Chapter 102: I walked in the door and saw Lai Fu beating up Chang Wei
Standing before the castle's main gate, the man in black on guard duty—Sawatari, who once worked for KaibaCorp before defecting to Industrial Illusions—yawned out of boredom, wondering why his relief hadn't arrived yet.
About ten minutes ago, his former boss—Seto Kaiba—had entered the castle with his help. The payment was the very gun Kaiba had snatched from his hand.
'That arrogant bastard, I wonder how far he's gotten? Has he been caught already?' With his sunglasses blocking the glare, Sawatari felt the sun wasn't too harsh today; it was actually rather warm. 'Whatever. As long as he doesn't rat me out, that's all that matters. Being threatened by a kid like that... it's too humiliating.'
As he was thinking this, Sawatari suddenly noticed several people walking up the steps not far from him.
"Who goes there!"
"Since you asked so sincerely, we'll graciously tell you. Skip the middle part, ta-da!" Chumley raised his right hand, revealing a glove inlaid with exactly ten Star Chips. Behind him, Mai Valentine, Yugi, and Joey also raised their gloved hands, displaying their own collected chips.
"The four of us have collected all ten Star Chips! We are the Top 8 duelists of Duelist Kingdom!"
Téa, panting for breath and leaning on Bakura, trailed behind them. Watching the group ahead, she remarked, "After climbing all those stairs, you guys still have so much energy."
"So you've already collected ten stars." Sawatari confirmed the number of Star Chips on the gloves of Chumley and the other three, then stepped aside. "Place your Star Chips into the door, and you'll be able to activate the mechanism to open it."
As he spoke, he looked over at Téa, Tristan, and Bakura standing in the back. "You three aren't contestants, are you? What are you doing here?"
"Hmph, you must be new to Industrial Illusions, aren't you? I remember seeing you at the KaibaCorp headquarters," Chumley said with a smug smile, patting the man's shoulder. "I happen to be a special guest of that Pegasus fellow. These people are all with me. We're going in. Got a problem with that?"
Chumley wasn't wrong. Although Sawatari had been bought by Pegasus long ago, drawing a salary from KaibaCorp while being ready to betray them at any moment, he had only officially joined Industrial Illusions recently. He had heard that Pegasus had invited special guests to this Duelist Kingdom tournament, but he wasn't clear on who they were.
"N-No problem at all." Forcing a strained smile onto his face, Sawatari bowed slightly, hoping he hadn't offended this mysterious "big shot." "I was just confirming for security purposes, as per the rules. Please, go right ahead."
Pegasus had invested heavily in this Duelist Kingdom tournament, not only calling upon all his accumulated connections but also spending more than half of Industrial Illusions' liquid assets. Besides constructing the island of Duelist Kingdom and holding qualifier tournaments worldwide to invite duelists, these investments were also used to bring in tycoons from various fields as special guests.
From what Sawatari knew, Anacis, the king of the shipping industry; the Garam Conglomerate, with its hands in every sector; and the Paradox Company, arguably the most powerful in the world, had all received invitations. Although not all of them attended, it was certain that anyone qualified to be a special guest was someone he couldn't afford to offend.
The only exception might be Sawatari's former employer, KaibaCorp. Although the acting president, Mokuba, was also a special guest, his current standing was... hehe.
Chumley glanced at the deferential Sawatari and paid him no further mind; he was a classic case of someone who bullies the weak and fears the strong. Just then, Yugi managed to open the castle gate, and the group walked into the castle without a second look back.
Since Chumley had been here before, he led the way. Inside the main gate was an extremely long corridor, and at its end was a staircase leading to the second floor. They had just started up the stairs when they heard a very familiar voice from a distance:
"I'm going to Duel you, Pegasus!"
"That voice...?" Mai Valentine couldn't identify the speaker and turned to the annoyed-looking Joey beside her, as his expression clearly indicated he recognized the voice.
Yugi and Chumley exchanged a look before Yugi answered Mai Valentine, "That sounds like Kaiba. Could it be he's already found Pegasus and is confronting him?"
"Then we'd better hurry!" Joey grew anxious. "If that Kaiba guy beats Pegasus, all our hard work collecting Star Chips will be for nothing!"
"Tch, some of those chips of yours were mine, Joey," Mai Valentine said. Not long after Kaiba had left, Mai Valentine had found Yugi's group and given Yugi five Star Chips to make up for what he was missing.
Yugi only needed three, so Joey ended up with the extra two. Mai Valentine was quite unhappy about this, feeling that while she gave the chips to Yugi to repay a debt, Joey was just a freeloader.
The previous night, it seemed one of Pegasus's "Player Killers," operating under the guise of a "Shadow Duelist," had launched a surprise midnight attack, apparently to speed up the Duelist Kingdom tournament's progress. Unfortunately, Mai Valentine—who, on Chumley's suggestion, had sought out Yugi for a duel only to be defeated by Joey—was chosen as a target and lost a total of five Star Chips.
Afterward, Yugi defeated that "Shadow Duelist" and gave five of the Star Chips he won to Mai Valentine, believing she never would have lost in a proper match.
The prideful Mai Valentine desperately wanted those five chips, but her ego wouldn't let her accept them. In the end, she chose to consider them a "temporary loan" and went off to collect more on her own.
Not caring if he was going the right way, Joey bolted past Chumley to the front, searching for the source of Kaiba's voice. Chumley and the others had no choice but to start running after him, their leisurely stroll through the castle now over.
But not long after reaching the second floor, the group—or more accurately, Yugi and his friends—ran into someone they knew. A scruffy, bearded man wearing an American flag bandana, sunglasses, a denim shirt, and a leather jacket was leaning against a railing, looking down below.
"Bandit Keith!"
Joey angrily shouted the man's name. Hearing Joey's loud voice, the bandana-wearing man turned around, looking at Yugi's group with slight surprise. Then, a provocative smile spread across his face. "Yugi, and a bunch of nobodies? Didn't expect you to be so quick. I thought you'd be locked in the dungeons until the tournament was over."
"You shameless bas—" Joey started forward furiously, but the bandana-wearing man—Bandit Keith—pressed a finger to his open palm, signaling for Joey to be quiet.
"Shhh~" Bandit Keith said, turning his head back toward the railing. "Quiet down, kids. You don't want to interrupt the good show down below."
Their curiosity piqued, the group took a few steps forward and looked down over the railing—
There, Kaiba and Pegasus were standing on opposite sides of a Duel Stage, about to place their Decks down?
(end of chapter)