Chapter 127: The Emperor's Gift: Riding Duel, Start!
"Please, Amano. Just this once. Let me have this."
Amano had barely dismounted from his test ride when Rin Seiya hit him with a request that sounded, without context, deeply alarming.
He couldn't help asking: "Seiya, what kind of relationship do you think we have exactly?"
"The same one we've always had. We established it on our very first night together Don't tell me you're going to pretend that never happened?"
Nearby, Fiona's face went fully red. She was caught between the very reasonable urge to leave and the completely unreasonable urge to keep listening.
"Our first night..." Amano tried to remember.
"Yusei and Jack Atlas. We're destined rivals. Fated opponents. Don't tell me you forgot the promise we made that night."
"Oh. That kind of relationship." The roleplay angle. Rin Seiya hadn't brought it up in a while, and Amano had quietly assumed the anime-obsessed upperclassman had let the bit go.
Apparently not. She'd just been keeping it alive in her own head.
Then again, since that night he'd gone and summoned Neo Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon right in front of her. He could hardly complain about her drawing conclusions.
If she was casting herself as Yusei, where did that leave him? Kaiba Seto? And where was his Yugi Mutou?
"Yusei and Jack means Riding Duels. There's no separating the two." Rin Seiya's hands tightened into fists. "My original plan was to wait until you were in your second year, get you comfortable with Riding Duels first, and then challenge you to our destined battle regularly."
Seiya. Can the words "regularly" and "destined battle" coexist in the same sentence?
If it happens regularly, it's not really destined anymore.
"But since you can already ride, so why wait? Today is as good as any day. Our destined battle. A Riding Duel. Right now."
"You have a very flexible definition of 'destined.'"
Fiona, who had been blushing and internally screaming a moment ago, was now staring at both of them with a completely blank expression.
"I genuinely have no idea what either of you are talking about. Yusei? Jack? Destined battle?"
"Fiona, don't worry about it. Just go book us a track. And grab a D-Wheel in good shape for me to borrow. Amano, are you borrowing one, or riding the Moonlight Butterfly?"
"This one."
Amano ran a hand along the silver flank of the D-Wheel the way Fiona had. One test ride was all it had taken. This machine felt right in a way he couldn't fully explain.
Still. Riding Duels.
As far as Amano understood the rules, ordinary Spell Cards couldn't be used freely during a Riding Duel. Technically they could be activated, but doing so outside of Speed Spells cost 2000 Life Points per card.
Two non-Speed Spells and your entire Life total was gone. Even one was only viable with a significant LP cushion. Most duelists avoided it entirely.
"Seiya, even if I agree to a Riding Duel, I don't have any Speed Spells. And my Tuner count isn't great either. This won't be much of a destined battle if I can't compete properly."
Amano's deck relied heavily on the utility Spells that supported his Normal Monster core. Pulling those out gutted his setup options.
"Speed Spells are not a problem. I have plenty. Pick what you need first, and I'll work with whatever's left. As for Tuners..."
She trailed off.
That was the real issue. Without enough Tuners, Synchro Summoning became unreliable. And a Riding Duel without Synchro was nowhere near what Rin Seiya had been picturing.
"Go ask Fioré."
Fioré was still in the garage working on her battered D-Wheel, methodically undoing the damage the Emperor had dealt to it.
"Tuner Monsters. Where am I supposed to find one of those on short notice? And honestly, Amano, you enrolled at Synchro Academy without any Tuners? That takes nerve."
The scarcity of Tuners had been a known issue from the start.
Most duelists who ran Synchro builds only got Tuners from their initial ten-card draw when enrolling, and those were account-bound, untradeable. Any Tuners obtained later came through academy shop exchange points, and those were bound too. The result was that Tuner Monsters almost never circulated on the open market.
"Although. Wait."
Something crossed Fioré's expression. She set down her wrench and started digging through the shelves.
"Here. Knew it was still in here somewhere. Good thing I didn't throw it out."
She pulled the card from deep inside a cluttered storage box.
"He gave it to me a while back. Take it. I don't want it."
"He?"
"The Emperor. Obviously."
The name came out clipped, impatient. She shoved the card into Amano's hand without looking at him.
"Take it and go. You don't have to give it back."
Amano turned the card over. The monster illustrated on it pushed past the edges of the card frame, spilling beyond its own borders in a way he'd never seen before. And the monster itself. Wasn't this essentially Junk Synchron? Same silhouette, nearly identical effect.
Star Junk Synchron. Was the Emperor a Junk deck player once?
"Oh, I have one of those too."
Rin Seiya pulled her own Junk Synchron from her deck. Holding the two cards side by side made the difference immediately obvious. Same monster, but the Emperor's version overflowed its frame in a way that marked it as something else entirely.
A card this rare, handed over to someone he'd barely met, just because she didn't want it anymore.
Whatever she felt about the Emperor, she'd clearly held onto this for a long time before deciding to be rid of it. Amano had a few thoughts on that, but none of them were his to say. The right move was to pocket the card, say nothing, and give her no time to reconsider.
"Track's booked." Fiona reappeared. "Lucky timing. Court A just cleared and nobody's claimed it yet. You can go straight up."
Along with the booking, Fiona had already picked out a D-Wheel for Rin Seiya and rolled it onto the lift platform.
Rin Seiya swung onto a red D-Wheel and pulled up the system panel. A satisfied smile spread across her face.
"Not bad. From today, you're Yusei No. 2. Your first match is a destined battle. You should be excited."
Amano climbed onto the Moonlight Butterfly, secured his helmet, and activated Riding Duel mode.
