Friday December 27, 1996
10:54 PM
Ryuunosuke Kano grumbles as he tosses and turns, unable to find any comfort from the hard ground he's lying upon. He's cold, his red sweater doing little to keep the chills of the night at bay. It's not as bad as it could be, given the island's southerly latitude, but it's still no fun.
He creeps nearer the small, smoking fire he was able to get started earlier in the evening, a triumph of effort and working-class can-do attitude in the face of zero outdoor survival skills. In the dim, flickering light, there's a glint of light as his dueling glove catches some of the fire's majesty, gleaming off the angles of the bronze chips set into the gauntlet.
And doesn't that take the mind off the discomforts of sleeping in the forest? Four shiny, bright star chips, every one of them earned all by himself, his Holy Night Dragon Seiyaryu at his side every step of the way. He thinks about his mother's illness, about how the prize money will cover the costs of her medicine and her surgeries, and just how much blood, sweat and tears have gone into earning each of those little bronze stars, the years of striving to be better, to succeed for his family's sake.
Yes, a night of discomfort on the ground outside of Pegasus' castle is well worth it, he muses to himself.
The crashing of bushes startles him out of his reverie, and he snaps to attention as a lumbering form bursts out of the darkness, clearly drawn to the flickering light from a good distance away. The man's figure towers over Ryuunosuke's own, and his eyes, at first dazed as they adjust to the light against the dark backdrop of the night, focus rapidly as they lock on to Ryuunosuke's right hand, the hand that Ryuunosuke was only moments ago admiring.
The stranger, swaying slightly on his feet as if suffering some kind of malady or moderate concussion, raises his own gloved hand, revealing a gauntlet with all but 3 slots filled with bronze stars, and grins ghoulishly, crimson blood staining his gums and teeth as his eyes light up with gleeful hatred.
Saturday December 28, 1996
7:03 AM
"YAAAH!"
An ecstatic cry rings out triumphantly in the early morning light, as a small hand bursts forth from the ground, pushing bushes aside wildly to find purchase and haul the connected body out of the tunnel hidden in a leaf-filled ditch.
Flopping on the ground, the small form can't help but sob happily to himself, so glad to be out of that pitch dark maze of tunnels he'd found himself in. Just because he was a fan of ghouls and ghosts, didn't mean he had any desire to join them in eternal slumber underneath the ground just yet!
Taking a few moments to compose himself, he sits up, rubbing the nasty gash that stretches across his jaw, the bruised tissue beneath it throbbing with pain. Still, pain is better than what could have happened, he thinks to himself glumly, wondering for the millionth time whether he was the only one of the five of them who might actually have managed to escape from the underground tunnels.
With that sobering thought in mind, "Ghost" Kozuka pulls himself to his feet, and glancing around the still mostly-dark forest he's found himself in, begins to wander idly, looking to find some way out to the castle and all the security guards he'd seen milling around the area when the opening speech was happening.
Bandit Keith is gonna get what he deserved, Kozuka will make sure of that.
Saturday December 28, 1996
7:30 AM
A quiet chirruping noise filled the tent, repeating over and over. In the dim cozy warmth of that little fabric haven, two forms shift in their slumber, before one grunts and slaps her hand on the little portable alarm clock, blearily blinking sleep out of her eyes as she stifles a yawn. Furtively swiping the hair in her mouth away from her face, she groans softly as she looks over at the other woman asleep beside her. Still out like a light, good. It had been a late night, and Mai has absolutely no desire to wake her sleeping companion up when she could afford to get another hour or two of sleep.
But alas, no extra beauty sleep for her. Mai purses her lips as she thinks back to the previous evening, her terror at facing one of Pegasus' brutal Player Killers, and how Yugi had fought for her and recovered her Star Chips at great risk to himself. Yesterday afternoon she'd thought Yugi and his friends were a pack of idiots, but after her duel with Jonouchi and hanging out with the group at dinner time, she'd been starting to come around to them. Now though? Now she sees it, loud and clear.
