Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ There's Something About Honda ❯ When you fly on borrowed wings ( Chapter 7 )

Chapter 7
~ When you fly on Borrowed Wings ~

Honda crushed a small clump of the delicate sheets in his sweaty palm. He writhed around under the covers, trying to find a position to let air under the duvet and let him feel refreshed. Otogi and Shizuka were sleeping in beds on either side of him, and he wasn't letting either of them see him naked.
He heard the doorbell ring, and someone upstairs came down. Jounouchi, Yugi and Anzu had a floor above them, and Yugi came down in kuriboh pyjamas and opened the door several feet away from the edge of the bed. Honda made it look as if he was sleeping, remembering when he'd have sleepovers at Yugi's, and quickly flop onto the sleeping bag to trick Sugoroku into thinking he hadn't been playing AIR for the last few hours.
Honda had now closed his eyes, and felt Yugi nudging him. He turned over, making it look as if he'd been woken from a long sleep.
“Huh… Yugi… Who's there?” He said, yawning.
“Oh, were you sleeping Honda?”
The tall brunette turned to see Bakura, dressed in a black shirt and trousers with a dressing gown thrown over him grinning down the end of the bed at him. Hiroto threw the sheets up in a mad frenzy, Bakura blushing as he caught sight of Honda's naked lower half. As the sheets settled again, the tanned student now had pulled a set of blood red pyjamas on, and had now sat on the end of the bed to grin at Bakura.
“Why are you here Ryou?”
Yugi went upstairs, deciding to leave them alone. Bakura slumped onto the end of the bed, leaning against Honda as he sighed and looked out at the moonlit plain outside the chalet.
“I can't sleep.” Sighed Bakura, running a tired arm around the width of Honda, the other around the back, and hugging him close.
“What do you expect me to do?” Sniggered Honda as Bakura dug his head deeper into Hiroto's shoulder blade. No matter how much Ryou tried to be more masculine, he always acted like this around him.
“I have no idea. I think it had something to do with today.”
“Something you ate?”
“I barely ate today.”
“Maybe that's the problem.”
Bakura glared at Honda for being so care free, and then became more rigid as he settled back against him.
“I meant about me and Panik.”
“I see.” Replied he, stroking the long white locks of the boy beside him.
“We've seen Obelisk now. Osiris appeared to Jounouchi, or so we can presume. But we haven't beaten it yet, and then there's Ra…”
Honda thought about it, and suddenly, he couldn't drift off either. Victor was planning something. Something to do with Zork. He was somehow getting energy for the ritual, but from where? Was he draining power from people?
And then Honda thought about it. Victor was sucking up the energy of the gods and the sennen items into those spells he was using. It was so plainly obvious, and yet he had missed it.
“Do you mind if I crash here tonight?” Sighed Bakura, breaking his partner from a dreamy stupor. Honda nodded, and as soon as his head flopped against the pillow, he fell into a deep, deep sleep.

The aroma of freshly made rice balls wafted into the bedroom as Honda brushed the sleepy haze from his eyes. Bakura was already up, duelling Otogi outside. He watched Hades destroy Strike Ninja, sending Otogi to his last few life points as he looked frantically through his hand to a chuckling crowd. Shizuka was sitting at the table, still trying to get used to reading normal text newspapers and not braille, like she had at hospital several years ago. Just natural instinct, Honda thought.
Anzu and Yugi were both making the delicious food that was sending the attractive scent around the chalet. Jounouchi was frying bacon and eggs as he glared at the happy student's fun at making their pastry breakfasts for the rest of them. It seemed Otogi and Bakura would also be having the savoury cooking of Jounouchi, due to the sheer amount of food (and for that matter oil) in Katsuya's pan.
As the members of the small housing settled down beside Shizuka and Bakura sat with them, they began to hear the gentle pitter patter of rain. It took them plenty of time to eat their food, and to drink the tea that Honda rushed over to prepare after wolfing down an amiable amount of rice ball. The scent of Hiroto's Yorkshire Teabag tea (made in Holland, no less) let them all feel relaxed.
“Corgi and Horus showed this to me a few days after we `met up' at Victor's place,” sighed Honda, drinking the warming, steamy, brown liquid, “one of the best teas I've ever tasted.”
Shizuka ran with the paper over her head as the others pulled on anoraks or threw up Umbrellas into the pouring rods of precipitation that fell around them like god's tears. The sandy earth was working itself into a mud, as it was in the stadium. The roof (thanks to a back up level covering up the pending hole in the original layer) was raised above them all, letting the rain fall as a soporific Rapsphody against the glass. The commentator had decided to emerge out of the now destroyed commentary box, hoping the emergency translators called in from world-wide news networks would be able to translate her every word. She certainly lit up the occasion, Vivian noticed, envious of the pastel pink and custard yellow frilly frock that the woman, who was usually the host of children's game show `Neko Neko Dama', had dressed in, as if she was a substitute sun.
“Hello there ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Kaiba Grand Prix year 3! We've got a total of three grand duels today, one this morning, one after lunch and one in the deep evening twilight. Are you all stoked folks? Can I feel your hot passions for this tournament evaporating the rain?”
A rather sonorous chorus of `yes' came from the audience, and after a serious of egging on exercises and cringe worthy jokes, the woman bounced off to her temporary commentary room, where her translators were waiting. Eventually, the announcer, a black man with a loud voice called out who was playing.
“Today, after a private lottery held by Isono and Mokuba Kaiba, we've decided the two next duelists. Today we have the American professor Arthur Hawkins and zombie duelist Bonz. Give it up, guys and girls!”
The aging man, dressed in whitewash cowboy clothes with red lining, and small, sallow skinned boy dressed in dreary colours (that seriously ticked off Mai and her fashion sensitive ways) both appeared and stood on either side of the arena. The life points appeared, a dramatic soundtrack booted up on the sound system and the battle began.
“I'll use polymerisation, fusing my snake hair and mammoth of the graveyard monster cards to summon Elephant of Goldfine.”
Bonz placed down his spell, and in a whirlwind of black, his two monsters disappeared to form a gigantic, golden undead creature, rearing up and slamming the dusty ground.
“I'll end my turn.” Snapped Bonz.
“My move, and I'll summon cannon soldier, also activating change of heart. With this, I can take your monster, and tribute it to my machine, along with my own, doing a total of 1000 damage to your life points.”
A small violet machine, lined with cannons, appeared from the earth, absorbing itself and the golden creature into a gigantic red sphere of red hot energy. In a cataclysmic shock, Bonz was thrown across the stadium as his life points and field presence fell.
“I'll summon my Hannibal Necromancer in attack mode.” Announced Bonz, slamming his monster down. A slim, blue demon, eyes placed out on tangents of flesh coming from the sides of his skull, hissing as it bore yellowed claws in the direction of the opponent.
“I'll then set two cards face down. Your move, old man.”
Two face down spells appeared as Hawkins drew.
“I set two cards face down and summon twin headed behemoth, dol dora, in defence, ending my go.”
Two more face down spells emerged as chocolate coloured oblongs, as before it, above it's card, appeared a green and blue hue reptile, heads replacing hands.
“My go, and I'll use Hannibal's effect to destroy your left card.”
“How do you know you'll get a benefit?”
Bonz looked at the chuckling old man, but sent his necromancer in to obliterate the facedown anyway.
“You destroyed my statue of the wicked, giving me another monster on my side of the field.”
Mai and Chronos pulled out their own Pagan Statues, looking at the cards and Arthur's. Seemed he liked to know what the metagame was around them.
“I'll summon my temple of skulls in defence and use Hannibal to destroy your dol dora!”
The sharp talons sliced through the tender underbelly of the dragon. As Bonz ended, the creature came back, smaller and with less power.
“Damn. I forgot his effect.” Snarled Bonz as Arthur grinned, placing down another card.
“I'll use soul exchange!”
A gigantic plume of smoke arose from the hannibal as it crumpled into the earth, being replaced, on Arthur's Field, by a stocky man in frosty white armour. With a blow to the field, mobius destroyed the two face down cards Bonz had set. Mirror Force and Book of Life shattered as the little child screamed in horror.
“Now, as that was a special summon, I'll tribute my behemoth to summon Zaborg, clearing your temple away.”
A man in a similar armour to Mobius, but more saffron in it's hue, appeared as thunder shattered the shrine to the occult.
“Now, due to soul exchange now stopping my battle phase, I'll end my turn.”
Bonz stared at his empty field in disgust. He drew a card and looked at his options.
“I'll set one monster and end…” Sighed Bonz, passing back to the aged duelist.
“I'll draw, and tribute my statue of the wicked to summon Blowback Dragon!”
Three coins appeared in the air behind a gold and flaming red dragon like machine, covered in rusty guns. It aimed at the face down monster as Bonz sighed, and saw the second tails appear.
“Oh well. So my machine failed. Mobius, attack his face down!”
A blast of ice shattered apart the casing, to reveal a skeletal monster wrapped in a billowing purple cloak, holding a long scythe in it's gnarled bony hands.
“My soul hunting spirit reaper will save me from all your attacks!” Cackled the small duelist as he drew.
“Pot of greed, refresh my hand.”
The intricately designed human jar shattered to pass two cards to Bonz, and he looked at his new additions with a glimmer of pleasure.
“I'll now set one more monster, and end my turn.”
Hawkins sniffed as he drew, looking at his new card.
“I'll use blowback dragon's effect on your reaper.”
Two tails again.
“It isn't your day.” Sniggered the short gothic duelist as Hawkins set his mobius lose on the face down. The ageing amphibian with a golden tomb for a shell, pyramid turtle, shattered and re-emerged as a tall, snaking dragon made entirely of reptilian bones.

