me~ And I don't really appreciate that..."

"Wh-What makes you say that!?" She stammered nervously and he gave her some playful snickering.

xxxxx

I never did understand why she held back all the time...

But she was definititely hiding something...Not that I picked up on it really then...though I did notice some things...

Man though...she was actually kind of cute...

He thought to himself as he opened his eyes from the memory with the last image being her guilty face.

I remember thinking that.

He sighed.

I still don't know why she held back though...I couldn't point it out.

I felt like she was kind of scared or something...

He blinked.

Not of possibly beating me...something else...

He sighed as he closed his eyes back to the memory. Her hair was shorter then. But it was always kept neat. And she still wears that white head band.

xxxxx

"My father and I use completely different decks!" she chuckled,"We're completely different duelists! There's no way I could even think of aiming to be as good as he is..."

"So aim to be better." said Chazz as he shifted through his cards,"It's not that hard."

"Hmmm...Okay~!" she grinned with a smile that could light up a room. In fact, it did. It lit up his heart too...

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind...after you beat him~" she teased with a playful smirk.

"Er-That's-uh...I..." he gulped and began stammering nervously,"I wanna rematch!"

"HaHaHa!"

xxxxx

"Awww~ You two really were close! Weren't you Chazz!?"

"Shut up!" Chazz huffed at the hallucination."I'm gonna wipe that ugly grin right off your face!"

"Hey, take your best shot~!"

"If only I could..." Chazz muttered as he placed his duel disk on his arm,"One more duel...that's all I want..."

"Really? That's all you want? I'd want not to be stranded!"

Chazz let out and irritated growl and took a swing at the illusion and huffed back into his place on the boat.

"Hmph...stranded..." he muttered,"I'm not stranded..." he huffed as he pulled out a water bottle that held his last drop before empty and he groaned,"A little thirsty maybe..."

"Say...you know what I'm thirsty for!?" Still the illusion of Jaden Yuki taunted him, this time with images of Connar's different expressions playing on his mind. Freezing on those where the two seemed rather cozy.

"Get your hands off of her!" he shouted,"She's too good for you scrub!"

"What? Get your mind out of the gutter, Chazz!" he could hear the brunette's annoying laughter echo around him,"I meant I'm thirsty for another duel where I beat you! I'm downright parched for it!"

"Grrrh..." he gripped tightly at the waterbottle that crunched in his hand.

"Still though...I suppose you think You're a better choice for her~?"

"What!?" Chazz blushed and shook his head,"Of course not! I'm high maitainance!"

"Well I suppose we could duel for her-"

"DUEL THIS!" he snapped as he tossed his empty bottle at the Hallucination that which of course he knew was never there,"Ah-oh no!" He tried desperately to catch it before he lost sight of it but found himself thrown overboard instead.

I'll get you for this, slacker!

He thought to himself as he sunk through the water, feeling weak and fatigued.

...I'll get you...!

XXXXX

"Boss? Hello? Hey Boss~?"

A high pitched shrill of a voice in a glowing orb echoed around in a dripping wet cave that reeked of fish and sea weed. Chazz lay unconscious in the middle of a cold wet floor.

"Rise and shine~! Up and attum~ Come onnnn wake uppp~!" it continued to shriek,"All right, guess I'll have to do my wake up dance~" Though before the shrieking ball of light could bust a move, Chazz gripped the source in a tight fist until it poofed away, bringing him back once more to the waking world.

"Good morning young duelist." another voice echoed this time just in front of him.

"What's going on? he asked as he rised,"Or better yet...what are you!?"

A being wrapped in a layer of heavy clothes and seaweed chuckled in his amusement of the startled Chazz Princeton.

"I'm the person that saved your life." he stated,"And for now...that's all you need to know." he said as he sifted through a deck.

"Hey...wait a sec.." Chazz blinked,"Those are MY cards!" he huffed and held out his hand,"Hand them over!"

"Oh certainly!" said the seaweed man,"How very rude of me...whoops~!" He teetered as he dropped Princeton's deck into the murky sea.

"What the hell!?" he snapped but the man soon tossed him another.

"Relax." said the seaweed man,"That card more than makes up for it."

"...Well it better..." he huffed as he gave it a glance and let out a gasp.

It was an Ojama Yellow card.

"What is this!?" he snapped,"Some no name!?" He let out a grunt and prepared to throw it into the sea to join his deck in a watery grave but was soon stopped by the gentleman who handed it to him.

"Stop!" he said,"That card will change your life."

"Oh give me a break." he scoffed.

"I'll give you something far better." said the seaweed man,"Another chance to beat Jaden...and earn back the admiration of that girl...Connar."

"How do you know about her!?" he snapped,"and Jaden too!? Tell me!"

"You talk in your sleep." the gentleman shrugged,"And from the things you said..It seems this Jaden beat you badly in a duel." he stated,"And...about the girl...it seems you feel you've betrayed her trust and so now her image of you is shattered..."

"Hmph."

If only it were just that...

He thought to himself as he lowered the card in his hand and narrowed his eyes sadly.

Not only did I betray her trust...

Shatter her image of me...

I've been lying to her right from the start...

He sighed.

Trying to use her and get close to her for the Princeton Plan...

I deserve the loss of any respect she had for me.

He closed his eyes and all he could see was Connar's shattered expression and the tears she cried.

I'm the one who gave her those tears...not Jaden or anyone else...

"She's not important." he huffed,"And Jaden was just lucky...that's all!"

"Lucky?" the gentleman questioned,"Do you often run away from just luck?"

"He's got you there, Chazz~! You may be wearing blue but you turned yellow fast!~"

"No one calls Chazz Princeton a Coward!" Chazz huffed, freezing up as he flashed back to an image of Connar once again. Standing on the shoreline...alone.

"Talk is cheap...young duelist." the seaweed man chuckled and folded his arms, quickly erasing the illusion.

"Maybe it is." said Chazz,"But I'm rich, and I'll spend whatever it takes to be the best!"

"See, that's the problem." the man shrugged,"That's not something you can buy...you have to earn it. If you can."

"Earn it, huh..."

I wonder if I can earn...

He paused in his thoughts thinking back to the relationship he and Connar expressed together. It's not like they were friends or anything. But she continued to show unwavering support. In return...he used to do the same. The two of them shared an understanding. They understood eachother more than anone else ever could. It gave them a common ground. Mutual respect.

But somewhere... along the way...he lost his way...

I got so used to the adoration and popularity of a crowd...that I forgot what a real friend even was...

"Princeton...do your best...!"

"Yes...earn it." the gentleman chuckled,"And that's precisely what we are going to find out...good luck...young duelist."

Within a matter of seconds a hole burst from the ceiling and a rush of water came pouring in...washing Chazz Princeton away.

To Be Continued