He's a good kid who'll do whatever he can to help his friends out. And that blonde goofball is just as bad as him, she thinks fondly to herself. It's odd to think of someone else fondly like that, someone who isn't family or one of her very few close trusted friends. Not that there's many of them around for either count, if she's being honest.
And that's just it, isn't it? If she's being honest to herself, she's in an awkward situation. She's still in the tournament, but only because Yugi went above and beyond for her, fought for her simply because he believed in fairness and respectful play amongst fellow duelists. Well, doesn't that just make her feel more than a little shitty about herself and her own behaviour in the tournament and the lead-up to it?
Once she's packed her bag and snuck out of the tent, she's going to have to spray all of her cards liberally with the assortment of scents she has stashed away in her beauty kit. If the aromas are all mixed up on all the cards, then she won't be able to fall back on her sneaky aroma tactics, even if she does get tempted again.
Not that I will, she promises to herself. Once she makes her mind up about something, Mai Kujaku is one of the most stubborn and determined people in the world, so slipping back into bad habits isn't on her to-do list.
But what is on her to-do list today is duels. Lots of duels. One more to get to ten chips and qualify for the finals of the tournament. Easy.
And then however many more she needs to participate in to be able to pay Yugi back the eight chips he won back from the Player Killer of Darkness for her last night. That knowledge of being in debt to him rankles at her, even though she knows he did what he did simply because he felt the need to stand up for her. He never intended her to owe him anything, and truth be told, holding herself responsible for the full eight star chips seems a bit silly in a way. He already has six, if she gives him four then he's qualified for the finals, so why even bother with the other four?
Because it's what's right. It's what he's owed, she tells herself resolutely. He can give the spares to Jonouchi for all she cares (and she definitely doesn't care whether that idiot makes it to the finals or not, no way). Or if worst comes to worst, and he somehow loses a duel?
Having seen his performance against the Player Killer last night, so determined, so sure of himself and so masterful in his psychological reads and tactics that he'd be banned from any of the casinos she had worked at before in a heartbeat, Mai knows that the notion of Yugi Muto, the man who beat the former national
Magic & Wizards champion, losing any duel before getting the ten chips he needs is frankly absurd. It's not going to happen.
Still, she has a debt to pay. In her storied life, Mai Kujaku has learned that it is always best to pay back debts you owe as promptly as possible.
And as she sneaks out of the tent, leaving the sleeping high-school girl behind with an IOU note pinned to her sleeping bag, Mai reflects on the faces of the excitable children she'd spent the past half a day hanging out with.
This is a debt I'm more than happy to repay.
Saturday December 28, 1996
7:49 AM
The four boys curled up under the trees are rudely awakened by a happy voice calling out to them, as somebody shakes them awake.
Jonouchi groans, awakened from another dream of overwhelming light and power washing over him. He cracks his eyes open, and stares straight into the face of death itself.
Deep-sunken eyes, pallid ghoulish skin, a heavy grim expression, and the matted black hair of a freshly-exhumed corpse greet him. Jonouchi blinks once, twice, as the zombie staring down at him blinks its own owlish surprise.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Shooting upwards to scramble away from the revenant lingering above him, Jonouchi promptly clocks it in the forehead, his own skull cracking against the ghost's, and both of them scream again, this time in pain instead of shock and horror.
And that is how Yugi and his companions find themselves awake at far too early an hour, applying bandages to the face of a child at least two years younger than them.
"Honestly Jonouchi! He's already all beat up, why'd you have to go to town on this poor kid?" Honda gripes, as Anzu shoots the blonde a look that should by all accounts have him keeling over dead.
"Ah geez, I'm sorry kid. You scared the hell outta me, you know!" Katsuya Jonouchi grumbles, though Kozuka notices that he at least has the decency to sound pretty embarrassed about it. And to be honest, it's not like this is the first time someone has called him spooky or compared his appearance to that of the recently-deceased. His fascination with horror stories hadn't sprung up from nowhere after all.
