The sun rose over the horizon the next day as if the bloody events inside the castle had never even happened – and perhaps to the few remaining duelists still roaming the island, that might have been the truth. Phil and company were no exception. Now that Jean had acquired one (1) dueling gauntlet, the hunt was on and fiercer than ever. Moreover, even their attitude had changed. Now faced with the fact that the player killers had removed an unknown number of duelists from the running, no one in the group remained… polite about finding opponents.

  “Excusez-moi,” Jean would oft be the first to say upon seeing an opponent in the distance and zooming over to them with such incredible speed that only Joey, Tristan, and Phil could keep up, “Is that, perchance, a dueling gauntlet?”

  Then Phil would be next, leaning in with a wicked smile and a presence that brought forth the unspoken idea that saying no to a duel would not be an acceptable answer. "Ah, my Frenchie friend, I do believe that is so. Short one, with the spiky hair and the badass gold pendant! You’re up in the queue!”

  Yugi, of course, would then soon arrive, breathing a little bit hard but otherwise looking no worse for wear, and the unfortunate trapped duelist would be ‘encouraged’ to ‘willingly accompany’ the King of Games to the nearest battle box.

  By now, Yugi’s pile of star chips was looking quite good. He'd already possessed six star chips by the end of the first day. Eight more were 'donated' by Panik, though like in the manga, the little shrimp had, upon parting with Mai Valentine, insisted upon her taking those star chips back until the proud woman finally relented. That had put him back down to six, but through Phil’s revolutionary new strategy, Yugi had climbed up to eight and would soon be at ten, or at least Phil assumed, since the Gate Guardian twins were still on the menu for later in the day.

  In fact, Phil’s strategy had helped Joey and Rex even more than Yugi. Between Phil’s and Jean’s slick two-man ‘shy duelist cornering’ comedy act, Joey had managed to net another two chips to reach a total of six, while Rex Raptor had put a surprising amount of aggression into play and climbed all the way from one star chip up to an impressive eight in total.

  How those numbers would work come the semi-finals, Phil had absolutely no idea (considering only four duelists could enter that stage of the tournament). But did he give a shit?

  No, not really.

  And that was how Phil found himself outside of a battle box underneath the shadow of the northern tower of the castle, watching Jean Dubois and Mako Tsunami square off. Phil was alone in watching, other than the constant presence of Lumina at his side. The others had wandered off soon after Jean had claimed Mako as his opponent – not out of ill will, but in an attempt to get in a few more opponents before it was too late, as the sun's position in the sky was already heralding the arrival of the afternoon of the second day.

  Though Mako lasting to the second day had made things a bit strange, instead of being bumped off by Yugi on the first day like in canon, not much else about the man had appeared to change. He was still the same honorable, tough-as-nails duelist Phil remembered from the manga, albeit without the weird-ass D&D bullshit of hiding monsters underwater so they couldn't be attacked. Mako, as expected, also looked like a carbon copy of his anime design – sun-tanned skin, a roguish scar on his cheek, and a blue fisherman's garb that did wonders to hint at what kind of deck the man preferred.

  The changes to the game, along with wanting to cheer on his brother, were why Phil had stayed put instead of trying to source out his own opponent. With his main strategy from the canon material no longer being possible due to the changed rules, what, he wondered, would Mako shoot for instead?

  Phil shifted in place, arms crossed and eyes serious. Both men sat facing each other in the battle box. The life points were displayed above, each at its starting total. Not a single card had yet to be played.

  Jean: 4000 Mako: 4000

  “What do you think?” Lumina asked with a serious expression. Even she appeared to have been caught up in the serious atmosphere of the duel.

  “Think of what?” Phil absentmindedly replied. It didn’t matter too much who won here, since he'd talked it out with Jean and they'd both agreed that entering the semi-finals was at best pointless and at worst actively fucking with Yugi's hopes in rescuing his grandpa. Thus, both of them were entirely focused on having fun, backing Yugi, and getting sweet vengeance on Pegasus for that fucking dumbass piece-of-shit forest trail.

