Joachim couldn't answer. He was so shocked that words refused to leave his mouth. The dark-skinned man ended up gaping like a fish, which caused him to give Gloria the wrong impression.
She grabbed him by the collar before pulling him close to her face. "Tell me or I am going to make sure you ended up being stuck in a nice and comfy place called a Duel Monsters' card!"
"Calm your nonexistent tits and let me explain!" ...Is what he would have liked to say in this situation, but he didn't have a death wish. Instead, he opted for a more level-headed response.
"Relax. I am just living here temporarily. I lost my memory and your mother was kind enough to take me in while I sorted my situation. As soon as I do, I promise to leave right away." Joachim avoided making sudden gestures or appearing nervous… at least too much. There was no telling what Gloria would do if he pushed the wrong buttons.
He didn't have a Duel Disk, so he couldn't solve problems with a game like everyone did in this series. Besides, there was a chance she would skip the dueling part and go straight to carding, and while he wanted to believe some extraordinary being - read Ra - would somehow protect him from that, it was better to be safe than sorry.
"Is that the best excuse you could come up with?" Even though her tone remained cold, at least her face didn't retain the initial scowl, something he considered to be progress.
"Look. If you are Big Momma's daughter, then you should know how she is. I was literally dragged to your house without a chance to say anything." Gloria's lips twitched for a second, although Joachim didn't know if it was because of the nickname or her mother's attitude.
"Just call her Berta. But more importantly, are you a duelist?" The moment the question left her mouth, he sighed internally. Of course it would come down to it—everything in this anime did.
"...You can say so. Though I am not the best by any means. I don't even have a Duel Disk, so I always played the old-fashioned way from what little I can remember." A grand part of him wanted to say that he didn't even know what a duelist was. However, that would put him far from his goals of gathering information. After all, it would be weird if he asked about matters regarding Academia when he wasn't a duelist himself.
Naturally, it had its downsides. Knowing this place was like Pokemon, the moment someone set your sights on you, they were definitely going to—
"Perfect. Then we will duel and I will see for myself if you deserve to be in this house."
—...That.
"Um... Okay... How about we duel on the kitchen's table after dinner?" Joachim kind of expected it, so he wasn't that surprised. The only doubt he had in his mind was if Grace would join in as well.
As far as he remembered, Gloria always dueled together with her sister in Tag Duels and not even once she dueled alone. Although considering he skipped a big part of the anime, it might have happened, just that he didn't see it.
"Perfect. Be prepared to be turned into minced meat." The blond-haired girl grinned fiercely before letting go of his collar, allowing him a moment of respite. She could have worded that better, though.
"Uh... yeah... good luck to you too. The name is Marik by the way." Joachim thought that he might as well introduce himself, albeit with his fake name. After escaping from Academia, he didn't want to have anything to do with this place until the time where he had to fight it for good came.
"Hmph. I will remember your name when you have impressed me." After saying that, she turned around and went downstairs with a bit of a hurry.
'If what Big Momma told me was true, she must be worried her sister will eat all her food. Still... impressed, huh? That choice of words makes me think she doesn't believe I can win. Question is: do I even want to win? Stomping her will get me extra attention I don't want while losing terribly will make me a hobo.' As he watched Gloria go away, his mind became troubled about what he should do.
He was trapped between either winning by a slight margin or losing by just a tiny bit. Yet, he knew that it wasn't a choice that he could make now. He had to do it while the duel was going in. There was a chance that he would get thrashed even if he intended to win thoroughly, so he didn't have many faculties to speak as if he was in control of the whole situation.
Shaking his head, Joachim went down as well. First things first, he had to enjoy a good plate of food before the duel. 'God I sound like Yuma.'
──────────────────────────────
After a very, VERY awkward dinner, Gloria and Joachim were ready to duel. Big Momma was excited about telling stories of the sisters' childhood to him, and more than one made him snicker. He tried not to laugh too hard, though. Doing so never ended well.
He interacted a bit with Gloria during dinner, yet that had to do with her mother forcing her to do so, and not so much with her willingness. Grace and him didn't speak, but they sent each other some furtive glances. Joachim wanted to find any hints of her wanting to fight him as well, while the gray-haired girl was trying to figure something only she knew.
It turned pretty embarrassing when they caught themselves staring at the other party. Thankfully, Big Momma called his attention to offer him more food. Otherwise, he wouldn't have known how to react. One thing was for sure, though. She wasn't lying when she said her daughters were gluttons. Despite eating civilly, their food intake was outstanding.