A pale face, short spiky blonde hair, deep set eyes lined with pimples and adorned with a scruffy old jumper, Stan Marshall walked past one of the duel halls of duel castle. Icarus Island was still an elegant building above him, and he spat on the marble floor as he made his way further up the floors of the gigantic building.
The turrets of the castle had been made off site for anyone who wasn't staff. Stan knew this all too well, and so planned to change that. He checked in his pocket, feeling the stiff ID card above his mobile.
A janitor was sweeping a floor of the new wing, and Stan edged closer and closer to the off limits tower, hoping to catch the old man's eye.
A few steps more.
The man didn't look.
He was now passing the sign.
No eye contact yet.
Strumming against the arch wall…
God dammit!
“OLD MAN!”
“Huh?”
The two of them finally locked visions, and Marshall chased up the spiral of the stairwell in clear view of the staff member. Crying in a toothless, aged way, the man old enough to be Stan's grandfather made a feeble attempt at a sprint behind the failed youth. As he turned round, he caught sight of Stan hanging from a high rafter. As he wailed in despair, a sneaker slammed against his wrinkled face, and he collapsed.
Stan slipped off his jeans and jumper, zipping the dull blue overalls around him. He clipped his badge on, adjusted his new uniform, and looked towards the shafts of sombre grey light bursting through the tumbledown rooftop. He heard a strained Egyptian voice, a heretic chorus, and with that, he began chasing up. He caught sight of a huge urn towering above him, a face he remembered, and then he felt himself tumble down the staircase, landing atop the crumpled form of the man he knew as `Janitor Jeff.'

Kaiba was bored of the duel continuing, and he had now decided to head to see how the turret maintenance was going at duel castle. He leapt down the last step of the Icarus Island staircase, and sweeping into the grand entrance, made his way up to the top floor. He passed hundreds of little children, each one with battered decks slammed into duel disks, chasing after a free arena. Spaces didn't last here. He saw a three year old chase past him, and he glared at what his dream had become.
This wasn't a theme park. This was a clangers reunion.
He didn't have time to admire his handiwork with satire. As soon as he turned round to progress to where Janitor Jeff had been working round the corner, he was knocked over. It wasn't by a little child, either.
The woman in question got up, dusting off her skirt and adjusting her glasses. She had short, business woman brunette hair, and was wearing a lime turtle neck and lycra mini-skirt that she seemed to pull off as well as Ms. Valentine, her slim legs with business woman blotchy tan covered by black tights and a pair of worn out loafers, much like a pair Osaka had.
“I'm so sorry, Kaiba-sama…” She stuttered, sweeping up a purse she had probably been holding lax in her arms.
“No, I apologise.”
The woman looked up at the warming look of the millionaire, her hazel eyes, as round and big as dinner plates, staring up at his.
“It really was my fault for being so cumbersome… Oh crap, Sasuke will have run off long ago…”
A child or a lover? Kaiba was intrigued by her for some strange reason. He'd only met her a couple of seconds ago and yet he could feel a strange connection between them. He swiped a faint sweat from his forehead, trying to ignore a gentle flutter building up in his chest, as if a message was trying to burst out from his lungs. He felt winded, cold and hot at the same time, his head spinning. Had he seen her somewhere before? He couldn't have. If someone wore old loafers and a lime green polarneck, you'd remember them, surely…
“I'm sure Sasuke couldn't leave on his own.”
“Oh, he's fully capable of anything if he puts his mind to it.” Chuckled the woman, lightening up. “I'm Marie by the way. Oh dear, he'll be running rampant without me. See you!”
She chased past, screaming her child's name as she swept down the stairs rather clumsily. Seto swore at himself. He needed to stop being so soft.
As he turned the corner, he saw Victor emerge in his suit, as ruffled as it was. The two gave nervous `I know you from work' smiles, and the Egyptian swept away down the corridor. He seriously needs a trench coat with that swagger, Kaiba couldn't help but think, twiddling with a loose leather strap around the leg area of his billowing jacket.
The cleaner had disappeared recently, Kaiba noted, and he ran up the staircase wondering if he might be up there.
He saw more than just the cleaner's body.
Seto didn't expect to see the twenty odd dead workmen, or that elderly cleaner lying dead atop the stairwell. He also didn't expect to have the bloodied up form of Stan Marshall grab him from behind, muffling his roar of shock as he was pulled away.
Victor and his urn had struck again, and apparently, Kaiba had just spared the next victim.

