Of Heart and Spirit

Chapter 12 - Exodia! Only the Beginning!

(Y/n) kept her breathing even as she ran down the streets, making her way to the Battle City tournament. She'd woken up with a start and an uneasy feeling, she had to be there for Joey and Yugi.

She felt something in her chest seize for a moment when she remembered the poor state Joey had shown up in at the hospital and started running faster. She didn't know everything about these Rare Hunters, or this Marik guy that may be involved, all she knew was that her friends were in danger.

(Y/n) skidded to a stop when she noticed the crowd of people directly in her path. She panted as she stood on her tip toes to see what was going on. She had to find Joey and Yugi, but odds were it was them that was dueling, hopefully.

"Can you believe the first duel of the tournament is with Yugi Muto! The King of Games!" a teen boy, a few years younger than her exclaimed to his friend. (Y/n)'s eyes widened as she weaved through the crowds to the front. From judging by the fact that the crowd wasn't as dense in other area's of the plaza, and the fact that both sides didn't have any cards in play, the duel must have just started.

(Y/n)'s eyes scanned the area before the landed on Joey on the other side of the plaza. "Joey!" she exclaimed as she pushed through the rest of the crowd and ran over to him. "What's going on?" she asked as she turned to watch Yami's duel. "That's the guy that defeated me the other night, he's the one who stole my Red Eyes!" Joey exclaimed, his fists clenched till his knuckles turned white.

The (h/c) haired girl turned her gaze over to Yami's opponent and glared slightly. "So you know his strategy, how to defeat him?" she asked as she turned back to watch Yami. Joey shook his head as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Yeah, but Yugi doesn't wanna hear it. It wouldn't be honorable if I just told him, he said."

(Y/n) could tell by just how tense Joey was that whatever was hiding in Yami's opponent's deck was serious. "So, he has to figure it out himself." she stated as she watched the duel unfold. Joey nodded his head once, not saying anything more as he watched the duel intensely. (Y/n) relaxed her shoulders as she also crossed her arms over her chest. "I have faith in the Pharaoh, I know he can defeat this guy, no matter what he's got." she said with a small smirk.

Joey glanced at her from the corner of his eye and bit the inside of his cheek. He couldn't tell her what was in store without Yugi and Yami overhearing them, but he also wasn't sure she would know the threat he would be talking about either. They'd only just started teaching her how to play a short while ago, would she even know what Exodia was?

"I know exactly what you're planning, you're trying to summon Exodia!" Yami claimed boldly, pointing at his opponent. The crowd around gasped in shock as Joey smirked at his friend, glad he was able to figure out the goon's plan. (Y/n) however took a small step back as a cold sweat ran down her spine. She remembered Yugi mentioning an unstoppable monster in the game, but was never told the name of it. Somehow, she knew this was the exact creature Yugi had been talking about.

Her fingernails started to dig into her arms as she stepped forward again, staring intently at Yami. "Exodia...." she said softly as she watched the duel. She didn't know what was happening, a great... emotion was coursing through her... what emotion it was however, she couldn't tell. For now, she was going to label it simply as fear.

The goon was starting to get desperate and made a play that was able to enable Yami to win the duel. As he summoned the head of Exodia, everything else started to move in slow motion as (Y/n)'s gaze got caught in the red hues of the creature. Even just as a head, she could tell the sheer power that was behind it. She could barely hear Joey calling out to her, even though he was standing right next to her, as she started to shiver uncontrollably.

Joey grabbed her shoulders and shook her a littler, stepping in front of her and blocking her gaze from the duel. She gasped as the trance the card had placed on her was broken and she looked up at Joey. "Hey, what's wrong? You've gone all pale all of a sudden!" Joey said, concern filling his voice as he looked down at his friend.

(Y/n) shook her head a little to clear her thoughts as she looked up at her blond friend. "I.... I'm sorry I worried you Joey, I don't know what happened. I think I had a weird nightmare last night, and I guess it's still affecting me." she admitted as he stepped out of her view and revealed Yami standing before the goon, passed out on the ground. They both had clearly missed something, but at least the duel was over.

Yami walked over to his friends and held out a card to Joey. "Here Joey, this rightfully belongs to you." he stated as he stood before his friend. "No Yug, you won it fair and square. It's yours, besides, I think you'll need it more than me. I know ol' Red Eye's will help you defeat Marik." Joey said confidently as he refused his friends offer.

Yami nodded his head, accepting his friend words, before turning to face (Y/n). "Something's bothering you." he said, stating the obvious. (Y/n) sighed as she untensed her shoulders again and removed her grip from her arms, revealing angry red crescent marks in her skin. "I raced here as fast as I could because I had a dream that you guys would be defeated, and darkness would take over the world." she admitted, running her hand through her hair. "I guess seeing Exodia and knowing that if it was completely summoned, that that dream would come true."

Yami nodded his head as he listened to his friend. "There is nothing to worry about, as long as I have you guys with me, I can't lose." he said with a confident smile. (Y/n) smiled back at him as she nodded her head. "Right, I have no reason to doubt either of you. You guys were first and second place in Duelist Kingdom after all!"

As the three walked past the fallen goon, (Y/n) couldn't help but to glance down at the cards on the ground around the man. That cold shiver ran down her spine again as her gaze landed on the eyes of Exodia once more. Her gaze lingered before she ripped it away as Joey and Yami started to walked ahead without her. As she followed her two friends, she worried about just how much worse things might actually get.