When they all finished, Gloria told her mother she could go and rest, that she and grace were going to clean the dishes so that she wouldn't have to do more than she already did. That put her in a very happy mood, so after giving each one of them a kiss in the cheek, she went straight to sleep.
Of course, by the look Joachim received after she was no longer watching, it was obvious he was the one that would be doing the cleaning. Not that he minded since he had been doing it for the past week, but the fact that it was 'imposed' on him did leave a bit of a bad taste.
After Gloria made sure her mother was gone, she removed the tablecloth from the kitchen table, revealing some square white marks resembling cards. At his raised eyebrows, the blond-haired woman decided to explain. "We used to practice here when my mother wasn't watching. Since we didn't have a Duel Disk at the time, this was everything we could come up with."
"Uh-huh. It's safe to assume she doesn't know of this little... mischief?" He knew that if it was his own mother, and she found out he scribbled over her table, she would hit him with an espadrille. Hard.
"What do you think?" She deadpanned at him, giving him his answer without explicitly doing so.
Not wanting to comment anymore, he placed his Extra Decks Monsters face down on their respective 'slot' before giving the rest of the Deck for his opponent to shuffle. Gloria did the same, although she observed him menacingly in the case he decided to peek at some of her cards.
Naturally, this was unnecessary as he knew already what cards she played. And while he might not know every single card she had, there was no reason to do either way when the idea was to gain her trust, or at the very least, not earn her mistrust.
Once they were done shuffling, they returned the Decks before placing them to the side. Grace was sitting next to her sister more by a force of habit than an actual intention of cheering for her. Gloria then looked at him straight in the eyes and spoke, "As I challenged you, I will let you go first."
Joachim shrugged and draw five cards calmly while she did the same. However, his heart was beating a little faster than usual, but it was not because of nervousness or fear, but a hidden excitement he didn't know he had.
Gloria - LP: 4000 x5
Marik (Joachim) - LP: 4000 x5
"First, by revealing Blue-Eyes White Dragon in my hand, I can Special Summon Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon (Light/Dragon/Effect/ATK: 3000/DEF: 2500/LV: 8)." He first showed the Ace of Seto Kaiba, the card depicting the majestic dragon flying across the universe before placing its improved version on the field.
The only reaction of Gloria he got was the slight widening of her eyes, probably by the relative ease of summoning a Monster with that much attack as if it was nothing.
'A Marik look-alike using BEWD. The irony is not lost to me.' He couldn't help but chuckle internally at the joke of a situation. That didn't chance the fact that he found Blue-Eyes Decks to be boring, though.
"Next I play Trade-In. By discarding a Level 8 Monster from my hand, I can draw two cards. I discard Spirit of White." He declared, placing his card into the graveyard and drawing two cards before continuing, "Now I activate The Melody of Awakening Dragon. By discarding one card, I add up to two Dragon Monster with 3000 or more attack and 2500 or less defense from my Deck to my hand. I discard Maiden with Eyes of Blue." Normally discarding that card would be a bad idea, since it could be useful later on, and he had a better card he could send to the grave, but since he was not planning to crush her, doing intentional misplays was fine.
"The cards I choose are another copy of Alternative Dragon and Chaos Dragon Levianeer." He showed her the cards he added, continuing with his turn immediately. "Then I activate the effect of Nebula Dragon in my hand. By revealing it and another Level 8 Dragon, I can Special Summon them with their effects negated in defense position. I Summon Nebula Dragon (Light/Dragon/Effect/ATK: 2000/DEF: 0/LV: 8) and Blue-Eyes White Dragon (Light/Dragon/ATK: 3000/DEF: 2500/LV: 8)."
"Then, I fuse BEWD and BEAWD to Summon Blue-Eyes Twin Burst Dragon (Light/Dragon/Fusion/Effect/ATK: 3000/DEF: 2500/LV: 10)." Grace seemed a bit shocked at the play.
"A Fusion without Polymerization?!" Her exclamation made Joachim remember that characters in this anime had selective memory. They might have seen something similar before, but they always acted like it was the first time seeing things like these.
"If I have two Blue-Eyes on my field, I can Summon this card without the need from Polymerization." He felt a little weird at explaining the obvious, but it was something he guessed he should get accustomed to.
