Luna looked at herself one last time. She had sold some of her cards the day before to buy some clothes. She hadn't done it on purpose, but somehow she ended up with a white trench coat over a black turtleneck long-sleeved shirt and black jeans. She had thought it looked good before, but now that she was about to go out, she wondered if it was ridiculous.
I look like I'm dressed up as Kaiba for Halloween.
But also, this was an anime world. Who cared how you dressed as long as you dueled well, right? She had to just be confident. But she had to be confident outside.
Seto's grand announcement about the start of the Battle City Tournament had been made already, received with an earth shaking, excited roar from duelists all around Domino city.
That was two hours ago. Other duelists were out there.
Whatever. I will just go like this.
She put on her duel disk and looked at herself in the mirror again involuntarily.
"I look good." She said to herself as she headed for the door.
When she opened her door, she was startled to see Jaden with a fist up.
"Oh, right on time! Was just about to knock!" He said with his usual happy mood. "Let's go, we are burning daylight and there's duels to be had!"
For a second she wondered if he had been waiting to ambush her and duel her right off the bat.
"We should pass by the Tower first, though." Jaden kept talking, however. "Pretty hungry, and we can't start our first day of the tournament with empty stomachs, right?"
"Right. Let's go, then." She said as she stepped out into the corridor and closed her door.
"Nice digs, by the way." Jaden said as he already started to walk, leaving her behind. "Very Kaiba-y"
"Oh, you think so?" Luna feigned surprise.
But as they walked out into the street, there seemed to be a crowd around the building.
"What's going on? Do you think someone famous is here?" Jaden asked as he turned to look at her with that innocent curiosity.
"Mayb-"
"Are you dressed up as Kaiba?" a mocking voice yelled from the crowd.
Luna looked around and recognized the green helmet hair.
Oh no.
"Been itching all over to get a chance to duel you these past two days!" Espa Roba yelled as he pointed a finger at her.
"Itching? Have you tried showering?" Jaden asked, comically serious.
"I want payback for humiliating me in the Kaiba Corp Tower!" Espa said, completely ignoring Jaden.
"Humiliating? To whom? There was no one there!" Luna tried to defend herself.
"You laughed at my connection with the cosmos!" To Espa's credit, he genuinely seemed offended by it. "For that you will pay! I challenge you to a duel, and as per Battle City rules, you-"
"Yeah, yeah! She gets the idea, dude." Jaden interrupted him and turned to look at Luna. "Hey, pretty jealous that you already get to have your first duel. But I don't think I can go another minute without eating anything. So, I will catch up to you later?"
"I mean, I'm kinda offended that you don't want to watch my duel, man." Luna joked, realizing she was also pretty hungry. "But sure. Don't go losing until we see each other again, yeah?"
"You got it!" Jaden said as he turned and moved into the crowd.
"Are you ready?" Espa asked as he pulled his deck from his belt and put it in his duel disk.
"Sure, but tell your little brothers to come down, before we start the duel." Luna said loud enough for everyone around them to hear.
Espa's expressions went from confusion to panic to anger, all in just a span of two seconds.
"What are you talking about, are you crazy?" He asked.
"For a mind reader, you seem pretty slow." Luna said as she turned around and started looking at the top of the buildings that could potentially have a line of sight to her cards if they dueled.
Bingo.
She spotted three little green spots on top of one of the buildings and a lens glare, probably from a binoculars they may be using.
She quickly pointed towards them.
"My cosmic powers are telling me that your four brothers are up on that building. And that they are talking to you through an earpiece you have." She accused loudly once again. "Tell them to come down, and I'll duel you."
The crowd started getting noisier as they talked amongst themselves. Espa looked around, flustered.
"Stop making excuses to not duel me!" Espa yelled, seemingly trying to regain control of the situation.
"Then move back that thick mop of a hair and show us you don't have any communication device in your ear." Luna said calmly as she crossed her arms.
Espa's eyes started to dart around, she almost felt bad for him.
"Come on, man. Duel me fair and square." She said, offering him a consoling smile.
"Is he really cheating?" someone asked audibly loud from the crowd.
Espa's face contorted from his anger, he looked to be fuming. Luna hadn't realized that Espa could be so intense and wondered if this was a good idea.
He slowly moved the hair back from one ear to show that there was no earpiece. Then he slowly moved the other, while cupping his hand, obviously taking something out that was there, to show both ears clean and devoid of any devices.
"Happy?" He asked through his teeth. "Let's duel!"