“Ryu Kokki, destroy his Blowback Dragon!”
The ogre composed of dragon bones shattered the machine, reducing Hawkin's life points to 3900. He was still winning, and the screen was proving it.
“I end my turn. Make your move, foolish duelist.”
Hawkins drew a card, and wiped his brow with a kerchief.
“I'll use double spell. By discarding my foolish burial and spell reproduction magic cards, I can fish out a spell from your cemetery. So I'll be taking your polymerisation.”
Bonz roared as the glow of red from when Elephant of Goldfine was destroyed re-emerged to throw his old spell into Arthur's hands. He placed it down, and the arena went quiet.
“Is that guy mad? I've never heard of a monarch fusion!” Gasped Otogi, stroking his chin.
“My grandfather is one of the greatest duelists of his generation. Believe me, it'll work.”
The field shuddered behind him, as sparks and swirls and ribbons in abundance, composed entirely of light, threw themselves from the earth. A score of 4800/2000 flashed up on the screen before the monster was summoned, as the image began to flicker in and out. The rain was still thundering against the roof, almost threatening to break into the arena. The lights gave way to the creation of an immense being. A man in pearl white armour, long flowing flaxen hair with blue stripes, a muscular form with stocky shoulders, a beautiful border of a golden aura, and two swords, one with the kanji of `masamune' written down the side, the other with the kanji of `tsunami' slashed down the blade. His eyes glowed a faint red, like an albino blushing in hue. Bonz screamed in horror as the creature, now marked as `angel' spread gigantic feathery wings out and hovered over to his side of the field, leaning over Ryu Kokki.
“If I tribute one face down magic or trap card on my field, my creature can destroy one of your monsters without tributing.”
Ryu Kokki exploded in a shower of bones, drenching Bonz in a black liquid as the two swords raised above his head.
“Now, emperor of dreams!” Roared Arthur, throwing his arm out to signal an attack. “Angel Blade Roundhouse!”
The sky was marked by gigantic blue swipes as Bonz was thrown backwards, his life points falling to 0 as he was chucked against the far wall. The emperor faded away, disappearing back into Arthur's duel disk with a shrieking blast of wind and starlight. The crowd cheered as Arthur and the unconscious Bonz were ushered from the stadium. The crowd of qualified duelists stepped out, Kaiba being nowhere in sight, Bakura, Sugoroku, Panik and Marionette staying in the stands. Victor appeared in the doorway after the others left, and tagged onto the end of the group, as if he'd been there the whole time.
“Ok then folks, time for the next round.” Called Mokuba, the rain battering the windowless hall.
“The two next numbers will be whoever duels in the next round. It will begin in a short while.”
The Blue Eyes spewed out two spheres almost instantly, as if it wanted the contestants out of it's maw. The holders were opened, and the names came out. The computer looked for which names were now missing, and they were plastered up by the computer with the familiar voice calling their names. Everyone gasped at the sight. This early?
VICTOR HISAD
V
KEITH HOWARD
Bandit keith ran his hands through his short, bristly blonde hair, and the bald Egyptian brushed off his jacket from the rain as he found his deck out of a pocket, each one in a jewelled card sleeve. He placed it in his duel disk, gold in colour, as Keith inserted his deck. Victor himself was annoyed. Not Yugi? Oh well. He was guaranteed to beat his own slave.
Jounouchi, Yugi and Anzu were sitting in the fast food restaurant of Kaiba Land. Anzu remembered when she used to work at a place like this, and was kind while ordering for her and the boys. She sat close to Yugi as he looked at his deck, swiping his sennen puzzle from his view every so often like a schizophrenic rodent.
“So Victor is duelling next…” Sighed Jounouchi, sipping the last bit of his coke with a hollow slurp.
“Hopefully his skills at Duel Monsters are better than your etiquette.” Anzu snapped.
“Yeah, bonkotsu.”
Jounouchi refrained himself from hitting Yugi at this unneeded comment.
“I bet he runs some sort of divine deck.”
“We've yet to catch sight of Ra Jounouchi, so maybe he runs that. Your remark actually made sense.”
“Yes, he probably does run Ra. But unlike Malik, I doubt the main part of his deck will focus on that one card.”
Everyone paused, remembering that Malik had been assumed dead only a few days back. Yugi broke the table's silence by placing his black magician in the centre of all his cards.
“Victor still has Osiris, I would expect. Either that, or Obelisk and Osiris are going to be sacrificed to that big urn Bakura said he saw.”

If Kaiba had had them with him, he would have chuckled at the irony. Stan was now doing a mad strut around Kaiba, who stayed perfectly still as his bloodied foe thought of a plan. A duel seemed to be the most obvious end result, and Stan didn't seem to be that intelligent. No one smart ever kidnapped a business man in his own company.
“I'll duel you.” Snapped Stan.
Sometimes, Kaiba hated being right.
“Why should I? I have better things to do with my time. I could just walk out, right now. All you want is my deck.”
“If you don't give it over in a duel, I'll take it from you by other means.”
“Why are you here, anyway?”
Stan stopped. His gaze turned to the window.
“I don't want to be stuck in McDonalds. I want to go out in the world.”
“Then go to college.”
“I meant the easy way.” Snapped Stan. A 10,000,000 dollar prize fund, when translated into yen, was a huge amount for Stan to want to take. That many zeros, to anybody, would be worth killing someone for. Kaiba caught sight of something lying on the floor. Victor had obviously left it behind. The long, gold shaft glimmered among the soft hay that had been strewn on the floor. The sennen rod. Seto picked it up, and grinned at Stan. Maybe Pegasus had been right. Maybe he needed the items…
“If you're that desperate, then I will duel you.”

Anzu and Jounouchi shuffled into seating beside Yugi, bringing a tray of their take-out with them. Everyone was ready to see Victor's deck and what it would contain. The NightDuel members in the far area of the stadium were cheering in a strange ritualistic manner as their leader emerged, a fellow member appearing from the other side, stubble lining his cheeks and crawling up to his sideburns. The mood was more sinister than ever before, everyone ready for another ring of diamonds spell to be summoned by one of them. The life point counters started, and both fired off the projectors. Victor's suit was pressed hard against his strong muscular build by the fierce wind building up. Keith tied up a lose end on his toga as he drew his five cards, weather worn and battered like his duel disk.
“I'll let you start.” Grumbled Howard, pointing at Hisad.
“Draw!”
A far more far paced soundtrack was playing as the Neko Neko Dama presenter appeared to commentate.
“Two of the big cheeses in NightDuel are about to face off, but who will win? Bandit is known for a machine deck, but Victor has yet to have his deck announced.”
Victor looked through his options and placed down a monster.
“I'll summon my manju of the ten thousand hands.”
A golden idol, made of tin with a sinister look in it's eyes appeared on Victor's field.
“When manju is summoned, it allows me to bless my hand with a ritual involvement card from my deck. So I'll just be taking this nice card here and adding it to my hand…”
He set two cards and ended.
“I'll summon mechanical chaser, attacking your manju now!”
A gigantic vermilion sphere, lined with various torture devices loaded onto mechanical limbs, appeared before the statuette, and was about to shatter it when…
“Shadow Spell!”
The creature's attack dropped to 1150, and Manju shattered it. 250 damage was applied to Keith's life points, reducing him to 3750.
“I set one card and end.” Snapped Bandit.
Bakura and Honda were cuddled up together as Jounouchi looked down on the duel below.
“The second in the world intercontinental championship versus the head of one of the greatest duelling societies in the world? Man, this is a clash of the titans, right here.” He spluttered through a mouthful of fries.
“I'll summon my Element Valkyrie and activate my summoning of dryad spell card.”
A flash of red light, followed by blue, green and brown erupted from the earth as his element dragon left his hand. On the field appeared a beautiful young woman with long grey hair, deep red eyes and hallow cheeks. She was dressed in a flowing blue cloak and crimson cap that almost slipped over her eyes.
“Now I'll set one card. Manju, attack directly.”
The tin mage swept over, but before it could finish the long-range slap it was about to perform, it smacked a young woman to the ground instead.
“My waboku will protect me from battle damage this turn.”
Victor mindlessly sent his last few monsters into attack and then ended his go.
“I'll draw.” Sniggered Keith, looking at his new card.
“I'll activate card of demise, giving me an extra five cards for my hand. Now, I'll activate cheerful coffin, sending these three monsters to my cemetery, and then use soul release to remove them.”
Victor raised an eyebrow as if to ask `why the hell is he doing this?' as Keith used dimension fusion to bring them all back to the field. Perfect Machine King and two normal machine king, along with mechanical chaser, had all appeared on the field.
“Now I'll set magic and trap cards until I have no hand! Perfect Machine king! Shatter elemental master dryad and a huge chunk of Victor's life points!”
His creature chased towards dryad, who shattered before he had even laid a finger on her. Annoyingly, so did the whole of Keith's field.
“What the…”
“Foolish child. By using my elemental burst, I could tribute dryad, who counted as water, wind, light, water and fire to it's effect and destroy your whole field.”
Bandit Keith saw his entire chances fade away before him.
“This is a strange deck type.”
Otogi and Jounouchi agreed with Honda as they looked down on Victor, who carelessly stood there without a problem in his mind.
“Now, I'll draw and activate my own special little spell, card of sanctity.”
Keith picked up six cards and Victor filled up his hand.
“With these options, I activate my reincarnation gel.”
A small, cute red blob of jam appeared in the air above Victor, oozing to the floor below.
“Now thanks to my monster's effect, it can morph into any monster in your cemetery with 500 less attack points. So I'll become your perfect machine king with 2300 attack points!”