'And what's with that twinkle in your eyes? Stop it, you are scaring me.' His thoughts aside, he resumed his turn. "Lastly, I banish Spirit of White, Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon, and Maiden with Eyes of Blue from my graveyard to special summon Chaos Dragon Levianeer (Darkness/Dragon/Effect/ATK: 3000/DEF: 0/LV: 8), and once he is Summoned while banishing only Light Monsters, I can Special Summon one Monster from my graveyard in defense position, and I will be choosing my Blue-Eyes. I end my turn with that."
Marik (Joachim) - LP: 4000 x1
Despite his field being filled with High-Level Monsters, he didn't show any signs of happiness or overconfidence. After all, there were always 'retard' cards that made all the effort you went through seem like a joke and waste of time.
"That's how it needs to be. Otherwise, this would be really boring." Gloria didn't feel the least scared. In fact, she had this smirk that made you think you were in for a good beating. She started her play by drawing a card and immediately playing it.
"I activate Amazoness Call. With it, I can add one 'Amazoness' card to my hand except itself. I choose Amazoness Queen." The blonde searched for her desired card before adding it to her hand and shuffling her Deck.
"Then I play a Card you are already familiar with, Polymerization!" Her voice raised a tad bit, causing Joachim and Grace to recoil slightly before looking at the stairs just in case Big Momma came rushing to hit them for being too loud. Thankfully, nothing of that sort happened.
Gloria seemed to have realized her blunder, as her cheeks turned a little red before coughing to disperse her embarrassment. "As I was saying, I fuse Amazoness Queen and Amazoness Spy to Summon Amazoness Empress (Earth/Warrior/Fusion/Effect/ATK: 2800/DEF: 2400/LV: 8). Next I Summon Amazoness Scouts in attack position (Earth/Warrior/Effect/ATK: 500/DEF: 1100/LV: 2)."
Joachim wondered why would she summon a monster like that in attack position. It obvious it had a powerful effect that would protect her in case he attacked it, that much he knew, he was not that stupid. However, he had to admit he was not the most expert when it came to Amazoness... or any of the recent archetypes for the matter...
"Now, by banishing Amazoness Call from my graveyard, I can target one Amazoness Monster on my field, and only it can attack, but it can do so with all your Monsters." She declared, making him a bit surprised.
'Well, that explains why she chose to summon Empress in attack position. I know in the anime her effects of preventing Amazoness from being destroyed by battle or card effect affects itself as well, so she could have stalled by placing her on defense. Twin-Burst can bypass that, but she doesn't know it.'
"I first attack your Nebula Dragon in defense mode, something that won't save you at all because she can deal piercing damage." There was an attempt to appear surprised by the effect, if they bought it was another thing entirely.
He placed his destroyed monster in the graveyard as Grace deducted his Life Points with a calculator.
Marik (Joachim) - LP: 4000 → 1200
"I will be following that by attacking your Blue-Eyes in defense mode." Again, another monster that he placed on his graveyard. This time, as its defense wasn't literally zero, his Life Points were protected a bit.
Marik (Joachim) - LP: 1200 → 900
"I end my turn. Not so tough now, are you?" He kind of wanted to reveal her the effect of Twin Burst, just so that he could see that smirk on her face gone, but demonstrating it would be a hundred times better.
Gloria - LP: 4000 x2
"I must admit I am impressed. You must have so many friends with those skills of yours." Grace chuckled at that, something that earned her a glare from the older sister. When she returned to look at the dark-skinned adolescent to give him a piece of her mind, she saw he was drawing a card, 'focused' on what to do next. He didn't have a mocking look on his face, so she assumed his comment was genuine. That's why she let it slide... for now.
"Let's see... I will start by playing—"
"Not so fast. I use Amazoness Scouts' effect. I can Tribute this card, and until the End Phase, my Amazoness Monsters can't be targeted or destroyed by card effects." Gloria interrupted him by activating her monster's effect, causing him to blink owlishly for a few moments.
"...Okay. As I was saying, I place a card face down first. Then I move into my Battle Phase." Joachim informed Gloria, while the person herself was frowning lightly after seeing the card art with more detail.
'The similarities are scary. A single powerful monster that uses copies of itself to summon an even more powerful fusion monster. Seeing this Twin Burst, it's possibly that it has one with three heads. Just like that man's Ace Monster.' Gloria unconsciously shuddered when she remembered the greatest Academia Duelist and right-hand man of the Professor himself.