After a few more minutes of having first aid applied to him by the kind schoolgirl - Anzu, he reminded himself - Kozuka found himself sitting with the group of friends, a mug of hot tea in his hands. And over the course of that cup of tea, he found himself spilling his story, all of it. Making friends with Takaido and Satake, the three being recruited by "Bandit" Keith Howard ("Hey, I recognise that name! That's the guy Kaiba told us about last night, the one who got demolished by Pegasus without even trying!" interjects Honda at that part), the vandalism of the Duel Terminal kiosk and theft of the rare cards despite not really wanting to, the double duel against a couple of other duelists who happened to stumble upon them, and the resulting scuffle after Takaido and Satake lost to the two higher-ranked players. Kozuka had thought that Takaido and Satake would be able to subdue Keith in a two-v-one fight, but the man had plenty more experience than them in a scrap, and so despite laying it on him badly they'd been overpowered in the end.
Kozuka shivers at the memory of that moment, the bleeding and battered form of Keith Howard tossing aside Kozuka's two friends like an ogre in a forest, his nose as broken as the sunglasses lying on the floor in front of him. The look in his eyes then was nothing short of murderous, absolute rage, and reflecting on it, Kozuka is sure that "Bandit" Keith Howard would have shot him right there if not for the fact that his revolver had been dropped in the fray and had snapped open, scattering its rounds across the floor.
And so, as the gang listen incredulously in both amazement and anger, Kozuka recounts how he did something very stupid. He grabbed that gun from the floor, and he ran, fleeing deep into the tunnel system underneath the island. From there, he can't say what happened to his friends, or to Keith. The last he saw of them was Takaido tackling Howard once more as he'd made to chase Kozuka for the gun, and that was it.
"Then I wandered in the maze for… hours I guess? I tossed the gun away at some point, and then eventually the lights in the maze all disappeared so I was just stuck in the dark," he explains heavily. "I stopped and tried to sleep for a little bit, I think I cried myself to sleep actually," he adds bashfully. Nobody teases him for that, and he's glad of it.
"When I woke, I kept on wandering in the pitch dark until I felt some air moving and found an exit. Man, I was so happy to be out of there, but then I was in the forest and I just wandered around a bit until I found you guys, and well… here I am," Kozuka concludes lamely.
The group of friends all look around at each other, digesting the information slowly, as Anzu hugs the younger boy reassuringly. Suddenly, Jonouchi jumps up, fist raised to the sky, and roars angrily.
"That bastard! Tell you what Kozuka, we're gonna get this camp packed up right away and we're heading straight to that castle to get Pegasus and his goons to do something about this! It ain't right!" he declares brashly, gazing down at Kozuka defiantly. It's a look that Kozuka thinks would scare him almost any other time if he saw such a clear delinquent as Jonouchi pulling that face, but right now, there's a sense of surety and confidence backing up the expression that Kozuka can't help but feel reassured by it.
"But what about you guys? Won't coming with me to the castle slow you and Yugi down?" Kozuka asks hesitantly. He holds up his hand, showing his empty dueling glove.
"I must have lost my chips during the scuffle when I got hit, so it's not like I can go back to participating after this, are you sure you really want to risk your shot at the finals by helping me out?"
Kozuka feels a hand on his shoulder, and turns to find himself facing Yugi, who despite being just a couple of centimetres taller than Kozuka's own tiny form has a look on his face that would make emperors kneel before him.
"We promise you this, Keith Howard will pay in full for what he's done to you."
Saturday December 28, 1996
8:20 AM
Climbing the staircase to the stone castle ahead of him, the lanky man grits his teeth against the pain flaring up within his wrist. The bright American flag bandana that once covered his scruffy, knotted hair is now secured around his left forearm, splinting the possibly-sprained-possibly-broken wrist against further aggravation.
In the golden glow of the rising sun creeping over the tallest turrets of the castle, Keith's grin is feral, manic. Without any sunglasses to hide his eyes from the light, his swollen, puffy right eye squints against the light, his sleep-deprived and bloodshot left eye doing most of the work for its injured partner.
