30 – Regionals Part 6: The Round of 16

POV 3rd Person

"Ladies, Gentleman, and all those in between, welcome to the 5th match of the Round of 16 in this year's Regional Tournament!" The announcer, Helen Carter, shouts in excitement in her English accent. 

Helen was not an accomplished duelist herself, but she had covered Duel Monsters for almost her entire 15 year career as a journalist and news anchor, so she was no stranger to the game. She stood at average height with a curly bob of brunette hair and brown eyes. She wore a maroon dress and matching heels as she waved a well-manicured hand through the air. 

Translation software in the provided earbuds turned her English words into whichever native language those who watched wanted. It was one of the breakthrough technologies that was released by Kaiba Corp nearly 2 decades ago, and it is what made seamless communication between nations possible. 

All of this was to facilitate better duels, and it had worked magnificently.

"Today, we are lucky to have Yin Wei, a professional duelist from China, and Eugene Langer, a professional duelist from Germany, join us as judges. Please give these two a round of applause!"

Anubis heard all of this from his entrance backstage. None of the names were familiar, but he was a bit shocked when he heard the English words, not because of the language, but because he understood them without even having the earbuds. He supposed it made sense, however. He did speak English before he came here, after all. 

The previous announcers for his matches all spoke Japanese, which was considered to be of equal importance to English in this world due to Domino City, the Duel Monster's Capital, being in Japan. 

He was woken from his thoughts as Helen announces his entrance. 

"And now, the man who stole all the ladies' hearts in his first round, the Dark Horse of this tournament, the Egyptian God, Anubis!"

The roar of the crowd was deafening as Anubis entered from his side of the arena to his, now iconic, ringing of the bells and rock-metal-themed background music. He walked calmly to center stage and did a slow circle to wave at the crowd once he got there. 

Shouts of "Take off your mask!" and "Show us your face!" were screamed by high-pitched voices, but Anubis ignored them. He simply pulled out the plush, cushioned chair at the table, sat down, and took out his deck to start shuffling. 

"This flashy rookie has done extraordinarily well getting here today. He defeated Snow, a professional and fan favorite, in his first round, and Luciano Nazário, a Brazillian rookie, in his second round. This time, however, he has to face the mountain that is..."

She pauses for dramatics and Anubis rolls his eyes. 

"The 1991 World Champion and 3-time Regionals winner; The Dinasour King, Rex Raptor!!!"

Anubis drops his cards in shock. 

'Welp. It's been a good run...' He thinks with a sad sigh.

On the opposite side of the arena, a feral and guttural roar broke through the cacophony of noise and silenced the crowd almost at once. The roar was followed by a heavy and fast guitar riff.

Rex Raptor, dressed in his usual style of a green jacket, brown pants, tan vest, and signature red beanie, enters the arena and waves to the crowd with a smug smile. His smile continues all the way to the table, where he flops down into his chair, pulls out his green and black camo deck box, and squints over at Anubis. 

"Yo. I'm in a hurry, so let's make this quick, yeah? I want nachos and I am really hungry." Rex goads in his abrasive, gravely, high-pitched voice while his smile never leaves his face.

"Charmed," Anubis responds dryly.

Helen spoke for another couple of minutes, getting the judge's input on the match as well, while Anubis and Rex shuffled their decks in silence. 

Rex yawns and puts his feet up on the corner of the table as he finished shuffling and handed his deck over to Anubis to cut. 

'If I lose to this arrogant asshole, I am going to scream.' Anubis thinks darkly as he stares at the rude kid in front of him.

Once they were ready, the cringe-inducing "Rock, Paper, Scissors!," and "3, 2, 1, Duel!" chants are screamed by everyone but the two duelists. Anubis and Rex were staring hard at each other the whole time. 

When Anubis won RPS, Rex waved it away with, "Doesn't matter. Pick whatever you want. I will win either way."

Anubis picks going first, contemplating how much trouble he would be in for hitting the idiot, and the duel begins. 

'Hmm...not a bad hand.' He thinks as a slow smile starts to build behind his mask. 