"Let's." She agreed as she put her Red-Eyes deck into her duel disk. "Keep that Jinzo card ready to be handed to me, kid."
The number 4000 appeared on the life counter of the duel disk that shuffled each duelist's deck automatically as both duel disks beeped to signal synchronization. She drew four cards.
Neos Fusion, Red-Eyes Insight, Red-Eyes Spirit, and Red-Eyes Retro Dragon.
It was an okay hand as starting hands went.
"I'll start!" Espa Roba yelled as he adjusted the cards in his hand. She had forgotten that whoever called out first went first. "I summon Cyber Raider!"
The humanoid in blue and yellow tights appeared on the field, surprising Luna. Back in Battle City, in the anime, the duel disks had shot out little hologram emitters in the anime. It seemed things were different here. She wondered if Kaiba Corp had set up towers that emitted the holograms around the city or if it was some advanced tech that used satellites.
"And I put a card face down!" Espa continued confidently. "I predict that you will lose soon! It's your turn!"
Cyber Raider was a relatively weak monster with only 1400 attack points. The set card was a little worrisome, but Luna couldn't remember Espa ever using any trap cards.
She drew a card.
Black Metal Dragon.
"I set a card down!" She said as she set Red-Eyes Spirit.
"Is that all you go-"
"Don't interrupt me, Espa." Luna shot right back. "I activate Red-Eyes Insight! It lets me draw a Red-Eyes spell or trap card from my deck as long as I send a Red-Eyes card from my hand or deck to the graveyard!"
She sent a Red-Eyes Wyvern, as a backup plan, to the graveyard and picked Red-Eyes Fusion from her deck.
"And I use Red-Eyes Fusion!" Luna continued, nothing would stop her play, at least not with the way Espa played. "And I send Red-Eyes Black Dragon and Gearfried the Iron Knight from the deck to the graveyard to summon Red-Eyes Slash Dragon!"
The skies darkened as that portal made of red erratic energy appeared once again. It was weird seeing it out in the real world."
"What-" Espa seemed terrified. "What in the world is that?"
It was somehow even more exhilarating to see her trusty dragon appear out of a portal in the middle of city. It looked too real, so real in fact that everyone in the crowd, including Luna, took a step back when her dragon spread its wings and roared.
Calm down, that's your own dragon.
The size difference between her dragon and Espa's raider was immense. She looked at Espa and saw that he was still looking at her dragon. Whether it was awe or fear, it didn't matter, it would be over soon.
"She got something like that out on her first turn?" someone in the crowd asked. "What's her name, again? She's incredible!"
"You thought that was incredible? Then you are in for a treat! I equip Black Metal Dragon to my Slash dragon to increase its attack points by 600, to a whopping 3400!" Luna yelled before she pointed towards Espa's Cyber Raider. "Don't let anything stand in your way, Slash Dragon!"
As her dragon sucked the air into its lungs with the sound similar to that of large waterfall, Luna pointed up to the sky.
"But that's not all! When my Red-Eyes attacks, I can attach a Warrior type monster from my graveyard to my dragon to further increase its attack points by 200!" She explained with a confidence she hadn't felt often back in her world, at least not surrounded by people like this.
The crowd went wild as she knew they would.
"That's 3600!"
"I have never seen such a strong monster in a duel before!"
"Who is she?"
"can you believe this is going on in the first day of the tournament?"
"Isn't that stronger than Kaiba's Blue-Eyes?"
Luna couldn't help but smile. She was never one to like the spotlight, but when it came to dueling with life-like monsters, putting on a show seemed natural. It was like she really was in the anime.
"Resume your attack, pulverize the Cyber Raider!" She yelled, making her dragon shoot a ball of fire made up of the same red energy of the portal that had brought the dragon into the field.
The Cyber Raider's body didn't even stop the fire ball for a second as it completely pulverized the monster and exploded onto Espa. Espa yelled in pain, which was amusing to Luna, as these were still just holograms, no matter how life-like they seemed.
Espa winced as he looked around the field as if hoping his monster would still be there. He quickly looked at his duel disk and shuddered.
"No, I only have 1800 life points left! But it's my turn now!" He yelled as he drew a card and smiled. "And I think this is all over for you, young lady!"
Espa put down the card he had just drawn, summoning forth yet another Cyber Raider.
"When my Cyber Raider is summoned, I can target something equipped to a monster on the field and equip that to Cyber Raider!" Espa said triumphantly. "And I choose your Black Metal Dragon! Bringing my monster's attack points to 2000!"
