Clear Skies

Chapter 4: An Offer You Simply Can't Refuse

            Rahlin's Chaos duel disk flashed red and activated of its own accord. The huge crowd that had gathered to watch Mai's duel broke into a frenzy ranging from whispers to shouts. All revolved around the same subject: Rahlin's forced opponent, Yugi Muto.

She was curious as to why the number one duelist worldwide according to the power rankings would choose her to duel. He could pick any chump off the street and duel them, so why her? She supposed she was the any old chump, which was quite a depressing thought.

Still, she couldn't shake a couple of bothersome feelings. The first was that she had seen this Yugi Muto before, a long time ago. Same with the golden, inverse pyramid hanging from a chain around his neck. The second was that she had sworn there were two Yugi Mutos a few minutes ago, but now there was just the one.

There was a larger issue more factual in nature. Her deck was missing a vital card, which was in Mai Valentine's hands. Rahlin muttered, "Before I duel, I need that back."

Irritation crossed Mai's expression. She tucked Rahlin's Seal of Orichalcos into her sleeve and said, "Consider it payback, kid. Good luck against the King of Games."

"But I-"

Mai melded into the masses surrounding Rahlin and Yugi. Valon started to pat Rahlin's shoulder but thought better of it. He said, "Ehh, good luck out there, new chick!"

Rahlin wondered what the point of being in an organization was if they weren't organized enough to stick around for her duel. On the other side, Yugi Muto set his deck into his duel disk. The jacket draped across his shoulders fluttered in the breeze. He said, "You may take the first move, if you'd like."

"Uh, no thanks," Rahlin said. "You can have it, I mean."

Yugi swiped a card off his deck, side-eyed it, and slapped it onto his disk. "I summon Beta, the Magnet Warrior in attack position, set one card face-down, and end my turn."

"Mmkay, I summon Vanguard of the Dragon in attack position."

A black lizard with a long, spiky tail spawned on Rahlin's field. It banged its spear against its shield and roared at Beta, the Magnet Warrior. At the side of the duel field, someone said, "Say, Tristan. Why would a dragon need a spear and shield? Kinda seems like it'd be fine with all the spikes and stuff."

The one who'd spoken was Joey Wheeler, who Mai supposedly had a love-hate relationship with. He aimed the question towards a guy whose brown hair was slicked to a single point. "Good question. Maybe it's insecure about how it's a dragon with no wings, and that's why it uses weapons."

A brown-haired girl pushed them apart. "Can you two idiots shut up and focus on the duel? Look, she summoned a monster with the same attack points as Yugi's monster."

"It's a stalemate, Téa," Tristan said. "Obviously."

"Nah way! She's gonna attack and leave the field empty!" Joey said.

"You're almost correct," Rahlin said. "I activate Vanguard of the Dragon's effect. By discarding a Dragon-type, he gains 300 attack. The card I discarded – the White Stone of Legend – also has a special ability. When it hits the grave, I can add a very special card to my hand. Now, Vanguard of the Dragon battles Beta, the Magnet Warrior!"

Vanguard lobbed his spear, which stabbed through Beta's chest. Tubes snaked out of the robot spitting oil, and sparks flew. Beta shattered; Yugi's life points fell to 3700.

"Bad, bad, bad!" Wheeler said. "Mai landed first blood on me, and it was a slippery slope from there!"

"Yeah, but it's not hard to imagine you losing to Mai," Tristan said. "Yugi losing to this chick, though? Not happening."