  So, this was entirely a fun yet serious duel.

  “The winner!” Lumina cried out, “Who do you think will win?”

  Phil stroked his beard with a wise look on his face. “Mako’s strong… but my money is on my boy Jean. Big dawg hasn’t let me down yet. His Master Monk setup is hard to deal with, and the rest of his deck has a nice amount of utility to it. Then there’s also the surprise Megarock Dragon he can shit out to instantly end things if the situation is right. The field effect doesn't matter at all. It's Mountain, which only benefits Dragon, Winged Beast, and Thunder monsters. I don't think either of them plays any of those types. Don't get me wrong, though, I expect Mako to give Jean a run for his money… eh, I guess more like 'a run for his star chips' would be more accurate."

  “Huh…” Lumina nodded along to Phil's logic and then paused. “Oh, and there’s a guy with a gun watching us from the ramparts.”

  Phil glanced up, taking care to move only his eyes while keeping his head pointed at the battle box. Lumina was accurate as always. Leaning on the ramparts was a man in a charcoal-black suit, and in his hands was a bolt-action sniper rifle with a rather impressive-looking scope fixed to the topside of it. The man seemed to be on some sort of watch, as he was alternating between staring at the battle box down below and looking across the plains.

  “Huh, nice.” That was all Phil could say in response. The man hardly seemed like a threat, more like added security for the event.

  “Nice?”

  "Yeah." Phil glanced up again. "Dude's got a M40, I think. Used by the US Marines in Vietnam. You see them in movies all the time. It’s pretty cool to see one in person.”

  “Weirdo.” Lumina snorted.

  Just as Phil was about to banter back, the turn order was finally decided between the two duelists, and Jean drew a card to start his turn.

  “Summoning Muka Muka (600/300)!” Jean announced as a strange green insect with purple claws and a thick cloud of smoke emitting from its head took to the field. “Its effect is simple! For each card in my hand, it gains 300 attack and defense points!”

  Muka Muka (600/300 -> 2100/1800).

  Phil nodded along in satisfaction. Muka Muka was a good starter play, allowing Jean to test the waters with a decently strong monster that also did not require much in the way of setup. As an added bonus, despite looking like an insect, it was actually a rock-type monster, which would allow it to be used as fuel for Megarock Dragon after it died.

  “That’s all for me.” Jean grinned, motioning for Mako to start his turn.

  Mako cast a curious gaze over Jean’s monster, seemingly attempting to gauge its purpose while he drew a card.

  “Rock versus water!” Mako eventually said with great cheer. “A tale as old as time, the shore facing the sea! I like it! Now, how about this? I activate the field spell, Umi!”

  As a raging ocean filled the valleys within the mountain range, Mako began to explain its effects.

  “It’s simple, really! All fish, sea serpent, thunder, and aqua monsters on the field gain 200 attack and defense points, while all machine and pyros lose 200.”

  “Water you gonna do about that!” Phil screeched out of pure reflex, while Lumina took off one of her slippers and lightly beat him upside the head with it, also out of pure reflex.

  "Not only that," Mako continued, ignoring Phil's terrible pun, "I summon Mother Grizzly (1400/1000) in attack mode. Now, while she doesn't gain attack points from the field spell, that won't matter much at all, because here's my equip spell! Malevolent Nuzzler! By equipping it to my grizzly, it gains 700 attack points."

  Mother Grizzly (1400/1000 -> 2100/1000).

  "Making it equal in attack points to Muka Muka, and since it's a 'recruiter' type monster, he can send it into battle for mutually assured destruction and still profit by using its effect to summon a low-attack water monster when it dies." Phil nodded along with Mako's solid logic. "With a plus of being able to recycle the equip spell."

  In response to Lumina’s curious glance, Phil began to explain further, lowering his voice slightly so that Jean couldn’t hear him inside the box. While he was rooting for the guy, he knew Jean would prefer to figure that stuff out himself.