“No…” Rasped Stan, as he felt his bones crush under the weight of the dark veil surrounding him. As the darkness subsided, he remaining standing upright, a pool of his blood soaking the floor beneath him. Kaiba placed the sennen rod in his belt, and looked out at the large LCD screen almost directly across from the window. Victor, to a shaky camera angle, was carrying Bandit Keith's limp body away into the darkness of the annex to great applause.
The smell of Mai's cigarette drifted over the tabletop as Rebecca sipped her coffee. Isis and Vivian were fanning through their decks and making last minute changes, as Anzu and Tilla discussed their acting and dancing careers positively, each one trying to out-boast the other. Corgi slammed down her hot chocolate, a rim of frothy milk lining her top lip, causing Rebecca to giggle. She couldn't help but be glad she had met a girl so similar to her.
“Man, you're so lucky to be in the top 8 Rebecca.”
“I suppose… Though sometimes I don't feel I can compete with big league players.” Sighed Ms. Hawkins, taking another long drink. Corgi began to rip apart her chocolate twist, shoving a large ball of flaky, soft pastry lined with chocolate drops and icing sugar into her mouth, wiping away the milk moustache briskly with a sleeve of her woolly cardigan.
“Sure you can. If I can help battle against a god, then sure as hell, you can beat anyone here.” Chimed McDougall, nearly spitting the contents of her maw onto the shoulder of Rebecca's lavish crimson jumper.
“The next round is gonna be announced in an hour, well, the last two, anyway, and I'm sure at least one of us here will be paired up for it.” Snapped Mai, flicking to her page in Bridget Jones' Diary and reading again.
“I can't wait. The competition here is so fierce.”
“Don't get too worried Vivian. We'll all get a chance to prove we're tough in that arena at some point.” Grinned Isis, redoing a braid in her hair.
“Oh well, I'll beat you all to a pulp.”
“Quit joshing, Anzu, this is really difficult competition.”
“Relax Vivian,” Anzu said hastily, “I'm going to lose in the first round, I bet.”
“We can safely say the same about Vivian…” Said Rebecca with a wry grin. The Asian champion turned to look at the young American with disgust.
“Asian duelists are way better than you pathetic American players. Just because you won a bigger championship than I did means nothing!”
“I'd like to test that statement. Again. Remember at the last Kaiba tournament? I beat you to a pulp!”
“And then Leon creamed you in the next round.” Spat Vivian in contempt with a cruel smile verging on appearing over her thin lips. Rebecca got up from the table, as did Wong, and the two gave fiery glares at each other. Corgi was sure her auburn hair would set alight with the heat being radiated from the two duelists.
The two pulled out their duel disks, Rebecca moving to the far side of the Alfresco balcony as Vivian did the same. The others made sure to back away into the main seating room, taking the table with them to clear the area of anyone but the two women in combat.
“Mokuba! What are you doing here?” Gasped Anzu, turning to see the dark haired boy rush up, panting, from the floor below.
“I came to report that the next duel…”
“Is between Vivian Wong and Rebecca Hawkins, the Asian and American champs!” Interrupted the intercom.
“Yeah… Well…” Blushed Mokuba, rubbing his hair profusely in embarrassment.
“Seems it was made just in time,” Isis said, finally finishing her braid, “because they're just about to duel right here, right now!”
The crowd in the top level of the coffee shop pressed their faces against the French windows to try and get a good look at the battle. People streamed from the stadium, rushing to the small coffee shop opposite the girl's chalet, trying to see the duel commence. With a click of Life point counters and Mokuba's referee whistle, the duel was underway.