He stands in front of the man at the gate, who gestures to a strange combination lock contraption. A short argument occurs as Keith gestures to his injured hand, a torrent of profanity spewing forth from his lips.
Grudgingly, the man in the suit reaches out to assist the injured duelist in removing the small chips from the dueling gauntlet, Keith's injured hand not up to the fine motor control of digging the chips out. As the security guard assists him, Keith grunts and locks his mouth against the pain as he demonstrates adequate fine motor control to lift a taser and a set of keys from the guard's belt while the man is distracted.
As the last chip is fitted into the lock, it spins rapidly and the imposing metal doors swing open, allowing the blonde American man entry.
He laughs loudly as he does so, his ill-gotten gains stashed away in one of his vest pockets. Not as good as classic American iron, but he can work with it. And besides, his plans have changed a little.
Pegasus is still number one on his shitlist, and goddamn if he's gonna get it. But now, there's a new face in Keith's mind, hovering just below Pegasus at number 2. And as he thinks of that infuriating face, Keith can't help but mutter to himself.
"That fucking dinosaur nerd is gonna regret ever having come to this island."
Saturday December 28, 1996
8:38 AM
Waking up is a pain in the ass. As a fifteen year old boy, you know this fact as well as anybody else in the world, getting up sucks ass. On an ordinary day it usually takes your sister a solid 20 minutes of harassing you to drag your lazy butt out of your bed, and it's another hour before you're properly awake.
Today though? Today, waking up is different.
Today waking up truly goddamn
sucks.
Saturday December 28, 1996
8:41 AM
"What kind of a goddamn joke is this? We bring you an injured tournament participant and report an armed intruder who's attacking people and stealing their Star Chips, and you're making us do this?!"
It's a good thing that Jonouchi has his stalwart friend Honda and the pale-haired Bakura holding him back as he yells, because the two security members in front of him look very ready to draw the tasers sitting in their side-holsters the moment the flailing teen gets free of his friends' grips.
"Calm down Jonouchi, fighting won't solve anything!" Anzu scolds as she stands imperiously in front of him, and it's the notion that his friend has parked herself between him and the goons with tasers, guns and professional training that seems to get through to him, as the blonde boy stills instantly. Still though, as Kozuka looks quickly at him, it's easy to see the stillness isn't peaceable at all, there's an intensity to the boy's stance that dares anyone to challenge him.
"Anzu is right, Jonouchi," Yugi intervenes, his own voice controlled and soothing. It still has a slight pitch to it and a hint of a tremble, unlike some of the other times he's spoken in just the hour or so Kozuka has known him, but he's very much controlling the situation.
"We both know that Pegasus has it out for me, so it's no surprise that if we show up at his doorway he's going to throw an obstacle in our path," Yugi continues, and at that Kozuka's ears perk up.
It might be overselling it to call this security checkpoint "Pegasus' doorstep", but that's hardly the issue here. Why on earth would the creator of
Magic & Wizards and organiser of this tournament have anything against this meek little high-school student, someone who hasn't even participated in sanctioned events up until now?
The why might elude the young teen's understanding, but the how is very clear to everyone. They reported the presence of Keith Howard, and security took note of it, before calling the central castle security team on the checkpoint telephone. And after a minute or so of hushed conversation, the black-suited goons had delivered their verdict.
They'd handle Bandit Keith, but right now there was another intruder on the island they were supposed to handle. Well, several intruders who weren't involved in the tournament, but one specific intruder who had barrelled into the tournament uninvited.
Specifically, one Jonouchi Katsuya.
Though he hadn't caught all the details, Kozuka thought he understood well enough what was going on. Jonouchi had been permitted to board the ship because Yugi had shared his initial two star chips, but now for some reason that decision was being contested. And to resolve it…
"It doesn't matter who Pegasus decides to throw at us, I have faith in Jonouchi's skills. I'll gladly fight alongside him against your Player Killers," Yugi announces boldy.
