Chapter 7 – Dinosaur Attack – Part 2
"Duel!"
The coin toss gave Yudan the opening turn.
"Draw! I normal summon Musket Quickdraw!"
The black armored gunslinger monster appeared on Yudan's field (Normal, Level 4, 1600 ATK, 1400 DEF).
"I'll then set a card face-down and end my turn!"
"Then it's time to tear you apart, draw!" Alice drew with delight. "Since I hate traps so much, I'll activate the Mystical Space Typhoon, destroying your set card!"
Winds of a crystal teal colour were released from Alice's card, which were flung in a concentrated blast to Yudan's card, destroying it.
"Shoot, my Draining Shield..." Yudan thought.
"And now, to trash your monster, the mighty Sabersaurus!" The red triceratops emerged to Alice's field. (Normal, Level 4, ATK 1900, 500 DEF)
"Sabersaurus, attack!"
With its massive horns, the dinosaur plowed through Yudan's warrior. (Yudan LP to 3700)
"Hope you've got something better next time! I end my turn!"
Yudan drew for his turn, but unfortunately for him, no card in his hand could be used to surpass the power of the Sabersaurus on the field.
"I can only defend for now; I need to hold on until my deck gives me something to work with" Yudan contemplated in his mind.
"I set a monster and end my turn!"
"Defending already!? All that talk and you've already given up!?" Alice yelled as she drew for her next turn.
"You're entitled to think what you like, as long as you go".
"Fine, if you're not going to be fun, I'll just finish you quickly! I activate Polymerization, fusing together my Gilasaurus and Kaitoptera!"
The raptor and a pterodactyl monster jumped into the swirling portal, their bodies warping as they entered.
"Fusion summon! Horned Saurus!"
As the Polymerization portal faded out, A black dragon-like pterodactyl with a horn protruding from the top of its head landed on the ground. (Effect, Level 6, ATK 2000, DEF 1800)
"Now to battle! On the turn Horned Saurus is summoned, it attacks directly!"
The Horned Saurus leapt into the air and suspended itself in the air with its large wings, giving Yudan and Zahir a strong feeling of anticipated dread. From its mouth, the monster then blasted a sonic wave of energy that brought Yudan to his knees. (Yudan LP to 1700)
"Now Sabersaurus, attack the set monster!"
Sabersaurus crashed into a red and blue robot monster that fell apart on impact.
"When... Card Trooper is destroyed... I get to draw a card" Yudan gradually brought himself back to his feet, then drew his card. To the side of the battlefield, Zahir was continuing to build anxiety as he could only watch helplessly.
"The way this duel is going, it's just going to end the same as mine" dreaded Zahir. "Is she just better than us?" He looked at Yudan, expecting his expression to read something similar, but to his surprise, Yudan looked... calm?
"I end my turn now, I'll finish the job next turn, that is, if you're actually going to do anything about it" Alice stated.
"Draw!" Yudan drew his next card to hold a hand of six. "I set a monster and end my turn!"
"Again!? What is this turtle dueling!?" Alice was completely perplexed. In a tournament where pro-league play was the expected standard, there was not even any attempted resistance. This duel was turning into something of an amateurish squash match that a spectator would expect from years prior.
"Uh... Yudan? Is everything OK?" Zahir mustered the courage to speak.
"I'm OK as can be. I'm just waiting for my opponent to start their next turn". Yudan did not move his body to speak back to Zahir, only remained in sight of his task at hand.
"Very well!" Alice continued as he wished. "It's either you just got a bad hand, or you just plain suck. To waste my time on this when I could have had a back-and-forth duel with any other Joe or schmo is terrible. Oh, well, I beat you and I get to continue to more exciting, greener pastures! I normal summon Two-Headed King Rex!"
To add to Alice's ranks was the two headed tyrannosaurus which lined up with her other monsters. (Normal, Level 4, ATK 1600, DEF 1200)
"Now, Horned Saurus, attack!"
As Alice commanded, Horned Saurus shot out another sonic wave, but the cartoonish cactus monster that was revealed remained defiantly on the field.
"Block Cactus's effect! It can't be destroyed in battle twice a turn!" Yudan stated as his monster grimaced at Alice's dinosaurs. (Effect, Level 2, ATK 0, DEF 1200)
"Fine! If you want to prolong the inevitable, so be it! Two-Headed King Rex, attack!"