“I summon my Ruby Dragon in attack mode, setting two face down cards and ending my turn.”
Rebecca's gem encrusted reptile emerged with fluttering wings, a hunched back and a malformed face of yellowed teeth and sunken eyes.
“It's my turn, and I summon kyonshi of water!” Announced Vivian, throwing her monster onto the field. A faceless zombie emerged, dressed in a blue version of Vivian's oriental garment, holding a long cerulean scythe in her hands as she appeared above a seal of interwoven water-like symbols.
“Thanks to kyonshi of water's effect, I can draw two cards if my opponent's monster has a higher attack. And as ruby dragon has 1600 attack, 100 more than my faceless zombie, and I can draw my precious new options.”
Vivian pulled two more cards from her deck, and looked at her new cards.
“Now I play Torrential offering, which allows me to tribute your monster to summon a level 5 or 6 monster from my hand specially, so I choose Lord Panda.”
The water shattered over the red lizard, and flowed over to Vivian, forming into a rotund, black and white mammal with a crown far too small for it's large head. On Rebecca's field, however, a blue version of the dragon she had before appeared.
“Vivian, don't you remember Ruby Dragon's effect? When it's destroyed, I can remove a spell counter on it, which was made when you played a spell, to special summon a Sapphire Dragon from my deck.”
The 1800 attack Mammal was shocked at the 1900 attack monster's advent, as was Vivian.
“You seem to be forgetting my panda's effect. For every monster on your field, it gains 500 attack points.”
The gigantic creature chased over, and was about to strike the dragon when…
“Flip trap card! Attack Guidance Armour!”
The panda pivoted round, sweeping it's attack at the blue-clad corpse. With a shattering blow, the zombie collapsed into a pile of dust, and Vivian lost 800 life points, putting her on 3200.
“Humph. I'll set one card and end my turn.”
The oblong appeared and Rebecca drew.
“Summon my Injection Fairy Lily! When this monster attacks, I can pay 2000 life points to increase it's attack by 3000! Cool or what?”
“And my panda now has 2800 attack. And when it's attacked, I can special summon one panda monster from my hand, so I choose my gyaku-gire panda, and now has 2000 attack points due to two monsters on your field.”
“But who said I'll attack yet? For now I'll activate my face down divine wrath, destroying your king panda and leaving you with only monster!”
A godly blast of lightning shattered Vivian's tribute monster, and she screeched as Rebecca discarded as part of the card cost.
“Now injection fairy lily, I pay 2000 to make you destroy that pathetic panda!”
Vivian lost another 1400 as her mammal exploded in a furry massacre. She now had lost 2200 life points, and only had 1800 left, 200 less than Rebecca.
“And now thanks to my sebek's blessing quick play, I can gain the life points you just lost. So now I have 3400 life points.” Giggled Rebecca, before becoming stern again and sending her monster to attack.
“Now Sapphire Dragon, finish her off!”
Vivian threw up her face down card.
“You activated my claymore pit. Now I destroy the monster on your field with the highest attack, which is your luster dragon!”
Rebecca turned away as her reptile was impaled and destroyed. She pouted and played her final card in hand.
“I play pot of greed to get two new cards.”
The occult vase shattered to hand Rebecca two new options, she set one and played the other spell.
“My mirage of nightmare, and in your turn, I draw an extra four cards, having to discard that number in my turn.”
Rebecca ended, and Vivian watched both of them draw.
“Now I flip my face down Emergency Rations, destroying mirage to give me 1000 life points and four new cards!” Chuckled Rebecca, as her face downs cleared and her life points become 4400.
“Your health is not assured, young one, as I play my Lowly Last Chance spell. When I have 2000 or more less than you, I can play this to special summon all the monsters in my graveyard that will fit on the field. So my two pandas and my kyonshi will appear back to me. And thanks to kyonshi's effect, I draw two more cards.”
The mammals and corpse emerged one more.
“Now I use my Lord Panda to attack your Injection Fairy Lily!”
“Pump up by 2000!” Roared Rebecca, as her lady creature killed the panda in an ear splitting roar.
“Thanks to his destruction, I can play one trap directly from my hand to the field. So my Twilight Barrier comes into play.”
Rebecca fumed as a wall of orange cloaked stars enveloped the two duelists, blocking them from the crowd below.
“Your trap card won't save you!”
“Now my panda, attack as well!” Announced Vivian. Her panda raced at the once more pumped up Lily, and shattered.
“You lose Vivian, you idiot.”
“Wrong. I had 1200 life points left, and my panda had 2000 attack, so yes, I should have dropped 1400 and lost the duel. But my twilight barrier protects me from battle damage!”
“God damn it…”
“Now with only 400 life points, my kyonshi will wipe out your lily and your remaining health! Go my corpse, destroy the monster!” Roared Vivian, sending her monster in to attack.
“Discard my underdog charm! When I have 500 life points or less, I can use this to stop one attack my opponent makes. So I still survive.” Announced Rebecca.
Vivian noticed she now only had her kyonshi on the field and cursed herself. How foolish. She should have expected Rebecca to have something like that prepared.
“I end… Your go…” Murmured Vivian.
“It's time for the end of this duel.” Sighed Rebecca. “And I thought you were better than this.”
Vivian began to cry, tears welling up in her eyes and then cascading down her face.
So did I… So did Sakuretsu… Before he killed my family…
“I'll summon twin-headed behemoth.”
A reptilian creature with heads instead of hands and no neck or face to speak of emerged.
“Now Sapphire Dragon, destroy Kyonshi, and then Dol Dora, Twin Headed Behemoth, destroy her final 800.”
Vivian collapsed to the slab flooring as the lizard crunched away at her virtual health bar. Mokuba raised one arm in the direction of Rebecca, blowing the whistle again.
“The third duel of today ends with Rebecca Hawkins, America Champion, winning against Vivian Wong!”
Vivian was helped up by Mai and Anzu, as she murmured to herself. She murmured about wanting revenge. She murmured about the dead. She murmured about Sakuretsu-sensei and how he turned against her.
Rebecca was congratulated by a stupendous applause from all who watched.

Vivian sat down on her bed in the chalet, wiping her teary eyes on the handkerchief Mai had handed her. The blonde couldn't help but remember when she had handed this same lace tissue to Jounouchi at Duelist Kingdom. Had it really been three years since their last meeting?
“I can't believe it…”
Mai snapped back to see Isis holding Vivian who was murmuring something under her breath.
“I wanted the cash prize. I needed it. I wanted to do what I'd always wanted to do, and find that man who killed my parents, my village…”
Vivian gulped once more, taking out her deck and taking the trap card sakuretsu armour out, looking at the name intently with her blurring eyes.
“…My world.”
Isis patted Vivian's shoulder, and gave a nervous look at Mai who pulled a chair round in front of Vivian, sitting on it and holding Vivian's hands in her own as the Chinese woman dropped the card to the duvet beside her.
“It's alright Viv.”
“It's not alright, Mai.” Rasped the raven haired duelist, averting her gaze from that of her friend.
“When I was a child, we were all happy in our home, people said hello to us in the street, and let me play with their sons and daughters. It was a great life. And then it all came crashing down…”
Vivian took a quick glance at the card on the duvet beside her.
“Our home was near a local market, and every Saturday I'd go and buy something nice for my parents, and then I'd get something for me. We weren't rich, but we weren't poor. It was a nice feeling, to look around so many stalls and buy things like that. It was then I found one of the stalls which was run by an old man. He was selling duel monsters cards, saying they were an ancient form of Egyptian magic. I'd already bought a necklace and a toy car for my parents, and then the man asked if I wanted to learn how to play this card game, and I agreed, and he took me to the centre of the village square. He pulled out a strange object, I couldn't see what it was, and as soon as he held it up, I was plunged into darkness. I awoke next day beside a doctor from a distant town, who was telling my parents I had been infected with a terrible darkness, and he'd have to cure me of it.”
Vivian shuddered at the memories, rubbing her left thigh as if it was in some sort of tweaking, annoying pain.
“I didn't know why, but the world was so unclear to me, as if everything was in a dream. I was taken away to be cured of the problem, but when I came back, everyone was wary. Parents beckoned their children away from me. I never got hellos, only whispers of what I had done, and it was all due to that man.
One evening, I was sitting and drawing one of the cards I had bought so long ago. They had such beautiful art, especially dragon lady…”
Vivian held back her now minimal crying and smiled.
“She was my favourite. I must have been drawing for a long time, and I thought that the evening reds and hot colours hadn't gone down yet to make way for night. I turned, and saw it had. The spicy colours were the results of fire. I ran down into the town, and found my parents and local people trying to fend off approaching men, there were only a few, dressed in huge suits of silver armour.”
Mai and Isis now dared to look down at the card on the sheets. The image was well depicted. Night time, corpses thrown everywhere, a man in silver armour walking onwards.
“I was the last one remaining. I saw a man in the flames, his hair hidden by the destruction of the same colour. His eyes were cold, metallic and precise in every way they manouvered. And then he caught sight of me. With a click of his fingers, the three armoured men disappeared into corpses on the ground. He came up to me, and said, `I see you play duel monsters. Take this card, all three copies of it, and remember me. When you age, I want you to meet me. And then, I shall finally kill the last member of the clan. I cannot kill a girl with such potential.' So he handed me three copies of sakuretsu armour and left. I was alone in the wreckage of the place I had loved in the past. Only then did I feel independent. I wondered for days, following streams and forests until I found a wandering merchant who adopted me. I trained so hard, and then I became Asian Champion…”
Vivian finally finished, and broke into crying again. The two women looked at each with sorrow in their eyes at what Vivian had recounted to them. No wonder she wanted to win. She wanted to finally meet that man. The one who had killed her family and friends.
“The next round is going to start soon…” Murmured Mai, picking up her bag and walking towards the stairwell, “We'll see you soon.”
Vivian shook her head, and taking hold of Isis, followed them down the stairs.
“I want to see my friends win.”

