Yu-Gi-Oh New Heroes Integration

The Ultimate Duel - Part 1

"Thanks for walking me to the hospital." Ray said while licking her cone of chocolate chip ice cream, "And for the ice cream."

"No problem." Dan replied, hands in pocket, "My workplace is the same way so we would've found each other eventually."

"I'm a bit sad we don't get to see Alex's duel against one of the strongest."

"He'll probably tell us all about it when he wins."

They both walked on an empty sidewalk towards towering buildings. Ray lifted her ice cream up towards Dan asking, "You want some? You didn't get any yourself."

"Pass. I don't want to get sick."

"Hey! My illness isn't contagious, you know. I guess you just don't like ice cream."

Ray turned away from Dan, keeping her ice cream safe.

"Nah, I'm a Rocky Road fanatic. Doesn't get better than that." Dan beamed.

"Eww... nuts."

"Nuts are great! And I would have gotten some, but money is a bit tight for me right now..."

"What? I'm sorry, I had no idea! Please take this back." Ray panicked as she offered her food.

"Heh." Dan chuckled, "I'm not going to take your ice cream, Ray. You... you kind of remind me of my younger sister, in a way. Seeing you happily eating junk food fills my stomach more than that ice cream ever will."

"Mmmm..." Ray bit into her ice cream, embarrassed, "I know I'm not as old as the rest of you, but do you really have to treat me like a kid all the time?"

"You are a kid."

"I'm at least more mature than you, Dan! And in just a few more weeks, I'll be going to high school, so then I'll be in the same space as you guys!"

"Wait, you're going to school? That's great news! Is your doctor really letting you go? I thought you had to be in a hospital bed for like 12 hours a day."

"Uh, well, I do need to be in bed for more than 12 hours, but as you can see, I'm perfectly fine to move around." Ray explained. "My doctor said that as long as I keep feeling fine, then I'm allowed to go out for school, but I need to keep taking a lot of medicine when I come back. I am excited though, I've always wondered what school is like. Most of my education was taught to me by passing patients. I'm not really meant to... to live very long, so school wasn't really on the list for me."

"I'm sorry." Dan said with a forlorn look on his face, "Isn't there any kind of cure?"

"Well... I think it's kind of a genetic thing. My great-grandmother had the same illness. She lived a lot longer than people thought, so she was able to give birth to two babies. I think she passed around 25."

"25! Ray, how long do you... actually no, stupid question."

"It's fine. All my doctors said that I'll be lucky to live past 18." Ray quickly ahead of Dan before turning around to face him, "But! I think they're all wrong! They also said I won't be able to move or speak or eat and I can do all of that. I'll know I'll live till I'm an old lady."

Dan walked past her, a faint smile on his face, "You're right. We should stop treating you like a kid. You're stronger than all of us combined, Ray."

"Hehe!" Ray giggled as she caught up with Dan.

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"This is it everybody!" Marie shouted from her podium, "It's what you all have been waiting for! It's time for our champion, Alex, to choose one of the 5 strongest duelists here and challenge them to a one-on-one, best of one, duel!"