  “Malevolent Nuzzler has an effect that lets Mako pay 500 life points for the privilege of sending it to the top of his deck instead of to the graveyard when it leaves the field. Unlike Horn of the Unicorn, it’s optional, which is nice. So, in this case, he can ram the bear into the bug, grab out another monster off of the bear's effect, and then get his equip spell back in his hand next turn."

  Inside the box, a giant black-furred grizzly bear reared up to its full height, a malevolent green aura surrounding it as it swung a claw toward the strange insectoid on Jean’s field. In the nick of time, Muka Muka acted to catch the bear on its side, and both monsters disintegrated into shards of light.

  “Malevolent Nuzzler’s effect activates, followed by Mother Grizzly!” Mako shouted, causing Phil to nod again with approval. "Grizzly brings out a water monster with 1500 or fewer attack points, and by paying 500 life points, I can put my equip spell on top of my deck!"

  Jean: 4000 Mako: 3500

  “Both effects trigger at the same time,” Phil said before Lumina could voice her question, “But the way the game works is in what’s called ‘chain links’. Multiple effects going off in sequence create a ‘chain’. Parts of a chain are given a number. Then the cards resolve from highest number to lowest. Mako’s essentially stating he wants Nuzzler to be ‘chain link 1’ and the bear to be ‘chain link 2’. That means Mother Grizzly resolves first to bring out a monster, the deck is shuffled, and then he pays 500 to put the equip spell on top. If he’d fucked it up and done it in reverse, that would mean Malevolent Nuzzler would get shuffled away by the end of it.”

  Even as Phil spoke, his eyes seemed to be staring at Mako with a slightly more respectful look to them.

  “A large chunk of the people I’ve run into in this world wouldn’t think of doing the chain links like that. He isn’t bad at all, that Mako.” He muttered, half to himself and half to Lumina.

  “I wouldn’t have known that,” Lumina shrugged, “And I still duel sometimes.”

  “Yeah but you duel casually for the most part, right?”

  Lumina hummed in thought. “Well, other than that one time you were drunk in a bar, and I dueled some weird cowboy who showed up to kill you.”

  Phil paused. "Oh, right. Other than that though, mostly casual. Plus, you play Lightsworns. Not much chaining there that matters. Not with the version you play, at least."

  “Yup yup!” Lumina smugly declared, “That’s on purpose! When I was given my company deck, I told the dueling department I wanted something easy. With that one, all I do is pump numbers up!”

  “A company deck? Do you still have it?”

  Lumina deflated slightly. "No… Ryko took it from me when I left to find you. He was saying something about me being on probation, but I think he just wanted to be a jerk."

  “Fuck Ryko.” Was Phil’s automatic response.

  “Fuck Ryko.” Lumina agreed.

  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

  “Mother Grizzly’s effect!” Mako declared. Jean looked at him with narrowed eyes. He knew the monster could only summon a water creature with 1500 or fewer attack points. But what would it be? He risked a glance to the side, seeing Phil in deep conversation with a patch of thin air he assumed to be Lumina, who had been introduced to him during the yakuza incident.

  “Summoning the Mermaid Knight (1500/700 -> 1700/900)!”

  As a pink-haired, sword-wielding mermaid took to the field, Jean was able to notice that there was something… different about the card. The mermaid swam around the sea created by the field spell like it was her natural territory, with such ease that Jean imagined even a fish wouldn’t have.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “Mermaid Knight, attack directly!”

  Jean grimaced as a deep gouge was carved from his life points, but soon his grimace deepened as Mako continued to point forward.

  “Mermaid Knight’s effect!” Mako revealed, “While the ‘Umi’ field spell is active, she can attack twice during each of my battle phases!”

  Immediately Jean's eyes darkened. With 1700 attack points from the field spell boost, two direct attacks weren't a laughing matter. Worse of all, he hadn't anything to stop it. In hindsight, perhaps he'd been a bit too cautious with his opening Muka Muka play, which had just been a probing move to test what kind of strength Mako could bring to the field.