The Rex sunk its fangs into the much smaller cactus to tear it in half, but it could not be torn. The dinosaur then retreated in disappointment.
"Now finally, Sabersaurus, finish it off!"
With a yank from its tough jaws, Sabersaurus managed to unroot Block Cactus from the ground, too exhausted from the previous attacks. The dinosaur held on with its teeth and swallowed the plant whole. A destruction sound effect could be heard from inside its belly.
"Done and done! Cactus extermination complete!" Alice exclaimed proudly, but then her expression switched on a dime to a colder demeanor. "We're just counting down the turns, aren't we, cowboy? Honestly, you're an insult to the others you've beaten, truly disappointing".
"Don't you talk to me about 'disappointment'" Yudan retorted. "I tend to make a good habit of 'disappointing' people. I won't be playing defensive just to lose, so you keep on with your attacks, and I'll show you how 'disappointing' it's going to get for you".
"Fine, fine, I end my turn".
Yudan looked back to his hand. In all seriousness, his situation was looking dire. His hand couldn't beat any of Alice's monsters, let alone repel another attack. Did he hit a brick wall where his cards and luck weren't good enough? No, it wasn't going to end like that. To these other duelists, it was just another way to either get rich quick or a good time to make happy memories. He is fighting for his free life. He didn't go through hurdles just to...
Six months ago, in a large clothes store in Los Angeles, Yudan was working overtime at night. The other young employees working part-time shifts the hour before had half-finished cleaning the floors and left many items of clothing that were supposed to be hung back up in piles on the hangers in the entrance of the changing rooms dismissively. He was using the last half an hour of his extended shift clearing their mess, now double-checking the second floor for any shred of dirt.
"Um, Yudan..." Yudan's manager Valerie, a blonde woman in her thirties, was to trying to get his attention. Yudan had heard her, but waited until finishing off organizing meticulously some dust in the corner of a rack of clothes to the rest of his large pile before answering her.
"Yeah?" Yudan finally answered, somewhat energy-deprived.
"Someone is waiting by the entrance downstairs for you, they said that they had come to pick you up?"
He hadn't asked anyone to pick him up. In fact, he didn't know anyone except for the names of a few colleagues. Suddenly alerted, he dropped the broom he was holding, the broom landing with a smack as he sped walked to the hand railing, where he looked down to the ground floor and squinted to see who had arrived. Being fiercely guarded by men in black suits, was an aging man in a suit of his own, except his was wine red and the kind that only the wealthiest of people could buy. Impatiently standing at the entrance, he and his men were scouting for a certain someone. Recognizing him, Yudan stopped looking down as soon as he could. He spoke to himself with hurried breath, but Valerie could make out what he said.
"Dad!"
He ran as quickly as he could, his legs nearly slipping on the pile of dirt and dust he'd formed just a moment ago in a panic, but that didn't matter now. He needed to leave, and fast. His Dad's security could have already swarmed the building. He stormed into the staff room and immediately began grabbing his belongings from his locker, his manager closely following behind, still perplexed to Yudan's fear. She understood that maybe teenagers didn't like their parents that much, but was his worth such an extreme reaction?
"What's going on? Yudan, what are you doing?"
"I'm going, I'm leaving, I can't let him get to me, if he actually chose to come find me himself this time, then he's not taking no for an answer, he'll take me home by force".
"Did you leave home!? Is that why there's all those people!?"
"Keep your voice down!" Yudan whispered as loudly as possible, but remembered he was talking to his manager. "Sorry, sorry. I've just been in a bind for the last few months, I appreciate you having me, but I got to leave this job now, I've got to go somewhere new".
Valerie was stunned, but kept digging at Yudan for answers. "What's the matter? Yudan, does he hurt you?"
"No, no, nothing like that. He just wants me in his box like my brother and everyone else he has under his thumb. I can't live like that, I just can't". Yudan was trying to find a way to fit his deck box into overfilled bag, but before fitting it into his pocket instead, he showed the box to Valerie. "I'm a duelist, not a family heir".
"A duelist? This is all over a card game?"
"I can't explain, I need to go. Besides, there's a free-entry tournament happening the next town over, I can win some more packs to fuel this deck".
Yudan was about to bail into the back-door staff exit, when Valerie stopped him at the door.