"I play 7-Colored Fish (1800/800) in attack mode and set one back row to end my turn." He says in his deep voice after considering for a moment.

"Nice! I love Sushi!" Rex quips back as he draws for his turn. He then smiles widely at Anubis and says, "Now then, shall we end this quickly? I play the spell Terraforming¹Released in the OCG in 2002. It allows me to search a field spell card."

'Wait. What? That card is out!?!' Anubis shouts internally. 

"Next, I will play one of the 6 cards I got as a gift from Pegasus for winning the World Championship 2 years ago: Jurassic World!"

'Okay, this is some bullshit. I know for a fact that card shouldn't be out yet!' Anubis rages inside as he keeps his outer appearance perfectly calm. 

Pegasus was, apparently, giving out unreleased cards to World Champions, and, from what he could see, they appeared to be the first releases of these cards. Anubis had been tempted to use field spells for his deck, but without Terraforming, it seemed pointless...Now, he finds out the card has already been released and he felt really dumb. 

He knows for a fact, however, that no copies of Jurassic World were up for sale, as he had looked over the field spells on the card buying websites. That was not one listed, so it must be one of the only copies in the world. 

In other words, this world was far less fair than he originally thought. He also knew far less than he felt he needed to. 

'As soon as I am able, I need to buy that Complete Card Catalog in the shop...Probably the Deck Builder & Collections Manager as well...I can't keep being surprised by things like this. Plus, this means I might have more cards available to buy outside of packs...These are serious things to consider...'

Rex, ignorant of Anubis' inner conflict, explains that the card raises the attack and defense of all Dinosaur monsters by 300 as he slaps it down into the field zone. 

"Next, I will play my signature card, Two-Headed King Rex (1600/1200 Boosted to 1900/1500)!" 

As he plays the card, several audience members let out roars, shouts, or cheers. Rex was a favorite to win, so his supporters were numerous. 

"Not so fast. Your summoning activates my Trap Hole." Anubis says distractedly, still reeling over his newest discovery, as his voice cuts through the cheers. The noise dies almost instantly, and Rex's smug smile finally falters.

*Tsk* Rex clicks his tongue, but shrugs as he says, "You bought yourself a turn. You better make the most of it!" 

He then sets a Spell or Trap card as well and ends his turn.

Helen and the judges start talking about the plays in the first and second turns, commenting on how Anubis is known to almost always have an out to bad situations using staple cards. One of the judges laughs and says that he better have one for the rest of the game because Rex's deck is one of the best on the pro scene right now. 

Anubis takes a deep breath and draws his next card for the start of his turn. He needed to out the Jurassic World field spell or he was going to be in trouble. 

He grits his teeth when he sees his next card. This was not an out, but it would have to do for right now.

"I summon Dark Zebra (Effect 1800/400) in attack mode," Anubis announces. If nothing else, he can get in for 3600 Life Point Damage this turn. Since he had another monster on the field, he didn't have to worry about Dark Zebra's effect that would switch it to defense in the Standby Phase.

Rex just smirks as he takes the damage, reducing him to 5400 LP, and Anubis has nothing left to do but end his turn.

Rex draws and starts chuckling. The chuckle grows into full-bodied, manic laughter as he finally sits up straight and places a card onto the field. 

"I special summon Gilasaurus from my hand, which will allow you to special summon a monster from your graveyard...Oh, wait! You don't have a monster in your graveyard, do you? How unfortunate...Hahah!"

Anubis has a sinking suspicion that this is not going to be a good turn for him. 

"Next, I will sacrifice my Gilasaurus for the other card I was gifted by Pegasus...Frostosaurus!!!" (6-star 2600/1700 Boosted to 2900/2000)

The audience goes wild and the judges start talking animatedly about the card that was unique to Rex's deck alone. 

Anubis, meanwhile, closes his eyes behind his mask and tries not to scream. 

'Excuse me? He summoned fucking what!?! I didn't even know that card existed!!!'

"Finally, I will attack your fish dealing 1100 damage to your Life Points. What do you have to say about that, Your Godliness?" Rex teases, leaning forward while his smirk was back with a vengeance. 