  Jean: 600 Mako: 3500

  In the blink of an eye, he was under 1000 life points in total.

  “Sacre bleu, such aggression in the opening move!” Jean exclaimed. A glance at his own hand was enough to reassure him that not all was lost, but still… being at 600 life points meant he couldn’t make a single mistake from now on.

  "When a fish is in the perfect spot, a fisherman must strike fast and true." Said Mako. Then, after placing one card face down, he ended his turn.

  Jean drew a card, his hand still rock steady despite the serious disadvantage he was in. In the corner of his eye, he could still see Phil watching, and the look in his brother's eye was not one of despair, but instead unshakable confidence.

  Phil still thought he could win, and that was more than enough for Jean.

  “An excellent move, Monsieur, but allow me to strike back! You may have destroyed my Muka Muka, but as a brother of mine often says, the graveyard is nothing but a second hand! By banishing the earth-attribute Muka Muka from my graveyard, I can special summon Gigantes (1900/1300) from my hand in attack mode! Gigantes, destroy the mermaid!”

  Yet, just as the battle damage was about to reach Mako’s life points, the fisherman flipped over his face-down card.

  “I’ll go ahead and activate this to save me some grief! Continuous trap card, Tornado Wall! While both it and Umi remain on the field, I take no battle damage!”

  Jean widened his eyes a fraction and then allowed a sly grin to spread across his face. "Oui, that would be fine, if not for a sea storm of my own! From my hand, I activate the quick-play spell card Mystical Space Typhoon! My target is your Umi field spell!”

  In an instant, a wall of watery tornadoes formed and were then smashed apart by a larger single typhoon that raged across the field to completely scatter the sea. Once more the tides were turned. A brutish, red-skinned ogre popped out from behind one of the mountains to slam a broken tree trunk into Mermaid Knight’s head over and over again until it popped like a rotten pumpkin against the rocks.

  Jean: 600 Mako: 3100

  “And since your Umi could no longer buff Mermaid Knight, you ended up taking 200 extra points of damage from the battle.” Jean summarized. 200 points. Not a huge amount, but every bit of damage mattered.

  Mako nodded in acknowledgement as Jean placed a card face down and ended his turn.

  “I draw! Summoning Amphibious Bugroth MK-3 (1500/1300) in attack mode! Then, I’ll follow that with something you should expect by now, the activation of my equip spell!”

  “And expect that I did!” Jean said in a rapid-fire response as he revealed his face-down trap, “That is why I readied a counter trap card, Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell! By discarding a spell from my hand, that being the Talisman of Trap Sealing, I can negate your spell activation! Furthermore, you cannot activate cards with the name of your negated spell for the rest of the duel!"

  Mako shook his head, but wasn't forestalled for long. “In that case, I place a card face down and end my turn."

  Jean drew a card. “Summoning Destroyer Golem (1500/1000) in attack mode!”

  But no sooner was the rocky monster summoned than Mako flipped over his trap card.

  “Torrential Tribute!” He declared. “When a monster is summoned, this card will destroy all monsters on the field!”

  In an instant a ferocious blue light washed over all three monsters, reducing them to dust before they could even make a noise of pain.

  “Fine by me,” Jean grinned fearlessly. “By banishing the earth-attribute Gigantes from my graveyard, I can special summon The Rock Spirit (1700/1000) from my hand! Then, I’ll take this chance to attack directly.”

  Another rocky creature, this one clad in metal armor and holding a large wooden staff, lumbered onto the field to strike directly at Mako.

  Jean: 600 Mako: 1400

  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

  Phil looked over the situation with a practiced eye. Almost as soon as Mako had gained the advantage, Jean had snatched it away, which was then ground to dust by Torrential Tribute, and finally salvaged somewhat by Jean’s special summon. He could feel goosebumps rising on his crossed arms in response to this rapid-fire duel in front of him. Even the life points were much closer now, with both duelists being one solid hit away from the clutches of defeat.