"Yudan, just before you go, take this, I found it cleaning earlier this week, someone must have left it, I'm not sure if it good for you, but please, just take it" Valerie pulled out a monster card that looked like an Easter Island statue and forced it into Yudan's hands. "When you do get to be a Duel Monsters player, or whatever it is you do, give your dad a chance, for me?"
"I've been considering that for a good while now" Yudan rushed out the door, never for Valerie to see him again. Luckily, his dad's hired men had not found the staff exit yet and had invasively looked through the inside of the building instead. Yudan rapidly made his way to the bus stop, the same one that he always took before and after every shift.
"Time to go and hop to the next odd job, I suppose" Yudan had found himself a seat, and caught his breath as he was still panting, trying not to be too distracting for the other passengers. He weighed his options about finding a new accommodation, or the fact he had to leave his old one and that would definitely not make the landlord happy, but he had all his necessary items on his person already. Oh, he still had that card in his hand, now a bit oilier from the sweat of his palms. He carefully the read the card's text.
"Oh. This isn't too bad; I can actually use this".
Yudan inserted the card into his deck box and calmed down, though still focused. He needed to keep going, if he didn't win this Odyssey tournament being set up by KaibaCorp, his dad wouldn't consider him to have any value outside of meeting his own ends, instead to receive his father's blessing in a successful dueling career. He wanted to not do this anymore, to return to a life of pride and leisure, but one where he had forged his fortune on his own. That's why he felt the strength in his mind to defeat anyone, his chance at a proper life depended on this tournament.
It simply meant it mattered to him more than anyone else.
Flashing back to the present, Yudan focused his attention to his deck. With the next draw being critical, he would need a card to get him on the offensive.
"Hey, no more stalling! It's OK to lose, especially when you don't have any losses on your tournament record to begin with!" exclaimed Alice, taking notice of the crosses absent on his profile. "But very soon you will, a big fat X! With three dinos on my field, I'm set!" She giggled to herself, though Yudan paid no attention.
"Come on, you can find a way to stop these dinosaurs, right? You beat that big dragon when it seemed like it was over" thought Zahir, reminiscing watching Yudan overcome Mason's Dread Detonator Dragon with Outlaw Jetstar.
"You know, this is what I've been hoping for in a duel..." Yudan grinned, much to the surprise of Alice and Zahir. "To fight the odds, like my life depends on it! My turn, draw!" Yudan's hand cut through the air as he drew. "Heh, this will shake my hand up, Graceful Charity! I draw three cards, then I discard two".
Yudan scanned his hand for a possible play, found it, and discarded two less useful cards to the graveyard.
"I set two cards face-down, then I normal summon Revmetal Swordsman!" Yudan slapped his card onto his disk, and the lizard swordsman coated in rough red armour took form. (Normal, Level 4, ATK 1800, DEF 1000)
"Since there's no face-down cards on her field, it's good to attack!" Zahir cheered.
"You got that right! Swordsman, attack Two-headed King Rex!"
As Yudan instructed, Revmetal Swordsman leapt forward and carved the rex into two, where its neck divided the heads. Alice was quite pleased. (Alice LP to 3800)
"Finally, some conflict for my duel!"
"Then I'll end my turn and you can keep it going!"
"Don't mind if I doooooo!" Alice made a 360-degree spin as she drew. "My Horned Saurus AND Sabersaurus are still stronger than your swordsman, but I'll change the scenery regardless! I activate the field spell Jurassic World!"
The dry shrubbery and grass were blended out of the area as large plant life sprouted from the ground, followed by exotic looking palm trees. Horned Saurus's ATK increased to 2300 while Sabersaurus's ATK became 2200.
"Horned Saurus, annihilate that thing!"
"Not this time, I activate the trap card Negate Attack, putting your attacks to a halt!" Yudan pressed the corresponding button on his disk as Horned Saurus charged its attack, its sonic wave attack being absorbed by a navy-blue vortex.
"All that, and you're turtling again!?" Alice snapped.
"I'm defending AND attacking! My next trap, Receive Return! Since your Horned Saurus couldn't destroy my Revmetal Swordsman with its attack, it gets destroyed instead!"
The vortex from Negate Attack was spat out at Horned Saurus, ensnaring it in the whirls of wind, causing it to drop directly to the ground with a thud, and was destroyed. For the first time in the duel, Alice was shaken.