"Are you done?" Anubis asks shortly. 

"Yup. Show me what you got, noob."

Drawing for his turn, Anubis' heart sinks. He drew another monster and he had no Spells or Traps in his hand currently.

He did have something that will buy him another turn or two, however, and he played it immediately. He also had to switch his Dark Zebra to defense since it was his only card on the field during his Standby Phase. 

"I will set one monster and end my turn," Anubis announces calmly. He refused to give the little shit any satisfaction. 

Rex draws and immediately summons a Crawling Dragon #2 (Boosted to 1900/1500). He enters his Battle Phase and attacks Anibis' face-down monster with his Frostosaurus.

'At least something is going right.' Anubis thinks, starting to feel like the game wasn't over yet. 

"You flipped my Hane-Hane (Effect 450/500). I will target your Frostosaurus and return it to hand-"

"I don't think so! I activate Solemn Judgement," Rex shouts, standing and pointing at me. ²Yes, Solemn Judgment works on Flip Summons. I had to look it up to check.

Rex paid half his Life Points, reducing him to 2700, and Anubis' only hope was destroyed.

"I will redeclare my attack with my Frostosaurus to your defense position Dark Zebra, destroying it, and then attack with my Crawling Dragon #2 dealing 1900 damage!"

Anubis was now down to 5000 LP, but he had many cards that could turn this around. He just needed to draw them. 

He drew his next card...and it was not one that would help. He, again, sets a monster and passes the turn.

Rex draws, summons Mad Sword Beast (Effect Boosted to 1700/1500), and then tries to attack Anubis' face-down monster with it so that its effect would trigger. This proves to be a greedy mistake, however, as the monster is flipped and revealed to be Prevent Rat (500/2000), so Rex takes 300 LP damage instead.

It also means he was not able to win this turn, which might just allow Anubis to snag the victory out of the jaws of defeat!

Rex growls out in annoyance, destroys the Prevent Rat with his Frostosaurus, sets a Spell or Trap card, and then does another 1900 points of damage to Anubis, reducing him to 3100 LP.

Anubis looks to his deck. He needed this card to be good. It had to be an out to this horrible board he was facing. This was his last chance. If he didn't pull something incredible, his time in the Regional Tournament was over.

He takes a deep breath and draws. 

'Finally, I catch a break!'

"I play Pot of Greed, drawing 2 cards," Anubis says with a smirk of his own...though no one else could see it...

'Good draws, too!'

"I play Change of Heart on your Frostosaurus, taking control of it for the turn. Next, I will summon Mystic Tomato (Effect 1400/1100) in attack mode." Anubis starts, feeling like he might just clutch this. "Then, I will enter the Battle Phase and crash my Mystic Tomato into your Mad Sword Beast, destroying the card and dealing 300 damage to myself, but triggering its effect."

This left Anubis at 2800 LP, only 400 more than Rex's current LP. 

Anubis used his card's effect to special summon a Dark monster in attack mode with 1500 or fewer attack points, choosing Wall of Illusion (Effect 1000/1850). This would mean that the next monster to attack Wall of Illusion would be bounced back to its owner's hand. 

"Lastly, I will attack your Crawling Dragon #2 with your Frostosaurus dealing 1100 LP of damage before setting a Spell or Trap in my Main Phase 2 and ending my turn, returning your monster to your control."

That was it. He bought himself one more turn. 

Rex draws and sneers at his opponent. "That was pretty good, but not good enough! I summon Kabazauls (Boosted to 2000/1800) in attack mode! I will attack your wall with my Kabazauls and then my Frostosaurus will win me the game!"

"I activate Waboku!" Anubis shouts, flipping his trap.

The cheers that were starting up, die out again and Rex stares at the trap card with wide eyes and an open mouth.

"N-No! It's...It's not possible!" He stammers, taking a step back...before smiling cruelly and yelling, "Psych!" 

He then flips his Trap card, revealing Seven Tools of the Bandit. 