The crowd had now moved back into the stadium as twilight finally descended, no longer needing a trap simulation to see the dusty sky of lavender and saffron laced with strings of starry patterns. They settled down in their seats as the Neko Neko Dama presenter stepped up, a huge grin spread on her face.
“Rebecca will sure be glad about that! For the next lottery, it will be revealed by way of this LCD screen here, due to concerns for the safety of the machine.”
A couple of people chuckled at her last line, but Yugi and the others were just as firm faced as ever. This was no laughing matter. If Victor, or anyone for that matter, was meddling with that blue eyes contraption, they could have a plan for the future of the tournament. The screen fuzzed into action, showing Isono and a tired out Mokuba throwing down the two levers to make the system work. Two more coloured orbs rolled out onto the dish below the bottom jaw of the juggernaut's image, and Isono read out the names.
“The final set of duelists for today… Mai Valentine…”
The blonde female pulled her deck from the lace strap wrapped around her left thigh, and placed it in her duel disk, which still was in the sleeping position.
“And Isis Ishtar…”
A look spread across Mai's face of horror. Isis looked across the stands to Ms. Valentine and gave a cheery wave. She now also placed her deck in he duel disk.
“This duel will be happening in the stadium still folks, so hang tight as the two lovely ladies work their way down to the stadium.”
Mai's legs were wobbling and her knees buckling slightly as she made her way down. She didn't want to duel Isis. She was the last person she wanted to face, as she had no understanding of Isis' deck, unlike everyone else who was here. The Egyptian was perfectly fine, skipping down into the arena with a jovial waltz in her step as they both flicked their duel disks into wings mode. The projectors burst out of the sides, rainbow coloured panels lightning up on their sides as they focused on the prism machinery inside the machines on the arms of the two women. The lights burst on in little streams of colour that reflected like little waves on the ceiling of the arena, and their decks burst out five cards into the player's hands.
“I'll go first.” Announced Mai, and Isis gave her consent to do so. The sun's streaking beauty across the sky set a majestic tone to the duel as the life point counters whirred into their working existence.
“I summon Cyber Harpy Lady and set two cards face down. Turn end.”
A soporific melody played as feathers erupted from the ground into the beautiful leather clad soldier of the skies, the shaded images behind her housing powers to prevent Isis from doing anything risky.
“Card draw! Summon Hysteric Angel in attack mode, equipping it with cestus dalga.”
A stream of laser lights emerged, a man with slick blue hair and a skimpy school uniform, holding two textbooks, emerged. The heavy tomes in his arms transformed into a set of bronze, sharpened blades, which he strapped to his wrists.
“Now hysteric angel, attack that cyber siren now!”
“Trap card activate, Feather Hurricane!”
The blades fell from the angel's wrists, disappearing into the realms of the cemetery.
“When feather hurricane is played when I've got a harpy lady on the field, I not only get to destroy your card, but to play one spell of the same type as the one I just destroyed straight from my hand. So now I play harpy battle armour, giving my monster an additional 500 attack points!”
The 2300 attack bird destroyed the young scholar, dealing 500 damage to Isis.
“I'll set one card face down. Turn end, your move Mai.”
Drawing another card, Mai looked at her options.
“I play Harpy Hunting Ground, and then summon Harpy Lady No.1!”
A less buxom version of the wind monster appeared next to the last monster Mai summoned, as the ground below turned to a dusty gravel. The face down card Isis had played was strapped to a target, and with a feather arrow, it was shattered by the new monster. The image of waboku appeared out of the card, and Mai cursed.
“My waboku trap card protects me from all battle damage this turn! So now Mai, you can't attack me. Good thing to, your monsters would have destroyed me otherwise.”
Isis drew a card as Mai ended.
“I'll set one monster and set one card face down. End turn.”
Mai nodded as her turn began, and she drew one card.
“Harpy lady 1, destroy her face down!”
The young female smacked against a small machine, made of gold and blue stone like lapis, with long limbs. The harpy returned to Mai's hand.
“When Kelbek is attacked, it returns the monster that attacked it to the owner's hand.” Sniggered Isis.
“Well I'll be finishing his little plan! Cyber Harpy, attack it!”
The monster shattered on impact with the talons of the fierce creature, only for the harpy to appear back in Mai's hand again.
“I set one card and end…” Sighed Mai, placing her spell down.
“Draw! I summon Archangel Gabriel!”
The 1900 attack 4 star emerged, a beautiful woman with flowing brunette hair, perfectly applied lipstick and round edged almond shaped azure eyes. Wings spread from the long, rich, silk folds of the robes that the creature Mai recognised from her `Graceful Charity' spell emerged.
“Now I'll attack you directly with Gabriel, attack now!” Roared Isis. Mai was thrown back by the blast and managed to get up as her life points fell to 1900, due to the additional damage Kelbek had made her take.
“Draw! Now I activate card of sanctity, giving both of us a total of six cards in hand, and then I use delinquent duo.”
Two small creatures, one red, one blue, emerged and picked up a card from Isis' hand, placing them in the cemetery with a sinister cackle.
“I have to give up 1000 life points to play my Delinquent Duo, but with my face down spell economics now activated from my face down, I can get away with not paying the cost.”
Isis looked at her hand once more, and noticed how perfect what Mai had done was.
“Now I summon my cyber harpy, using elegant egotist to summon a harpie lady sisters. Now I can destroy your face down as well as my hunting ground. A small price to pay.”
Next to the original leather clad creature, three more, each dressed in golden armour, one with long raven hair, another with short auburn hair and another with strange green locks appeared, each greeted by the same melody played whenever a harpie was summoned. The earth turned back to the sandy stadium, and Isis' card was destroyed.
“Sorry to disappoint you Mai, but I'll chain my face down fairy masquerade. When it's activated, I can choose any two spell cards from my hand and use them instantly. So I'll choose my monster reborn and spell reproduction, allowing me to discard the two monster reincarnation in my hand to bring back cestus dalga, equipping it to my newly reborn Airknight Parshath.”
The heavenly centaur appeared with glowing copies of the blades attached to the sword and shield in it's arms.
“As if I care about your little power boost. Sure it may be strong now, but when I activate my Harpie Feather Sweep, it's disappear from the game.”
Airknight Parshath grunted and neighed as the weapons were swept from him.
“Now I'll use my rose whip, equipping it to my Cyber Harpie to give it a 300 point power boost. Go Cyber Harpie, destroy Airknight Parshath!”
The beautiful lady threw the long natural whip of vines at the monster, shattering it in a single blow to deal 200 damage to Isis, leaving her on 3300.
“Now my harpie lady sisiters, attack for a total of 1950 for each of you!”
Isis cried in pain as the first one swiped an elegant claw across her dress, drawing blood as the once tomb keeper was thrown back against the windy power of the next assault, which sense her sprawling off the arena with 0 life points left.
“And the winner of this duel, Mai Valentine!”
Isis stumbled off with the help of Anzu and Shizuka to the hospital wing as Mai was greeted by Jounouchi.
“I knew you could do it, my sweet Valentine…”