  Mako drew a card and grimaced, merely placing a monster in face-down defense position and ending his turn. Jean drew a card, but it was nothing special, just another Gigantes (1900/1300), which was immediately summoned by banishing Destroyer Golem from the graveyard. However, even that was quickly reduced to naught, as upon attacking with Gigantes, Mako’s face-down monster was revealed to be a copy of Aqua Madoor (1200/2000), which, being in defense, caused Jean to take 100 points in battle damage.

  Jean: 500 Mako: 1400

  Jean shifted in his seat. His free hand dipped inside his jacket to pull out a nearly empty pack of smokes. He glanced down at it, seemingly surprised at his own action, before stowing it back under his jacket without taking any of the remaining cigarettes.

  “Jeez. He still has that?” Phil grumbled to himself. “I told him he should ditch the whole thing to remove the temptation, but he keeps wanting to go the cool guy route of mustering his willpower to deny the urge each time.”

  “They’re steadily trading blows…” Lumina murmured, ignoring Phil’s grumbled complaints. Phil couldn’t help but agree. If he had to put it another way, it was like watching two heavyweight fighters in an arena stand still to shower each other with constant barrages of punches until one of them was knocked out, neither retreating nor advancing, just trading constant brutal blows until the end.

  Jean once more ended his turn by placing a card face down.

  “Gigantes, The Rock Spirit, and a set card.” Phil said. “Ballsy.”

  Lumina threw him a look.

  "If Gigantes dies by battle, it blows up every spell and trap on the field."

  “Meaning he can use that face-down before Gigantes falls," Lumina said in understanding.

  Phil snapped his fingers excitedly. “Precisely, my invisible friend. Jean likes to play an endurance style. Heavy attacks, sure, but his cards are meant to eat what the opponent throws at him and then strike back with equal or greater force. Or… that face-down is one hell of a bluff. Look at Mako. He's tough, but he keeps glancing at Jean's face down.”

  Lumina looked over at the fisherman. True enough, Mako was sneaking glances at Jean’s face-down card. Of course, in this era, one could never know if it was a Mirror Force or something much more harmless. A gamble – strike with all you’ve got, or hold forces in reserve?

  Mako’s answer to that question came quickly.

  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

  “I activate the equip spell card, Premature Burial!” Mako shouted. A bead of sweat stealthily dripped down his nose. “By paying 800 life points, I can special summon a monster from my graveyard in attack position. That’ll be Mermaid Knight, but she won’t be staying for long! By sacrificing Aqua Madoor and Mermaid Knight, here comes the king of the deep, the unstoppable leviathan of ages long past! I tribute summon Levia-Dragon – Daedalus (2600/1500)!”

  Jean: 500 Mako: 600

  A long blue sea serpent with several glowing gemstones inlaid atop its mighty four-eyed head swam through the air itself to settle on the field, a field that swiftly became covered in an ocean of water.

  “My field spell activates, Umi!”

  Mako’s words were cut off with a shout from outside the box, coming from the mouth of a rather surprised Phil.

  “How many fucking copies does that guy have!?!?!”

  “Three in total!” Mako grinned and held out three fingers, sending Phil reeling backward in mock surprise. “Just like Mermaid Knight, it won’t stay for long. See, Daedalus has a special effect. By sending one face-up Umi field spell I control to the graveyard, all other cards on the field will be destroyed!”

  A wall of water rose up on Mako’s side of the field to wash over all else that moved, destroying even the mountains themselves in its rage. Yet, one object stood in its path, a strange handheld controller!

  “I can’t stop that, but how about this? I activate the quick-play spell Enemy Controller! Heed my command! By sacrificing Gigantes, your Levia-Dragon Daedalus will fall under my control until the end of the turn!”

  It was a crisis averted. While Jean’s rock monster no longer remained on the field, neither could Mako attack him this turn, as his great serpent had been temporarily stolen.

  “Nice. I’ll pass my turn, then.”