"Gosh, I hate traps! I'll... set a card and end my turn!"
"She's setting a face-down? I haven't seen her do that yet" Zahir noted.
"Then back to me, draw!" It was another spell Yudan was pleased to see. "I'll activate Polymerization, fusing the Revmetal Swordsman on the field with Revmetal Blocker in my hand!" As Blocker appeared, it jumped in unison with its warrior brethren into the fusion vortex. "Fusion summon, Revmetal Knightfire!"
The reptile swordsman with its sleek crimson red armour carried its matching sword and shield as it appeared from the Polymerization. (Effect, Level 6, ATK 2300, DEF 2300)
"Valerie, your card's going to come in handy after all" Yudan thought. "I next normal summon Moai-Eye!"
A golem monster that resembled a stone Moai statue took form, though it was quite small and odd looking for what it mimicked; it had wide stone feet with not features on them at all, large palm tree leaves were sprouting from the top its head, and strangest of all, it wore salmon pink sunglasses with a tangerine lens. (Effect, Level 3, ATK 600, DEF 1500)
"Huh, that seems quite off-theme" Alice remarked.
"I take myinspiration from all sorts of places. Now for its effect, Vision Scan!"
Moai-Eye moved up its glasses with a head tilt, revealing its, glowing hot pink eyes that shot out a laser with a large width towards Alice's face-down card, catching her off guard. It scanned the area of her card back and forth.
"I start my effect by targeting a face-down card in your spell and trap card zone and stuns it, so it can't activate" As Yudan explained, he noticed Alice had subtly tried activate the card, as he was able to deduce from her wrist movement that he slightly spotted from his distance. "Now's the tricky part. I know have to guess what type of card it is, down to its exact sub-type. If I do, I can destroy that card".
"Ha! As if you could know!"
Yudan thought carefully as his gaze remained fixed on the card Moai-Eye continued to scan patiently. He noted that it was the first card she had ever set in the duel, and that she had just attempted to activate it. It couldn't be an effect when a monster is summoned, otherwise she already would have used it. It could be an attack blocking card, but that wouldn't make sense because she had just tried to get it to activate. His brain circled back and forth on the possibilities and his knowledge on Duel Monsters cards, attempting to decipher what card she would have played. What kind of card would this woman play? Then it hit him, like an anvil to a cartoon character.
"She said that she hated those earlier, and if it is what I think it is, and she hasn't been playing the latter, then her deck has no-" Yudan smiled. "Oh, that is VERY sneaky, but very unique".
"God, where's a judge when you need him? People keep begging them to come over when they play me, but right now I need to do the same and call for slow play!" Alice was growing tired of waiting in suspense, as was Zahir.
"No need, I've come to my decision, and the type I choose is... quick-play spell!"
Moai-Eye's eye scanner came to a stop, then the card was slowly lifted up as Yudan and Zahir followed the card with their eyes as it moved. The card was Rush Recklessly, a quick-play spell. Moai-Eye stopped scanning and fired out a red bolt of energy from its eye sockets, destroying the card on contact. I then put back on its sunglasses.
"Augh, lucky guess!" Alice was revolted.
"More than that, a logical deduction. It gave me a moment to consider what's happened in this duel, to make an even bigger deduction. You don't play trap cards, do you?"
"No traps!? Are you serious, Yudan!?" From what Zahir had learned in his training before entering the tournament, needing to have a balanced array of monsters, spells and traps was vital deckbuilding. To think that this woman he'd lost to wasn't using one-third of what was considered necessary, especially on a pro stage, was outrageous.
"It definitely took you longer than a 'moment', but you're absolutely correct! I sincerely loathe trap cards, so I just made a deck without them! Observe peasants, my most honest form of dueling, my all-out attack dinosaur deck!" She rose her disk triumphantly in the air.
"'All-out', huh? So, I have no traps to worry myself with" stated Yudan.
"Nah, but I do get to focus all of my cards on destroying everything in my duel!"
"But that's where you're wrong, it's not your duel, its mine. Revmetal Knightfire, attack Sabersaurus! Crimson Vanquish!" Yudan pointed to Knightfire's target, the knight slaying the dinosaur with its flaming sword. (Alice LP to 3700)
"Now for Knightfire's effect! When it destroys a monster on the turn its summoned, I attack again!"
