Virtual Anonymity

Chapter 4

The journey to Maximillion Pegasus' Duelist Kingdom was uneventful to say the least. Inside the helicopter, she had a live feed to the ferry where all the duelists were lining up to go to Pegasus' tournament. The most eventful thing was Joey trying to stow away on the- wait, Joey?

Kana turned her full attention to the feed, momentarily forgetting the email she was writing out on her phone. Her classmate struggled against two bodyguards, clearly arguing about something. It was then that she spotted the striking hair of Yugi Muto in line among all the other duelists. Why had Pegasus invited him? As far as she knew, he was by no means a top ranked duelist and he certainly hadn't entered any tournaments before. Casting her mind back, she tried to remember if Pegasus had mentioned anything to her.

"Our dear Seto Kaiba has destroyed the fourth Blue Eyes White Dragon card and suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of little Yugi Muto."

Her conversation with Tetsu Tech's chief investor rung clearly in the back of her mind, it's importance only now dawning on her. Pegasus' choice of words meant that this was no casual duel; it wasn't a classmate versus classmate thing. Oh no, this was a crushing defeat. This was Yugi Muto, an unranked hobby duelist, defeating the number one duelist in the country - Seto Kaiba.

The realisation struck through her like a bolt of lightning.

No wonder Kaiba had been missing from homeroom. Between his defeat to Yugi, and Tetsu Tech's early release, he must have been pushed to his limit. Shaking the thought from her head, Kana focused back on the feed to see if anything else was happening. It seemed everything had calmed down, and the duelists were back to boarding the ferry as though nothing had happened. With the commotion settled, Kana returned to writing her email to wait out the rest of the flight to Duelist Kingdom.

Just before the sun began to rise on the horizon, the helicopter set down on the pad behind Pegasus' castle. The door was opened moments later, her pilot gesturing towards the mighty fortress with a grumbled 'This way, Miss Tetsu'. She stepped out of the helicopter, bowing her head to the pilot and thanking him, before turning towards the two body guards that had come to greet her.

"Mr Pegasus has been awaiting your arrival, Miss Tetsu. Please, follow us."
Clasping her hands in front of her, the blonde nodded. "Of course, lead the way."
While one bodyguard took her towards the steps, the other stayed behind to collect her suitcases.

The journey through the hallways was silent. Eventually, the towering man stopped at a door and opened it before turning back to her.
"This will be your room for the duration of your stay, Miss Tetsu. Mr Pegasus would like to greet you personally before the duelists arrive for the tournament, so I'll come to fetch you in a couple of hours."
The woman blinked, looking up at him curiously before smiling. "Alright. Thank you very much." With a final, thankful nod, Kana stepped into the room and closed the door behind her. Time to settle in and take a much needed shower.

As promised, two hours later, the bodyguard returned to collect her from her room and take her to meet Pegasus. Kana tried to stop her heart from beating quite so quickly, concerned that her calm and professional composure would crumble in front of the man she looked up to.

"Kana, dear!"
The words brought her back into the real world, the blonde stepped into what appeared to be a formal dining room.
His arms were held out wide in greeting, a pleasant smile adorning his lips. "Welcome to my humble castle; I assure you that your stay will be nothing but the best. Please, do take a seat, we have much to discuss before the duelists arrive."

Dazed, Kana could only nod and sit in the seat he had directed her to, on his left hand side, absentmindedly noting that he was as exuberant in real life as he was in his letters.

"Mr Pegasus, if you don't mind my asking-"

"Please, call me Maximillion."

Kana found herself startled. Pegasus, renowned inventor of Duel Monsters, CEO of Industrial Illusions, and Tetsu Tech's Chief Investor, was allowing them to speak on a first-name basis?

There was a beat of silence as her composure was shaken, "I- uh, Maximillion, what is it that we need to discuss?"

"Why, just the plans for your stay, of course. I am not confining you to the castle, my dear, though I do ask that you respect my privacy and don't nosey about. A man has his secrets, you know." His conspiratorial wink threw her off even more. Was this how it felt to be starstruck?

"Oh." For a long few moments, she couldn't think of anything else to say. "Well, I hadn't made any plans as of yet. I thought I might step out and watch a couple of duels once the tournament begins, but I haven't thought beyond that."
"Very well then. The finals will be held here in the castle, and you'll have the best seat in the house to view them from. With as many talents as we have on the Island, it's sure to be spectacular." He smiled once more, and Kana found herself smiling back for the first time.
"Thank you, Pega-" His tut stopped her and Kana corrected herself, "Maximillion. I'm looking forward to it."

"Anything for you, Kana dear, you deserve it for all your hard work. I did say that this was a show of gratitude, did I not? I have to go prepare to greet the arriving duelists; Kemo will lead you to the roof of the castle so you can view it as well. We'll have breakfast when I return - I'm sure you're hungry."

That was how she found herself on the roof on one of the castle's turrets, watching the crowd of duelists below who were waiting for Pegasus' arrival. Kemo had left her there, heading to introduce Pegasus on the level below instead.

"Attention. Please gather around. Your benevolent host is anxious to greet you." Kemo's voice didn't carry any of the excitement that was abundant in the atmosphere.

Moments later, Pegasus stepped out of the castle and walked to the edge of the balcony, looking down over the crowd. Throwing his arms wide, he began to speak.

"Greetings, duelists! I am Maximillion Pegasus. It is my great honour and pleasure to welcome you all to the duelist kingdom. You stand before me the world's greatest duelists, but come tournament's end, only one shall be crowned King of Games." His arms dropped, hands now resting on his hips. "I implore you all to assemble your dueling decks with care, with creativity, and with cunning." At that moment, Kana noted the crowd shift their gaze from the host to their decks. Her mind drifted to her own deck, hidden in the deck box beneath her pillow. Hopefully, she wouldn't need to use it. "For this competition will test your skills like never before! To track your progress in the tournament, you've each been given a dueling glove. You've also been given two precious star chips." The silver haired man held the items in his hand, displaying them to the crowd. "You must wager these star chips on each duel you compete in. To advance to the final level of competition, for a chance at the three million dollar prize, you must win ten star chips!" Now he held a star chip above his hand, the glint of gold in the sunlight catching Kana's gaze. "Ten star chips will admit you into my castle, where you will face me in one final duel!"

Even from her distance, the blonde could see the determination set in each duelists gaze, though Yugi surprised her the most. Gone was the excitable puppy expression she had become used to seeing, and in its place the fierce determination of a top duelist.

"This will be a tournament unlike anything you've ever experienced!" Hands now folded behind his back, Pegasus continued his speech. "State of the art dueling arenas cover this entire island, and intriguing new dueling rules will be in effect! I could tell you what these new rules are, but what fun would that be? You'll discover them as you compete, or you won't last very long. Remember: play boldly, think strategically, and duel mercilessly! You have one full hour to prepare, both your cards and yourselves. When the skies light up with fireworks, the duels will begin!"

As the crowd cheered, Pegasus turned and headed inside. Kana stayed for a moment, watching the buzz of the crowd, before turning and making her own way inside to meet up with her host.

Somewhere below, Téa pointed up to the turret.

"Hey, guys, is it just me or does she look familiar?" The group cast their gaze up to where their friend was pointing, only to see the turret empty.

"Uh... Téa?" Tristan frowned, "There's no-one there. First Bakura, now this? Are you sure you're ok?"

The girl blinked and shook her head. "Maybe it is all in my head."