  Jean pulled the top card off his deck and into his hand, a look of great concentration on his face. His breath hitched inside his mouth. Oh, how dearly he wished for a smoke at this moment. But he couldn’t. Tilla wanted him to quit. She wanted him to, and she earnestly believed Jean could truly kick the habit he’d had since he was six years old.

  Well, if Tilla believed he could, then he would. No matter how loudly his brain screamed for a hit of nicotine during such a close duel as this.

  “My turn. Foolish Burial activates, allowing me to send one monster from my deck to my graveyard. My choice is the rock-type Moai Interceptor Cannons. Then… you may have a leviathan on your side, but I have a dragon on mine! By banishing every rock monster in my graveyard, being three in total, I summon Megarock Dragon (?/?) in defense mode!”

  As the giant, spiky rock dragon made its appearance, Jean began to explain its effect.

  “It’s simple.” Jean began, “Megarock Dragon’s attack and defense points become equal to the number of rocks I banished to summon it times 700.”

  Megarock Dragon (?/? -> 2100/2100).

  “Which does not have enough attack points to defeat my Levia-Dragon,” Mako pointed out. Jean accepted the fact with a nod of his head.

  “Oui, but at this moment, it is my only way to survive. I place a monster in face-down defense position and end my turn."

  Mako drew a card, side-eying it for a second before entering his battle phase.

  “Levia-Dragon - Daedalus, destroy Megarock Dragon.”

  Jean couldn’t do anything to stop it. A giant wave surged out from the sea serpent’s mouth to instantly erode the rocky dragon into a pile of gravel.

  “Draw.” Jean said once Mako ended his turn. He could see Phil practically pressing his face against the glass, entirely focused on the match.

  “One monster in face-down defense position. Pass.”

  Mako drew another card and immediately summoned it. “7 Colored Fish (1800/800) in attack mode. Daedalus, destroy his first face-down!”

  Another torrent surged out from the leviathan’s mouth…

  And Jean finally let loose the smile of pure evil that he'd been holding back ever since placing that monster face down.

  “Monsieur, I am afraid you chose incorrectly. Your attack will go through, yes, but allow me to show you my monster.”

  Jean flipped the monster over to reveal it to his opponent.

  “Lost Guardian (100/?). The original defense of this card becomes equal to the number of my banished rock-type monsters times 700.”

  As Phil let out a wild whoop of excitement, Mako leaned back with a huff of surprise. “That means…” Mako muttered, but Jean was right there to finish his thought.

  “That means its defense points are equal to 3500.”

  Lost Guardian (100/? -> 100/3500).

  "And I take 900 points of battle damage." Mako concluded with a wry smile. Then, even as the wave was reflected back onto Levia-Dragon Daedalus to wipe out the rest of Mako's life points, the man simply laughed, leaned forward, and raised his hand to meet Jean in a respectful handshake.

  Jean: 500 Mako: 0

  “Well played, Monsieur.” Jean grinned. “You had me on the ropes with that Mermaid Knight strategy.”

  “Ha, I hope so! I prefer using The Legendary Fisherman as it is my ace, but in the depths of the ocean, every monster I have packs a punch!"

  Then Mako drew silent. “I suppose… this knocks me out of the tournament.” He soberly declared.

  “What? Are there that few star chips left to claim?” Phil’s voice answered. The scruffy man was halfway through the open door of the battle box.

  “Beats me.” Mako shrugged. “All I know is the island security has tightened up. One of them told me anyone below eight chips has to go since the cutoff point is approaching. Me? I think the player killers got too enthusiastic last night, removed too many chips from the total pool.”

  Jean raised an eyebrow, but Phil beat him to the bush. “To keep the semi-finals small, the player killers were sent out to make sure only 40 chips are available out of the starting 80-ish. I don’t think they cleared out that many, but it must’ve been enough. And with people getting close to ten…”

  "Yugi, Joey, and Rex," Jean said, understanding dawning in his eyes. "They all have eight or close to eight. Mai, too, after she got hers back from Yugi."