Knightfire jumped into the air and sliced Alice in a fiery strike, to finally deal some real damage made Yudan put his fist in the air as the attack landed. (Alice LP to 1400)
"And now, instead of attacking with Moai-Eye, its other effect lets me put it in defence mode, so long as I don't attack with it this turn" Yudan turned the card on his disk, causing the monster to kneel on its sideways card that had taken form. "Safe from your 'all-out' shenanigans. Turn end".
Much to Zahir's delight, Alice's situation had reversed and had become as bad as Yudan's not too long ago. Despite that, Alice was very pleased.
"Finally, you show what you're made of. I was thinking that powerful dueling stench I smelt coming from your body when I saw you was just plain bad body odour".
"Likewise. I didn't think you'd be able to keep your word on being a worthwhile duelist, but that's what this tournament's about, isn't it? Fighting you own kind, where one draw is all it takes to end things, or plain mess them up. Nothing's more satisfying than defeating a strong opponent that's had you on the ropes".
Zahir mentally took note.
"Don't talk like you've won yet, cowboy! I'm not full up on this duel yet, I want to engorge on this feeling until I THROW UP! MY TURN, DRAW!" Alice delivered an adrenaline-fueled draw.
"And what a card to get things going again, the spell Pot of Greed! I draw two more cards!" She searched through her hand and saw an exciting turn ahead.
"I now normal summon Crawling Dragon #2! Don't be fooled, folks at home, this is most certainly a dinosaur card! Which makes it a perfect fit for the cost for my spell card Transcending Evolution! This allows to tribute a normal dinosaur monster for any dinosaur in my hand, and I've got the unbelievable Frostosaurus!"
Alice traded in her wingless mud-coloured dinosaur for the brontosaurus encased in ice. (Normal, Level 6, ATK 2600, DEF 1700) It loomed over Yudan's smaller monsters as its attack power increased to 2900 from the Jurassic World.
"And now, finally, to guarantee my monster stayson top of the food chain, it'll destroy your Revmetal Knightfire! Attack!"
As Frostosaurus charged forward, Knightfire attempted to repel the dinosaur's attack with its shield, but was overpowered from its tackle alone and was trampled with a shattering stomp. (Yudan LP to 1100 LP)
"With that pummeling, I end my turn! Ha, with only one card in your hand, you can't make any mean counterattacks now, good for me considering I had to use all I had!" Alice jeered, despite having no cards left herself.
"Don't count me out just yet" Yudan looked at his Outlaw Jetstar, the only card left in his hand, then placing the tip of his fingers on his next card, then began muttering to his deck. "Come on, come on, come on... I need the winning card now!" He then placed his thumb underneath the card as he gripped it tightly.
"I won't let it end like this! My turn, draw!"
The three duelists anticipated with baited breath as Yudan slowly peered at what he had drawn.
"That'll do".
"What? You can't be serious!" Alice was certain her Frostosaurus would seal the game in her favour.
"I first activate Fusion Recovery! I add from my graveyard a Polymerization card and a fusion material monster for one of my fusion monsters, so I add Musket Quickdraw!" The two cards ejected from Yudan's graveyard and he collected them carefully.
"Really, that piece of junk, from what, ten million light years ago?"
"I activate from my hand the Polymerization I just brought back, fusing my Musket Quickdraw with... Outlaw Jetstar!"
For the third time this duel, the swirls of Polymerization were formed, bringing in the Musket Quickdraw and Outlaw Jetstar into its center. Zahir watched in awe and anticipation, having not been privy to much of Yudan's deck their travels, Alice watched amused, self-assured it was an elaborate way to defend, Yudan simply awaited his fusion monster to appear, staring into the light.
"Fusion summon! Outlaw Shootingstar!"
This monster very much resembled Outlaw Jetstar, though its usual crimson red armour had been altered to match Musket Quickdraw's jet black, its scarf transformed from blue to silver. It's usual orange blades that were equipped to its gauntlets had been swapped out for large golden holsters on its hips, looking mechanical like it's wielder. (Effect, Level 8, ATK 2500, DEF 2000)
"When my Outlaw Shootingstar is fusion summoned, for this turn only, it gains 1000 ATK!"
Shootingstar charged up with a red aura, bringing it to 3500 ATK. The confidence Alice had before witnessing the boost in power had fallen completely.