Vivian was now alone in her row, as everyone else went down to congratulate Mai. She took a sip of the soda she had bought from a vendor during the duel, but almost spilled it as a chilly, Egyptian accent burst through her consciousness.
“Hello, Ms. Wong.”
“Victor!” Cried Vivian, turning to see the man sitting next to her. She tried to raise her left arm to hit him, but he grabbed it, rubbing his thumb up and down her wrist.
“I heard you recounting the tale of your most unfortunate event back in China.” He cooed into her ear. She froze, gasping in shock, as he felt him but his other hand on his knee, rubbing the thumb on his leg occupying hand up and down the fabric over the joint.
“But my dear child, you don't want to find the Necromancer who killed your family, do you?”
Vivian nodded, then shook her head, her eyes wide and dull at how he knew all this, how he had heard it.
“You want to find the man with the strange, lopsided beard and robes who seemed too young to be old, who sold you those cards, don't you Ms. Wong?”
Vivian remembered what the lady had told her in the clinic when she was taken away, what she had remembered that night a week or so ago in Victor's building. She remembered the man in a shaky frame, holding Dragon Lady up to her vision, her feminine, childish desires drawn to the sparkly image on the trading card. All this for the want of a glittery trading card, she thought, almost laughing, but not finding the courage to do so in the presence of Victor, who chilled her to the bone.
“Well, Vivian.” He said, almost licking her earlobe he was so close to her, near spitting every syllable into her eardrum. “You're sitting right next to him.”
“Hisad!” Roared Mai, chasing up the stairs to see the calm man look back at her with emotionless eyes.
“Yes Ms. Valentine?” He replied in a mellow tone.
“Get away from her immediately. She's not having a good day.”
“I was merely helping her to reach her ultimate goals. I'm sorry if she seems a little frazzled, but she was just touched by a revelation.” He said in an oozing, suave voice as he looked back at Vivian and then knocked against the blonde's shoulder as he stepped past. Mai could smell the scent of incense and the grainy texture of sand against his suit.
“Get out now, Victor. We'll settle this when the tournament feels it right to do so.”
“You don't know how right you are, Ms. Valentine. You don't know how right you are…”
And with that, he swept down into the opposite wing Isis had been helped into, leaving the two women scared and on their guard.

The night was closing in, and several duelists had made their way to the coffee bar again. Several people went to duel in various places, or at tables, while Shizuka lead the others over to a couple of tables right near a stage.
“Why in the world are you leading us here sister?”
“You'll learn in a minute Jounouchi.” Giggled the brunette Katusya, placing her brother like a rag doll into the chair next to her as Mai sat beside her lover. Honda sat one seat away from Shizuka with Bakura, and after a few minutes, wondered where Otogi was.
“Oh, you'll see.” Winked the slightly devilish young girl, who was met right on cue by the curtains on the stage whisking away to reveal Ryuuji and the band. The lights dimmed, silence fell, and a slow, melodious beat began to play. Otogi plucked the microphone from the stand and made his way around the stage in a strange trance like dance as he sang.

What do you see?
On the battlefields of life?
When the blood passes on with the night.
What do you hear?
In that mysterious rhythm?
When the violins strum with the plight.

What do you feel?
During one final dance?
When you're feeling as high as the stars.
What do you taste?
In the freezing cold of revenge?
When you leave and walk away.

Must you think,
Before you say,
And never numb,
Pain in your heart?

Truth,
Lies,
Good,
Evil,
Is this the way it shall be?
Always balanced on the edge?
Never secure in life's embrace?
Not a trace…
Of love…

War,
Strife,
Hope,
Faith,
Is this the worst moment?
Never can say no?
But never yes?
You I bless…
With love…

When you're flying on borrowed wings,
Not a thing can hurt your heart,
Not a cloud can pass you by,
You're on a natural high.
When you're flying on borrowed wings,
You can sore above the rest,
As a new and perfect breed,
Leaving behind, colour, sex and creed…

What illusion is shattered?
When the lightning passes?
And the clouds and rain leave you.
What love is found?
When caught in the rain?
And the god's fail to see what's true.

What texture's left behind?
When the curtain closes?
And the final crowd bouquet is thrown.
What feelings thrown away?
When you have nothing left?
And the drama sweeps like a plague.

Darkness,
Famine,
Charity,
Prayer,
Is this the karma?
Balanced on a tipping scale?
With no weightlessness?
Only contempt,
No love…

Steel,
Blood,
Nature,
Tears,
When everything comes down?
Do you rise up?
With nothing left?
No final home,
Of love…

When you're flying on borrowed wings,
Not a thing can hurt your heart,
Not a cloud can pass you by,
You're on a natural high.
When you're flying on borrowed wings,
You can sore above the rest,
As a new and perfect breed,
Leaving behind, colour, sex and creed…

Lights let up the stage that seemed to go on for quite a while into the back. Everyone hummed as a choir and what seemed to be the violin portion of an orchestra's string section began to sing and play, the other instruments dying out until they played lighter for a little while into the next verse, building back up into a strong song of all the instruments and singers at once.

What goes up must come down,
Except a heart touched by truth,
As lies swarm like death about you,
Favour tipped to you,
It's your last chance,
Grip it,
Take it,
And find your place,
In the sun…

When you're flying on borrowed wings,
Not a thing can hurt your heart,
Not a cloud can pass you by,
You're on a natural high.
When you're flying on borrowed wings,
You can sore above the rest,
As a new and perfect breed,
Leaving behind, colour, sex and creed…

When you're flying on borrowed wings,
Not a thing can hurt your heart,
Not a cloud can pass you by,
You're on a natural high.
When you're flying on borrowed wings,
You can sore above the rest,
As a new and perfect breed,
Leaving behind, colour, sex and creed…

When you're flying on borrowed wings,
Not a thing can hurt your heart,
Not a cloud can pass you by,
You're on a natural high.
When you're flying on borrowed wings,
You can sore above the rest,
As a new and perfect breed,
Leaving behind, colour, sex and creed…

Otogi bowed to a cheerful crowd as they applauded his performance.