  "Right." Phil nodded and then turned to Mako. "How many do you have?"

  Mako tossed over two star chips to Jean, who caught them casually in one hand. “Four now. Dammit. I needed that prize money.”

  “For something important, Monsieur?” Jean asked.

  Mako hesitated and then shrugged. “My father was a fisherman. Passed away in a shipwreck a while back. I don’t have a good boat… but I wanted to buy one. A real good one, so I can go out into deeper waters and make my father proud. You know, catch the biggest fish the world’s ever seen.”

  Neither Jean nor Phil could say much to that, at least not until Mako blinked and recovered his composure.

  “It’s alright. There are other tournaments, other chances.”

  Jean put a firm hand on Mako’s shoulder, looking the fisherman right in the eyes.

  “Monsieur… you are an honorable duelist and a fine fisherman. I would not worry if I were you.”

  Mako laughed. “Have you even seen me fish?”

  “No, I have not.”

  “Then how do you know?”

  Jean simply tapped the side of his nose. “I’ve traveled the world. Seen a lot. It’s given me a good eye for people. You… my eye tells me you’re a fisherman that’s already making your pops proud. It also tells me you’re a duelist who can tear through the scene until the prize money lands you a nice yacht, maybe a battleship or two.”

  “An aircraft carrier,” Phil supplied.

  Mako could only laugh even louder in the face of Jean’s unbridled optimism. The sound carried far, all the way from the shadow of the castle to the ferry dock, where the wind brought back the salty scent of the sea to fill the lungs of Jean, Mako, and Phil.

  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

  Above the battle box, the black-suited security guard observed it all. His hand dipped under the lapel of his suit to brush against his walkie-talkie.

  “Reporting. Zone three sector seven is finished. Frenchie won. Requesting team three to escort Mako Tsunami safely to the docks.”

  The walkie crackled to life in response. “Roger. Team three dispatched. Any other life in your zone?”

  The man’s eyes narrowed as he peered through the scope on his rifle. It moved slightly in response to his touch, allowing him to fully scan his vision across the distant plains, the rocky grounds resting under the shadow of the ramparts, and the outward tree line of the forest beyond. Nothing moved other than a small cluster of duelists in the wasteland zone… and a flash of white feathers briefly poking through the forest foliage. The man blinked, and then the feathers were gone.

  "Just a bird…" He muttered to himself and then toggled on his walkie-talkie again. "Yugi Muto’s group has approached Bandit Keith’s gang. Are there any new orders about him?”

  “Negative. Master Pegasus’s opinion stays the same. The American succeeds or fails on his own accord.”

  The security guard nodded and turned his attention back to the scope as the faint hum of helicopter rotors began to fill the afternoon air.

  “Seto Kaiba is on route.”

  “He’s still in the cockpit?”

  “Roger. No sign of our man.”

  The radio fell silent as the sounds of the helicopter grew louder. Only when the machine began its descent onto a clear patch of grass near the bottom of the castle’s grand staircase did the man on the other side of the walkie-talkie speak once more.

  “Coast Guard picked up Saruwatari in the ocean five miles out. He’s alive. Crazy bastard made him jump from the chopper.”

  “Roger. Orders?”

  After speaking, the man in the suit tightened his breathing, focusing all of his energy on the view through the scope. He could see it all. The helicopter landed and powered down its rotors. The door opened. Seto Kaiba himself stepped out, looking no worse for wear even considering his lengthy coma. Appearing arrogant as always, even through the view of the rifle’s scope, the teen was clad in a long blue coat, and his ever-present steel briefcase was in his hand.

  He could do it. A slight amount of pressure from his right pointer finger, no more than half a pound in total, and Seto Kaiba would fall for good.

  “Let him through. Master Pegasus’s decree.”

  But it was not to be. The man relaxed his chest, letting the trapped air in his lungs rush out into the sky. Then, as if Seto Kaiba was no more than a mere distraction, he turned his attention away from the new arrival to the island in favor of continuing his careful watch over the land.

  “Roger that.”

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