Saturday December 28, 1996
9:17 AM
You take a seat in the battle box opposite your opponent, carefully placing your deck on the table. After a short discussion it was decided that you'd duel first and Koyo would go second, so here you are.
You study the hologrammatic map on the table closely. The positioning of the shrine means that two tiles on your opponent's field is Holy Ground, while the remaining three tiles are Graveyard fields, and you appear to have the opposite, three shrine tiles and two graveyard tiles. The ground outside where all the grave markers were positioned was rather rocky, you can't help but wonder if the graveyard tiles might also count as wasteland tiles?
Well, since you're going first, you'll probably find out pretty soon.
Saturday December 28, 1996
9:55 AM
In two different Battle Boxes, more than a kilometer away from each other, two duels end, young high-school students raising their fists jubilantly in victory as their opponents scowl at their loss. One of the losers takes it better than the pair who lost in the other box, and quickly beckons the boy who bested her in the duel out of the box, to "talk privately".
At the other box, impassive security guards watch silently as the company employees hired specifically for this sort of task hand over a small mound of star chips to the mismatched friends in front of them. The taller boy, the blonde, elatedly dances around as he slots his chips into his glove, while the smaller of the two simply takes his chips without comment.
A minute later, and the small gathering of school children depart the security checkpoint, the two taller hooligans jeering and sticking their tongues our at the security guards as they march triumphantly towards the castle, a short ten minute walk south of them.
Kozuka, sitting at the checkpoint between two of the guards, wonders privately if it's a good idea to taunt the tournament officials in such a way, but it's not a matter to concern himself with any longer. In a few short minutes time he'll be escorted to the boats leaving the island by one of the men in black, and his time on Duelist Kingdom will be over.
No Star Chips, no future. That's the law of this island kingdom.
Saturday December 28, 1996
10:12 AM
"It's Pegasus Castle!"
Anzu points excitedly at the building in front of them, the steep staircase only a hundred or so meters away from them. The whole gang light up at the sight of it, though Yugi's cheer is tempered by a stern look in his eyes, as he locks his focus on something at the top of the staircase.
Jonouchi seems almost in awe as he stares up at the castle, like he can't quite believe this isn't some kind of fever dream he's having.
"Wow… we finally made it…" he trails off, his good cheer overwhelmed by the thoughts racing around in his head. His insecurities, his thoughts of the obstacles he'd stepped past to get this far, the one terrible encounter in the middle of the night the previous evening still hounding at his self-confidence, that terrible sight of a life-size white dragon, far bigger than any of the holograms they'd ever seen on any of the Battle Box table tops and so real you could feel the magical thunder thrumming in its veins, but most of all, the hopeful smile and bright, optimistic eyes of his younger sister.
"Yes…" Yugi responds, lost not in his own thoughts, but in the profile of that figure standing atop the staircase. As they draw near, the angle of the light changes and Yugi gasps as the sun clears from his eyes, laying bare the sight of his one true rival, staring down at him with hard, unflinching eyes.
"Kaiba!!"
Saturday December 28, 1996
10:30 AM
"No! It can't be, I was so close!"
"Don't kid yourself, honey, you were never even in the same room as close."
Casually slotting two of the wagered chips into her gauntlet, Mai Kujaku picks up the third and tucks it into a pocket on her purple jacket. She doesn't even pay attention to the mousey-brown-haired duelist thumping the table weakly with his fist as she exits the Battle Box, too focused on the task ahead of her.
"Don't forget, the next boat full of losers leaves in half an hour kid, don't be late!"
That makes eleven. Just gotta win seven more and my debt to Yugi is clear.
Saturday December 28, 1996
10:45 AM
"Hey, lovebirds, we're done dueling, you can quit it with the making out now!"
Koyo grins at you cheekily as he waves his hand in your face, showing off the extra chip now sitting in his gauntlet. So it looks like he won, and Tilla won't be going on to the finals. Well, not just yet anyway.