"Battle! Outlaw Shootingstar attacks Frostosaurus! Sunrise Shootdown!"
The top part of Shootingstar's holsters came undone automatically, large golden pistols flung in the air and into its arms with a small puff of steam. It then charged and fired a massive orange blast from both weapons, the shots going through Frostosaurus's body, exploding in response. Alice had to cover her eyes. (Alice LP to 800)
"That's fine, really, I swear! I'll just do a really good draw next turn and come ba-"
"By removing an attack increase and returning my Outlaw Shootingstar's attack to normal, it attacks again! Second Sunrise Shootdown!"
Alice didn't speak as she saw the monster come directly in front of her to deliver its second blast, only laughed weakly to herself as she looked down the barrel of one of the pistols.
"Ha, what fun".
The following blast launched her body back five feet and her life points to 0.
Outlaw Shootingstar and Moai-Eye faded out as the duel came to an end. Zahir dismounted Mint to and ran to his friend to celebrate, however, he came to a stop as Yudan raised his head, releasing a primal yell into the vast landscape, an outlet for his adrenaline. When he had finished taking his anger out on the Aether, he noticed Zahir standing confused and simply raised his hand to give a thumbs up.
"That's how you get into the next round of this tournament".
"Incredible!" Zahir was reassured, he then ran to Yudan and helped him collect his hologram ejectors to put back into his duel disk. "What a finish! When she summoned that Frostosaurus, I thought that meant it was over!"
"Never count me out" Yudan claimed, rather smugly. "With three wins, I qualify for the next round, considering we make it on time". He looked at his watch.
"We're on the fourth day, so that means..." Zahir counted with his fingers. "We need to be there by tomorrow..."
"Not to fear, we're not far off from Battle Mountain. As long as we make in time for registration for phase two, we're all good, so let's get going!"
"All right, back to horse riding!"
"WAIT!"
Both of them had to cover their ears as not only had Alice gotten up to be immediately behind them, but yelling in such a way you would think they were on another side of a canyon.
"Ah, God... what the hell was that!?" Yudan yelled, ears ringing slightly.
"After all that, after a fantastic soul-binding duel, you're going to leave me behind high and dry!?" Alice was about to reach waterworks.
"Soul-binding or whatever, I'm grateful for the duel, but we're on a very tight schedule, so we have to leave now. Hello, nice to meet you, goodbye. Zahir, we're going".
"Wait, wait, wait, wait!" Alice held them as they tried to leave, Yudan by the hood of his jacket and Zahir by the back of his shirt, making them both nearly fall to the ground as they held their balance. "You not going to just leave a lady alone in a desert, are you!? With all the coyotes, cactuses, tumbleweeds, and uh... nothing!?"
"Now you want to play the woman card, after all that yelling and tomboy stuff?" Yudan was attempting to release himself from her grasp, but her grip was surprisingly firm. "Why do you think we want anything to do with you? You're weird".
"Yeah, and scary" Zahir added.
"Please don't leave me alone! As fellow duelists yourselves, you'd understand you need some friendly rivals to strengthen your journey, I lost my friend before the tournament even began, she didn't want anything to do with me!"
"Well, she must have developed some common sense, so for God's sake, let us go!" exclaimed Yudan, still trying to passively fight her off.
"Only if you're nice and hang out with me for a few more minutes!" Alice demanded.
"Whatever gets you off us, right, Yudan!?" Zahir pleaded.
"Fine, fine!" Yudan agreed, and Alice released them both, much to their relief. The two of them then looked at Alice, who was just staring back awkwardly. She began to start lifting the soles of her feet back and forth, looking at them, then to the ground, then back towards them.
"So... what d'you wanna talk about?" she asked.
Yudan stood there with Zahir, perplexed. She had forced them back, then had nothing to say. What was going on with this woman? Yudan thought to clear the air and get the ball rolling again in this strangest predicament.
"So, who even are you?"
"You didn't even get my name!? Wow, after all that, you'd think we were on name terms!" Alice laughed awkwardly. "Now that I think about it, I don't know what your names are either! What a mess!"
"Yudan Raines" He thought it OK to give his name since she would have already stated her claim for his bounty, then nudged his head to his companion. "Zahir Sharma".