"I choose to attack your Amazoness Empress with Blue-Eyes Twin Burst Dragon." His declaration brought her out of her detective work, making her refocus on the duel.
Gloria - LP: 4000 → 3800
"A shame that my Empress cannot be destroyed." Knowing that she would only end up receiving 400 points of damage, she wasn't worried at all. However, that would soon change.
"Indeed. A shame for you, that is. When Twin-Burst battles, and the opposite Monster isn't destroyed, I can - please don't scream 'What?!' - banish it at the end of the Damage Step." Knowing what was going to happen, he made sure to warn her beforehand, and good thing he did, because her mouth was already opened wide to scream that word.
Gloria grumbled her breath a bit before placing her card in the Banished Zone. With her field now empty, Levianeer had a free ticket to attack her Life Points. "That is another 3000 points of damage now. Lucky for me, things evened a bit."
Gloria - LP: 3800 → 800
"With nothing more to do, I end my turn." She didn't know what to be more offended about, the fact that she lost her Ace Monster, or the fact that he didn't look to happy when he did it.
Marik (Joachim) - LP: 900 x1
"Tch. Don't get cocky." She drew one card, smirking at what she just got. This would bring her victory.
'Uh-oh. I don't like this.' It was at times like these that he wondered why the Hearts of the Cards was this selective with people.
"I play Amazoness Swordswoman in attack mode (Earth/Warrior/Effect/ATK: 1500/DEF: 1600/LV: 4)." Even though her voice was purposely being low, the pride in her tone couldn't be hidden at all.
'I could certainly lose against something better, but GG I guess.' Joachim internally sighed, seeing as he was about to get meme'd.
"Finally, I use her to attack your Levianeer. Sadly for you, every battle damage I would take from attacks involving this card are dealt to you instead." She - very slowly - put her card in the graveyard all the while looking at him with a triumphant face. Her 'cute' act made him laugh a bit inside. He got to see something new, so he would take this defeat as a draw instead.
Marik (Joachim) - LP: 900 → 0
"Well played. It was short, but I enjoyed the Duel." He offered his hand as a symbol of good sportsmanship. Apparently doing so was weird, because both Gloria and Grace looked at him as if he had grown a second head.
"Hm? What's the matter?" This time he wasn't acting, he truly was confused.
"You... enjoyed our duel? Even though you lost?" When Gloria asked that question, clarity came to his mind. 'Oh, yeah. I forgot they were basically soldiers, and Duels their means to fight. To them, there is nothing fun in that.'
"I did. I hope I can get a rematch against you, though I won't put things easier." He admitted he had his misgivings at first, but he could enjoy things now. One step at a time.
It took another few seconds for them to register his response. They both looked at each other for a moment, only for Gloria to return her gaze to him soon after. "Hmph. Try as hard as you can, you won't win. Now that I know your dragon's effect, I will make sure to prepare cards to counter it."
'That tsundere answer means I can stay for now I guess?' Joachim laughed slightly at that generic way of saying things before nodding. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
"Wait, don't get too happy. As the loser, you have to clean the dishes. I will go to sleep, so don't make too much noise." Joachim rolled his eyes. It was her the one that nearly busted them, so it was a bit hypocritical for her to say that.
"As you command, Your Highness." His sarcastic reply made Gloria pause in her task of retrieving her cards before she returned to it with more haste than previously. Once she finished, she quickly went upstairs to her room.
Shaking his head, he began to do the same. However, when he was about to get his last card from the table, Grace quickly scooped it. The moment she saw which card it was, she looked at him weirdly before a knowing smile appeared on her face. "Don't worry, this will be our little secret."
"Grace, this is how a lot of porn starts." He got his card back, but thrown at his face. The silver-haired girl dashed upstairs with a red-face, causing him to chuckle lightly.
"I think I went too far on that one." Joachim shook his head, crouching down to pick the fallen card, revealing it to be Solemn Judgement. He put it with the rest and then placed the tablecloth where it was before.
He stayed sitting for a while, seemingly looking into empty space. 'Family, huh... I wonder, does my family miss me? I know we weren't the most caring bunch but...'
Joachim arched his head backward, observing the ceiling as his lips curved into a self-deprecating smile. 'What am I saying? The fact I even asked that question is answer enough.'
Swiftly getting up, he hit his cheeks with almost enough force to hurt. "Let's go! Those dishes won't clean themselves!"
Not even him noticed his strained smile that night.