"The desperation with which third rate duelists grasp at straws, it's pathetic!" Luna yelled, channeling her inner Kaiba, but wondering if she was taking it too far.
"Pathetic? Who said I was done?" Espa yelled, pointing towards his facedown card. "I activate Brain Control! I predict that you will lose this turn! For the hefty price of 800 life points, I can take control of one of your monsters! So your dragon is mine!"
But as Espa started his maniacal laugh, Luna interrupted him.
"Are you not tired of proving me right again and again?" She yelled with her best wicked smile. "You think such a third rate play can beat me? The second effect of my dragon activates when you target any of my cards! I can send one of my equipped cards to the graveyard to negate your Brain Control!"
Luna stood up straighter to look down at her opponent but noticed that Espa was frantically looking through his cards, then back at her dragon.
It was over.
"I predict you have reached your limit, dear Espa." Luna said as she crossed her arms. "Is that all?"
But Espa didn't seem to have heard her. He kept looking through the cards in his hand and back to the field.
"Espa!" Luna yelled louder, making him snap out of it and look at her. "Is that all?"
Espa reluctantly nodded. She almost felt bad for him, had he not tried to cheat, she would have taken him more lightly. She drew a card, but it didn't matter what card it was. This duel was over.
"I activate Red-Eyes Spirit, which lets me bring a Red-Eyes card from the graveyard to the field! And I choose Red-Eyes Black Dragon!"
The skies darkened once again as yet another portal brought forth her dragon from the graveyard. She didn't know if she would ever get used to seeing that.
"She keeps summoning level seven monsters in a single turn!"
"Can anyone beat her?"
Luna braced herself for the roar just before it made everyone in the crowd take another step back.
"Down boy." She said to her newly summoned dragon before turning her attention back to Espa. "Are you ready?"
"Please, don't do this!" Espa yelled.
Despite everyone else's surprise, Luna knew this was coming.
"You don't understand! My brothers depend on me! I am dueling for them!" Espa started to cry, and she almost felt bad for calling him pathetic before.
"Look. Put your earpiece back on. Your brothers will probably tell you not to worry about it. You are a good duelist, you just had the bad luck to choose the one opponent who you had no chance against." Luna stated, not wanting to make a dramatic scene. "Your brothers are everything to you, right? Then you can understand that you are everything to them as well. It doesn't matter to them whether you win or lose. You chose to duel me fairly, without using their help. That probably makes you so much cooler than you already were to them."
Espa's hand seemed to tremble a little. He didn't look too sure.
"Now, will you take the loss like a real man? Or will you continue begging while your brothers watch?" Luna asked with a consoling smile.
Espa wiped his tears quickly and smiled as well. There was a good boy.
"I surrender!" He said as he put his hand on his deck.
Wait, what?
The crowd started to boo in disappointment. Much like them, Luna was looking forward to dishing out the last attack that would win her the duel. But a win was a win.
The holograms faded into nothingness as Espa walked towards her and handed her his locator card and Jinzo.
"Here, as per rules of the Battle City tournament. You won these fair and square." Espa said sounding more confident but still looking sad.
Luna took both but only put away the locator card.
"How about you keep Jinzo, huh?" She said as she handed it back to him.
"What?" Espa looked genuinely confused as he received his best card back.
"My deck runs on a pretty tight strategy, I have no place for a Machine type card in it." She explained, thinking he would put it to better use than she was ever going to.
"Thanks!" He said, smiling as another tear rolled down his face.
"Just stop with the cheating stuff, okay?" Luna said as she pulled her deck out of her duel disk to put in her deck box.
"Yeah, okay. Sorry for that." Espa said, seemingly embarrassed, as he put his earpiece back on. "Hello? Yeah, come on down, guys. Let's go home."
She saw Espa leave, and realized she was still famished.
"Hey, that was some duel there! I had no idea there was another Red-Eyes user in town!" Someone said from behind her, and Luna could recognize that out of place Brooklyn accent anywhere.
Joey Wheeler.
Luna thought of all the mean things she could say in a true Kaiba-esque style. But she turned around with a smile as she couldn't help but feel like she was meeting one of her old friends once again.
But the Joey she had in her mind and the Joey standing in front of her were somehow different. This one seemed taller, maybe even buffer? His hair didn't seem so ridiculous anymore either. And despite all that, what he said next was what caught Luna off guard the most.
"Say, care for duel?"