“Hurry up with the damn wires!” Hissed an annoyed, sonorous voice.
“I'm trying dammit, I'm trying.”
Two shaded figures fiddled with the machine, each one taking turns to play with the wires. The space behind the Blue Eyes lottery machine wasn't much, but it was enough for their cumbersome, muscular bodies to wedge themselves into. Just as they touched another wire, the screen over their heads whirred into life.
“Awww crap.”
On the screen appeared a boy. He had light turquoise hair and a sparkling smile and matching glittering eyes. He wore a simple white shirt and shorts with tennis shoes, and as soon as he caught the sight of the two people in the real world, a stern look crossed his face.
“What are you doing here? Don't you know this equipment is worth millions of yen?”
The two men screamed, dropping their tools there. Noa blinked and watched the scatterbrained men chase off towards the doorway, only for it to be blocked by a large metal sheet of a barrier.
“You aren't getting anywhere until you answer my questions!” Announced Noa.
“Haven't you noticed come every night so far?”
One of the men threw themselves round, an insane grin and even wilder eyes now spread across his face. He clasped a dark violet mask across the side of his face cloaked in shadow, and pulled a duel disk from inside his robes. The other man, tanned with black slick hair tied back in a ponytail did the same. Noa's mouth began to creep back into a smile.
“Foolish humans. No one dares enter my virtual realm!”
The two men looked up at the roof to see long, electric blue lines work their way through the ceiling, like the patterns on a microchip. The same thing was happening on the ground, running through the spaces in the floor tiles.
“What is that Tsunami-san?” Asked the masked man.
“I don't know Black Mask Umbra, I really don't…” Replied the tanned duelist.
The two of them looked across at the lottery machine, and with a shower of sparks that ricocheted around the hall, the creature began to flap it's metal wings until they seemed naturally fitting for the grand creature. Indeed, the creature was now becoming almost alive, and now it's mouth was able to open and close without caring about the balls in it's stomach.
“You seem to have forgotten I'm a genius. I can easily transport myself through the now open wires you made into this creature.”
The blue shape released a blast of white lightning forward, splitting the tense air between the NightDuel members and shattering the doorway behind them, which fixed as it was smashed.
“Next time, I won't miss.” Snapped Noa. The blue creature roared as a duel disk formed onto it's wrist and it's life point counter climbed to 8000.
“If I have to duel both of you, why should I have my life points as what one of you has?”
The two grown males regained a dark and smug stature as they pulled out their start hands.
“I'll go first, if you don't mind.” Snapped Noa, the dragon pulling a card from the duel disk.
“I summon mystic sage- keiroon in attack and set two cards. I then end my turn.”
Umbra drew a card as the centaur, dressed in silver armour and holding a long rod with a ball of red jasper set in the end roared onto the field.
“Card draw!”
Umbra looked at his hand. His grin became wider, nearly touching his ears it was so long and malevolent. He turned to his team mate, who knew instantly what he drew.
“I play my ring of diamond!”
The earth splintered beneath Black Mask, tiles flying everywhere as the ring emerged around him. It began to expand outwards, tracks of gigantic diamond shards sweeping across the arena in every direction. A wave of them came towards the dragon, and as soon as the came near, they threw themselves back in an arch towards their owner. Mako ran out the way screaming in horror as the hysterically laughing form of his co-worker was encased in icy diamond before he could see what was happening.
“Looks like my fairy hand mirror saved me from THAT assault. Mako, I believe it's your turn.”
Mako looked at the metal blue eyes before him. He must be insane to be duelling against a lottery machine. The behemoth raised it's mouth once more, and sent a blast of lightning in the direction of the frozen duelist. Tsunami shielded his eyes as the door was torn open again and fixed itself straight after.
“I'm sorry, but that poor excuse for an ice sculpture was beginning to annoy me.”

Otogi finally landed a good kick on the metal doorway, splintering it as Jounouchi and Honda got ready to tear through any more defences. They'd heard something going on in here, and if Victor was involved, they needed to be there. The three boys rushed in, followed by Kaiba and Yugi as they looked to see the ring subsiding around them. Across to their left was Mako, the top of his toga now lose, revealing his scarred torso. On their right was the blue eyes lottery machine, causing several people to wonder if they'd had any alcohol that evening, which of course, some of them had, but that was in no way related to the fact a walking, talking dragon made of metal was fighting. They noticed Noa's trap card, Last Turn, as his Yamata Dragon attacked a sleek, creamy blue leviathan daedalus with a series of flaming blasts.
“Looks like my Flame fist spell card helped Yamata Dragon win. Strange. Fire beating water?” Chuckled the machine as the diamonds surrounded Mako, eventually fading to reveal a blank space where the man had once been.
“I think it's time we all returned to our chalets.” Murmured Kaiba in a half-hearted way. The blue eyes machine fell with a clatter to the ground, smashing open. Looks like they'd need another way of organising the tournament, Kaiba thought to himself.

An early morning crimson had wafted into the sky as a lone figure strolled across the courtyard, heading to the doors of the stadium sorting lobby and making his way through the broken down entrance, stepping over the broken wire. If Kaiba had been awake, he would have found something missing from his bedside. Something this man had wanted up until now like oxygen. He leaned over the selection of spheres at the bottom of the clear stomach of the blue eyes, and carefully flipping up the cover, placed two similar orbs inside. A man was now standing behind him, following every one of his master's footsteps well.
“What are you doing?” Called a voice. The two shaded bodies turned to see a woman dressed in white emerge, pale skin and even paler blue tinted hair.
“Catherine, get away from here.”
“Not until you tell me what you're doing.” She snapped, pulling out a long, thin blade from seemingly nowhere. She stepped towards them, each time the two men taking a further step back into the shaded crevices of the hall. She took a running charge forward, and for a second was thrown into the air as she tripped over the duel disk still on the arm of the blue eyes. She lay sprawled out on the floor as the sword faded from her grasp, and the dragon began to move again. It was week, all the power drained from it's circuits.
“Halt… Don't move…” Hollered the mechanical tyrant, taking a step over to the woman. He lifted up several locks that coated the side of her neck, and nodded as it saw something. Placed a finger against it, a shot of blue enveloped it and the woman, as the hall disappeared from the people's vision.

Isis hated waking early, it never did her skin any good. As she swept across the courtyard in need of a brisk walk, she couldn't help but notice a glowing light coming from somewhere off the corner of her vision. She turned, and saw the hall from the night before emanating a radiant azure glow. She stepped towards it, hearing footsteps not dissimilar from her own. She turned, and saw the form of Pandora shuffle along as if in a trance, seeing something in the light he did not want to see. She followed him, and noticed he made no reaction to seeing her.
“Pandora?” She whispered gently, and he turned.
“Catherine? Is that you?”
“No… It isn't…”
He nodded solemnly and turned back towards the hall, the whole top half of his head shaded by the brim of his top hat, except for his eyes, intent on finding his lover. He wondered back over to the hall, repeatedly whispering.
“What are you doing, Catherine?”
Isis followed, intent on discovering why he was in this state. She neared the light in the doorway, and then stepped in after the mindless magician.

“Arkana-san?”
No one was there as Isis entered. She could only see a bright light, and she kept on staring into a small patch of what seemed to be black inside a never ending white. In an instant, the light faded like a bad memory, and she saw the hall's inside. Pandora was sobbing over a shaded form, two men in togas were lying beside the LCD screen. She turned to Arkana, and saw the eyes of Catherine snap open.
“It feels good to have a human body… Well, human to a degree…” Sighed the woman, feeling her wrists gingerly.
“Darling? What are you saying?”
“I'm no longer your darling, you dimwit, you oaf! I am Kaiba Noa. And if my own step brother wouldn't provide me an android body, your little hubby's here would have to do.” Chuckled the woman, a male voice fused in with her own.
“What do you mean Android, Noa?” Inquired Isis. Catherine slapped away Pandora's grip on her arm suddenly, and flicked the hair away from her neck, causing Pandora to cry once more at the sight of an eight digit code, separated into three by hyphens.
C4R-0L1-N3
Isis gasped as well, turning to the two shaded figures. She could now see the outlines of their faces, and stepped over to them, falling to her knees as she went to look at their faces.
The sight both scared her and relieved her. She couldn't believe it. There was Rishid. “Malik? Is that you?”
The body of Malik shuddered, grabbing the staff at his side, thrusting it up to point at the ceiling.
“In the name of Victor, I purge this hall of those he does not deem worthy! Those who cry, those who care, and those who are mere pawns for his eventual goal!”
Isis had one thought before the freezing diamonds swept across the room, ending at the doorway, enveloping everyone in a frozen prison but the person who cast the spell. Her one thought was clear and precise, and would haunt her no matter how many times she mulled it over.
Yami No Malik was back, and he was worse than ever.