There is a brief pause in the arena before an explosion of noise shakes the floor and ceiling. Roars, cheers, and shouts of "Dinasour King Rex!" echo off the walls and drown out the announcer Helen and the two judges as they comment on the final turn. 

Anubis stares at the board for a few seconds, lets out a tired sigh, and starts to collect his cards. 

Rex runs around the center stage, posing and roaring at his fans while Anubis quietly puts his deck away and starts to leave. 

"Wait!" Rex calls from behind him, running up to meet him halfway back to Anubis' entrance. 

Anubis turns his body to face Rex, ready to punch the asshats lights out if he tries to start shit.

Rex runs up to Anubis, covers the mic on the collar of his jacket with a hand, and then smiles up at Anubis genuinely. 

"That was a great duel, man! It is an honor to finally play against you. I love your whole look! You certainly didn't disappoint, either. That was really close, you had me sweating when I was down to 1300 LP! I'm sure I'll see you here next year, and I am looking forward to your performance in the World Championship Tournament as well!" He says. His voice was suddenly completely normal and missing the annoying growl, and his tone was much more respectful as he offers his hand to shake 

Anubis, a bit taken aback, shakes Rex's hand and tilts his head in confusion. 

Rex laughs and explains, "It's just an act, dude. The fans love the whole arrogant schtick."

Anubis nods in understanding, shakes the kid's hand more firmly, and then says, "Good luck in the rest of the tournament." before turning to leave the arena once more. 

"Let's have another round of applause for Anubis! A first-time competitor who made it to the Round of 16! He had a spectacular Regional performance and earned himself a spot in the World Championship!"

The audience cheers wildly, and Anubis waves at them all once more before he finally leaves and makes his way to his room. 

This duel with Rex made him realize that he still had much to learn in this new world. He couldn't make assumptions about anything, because there was a ton of smoke and mirrors and hidden deals going on in the background. 

'I mean...The World Champions getting unique, unreleased cards? That was just plain unfair...but maybe that was the point? I always felt like there was something more...something darker going on in the shadows. If this is what Pegasus does for celebrities...what benefits do the governments of the world and the UN get?'

As his thoughts started to spiral, a black box pops up before him.

Anubis slams the door of his room closed in frustration when he reads the box. 

He knew life wasn't fair, but this was just...Rigged! That's what it was, rigged!

...Still, he had access to a magical shop that no one else had...as far as he knew, anyway. Did he really have room to complain?

He ripped his mask off and started to pack up. 

Regardless of anything else, he wanted to go home and spend time with Ishizu. She always made him feel better and right now...he felt like garbage. 

Toshiaki knew he needed to get used to losing. He had lost in tournaments before! 

...But there was so much on the line for this one and...He really thought he might be able to win it all. 

Maybe that was naive, but he, Toshi, was having a hard time accepting losing to something he had no control over. 

'I would have wiped the floor with him if not for those 2 cards...' He grits his teeth as he starts shoving clothes into his luggage.

Just then a knock came at his door. 

Toshi lets out an annoyed growl as he puts his mask back on and opens the door angrily. 

"I don't want any visitors-" He freezes when he sees who it is. 

Ishizu wears a sad smile as she pushes past him into the room, closes the door behind her, spins around, pushes him up against the closed door, removes his mask, and then kisses him in one smooth movement. 

It isn't heated, but, rather, soft and compassionate. She trails her fingers down the side of his face and then, after a few seconds of kissing, she steps back and turns to enter the bedroom of the suite, looking over her shoulder back at him when he stands in stunned silence. 

"Let me take care of you." She says softly, as she holds out a hand to him. 

Toshi, mask forgotten but still in his Anubis outfit, follows her as if in a trance. 

They enter the room and Ishizu closes the door behind them. 

***

Nothing sexual happened behind that closed door, but there was a lot of cuddling, sweet kisses, and gentle reassuring words. 

Toshi would later state that he definitely didn't cry. 

No matter what anyone said, he did not cry. 

If asked, Ishizu would confirm this fact...though she always did so with an endearing smile aimed toward Toshi.