"Well nice to meet you! I'm Alice Patel, the great Canadian dueling prodigy extraordinaire!" She then placed her hand out for a handshake, which both of them reluctantly did so. Both handshakes were forcibly frantic.
"You're Canadian?" Zahir asked.
"Yeah, though I don't talk about maple syrup and ice hockey as much. Oh, and this is my horse Medallion!"
The light-haired horse raised its head up as if to respond.
"My horse's name is Mint and Yudan's is Maroon!" Zahir explained. "Should we all ride together for a bit, so we can keep making progress?"
"Sure!"
They looked at Yudan.
"I don't want another... oh, fine"
Before they knew it, they were all riding together, all three of them in a row. Though Yudan was slightly further away from both of them, but not enough to be really be noticed by the two. They began striding away from Round Mountain and to their next destination, the town Battle Mountain.
"I'm honestly very surprised" Alice spoke to Yudan, though he was looking in the opposite direction, taking him a moment to notice she was speaking to him.
"About what?" Yudan honestly dreaded her response.
"Beating me like that, not only with a crazy-looking fusion monster, but also finding out the plan of my all-out dinosaur deck that specializes in using no trap cards, no one's figured that out before. It took me my whole Duel Academy education to craft this strategy!"
"Wait, you went to Duel Academy?" Yudan asked, dismissing Alice's compliment to smooth out their differences.
"Sure am, freshly graduated from Ra Yellow!" She saluted. "Have you not been in the major tournaments? I'm sure I would have remembered someone like you!"
"This is technically my first major tournament; all my others have just been locals".
"Huh,I guess I'm not the only one trying to burst onto the pro scene. Birds of a feather, huh?"
"Uh... not really".
"Oh, come on, I'm really trying to socialize here!" Alice rode past Zahir and to Yudan, much to his discomfort.
"You don't need to".
"Look, you don't need to like me..."
"I don't recall trying to" Yudan thought.
"... But I'd like to offer you both an enticing proposition".
"We decline".
"I haven't stated my conditions yet!"
"I don't think you will need to" chimed in Zahir.
"My conditions are... that if you let me hang around with you guys... I will... uh... be your personal dueling bodyguard!" She pointed at Yudan with intensity.
"And why would either of us need that?" Yudan asked, still perplexed.
"Well, you seem the cautious type, the type of person who would want insurance against bad guys. For the tournament, any schmuck you want me to duel, I'll duel them!"
"A dueling bodyguard sounds like a scary title!" Zahir said, somewhat impressed. "What do you think, Yudan?"
Yudan had never mentioned to Alice about his bounty problem. It felt to him like she caught onto what he had been worrying about for the tournament on intuition alone. Well... that or she was an Esper, but that seemed unlikely in the grounded to reality sense. She could prove to be useful, and he didn't need to inform her about his predicament.
"Zahir, you hadn't told her about my issue, have you?"
"Uh... nope!" he responded.
"You will duel when I say?"
"Yes?" Alice got excited.
"Then deal".
"Yay! Then let's finalize the deal with a big hug!" She sprung open her arms.
"You do a deal with handshakes, not hugs. And bodyguards don't hug their clients".
"We could make an exception!"
"Not happening".
"Ah, oh well, so let's keep going! Time to increase the speed on our steeds!"
"And another thing, I'll call the shots. I'm used to being in a, uh, authoritative position".
"Do you think she's my bodyguard too?" Zahir asked Yudan.
"Nah, you fight your own battles, helmet boy". Alice responded instead, thinking she needed to for her 'client'.
"Oh..."
"We'll still fight our own battles, don't worry. Now we head to Battle Mountain!" Yudan looked to the future, satisfied in his accomplishment of qualifying.
"OK! I got one more duel to win, and I want to get it!" Zahir lifted his spirits.
"And the bodyguarding quest of Alice begins, what fun!" Alice spoke to herself with glee.
"I suppose there's someone else I need to get used to..." Yudan thought to himself nervously.
With not much time to waste, all three rode their horses back to the main path they were strayed from by the Claim Raiders, and continued from there. With no other duelists in sight, the rest of the day had to consist of mostly conversation, which Alice was more than happy to take part in. It was mostly Zahir and her talking, with Zahir becoming a bit more accustomed to Alice's quirks. Eventually, as daylight was fading, Yudan gathered the power to join in, and the conversations carried on into the night.
END OF CHAPTER