Riding Duel mode differed from standard riding. The D-Wheel extended its own built-in Duel Disk panel at the front, separate from the Eva terminal disks used in normal duels. The deck had to be loaded into it before the engine would start.
For this duel, Amano had rebuilt his deck around the format. Fifteen Speed Spells replaced the standard Spell lineup. He kept two regular Spells, his two most valuable cards.
Monster Reborn. And Card of Demise.
Monster Reborn might not come up. But Card of Demise, even with the 2000 LP penalty for being a non-Speed Spell, was worth it if it resolved.
"Comm check. Can everyone hear me?"
Fiona's voice came through the helmet earpiece.
Amano and Rin Seiya: "Loud and clear."
Since both D-Wheels were going out from Fresh Bloom Mechanics, Fiona was responsible for monitoring both machines simultaneously and keeping them running at peak performance through the duel.
"Good. Preparing to lift to the surface track now. Hold on and try not to tense up."
The metal ceiling above split apart. Gears and chains ground into motion, and Amano felt himself rising, the light source overhead drawing closer until it swallowed everything.
They broke through to the surface.
The track stretched out ahead of him, sweeping and spectacular. The crowd noise hit immediately.
There were a lot of people.
Rin Seiya: "Wait. Fiona, which court did you book?"
Fiona: "Court A. It had just finished and nobody had claimed it yet, so I grabbed it."
Rin Seiya: "That was the Emperor's court. No wonder there are still so many people here."
The venue ran eight Riding Duel courts labeled A through H. Spectators moved freely between them, watching whatever caught their interest. Some didn't move at all. They planted themselves for the entire night.
Court A, where the Emperor had just dueled, had drawn the largest crowd. And a portion of those spectators had simply stayed put, waiting to see what the next match would bring.
On the overhead screen, the betting odds for the upcoming duel appeared.
The gray-area nature of the venue was partly tied to this. Every match came with a wagering window, and spectators could back either duelist before the duel began.
When the window closed, Amano's final odds read 1:15.
One in, fifteen out, if he won.
"Why are my odds this bad?"
Fiona: "Don't take it personally. You're a first-timer here. Seiya's competed in Riding Duels before and done well, so of course the money's going on her."
Rin Seiya: "Ignore the board. We're not here to gamble. These people have no idea what they're watching. The destined clash between Yusei and Jack cannot be measured in odds."
Fiona: "Alright, get ready to launch."
Following Fiona's signal, Amano fired up the engine.
Simultaneously, a Field Spell slid into the field zone of the D-Wheel's Duel Disk.
Speed World. The mandatory field for any Riding Duel.
The card was immune to all card effects and could not be replaced by another Field Spell. That was one of the fixed rules of the format. Its effect was straightforward: starting from the second turn, both players gained one Speed Counter per turn, up to a maximum of twelve.
As Speed Counters accumulated, the D-Wheels moved faster.
Speed Spells required a minimum Speed Counter count to activate, and the more powerful the Speed Spell, the higher the threshold.
[Eva: Duel Sanctioned]
[Duelist: Amano Rei]
[Duelist: Rin Seiya]
[Network Connection Established. Field Spell: Speed World: Activated]
[Duel Type: Riding Duel]
[Proud duelists. Let the outcome of this battle serve as the measure of your souls.]
[Riding Duel! Acceleration!!]
Fiona: "GO!"
On her signal, both duelists twisted their throttles. The D-Wheels shot from the starting line.
In Riding Duels, the first turn went to whoever took the first corner. Before the duel itself began, it came down to raw speed.
Under her helmet, Rin Seiya's mouth curved upward. "I'm not losing this one, Jack. Wait, you're that fast?!"
The D-Wheel Fiona had selected for Rin Seiya was no slouch. But the Moonlight Butterfly, for all that it lacked auto-cruise and resisted control, rewarded anyone who could tame it with something no standard machine could match.
Amano took the corner first. He drew from the D-Wheel's deck.
"My turn. Draw."
The two machines settled into their pace after the opening sprint.
Turn one: Speed Counters at zero. No Speed Spells available.
"I set one monster face-down in Defense Position. One card face-down in the back row. Turn end."
Amano closed his turn fast.
High-speed dueling meant exactly what it sounded like. Not just the D-Wheels, but the turns themselves. the D-Wheels, but the turns themselves. With Spells restricted and Speed Counters starting at zero, explosive opening plays were nearly impossible. No one was spending three minutes narrating a full board setup on turn one.
"My turn. Draw."
Rin Seiya pulled her card.
Speed Counters: 0 to 1.
From the second turn onward, the counters would tick up every round.
"Here I come, Jack."
She was completely committed to the bit now. Speed World's field amplified her voice. Even at this velocity, every word reached the entire arena.
Amano found that mildly embarrassing, if he was being honest.
"I summon Speed Warrior in Attack Position!"
Speed Warrior [WIND / Level 2 / Warrior-Type / Effect]
ATK: 600 / DEF: 1200
The monster materialized on Rin Seiya's field. A warrior on high-speed skates, gliding along the track surface, keeping up with the D-Wheel without any visible effort. It looked like a card designed specifically for Riding Duels.
"Speed Warrior attacks the face-down monster, and when it does, I activate its effect."
[When this card attacks, during the Damage Step, this card's ATK increases by 1200.]
Speed Warrior ATK: 600 to 1800.
A flying kick at full sprint. Attack power jumping to rival-Axe Raider levels. It hit Amano's face-down and sent it tumbling.
His face-down monster was not built for this environment. It showed.
Yuyu, square and tofu-shaped, bounced off the track surface end over end, spiraling backward until it vanished completely off the trailing edge of the course.
Yuyu: destroyed.
****
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