But you only think this in an idle, offhand sort of way, as you turn your attention back towards the castle in the distance. You're standing a distance away from the derelict shrine, Risa at your side, and Koyo almost immediately notices your attention is not on him, but on the castle.
"Oh, you're thinking about what's next huh? Well, both of us can get in with just one more duel each as long as we win, so let's do this, partner!"
You shake your head and glance at Risa to confirm what you thought you saw.
"Nah, Koyo, it's not that. There was… I swear there was a dragon over there! Risa and I came to the lookout to try to get a better view of it, and there was this huge flash of light, and then nothing, all gone!"
Risa backs you up with her own claims, and Koyo looks at you both with a perplexed look on his face.
"You guys know that dragons aren't real, right? I mean, maybe I could believe seeing a bright flash of light, the castle must have some strong spotlights, but real, actual life-size dragons? C'mon buddy, I think you just have terrible lizards on the brain, you dino-dweeb!" he laughs as he slaps you on the shoulder.
"Yeah, maybe…" you trail off as you throw another look at the castle before heading into the shrine once more.
You know the tournament preliminaries run until 5:00pm this afternoon, but you can't shake the feeling that if you don't all make a serious move very soon, it's going to be too little too late.
You have 9 Star Chips, and Koyo has 5 Star Chips. It's time to get those last chips and qualify for the finals!
Please combine the below individual vote categories as vote plans, since some options are going to be mutually exclusive if they somehow end up together and nobody wants that. Approval voting will be permitted.
[ ][Party] It'll be quicker for you and Koyo if you're not both waiting for the other to complete duels. Go your separate ways and meet back up at the castle gates.
[ ][Party] You've gone through a lot together already, you and Koyo are gonna qualify together or not at all!
[ ][Wager] As long as you win the next duel you'll qualify, just duel the next person who'll accept a duel. Accept any reasonable star chip wager.
[ ][Wager] You only need one chip to qualify, there's no point risking more than that on a wager. Only accept a duel with someone willing to bet a single chip.
[ ][Wager] If one of you can win all 6 chips in a single duel that'll qualify you and Koyo together, and it's good back-up for if either of you lose or can't find a duel. Only accept a duel worth 6 star chips at minimum.
[ ][Duel] Those Player Killers you've heard about are required to accept all challenges, the fastest way to guarantee a duel is to find one of them and duke it out!
[ ][Duel] Head straight to the castle staircase, you're sure to find someone else who's close to qualifying there.
[ ][Duel] Head towards the docks where the ships are. All the disqualified people are being shipped off, which means the people who beat them must logically be nearby. That's what logic is, right?
[ ][Duel] After losing to Koyo, Tilla still has 8 star chips, and she's right here. So… why not just challenge her, I guess?
Hey, thanks for being patient everybody, we're finally back in action!
So, to bring everybody up to speed, here's a bit of an interlude. Make your votes, do what you need to, pretty soon you'll be heading towards the castle one way or another.
One thing I do want to impress on you all is to not be scared of losing, or potentially even not qualifying for the finals. I have story paths set out for if you miss out on the top 4 spot, and some of the rewards may even be better than what you could get out of the tournament prizes, depending on how you play this all. This whole quest was based on a fanfic idea of what happened to Dinosaur Ryuzaki after he lost at Duelist Kingdom after all, so losing here is something I've thought a whole lot about.
As for the results of the previous vote, they're gonna be wrapped into the next update, since that one's likely to just be a "hey here's a person we wanna challenge, quick convo, okay now opening hand let's go" type of deal. So you're gonna get that sweet Ryuzaki/Riza goodness beforehand to help make sure that update is substantial enough. By the time I hit 4.7k words on this one I figured it was better to just split it that way.
Almost forgot to mention, that guy Ryuunosuke at the start of this update? Direct reference to this nice little semi-one shot by Anti_Mattering about some of the Duelist Kingdom participants who... well... did not place:
Duelist Kingdom: Did Not Place
And the guy that Mai beat at the end is
this guy, simply given the name Akira in the anime.
